The Enchanted Bungalow & Knottliten Cottage

Baby Boy Shower

2010-11-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

My home was the setting of a wonderful baby shower this past weekend. My sister-in-law threw a baby shower for my daughter who lives across the country from us! She was here just for the weekend and my house was central, so that's where we gathered. Grandma, Grandma and Aunt

We used receiving blankets from her registry for the "tablecloth". (That's the handsome father in that baby picture up there).

The cupcakes were baby rattles -decorated adorably by talented SIL.

That's the cute little mommy as a baby up there.

It was so good to get together with relatives and friends!

Now we can't wait to meet the little guy!

"New" Kitchen Cabinets at Knottliten Cottage

2010-10-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

KNOTTLITEN COTTAGE ~

The kitchen in our 1925 cottage was remodeled in the 80's and it looked like it. Within the first two months we lived here, we added a dishwasher, bought new white appliances, installed white tile floors and counter tops, painted the walls white, changed the light fixtures, and added a large white farmhouse sink with a new silver faucet. We didn't, however, do anything to the 1980's cabinets except clean them profusely with expensive anti-smoke cleaner (the previous inhabitants were heavy smokers) and add cute silver pulls. When we priced cabinets, it would have been more expensive for new (old-fashioned looking) cabinets than the entire rest of the kitchen remodel. We just couldn't afford new cabinets and were resigned to living with the completely out-of-place, 1980's ones.

Three years later, I was reading The Lettered Cottage blog and fell in love with their black cabinets. I asked my husband about painting our cabinets black, but he wasn't sure it would look good. Then we found a picture on the Lettered Cottage of their original cabinets before painting. They were the EXACT same cabinets we had! My husband was totally on board with the painting after that. We had to finish our basement remodel, build a fence and landscape our yard first. But a year after finding the Lettered Cottage cabinets, we finally had time to do our own this past weekend. My folks babysat the twins and it took us two full days and $100 to turn our cabinets from this -

To this ~

We basically added beadboard to the sides, sanded the doors and cabinets, primed them, then painted four coats of glossy black paint with brush rollers. We absolutely love them!

~Janna

PS Linking up to Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday and the House in the Roses Show Off Your Cottage and Cottage Instincts Make it for Monday.

Savannah Weekend

2010-09-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

Janna and Janelle decided we needed a "girl's weekend", so Labor Day weekend found Janna and me flying to Savannah. We left Friday morning early and a mere 6.5 hours later, we landed in Savannah. We had a great, relaxing time - spa day, shopping, new foods and even checked out some cute cottages on Tybee Island (that we had seen on Layla's blog.) It was gorgeous weather and Savannah is just full of inspiration! But now it's time to get ready for FALL (we love fall!!)

There is Nothing New under the Sun

2010-06-19T14:10:00.001-07:00

One nice day in March, I was headed out on some errands and saw that wonderful sight - Yard Sale! I immediately braked and followed the signs! And here's what I found:

two child-size Pottery Barn chairs - perfect shape - $10.00 each. I happened to have a $20.00 bill in my purse, so I snatched them up and took them home. That is usually more than I spend - even on big people chairs, but I had been looking for sturdy, little wooden chairs for some time and these needed NO WORK!

Immediately my head started seeing a cute little table to go with those chairs - painted white with a chalkboard top. Of course, I'd never seen a chalkboard top and was quite proud of myself for thinking up something "new". So I started the search - and it was not until about 5 weeks later that I found the table. I promptly brought it home (Salvation Army store - $12.50) and set it aside knowing I wouldn't have time to work on it for several weeks.

The little cuties I was making it for were coming to stay for 6 days! This Grandma would get no painting done!

When I was cruising some blogs that evening, what should I see, but Centsational Girl's table and chair set with CHALKBOARD top! Hmmm, I guess I didn't think of something "new".
Anyway, mine is now done and here she is in all her glory!

Of course, I forgot to take before pictures, and during pictures, but it was just a cute little brown table (boys are sitting at it in picture above) and I did the usual sand, prime, paint, add chalkboard paint to top). I even sanded down the legs a bit so they'd show some wear and "match" the Pottery Barn chairs.

Now I can't wait for the little cuties to come back and stay for awhile so they can draw me some pictures!!

I'm linking up to SNS at Donna's And Met Monday at BTNOP

Porch Chairs

2010-06-08T06:42:00.001-07:00

I love these chairs that I found at Goodwill this weekend!
Old fashioned charm, but sturdy!
Let's hope the neighborhood cats don't like them!!
Now, should I leave them as is, stain the wood darker, paint the wood?

So comfie!

Storage, storage . . .

