Decorating the Ville

Chevron Burlap Valentine's Day Wreath

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:23:00 +0000

With all of the fantastic wreath's on Pinterest, it is impossible not to feel the itch to make a few new wreaths!

I found this great chevron burlap ribbon at Hobby Lobby this fall, and when I went back to get it, it was all gone at the three stores I can easily drive to, and on back-order I got a call a few weeks ago that it is finally back in stock! I wanted to use it in a new Christmas garland, but Valentine's Day is the next best thing, right?

I helped some friends make one of these wreaths for Halloween and I love the look of the rosettes. She links to a great tutorial on how to make the them. I know we made at least 300 of these felt rosettes all together.

Living Locurto

When I made my Valentine's Day wreath I knew my finger tips couldn't endure 300 rosettes worth of hot glue burns, so I settled for a smaller heart shape covered in the rosettes.

After searching through all of the great burlap wreaths on Pinterest, I liked the look of this one the best, how can you resist the poof?

Top This Top That

She has a great tutorial on how to make this wreath, with great pictures. She used 12 yards of the burlap ribbon, and I used 3 rolls, which I think is 30 yards. I love the poof...

Here is my combination of these two wreaths:

I made the heart base out of cardboard, punching two hols and stringing a piece of floral wire through the holes before I glued on the rosettes so that I would have an easy way to attach the heart to the wreath. I might want to switch out the heart and use the burlap wreath as a base for different holidays.

I used some of the leftover felt to make the little flags for the LOVE letters. I cut out the letters with a black shadow on my Cricut, with the Doodletype cartridge. I glued those onto the flags, and glued the flags onto red and white bakers twine. Then I tied the twine to the metal wreath form.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sharing with:
DIY Showoff - DIY Party

Family Tree Artwork

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:59:00 +0000

I saw this fancy family tree (The Giving Tree Family Tree) in Martha Stewart Living about a year ago and thought how nice it would be to have some family history as artwork around the house. Art is so much more enjoyable when it is personal or has a special meaning, don't you think?

I have always been interested in genealogy, and thought this would be a creative way to go about it! I was even more inspired after seeing a few episodes of "Who Do You Think You Are?". Did y'all watch that show? I love that Brooke Shields descended from royalty! The sponsor of the show was ancestry.com, which is such an amazing site. You can enter your family information, and things will pop up that may be links to your tree. You can view the actual census documents from the 1800s! And manifestos from ships full of people immigrating to America.

1850 Census Report for Louisa May Alcott:

The Unsinkable Molly Brown from the Titanic's Passport Application:

Ok - so after I researched our tree, which took a while, and some digging, (If you are a Rathgeb, German by way of Switzerland - please email me!!) I was ready to make the tree. Martha provides the templates and makes things sound like they will be so easy, and the products so readily available! It is not so Martha!
Here is the list of tools and materials Martha calls for:

Tree and label templates
30-by-40-inch watercolor paper, aceartsupplies.com
Craft knife
Cutting mat
Gold drawing ink
Fine-tip paintbrush (for glue, size 20)
Black fine-tip pen (for names, size 0, by Blick Master, dickblick.com)
Paste

Problem #1 - Ace Art Supply has never heard of 30-by-40-inch watercolor paper. Hobby Lobby and Michael's don't have anything that size either. But I did find a smaller size watercolor paper at HL that I thought might work. I had it printed out on drafting paper at an office supply store to make sure it would work on the watercolor paper I found, and it would!

Problem #2 - No one can print on large paper unless it is on a roll. What!? After all that, and now no one can do it!? Minuteman Press to the rescue! They have beautiful watercolor paper on a roll! Brian at MP helped me out and I had my tree the next day! I highly recommend them.

Next up - the templates for the name tags. Now, if you work for Martha, or you ARE Martha, you probably have exemplary penmanship that you don't mind to display from now until the end of time under museum quality glass - but I do not. In Photoshop, I layered text over Martha's template and used a great handwriting font from Kevin and Amanda (if you haven't heard of them, they have amazing fonts! And lots of other neat creative stuff on their site). I used the font "Pea Nic Script" for my tree.

