A Case of Mistaken Identity

Felt that urge to do a little shopping this morning, so I thought I would share with you my treasures!  Oh, the bounty!

Here you are viewing the whole kit and kaboodle. (Oops! Irish Garfield is lurking in the background - better box that kitty up until next year!)  Check out the metal/woven container.  It is the neatest thing.  I am thinking of spraying the outside a different color, but I am going to think that one over.  I know it will look good outside in our front sitting area filled with plants. A cheapie deal at $1.99!

A little closer view:  $2 fabric squares from JoAnn, soon to be coming to life as basket liners for Easter brunch.  I love these squares - discontinued upholstery, high end fabric!  I buy them every chance I get.  They make great pillows, little table toppers - the sky's the limit.  

I also popped into Kirkland's and this is where the identity crisis comes in.  These little metal "bugs" were only $2.99 ea. and I thought they would be fab-oh-la in a tablescape with my "bee" glasses.  I thought that because they looked like....well, like bees!  After I got them home, though, I think they may be butterflies.  Not sure.  So, I think I will just go on pretending they are bees.  Either way they are so stinkin' cute!  They have a bronze-y type finish right now, but they may get a blast from the ol' spray paint can. 

This sweet egg picture came from Goodwill.  At $1.99!  What more can I say?  The frame is pretty beat up, but I am going to spray paint it anyway.  I love it!

I also bought six Mason/Kerr jars at 49 cents each.  They are currently lounging in a warm, sudsy spa and are looking forward to spending some time being pampered with spray paint.  Such a popular idea right now and you can count me in on that bandwagon.

Hey...thanks a bunch for stopping in to see my treasures du jour! I will show you them worked into my decor in future posts.  Hope you are having a wonderful day.

I will be partying it up with Kim @   Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesday.  Be sure to stop by and see not only Kim's fabulous blog, but tons of inspiration from other bloggers. 

Wishing you happiness,

Jane

Oh the Agitation!

Laundry agitation that is!!  Today I submit for your approval: our humble laundry room.  When we built our home ten years ago, this room looked big on the plans.  Oh yes it did.  I suppose anything was an improvement over our laundry room in a closet in our previous house.  But, alas and alack, - this laundry room turned out to be too flippin' small! But it is what we have and we are grateful to have it!

Hopefully you have done your pilates today and ate your Special K, because it is a tight fit and we are about to go in........................

 This is a little jog between the kitchen, garage and powder room.  Love this little industrial stool!

 The cubbies hold shoes and cookbooks.  They also provide easy access from the aqua stool to the washer for our two cats who love to lay in the basket on the dryer and watch the birds out the window.  If you look carefully you can see Butterscotch curled up in there right now.

This is a better view of the washer/dryer area.  The cats also have their food bowl up here to keep it away from the hungry dog!  (I also added a little bunny pick in the plant to Easter it up in here)

This is a view of the burlap bulletin board panels I made for the sides of my cabinets.  Tied them off with jute and they are really cool for holding special pictures and things. I went for a very random, uneven look with the jute - didn't want it too perfect. Not sure why it is shiny on the left side of this pic, but it is not in real life.

This is a better view of the bulletin board.  You can also see the hook rack - it's usually full of coats! 

Keepin' it real here folks - you can see to the right we have another coat hook (with a coat on it)!   You cannot see it from these pictures, but to the left is a large coat closet that we have outfitted with a closet system that has drawers, metal bins, awesome shoe cubbies, and a double rod for hanging clothes up as they come out of the dryer. We removed the bi-fold doors and I added a dropcloth curtain to camo the mess.  Taking the doors off really gave us quite a bit more usable space.

This place lives hard.  It is too small - but I have tried to utilize every inch.  It is just so hard to keep clean & organized!  Last summer I painted the walls, cabinets, and added the white chair rail. I really love how it looks when it is clean and sparkly.  The "art work" is just a few sheets of black, white, & sepia tone scrapbook paper.  I am still looking for the perfect cabinet hardware, but it has eluded me thus far.  One of these days.

Thanks for checking out the source of my "agitation!"  Have a great Monday.

Wishing you happiness,
Jane

Joining in Metamorphosis Monday  Thanks to Susan for this Monday treat!

Joining in Debbie-Doos Newbie Party.  Thanks to Debbie for hosting!

Thanks to the sisters over at Bringing Beauty for inviting me to join their Beautify it Monday party!

Happy Saturday, Gallery Wall, & a Giveaway!

