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Archive for the ‘Home and Garden’ Category

Bedroom Makeover Part II

Posted in Home and Garden, Home Decor, tagged , on April 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I blogged about changing the look in our bedroom from cream to a wonderfully warm two-tone brown finish. At first, I wasn’t sure if I liked it because it was so, so different from what we had before. But it is really starting to grow on me. To recap, here is what the room looked like before: A boatload of cream going on here. And after my grueling day of painting:   Ta Da!      Before vs. after

Which do you like best?

Besides the obvious,  the paint and all new bedding, I changed up some of the other pieces.

I took out our wobbly little night stand and brought in this sweet side table my dad made in his 1949 shop class. He refinished it two years ago and gave it to me. I had it in my office for a while and then it got moved out to the storage shed. He did a great job on the refinishing and you would not believe how sturdy this thing is.

I took down a fake oak shelf that used to take up residence on this wall and added a trendy stamped metal shelf with some fun copper rubbed detailing. The little sign makes me smile. I hope it will serve well as a reminder to Captain Cavedweller since it is on his side of the bed.

I pulled in decor pieces I had in other parts of the house. The beautiful bowl in the center there is as heavy as a quarter ton of bricks and I love it. The base is sculpted glass roses and it is awesome. And yes, it was a gift from Captain Cavedweller. He knows my addictions well.

One of my most favorite new additions was this sign that I found at Hobby Lobby. There is the slightest, most remote possibility that I may perhaps get a little sappy when I read it. Maybe. Just a little.

See the marvelous throw pillow in the middle? Again, found that at Hobby Lobby. It is a perfect match!

Oh, and all that wonderful bedding from Private Quarters that led to the makeover?

It is beyond wonderful. The sheets are amazingly crisp yet soft, the mattress pad is like sinking into sheer bliss and the pillows, oh, my, those pillows are they ever delightful.

Share your thoughts! I’d love to hear what you think of the bedroom makeover.

She Who Is All Done Painting for a While

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Bedroom Makeover Part I

Posted in Home and Garden, Home Decor, tagged , , on April 5, 2011| 4 Comments »

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent the weekend giving our bedroom a complete makeover. It was a lot of fun and more work than I anticipated. I’ve got five blisters to prove it!

The inspiration for my madness, I mean creativity, came from a Private Quarter’s party I co-hosted with my friend Colleen. Once I received all the beautiful new pieces I ordered I knew I needed, wanted, to update the bedroom before I put them to use.

Today I’ll show you the paint process I went through on the walls and tomorrow check back in to see the finished room.

So this is what the room looked like when I started the project. The walls were sponged a mixture of cream and white with a cream quilt, cream drapes, cream runner on the dresser, and lots of cream accents.

Did I mention the cream? There was quite a bit of it.

Stripped down, here is what the room and walls looked like. Please ignore the dirty window. I generally do.

The walls already had this great knock down texture, which I love. It adds depth and character and goodness knows we need all the character we can get.

These are the colors I decided to use in the bedroom – Cinnamon Spice and Cafe Latte – which is now making me hungry. Quite a change from cream, huh?

Here you can see the colors right in the can.

With the great texture on the walls, I decided to use a method of painting that would really highlight all that wonderful texture.

It is called The Woolie 2 Color Paint Roller System. I used it with success a few years ago when I spent three days stripping hideous wallpaper out of our guest room and painted the walls a rich golden color. I don’t remember where I purchased The Woolie, but you can find it at Amazon.

The way The Woolie works is the roller is big and thick and, get this… wait for it… Woolie,  and is split in two. You pour the two colors of paint of your choice in the split tray and get to work. When you are selecting paint colors, decide what overall color you want to go for and then choose paint both two shades lighter and two shades darker. I know it sounds crazy, but it works!

So here is what the first roll of paint looked like on the wall. Sorry the photo isn’t crisp. It was challenging to take photos, work, and keep the camera out of the paint all at the same time.

This shows the colors starting to blend. The beauty about this system is that you can slap the paint on any ol’ direction and the more random you are, the better it looks. That is totally my way to paint, because I usually slap the paint on going whatever direction strikes my fancy and my walls completely show my inability to paint in a straight uniform manner.

Here is one wall completed. You can see the great blending of colors and all the fantastic texture.

Check out the finished walls in the room. Quite a contrast to cream, cream, cream.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the redecorating portion of the room.

