I Am A Picture Grouping Groupie!

Large pictures/frames are usually pretty pricey. This is a problem for me since I have lots of large wall spaces. My solution has always been groupings of pictures and frames. I currently have a grouping of all of our children (animals) in my hallway, a grouping of family and friends in my dining room, and some other random art groupings in other rooms in my house.

Why do I like this so much? Because usually smaller picture frames are much more reasonable and give the look of a large piece when several are hung together.

Last month I posted about some great Etsy finds. One of them was these great bird print cards! I loved them so much that I decided they needed a new home, in my home! For $8 they were hard to resist.


I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to do with them, but I had an idea. My in-laws recently re-modeled their home, and apparently had lots of nice frames left over. So, my mother-in-law generously gave us our pick of her stash, and I immediately saw many makeovers in my future. One set that really caught my eye were custom framed flower prints. They were very 90's reminiscent with the green marble matte and 2-toned gold-ish/brass-ish frame. She had already given me the go-ahead to do whatever I wanted to them, so I was set!

This is one of the 4 pictures in its original state. A great double-matte and solid frame. My idea: spray paint the frame a better gold, paint the large matte white, and use a new print (this is where my bird stationary cards come in!)



This is the same frame now! I gave the frame a once over with gold spray paint. I left the inner matte gold but painted the outer one white. Doesn't it just make that little birdie sing?

This is my new grouping pre-hanging. I absolutely love how great they look with my rug. These found a new home in my formal living room and I think then work perfectly.

Here they are on the wall. I once again apologize for the camera quality and will be happy to take donations for my please-no-more-bad-pictures camera fund :) The chair doesn't usually sit there but I move it for vacuuming and I thought it looked nice. I am planning on painting the mirror the same gold as the frames. And still trying to figure out a good color for my piano other than off-white. Any suggestions??

So, for $8 for my bird cards, and $2 for 2 cans of spray paint, I have new art! You can't beat that!

Springing Your House Forward!

It is finally starting to feel like Spring (sort of), and every Spring I can't wait to freshen up my house! I have never been a big "Easter" decorator, because so many of the options for this holiday are either geared toward kids, or they are just super cheesy. This year, I decided to try to find some pretty things that were geared more toward Spring, and didn't scream Easter bunnies (OK, a few of these scream easter bunnies, but they are the exception).
This is a table setting from PotteryBarn.com. I am still in mourning over the recent closing of the Memphis Pottery Barn, so I will have to get my fix online. I love how the centerpiece is a Springy but simple flower arrangement in a basket. And the egg-shaped bowls are toned down by all of the other more natural pieces used on the table.

These nest votive holders are really cute and simple. Perfect for Spring! They are also from Pottery Barn.

These eggs with muted tones are more grown-up than the typical kiddie-eggs. And they are really pretty with a little greenery in these glass containers. Also from Pottery Barn.

OK, this is where things get a little more "Eastery". But how cute would this bright yellow little bird pillow be on a side chair in a kid's room?? I found it on Etsy.com

This is another Etsy.com find and I think it is adorable! And less than $7. It is very Anthropologie-ish but with a much nicer price tag.

This is another Etsy pillow that is very bright and Springy and perfect for Easter. In the right setting, these could brighten up your home/apartment/condo in no time and add a little bit of personality at the same time!

Other easy ways to bring your house out of hibernation:

Place some fresh flowers in pretty vases on tables/counters...you can find some great flowers at the grocery store, belive it or not!

For those of you Mississippi girls with your Peter's/McCarty pottery bunnies scattered around your house, bring them all together and make a Spring Statement on a shelf or coffee table!

Change out your throw pillows with some bright, floral prints!

What else do you do in your home to make if feel more Springy?

Be Back Soon!

I just want to apologize for my lack of usually consistent blogging :) I have been under the weather /sick/coughing and sneezing uncontrollably and have not been my normal bloggy self. I will be back with something very soon! Everyone have a great weekend!!

This is pretty much what I have looked like all week...minus the earrings :)

March's Southern Living Project!

While I am still waiting for something to sprout from last month's project, a cool weather herb box, I am on to this month's project.

I want to try something different each month, so this month I decided to look for some easy, practical, and fun recipes.

I have narrowed it down to a snack (because snacks are the #1 food in our house), and a drink (Because I am so excited about springy, sunny weather where you can sit in the back yard and sip a fun, fruity drink! Well, maybe not OUR backyard unless we get our mosquito issues under control...)

