White Lace Cottage

Jennifer Rizzo

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Outdoor Decorating Ideas

Anne — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:32:36 +0000

Wanting to change our front porch and was searching my brain to think of some ideas for decorating our outdoor

porch.

Right now it is the only outdoor area we have to decorate.

To get some ideas for decorating our front porch I ran into one my favorite thrift shops in town.

The owner Judy has a great eye and I knew she would give me some great ideas to get my creative juices flowing.

My front porch is not very large.It can be difficult to decorate such a small area.

Judy gave me the idea to use a table here.

As soon as she said that my first thought was farmhouse table!

This table was actually in my dining room.But I think it will work perfectly here.

Those wicker chairs I have had out here for the past years and I still like them.

Although I think they need a pillow or cushion.I will be on the hunt for them.

Any suggestions for vintage looking outdoor pillows?

Love the color and patina of that vintage plant stand!

I always wanted a front porch.And although ours is a bit small we really do enjoy sitting outside and drinking lemonade!

So sad that not many people sit on there front porches anymore.

We all hide in our back yards and keep to ourselves.

I wish we could go back to the days of sitting on the front porch.

These lovely roses are fresh from my garden.

I think it will be nice to have fresh flowers out here not just from a plant but freshly cut.

That pretty white pitcher is from my sweet friend Kris from Junk Chic Cottage.

I found this vintage wire plant stand recently at a goodwill store for 4.00.

This was added to the side of my porch.It is the perfect size and does not take up much room at all.

My cherub collection graces this plant stand.

I love the shape of this!

Recently I found an old lamp base at a barn sale.

I decided to use it as a plant stand.

I also added that hanging basket of flowers.

A garden statue was found today too!

It’s so funny on the tag it said “As Is” because it has chips on it.I find that amusing as most of my purchases are things that are chippy,broken,ripped to me it gives each piece a unique quality!

I love that sweet face! And as you can see the piece behind it is quite chippy.Not sure it it is old or not but I love it either way!

I think I am going to hang this but for now it is just leaning against the brick wall.

Now I am going to kick back and enjoy our petite front porch!

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Jennifer Rizzo

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Farmers Market Lilac Flower Arrangement And Tip

Anne — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:50:13 +0000

My Lilac bush has not bloomed yet this year.And since it was a lovely day on Saturday I decided to go to our farmers market.While I was there I spotted these lovely Lilac flowers in this beautiful arrangement. I knew this lilac arrangement would look perfect on my farmhouse table!

This particular vendor is there every week.I love all of her flower arrangements.This week she only had these beautiful Lilac flowers in beautiful ball glass jar arrangements.

It is usually a bit more to take the jar.So I opted not to and decided to bring these lovely lilacs home and use my own jar.She did have a recycled tomato sauce jar with water so it would stay well until I drove home.

I love this big lilac flower arrangement.It is so nice and full and the aroma is heavenly!

Unfortunately my lilacs have not opened yet.They are pretty sad.I don’t know what to do.

If I wanted to enjoy these beautiful flowers I had to buy them this year.

This lovely Lilac flower arrangement is not only pretty but it brings back special memories.

My husbands Great Auntie used to have beautiful Lilac bushes in her garden.

I remember her bringing my sweet Mother in law a fresh lilac flower arrangement as soon as these bloomed in her garden.

Whenever I smell this lovely scent I think of her.

Here is a tip for you to remember when thinking about your Lilac arrangements.The first thing you must do to keep these staying fresh a bit longer is to make sure the water is clean.No leaves should get into the water.Bacteria will form and the flowers will die.

Another thing to remember is to cut these properly.Make 2 inch cuts on both sides of the stem.Do this with a sharp paring knife.This will allow the water to absorb better in the stem.I also like to add a bit of floral preserve.I make sure and keep some of this as I buy flowers.They always give you more than enough so I always have some on hand.

Now if I can only figure out how to make my own lilacs bloom I will be a happy girl!

Between naps on the porch

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Sea glass

Anne — Tue, 14 May 2013 21:55:55 +0000

Many years ago while browsing through a flea market I came across my first look at sea glass.

I thought it was the most beautiful color I had ever seen.

