DECORATING YOUR MANTLE

Do you change the look of your mantle for the different seasons?
I never did before, but, in the last few months, I have been trying to make little changes for the different times of the year. My husband built the mantle last year and that gave me the initiative.
I try to use items I already have and maybe change a thing or two.

This is what my mantle looks like now

 

Bought the clock at Kirklands a couple of years ago.
My best find ever!

 

My Fleur de Lis orbs, also from Kirklands

Lots of space up there to play with!

 

Last spring just added some flower bunches and a small set of ceramic jars

Change the flowers for some orange orchids during the summer

Fall 2010

Christmas 2010

 My first mantle decor ever.Very simple.

Still learning from all the wonderful blogs out there.
Thank you for visiting!

WALL STENCIL

I had no idea what I was getting myself into!!! LOL
This was a hard to do project but, I had lots of fun doing it! I always wanted to try it, but I was so worried of messing up the walls. I researched it for weeks. I even thought of doing wallpaper, but I have heard horror stories about how hard it is to remove it after you get tired of it, and I know I will, I am sure of it!
I don't seem to be able to leave things alone for more than a few months at a time.
Looked through many inspirations photos and finally thought, why not? It is just paint!
Our dinning room is still a "work in progress". We donated our old dinning room set to a couple that we knew they really needed it. They have five children and never been able to sit down together for dinner because they didn't own a table to fit all of them. We are planning to purchase a new set for the holidays.
That will be our Christmas gift to ourselves.
Meanwhile, I added a new chandelier, new window panels and some beautiful pictures I found at Kirklands.
And of course, I stenciled the walls in a Damask design.
Here it is, my work of art! LOL

This is before

Getting ready to start stenciling!

It took me two hours to do that little bit!!!

All finished!!!

The corners were so hard to do

I also added a chair rail and painted the bottom part of the wall in Latte by SW to go with the same color accent wall in the living room.

All in all, it took me six days, from sun up to sun down to finish this project. I am so glad I did it!

I love the warm feeling it gave the room, now, we just need some furniture. LOL

Thank you for coming by.

FORMAL LIVING ROOM

When we moved in our new home three years ago, we decided to take our time decorating each room.
Most of our furniture was very old and after 23 years of military moves and raising three children, it was in need of being replaced. This is one of the rooms we have been working on, slowly but surely.
Just recently, I painted the back wall in a warm but darker color, Latte by SW.
It is amazing what a difference a little paint can make,
It is almost finished but still waiting to purchase a nice area rug and a few decor items.
This is what we got so far.

Almost all the decor items in this room came from Kirklands.

 Kirklands sconces and picture over the sofa

 It has always reminded me of the houses in the south of Spain

Vase set from Kirklands

Hope to have it finished before Christmas.
Have a wonderful week!

PAINTERS CANVAS DROP CLOTH PROJECT

I wanted to share with you a project I did last year.
I had wanted for the longest time some outdoor curtains for my back porch but my ceilings are so high back there, that soon I came to realize it was going to be very expensive to purchase some, about $550, and I was not willing to spend that much money for them.
A friend of mine, Helen, gave me this idea, She had seen it done on HGTV or on a blog, so, I decided to give it a try.
Outdoor curtains made of painters canvas drop cloth. Who would of thought!
I purchased mine at Lowes and I was able to do the whole porch for about $60.
It was not an easy project, lots of work and very time consuming, but I did it!
I also had some leftover material and I have used it since then to make pillows for my porch this last summer.
Also, for those of you that like stenciling, this material works great for that.
And the best part is that is all canvas, so it is very durable. My curtains look the same after a year of storms, cold weather and 113 degree heat this summer.
I have also had some fun decorating around them for the different seasons.
Here are some pictures.

Painters canvas drop cloth that I used.

My back porch with the drop cloth curtains.

I love the cozy feeling the curtains gave the back porch

 

I also have fun changing the little picks on the curtain's tie backs to match the different seasonal decor

And these are the pillows I made last summer with the leftover material.
I stenciled them in teal and apple green to match the decor I had on the porch for the summer.

 I just love pillows!

So, here it is, an inexpensive project that can really change the look of your outdoor space.
Thank you for visiting!