Before and Afters

I thought I'd share a few recent home projects. I've been trying to get my house "in order" because I am hosting a baby shower next month. I also was recently asked to be on the Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Home Tour in December. I actually love doing both because it is good motivation for me to finish up projects I have been wanting to complete for some time now.

I found this chair at Goodwill for $15 and the ottoman at a local flea market for $29. They both were in great shape structurally, just in need of a little loving. I painted both a creamy white, distressed them, applied a antiquing glaze and then waxed them with paste wax. I used canvas painter's drop cloths to make slip covers for both. The canvas is a sturdy material, and best of all I can wash and bleach them when they get dirty.

My dining room window panels were pretty, but needed a little something extra. I searched high and low for a tassel fringe that incorporated the blue from the fabric, the goldish-tan of the wall color and the cream I have used for accents. Luckily I found the perfect fringe and love the way it pulled all the colors together.

I've had this lamp for a while now, and while I like the height of it I really want a different look here. For now, it will do. I did find a new shade at The Salvation Army that was a great shape, still in the original package, and only $6. I added burlap to it and think the texture was just what it needed.

I've seen these book page wreaths all over stores, Etsy, and on decorating blogs. I found a tutorial here and decided to make one myself. This is a cheap project ($1 for the wreath, used a book I already had and ribbon I had on hand too), but let me warn you if you attempt to do one, it is very time consuming (took about two hours). Also make sure you use a book that has at least 200 pages....yeah, 200!