Happy Saturday everyone! It is foggy, gray, & gloomy around my neck of the woods - but that's ok. It is still almost seventy degrees outside, which is still freakishly warm for Wisconsin this time of year.  Personally, I love the occasional gray day - it's perfect for shopping (oh yeah, did that already!!!), putzing around the house, and relaxing at the computer checking out the blogs.

Couldn't leave without a pic of some kind.  Here is one of a gallery wall I just completed in my stairway area.  The stairs make a little turn part way up, leaving me with a half wall that has proven to be difficult to decorate over the years.  Thought I would try my hand at a gallery wall of my daughter's baby pictures, and I like it! First I put up the infamous beadboard wallpaper, painted it a grayish aqua (a new color for me that I am incorporating on my first floor), copied photos in black & white, and put them in $3.00 Wal Mart frames. I copied her birth certificate (look at those sweet feet) and placed that frame horizontally to shake things up a bit. For under $80 I completely transformed this wall.  It is difficult to photograph due to the turn in the stairs, so while not stand alone post worthy, I did want to share with you.  Apparently in the 90's I was really into hats & big ol' bows for my little girl, because I think there is only one picture out of twelve where she isn't sporting one!  Although that little lady is now twenty one, I still remember those days and cherish them!

And now, I saved the best for last!  Kim over at Savvy Southern Style (one of my all time favorite blogs!)is having a $50 Kirkland's gift card giveaway.  Click on the link below for all the details!
http://savvysouthernstylereviewsandgiveaways.blogspot.com/2012/03/kirklands-50-giveaway.html

Thanks so much Kim!

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Wishing you happiness,
Jane

Bovine Love

 Just had to share a cute little fella I picked up at an antique mall in Waukesha, WI a few weeks ago.  First up, a snapshot all up close and personal.  Doesn't he have a sweet face?

He is made out of chalkware and at one time was a "piggy" bank.  Yes, I do know he is a cow.  I am assuming that is why he gave up his hope of being a piggy bank.

I have been keeping him in a "pen" (old antique grain sifter), but I let him out to show his size.  He is about 10 inches tall, all textured, and cute!  You can see in this pic how raised his coat is.

Sometimes he just hangs out on a place mat in front of that cute cow picture you all have seen around blogland.  (Hobby Lobby - if any one is interested)

He was $28.00 and I passed him by the first time I saw him.  But you all know how that goes!  I kept thinking about him and thinking about him over a few weeks.  I was so thrilled that he was still there when I went back for him.  Now that he is home, I can't figure out why I paused in getting him.  But it all had a happy ending!

 I am linking up to Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday. Thanks to Kim for hosting this fun party!

!

Chocolate Bunnies

So excited to join Marty's Table Top Tuesday for the  very first time!  My thanks to her for hosting this great party - the creativity and inspiration is outstanding week after week.

As for me, I am sharing with you my favorite Easter vignette of faux chocolate bunnies.  Aren't they cute?


They are in an old Longaberger basket filled with paper grass and faux Hobby Lobby carrots.

This year they are sitting on my sofa table with two aqua candlesticks, a little cloche filled with a bird nest, eggs, & sweet robin.  My buffet lamp softly lights them at night.

I just love these  guys - especially jumbo Mr. Cottontail!  Snatched him up for a song years ago at an after Easter sale at a beautiful floral/decor store a few towns over. He is definitely the leader of this pack!

Wishing you a happy day,
Jane

Our Cozy Den

Happy Monday!!

First of all, a special thanks to Debbie at Debbiedoos, for hosting her wonderful Newbie Party.  This is my first venture into a Newbie Party and I already goofed it up.  Lesson learned - need to read the directions first! After going back & reading Debbie's tutorial on how to hook up to a party, I realize I am not even close to doing it correctly, but I also don't know how to change it after the fact. I promise I will get better at this! Really!  Guess that's why it's called a Newbie Party - right?  Again, my apologies! 

Crickets..............and time to take a deep breath. 

 Ok, let's move on, shall we?

Today I want to share with you one of the coziest spots in our home - the den!  This room has served many functions for our family since we built our home ten years ago.  It started out as a tv room for my daughter and her friends, then it became an office.  A short time later, we agreed to clear out all of the furniture and turn it into a dance room for our daughter, complete with mirrored walls, velvet curtains and photo after photo of her dance costumes and shows.  Once she went off to college for a year or so, we decided to re-claim it and furnished it into the cozy den/study it is today.