Then I used the sheet of watercolor paper I bought and could not use for the tree, cut it up into 8.5" x 11" pieces and printed out the template tags. I cut out the tags (with scissors instead of a craft knife) and traced around the edge with a gold paint pen (instead of a paint brush). I made the tag with Claire's name at the base of the tree a bit larger than the others. And I made the older generations a little smaller so I could fit more on the tree.

I think I had the tags laid out for 2 months before I had the time and the nerve to glue them down. I used my T-square to line things up and my scrapbook adhesive gun to glue them down.

Now how do I frame this beast!? I did consider that before I had it printed. I had in mind to fill a large blank wall in the powder room, so I wanted it to be sizable. Because of the proportions of the tree, I knew that I would have to custom frame. Any ready made frame would not have an even mat on all sides. My first trip to Michael's for framing resulted in about a $300-$350 framing job - what!?

My high-end selections:

That was not going to fly.... back to the drawing board...

My next trip to Michael's, with a budget in hand and with the help of my friend Kathy's (who just happens to be a Michael's framer, an excellent framer at that!) artistic eye, I settled on these two choices:

And picked the top one!

After a long wait behind all of the Christmas presents being framed, I finally got the finished product! And here it is... almost too pretty to put in a bathroom.

Have you done any family tree projects or ancestral art?

Linking to:
The DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff
Savvy HomeMade Monday at Home Savvy A to Z
Weekend Warrior Link Party at Ask Anna Moseley
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Made By You Monday at Skip to My Lou
Tuesdays at Shwin & Shwin
Tuesday Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

A January Pool Party!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:59:00 +0000

I feel like I have been buried under Christmas, family visits and a special little girl's birthday, and now I am finished!!! And I can show you all I have been working on!

First up is the birthday. Claire requested a swim party - which might not be your first thought in Chicago's January weather. Bear Paddle Swim to the rescue! So much fun, and really warm water!

Could this little swim princess have just a plain ol' swim party theme - of course not! She chose mermaids!

Here is the mermaid cake she chose that I labored over for about 3 days....

I have been trying to perfect my fondant for years, but after watching a great You Tube video, I had the most successful attempt thus far!

Oyster Cookies with a little pearl inside...

Goldfish marshmallow pops...

And we made clothespin mermaid dolls...

(Thanks JV for loaning out your Playmobil boat and beach!)

Here is the cutie pie in front of her dessert table...

(Please note the ruffled crepe paper backdrop that my mother spent hours and hours on, sewing ruffles into yards and yards of crepe paper - thank you Mom, love you!!)

It always amazes me to look at her on her birthday and remember what a miracle she is, born at 2 lbs, 5 oz. She is truly a gift from God.

Linking to:
Sister Sunday at Sisters of the Wild West

Merry Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:22:00 +0000

Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday filled with love and laughter!

I am a Guest Blogger Today...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:13:00 +0000

At A Lived In Home!

How exciting that Megan asked me to be a guest blogger and share our Living Room transformation. Please hop on over to check it out. And check out her great blog while you are there, who wouldn't love to sit for a spell and have a dinner party here?

I love those dining chairs!

And I am in love with this table in her Living Room:

I think it would be perfect in my Living Room too!

Thanks Megan for having me!!!

Foyer Updates and Additions... and a Survey!

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:12:00 +0000

#1 - The Mirror:

When I bought the mirrors to go over the foyer table they weren't exactly what I wanted - but just after the return period expired (of course), I found the perfect mirrors! So I had to get them, and I must admit that I really like them so much better!

Before:

After:

What do you think? Better After? Would you believe that the new mirrors were only 1/2 the price of the first ones?

#2 - The Lighting:

When we were working on the foyer I purchased one chandelier for the light closest to the front door.

We have a low ceiling, so no beautiful dramatic welcoming foyer for me! I wanted to turn the second light (another fantastic boob light) in the entry hallway into a recessed can, so you got the light, but it didn't interfere with the chandelier.

One year later...skip to - still no recessed can. So I thought I should get a second chandelier while Overstock still has it!

After about an hour of grumpy grunting, and some drywall modification, I have a second chandelier!

It is a bit more dramatic, and I think I like it. I better like it - I was told that it isn't coming down (after all that grumpy groaning...)

