i have some very talented friends {part 1}....

tina and jerry...

they used to live next door to us.  they moved in a couple of weeks after we did way back in 2000,  newly married and fresh off of their honeymoon.  they were the most fantastic neighbors and we became fast friends. tina has an incredible eye for decor and her house was an inspiring mix of modern design and vivid color. lots of black furniture with bright reds, cobalt blues, bright oranges and charcoal grey adorning the walls and accessory decor.   jerry loved working in the yard and landscaped with the same modern twist.  lots of hardscape with just the right mix of greenery.  and he turned the pond that we shared in the yard into more than just a retention pond by cleaning up the edges, rimming them with rocks and adding a fountain.

this gave all of the neighbors who bordered the pond a beautiful view out of our windows.

  

 they had two little girls while they lived here.  i've been taking their photos since eden, the oldest, was about a year old.   london, the youngest, is the picture of her mama and eden, her daddy....

they moved about two years ago and we miss them terribly.  although they only moved about 15 minutes away, time and life gets in the way and we don't see each other as much as we should. we are working hard on changing that.  

anyway,

tina invited me over to see the changes she has made in the decor of her home. she has changed her decor style drastically from hard modern to shabby, frenchy, vintage distressed.  and it looks fantastic. 

i want to take you on a little tour of her new home. 

daughter eden has a beautiful room done in pinks, golds and greys....

the bed linens are from target, urban outfitters, joann fabrics and t.j.maxx.   the angel wings are from hobby lobby.

 she made the lampshade above by tearing strips of fabric and tying them to the lampshade frame (which she picked up at the goodwill and tore off the old fabric from, a girl after my own thrifty heart) after painting the lamp white white.

most of the other wall decor is from hobby lobby as well.

 this is the playroom, located in the bonus room of the house over the garage, so it's long and narrow and split into two rooms.  perfect for two little diva girls....

i love the tulle draped from the corners of the ceiling to the chandelier. 

 daughter london has the blue room and if you notice, this is the same chandelier that i have in my laundry room.  tina fell in love with it and because it's no longer available from lowe's where i originally got it, she scoured craigslist until she found not one, but two of them....she painted hers too!!

she also added ribbon flowers to the candlelight bottoms

and although it's hard to see in this picture, she also added tiny ribbon flowers to the letters on the wall above her window.

bed linens for this room are from target, joann fabrics and t.j. maxx as well.

 tina is so creative that she found a design on pinterest and drew it freehand to london's wall.   the little feathers holding up the strands of pearls have lights behind them and the branches are bejeweled with stick-on gems.  

 these feather angel wings were found online.  they are gorgeous....

 the girls bathroom is beautiful too.  she is currently working on finding a sideboard like this one

that we redid a couple of years ago, to use as a sink base.  she keeps telling me that mine would be perfect for her girl's bathroom....i'm not ready to part with it just yet though, because it is actually the perfect size to use in our master bathroom as a sink base!  :)

 most of the linens here are from the rachel ashwell collection at target too.  she glammed everything up with some ribbon and feathers...

 even her laundry room has that frenchy glam look.  

 just look at the light that those chandeliers throw around the room....

 the furniture in her bedroom is a throwback to the modern look in her old house.  she wanted to purchase new furniture for her bedroom but i talked her out of it.  i knew i would be able to give her the look she wanted just by painting the orange wood and turn it into the new style of decor she wanted.  we worked on it for an entire day a couple of weeks ago and by the time we finished,  it was late at night so the pictures don't do it justice.  this is a before picture of her dresser and mirror.  i will share the finished pictures of her room in an upcoming post and i assure you that the furniture looks drastically different.  i just need to get back over there and get some pictures during the day....

i love having creative friends.  

we play off of each other and share ideas.  we inspire and push each other to get things done....and we look at our changes with big smiles on our faces....
we miss you guys bunches....

a curvy beauty.....

i can't believe that this is my first post for 2012....someone has not been sorting out her priorities....

ahem,.....

i have had my hand in about 5 different projects at once.

i rock at the multi-tasking....

i have been redoing this dresser 

and want to use it to store my stash of vintage sheets and 

finished quilts. 

i picked this out of someone's trash last spring.  it was in pretty bad shape and all of the drawers were destroyed.  but the frame is in good shape.  the shelves (drawer bottom bases) in there are just made of cardboard so i plan on replacing them with mdf.  the inside is going to be painted creamy white and the outside with annie sloan paris grey.  i have removed the back of the piece and will replace that with beadboard.  it is in progress as we speak....

this lovely table.... 

a cute little duncan phyfe

is getting a makeover.

it  has cool brass caps for the feet that i thought were missing.

but one of them was still attached and two others (i have located a replacement for the fourth one online) were in a bag taped to these 

cool chairs that came with the table....4 of them....

they are very similar to three other chairs that i had found at the goodwill back in the summer

for $5.00 each...

here is the back story on the table and chairs...

last summer i redid a lot of furniture for my friend lisa.  she has since moved to minnesota

(i miss you girlfriend)

but her parents still live here.  she called me last week to tell me that her mom, penny,  had a table & chair set for me.  i thought that penny wanted me to make over the table for her but she had actually rescued the set from her brother who was going to burn it.  literally.  burn it in a fire pit.

she snatched it from him and delivered it to my house a few days ago...

for me to keep.  for free....free. 

thank you penny and walt... 

after she left i started inspecting it. 

the top is in pretty bad shape

 but it is really nice mahogany 

and all of the hardware is intact.  the sides raise and lower very easily.  

 and the legs and base are in really good and sturdy condition.

and it is hea-vy!!!

 i wondered if there was a leaf that went with it but penny said that her brother couldn't find it.  

but guess what????   

 a self-storing leaf......

(insert a long, high-pitched squeal here)

 obviously this leaf didn't get much use.  maybe no-one knew that it was there.  

 this little beauty is going to replace my current table and chairs in the kitchen.  it is a little less long and wide than my current set is and will fit better.  i think i'm going to refinish the top and paint the bottom.

the gouges and scratches on the top are pretty deep, so i'll see how that goes....

i'm really excited about it. 

the other project i am currently working on started out like this...

 and will be revealed in a few days....

stay tuned!!

favorite projects of 2011

this past year was a very fun one for me....but it didn't start out that way....

when i lost my job one week before christmas in 2010, i was angry and scared.  

then i was just angry.

but i used the experience to do some of the things i never had before.

i was able to do way more than i ever had been able to do in the past when i had a full time job....

i feel lucky that i had the opportunity to experience being a full time mama...

having more time for my photography

doing things i never thought i would ever do, like making a quilt,

and for all of the fun furniture thrifting and refurbishing.  

i also had time to spend redecorating some of the rooms in my house. 

and i am proud that i was able to do most of them for pennies on the dollar.

here are my top ten favorite projects of 2011:

10.  the goodwill coffee table

9.  the ugly bench

8.  the entertainment cabinet turned pantry

7.  my first handmade quilt

6. the diy camera bag 

5.  the twin tables

4.  a sofa slipcover from a dropcloth

3. trying my hand at canning

2.  the kitchen makeover

 and my favorite (and most popular) post of 2011

1.  the laundry room redo

i have also had the opportunity this year to experience washington dc with my son on his 8th grade class trip and go to every one of his baseball and football games.  thankfully i was also able to get him to  his practices all spring, summer and fall long with their crazy schedules and times....

i want to wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year.....

see you in 2012.....

xoxo