Ghost Shade

I have been struggling with the light that goes to our downstairs.  It is silver and it had the traditional boob glass with like white powder swirls in it.  I can't like it.  That by the way is what my son Noah who is almost three always says when he doesn't like something.  This is what it looked like.

I then just finally couldn't stand looking at it anymore so I removed the glass shades and added an Edison light bulb because I love those so much.

I wasn't sure what to do.  That light was such a pain to hang and I just wanted to update it a little bit.  This morning I decided to check out Goodwill to see if there was anything there I could use to make it look better.  I didn't see anything till I was about to leave the store.  They had these black rod iron style planters that I thought would work out perfect.  I want to be able to see the light bulb, just don't like the look of having nothing.  So of course I jumped right in on the makeover when I got home and forgot to take a proper before, but this is what was in the planter.

 You get the idea.  Tons of people out there have been making these shades.  The nice thing about this shade is that it isn't actually rod iron, it is like a hard rubber that we were able to bend to attach to the existing light.  This is what it looks like now all hung.

It looks pretty cool.

I got some other treats there too, but saving for another day.  Love Goodwill....

UPDATE:

I decided to add some crystals to the corners of the light.  It looks a lot better.  

UPDATE Part 2:

I decided to spray paint the planters silver.  The black just didn't match the main part of the light.  I think this is it for this light.

Oh Man I Love This Thang

I got this a few weeks ago at a garage sale.  It was at a huge sale with a ton of kid stuff.  When I was pre children I would have probably done a drive by, but with two little ones I stopped.  I spotted this mirror and I swear it was screaming to me, "buy me, paint me".  It was $5.  I bought it and here is what I did.

I took the mirror out.

I spray painted turquoise.

I used the backing to the mirror and painted it with chalkboard paint.

I painted a few coats of the chalkboard paint.

Voila!!!

I am so into color suddenly.  I am done with dark and gloomy.   

Switch A Roo

I switched up the living room a little bit.  I like it much better.  I had these two glass end tables that were constantly dusty and finger print ridden.  I moved those out to the sun porch for now and brought in this stuff.  I at least will not have to worry about my little one falling through the glass anymore.  Consider me on the search right now for an end table that I will be painting off white and glazing with black.  If I could have a clean lined, low profile tufted couch I would be the happiest chicky ever!  I have to work with what I have for now, but a girl can dream.  

This is the before 

This is the after

Bathroom Makeover

Welcome to the smallest bathroom in history.  This is our hallway bathroom.  It needed some help.  The vanity was originally the faux oak look.  I don't have a picture of the before because I did it awhile ago and didn't blog then.   I of course added new hardware.  We painted it a couple months ago and here is the finished project.  The curtain I purchased at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for like ten bucks.  The mirror I got at Home Goods for twenty bucks.  We purchased a shower curtain rod that bows out to have more space when your getting your shower on.   I put those Chinese branches in there because they require no sunlight to grow.  I didn't think that was possible, but it is.  I have two more bathrooms in need of makeovers, more to come.  Here are the before and afters.

Chair Makeover

Do you recall the chair I got a week or so ago?  Here is a pic to spark your memory.

Well here is the transformation.

I first unscrewed the bottom.

Then painted it an off white, then polyed it.

I added some extra cushion, and recovered it in that beautiful fabric I had from the bench I had done.

I also thought it would be cool to have a place for my diapers, and wipes so I am currently putting this basket underneath of it. I love it, it fits perfectly.

I think it looks great for ten big ones.

Before and After... Spooky

Before

After

Alright here is the start of my Halloween mantle.

Candelabra Makeover

Remember this?

I got it at Goodwill for $4.00, well check it out now after a good polish.  It is silver plated, and so nice.  You almost need sunglasses to look at it. The pics do not do it justice.

Fire Place Screen Makeover

This is a fireplace screen I purchased at Goodwill, it was $9.99 and was half price. It had brass along top and a ugly brass design at the bottom, Yuck. Tom saw it and immediately removed the cheesy scroll brassy bottom, then I was luck ughh we forgot to take a before pic. Tom reminded me, that one of these days we will not just jump into projects and remember to take before pictures. I decided to place the brass bottom on the screen so you would get an idea of how it looked. I spray painted it black and here it is. I don't think it's too bad for five bucks.

New makeover

Yesterday Tom and I were doing some errands when we decided to slipcover our ottoman. We have a black leather couch set, and ottoman. We felt there was too much black and wanted a change. We decided to go to our local fabric store and do some zebra, I love zebra, and the living room needed some pop. The fabric was expensive! It cost $21.00 a yard, we bought two yards. When we got home Tom cut the fabric for me, he cut it in a plus sign shape. It looked like this(+) after he cut it. We did this so we would only have four seams to sew. When Tom finished cutting it I lugged out the ol' Singer sewing machine. I am not a huge fan of sewing, but no choice, had to. We sewed the first seam close to the edge so we could judge the fit when we slipped it over the ottoman. It wasn't as tight a fit as we wanted, so we sewed in an additional seam to have it fit more snug. It looks awesome. I am going to attempt to do a couple pillows today, I had quite a bit of left over material . Wish me luck.

Entry off garage makeover

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Holy 70's Paneling! This is the mudroom off the garage. This was a small makeover with much impact. I decided to paint over the paneling which required washing all the paneling down, then priming it. It takes a little extra work to paint paneling, because you have to get paint in all the paneling creases. It turned out faboosh. I had to paint two coats. I decided to paint the ceiling in this room the cappacino brown I have in the dining room, and living room. I found the little drum light at home depot for $39.00, and I was so happy because it corresponds with the drum light in my dining room. I got the baskets, $4.99 a piece and shade, $14.99 at Christmas Tree Shop. (A fabulous gem of a store found only in the New England area. This store is pretty cool, in Vermont we don't even have a Target, Pier 1, West Elm, and the list goes on, and on.)

The dining room

These are some pics of the dining room. The top pictures are of the dining room before. We have a chair rail and Tom had sponge painted it like a greenish turquoise below, per his previous girlfriend. The table was also pine and pretty beat up. In the after we painted the bottom part of the chair rail a cappuccino brown color. Tom painted the dining room table and chairs black, and it was alot of work. The table was sanded first, then painted several times black. There are probably 7 coats of paint on the table! Tom is meticulous at whatever he does, I love him for that because I am so not like that. We got a fabulous area rug at Homegoods. The first time we saw it there it was over $300.oo, not a poor girl purchase, we waited a couple of months and got it for $125.00, it is shag and fab! I ordered the drum light on line it was $100.00 and worth it. The mirror on the wall is from Costco, I won a football pool at work years ago and bought that with no regrets. I would like to say on a side note that I know that $125 for the rug, and $100 for the light are a little pricey, but they are staples in the home. I'm not a professional decorator by any strech, but sometimes you do have to spend some money.