What do you think? Better After?

#3 - The Rug:

Here is my same 'ol same 'ol rug from Steinmart that I have used in every home. I think I need a more modern change. But, this rug is just about the perfect size, somewhere in between a 4' x 6' and a 5' x 7'. It has black and gold tones.

But...I REALLY want a chevron rug in there! I bought one a while back but it was cheap and had rounded corners - yuck!

I found two on overstock.com.

I think I am leaning towards this one, but it is a little smaller than the other choice, 4ft x 5ft 7in. I like the cleaner white color with what I have going on in the two rooms right off the entry - the Guest Room and the Living Room.

This one is a little larger, a 4ft x 6ft. This one also has a more earthly cream color mixed with the black - which would show less wear and dirt. But I don't know how I feel about the earthiness....maybe not clean and crisp enough??

I am going to try this new twist on your opinion, with a survey! Let me know what you think!

Linking to:
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savy Southern Style
Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage
French Cupboard
Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence
Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Living Room Gallery Wall...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:52:00 +0000

I received a lot of questions about the black and white pictures and the frames over the Living Room sofa. They have a special meaning to us. They are photographs of our parents and grandparents - a wedding photo if they had one.

They were displayed at our wedding 10 years ago:

They lined the stairs in our first home:

(Wow, this stairwell looks a bit ominous - I would like to think my photographic skills have improved since then...)

(This was a sweet little first house. And you can see our little Boston, Rosie on the front walkway.)

Since then the pictures have been hidden in a drawer for 9 years!

In the clean-up for our last move, I took the pictures and their mats out and tossed the original silver frames. When I got them out to try over the couch, I used these thin metal look frames from Jo-Ann's. The frames are oversized for the black mats, so I used glue dots to adhere the black mats in the middle of the new frames. I turned over the advertising frame insert to give the black mats a plain white background.

(These are my parents, married at 15 and 19, for over 50 years!)

The frames are sized 17" x 21", with a mat opening sized 10" x 13". They come in Bronze, Pewter, Copper and I think Black. They are the LA frame series.

Ryan loves it when I ask him to hang complex series of frames in a very specific way that have to all be even and exact. Love that guy, but he doesn't have a great track record of hanging things straight the first time. This go-round he came up with a clever little trick.

I laid out the frames just how I wanted them spaced on top of a piece of masking tape on the floor. He marked the tape with the correct spacing and then stuck it on the wall using our trusty laser level, then nailed right through it.

Then he used the same piece of tape, just moved it up the wall and nailed through it again.

And voila! Done the first time!

Linking to:

The DIY Showoff - DIY Project Parade
I Heart Naptime - Sundae Scoop

Wow! Featured at A Thoughtful Place....

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:26:00 +0000

Wow! I am a huge fan of Courtney and her blog A Thoughtful Place, I regularly refer to her posts for inspiration. I was so surprised and excited when she emailed me to ask if she could feature some of our Before and Afters!

Check it out!

Wow. Wow. Wow.....

Living Room, Almost Finished...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 05:59:00 +0000

Here is where the Living Room started, this is what it looked like when we looked at the house for the first time:

Here is it empty:

Here it is during our furniture arrangement phase:

And here it is in it's current state:

It's funny how differently a room looks in a photograph. In this picture I see how I can really use a rug. I thought of layering a large natural fiber rug trimmed in gray with a cowhide on top... like this one:

Or this:

I am also thinking of changing the end table hardware to these:

I am trying out this end table I found at HomeGoods - it might be a little too rustic...

There it is...at least until tomorrow, when I change something....

Linking to:
Miss Mustard Seed - Furniture Feature Friday
Chic On a Shoestring - Flaunt It Friday
At The Picket Fence - Inspiration Friday
Funky Junk Interiors - Saturday Nite Special
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
Debbie Doos - Newbie Party
Dittle Dattle - Amaze Me Monday
The DIY Showoff - The DIY Project Parade
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Tuesday's Treasures

Horizontal Striped Curtains Are All the Rage...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:02:00 +0000

and now I have some too!!!

My in-laws just went home after a whirlwind of projects - so I will have a lot to share now!

