Lofty Ideas

I've been waiting until the loft was perfect to post it but I finally realized it's never going to be. Now if you're telling yourself  'She has six kids. This is so staged. " You'd be right. lol There aren't usually flowers (or more importantly a bowl of water with flowers) on the table and candles burning but hey, it looks nice in the photos. :o)

The armoire is from my sister. It was originally the top half of a set so we put legs and appliques on it and painted it white. (see a pattern forming? lol)

I wrapped most of our books in white paper (thank you Romantic Homes for that idea) and my plan is to one day stamp the titles on the spines with pretty colors and designs. I also have plans to make cord covers for the sconces. One day.... *sigh* 

Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

Piano Makeover

Long time no post. :o) Well for years now I've wanted to paint our piano. A sweet sweet friend of mine, Shelly, gave it to us. It was just sitting in her garage. 

I was very apprehensive for a long time because of the keys and hinges. I knew it wasn't some priceless antique but I wanted it to still be functional. I'm sure there are those who'd find it criminal to paint the wood but upon closer inspection they would have found missing veneer here and there, a large bubbly water spot from a plant, and many scrapes scratches and nicks. So don't fret too much wood lovers. (Besides, it's a "shabby cottage" blog ya know.)  LOL I painted it with my hand dandy paint sprayer. 

The sconces are made for the wall. They came as a set with the chandelier that lives in my girls' room. We hung them just like you would on the wall however I unwired (is that a word?) them and pulled the cords out of the holes out the bottom of the sconces so the cord could go inside the piano. Brig drilled  a large hole in the back of the piano for the plugs. The player parts are all missing so now the little doors are used to access the switches to turn off and on the sconces. :o)

I got the applique from a great seller on ebay, "do it yourself chic." They have tons of great appliques. 

So it's totally late but I thought I'd share a bit of my Valentines day decorating. I LOOOVE V-day and always have a hard time letting go. I put the decorations up way early and take them down, oh, some time before St. Pats day. The bottom photo is the box of goodies I got from sweet Nancy on my Shabby Cottage email list. We had a fun V-day swap.

new to me chairs

For years now we have been dining on hand-me-down mismatched table and chairs. I've nothing against used furniture nor do I want everything matching perfectly, but they've been ugly used and mismatched. I've plenty against ugly as far as furniture goes. ;)
Weeks after I had William, my three month old, my mother kindly bought us this very pretty, yet needing some paint, table and chairs. (The ones with the blue seats) I found the yellow chairs 4 for $15 at a thrift store last January. I added appliques and painted them all white (I am of the opinion that many things need white paint. ;) ) and recovered the seats in a very pretty oil cloth. The small yellow chairs got pink with white polka dots and the larger chairs got a floral cover. Both fabrics are from MODA and the floral is Seaside Rose by Three Sisters. I love them. I just need to give them some light distressing. So much nicer than the mishmash we had before. :)
The BEFORE:

Blue Bathroom

Here is some of the fruit of the crazy nesting I experienced this pregnancy. My friend Ruth was so sweet to give me the chandelier. My mother in law gave me the vintage piece of crocheted lace I used for the window treatment. The shower curtain is from Rachel Ashwell's Simply Shabby Chic line at Target.

another before and after

Here is the buffet makeover I did this summer. I bought the buffet off craigslist, http://craigslist.com/ for $50. We had to drive way across town, about 2 hours round trip, but it was worth it I think. :)

Sofa Makeover

So I finally decided to add something to this little old blog. I've been ignoring it because it I can't get the pink the right shade and I want to fancy it up but who knows when that will happen so here we go. :)

I thought I'd show off my recent couch makeover. I friend gave me this couch a couple years ago and I finally got the slip covers sewn. Above is the before and after (the white is the After ;0) ). Of course, now the room needs painting and I need to cover the glider and I need to hang some curtains and put something up on the wall and.........