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....

neighbors are such a blessing......

we have some wonderful neighbors....they have six kids and are just the greatest family i know.  since i had the girls for the weekend, they went over to their house to play on friday night.  while i was helping them clean up all of the toys, i saw the scariest toy i have seen in a while.  it was a mechanical monkey..you know, one of the ones that have real looking eyes.  i commented to their mother, angie, how disturbing and creepy i thought it was.  she laughed and said that she hadn't really looked at it in detail before, but upon examining it again, agreed with me.  little did i know that the wheels were already turning in her head.

 the next night i took austen and the girls out to eat while don worked on the kitchen floor and we inadvertently had dinner at the same restaurant.  when they left before we did, angie thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to hatch their little plan.  she sent the three older boys over to my house with the monkey.......well, this is the email i sent to them today.  i think you can get the gist of the rest of the story in the email.....

From: me

Date: November 6, 2011 11:08:09 AM EST

To: them

Subject: to my wonderful neighbors

dear ethan, muaz and aiden.....(and the rest of your fabulous family)

thank you so much for the monkey.  imagine how horrified surprised i was to see the scary and nightmare inducing cute little monkey in my bed last night.  

i was so comforted to see his adorable eyes as he stared at me from between my pillows.  you guys are just the best EVER!!!!  he had to sleep downstairs last night though, because champ was lonely and really wanted to have a companion.  the evil little adorable monkey slept on top of champers cage so i wouldn't have to have it anywhere near my bedroom he could guard him through the night. 

this morning i made sure that i gave the monkey to tessa to hold on to so that it didn't end up in the garbage can it could get just as much loving as it could get....

she loved it a lot and hopefully squeezed the life out of it  gave it lots of hugs and loving.

 and i am sure that she didn't mean to show that rude gesture......i think she loves him just as much as i do!!!!

thank you so, so much for my unbelieveable shock wonderful bedtime surprise......and be assured that i did not have any bad dreams!!!!

all my love,

mrs. mandernach

:D