Moving!

Please bookmark my new blog: http://decorgirl.blogspot.com/

I just felt a little weird w/my title of "decorating queen"--too presumptuous! But nearly every blog title i liked was taken. Truth is, i'm just a girl who loves decorating and finding new ideas through other blogs. Hope we can all continue to share w/each other! Thanks for reading!!

An "After", and Deal of the Day

Well i'm finally back! I couldn't figure out the issue w/my photo uploading problem--until today. It seems to be my photo place that i upload to, pephoto.com. Now, they are wonderful for cheap prints (6 cents each, and shipping isn't too bad). But apparently for sharing them here, not so much. Hence the blurriness in my Kitchen Re-do post. Booooo! I've, of course, changed some of my decor in there since those were taken, so i'll prob just take new ones and share w/you soon. If you comment on this, please tell me where you upload your photos too. I also hate how much of a painstaking process this is on Blogger, but that's for another post..lol!

So i posted about my bench that i wanted to paint. Here is a whole shot of the front porch first. I recently painted that hanging basket black, under the mailbox. And gotta have a chalkboard, of course! Check it out, hanging by the door, on the left. It usually says "Welcome", but i'll change it to say "Party" if we're having one, etc. And i think i'm going to put some moulding around that door soon. It needs *something*!

A little focus on the bench itself... Before: drab and boring

And After! Doesn't it look so much cuter w/just a couple coats of white paint?!

Ok... so i've been finding GREAT clearance items lately, and thought it'd be fun to do some "Deal of the Day" posts, cause who doesn't LOVE a good bargain?! I'm always checking the endcaps and Target anytime i go (usually several times a week... yep, Target addict here), and love me a good clearance item.

I have some Georgia friends who would rave about Hobby Lobby. I was so sad cause we never had one here--until last yr. Now i see what the excitement is about! They really have some cute decor items, and of course anything crafty that you could want. And you gotta love how almost everything is on sale too! So as i ventured through the aisles yesterday, i came across this beauty, on clearance:

For FIVE bucks!!!! Regularly 49.99, @ 90% off! And the greenery was half off, so only $3 each stem.

I think i'm going to put it in the back room, next to the cabinets i plan to repaint. Black. I've already spraypainted my old gold pulls and knobs (gawd, what a process!) silver, and am just waiting on the paint to come in. I've researched online and found great feedback about a certain black paint.. i'll share it w/you in the Re-Do post for the cabinets! Also to come is a chalkboard in my youngest son's room. Yet another project i've wanted to tackle and have put off. Thanks to Sarah over at thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com for the push to finally get that done!

Hope to share them w/you soon.

I have no idea why there are so many spaces in this post! It doesn't look this way when i'm in editing mode.. hmmmmm....

Girly Giveaway!

Check out Sarah, over at Prayerful Driven Life: (ugh..blogger link isn't working..so you'll have to c&p, sorry!) http://prayerfuldrivenlife.blogspot.com/2009/07/girlie-girl-giveaway.html

Not only does she run 2 great blogs, she is also having an awesome girly giveaway, and is allowing plenty of time for you all to enter! So scoot---get on over there :)

Super Bad!

Sorry i haven't updated lately. The busy-ness of summer has taken over! We had an awful start here, but are finally getting great weather. We had a nice long weekend at the beach, been enjoying summer festivals, and just plain old hanging out in the yard! Which means i haven't been doing anything too creative..but boy do i have some things lined up. I want to spruce up our main bathroom--paint the cabinets, possibly re-do the floor, etc. I've always liked the idea of a chalkboard on the wall, and have found the perfect place in my youngest son's room..hoping to tackle that soon too. I need to get some pointers from a fellow blogger, and when i do it, i will link you to her blog--she has some really fab ideas!!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer! :)

The Kitchen Pics

Oh boy..it's kinda weird to go back and see the "before" photos--hard to remember my kitchen looking like this! We bought our house in 1998, and i was all about the country look back then. While i still love some of the country decor, i definitely appreciate a more simplistic style now--i.e. a lot less cluttered! I loved all of my apple stuff, but boy did it overwhelm the place.

