Decorating ideas

...now browsing by tag

Provence Painted Mirror, Part Two

Tuesday, June 18th, 2013

mirror5

How was your weekend? I wanted to share with you how my bedroom mirror project I started last week here:

greenmirror

Ended up turning out. I purchased more of the Chalk Paint® (ASCP) Provence paint to finish the job:

florence

I loved the color of the Provence, but I decided that I wanted something a little lighter in color. I tried mixing different parts of the Chalk Paint® Provence with Chalk Paint® Old White until I found the perfect color mixture:

flor2

The mixture I was happy with was with one part Provence to three parts Old White. Perfect! See how nice it works with my bedroom fabric?:

flor3

Love it. My original plan was to rub some of the color Chalk Paint® Aubusson Blue over the finish to bring in some of the dark blue of the fabric, but I just wasn’t loving it:

flor4

I like the clean look better, don’t you? It was easy to paint over the blue. You have to experiment and try different techniques, right? So after one coat of the mixed paint, I rubbed on the Clear Wax, waited 24 hours to dry and then buffed to a beautiful shine:

mirror6

I’m really happy with it! The lighter color works so much better in the room instead of the Chalk Paint® Antibes. The Magic of Paint! Still a few more projects, but I love how the bedroom is all coming together:

mirror4

I have this on my husband’s bedside table:

vignette

A different way to display using books slid sideways as pedestals. Isn’t the house and mushroom so cute? There is a local store here in North Conway, NH where these little houses are made individually by special, disabled adults. They are all so sweet that I can never make up my mind which to buy!

I hope you enjoyed my mirror redesign project. So easy to do and it really is perfect!

If you need help decorating your space, contact me today.

Share on Facebook

Posted in Bedrooms, color, DIY Projects, Interior Decorating, Kelly's Best Colors, Painted Furniture, reuse | 2 Responses »
Tags: Antibes, ASCP, bedroom, blue, Chalk Paint® Provence, color, decorating, Decorating ideas, mxing ascp colors together, Old White, update

New Navy Blue Sofa!

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

Like many of us, my budget for home beautification only allows me to afford one big purchase at a time:

sofa1

Ever since I started our living room project, I have been dreaming of a navy blue sofa since I saw this beauty:

clip_image001

source

A very beautiful and very expensive sofa. But I want it and the color navy fits right into my color scheme! What to do? The sofa I have now is only about five years old. It is still in great shape and I have always loved its Chesterfield look:

I love the rolled arms and it is so comfortable with the ottoman. I wanted to keep it but the fabric was not working anymore. Since the fabric is the most expensive part of having anything reupholstered, I have kept my eye out for a good price on fabric. I found this navy blue velvet on sale:

clip_image003

source

To have a couch reupholstered, a sofa this size takes about 16 yards of fabric. The price was $14.00 a yard, plus 2 extra yards for the ottoman. 18 yards x $14.00 = $252.00 for fabric. That is a pretty good price! A reupholster price for labor on both the sofa and ottoman should cost you around $500.00. Not too bad for a ‘new’ sofa!

sofa2

Next step is finding a great, affordable rug to go with my new sofa. I ordered rug samples from Ballards in Natural that I think will work great in the room and is pretty reasonable in price:

clip_image004

source

clip_image005

source

I need to balance the white over to the other side of the room and the rug will do just that:

sofa3

But wait!! I just found the perfect rug! Love, love, love:

clip_image006

source

sofa4

Well, perfect except for the price (sad face). I am still going to order a sample ($10.00) to be sure it will work. I noticed Company C does have an online design program where I might be able to get a designer discount. When you find ‘the’ perfect item to work in your design plan, you have to decide if you want to wait and save up for it or find something comparable that will work but not be so costly.

clip_image008

source

I am not a very patient person when I get a great idea! I just want to keep moving forward to get the project completed. But, because of the budget, I am going to have to wait a bit to make another large purchase. Does this happen to you too? Isn’t it frustrating?

Well, it is another step toward my design goal. I love my new navy sofa and am very grateful! On to the next step!

sofa5

Here is a helpful link to an upholstery guide here that helps you determined how much fabric you will need for your upholstery project.

Share on Facebook

Posted in Interior Decorating, Living Rooms, Reduce Recycle Reuse | 10 Responses »
Tags: blue, color, decorating, Decorating ideas, living room, navy blue sofa, sofa and chairs

Decorating With Forsythia

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Spring has finally arrived here in the Northeast! I kept pulling over to the side of the road today to take a few pictures while I was out running errands:

flower2

flower3

So exciting to finally see some spring flowers start to bloom. I ended up here (neighbor’s) to cut some of my own branches to bring home:

flower4

One of the reasons I love forsythia is because it seems to announce in high definition that Spring is here. Another reason is because it is so easy to work with and create arrangements:

flower5

source

So simple and beautiful. I thought I would share some of my ideas to encourage you to run out and cut some branches! First I made something very simple:

flower6

Then I added a pop of color with a few purple irises that I had left over from another arrangement:

flower7

Next I decided to try a white vase:

flower8

Doesn’t forsythia look so pretty in small vases also?:

flower10

Do you know how beautiful that picture above would be if taken by a professional photographer? I wish I was a professional photographer.

I thought this branch was interesting:

flower16

Then I was down to my last couple of branches and decided to make a smaller arrangement:

flower12

flower13

Which looked a little boring so I snuck in some faux flowers:

flower14

flower8

Doesn’t it look like I had so much fun? I hope that I have inspired you to bring in some happy flowers! Do you like decorating with flowers? Tulips are coming! And my favorite- peonies. So simple and beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend my friends!

Share on Facebook

Posted in Decorating Hints & Tips, DIY Projects, Floral Arrangements, Interior Decorating | 7 Responses »
Tags: color, decorating, Decorating ideas, decorating with forsythia, flower arranging, flowers, forsythia, forsythia arrangements, Spring flower arrangements

Fresh New Drawers

Monday, April 15th, 2013

drawer2

Over the years, we have accumulated a few old dressers along the way:

drawer8

drawer4

I have thought about painting, but I really like their history and character. Do you see the keyholes in the drawers? Pretty cool and unique:

drawer9

Remember the post I wrote here wondering if I should paint or not paint this piece? I decided not to paint over. Once it is done, there is no going back and it really is unique and beautiful:

drawer5

But one thing I do not like about the old chests is the old, musty smell in the drawers. I might care about the history of the outside of the dressers, but I do not want to know the history of what was in those drawers before:

drawer3

I tried drawer sachets and pretty lined paper:

drawer6

But that does not work. And since I have been going through paint withdrawals(no painting projects lately!), I decided one way to get rid of that musty smell would be to paint the inside of the drawers. Yay paint project!

smiley_face

Using a pretty paint color leftover from another painting project, I choose the color Ben Moore Riviera Azure for a beautiful surprise every time I opened up the drawer:

paint1