2010-05-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

We have a "grandkid" room in our house. It's the room where the grandkids have always slept when they come to visit. But I have decided that I need to have more room in there for play/exercise, etc, so I got rid of the two twin beds and am going to a daybed with a trundle. I have always stored several suitcases full of pictures, art, frames, etc. under the beds and I have now lost that storage. So here is the new plan.

Suitcases are stacked under the window seat in the owl window on the stair landing. I want to make some cute luggage tags so each suitcase will be labeled as to what is in it. (Instead of the little red dot).

I need to get one more black suitcase (18"-24") and make new handles for some of my suitcases. I will be looking for narrow belts on my next "trash to treasure" shopping expedition.

In the grandkids' room, this stack of suitcases will become an end table beside the daybed. I'd like to get one more suitcase to put on top of this stack too so the stack reaches the bottom of the window.

Can't wait to get shopping - and get this room finished up!

$8.77 chair

2010-05-03T19:39:00.001-07:00

I found this chair this weekend at one of my favorite haunts. It was $1.00 - that's right - $1.00. It was a good sturdy chair on casters. The upholstery was dirty and the seat cushion a little flat, but those are easy fixes.

Close up of the dirty seat.

So I went to work - took the seat and back off (they unscrew easily), tightened up a couple joints with wood glue and bungie cords to hold them tight while they dried and then stained the whole thing dark. This was my first staining project and I have to say, I'm more of a painting kind of gal. Staining is hard - I couldn't get it to cover evenly, etc. But in the end, I liked it. I had also picked up one of those mattress toppers for $5.00, and I used just a little chunk of it to fluff up the seat a bit.

Polly helped me with that part.

Then it was just a matter of wrapping the seat and back with my new material ($3.77 a yard at Walmart) and staple gunning it onto the seat and back. Again, not as easy as some I've done. It had curves, etc. I ended up taking it all apart, rearranging the foam and starting over. But it is comfortable and looks much better than it did! The fabric is a velvety type with stamped patterns in it. I can't get good pictures of it because it's night and I have to use flash, but it looks quite nice in it's proper place (our bedroom). Maybe during the day I can get a picture of it where it belongs instead of on the landing.

So it was $1.00 for the chair, $2.00 for the stain, $3.77 for the material and I'm figuring about $2.00 for the chunk of foam I cut off of my topper. $8.77 for a nice sturdy chair - not bad!!

Oops, excuse the stain on the carpet - I spilled some dye. I will be cutting that out and replacing it with a piece of carpet soon.
Esther

Linking up to Furniture Feature Friday at Mustard Seed Creations

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

2010-05-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!88 years ago today my mother was born. Almost 8 years ago, she went home to be with her Savior. I still miss her!

She was an example of what a Godly wife and mother should be. She loved us unconditionally and was patient and kind.

She taught me to make do with what I had and to LOVE it!! She was creative and content!

She was full of fun and could laugh at herself!

There are so many things I wish I could share with her - my daughters' weddings, the birth of the twins, our "new" old home, my son's marriage, the growth of the two grandchildren she did meet - not to mention all that has happened in my siblings' families!!

I picture her in heaven, looking down and smiling at us. I hope she is pleased with all of us!

I love you and miss you, Mom!

2010-05-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

When I started this blog so long ago, it was a "decorating" blog. It was helpful to me - gave me motivation to not only start the projects that were in my head, but to finish them as well. It worked well for that. But as time went on, I found that trying to take all those pictures from start to finish, etc. was hard for me. I would get going on a project and just forget to take them!

Anyway, I have decided to change this blog to more of a "decorating/family" blog. I love to do projects - take something old and re-make it into what I want. I love to paint and change the look of things, so that will always be a big part of my blog. But there may not be as many pictures of each step! And there will be more "family" things, because that seems to be how we stay connected these days and then I will have a "diary" to look back on and remember what happened (you know, for when I get old).

So, hopefully, a little later, I will get some pictures posted of our Georgia trip - after all, it is inspiring to visit Georgia! (As the picture at the top shows)

Plants and a sweet potato casserole at Knottliten Cottage

2010-04-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

The plants that I chose for the back yard (greens, yellows, reds, tropical ish) -

The plants that I chose for the front yard (blues, purples, pinks, whites) -The mature plants already in the front yard (pink azalea and purple lilac tree) -Proof that I do sometimes make dinner (sweet potato omelette casserole) -

Sorry for the photo quality; it was hailing when I took these pics :)

Super Easy St. Patrick's Day Sign

2010-03-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

This is soooo easy - I forgot to even take pictures! Just grab a piece of 2 x 4 about 8" long. (In my case, I asked my hubby to cut me one since all the scraps were too big or too little). I gave it a quick, very light spray of heirloom white. Then it was just a matter of typing on a piece of scrapbooking paper, modpodging it onto the block and adding a cookie cutter. I then put some eye hooks and chain on the top and hung it up by my front door.