See what i mean?!

So the "after" has been done a little over a year now, and i'm much happier w/the look. These were taken right after we painted, so i've since added a little more decor, but not enough to take all new pics. The color is Behr Mulling Spice (satin). We moved our dining room table into the kitchen, and i'll tell ya--we eat there more than we ever did when it was in the dining room! The island was moved over to another corner, to serve as extra counter space.
Here's the island. We painted the base a different color--it's actually not the same as the wall, but a bit darker (hard to tell in the photo)
Ditched the bench and got this awesome cabinet at TJ Maxx. Marked down, of course! I only paid $40! (originally $80). Also got rid of the old-fashioned phone. How i loved that phone when we first got it! Just went w/something simple, as a backup for the cordless.

And just a closeup of an under-cabinet detail. Wine rack from Ikea.


Big improvement or what??!!

Thanks for looking :)

She's Crafty.....

Here are some crafty things i've recently put together. I was having a Lia Sophia Jewelry Party, and thought it'd be cute to make a chalkboard (i've been a little obsessed w/them lately!) that listed the drinks i had available.

So this:

Became this:



I purchased everything at JoAnn's (except the ribbon, which i already had--think that was from Michaels). The flowers come already painted. Just had to paint the frame around the chalkboard white, size and cut the ribbon, and glue everything on.

Speaking of my chalkboard fetish, i picked this up at Marshalls last month (for only $16.99--wow!) and just love it! I keep it in the yard and write different sayings on it. I have a plant that goes on the little bottom shelf. My friend borrowed it for her wine tasting party, so i wrote something pertaining to that:


I needed some decor for a new bench my MIL picked up for me. This is on our front porch.

So this:


Became this:



Everything was purchased at JoAnns (except the letter "B" and sign on the bottom shelf, which i already had). I just painted the clay pot white, stuck some floral foam in the bottom, added the greenery, stuck it in the birdcage and voila!

Lastly, here are some cards that i made last weekend. From left to right--Fathers Day Card for FIL, Birthday card for my Sister, Fathers Day card for DH, Fathers Day card for my Dad.



What kinds of crafts are you working on?

Chair Re-cover-y!

I hope to share the pics of my kitchen re-do soon. While we didn't do any *major* work (would like a new floor, maybe cabinets/countertops), just taking the steps to "de-country" it were huge! We've lived in our house going on 11 years (oh the work we've done!), and i was very into the whole country look for awhile. The main decorating item being Apples. I'm sure you all know what a popular trend that was. I had anything and everything apple in there. I still have a love for country decor in my heart--but times change, as did my taste. It's so freeing to get rid of all that stuff! It really can look cluttered and over-decorated if you're not careful. I feel i'm moving on to a new phase of a cleaner, more modern design taste. Though i've reserved my porch for a bit of a country-ish look, since i can't escape it entirely! (pics to come)

What finally kicked my butt into changing the kitchen? The purchase of a new stainless steel fridge. My old one was black and on it's way out. The trouble began when it started to freeze the veggies--in the fridge! So we got a great deal on an LG side-by-side, which is something i've always wanted. I'm a huge water drinker, so it has been wonderful having the dispenser. It's also encouraged the kids and the hubby to drink more water, which is definitely a good thing!

(fyi: SS appliances are hard to photograph! But you get the idea. Get a sneak peek of the country-ish stuff to the right, above the window)

The first change after choosing the paint color were the chair cushions. Here is a side by side shot. You can see my old, country-ish one on the left. I was (and still am--shhh!) a plaid lover....i can't help it! The very first couch fabric we selected was plaid and i just always loved that look. On the right is the new pattern, which is now on all of the chairs. This is so easy to do--just a couple yards of fabric and a staple gun!

More pics to come soon!