A Whole lotta Green

Before heading home from the Hill Aerospace Museum we made a stop at an unusual store  This store's slogan is "We have anything you need, if we can find it!"  Sounds like an adventure right? 

While we were at this "unusual store" we made some unusual purchases.  Here's what we came home with:

Ummm, yeah...that's a grenade. 

Well, believe it or not I think we have a pretty cool idea for this stuff.  I'll keep you posted!

Pillows

I became aware that I may have a little bit of a pillow problem a few weeks ago. We were driving in the car when out of the blue Conner said,

"Mom, do you think that we might have too much fancy stuff at our house?"

"Fancy stuff?" I asked confused, "What do you mean?"

"You know, like all of the pillows that we have."

"Oh, right...all of the pillows..." was all that I could say.

To illustrate what Conner may have been talking about, I took some pictures this morning while I was making my bed.

Here is a picture of the chair in my bedroom that nightly gets weighed down with the pillows that have to come off of the bed in order for us to be able to sleep in it. This nightly ritual has become the subject of many jokes. There are 8 pillows stacked precariously on that chair. It makes me smile just to look at them.

Here's a picture of my unmade bed. Oh, look! There are 2 more pillows on the bed! How exciting! Now, to reassemble the pillow masterpiece. Here are the first 2 pillows. Chocolatey brown, yum!

Next comes the 2 snowy white pillows. I HAVE to have the white ones for some contrast. Oh, and don't forget the 2 cream pillows that match the comforter.I love this DARK brown one. It off-sets the girly white one really nicely, don't ya think?Wait, I put those on the wrong sides! There, that's better.

And here they all are nestled, snuggly together. A happy family of 10.I can't help it. I really do NEED all of my pillows.

Mirror, Mirror, Leaning Against the Wall

I have been wanting a full length mirror for my bedroom for a long time, but I've been unable to justify spending a few hundred dollars on the one that I wanted. (Sigh) And then, low and behold, I came across this idea for a mirror makeover at Shanty2Chic . I saw their mirror, and although it's not really my style, I thought, "I can do that!" It wasn't that I wanted to do what they had done, it was more that it gave me confidence to try something new.

I was off to the hardware store with a bee in my bonnet. I knew that I wouldn't feel settled again until I had this mirror business worked out. So, with some scrap plywood from our basement, a beveled mirror from Walmart and some 1x8's I had cut at Lowe's; I now have my very own full length mirror leaning against the wall in my bedroom!

My biggest fear throughout the process was that I was going to break the mirror. Since it didn't have a frame it felt especially fragile. Somehow, (it feels like a small miracle because I can be a bit of a klutz) I made it through without any major catastrophes.

I am so excited about my new mirror! It was really fun to take a inexpensive mirror, and some wood and make it into something that I think is beautiful. And it didn't cost a few hundred dollars, closer to twenty.

UPDATE: It was a little tricky getting the finish on the mirror just the way that I wanted it. I made a few adjustments to the paint and stain and I am a lot happier with the color now. Here are the new pictures:

An Early Spring

The Holidays are over, the New Year is underway. I love the snow and the crisp beauty of a white landscape, but winter gets a little bit hard for me when it hasn't snowed in ages and everything takes on the slushy gray of dirty, stale snow.
So, when I came across this idea from The Pleasures of Homemaking, it was like a breath of fresh air. I love the idea of bringing a little bit of spring into my home while outside winter is in full swing. Actually, I went out and bought some bulbs on clearance and want to put them on my coffee table in the living room.

Even though I know that it will take awhile for the bulbs to come up, I love having something pretty and colorful to look forward to. I'm anticipating an early spring at our house.

Windows

DISCLAIMER: I am not an interior designer. I am not a professional home stager. I do not know any of the "rules" about decorating. Nope, not even one. In writing this post, I am not pretending to have any superior knowledge or expertise regarding home decor.
Having said that, I will now offer my opinion. I think that as a "homemaker," it's part of my job to try and beautify my home. I may not know what I am doing but I love the process of making something beautiful out of nothing at all. I take satisfaction in "creating" in my own home. So, if occasionally, I write a post about what I've done in my house, it's just because it's something that I enjoy. That's it. Nothing more or less than that.

Something that I really love is windows. But not any windows, just old windows. Yep, I love old windows. I hang them over my bed with small wreaths:


I hang them over my mantel with a Christmas ribbon,


or when it's not Christmastime, with a wreath.


But I don't always hang them. This one is just propped up on the dresser.

If I could use more of them without over doing it, I would.

These windows came from all over. One of them I bummed off of my brother while he was doing some remodeling in his basement. The other two came out of a garbage pile. My brother in-law was replacing some windows and doors at his rental property. I saw an awesome (but very dirty) window and a beaten up door in the pile of stuff to be thrown out and I asked if I could have them. I think he thought that I was off my rocker but gave them to me anyway. So, I dug out the plexiglass that was being held in with inches of caulking, cleaned up the window, then sawed and reglued the door to make it look like a window, painted them both and then hung them on my walls.

As I re-read this, maybe I am a little nuts to go to such lengths to make home decor out of stuff from the garbage pile. Oh, well.