SUPER EASY - SPLASH OF FESTIVITY!

Hooking up with Cottage Instincts Make it for Monday and DIY at ASPTL

Master Bath Re-do

2010-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like we've been working on the master bedroom/bath forever, but it's really only been a month! The bedroom was pretty much done last week and this week we put the final touches (is anything ever FINAL with a home?) on the bathroom. I've already posted about the mirror/vanity remake, so basically the floor was what we had left to do. It started like this and went to this.

When we pulled out the old vanity and put in the "dresser vanity", the lack of linoleum under the vanity became very visible.

My husband put thin layer of floor levelor over the whole floor.

I then taped off some grout lines

and gave the whole thing a coat of primer,

then a base coat of blue.

Next I sponged on three different colors (gray, green and tan) and smooshed it all together,

let it dry a few minutes and pulled up the tape.

Hubby added three coats of poly and - viola - a new floor. I'm glad we started with this floor that few people see because, of course, we (I) learned some things and I think I want to do this in our kitchen some day. 1. Depending on the look you want, keep searching until you find the right size tape for your grout lines. I really wanted thinner lines between, but got tired of looking. My husband suggested an auto body shop, but I was too impatient to try and find one. I like the floor a lot, but when I do the kitchen, I will definitely want smaller lines and will look longer and harder. 2. Try to remember that when you pull up the tape, it will be different pieces of tile. There are several places where it's obvious that my "smooshing" went from one piece to the next which is not natural in a real tile floor.

But overall, I'm very happy with it!

I'm linking up to Make it for Monday

and Metamorphis Monday

And DIY at ASPTL

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After

Master Bedroom Makeover

2010-02-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

This was our master bedroom when we moved into this house 6 1/2 years ago. (Ok - it wasn't really this bad - I had already taken the bedding off and moved some of the furniture out before I remembered to take a before picture). I found bedding that was a floral yellow and red print and we made it work. But I did tire of it and wanted something a little more "calm". So I started by finding some bedding - our carpet is green, but I wanted a blue/gray. I looked for several months to find something that had both colors and finally found it on clearance at Walmart for $40.00. It's a king set - not queen, but that works great. No need for a bed skirt.Next, we painted - a nice blue/gray (Valspar Woodlawn Silver Brook). I had to change out the headboard, but that was easy. We had made this headboard a few years ago - it's a door we found in our basement and my husband cut pieces of thin wood to fit into the panels and I covered them with batting and material.

So now it was just a matter of recovering them in a new material ( you know - with the staple gun - sorry no picture) and adding the trim moulding around the edge.

Now to the other side of the room. We had just a little table to hold the TV, so we decided to build an "entertainment" center.

We bought kitchen base cabinets from Restore ($40. and $50.), used a bookcase we already had and then made a "matching" one for the other side. I am so happy to have extra shelves now for books, storage and display!

The pictures over our night stands are ones my granddaughter took. The keys on were from my mother's collection and those two pices of art have become some of my favorite things in the whole house!

I know my cords are showing - I actually bought some cord covers, but they are the screw-on kind instead of the velcro kind, so I'm going to exchange them.

I am pleased with how this room has turned out - it's restful and comfortable! I'm sure I'll be tweaking for several weeks, but it's mostly done!

I'm hooking up with ASPTL

for DIY Tuesday

Mirror ReMake

2010-02-07T18:31:00.001-08:00

Here's what our master bath vanity and mirror looked like just a few weeks ago. Not Horrible - but not what I wanted for this 1885 Bungalow! The Southwestern border just didn't fit with my style. So it was out with the old . . .

and in with the new. (There was MUCH more to it than just saying "in with the new". Both my husband and my son helped me immensely with this project!! I will be posting more about the bath re-do in a couple weeks)

There was some left over tile from this job, and this mirror looked sadly plain,

So, I enlisted the help of my 14 year old granddaughter (she's VERY artistic and I trust her judgment more than my own on these things!) Anyway, these were the little 1" tiles that you could easily cut apart, so we did a dry fit,

Then pulled up one section at a time and glued it down.

No grout or anything fancy - just Elmers.

And here she is - all hung up! I am very pleased with how this bathroom is turning out and can't wait to post the totally final project! (We have to do something creative with the floor as there was no flooring under the old vanity when we took it out - we have an idea though!)

I love the "old-fashioned" toothbrush holder and the old utility room faucet for the sink.

