Confessions of a Tagger

Not only is the price tag visible on the pot of grass on my dining room table, but the mirror underneath still has the price tag too!

Ok. I have a confession. I leave price tags on EVERYTHING. Even stuff I've used for years still has a price tag on it somewhere. 

Am I nuts? Do other people do this too?

I really love the stuff I bring into my home, why am I so afraid to take the tags off? Am I seriously going to return a pillow 2 years later? But the tags remain... 

Yep, I bought this 2 months ago, and it's proudly displayed on my dining room settee -- but the price tag is artfully hidden.

Ohhh! I bought a new pillow from West Elm this past weekend. I didn't take the price tag off.

Turns out I didn't take the price tag of the white pillow either -- you know, the one I bought 2 months ago!

And how about my new night table lamps? I got them on clearance. You can see it from the price tag hanging off of it {you can't miss the glaring red sticker!}. I'm so tacky...

How about my little ceramic egg carton to stash my everyday jewelry?

Yep! Still has the price tag! I have another one of these babies on my kitchen counter too -- and I can assure you that the price tag is STILL on that one as well.

And the pretty picture frame on my dresser?

Still with a price tag on the back. I'm beginning to see this is a major problem.

Cute ceramic cotton ball jar in the powder room -- still with the price tag on 2.5 YEARS LATER!

I'm hoping that my powder towel holder won't have a price tag on it...

...but I would be wrong.

I know this behaviour is bizarre. Or is it? 

Do you have a secret decorating bad habit confession?  Spill your dirty little {and tacky!} secrets. 

I'm listening...but first, I'm going to commit to cutting off all the price tags first!

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I have Pyrexia. And my friends know it.

I have amazing friends. These said friends support my Vintage Pyrex addiction.

This past weekend, one of my lovely friends was at a yard sale, and found me a BIG AND GORGEOUS harvest gold casserole dish with a LID! And both for a quarter! 

She texted me with a pic and gave it to me at Church on Sunday.  I'm so blessed to have friends that know me so well.

What an AWESOME gift!

Now my little casserole dish find from this post has a big sister!

I just realized how long it's been since my last "Thrifting Thursday" post. Maybe I'll try that out again.

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Hungry Girl

Little A has reached another milestone.

Yes, my little girl has decided it's time to foray into solid food!

She's been ogling our food for weeks now, grabbing at our utensils and even grabbing EZ's bottle.

So, I tried to hold out till she was exactly 6 months,but I caved a week early and gave her organic brown rice cereal. And she LOVES it! 

With the addition of food, I'm hoping she'll sleep a little better through the night {'cuz Mummy is slowly going crazy from lack of sleep!}. 

You would think for a first-timer, she'd show a little apprehension, but she ate all her cereal. Let's just say, if she could lick the bowl clean -- she would have!

Full tummy = Happy bebe!

Mummy - may I please have some more?

She's definitely got the hang of using her spoon!

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What my house really looks like most of the time

Life with 2 kidlets is incredibly messy. I like things neat and tidy {I'm one of those people who can't focus if things aren't in their right place}, but with my two little ones - sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who lives like this. 

Here are some pics of EZ "helping" to tidy up.

These toys are cleaned up from the living room. He brought them up in an old Easter basket, and threw them on the new shag rug. Niiiccceee!!! Oh, and do you see my unmade bed? Check out the pillows on the floor too. At least you can't see the laundry that needs to be put away. We had about 4 baskets of those until Adair put it away yesterday. YAY! THANK YOU!

Oh! EZ found Mummy's old Blackberry. He thinks it's a camera and tries to snap a photo of me while I'm taking a picture of him.

He does this cute thing -- when he "takes" a photo of you, he turns his head sideways and puts the "camera" on the side of his head. Totally adorable.

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A Chair Makeover - Drab to Fab

Wanna see how I transformed my chair into this beauty?

Well, it all started out like this. A $3 chair from Goodwill - great lines, interesting detail, but in need of a refresh! And since it is my FIRST TIME recovering and painting a chair -- totally by myself -- I thought it best to start out with a $3 chair {and $50/yard fabric, of course!}

I was really tempted to keep the fabric...JUST KIDDING! That fabric screams what was so ugly about the 80s {or maybe the early 90s!}.

I bought this chair in February, but it's sat in my garage since because too many other projects were more pressing.

I started by removing the seat -- easy to do. I noticed the chair wasn't in the best shape, but it was only $3 and it's sturdy enough.  I guess I could have taken the time to sort out how I could reinforce it, but seriously, that's not my style. I have a quick and dirty decorating personality. And after months, I wanted this chair done ASAP!

Next I sanded the chair down with my handy, dandy sandpaper, all the while listening to music and texting friends on my iPhone.  I then gave it a few good coats of RustOleum's Painter's Touch Ultra Cover 2x in Gloss White, also known as my BFF. Seriously, this is AWESOME spray paint. It covers well and evenly with few coats of paint. While the chair was drying, I removed the fabric off the seat - be sure to save the fabric because you'll need it as a template!

