Projects a Plenty

I just LOVE a good project !

For some reason when I am creating I feel the very most alive..

Brad often asks if I will ever finish changing things...

I just laugh and hope that this is a man thing

because the thought of my house

looking the same FOREVER just seems coma inducing to me.

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A girl's just gotta decorate...

Or at least my "fairy tale" brain does..

It's a little bit like playing dress-up,

but with my HOUSE....

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WE got this dresser FREE from one of Brad's partners at work.

It was so brown and completely YUCKY boring..

But I needed the storage upstairs in my studio so I painted it

full of colors and of course polka dots...

Now it both works perfectly holding my stuff AND makes me smile.
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If you have never been to my house (then come on over)...

The upstairs was designed my a man who was obviously DRUNK....

It has 3 fairly large bedrooms with a GIANT room in the middle.

That big room is at the very least 700 square feet (maybe more)...

then.... the entire uptairs space has only 1 teeny tiny bathroom.

Why they didn't take a few feet of this MONSTER room

to make a bigger bathroom is simply beyond me...
ANYWAY.... it does work out great for most of my needs

because I use the whole thing for my studio space...

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My photography studio is upstairs also.

Though I shoot most all my work on locations

with the exception of the babies....

The chest of drawers above was a garage sale find for $5.

It too was YUCK brown.

I painted it white, and sprayed the original handles HOT pink.

The chair was a freebe on the side of the road.

I painted it white as well, and added a tutu and a frog and

NOW I smile every time I walk up the stairs.
I have had this tricycle for years and years and years..

No one ever noticed it at all (even in the garage)

SO.... I added some pink paint, my fave polka dots.....

and not a single person has left to go back down the stairs

without saying something about it.
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I found this lamp shade at a garage sale for $1.

It was in great shape.

Bought the pink fuzz at one of my favorite resale shops...

glued it on, added a butterfly, and my baby corner is
an almost guaranteed grin.
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While I was digging around in the garage for the tricycle,

I found a box I hadn't opened from my move 3 years ago.

IN IT...... were 2 of my very favorite things.

I got my kids to paint their self portrait many years ago

when I was in one of my painting moments.

Brook of course was so excited to do hers,

and Brent's ... WELL it was literally like pulling teeth.

Bless his heart - creativity is just not his forte.
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I redid the window on the stair landing 2 weeks ago.

I wanted a simple Black & White color scheme.

I'd seen one in a Pottery Barn magazine and LOVED it...

So I dug through all of my ZILLIONS of frames

(also in the garage) and found all the simple black ones.

I came across some white ones too and decided I'd mix them.

I went through my multitudes of image folders and picked out some of my

very favorite ones from years past to send to my lab.

It felt like Christmas

when I got them in the mail and put them in their frames.
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Here is another of my (you think I'm kidding)

ZILLION frames I had in the garage.
I always know I will change things up and this stuff will be recycled into

one of my "of the moment" treasures

so I keep TOO much stuff in my garage.

Anyway.... I painted the frame a fun, happy green and

put in a new KIM PARKER (love her so much )

print I bought several months ago.
Her florals are some of the mind Yummiest things.

Always colorful, full of smiles, and inspiration.

It matched the tones in my bedroom perfectly..
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Now... here is my all time (to date) very

"most wonderful" garage sale purchase..

WHAT an awesome chandelier I got for $25..

Brad got it working, hung it for me and I am just in WOW with it.

It gives my bedroom such a romantic feel.

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I absolutely adore it..

An elderly woman was moving to another state to live with her children and I promised her I would cherish it and take good care of it.

I know she must have loved it too...

But I just can't imagine her liking it as much as I do...

My bedroom is ..... "without a doubt" very favorite room in my house.
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Next project... MY wonderful chairs.
Brad's dad gave these to me a few weeks ago.
I can't tell you how thrilled I was to get them.
I am starting the painting process in my mind already...
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II honestly LOVE my house.
I feel like it has my name and my heart written all over it.
I completely adore looking at other people's houses because
they tell so much about the people who live in them.
BUT..........
my backyard is a total different story....
I simply don't ever get enough of being outside.
I enjoy the sun and fresh air
about as much as any other thing I know..
It feels me up and gives my soul energy..

BUT... the energy this backyard was giving has
the same components as the flu... GAG
These dogs (none of which are mine) have just turned
my already not great yard into something I would have to bleep to write @@##:::
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This fine specimen here....
who came to live with us after Brenae's mother sold her house
and moved into an apartment.... is the dictionary image of
"ugly but so darn sweet"
He is a breed (not yet discovered) with what I just have to call
FREAKISHLY large genitals.
Needless to say he has peed my bushes too literal death...
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This is what HGtv calls a blank canvas. ha
SO... My sweet Brad
(who I think is just tired of me fussing because I want to go outside)
has started the 1st stage of backyard makeover.....
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WE got the most fabulous antique rod iron fencing
from another partner of his at work..
(They give good stuff away)
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We are going to add it all around the patio
so AT LEAST I can have that portion Canine free to decorate.
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Stay tuned for more of the "BACKyard from Hell" makeover updates...
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May we never get too old for a PROJECT...