(And look at that sun beaming through the window!! It was a beautiful day here in the NW today!)

I'm linking up to Metamorphis Monday

Cottage Instincts Make it for Monday

Kimba's DIY

Cheri's It's so Renovated

Grandson Weekend

2010-01-30T16:15:00.001-08:00

This week must have been "grandson" week. On Friday, I got to have my 22 month old twin grandsons. They helped with this project by posing for "no shoes" pictures (they'd have been very happy to pose for "no clothes" pictures too, but I didn't have a use for those at this point).

Then on Saturday, my 12 year old grandson came over and ~~helped~~ pretty much finished up the project and a couple others. For a great tutorial on the "remove your shoes" project go to How Does She . . Alison does a great job explaining the steps!

We my grandson mod podged on the paper, stuck on the shoe stickers, mod podged over it all and let it dry ( sort of - I'm not one that has much patience for that part of a project). Then came my part - I put the pictures in, drilled the holes and put the string through.

He also mod podged a picture of him, his sister and the twins onto a little canvas that I had.

I had a picture of my mom taken when she was about 16. I do not know why, but it was "torn" out and I've always wanted to do something with it. At the Dollar store the other day, I found a funky shaped plate that said "tractor picture" to me, so he took care of that little project for me too.

Then we moved to the messy stuff. I had purchased these topiaries at an after Christmas sale for 1.00 each.

We protected the bottoms with bags, sprayed them with spray adhesive and stated putting on the moss.

It got very messy

but I think they look good!

All in all, I'd say it was a good day's work! (So we went out to lunch!)

Linking up with: Met Monday

Make it for Monday

And DIY Day

Typewriter Key Plaques

2010-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

I got my Ballard Catalog a couple weeks ago and of course, started going throught it right away! One of the MANY things that caught my eye was the typewriter key plaques! They looked like they'd be easy enough to copy, so I started my hunt. My dear sister-in-law has taken up my hobby of "second handing" and so when they were down for New Years, we hit our favorite shops. And right there in St. Vincent's was the perfect thing - 6 Christmas tins - all the same size at 90% off!!!!! So I paid my quarter a piece for them and brought them home. The bottoms will be used some other time (I hope), but for now the tops will become typewriter keys! I gave them a good coat of primer (red oxide - it's what was in the paint cupboard), then a coat or two of black paint - just good ole Walmart ColorPlace. (Sorry - forgot to take a picture of the black painted lids)

I printed my letters on regular computer paper in Bookman Old Style font (400) and rubbed the backs of them with white chalk.

and traced around them with a pencil and then my white paint pen. Lookin good . .

But THEN - I had to fill in those lines!! I tried the paint pen - didn't look so good (again, sorry no pictures - in my frustration, I forgot). A paint brush with white paint was a little better, but the letters kept getting fatter and fatter! NOT SO GOOD!

The letters in the catalog and on my daughter's antique typewriter were white background, so I decided to start all over and go with that.

So more spray paint (Heirloom White) - lots of paint to cover the black and the outlined letters.

I decided I would just cut out the letters with my trusty ole scissors (no Cricut here), but before I went to all that trouble, I decided to see if I would be able to paint my border around the edge.

Hmmm not perfect, but then what is? I glued those letters on, gave a coat of mod podge and hung those babies up. (Yup - even before the mod podge was dry)

I think I like 'em

Flash and wet modpodge make for a glaring picture!

I still have two more tins and my sis-in-law told me she's got a couple for me too!! I think I'll do the word "Family" too!

I'm hooking up with DIY Tuesday
and 2nd Time Around

Have a good day!

Winter Centerpiece

2010-01-07T20:46:00.001-08:00

It's too early for Valentines, too late for Christmas/New Year's, but a good time for Winter! A little sparkly snow makes everything a little bit cheerier!

Hmmmm - too bad there aren't some cookies in these fat snowmen! Cookies and a cup of hot chocolate are just the thing for these wintery days!

Have a fun January!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-26T07:16:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!! We hope your day was wonderful - ours certainly was!!
There's nothing like little ones to add joy to the day!

Have a wonderful New Year!

Picture Letters

2009-12-20T14:01:00.001-08:00

We were looking for something a little different this year for our grandkids for Christmas. We have had lots of fun with them through the years and decided to make their initials with pictures of them from birth to now. I first made the letters with paper - and a pencil and ruler. Our granddaughter's first and last name start with M and our grandson's first name starts with J. We felt the J was too small, so we gave him the JM insignia that my husband uses for his business. My elf helper then took the letters and traced them onto scrap lumber and cut them out with his jig saw. (Sorry, no pictures - he's a speedy elf).

