Floral Accents

At the heart of cottage style, floral patterns and fresh blooms bring color to the decorating landscape and lighthearted enchantment to our interior spaces.  Whether they are sweetly hand-painted on a headboard, skillfully rendered on canvas, or plucked from the garden, these endearing floral elements live and breathe the essence of cottage charm.

                         ~Victoria - Rooms of Bliss~

I received these beautiful roses for my birthday and I was inspired to look around at all the floral accents in my home.

In the dining room.

In the kitchen.

On the windows.

In the laundry room.

In the powder room.

From the garden.

And my most recent Goodwill find.

This wonderfully aged platter.

Today I'm celebrating the floral accents in my home For Show Off Your Cottage Monday at The House In The Roses and Todays Thrifty Treasures at Southern Hospitality.

Rooster Party

There's a rooster party at Bella Vista but I can't attend afterall.  I didn't realize you had to sign up by August 4th.  Since I already took the pictures, I decided to share them.  I hope you stop by the party to see all the other roosters.

I have to say, most of my roosters live in the kitchen.

On dishes...

On fabric...

On furniture...

This is the desk in my kitchen.  It started out as the ugliest style of kitchen cabinets you can imagine.  I added molding to the doors, painted it with a crackle finish (I know, I know, "friends don't let friends do crackle"), decoupaged roosters with some hand painted grass, and replaced the counter top with a piece of wood.  I added the bulletin board to connect the top and bottom cabinets.

Since this is considered furniture, maybe I can go to Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Feature Friday party.

 A couple of roosters have gotten into the great room, too.

Well, I think that is more than enough roosters to show.  Speaking of showing, I will also be joining Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.

Janet

Three Tiers Of Yummi-ness and Other Goodwill Finds

Or trays on a stick as my fifteen year old son called it.

I found this three tiered server at Goodwill for four dollars.

Not too pretty.

But of course, white paint fixes everything.

My parents were arriving from out of town, so dessert and coffee were in order.  I thought it would be fun to show off my new tablecloth, too.  It was from the antique mall.  Nine dollars -  not bad.  I just can't pass up roses.

I filled my new treasure with treats.

Sugar cookies...

Mini cupcakes...

And chocolate.

I also found six of these cups and saucers at Goodwill - .50 each.

And these pretty plates for a dollar each.

Hmmm, I think I need a snack.

Janet

Parties to visit:

Show and Tell Friday

Frugalicious Friday

Frugal Friday

Garage Salen Party

What are you going to do with that?

That's the question my husband always asks and the one that I had to ask myself when I saw this.

If I can't answer that question I usually don't buy something, and I often regret it later. Well, I just loved the details on this.

And it was only eight dollars, so I bought it.  I tried to hurry up with an idea for it before my husband asked "the question".  I knew it would be great to hold ribbons, etc. in a work room, but I don't have a work room.  And I almost put it on the kitchen counter to hold parchment paper.

Ultimately, I decided to put it on my kitchen desk to hold miscellaneous strings and such. 

And just for fun, I tied on a tea cup to hold push pins for the bulletin board.

And when my husband came home, he didn't ask "the question".  He said, "I like that thing over there, whatever it is."  

By the way.  Do you know what it is?

Joining Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Janet

Two Lamps Revamped

Monogrammed Lampshade

Is it just me or do projects just "happen"?

I've been wanting to redo this lamp as part of my kitchen desk makeover.  I had the idea to do the monogrammed shade, but was waiting to find a shade to cover.

I finally found a cheap-y shade at Goodwill that I thought would work.

I used osnaburg fabric.  I srarted with the natural color and tea stained it.

I cut a peice of paper for a pattern of one shade section.  I cut out six, and sewed them together.  I added a ruffle on the top and bottom.

To make the monogram, I printed a "J", cut it out, and traced around it with a mark be gone marker.  It washes right out when your done. 

I embroidered the "J".  You could also stencil it.

Here's lamp revamp #1.  I spray painted it with American heirloom white and glazed it with Ralph Lauren Smoke.  What happened to the monogrammed shade you might ask?  Well, after I painted the lamp, the new shade did not look good with it at all.  I could have repainted the lamp, but the white looked good with everything else.  So I made another shade slipcover out of the red check.  I added a linen tie because I really wanted to bring that look over to the desk.

Well...of course I had to do something with the first shade.  I really liked it.  So 45 minutes before the thrift store closed, I ran out to try and find a lamp.  This was my two dollar find.  It was a bright royal blue.  I sprayed it with Krylon's oil rubbed bronze from Wal Mart and brushed on a gold metallic (Dazzling Metallics in espresso from Hobby lobby). 

The finish really did turn out nice.

And this is lamp revamp #2.  So even though I never planned to do the second lamp project, it "happened" anyway.

Janet

Please visit these parties for lots of great ideas:

Just Something I whipped up

Metamorphosis Monday

Making the world Cuter Monday

Thrifty Treasures

DIY Tutorial

Fun With Fabric at Cheap Chic Home