A soft bluish green with a bit of a haze.

The lady I bought them from told me that if I washed the sea glass bottles really good all that would be clean.

Now why would I want to do that.

The soft haze is part of the patina on this glass.

My collection is quite small but I love grouping them together.

I prefer to keep them just as.

Believe it or not I have never used these bottles as vases.

I guess I am taken with the beauty of the sea glass color all alone.

But as you can see a pink rose does look really sweet with these petite sea glass bottles.

I also love finding the vintage clear glass bottles.

A group of clear bottles really makes a statement .

But my heart is still fond of those pretty sea glass bottles.

Yes I think they are my favorite!

That rose is still from that bunch I found for a bargain deal at the market HERE

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Jennifer Rizzo

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Metal Gym Lockers for A Mud Room

Anne — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:56:23 +0000

I have been searching for a while to find metal gym lockers for our mud room/laundry room.

It is quite narrow and I needed a better solution for our coats and shoes.

Although there are only three of us in this house it still can get very messy.

Plain and simple it was driving me nuts!

Shoes were piled on a shoe tray and coats hung on a coat rack that was mounted to the wall.

It never looked neat it was always an unorganized mess.

Does this sound familiar to any of you?

As I was searching for vintage metal gym lockers they were either way out of my price range or I would only find one or two.

Just recently while out shopping with a friend at a garage sale I found this set of vintage metal gym lockers for 50.00!

Actually they were 60.00 but I talked him down to 50.00.

The color was all wrong and they were filthy dirty and I mean grimy nasty dirty.

First I cleaned them up with oxy clean .

After I cleaned up these metal gym lockers I had to decide how I wanted to paint these.

They are very heavy and taking them outdoors to spray paint was not an option.

So I thought do I spray paint them inside?

But the mess that it would make not to mention the smell the answer was no!

And I had a color in mind.Using spray paint you can really can’t mix a custom color.

I decided I would use a paint that had a primer in it and use a few paint colors I already had on hand to make a custom color.

I wanted the color to look vintage and a bit faded.

A color that when you looked at it you could not tell if it was white or gray or blue.

I went to walmart and bought glidden 2in1 paint and primer in egg shell finish.

When I was ready to paint I mixed the 2 in 1 glidden paint with Annie Sloan duck egg blue and Louis blue until I got the color I wanted.

I was not looking for perfection.If this chips it chips and will look more authentic and vintage.

Another reason I did not want to use spray paint is that I was not looking for a factory finish look.

Remember I love that chippy vintage look and I am hoping in time it will begin to chip and look authentic.

I only painted it because I did not like the color.

This is what these metal gym lockers looked like before I painted them.

Not very pretty.

And here is another photo of how these metal gym lockers look now.

I don’t know why my walls look yellow it is the same color I have in all of my house.

That metal bread box stores our cat food.

We now all have a locker to keep our coats,hats,and shoes in.

And the best part for me is that my daughter can also keep her back pack in here!

It is so nice not to have clutter in here!

I added a few of my white ironstone pitchers , a vintage baby scale and those blue ball jars on top.

I am sure this will get changed often.

That cow print above was a recent find.

Love the detail on this frame it was already painted white.I may sand it down a bit to age it as it is a vintage frame.

It’s hard getting a shot with out the reflection of myself or the window.This room gets lots of light with only a partial lace curtain.

I am planning on sharing the whole room reveal but I still have some things to do.

So stay tuned for more on this room.It may not be done until after summer.

A bit of advice something I learned the hard way.If you are painting lockers with spray paint or brush on paint make sure you DON”T paint over the mechanical part of the door.

I did not realize I was doing that and they were painted over.At first I could not use the handle.I had to use a razor blade to slice through the paint.All is well now but I should have been more careful.

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Vintage Decorating Lockers Inspiration

Anne — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:01:07 +0000

My style of decorating always incorporates vintage elements like these lockers.

A challenge for me has been my laundry room.

It is large but has a narrow entrance making it difficult to decorate.

Vintage locker decorating inspiration: Source pinterest

I don’t have cabinets for my laundry soaps,cleaners and things.

I had to think of something to store everything in.