My favorite finished project is my new curtains in the family room. I have quite a story about these!

I have ALWAYS loved The Nester's curtains:

And then when I saw these on A Thoughtful Place:

I knew I needed some! And I wouldn't mind having her light fixture over the table too.

For a long time people asked The Nester - "Where did you find the fabric!?". Much to every one's disappointment, the fabric was long gone from the Carolina fabric shop where she originally purchased the fabric. Well...one morning while scrolling through blogland, I saw her announcement that the store found one more bolt of the fabric! I called immediately - and I was 8th in line for a cut of it! She said she would call me back after she finished with #7 - of there was any left.... a long 35 minutes later, she called me and in an oh so sweet southern drawl that I dearly miss - said "Now...what exactly are you going to DO with this fabric?". I explained my plan of how we would turn it and piece it to be two horizontal striped panels. They only had two pieces left of it, about 4 yards each piece, but there were runs and flaws in three places throughout the fabric - oh no! But she thought I could do it! When she offered it at 1/2 price, what did I have to lose!?

After I sat on the fabric for a while, didn't use it in the kitchen, mulled it over - I thought, why not try it in the family room? I could go with a more neutral palate in there, with soft browns and greens? So Martha the Window Treatment Whisperer and I got to work. She did the math and we sewed away! I even sewed a bit on these too. I LOVE the finished product! It warms up the room so much!

What do you think?

Linking to:
The DIY Showoff - Fall Festival
Savy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
DIY By Design - Fall Into Fall Party
No Minimalist Here - Open House Party Thursdays

Welcome to Fall Ya'll

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 04:30:00 +0000

We are in the middle of landscaping the front yard - most of the 18 year old overgrown shrubs were ripped out on Father's Day, and will be replaced next week - finally! But at least I can pretty up the front porch a little for fall, right?

I used these urns and topiaries all summer, however the Mandevilla that I planted in them did not work out. The sweet potato vine grew like gangbusters!

The pots for the mums were left by our home's previous owner - they were terra cotta pots that I sprayed with oil rubbed bronze spray paint to coordinate with the porch decor.

I placed a fall wreath flat on top of the urn and then put the topiary on top, through the wreath. I started with two berry and pumpkin garlands per topiary and that wasn't enough. Then I added one mini leaf garland and one more berry and pumpkin garland. I added feathers to the wreath, then topped it with a fun fall colored velvet leopard ribbon. I hope it all stands up to the elements!

I got this wreath last fall at Hobby Lobby and added some feathers and the gold "L". Is it possible to have too many feathers?

All that's left to add is pumpkins!

Happy Fall!

Linking to:

Centsational Girl Fall Linky Party

What Does Your Mailbox Say About You?

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000

Is your mailbox a direct reflection of what is inside your home? Is it a peek of what one might see when they walk in your front door? Or merely a vessel to bring you ads upon ads upon ads and the occasional birthday card?

Here was the mailbox as it came with our house:

Sad, decaying, droopy little mailbox.

As I was looking to replace our mailbox, I took a tour around the neighborhood to see what kind of mailboxes are in fashion. What do these mailboxes say?

Ok - so now, well on the way to finding the mailbox I like, and of course Home Depot had the post, but not the actual box that matches. So after a parade to all hardware stores in a 10 mile area, I bought it online and talked them into free shipping.

Ryan was putting off our little mailbox renovation because he didn't want to deal with concrete, so I went out to see if I could get things going myself - low and behold - the post we bought could just slip over the existing post with a little modification. So I got him to come out with a mallet and whack the post arm off - and then out came a swarm of bees!!! That had apparently nested in the post. (They came back for a quite while to look for their home.....)

Here was my mailbox inspiration:

I love the vinyl name and address, but with the style of box I chose, all of that information would not fit. So I went with just the address. When Crafty Why Buy It When You Can Make It Whitney was here visiting, she tried and tried to help me cut out the vinyl on my Cricut machine - but it's blade does not have the finesse that her Silhouette machine has - so she had to cut it out at home and mail me the vinyl - hoping I can do it right without her guidance. But she did send me some nice directions - don't you love a good friend who knows that you always need a little assistance...