The next step was to prime them

then to paint them. I didn't intend to paint both sides, but I painted the wrong side of the JM, so I was stuck with painting both sides. If you are sure you will totally cover all the wood with pictures, you probably wouldn't need to paint, but I was pretty sure that at least my edges would be showing.

Next step was to start decoupaging (mod podge) pictures to the letters. I would recommend getting your pictures photocopied onto regular paper as I tried to use some pictures that I had extras of, but they do not decoupage easily!

After applying the pictures, add another coat of Mod Podge and then a coat of Acrylic Sealer.

We plan to put picture hangars on the back as soon as the sealer is dry. And there you have it - a "memory board". (This is not a quickie project. It required many hours of sorting through photo albums, etc. as not all our pictures are digital. And then there's the "Awww, remember that - wasn't she cute - etc.). But we are pleased with the end result.

I'm linking up with Make if for Monday at Cottage Instincts ,

and Metamorphis Monday

Also ASPTL

Christmas at Knottliten Cottage

2009-11-30T12:38:00.001-08:00

The tree. It's the smallest (and cheapest :) one we could find and it's up on the trunk, so the babies can't destroy it. I had extra fabric from the cuff of the burlap stockings my mom made us, so we cut the red, green and tan plaid fabric into strips to tie on the branches, white lights and an angel with a patchwork skirt to decorate the tree. A burlap tree skirt inside out (the other side has adorable felt ornaments that would be too much temptation for the babies).

The centerpiece. I made this in five minutes with stuff already around the house - two wine glasses from Goodwill I had in the cupboard, red tea lights I had in storage, extra trimmings from the tree and the berries from the fall front porch decor.

The front porch. This was almost free - more tree trimmings, holly cut from my neighbor's yard and a red bead garland I found at Target for $2.

Go here to see more thrifty holiday decor linked to The Shabby Nest.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-26T05:38:00.001-08:00

It's finally here - Thanksgiving Day! Thankfully, my husband and brother set up all these tables and chairs last night. We will not have room for a fancy centerpiece, but we will know where to sit as soon as I get all these bows attached to chairs.

But for now, I'd better get that turkey in the oven!!

Have a wonderful day!

Bathroom Mini Makeover

2009-11-15T19:35:00.001-08:00

One day I walked into my guest bathroom and thought "hmmm - BORING! Not really put together". It wasn't horrible, just a little tired and mismatched looking!

So . . . .

Out came the Almond Satin (very close to Heirloom White) and the basket and the magazine rack got a new coat of paint.

I sanded the edges with my CoW (Chunk of Wood) block sander and wiped some gray stain over them.

Added some contact paper left over from another project to the magazine rack -

And made a few little changes . .

And viola - not much of a change, but enough to make it fun to go in there again!

Sorry about the lighting - I live in the Northwest - we don't have very long days!

Linking up to Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday and Cottage Instinct and A Soft Place to Land.

Cubicle Land

2009-11-07T17:29:00.001-08:00

I work for the State Department of Education. You know what that means - a small cubicle with a jillion restrictions on what you can and cannot do to it. When I started four and a half years ago, I was with the Pupil Transportation Department. You know - processing the criminal histories of school bus drivers (and school volunteers - very interesting job), helping set up trainings for drivers and in general helping to make sure our students are safely transported to and from school. That lent itself to some interesting cube decor ~

I got the scrap book paper at one of our Big Lots when they were going out of business. It was 50c a package, so it cost me less than a dollar to "wallpaper" one of my walls. I started collecting school buses from second hand stores, garage sales, etc.

They made for some interesting additions (and so did those grandkid pictures!)

They became plant holders too!

And look at that view - I actually had a window seat!

About a year and a half ago, I transfered out of Pupil Transportation and into Human Resources. Now I do love this job, but the cube that came with it left a little to be desired!

Thinking that perhaps I'd better "grow up" my decor, I went to our Big Lots that was still open and got a couple rolls of shelf paper (1.00 per roll). I then got out the trusty T-pins and started "wallpapering"

Amazing what a little color and organization do for a cube. This cube is much smaller than my last one and has a big post in the middle.
I kept a few of my favorite pieces from my animal/bus theme just for fun.

Then I threw in a little "Fall".

With my snack box, and my cup of tea -- I'm all set!

Pantry Door

2009-10-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

I have had an open space with shelves that I call my pantry since we moved into this house. It always looked messy and I tried to hide it with curtains, etc. One day when my husband and I were in Lowe's looking for something else, we came across the bi-fold doors and I asked him if one of those would fit on our pantry. (A regular door would be too wide to be able to be opened.)He thought it would, we bought it and headed home to cover up this mess!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had installed the door the very next day while I was at work!