Something decorative and functional.

Vintage locker decorating inspiration: Source pinterest

Besides storing all of my laundry items and cleaners I also needed a better set up for our coats and shoes.

I was using a hanging coat rack.

The problem is that being such a narrow entrance it always appears messy.

For awhile now I have been searching for a vintage locker.

Vintage locker decorating inspiration: Source Pinterest

But finding one that is affordable has been a challenge.

And another challenge is finding three of them.

I wanted one for each of us.

Well guess what I finally found a set of 3 vintage lockers.

And the price was a STEAL!

At 50.00 for three of them I was ecstatic!

A friend I was out shopping with was kind enough the haul them in her van and help me carry them in our house!

Vintage lockers decorating inspiration: Source pinterest

Today I was working on cleaning them.

They were a bit grimy.

And the color was all wrong so I am painting them too!

Hoping to share them in a few days.

For today I am leaving you with these photos of vintage lockers for inspiration!

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Curly Locks And Other Thoughts

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Star Wars

Anne — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:44:00 +0000

Star Wars.

I am thrilled to share a special feature today.

Nope it’s not about me or about home decorating.

My two great nieces were featured in one of there favorite magazines!

Grace is a HUGE Star Wars fan!

Her Mom has been a fan since she saw it for the first time.

And a few years ago Grace watched it for the first time and really connected with the characters and the story.

Her sister Glory watched Clone Wars at a friends house and was soon hooked herself.

Grace has a blog called To Thine Own Self Be True .

She is an amazing writer!

One of her favorite subjects to write about is…..Star Wars!

Being featured in this magazine is HUGE especially if you are Star Wars fan!

I am so proud of her!

I hope you will go on over and check out her very cool blog!

And her sister Glory also has a blog.

Besides being a BIG Star Wars fan and Dr. Who fan she also loves her American Girl dolls.

You can visit her at The Photos Of My Life where she shares stories about her dolls.

And since I am bragging a bit about my family I wanted to also share I have a celebrity in my family.

My Niece who is the Mother of these amazing girls is a big fan of another science fiction show.

Dr. Who!

It changed her life.

She discovered that she has so much in common with character.

And many people have told her she looks like one of the main characters River Song.

She is also an amazing writer I would love for you to go and check out her blog too!

Thanks for letting me share my family with you all!

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A Craft Room with Storage solutions

Anne — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:39:06 +0000

A craft room with storage solutions.

Do you remember this room almost a year ago when I shared it the first time?

I am sharing this a second time around for those who missed it the first time.

This time of the year is so crazy around here the school year is almost over.

My daughter will be getting out of school for her summer break in just a few weeks.

I have been working hard in my garden and going through some things doing spring cleaning.

During the summer I like to enjoy my time with my daughter and not do too many projects.

They grow up so fast and before you know it they are all grown up!

I have been making some little changes to this room since I last revealed it.

The new reveal will be shared soon.Nothing major just some small changes.

Let’s go back and see what this looked like the first time around.

I have wanted my own creative space for awhile .

I was inspired after seeing so many amazing rooms in blogland.

Although I don’t think mine comes near any of the amazing ones I have seen I am pretty happy with the results.

No need to show you a before photo of the room.

It had our pool table/air hockey table in it and we moved that into our basement.

I did paint it a fresh coat of white.

I needed to find things that would look decorative but also be functional for storage.

Like using that trunk under that table to store supplies and those old suitcases you see tucked away next to the armoire.

All the furniture used had to hold all the supplies .

I also used a bowl to store vintage hardware and an old sewing drawer to hold vintage papers.

Try to think outside of the box for decorative and functional ways to use a storage for your room.

Everything was purchased at thrift stores and garage sales with the exception of my mannequin and I purchased that at homegoods.

The armoire was in our den.

I moved it in this room to store supplies.

Found this old screen at a garage sale.

The vintage pins are mine I just added them by sticking them in the screen.

Pretty flowers from our market Jewel.

Love this desk it’s the perfect size for this space.

That sweet French chair was only 4.00!

I painted it Annie Sloan Old White and sanded it a bit.

I recovered it with a paint tarp that I already had.

That basket stores my lace and bits of trim.