So I put on the transfer tape all by myself (even though I was really nervous to mess it up!), then took it out to the mailbox to rub it on...

And Voila!

What does my mailbox say about me?

Linking to:

DIY Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Amaze Me Monday at Dittle Dattle

Newbie Party at Debbie Doos

Metamorphasis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Still In The Living Room, This Time With Ikea End Tables...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 14:18:00 +0000

So we set off for Ikea without the list, thinking, surely when I see it, I will remember which end table to get....not necessarily so...

Here is the table I bought:

Got home, pressured Ryan to put together the table immediately, and wham - it was huge! 5 1/2 inches above the arm of the sofa...wow, so did not look great.

We had to make an unexpected trip to the in-laws so we took the legs of the tables with us so my miracle worker FIL and MIL could advise us to cut or not to cut.... As I am showing my MIL the design board so she can see what the whole table looks like and make an informed decision, I notice that I BOUGHT THE WRONG TABLES!! And the tables I was supposed to get, were shorter, more narrow, and just the perfect size! So - take the table apart, back to Ikea, and back home to put the new table together.

Here is the table I was supposed to get:

Ahhh much better.....

What do you think?

I am loving this Edland collection from Ikea - I could use these pieces in every room. And every time I walk downstairs, the smell is so good! Like lemony new wood...

This desk is so pretty, for $199. I could use this in my guest room, but some people don't like not having drawers for their drawers...

This dresser is $299, not bad after looking at Ethan Allen dressers for over $2,000! What? Does a maid come to dust it every week for 5 years?

Linking to:

Shower Curtain

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 14:38:00 +0000

In this post I talked about deciding what to do about a shower curtain in my downstairs guest bathroom, I loved this one from Ballard Designs:

but doesn't the monogram look tee-inescee?

Then I found this one from Target:

And it is similar, so I went with it, took it in hand to find a monogrammer that could give me a substantial sized letter!

And much to my dismay, no one could embroider a letter much bigger than 6-10 inches.

After seeing this post by Trisha at Sweet Survival:

Where she made a monogram out of felt for her pillows, I was hopeful that one creative sewer in my life (insert Whitney here) could help me figure it out/do it for me. Only one problem...she lives over 1,000 miles away in a land of rock and heat. Ah-ha, but she was coming my way!

When I explained the project to Whitney she let me in on the closely held secret that they sell felt by the yard, not just the cheap felt squares in the craft area - whew! That makes it a lot easier. (Did everyone else know that they sell nice felt by the yard?)

So...

I picked out a letter in the font I liked, Renaissance, and printed it out on several pieces of paper - the letter is about 19 inches tall.
Then I taped them all together, so they made a complete "L" template. It was much easier to tape them together exactly with Whitney's suggestion of taping them up over the window, which made the paper transparent and easy to overlap where the design lines matched up.
I taped it onto the curtain to make sure it didn't look ridiculously large:

(Notice the drywall patching where I ripped the towel bar off the wall? Nice.)

After taping the dickens out of the paper layers, I cut out the letter pattern.
(We tried using Wonder Under to adhere the letter to the curtain to make it easier to sew - but the weave of the curtain prohibited stickage and did not work for us.)
We/Whitney pinned the letter to the curtain, and she sewed and turned, and sewed and turned, and sewed and turned, and asked, "Are you sure YOU don't want to try this?". No thank you.

I LOVE how it turned out!

I really should get that iron back out, I know...

And now still trying to decide if I will paint these stripes onto the wall...

The DIY Showoff

What do you think?

Linking to:

Under the Table and Dreaming - Sunday Showcase Party
I Heart Naptime - Sundae Scoop
Petite Hermine - Sunday Linky Party
The DIY Showoff - Project Parade
Tatertots and Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party
Dittle Dattle - Amaze Me Monday
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Tuesday's Treasures
DIY by Design - Sizzle into Summer
The Blackberry Vine - Tuesday To Do

Artsy Schmartsy...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 22:38:00 +0000

Well, only two of us liked my artwork, so I took it back for fear of having buyers remorse as soon as the returnable time period was up. And I must say that when I got home from the return and sat in the room, it was much calmer. I think "Beat Box" was just too much of a slap in the face for my little room.

