Happy Spring!

I missed it by one day, but I'm finally showing you my spring home. If you have been here before, you know I change out my colors for the season. I'm able to do that because my background is all neutral.

 For spring I've been using jadite green and a pretty aqua turquoise.

 I found this striped pitcher at the thrift store. Love to fill it with cotton stems.

 Here is the family room. I keep the colors going because of my open floor plan.

 And here again is my favorite new thing-my open shelves in the kitchen which I am truly loving!

I finally joined Instagram so come check me out. Just click on the camera icon on the top of the sidebar. I've been busy thrifting (not buying much) trying to control that, and getting the garden going. It's been super warm here. I hope you are getting some nicer weather so you can be outside. Happy Spring!
Leslie

Kitchen Shelves

Well it took me long enough. Some of you guessed correctly-open kitchen shelves in place of the cabinet. Here's the before.

First, dismantle the cabinet and remove from wall.

Then find out that the space left doesn't match the height of the wall texture,darn!

It's about an 1/8 of an inch different.

Fill in with joint compound-layer after thin layer and retexture.

Repaint wall. Start painting brackets and wood for shelf. I used the same paint as my cabinets. Benjamin Moore Advance. Prime, paint 3 coats and cure.I love it, but it's a long dry time and a 3 day cure time. Waiting...

Start installing on wall and get to the last bracket and boom- it just splits into 2 pieces. Now what? Wood glue, joint compound, sanding, and repaint. Waiting...

Finally on the wall. Touch up paint and more waiting...

Finally, the fun part. I am getting ready for spring, will show that next week, so I added in a few touches of green.

I love that anybody can just grab a glass or wine glass.

I'm on the lookout for coffee mugs. I still want to hang them with teacup hooks below the bottom shelf.

I can cross that project off my list. It took way longer then I thought, but I am loving the finished look. Some day I'll get that white subway tile backsplash.

Thanks for being patient with me. On to spring cleaning and spring decorating.

Leslie

Valentine Hearts

I have been doing a little stitching in my spare time. I love redwork and used some extra quilt squares from a quilt I made a few years back.

I'm not sure what I'll turn these into yet. Maybe a few pillows?

 I also stitched up some hearts. I had 12, but Bowie got a hold of one and pulled the stuffing out. These were from the extra upcycled sheet fabric from the latest quilt I made.I think I'll make a heart garland with these.

 Finally decorated the kitchen hutch for Valentines day.

 Speaking of Bowie, he just got a haircut. He loves sunbathing in the little sun spots all over the house.

 Next up I will be working on a project here. Anyone have any guesses?

Have a wonderful week!
Leslie

Pillow Transfer Project

 I decided to try my hand at fabric transfer. Here is my sample to check the size with my pillow form.

I used Tailor Iron -On Print'n Press transfer sheets from JoAnns.I followed the directions on the transfer sheet.I got the graphics from the Graphics Fairy and typed the text on Word. You do have to reverse the image before printing. I cut apart the words.

 Laid them out on my white canvas fabric I  already had. I did run a test on a scrap piece, because I wanted a faded, aged look.

 Ironed them on and there is my design.

 I added pompom fringe and sewed a plain white backing fabric.

 Here it is. I think it came out pretty well for my first try. I'll probably be doing more of these.

 So fun to do. You can also print in color, but I wanted a simple black faded look.

 Trying to add a few touches of black to my bedroom. I redid this old piece of tin ceiling. Hope to share the whole room with you all soon.

I'm back to my Zumba class, but still coughing. Hope you are staying healthy and have a great week.
Leslie

Organizing and Regrouping

Hubby and I have both been sick since the day before our youngest son left after Christmas. Hubby came down with it first and passed it on to me. A cold that has turned into bronchitis. Hacking cough and sleepless nights. In between all that I've tried to finish my little organizing project while being stuck at home.

I've been working on the dishes in the hutch. A shelf actually fell inside, so I pulled out everything and reorganized.

It's fun to go through stuff that you don't see every day. I got the set above from a garage sale years ago. She was a retired music teacher, so how could I pass those up?

Green glass is from my mom. Love to use these at Christmas for dessert. Okay-so here's the jam packed filing cabinet drawer. I couldn't fit one more piece of paper in there.

I used these 2 products. I absolutely love these 3-d labels. So much easier to see then the flat ones.

The file cabinet is in the office closet, so it's super hard to get a good angle, but take my word for it-I am using about 2/3's of the same drawer. That was about a 3 day project going through each file and getting rid of stuff and redoing my filing categories.

Last post I showed this same bathroom cabinet. I purged and got rid of old and unused stuff. These little drawer shelves fit perfectly under the sinks with the plumbing.

Another bathroom. Everything is labeled and reachable.

Under our kitchen sink-it may not be the most beautiful organizing, but it sure works for me. I used alot of little containers we already had. I tried to label everything and group it. Feeling pretty good-now I'm ready to tackle the kitchen cabinets.

We had a light dusting of snow and you can see, Bowie is not sure he likes it.

Anyway, I'm starting to feel better and can't wait to get back into things.
Leslie

Happy New Year!

Happy 2017! We had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break. We did lots of visiting and game playing. Sons did lots of baking and cooking. 

 Making cinnamon rolls from scratch.

 Christmas morning fruit salad with prosecco for breakfast. I love the way they both pitch in and love to help. We ate and ate.

 Pie baking son made his wonderful chocolate chess pie for Christmas dessert. It was so good!

 We did 3 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles. This was one that was finished-missing a piece. Hmmmm.  It was wonderful having both sons home. So hard to say good-bye.

Each year after the holidays I am ready to get going again. I am forcing myself  to show you this shot of my master bathroom under the sink. I am ready to organize and get rid of some stuff. I will show you the after when I get it done. I thought I'd start with an easy doable project. I plan on revamping our home filing cabinet. I am cleaning today while making 10 bean soup for dinner, because it finally got cold here.

 Great day to stay in and do a little winter decorating, now that the Christmas stuff is all put away.

I hope your holidays were great. Thank you so much for following along on my adventures and projects. My mind is whirring with lists of things to do. Happy January!
Leslie