The metal cabinet stores my business cards.

The desk was painted in leftover white paint that I had.It was a custom color so I don’t have a name.

I then used Annie Sloan dark wax.

I did not like the results so I washed on a coat of Annie Sloan Old White. I love the soft look!

Love this funky little table.

Found this for 8.00 at a thrift store it is not crystal but these are still pretty expensive normally.

I did not want to hire an electrician right now to hang this I am on a budget so I bought a plug and added it it.

To lengthen it I bought an extension cord I then added two cord covers.

I chose to hang it and plug it in to the side of the room.

Visually I like it better in the corner but I would have to manually plug it in to use it everytime I walk in the room.

The outlet that the plug is in now is connected to the switch.

Another view of this room.

That shelf is great to store thing but also looks great as a display too.
Again decorative and functional.

That old metal cabinet is also great for storage too.

Lots of drawers to store little things.

This room gets allot of afternoon sun.
It is so nice to have a special creative space of my own.

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Fresh Flowers

Anne — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:15:27 +0000

Recently when I guest hosted on Jennifer Rizzo’s blog I shared how I love adding fresh flowers to my home and how I like to use unique vintage items as vases.

Today while I was at our market Jewel they had a dozen roses on sale for 6.00.

Of course I scooped them up brought them home.

I remembered I had an old tea kettle that I could use.

That spout is perfect for adding more water when I need to!

I was inspired when I saw this on Becky’s sweet blog buckets of burlap sometime ago.

After adding these roses I knew I had the perfect spot for them.

I decided to change my centerpiece I had on my farmhouse table.

Remembering I also had a pretty blue tray I added the tea kettle on top of the tray and placed it on the table.

But it was missing something.

Ah yes my vintage cloth I had stumbled upon very recently while out antiquing.

The colors are so sweet and faded.

And of course I love those sweet pink flowers.

The worn look on this tray is a perfect match next to this vintage fabric.

It is fun changing things around this time of the year.

Feels good to freshen things up and adding fresh flowers always adds life to a room.

I cannot wait for mine to bloom.

For now I will enjoy my market flowers.

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Shopping

Anne — Thu, 02 May 2013 22:33:48 +0000

For just one day the weather here felt like summer.

A day to put on your shorts and your cool summer shirt and of course some flip flops.

I was invited to go on a girls day out for a bit of shopping.

And the day could not have been more perfect.

Kris from Junk Chic Cottage invited me to go out for a girls day of shopping.

When I arrived I was greeted with this beautiful bouquet of roses in this pretty white pitcher.

This Lady knows my style!

I also got a quick tour of her beautiful home.

I knew how beautiful her home was from photos she has shared of her home but seeing it in person let me see how amazing her home is!

If you can even imagine it could be even prettier in person.

Well it is!

Kris took me to Morris Illinois to check out some great junking spots.

We were a bit short of time because I had to get my daughter from school.

But it was enough time to shop in a few stores and them off to lunch at Letty Mae’s.

What a charming tea room! Decorated with vintage finds that are also for sale!

I did not take any photos which means I must go back!

I really wanted to enjoy the day and not get caught up on taking photos.

When we were at the tea shop I spied a cute bench.

Ugh I did not bring it home with me.I sort of regret it .But it was a bit pricy and I was not sure where to put it.

This sweet little tote was a win from Kris’s blog.

The perfect tote to keep in your car that has just about anything you need while you travel or while you are out junking.

This year while I am shopping the sales I will be prepared for just about anything!

Thank you so much Kris it was a pleasure meeting you I am sure we will get out again and do more junking together.

I also wanted to share this pretty blue transferware mug that I won on a giveaway at Martina’s beautiful blog Northern Nesting

Not only did I win this beautiful cup but also a gift card to Marshall’s.

I cannot wait to use this thank you so much Martina!

This is such a busy time of the year for me.

I am trying to get out in my garden and also getting to things that need to be done around here.

My daughter has band concerts…a dance recital and soon in a few weeks she will be out for the summer.

Where did this school year go?

I am doing my best to keep up with all of your sweet blogs.

And now facebook too.

Hope you will join me on facebook and pinterest !

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