So I have been looking for something to replace it.

Here is what Emily suggested:

Palomino

I found these on overstock:

Jane Bellows 'Submit' Oversized Canvas Art Set

Caroline Ashton 'Bird & Cage' Oversized Canvas Art Set

Any favorites? Of course my mother recommends letting the kids go crazy with paint on a canvas....

Or should I change focus and go towards a grided gallery wall like this:

Decorpad

What do you think?

A Little Girl and a Window Seat...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 17:12:00 +0000

Here is the Girly Girl's room when we looked at the house:

At first glance I thought no way would this periwinkle blue color work, but after we moved her things in, the pink bedding made the walls look lavender - and that can work with pink, right? Very princessy. But after living with it for a while, it just isn't working. And the wood trim just really has to go.

But before we do all the painting (or beg and plead to hire someone to do more painting), we want to make her the window seat she has been wanting for a long time. She has the perfect little inset window, just begging for place to snuggle up with a blanket and a good book and watch it rain outside.

Are you wondering if the first thing I did in this room was to rip down the balloon vallances stuffed wtih paper? Yes! It was!

But the question is, what to do with the rest of the wall after the window seat? Should we make built-in bookshelves? Or a built-in bookcase/desk combo? Will she use a desk in her room? I have heard lots of people say that their kids don't do homework alone in their room. She really needs to storage for books, trophies and other things she likes to have out - but I would save space by putting a desk here rather than on another wall in her room.

What do you think?

Here are some of my inspiration pictures for the wall-to-be...

Desk/Bookshelves:

Desk 1

I think this one is my favorite, with a combination of covered storage and open. And this is about the amount of space we have to work with.

Desk 2

Houseography

This one is so pretty with the arches.

Desk 3

Perfect plan with the window seat already in place.

Desk 4

Desk 5

This is really pretty.

Desk 6

Window Seat:

Seat 1

Love these drawers for additional storage, but how hard would this be!? And I love all that molding with the chair rail...

Seat 2

This is different with the bookshelves inside the window seat...

Seat 3

Simple and easy.

Seat 4

Plenty of room for books, but maybe not with my 8 foot ceilings...

Seat 5

More simple and easy.

Any favorites?

Living Room, Painting and a Painting...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Tue, 31 May 2011 20:32:00 +0000

A while back I got this fantastic design board from Emily:

And I have been working feverishly to get it going, not without a few bumps in the road - of course.

The painting of forever! There was more trim to paint, crown, and a ceiling. I chose Ashes by Behr for the paint, and used my standard Pure White by Sherwin Williams for the trim. What a difference some white makes!

Wow - can you see how pink the ceiling looks after the trim is painted white? Yuck! So hard to look at!

We added a piece of molding under the existing crown, and left about 1 1/2" of the wall showing between the two, then painted it all white to trick the eye into seeing a lot more molding than was really there.

The nail gun and air compressor were new tools for us. It took a while for me to get over tightly closing my eyes, turning my head, and praying every time he pulled the trigger on the gun. We, umm... I mean Ryan, had a little trouble with the miter saw, getting the cuts to line up flush - instead of at weird angels with the need for lots of caulk repair.... which we had a few of. Our life lesson here, start on the wall that will be looked at the least, not the most visible wall in the room. Chalk one up to experience.

Then I worked on the horizontal stripes - I did the same paint color, but a different sheen - eggshell and semi-gloss. I am wondering now if the difference is too slight. Maybe I should repaint with a slightly different shade? What do you think?

When I went to get the great painting she found for over the sofa, the colors were a little different than they looked online. And I was a little hesitant to pull the purchase trigger on that one, not to mention that it wouldn't fit in my car. So I tried to go the cheaper route, and found this one at Garden Ridge:

It wasn't cutting the mustard, so I went back with a friend (thank you Tracy!), who could fit this mambajawamba sized painting in her van, and together we decided on a more graphic, smack you in the face painting, that is really cool!

Here it is:

OK - so Ryan does NOT love this one, and keeps asking me if I am going to take it back - which would involve once again putting out Tracy and her van. But to make things even more complicated - the ZGallerie that was closest to us is shutting their doors this week and moving an hour away! So...keep the painting? it doesn't love the pillows that went with the design - but I can always use those in another room. What do you think?