Now for some charm and cuteness! I've always wanted a pantry door that said "Pantry", so I printed some large letters with Word, scribbled across the back of them, taped them on the door and traced them onto the wood.

Next, I used my trusty black paint pen to outline the letters and then filled in with craft paint.

But I wanted more - I wanted something down the panels. I didn't know what I wanted, so I started looking in books, on line, etc. and finally found what struck my fancy in my old Betty Crocker Cooky Book.

I loved the little drawings at the top of each page!

Now, here's where the choices come in. You could take these to a copy store and have them enlarged and trace them on (similar to my letters), find some wall paper or decals that you loved and paste them on, decoupage something on, etc. I am fortunate to have a wonderful sister-in-law who is very artistic and she agreed to just draw them on for me freehand!! What a time saver!

Then I helped with the trusty black paint pen - she did some shading and viola!! it transformed those plain white doors. I love going to my pantry (and now I think I'm inspired to clean up the mess inside and make it cute too!! Check back in a couple weeks to see that!)

For more do-it-yourself projects visit A Soft Place to Land

Front porch for fall

2009-10-19T10:28:00.000-07:00

Front porch do-it-yourself decor at Knottliten Cottage
(my daughter's cottage in the city).

I already had the fake white pumpkin (from Michael's a few year's ago) and used Target dollar bin Halloween transfers for the spiders and webs and a ribbon I already had. The ghost jar was made by my Mom (Esther) following the instructions at this post and the gourd is a yellow squash from my neighbor's garden that I spray painted black. The brown branch pumpkin in back was a half price Rite-aid find at the after-Halloween sale last year. The stalk sticking up came from the neighbor's corn in their garden.

The orange ceramic jack-o-lantern and "Happy Halloween" pumpkins are from TJ Maxx. On the second fake white pumpkin I already had, I painted "BOO" with stencils and added a brown ribbon from my craft supplies. The branches fell off our plum tree and the white berries are fake (I think from my mom's craft supplies). The jack-o-lantern jars were also made by Esther.

Another clearance branch pumpkin from Rite-aid. Then I bought a craft pumpkin from Micheal's and spray painted it white and added a ribbon from my craft supplies. The red Cinderella pumpkin on bottom is real (from another neighbor's garden) and I used a black sharpie to write out Trick or Treat.

The wooden ladder was no longer safe to use for home repairs, so my parents gave it to me to use for decoration. I cleaned it and spray painted it black. The day after Halloween, I plan on removing the jars and the TJ Maxx pumkins, adding a few gourds in their place and just turning around the three pumpkins with Halloween decor. Then I can use this through Thanksgiving!

Click here for "A Soft Place to Land" full of do-it-yourself links.

Are you looking for cute office decor? Check here to enter "Beneath My Heart" giveaway!

Little Red Wagon

2009-10-12T06:37:00.001-07:00

Remember the cute little wooden cart I got on my Thrifty Weekend? Well, the big decision was what color to paint it!! I finally settled on red (one of my favorites) and sprayed it this weekend with some Walmart's ColorSpray Burgundy Spice. I added a little black around the wheels to make them stand out.

When it was done, I loved it and wanted to get it filled up!! That would require another trip to the pumpkin patch and I didn't have time for that! So I "borrowed" some gourds and pumpkins from other places in my house and filled it - just to see what it would look like!

So now this weekend, I'll have to get some more pumpkins, etc. and get it out on the front porch!

We're ready for Halloween!

A Thrifty Weekend

2009-10-04T18:39:00.001-07:00

Being a HUGE bargain hunter/trash to treasure kind of person, I always enjoy seeing what people have gotten and what they do with their treasures, so I thought I would show you my weekend's pickins. I paid $7.00 for the little wooden cart (my husband assured me that he couldn't make it for that, so I went for it), and $7.00 for the big pear because I've had my eye on one of those for a long time and I had just gotten my "allowance". Otherwise, everything was 20c to 1.99.

Most of the white dishes made their way into my built in hutch and will make it into a later post. The little cart is still waiting for its treatment. I just don't know what color to paint it. I want it to sit on my front porch full of pumpkins, gourds, leaves, etc. for Fall and then greens or something for Christmas. Any ideas?

The black colander needed nothing but washing and then we could put in some fresh-from-the- garden tomatoes and apples (well, from someone's garden).
The little white dish looks adorable with mini pumpkins in it

I spray painted the cake plate black and set the pear on it. I don't think it will stay like that as I really want one of those blueish pumpkins on it. The pear just doesn't stand
out enough either. So I'll do some work on that and maybe it will show up in a later post.