My first project will be Benne Brittle. Can't be too hard, right? It's only 3 ingredients! Sesame seeds, sugar, and vanilla extract. My kind of recipe :)

The second recipe I am trying is the Mango Tango Tea. Sound Yummy! I'm thinking a "long island" version might be fun too :) There isn't a picture of how it is supposed to look, but I am going to add the ice cube idea from this drink recipe, which also sounds yummy. How fun are blueberry ice cubes?!

I am going to hopefully try these out within the next couple of weeks, so I will report back on how they turned out! I really appreciate how Southern Living includes recipes like this that are do-able for those of us who aren't gourmet cooks!

We're famous! Kind of... Also, a built-in update

I was really excited the other day when I visited Adventures in Dressmaking and saw that Suzannah had posted about my tank top-turned-pillow! I used her as inspiration and let her know, so she was nice enough to feature it in one of her posts!
You can see the post HERE!

Now, on to business.
Last month I posted some before and afters of our great room and included a pic of our soon-to-be built-ins. I wanted to dedicate an entire post to them this time because of how much work is going into them and also because of how great they are coming along!
I thought I would start with a before of the room as we saw it when we bought it. Yes, we bought it even though it looked like this... The wall with the window is the one that we are working on.

Before...and yes that is a church bench.

There was a random closet built out of the wall. My husband did some major demolition and knocked it out himself.

This is the wall after the closet removal. Looks pretty scary. Oops, accidently caught Hollis in a pic!


This is the wall all patched up and after he had to level out the base before he started. Yes, our floor is apparently really slanted :) Sorry for the random plants/vases...this is kind of our catch-all room while under construction.

This is the beginning of the built-ins. These are the future cabinets. He even plans to make the doors himself! And we are covering the random window, but left the shutters in so from the outside it just looks like closed shutters.

This is what they look like now! I am about to start the painting process and he is about to start making the cabinet doors. We are making progress!! And don't worry, he made the TV opening big enough in case "we" want to upgrade to a bigger TV. I'm so glad because I was really concerned about that (sarcasm).

Once they are completed I will post a new update! Hopefully within the next few weeks!

Thrift store picture frame makeover.

Occasionally I like to peruse the thrift shops in town to see if anything catches my eye. The other day I found this picture frame at Goodwill for $2.99! Now, I know what you're thinking, its really 70's-tastic. But I had a plan.

The frame in its original state.

First, I gave it a good cleaning. Then I gave it several coats of acrylic paint. The scalloped edges are already starting to stand out!

Next I took one of my favorite colors of the moment, and used it as an accent color in the groove that goes around the frame. It created a great shape!

Here is the finished product! I know it is sad that I have several 8x10's of the Beatles on hand, but none of family or people that I actually know, but this will have to do for now :)

I love how the white makes the details stand out and how the pop of color gives it a great updated shape!

How a few changes make a big difference!

Home staging means different things for different homes. Sometimes it is new paint/furniture/accessories, sometimes it is pretty accent pillows, vases, and rugs, and sometimes it is something as simple as camera angles (80% of buyers decide if they want to see a house by pre-shopping onlilne) and furniture placement. These are a couple of examples of this; when small changes make big differences.
This is a really great home that I recently had a consult for in Germantown. They had great neutral walls, furniture, etc... But when looking at the pictures online, the house looked cramped, crowded, and small. When I got to the house I realized that none of these things were true. The homeowner didn't want to move anything to storage or spend much on new things, so we worked on what we had.

This was a view of the den/family room area. It was a great space that was connected to the kitchen, but the couch placement completely blocked the flow of the room, and the counter in the picture made it hard to tell how much space was actually in the room.

Here is an after pic. The room looks so much bigger! The counter is out of the picture and we have re-arranged the couches without moving anything out of the room.

Here is another view of the room. You can see the same problem. It looks like the eat-in area is forced into the space, and the size of the room is really hard to estimate.


This is the after pic. We have kept most of the table out of site and it is easy to see how much space is in the room!



Here is a bedroom in the same house. It is really personal with lots of pics that clutter the room and make it way too personal. Also, there is NO color anywhere!

In this after pic, you can see how easily a colorful bedspread and a couple of pillows bring so much color into the room! Also, removing all of the personal pics and replacing them with one neutral wall hanging helps put the attention back onto the room, not the homeowner's things.

This is a room in an East Memphis home that was used as a home office/yankees shrine/doggie home/etc... For buyers, you want to give your room one main purpose so that it is easy for them to picture what they would use the room for.

You can see we just removed all of the personal wall hangings and clutter, most of the unnecessary furniture, and re-positioned what was left to give the room a purpose. We also hid the doggie home so that it wasn't so prominent in the room. (Side note: this home sold the first day on the market! :)

Often times it just takes a pair of fresh eyes to come in and see the possibilities that your home holds! That is why staging your home before putting it on the market is so important!!