Linking to:

Garage Sale Goodie

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Tue, 03 May 2011 19:07:00 +0000

Our neighborhood had it's semi-annual yard sale a few weeks ago, and even though I chose not to participate in the torture of actually selling things in the yard sale, of course I needed to drive around and look for fabulous pieces of furniture!

I passed about 10 signs directing me to one home that boasted lots of antiques, so I thought, this should be good. And it was - I found this cool chair!!

The tag on the bottom says it was born in 1974 - is that an antique? I 'm not sure - but it is really cool. I have seen a lot of blogging about actually painting upholstered furniture, so I think I might attempt it. I am planning on using it as a desk chair in the guest room. I thought about painting it yellow,with maybe black piping? Or recovering in a graphic black and white? But recovering will get rid of that neat stitching detail on the back. What do you think?

Meet Martha! The Queen of Vignettes

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 02 May 2011 01:23:00 +0000

We had a really lovely Easter in Kentucky with my in-laws. Here they are on their sweet porch.

Look at all that green! We don't have all that pretty up here in the frozen northern tundra of Chicago quite yet. Their town has a Dogwood and Azalea Trail every year that leads you through the town to look at the beautiful blooms!

Before I even met her I heard that my mother-in-law Martha is known 'round her town as the Martha Stewart of the South, and how fitting that her name is Martha too! Her home is always so lovely, I thought I should feature her with a little peek inside some of the rooms. She started her own blog, so check it out to see more of her beautiful home - Martha's Barefoot Designs .

MIL and FIL are quite the talented team. They have a large collection of storytelling antiques throughout their home. He can refinish any piece of furniture, no matter how battered, scarred or painted. Let's start with the Dining Room.

I love this vignette centerpiece. She has a wonderful talent for making the perfect little collection on any tabletop, bookcase, mantel, etc.

Isn't this a pretty sideboard?

Complete with a little bit of bling, check out these rhinestone stirring spoons...

This pretty hutch in the corner is full of beautiful serving pieces, and at Christmas time holds a wonderful display of Cuthbertson Christmas china.

Doesn't she have such a talent for decorating? I have tried to talk her into starting her own business for a long time. Another room to come later this week...

Here are some highlights from our trip...

Her is my lovely in her Easter best:

And here is the 4-wheeler that my MIL won at a dinner for hunters. If you only knew her, you would how ironically funny this is!

And here is the confection my child whipped up at the church Easter egg hunt:

Yum-o, right? Whew - after about 3 bites I think she was sugared out, thank goodness, or we would have been scraping her off the ceiling about 3am.

Linking to:

Online Design Board For My New Living Room

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:43:00 +0000

After a major struggle, hmm...can I call designing a room a major struggle, or is that exaggeratory (that's Ryan's word that he made up and insists that it is really a word, it isn't a word - is it?)? Anywhoo... I decided to "hire" a designer that I have a major design crush on - Emily Hewett of A Well Dressed Home. She is in Dallas, and even though I can't physically have her over for some tea and paint advice, she makes it possible across the miles with her Online Design Board Service. I don't think Emily has posted a room or design board that I haven't loved, and her own home is gorgeous. Today, she blogged about my room!!!

Go here to see what she had to say:

http://awelldressedhome.com/yet-another-reason-why-i-love-my-job/comment-page-1/

Here is the board!!! Love it, love it, love it!

I have already ordered the lamps, the throw pillows, and bought the paint. The fabric is on backorder, but I WILL have it! I am SO excited to put it all together! Isn't it fab!? I'll share the steps to making the room something to look at! Check out Emily if you need a little help, she does not disappoint!

Spring Break Was Magical...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 18:23:00 +0000

We ran into Snow White on Main Street.

Then she gave us a hula hooping lesson.

Then we took a trip around this Small World of ours (who doesn't love these little hula girls!?).

Had to stop by Mommy's favorite - Beauty and the Beast.

Ran into Cinderella in the garden.

