the Decorating Chica

Pin It After we solved the problem if making a faux beam, we had different size chunks of barn wood left from the project. Certainly could not throw them away but honestly wasn't sure what to do with the wood. Over the next few months I started mulling it over and used the wood to make these: I purchased the hooks several years ago at a flea market but had taken them down when refinishing the stairwell to the basement. Totally forgot about them! Cleaned the wood, waxed it, and then added the hooks.  These metal letters were purchased from Michael's over a year ago because I loved them but didn't know what to do with them.  Cut different lengths from a the leftover plank of barn wood, waxed them with a ochre tinted wax, glued them together then supported with a 1x2 piece of wood to brace it in back. The barn wood was such a rich shade of brown that it was not necessary to stain or paint. I simply waxed with a tinted wax to deepen and make it ric...

Pin It Happy summer! It's sure been awhile since I've peeked my head around here but it has been crazy busy in my part of the world. I hope you are all doing well. In my area of Michigan we are in a serious drought and I am spending all. my. time. watering and watering and watering. Yet after awhile it is barely helping my plants survive. Usually I go out once a week and weed and dead head in my flower beds. The past two weeks I have had so many thoughts about the enemy and the daily battle that we as Christians face. Even in the drought where all of the neighbors grass is brown the weeds still grow. The good plants? They take lots of tender loving care, especially in this brutal environment. Lots of water and still they are struggling but the weeds are thriving. This is my view across the street from my house and all around our area. Dry and parched. Really, it is a good lesson about life. The Bible says that the enemy has come to 'steal, kill and destroy' a...

Pin It I don't know about you but I would rather be decorating than cooking any day. In fact, I probably would rather be doing most anything other than cooking. However I do like to fix a good meal for my family and they certainly enjoy it which, honestly, makes cooking somewhat rewarding. Plus it is the one time that we all sit down together during the day and connect. That. is. priceless. You can add additional items like dried cranberries and walnuts. Fried apples is one of those dishes and the recipe is super flexible. You can even use apples that are getting a bit over rip and therefore a tad on the mushy side because you are frying them so they will be soft anyway! Fried Apples Peel and quarter apples (quantity is dependent on how much you want and how many people you are serving). Melt butter in a frying pan (I usually use 1/4-1/2 a stick and about 8-10 apples). The butter needs to be just enough to coat the pan. Once the apples start frying the juice...

Pin It Wow, does it ever take you two years to finish a project? Well, that's how long this took. My brother in law gave me this cool tongue and grove wood that he was throwing out. I could not let that happen for sure. The whole piece and where it hangs. So I took it and figured I would do something with it but wasn't sure what. A few months later I fit the 5 pieces together and decided it would make a great coffee table with metal legs for that industrial look we were going for in our basement remodel. All I did with the tongue and groove was scrub it (was filthy dirty), let it dry, then added ochre tinted wax. Two years later, it ended up as artwork and two shelves for my sons creative space. Long story why and how it ended that way but I think it turned out pretty good. A close up of the fleur d lei. That was a mdf piece I purchased at Hobby Lobby and then I painted a silver metallic and added silver leaf to parts to make it look aged. Took me a ...

Pin It For the past few  several months we have been slowly  renovating our 80s basement. Several years I go I did a tiny upgrade (mostly by painting, adding pictures, area rugs, etc.) but have lived with the acoustic white drop ceiling panels for waaay too long. I had wanted to tackle this basement for the longest time but knew it would be a big project. So I waited. Why? Because I knew that if it were to be done right it would mean pulling down that awful ceiling. That. was. expensive. More than that? It would be time consuming. But one day, to my surprise, my husband started yanking down the ceiling tiles and metal framing. Well there was no turning back at the point. That said, we lived with no ceiling, exposed ductwork and drooping insulation for more months than I want to count. Mainly because we just didn't know what to do. But finally we had a plan. Well sort of a plan. At least we had a plan for the ceiling. We decided to use 6" pine car siding for the ceilin...

Pin It You know that time. The couple of months after all the Christmas decorations come down but it is too early for spring. The season of Sprinter...between winter and spring. I tend to go for the neutral look of pine cones, branches, fake greenery and such. Branches, twigs, and anything 'nature' is a great way to showcase sprinter. Pine cones can be gathered right from your yard or a field. Throw them in a basket for a great natural look. But come early March the birds come out. The bird houses and flowers and anything spring. Cause even though our weather in Michigan may not be spring-like, the days are noticably longer, the birds are singing more and we may even get robin sighting! All signs that spring is not far. Usually, by that time, I am more than ready to get out the spring decor. These are actually Christmas decorations. I remove the red ribbons and ornaments and they become a great look for sprinter. More natural elements with rocks are...

Pin It I don't know about you but I always have a list of little things that I need to shop for to complete one project or another. Always. The problem is when I get the chance to stop into my favorite consignment shops, or HomeGoods I oftentimes get overwhelmed cause there is so much cool stuff! And my mind. goes. blank. Seriously. This especially happens when I go to big flea markets and places where there is row upon row of great stuff. I just can't focus. Both the mirror and the gold wall decor were random buys because I loved them. Now they hang together and make a great wall grouping! The blue plate I purchased at a consignment shop for 1.50. Couldn't exactly pass that up! So I decided to take a different approach several years ago. I made up my mind if I saw something that I just loved I was gonna buy it. Even if I didn't know what I was gonna do with it. So that's what I've done. Which sometimes means that I have stuff that sits in...