It is such a sunny day today (and I have a basic point & shoot camera!), but the color on the wall is very washed out looking.  In "real life" it is a beautiful caramel apple color with a pumpkin colored ceiling (hmmm, what's up with the food analogies?  I must be hungry!).  The furniture is super easy to move and re-configure - the desk is in two parts and I often have it facing toward the door way.  Right now we are enjoying the view out the two front windows!

I am in love! love! love! with this chair.  I spent months looking for it... either they were two pricey, the wrong color, style, etc., etc.  I lucked out one day when I was shopping at a chain furniture store called Steinhafels.  Ta da!  There it was in all it's glory!  I had a coupon for $50 off, plus it was on a deeply discounted sale and I think in the end it came in at about $400. The fabric isn't showing well, but it is kind of 60's inspired floral/paisley type deal.  A little out of my comfort zone, but I do love it and I think it works perfectly! The picture next to it is a collage of some of the dance photos that used to hang in the space when it was a dance room - gotta have a few pictures of my one and only doing what she loves the most!!!  (I have an upcoming post about a gallery wall that I recently finished in her "honor" - proud mama I am.)

This wall is the future home of a small flat screen tv and possibly  a fireplace - awaiting Mr. Bluebird's handyman skills to run the cable/electrical up to the appropriate spot on the wall.  With the warm weather approaching, I think this project will be put on hold until fall. 

Well, there you have it friends!  My cozy, reading, computing, hot chocolate drinking corner of the world - thanks for taking the tour!

Wishing you a happy day,

Jane

Tumbler O'Toole

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  I woke up this morning to a beautiful bouquet of green spider mums, a card, and shamrock jewelry from Mr. Bluebird.  What a nice surprise!

When we were first married, Mr. Bluebird gave me the cutest little Hallmark leprechaun called Tumbler O'Toole.  Just a plastic little guy, but he has always found a special place for St. Patrick's Day in our home. 

 No blarney folks - he is in a cloche this year!  My decorating styles have changed (and changed and changed!!) in the past 30 years, but it is always comforting to display some of the special "constants" in our home.  He probably cost all of $1.00 back in 1982, but I just love him so much.  He is one of those treasures I would not sell at any price.

We will be indulging in some corned beef and cabbage this evening (and perhaps a green beer - we do live in Wisconsin after all!). But first, we are continuing our work on the bath re-do and hopefully spending some time outside and enjoying the record breaking warmth - temps are supposed to push 80 degrees today. Hope you all have a wonderful St. Paddy's day!

Wishing you happiness,
Jane

Let's get this thing started!

I was beginning to think I might procrastinate my blog away, so today I thought I better get going and I am jumping in feet first and showing a glimpse of our family room.  It is currently decorated in golds, rusts, and earthy-type tones.  Living in chilly Wisconsin, I have found over the years that warm and cozy colors work best for me.  I have tried other color schemes, but always come back!  This is it's after Christmas look;  I have made several changes for spring to lighten things up and am awaiting some new window treatments.  I will share those changes with you all soon.

Currently I am working on a little remodel project in BOTH of our upstairs bathrooms.  New flooring, paint, and accessories.  Can you say what a mess?! Oh yes! In fact, our master bathroom toilet has found a temporary home in our guest room.  (It spent all of last Sunday on our front lawn.....so attractive.  I am sure my neighbors were jealous of that look!)

I will leave you with a few pics of my daughter's bathroom in progress......

We are installing this super cool vinyl floor that is 100% waterproof - perfect for the bath.  It looks just like wood and you can even feel the wood green.  I am loving it so far.  We also are installing bigger, beefier white baseboard molding.  I will keep you updated on our progress!

Hey! Thanks for joining me today - I am so glad you stopped by my humble blog.

Wishing you happiness,
Jane

Coming soon to a computer near you!!!!

Well, after a year or so of should I? or shouldn't I?  The "should I's" have it and soon I will be venturing into the (scary!) world of Blogland.  I confess that I know virtually nothing of how to write a blog - in fact my daughter tells me I don't even pronounce the word "blog" correctly!! Lol!!  I also am going to get my feet wet with all the blogger etiquette, etc., etc. ....I promise to try to not be the unwanted guest.  (Psst....let me know if I am breaking any rules, etc., I want to fit in with y'all!)

Oh. The. Pressure.

Anyway, I am looking forward to sharing my love of decorating and home life with you and lord knows what else I will choose to blab about.  I will be starting out slow, so I hope you will be patient.

Glad you stopped by my place....hoping we can become great friends in the days, weeks, months, years ahead!!!

Wishing you happy days,
Jane