A Pretty Week in Los Angeles

I haven't posted in a while because my daughter Amanda and I have been visiting my oldest daughter and her husband in LA, where they relocated temporarily for my son-in-law's job.  We had a great week taking in the sights, like fresh produce markets:

And beautiful coastline:

Seeing the beautiful Getty Center and Getty Villa:

 Walking through pretty neighborhoods and checking out the buildings downtown:

Visiting wonderful shops:

We ate some really pretty food:

And did the tourist thing, of course:

It was great to see the kids and have a nice warm mid-winter getaway but it's also nice to come home to my own Comfy Place with fresh inspiration for new projects.  (I want to paint my whole house the color of the walls in the Magnolia Bakery.)  Have a great week everyone!

Spring Fever

I really hate Winter.  I thought I could try to embrace post-Christmas Wintertime decorating, but I just can't seem to do it.  I want it to be Spring NOW.  I want to get out my bunnies and put a nest under my cloche.

I made these candle rings by pulling the leaf clusters off of a garland and stringing them on a wire, like I made the chair wreaths.

 I'm still working on this arrangement, but I have plenty of time, after all.

Spring is still more than 2 months away.  Linking up to Show & Tell Friday and Potpourri Friday.  Have a nice weekend everyone!

If at first you don't succeed...

Several years ago I inherited an old stool with straight blonde wood legs and a beat up turquoise seat.  I wanted to use it with my vanity, so I reupholstered it in green to match my bedroom decor at the time.  It has seen a lot of use and held up pretty well.

I never updated the seat cushion, and it was getting a bit flat, plus I am no longer in a green phase.  So as part of my bedroom update, I decided this weekend to re-reupholster it.  Here it is in it's naked glory:

I had no definite plan for this other than making it pretty.  To start, I made a full skirt from a $5 Walmart twin bedsheet, and hot-glued it on.

I bought a piece of 3 inch foam for the seat, and decided to upholster it in the same fabric I used on my dining room chairs.  I was really sort of winging it and didn't think this through properly and it showed.



It turned out really bad 

Back to the drawing board.  I pretty much knew what I'd done wrong, but I didn't really like these two fabrics together anyway so I decided to try rounding off the edges of the cushion and stretching a different piece of fabric over it instead.  This was a much easier solution than my first attempt, one which I had thought of and rejected earlier because I was convinced I had to do a lot of work for it to look nice.  But you saw what that got me.  I remembered that I had a pair of white euro shams that I bought and didn't like on my pillows (too big), and I decided to see if one was big enough to cover the seat.  It was nearly perfect, and I really liked how the scalloped corners of the sham looked hanging down over my skirt, so I cut those off and hot glued them onto the frame before I screwed the seat back on.  I still didn't like how the bottom part of the cushion looked so I decided to tie a ribbon around the cushion to hide the part where the fabric puckers:

Then I added some tulle.  And a bow.  And then it looked a bit like a wedding dress. 

So I simplified the bow, and now it's a little better I think.

This was a pretty cheap project since I only had to buy the cushion, sheet and some ribbon.  I wanted to do something quick and easy last weekend but this turned out to be neither of those things. But I sat on it to do my hair for a week now and I have to say it's pretty comfy.

Thanks for visiting, and have a great week!

Goals for 2012

I got a lot done in 2011 without really planning to. I think I might try to do things more purposefully in 2012 and see how that works out. Here is what I'm thinking.

1. Finish off the dining room by painting, adding window treatments, lighting, and another small piece of furniture (or two).

2. Paint the kitchen.  It's still builder white.  Yeah, no pics, because I avoid taking them.  It's still white.

3. Repaint the foyer.  I painted it yellow soon after moving in, thinking I wanted the house to have a bright and cheerful welcome, but it looks kinda tired these days.  Not what I'm going for.

4. Tackle the master bedroom. (I'm thinking this will be my main project for the year.) Paint, update furniture, bedding, lighting, organize closet, etc. I really need to start a Pinterest board for this!

5. New flooring in foyer, bathroom and main living area if budget allows. I'm thinking dark wood.

There are a few more ideas kicking around in my head.  I'd like to take a serious run at reupholstering something, and I'd like to add some trim molding around my windows. 

What are you planning to do?

Bare Naked New Year

Why does everything look bare after you take down the Christmas decorations?  I can't seem to remember what was "there" before Christmas moved in, and now everything looks rather spartan and lacks cohesion. Hmm... well I suppose I will have to tinker with it.  And maybe add some new stuff.  :)

I checked out some post Christmas clearance sales but didn't find much good to pick from this year.  I got a couple boxes of copper and cream glass ornaments at 70% off, but when I took everything down and bagged up my existing ornaments, I realized my collection has gotten a bit out of control:

I may be needing a few more storage totes.