Today my daughter and her husband brought the twins down to spend the day with us. We went out to a pumpkin patch and picked up some beauties!! (Now why didn't I pick up one more of the bluey pumpkins?)

There's nothing like pumpkins to give a porch a welcoming, Fall look!

And a pile of them on the table looks so festive!

Oh - and thank you little men for helping Nana pick out some GREAT pumpkins!!

The Supper Club

2009-09-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

Eighteen months ago today my daughter gave birth to identical twin boys. (7 lbs 15 oz and 7 lbs 2 oz). I cannot even tell you how excited we were to hold those little fellas!! For the first month of their lives, I had the privilege of driving the hour to their house every Sunday evening and staying until Tuesday evening when I headed home and the other grandma headed to them. Then on Thursday evening, we switched places and I went up again and stayed until Friday evening. We let the little family fend for themselves on the weekend because Daddy was home.

One Tuesday as I was heading home, my husband called and said, "Jan and Sherm want to know if we want to go out to dinner. She's been babysitting grand kids all day and she's too tired to cook. Do you want to go?" Did I want to go?!?!? Helping with newborn twins is exhausting (although fabulously fun) work!! I too was too tired to cook! And so began "The Supper Club". We decided that since I would be doing this for awhile and she babysat on Tuesdays, we should make it a weekly thing. Now a lot has changed in those 18 months - those babies have grown,

until they are half as tall as me! They can walk, run, jump, climb and keep a Grandma hopping!

My dear friend has gone through breast cancer and sometimes that meant supper was brought to their house and we ate together. But we have missed very few weeks (only when one or the other of us has been traveling!) And now we have added more people so that we have eight in our group. We take turns choosing where to eat and try to be adventurous and try new places!

. . . hmmm, something very important is being discussed. . .

Between the eight of us we've had lots of loss, sadness, joy, and sharing! And that's what friends are for! What would we do without them?

A Giveaway at Pineconeprim

2009-09-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Click here to visit Pineconeprim where you can enter a giveaway to win one of these darling homemade bags!

Weekend Project

2009-09-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

I decided this weekend that my cupboard handles needed sprucing up. Two years ago when we salvaged these cabinets, they were shiny brass and I painted them platinum. They've held up well, but were starting to show some wear. And I really wanted black now. So out came the screw gun and all 27 handles (2 screws each) came off and were lined up for painting.

Ready - set - paint!

A shiny coat of black spray paint - tops, then turn so one side gets it, then turn again for the other side.

And then getting them all screwed back on!

Finished - for now. Still don't know what to
do with the floor - any ideas? I've thought about painting it - it's linoleum. That way I could "try out" some different looks before we spend the big bucks! I'm flipping between a slate look, wood floors, tile, etc.

For more Do-it-Yourself projects, go to "A Soft Place to Land" by clicking here!

The Kitchen

2009-09-21T19:30:00.001-07:00

When we moved into the Enchanted Bungalow six years ago, the kitchen was, ummm "charming", but not really useable. I do not have pictures of what it looked like then, but here it is after I added some color to the cabinets. You will notice the drawers are stuck out - they really didn't work and we could never get them totally shut. After a bit, I added the painted blue and yellow checkered backsplash. We used it that way for four years and then our friends told us their neighbors were going to remodel their kitchen and planned on taking a sledge hammer to their cabinets. EEEEKKK! Those were solid wood - sure the finish was worn and they had a definite 70s feel, but the shelves pulled out and they were solid!! We could have them for FREE if we could get them out of there within two weeks. We gathered our work force (friends are what makes the world go round!) and took them out and to our house in one day. It took us one whole month to dismantle our kitchen and put it back together.

It was amazing how the "new" cabinets fit into our floor plan and how good they looked with a coat (okay - three coats) of white paint on them. Our plan was to get new cabinet doors for them so they would go with our house, but it's been two years and that hasn't happened yet.

We kept the faux brick because we liked it and we kept the upper cabinets. When we moved in there were open shelves on one wall which I liked. However, we found the doors in our basement and I had my clever mister cut out the center panels and we replaced them with glass so that I wouldn't have to dust so much! (I'm a tiny bit lazy when it comes to dusting). The tiles for the backsplash are left overs from a project my husband did for some friends.

Ahhhh - a dishwasher!!

Yes, that is a kitty door you see on the right hand side of the picture. Before we remodeled, that was a big door that opened to a hole so you could throw your tea towels down to the laundry in the basement. I told my husband I would miss that part when we took out the door and drywalled it in. So he, being the clever man that he is, put in this kitty door so I could still throw my towels down to the laundry! So convenient!