A trip to Disney wouldn't be complete without Daddy's favorite:

I am not exaggerating when I say that EVERY time we see a parade Ryan tells me the story of when he was little, and they went to Disney, and his lips were sunburned, and they sat on the curb, and watched the Electrical Parade, and ate popcorn. The salt from the popcorn hurt his lips so badly that he almost cried, but he kept on eating it because it was so good. Every time.

And then the fireworks - so pretty.

But now that I have recovered from vacation, I am ready to get back to work. Next up is the Living Room. I have paint swatches on the wall, and I hope to start painting the trim this week. It is the first room you see when you come in the house, so I would love for our home to have a better first impression than "Run, hide your eyes and run to the kitchen!"

House Tour - Family Room

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:25:00 +0000

House Tour - Family Room

Is any room really ever complete? Please view with the understanding that unless otherwise stated - all rooms are a "work in progress".....

Our Family Room

Before:

Nice beams, and checkerboard ceiling, right? Purple, green and khaki, nice.

This little half wall served no purpose, except for closing off the space.

After:

The built-ins my FIL built! Love them! And our no longer needed TV stand, now standing in as a sofa table.

After about 5 coats of paint, and 3 days of caulk - there are still cracks that need filling and paint that needs painting - but Ryan gave up on it for now.

Linking to:
View Along the Way - Roomspiration

I Can See Clearly Now...

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:57:00 +0000

that the grody busted windows have been removed! Buying windows/glass for your house is like buying tires for your car - an evil necessity that keeps you from getting the good stuff. I would have much rather spent the $$$ on something pretty and fun.

When we bought the house this big patio door was clouded over and the home owners opted to credit instead of replace - and it only took us 7 months to replace - shame shame!

Before:

(This is Gerry from Gerry's glass - he's the ~~cheapest~~ most reasonable in town!)

After:

Ahhh.....just makes you breathe easier, doesn't it?

In that time the kitchen window became worse, so it had to go to.

Before:

And as he replaced the right side glass in the garden window, he said - oh - look this other left pane in the garden window is bad too, only another $135?? Sure Gerry, what's another $135? An end table!?

After:

In 7-10 days when Gerry comes back I can say ahhh over this one too.

I have debated on this garden window. Once we paint the cabinets I wonder if the black trim will be too much against the creamy white. I could paint it white? My friend Gerry told me that a lot of people take them out because they let in too much cold in the winter. What do you think?

A cold 80's hole in the wall?

Or a nice light and airy herb garden is calling it's name?

Sara's Bedside Table Rule of Thumb

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I've Been Featured! Judy at DIY by Design was so sweet to feature my guest room redo on her blog last week after I joined in her Swing Into Spring linky party. She even used the word stunning! Wow, talk about making me feel warm and fuzzy!

Judy's kitchen had me at hello and I knew I needed to see what this talented gal was doing in her house.

Check out her delicately beautiful daughter's room.

Thank you Judy!

I have been improving on my room, and I just learned something new from Sara last night on Sara's House. The rule of thumb with nightstand/lamp proportions to the bed is:

Your nightstand should be as tall as the mattress and your lamp should be about as tall as your headboard - wow! Who knew? Did you?

So what I bought for my new room, might be a little off...what do you think? Lamp too small here?

As you can see, I still haven't taken off the plastic wrap from the lampshade yet, so I can totally take it back (I think I say that about most things - which is why my MIL laughs as she picks up most things in the house to find the price tag that is still stuck to the bottom of things I've had for years).

I love the nightstand, so I might need to raise the headboard up a bit?

What do you think of the plate arrangement, it wasn't the arrangement I had on the floor, but when we put it on the wall I kind of ran out of room. Does it look off kilter, not enough plates, just need to move around a bit?

OK, now I am off to finish the Variety Show program - which I should have been working on for the last hour....

Pretty Plates and Platters

noreply@blogger.com (Decorating the Ville) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:43:00 +0000

So I have been out looking for plates to fill the space above the headboard in my new guest room that is eagerly awaiting company...

I couldn't decide - simple classic white, or graphic black and white?
A random arrangement or something more streamlined and symmetrical?

I found a few inspiration pics:

With so much pattern on the bed and windows I think I might go with plain white, and I think I am definitely a symmetrical kind of gal. What do you think?