(Almost) Wordless Wednesday with Addie ...and a couple little projects

Have I mentioned how GREAT our weather has been lately?

I know I have cause it has been HEAVENLY!

50's in January in Iowa !

FAB*U*LOUS !

So anyway....

 I took advantage of the weather this past weekend and finished a couple spray painting projects that I started QUITE* A* WHILE ago!

The first one was this step stool.

I'm really short.

And I was tired of dragging a chair to the kitchen to reach ANYTHING !

But it was gray and dirty and overall yucky.

Finished ( well, mostly) project.

You know I love lime :)

I also finished a chair for the store.

Painted aqua , then painted ivory.

Distressed a little ( maybe not enough)

I covered the seat with a pillow sham I found at GW.

Isn't she cute?

Speaking of cute .....

No, I don't have her locked up.

She's JUMPING !

Silly Grandma got her a mini-trampoline for Christmas.

Silly cause it's still at MY house and not hers.

But she LOVES it !

So who cares that it takes up half of my dining room?

Not me. Not Papa either .

She likes to zip herself in :)

Her sheep had to jump too.

( It's really a pink and white poodle, but she calls it " Addie's sheep")

Now we are having our first Winter Storm of the season.

( it was 41 degrees earlier today)

GREAT....

Oh well, I knew it was impossible to have that fantastic weather continue till spring.

But you can't blame a girl for hoping !

Chair Makeover

Last Saturday I started a couple thrift store projects.

 It was a perfect day to spray paint and I know those are numbered.

I thought I would share a couple of them with you.

I had already taken the seats off when I took this picture.

I wanted to try something new. I painted them red first . Then I painted them with a flat white.

I wanted to distress them and have the red come through.

Hubby found this adorable little bench at a sale.

 I think he paid $2.

 I had the gingham fabric from a previous project.

I didn't distress it very heavily.

 It was my first attempt  and I decided if I didn't like it , I would just repaint it.

I did kinda like it.

Chair #2

I really like this one.

It has great bones.

I covered the seat of this one with a vintage tablecloth.

I love to use vintage fabric. It's so sturdy.

It's faded in places , but that's ok.

It just adds character.

Hubby didn't like it.

 He thought it was a bad paint job.

He obviously doesn't get distressing.
Em thought I should have distressed it more.

Addie said " chair cute Grandma."

Sarah liked it too. She said it was Shabby Chic.

I love my girls !

To distress or not to distress?

What's your opinion?

Linking this post to :

Thrifty Thursday @ Inspired Charm

http://www.inspiredbycharm.com/

or click the button on the sidebar

Check out the awesome thrifty ideas.

Wordless Wednesday - Almost

So , I'm pretty new to this blogging thing , (but I am having fun with it ) and I see quite a few blogs that do " Wordless Wednesday" posts.
Now I have Addie every Wednesday afternoon, so I thought it would be a pretty cool feature on my blog too.
Here's the problem.... it's almost impossible for me to be wordless about ANYTHING ! But.... I am going to try use as few words as possible.
This Wednesday's theme : INSPIRATION.

I have found another cool thing while blogging , it's called Pinterest . It's a great creative tool , that lets you look at other people's inspiration. It's like an online scrapbook of all things that interest you. How many times have you looked at a picture in a magazine and thought it was great and got some inspiration from it , then when you tried to find it back , you couldn't remember which magazine it was in or which issue of which magazine (  if you're like me, you have all the issues because you just can't part with them , cause you might need to refer back... someday ), well this helps you store all of those ideas on " boards". For instance , I have a board for "garden" and " quotes" and "inspiration " and , well , you can have as many boards as you have interests if you want . It's awesome , I'm telling you !

ANYWAY...... here is some of my INSPIRATION ....

Inspiration for my " chair obsession"

An Inspiration for next year in the Moon Garden. Can't you just see a similar arrangement with silver pots and white flowers ? HEAVEN !

One of the next DIY projects I'm going to tackle. Addie LOVES writing with her chalk. Just because it's functional doesn't mean it can't be beautiful !

Pomegranate Champagne Punch

I think this will be the "signature cocktail "  at my next Girl's Night party ! YUMM!

My quote of the week.....BUT oh, so true !

Ok , so it wasn't "Wordless" , but this is as close as it gets for me. The wordless Wednesday word is INSPIRATION and  I hope my blog gives you a little of that.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's new feature , "Thirsty Thursday". I haven't found a blog yet that does that , but I'm sure there must be one or two !

My Chair Obsession

I LOVE chairs ! Small Chairs , shabby chairs, comfy chairs, overstuffed .....well you get the picture. I spent this rainy day working on projects for the store. It was a great day to do it and I got SO much accomplished. There is nothing I love more than giving new life to a discarded chair ( ok , well , there are a few things I love more , but... well again , you get the picture).

Aren't these AWESOME ! I call them modern country /cottage !

These babies are going to the store tomorrow. Here's another one I created today for the store.

Isn't she pretty . I think it's called a harp back chair ( I think ) . Anyway, the paint color is called Cinnamon, which I thought would be a rusty brown which was perfect because I wanted to make her a "fall" chair. However it turned out to be more of a pumpkin orange, still fine for fall , but I didn't really have any fall fabric that looked right. This fabric I used  is actually a piece from a vintage tablecloth which I had been wanting to use for quite awhile. I love working with vintage fabric , it  just seems to be a sturdier fabric , anyway , I was very happy with the way she turned out .

I have collected small Mexican chairs for several years now. I got my first one because it was red and cute. I LOVE red and I will find a place for most any little red thing I find. I rarely pay more than a couple dollars for my Mexican chairs and usually find them in junk shops and second hand stores. I have several red ones , some natural wood ones and Emily ( my baby girl , ok , she's almost 22, but still MY BABY ) found me an awesome white one at a Goodwill .

Just part of my collection.....

You can't really tell but this picture , but the picture in the center is actually a PICTURE OF CHAIRS ! I got it for three dollars at a thrift store , I couldn't go home with out it. It had an ugly green frame , but that was easy enough to change !

I found this little gem in one of my favorite second hand shops and KNEW it had to go home with me. I had no idea where I would put it , but it was too sweet to leave behind. Emily was like , " Mom , do you really need that?" and I was like , "Nope, but I want it !"

It's just like my Mexican chairs only child size !

I stuck it in a corner of the bathroom ( cause it fit really well there) and there it languished with out much thought from me ....UNTIL... Miss Addie  ( My Darling Granddaughter) started potty training . Now she scoots it up to the sink to wash her hands. I just knew I needed it in my house !

And last but by no means least , is my  version of shabby chic.

Gorgeous , right ! Well maybe not to everyone, but I. LOVE. HER! Again , I wish I was a better photographer :( She has kinda chartreuse embossed flowers ( which were originally more olive but have faded to chartreuse) with a little fuchsia thrown in . I found her in a junk shop and fell in love from across the room ! I gravitated right to her . Price tag - $10. I knew I had to have her, but Ryan ( Emily's guy) was with me and he never pays the asking price for ANYTHING  ( I think it would physically hurt him to pay the asking price), he offered the guy $5 and this shabby little lady was mine ! Hubby about had a fit ,but he has gotten used to her  ! Yah !

SO ... there is a small sampling of my chair obsession.

What is your decorating obsession ?