 

 

Image via RustOleum - click here for more info!

Then around 11:30pm, this is how it ended up. It was getting late, but the NHL playoffs were going into overtime, so why not just finish it!

So I grabbed my new DwellStudio fabric and got to work on the seat cushion. I probably should have taken more photos, but I was distracted by the hockey game and I was super focused on getting the seat done -- I told you I like this done quickly, right? Anyway, I laid out the old fabric on the new material to {roughly!} cut out the pattern. I added some new padding to the seat, and stapled it like I was wrapping a present. And voila! Mission Accomplished.

Say good-bye to the ugly fabric...

...and Hello to fabulous!

Gratuitous shots of my new chair in another room with darker walls...

...and yet another shot with some natural light.

I hope you enjoyed my little chair makeover! What projects are you working on with paint?  I'd love to see them! Leave me a comment below with a link, and I'd love to check it out!

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Tweaking...

One of things that I love about interior design & decorating is that it never ends. There is never a perfect space -- something can always be improved upon.

So the other day when I was organizing my basement, I came across a pair of yellow Moroccan slippers that we bought in a Marrakech souk a few years ago.  I thought that these were the perfect addition to the conversation area in the dining room - they complement the silver Moroccan pouf well. 

Also, do you see that I moved the pouf from underneath the table {there was always supposed to be TWO poufs, but these babies from Target are SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE!, so one it is -- I'm making it work!}.

What do you think about my little design tweak? Does it make a difference? 

The slippers are the *perfect* yellow colour!

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Long Weekend #1 - Project Round-up

Thank you Queen Victoria for this past long weekend. 

Our long weekend was spent wisely balancing home projects & family time. Just perfect {although I'm impatient & want projects completed more quickly!}. We enjoyed family walks, family BBQs, friends visiting, and a more relaxed pace than we're used to.

We woke up early on Saturday morning {like 6:30am!} to hit up a local garden centre for their big sale. It was, sadly, a big bust. The sales were few and far between, and definitely not worth the hour or two one would have to wait in the check-out line.

YARD SALE TREASURES!

So we decided to hit up a few garage sales instead. We had good luck.  A scooter for Ez, clamps {of some sort!} for the husband, but the BEST deal of the day was on vintage PYREX.  

I saw 2 bowls and a divided casserole dish {with a LID!}, and asked the teenager how much.  He said, "I dunno, a quarter each?" DEAL! Pyrex for  25 cents? YEP! Teenager

This beauty is HUGE - perfect for popcorn! 25 cents!

Medium sized mint green with a gold medallion print - 25 cents!

Mustard yellow with flower-printed lid - 25 cents!

Large glass cake plate {with the dome!} - $1 - yes. A WHOLE dollar! I heart yard sales!

I "splurged" on this milk white glass vase - a whopping 3 bucks!

Ez just woke up from a nap when I snapped this photo, hence the calmness of the kid.  Trust me, this kidlet spent the whole weekend on his new Spiderman scooter {yard sale find for $5} and his new tricycle. The trike is epic cuteness that requires a separate post :)

SPRAY PAINTING PROJECTS!

I spent my few free moments yesterday with my spray painting makeover projects!

 First is a $3 chair I picked up from my local Goodwill in this post. It's in decent shape {ok, some of the cane back is broken - but you can hardly tell!} 

I removed the seat cushion and gave the wood a good sanding, so it's all ready for painting! I'll do a full reveal another time - complete with the DwellStudio fabric I purchased in this post!

Remember the box I purchased in this post? Well, I had a Project Fail and it turned out UGLY. So I'm making it over with RustOleum's Gloss White. I hope I'm able it salvage my failed project!

GARDENING

 Despite the early Saturday morning fail at the garden centre, we managed to go to smaller, lesser known garden centres and picked up all the veggies & herbs for our garden! 

We had a successful garden last year {click here & here!}, so we're hopeful it's going to be lush and bountiful this year too!

For something different, we're going to build tall, long planters for our herbs. The building centres were closed yesterday, so this will be another project for another weekend.

Our garden is planted! Now we get to watch the veggies grow!

Of course, EZ is in the middle of the gardening action.  His "lost" shovel made a miraculous reappearance yesterday, so he was pleased.

 We didn't really touch EZ's room, although that is a project that really needs to be finished, since EZ is sleeping on a mattress in our 2nd floor family room. I can't WAIT to show you how it's improved from this to the finished product!

How was YOUR weekend? Any yard sale finds? Project updates? I'd love to hear/read about it!

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Blog Love Lately

Thank you to the lovely blogs who have featured projects from my little bloggy blog this month! 

Please check out their amazingly creative, awe-inspiring design/DIY blogs too!

Lindsey from Better After: Click here for my feature!

Stacey from Not Just a Housewife: Click here for my feature!

Leanne from Organize & Decorate Everything: Click here for my feature!

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