Oops - you can see my peach cobbler cooling on the red cart - mmmmm it was delicious!

We are not totally done - we're still trying to decide what to do with the floor and I am constantly changing the counter "decor", but I love it every morning when I go in there!

I Love Flowers!!

2009-09-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

My friends gave me some "Esther" tulips for my birthday. I can't wait until they come up next spring and I can see what they are like! But for now, I'll be happy with my dahlias. I love the way flowers transform the ordinary into the "fabulous"!!

Ordinary wine bottles

Old Jars

My collection of 25c toothbrush holders from Goodwill Fourth of July bouquet

Sweetness

Fall

I love flowers!!

The Perfect Chair for roughly 20 bucks.

2009-09-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Janna, and her husband and twin babies live in an urban cottage built in 1924 that she has named Knottliten Cottage (Knottliten meaning very tiny). Their living room is especially narrow and as such, their large brown recliner never really fit well. They moved the large brown recliner downstairs to the playroom and found a smaller, attractive chair at IKEA -

IKEA Tullsta Chair

The chair is white and the slip cover is cream, gray or red plaid, none of which worked for her living room, so she decided not to purchase it and keep looking. It just so happened that I had an extra IKEA Tullsta chair in my house, because I had bought two new ones from IKEA (the cream slip covers worked for me) and a few weeks later found the same chair and slipcover at a garage sale for $5. I didn't know Janna was looking at this same chair at the time. When she told me she wanted that chair, except for the color, I decided to try using dye on the slip cover. It took five packs of dye (~15.00) in my washing machine with the slip cover and small pillow, but it turned out great. The color matches her living room and she found an adorable round footstool at Home Goods for $30 to go with the chair. Because it was a used chair it already has more of a shabby, comfy look to it, which fits their cottage perfectly.

The chair in Knottliten Cottage.

Visit A Soft Place to Land to see more do it yourself projects!

Yard Retreat

2009-09-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the picture of the little cottage, our yard was just a tree with some very uneven "grass". When you live in the Northwest, you need all the sunshine and fresh air you can get, so we have tried to make this yard a place where we can sit and be comfy - even if it is a bit drizzly. A good friend helped with the flagstone and handy Hubbie broke out crumbling concrete and poured new. The jasmine was just an 18" plant in a pot when we moved here 6 years ago. It has now taken over the fence and blooms from spring to late summer. It was given to me by a good friend when my mom died 7 years ago and I brought it with us when we moved. It brings me memories of her and of the friend who gave it to me every time I look at it. (and it smells wonderful!!) The yard has proven to be a great place for summer potlucks, dessert buffets and hot tub parties!

How did I get here? Part 2

2009-09-01T20:52:00.001-07:00

The Enchanted Bungalow, circa 1885.

I had a picture in my mind of the house I wanted - a 1920s cottage maybe. But there were very few houses to choose from at that time and we were hitting a deadline! So, this Bungalow was it - it wasn't exactly what I wanted, but at least you didn't have to go through the kitchen to get to the bathroom - and it even had 3 bathrooms!! It was a great location and certainly had some charm. Besides, it had an adorable little cottage in the backyard! We decided we could make it work! So, that's how I got to this house. And why is it enchanted? Because I was here only a few months and it had me "wrapped around it's front porch . . .

The Cottage behind the Enchanted Bungalow, circa 1925.

I love to change things and this house has been the gracious backdrop for all my experiments. It's been cottage, craftsman, Italian villa - you name it! And it is settling into all three styles (okay, basically "eclectic") with great comfort and charm.

How did I get here?

2009-08-31T06:44:00.000-07:00

This is a story about our house - a Craftsman Bungalow right downtown in the historic district of our lovely city.

Why I am writing about it? My daughter, who loves all things old and loves blogging, suggested that I should take pictures of the things I have done with the house and post them. She loves to see what other people are doing to their homes! And since I didn't really know how, she even set up this blog for me. So that's how I got here - to this blog!

Now, how did I get here - to this house? Ahh, that's an interesting story!

In Sept of 2002, one daughter got married. It was a lovely affair and so much fun to plan and prepare for!

Two weeks after her wedding, our other daughter got engaged and we began planning another wedding for May! As the wedding drew near, I needed a new project and began to "suggest" to my husband that maybe we should move to an older home like we had always wanted (well, I had always wanted and he does find them charming!) So, on Easter Sunday, we put a sign out in our yard and four days later, our house sold. So, now we were finishing up on the wedding and looking for a new place to live.

The wedding came off without a hitch - beautiful and fun!

And I started making daily trips through the neighborhood where we wanted to live...

Wedding Photos taken by Tim's Family Photos - my fabulous brother!