She Who Hates to Paint

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Private Quarters Party

Posted in Entertaining at Home, Entertaining Ideas, Home Decor, Musings, tagged , on March 22, 2011| 2 Comments »

A while back my friend Colleen, that would be the beautiful redhead on the left, asked me if I would be interested in co-hosting a party to help her friend Katie, the sweet blond on the right, jump start a new direct sales business. Having started two separate direct sales businesses, I know how much those first few parties can help a newbie. And Katie joined a great company that offers the most fabulous products.

How could I say no?

So here was the deal: I’d take care of the food and Colleen would do all the real work. I felt a little guilty about it, but managed to suck it up and forge ahead. In case you missed the recipes, you’ll want to try the Tortellini Bites and Lemon Cookies. So easy and impossible to stop at just one.

Several lovely ladies came and joined us for an afternoon of fun and learning all about Private Quarters.

If you’ve never heard of them or attended a party, Private Quarters offers plush robes, fluffy towels,  fun spa items and the most wonderful, delightful luxurious bedding. They call it Seven Layers of Bliss and it truly is blissful.

It is so blissful, in fact, that I ordered a few of those seven layers of bedding and have now decided I must give my bedroom a mini-makeover to go along with the beautiful new goodies that will be arriving soon.

Check out their products, dream and drool a while. I know I certainly did.

Thanks, a lot, Katie and Colleen for introducing me to Private Quarters and for giving me the inspiration to embark on yet another home improvement project. I’ll let you know when to come over to help me paint!

She Who is Eagerly Anticipating a Whole New Level Of Sleeping Bliss

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The Original Non-Stick Cookware

Posted in Entertaining Ideas, Home and Garden, tagged , on March 16, 2011| 1 Comment »

In the event I have never mentioned it before, I love cast iron cookware.

Love. It.

Cast iron cookware has been used for hundreds of years. Once you invest in a good quality cast iron piece of cookware, it should last for generations and generations.

Known as the “original non-stick cookware” cast iron is a workhorse in the kitchen. You can fry, saute, boil, broil and bake in it. You can cook everything from scrambled eggs and steak to a dynamite berry cobbler in the pan. It makes the best cornbread on the planet. And it is pretty easy to clean up when you have a seasoned pan. The seasoning process results in a stick-resistant coating of polymerized fat and oil on the surface. Some pans come pre-seasoned, some you season yourself, but it is really pretty simple. Once you’ve got that seasoned finish on your pan, watch out, it will cook like nobody’s business.

Not even the most expensive stainless and aluminum cookware can rival the even heating, heat retention, durability and value of cast iron. The brand I like the best is Lodge Cast Iron.

My love affair with cast iron started back in my college days. I don’t remember where it came from, but someone unearthed an old rusty 8-inch Lodge Cast Iron skillet when I was packing up my meager belongings. One of the industrious men in the family sand-blasted off the rust, my mom seasoned the pan and I was set. I still have that skillet and the more I use it, the more I love it.

My brother Kim was always digging around in old junk finding treasures and found a rusted 9-inch Lodge skillet which again went through the sand-blasting and seasoning process and became mine between my return from college and my move to Arizona for an internship.

By the time I ventured home from sunny Arizona, a rusty Lodge dutch oven had been discovered somewhere and I begged for it. I hate to tell you the sad demise this set met. I’m not exactly sure the entire story will ever be discovered but it involved my nephew, his friends, a large campfire, and I don’t want to know what else.  I take full blame. Who, with any sense in their head, turns over a favorite cooking tool to the care of a bunch of teen-aged boys heading out on a camping trip? I never saw the dutch oven again.

So to compensate for it, Hubby purchased me a 15″ Lodge Cast Iron skillet.

I call this one Big Bertha. Fully loaded it takes arms of steel to move it from stove to counter top. Hello, Captain Cavedweller, that’s why I keep you around, you know!

Through the years I’ve acquired a number of other skillets and pieces of cookware. I have some stainless steel pieces I adore and wouldn’t part with for anything, unless of course it meant I would have to give up my cast iron.

If you haven’t tried cast iron, give it a whirl. You can purchase pieces nearly anywhere household items are sold from Wal-Mart to Macy’s  to Amazon. Just make sure you purchase a piece made by a reputable company and not a knock-off. You can’t go wrong with a piece of Lodge Cast Iron.

Already a cast iron fan? I’d love to hear what you enjoy most about it or one of your favorite things to make using your cast iron cookware!

Happy Entertaining!

She Who Still Misses Her Dutch Oven

P.S. This is not a paid advertisement for Lodge Cast Iron. They have never heard of me, don’t have a clue who I am and do not endorse my ramblings at all. Over and out.

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