Sunday, December 12, 2010

The buffet from the driveway

So, I am driving my kids to preschool the other day and I see this piece of furniture at the end of someone's driveway that really catches my eye!  I slam on the breaks, I reverse and I inspect from my car!  Then I call The Hubs!
I then move on with the rest of my day and I forget about that lovely piece of furniture...until I see it sitting in my garage the very next morning!  Apparently it caught The Hubs' eye too!

Problem #1 - it must have been sitting in someones garage for a while b/c boy did it wreak of must and mold!  Did you know that if you put a bowl or baking soda or ground coffee in each drawer and cabinet overnight it will greatly reduce the mustly smell in old furniture??????  Crazy Cool!  So, I started out with baking soda...didn't quite do the trick!  So, I tried the coffee and it got better!  But, the key was cleaning the piece from head to toe, inside and out with Murphy's Oil Soap!  Stanky, Musty Smell - 0, Annie - 1  WooHoo!

So the piece is obviously meant to be a buffet in a dining room.  But, I had other plans for it!  I thought it would be a great table for our flat screen tv.  So, in it came and there she is!  How come we always refer to furniture as a she?  Maybe its because its pretty! :0)

I am very happy with her and the layout...for now!  I think its solid wood, maybe a veneer on the outside, maybe not?  The drawers need a little help sliding, but that's fixable!

Problem #2 - I can't decide what to do about the finish?  It doesn't really match the style of my country /barn wood tables in the rest of the room.  Do I refinish her or paint her?  I am thinking I'll start with the hardware and paint those either black or ORB.  Any thoughts?  Please share!

Snowmen, A Buffet, and a Shelf - Oh MY!

One of my favorite projects my husband had done is my "green shelf".  We bought our shelf at Marstan's unfinished furniture.  The Hubs did this project all on his own.  He painted the shelf white, then added some crackle glaze and then covered it in sage green paint (don't know the exact color....sorry).  He roughed it up a bit, sanded the edges and finally rubbed some dark walnut stain to give it just a little more character!  We did this project about 3 years ago.

In our last house it was in our mud room and played a very special role - mittens and hats had a home and coats had a hook!  But, in our new house / mom's old house we don't have a mud room!  So, since Day 1 we've been on a quest to find the perfect place for the "green shelf"...and I think we found it!


We are using it above our tv for purely decorative purposes!  And, for Christmas my Jim Stone Snowmen have found a cozy home for all to admire!  Have you seen this super cute snowmen?  I started admiring them a few years ago when shopping in Macy's with The Hubs!  Lucky me - he bought me my first one for Christmas...and told my mom how much I loved them...and SO my collection began!  Since then both Hubs and moms have bought me something Jim Stone for Christmas     every year!  I love the designs and the patterns and all the colors...they are just so fun!
So - what do you think of the "green shelf" and its new home?  I think it fits...wish I had a place to use it for its real purpose...but for now it can be a decoration!

Our Cozy Christmas


Christmas is such a magical time of year.  It seems like all I need to do is put on "Sounds of the Seasons" on our tv and I immediately cheer up!  Everything looks brighter and everyone seems happier!  Its the season to have parties, celebrate family and shower your loved ones with gifts...gifts that you've spent hours shopping for...gifts that you put in your Amazon cart and took out, only to put them back in again.  

It's the time of year to shop for the dreaded Pollyanna!  Do you do a Pollyanna in your family?  My family does a Girl and Boy Pollyanna.  It's so much fun once you get there...but its so much stress to find the perfect gift!  I still haven't bought mine for this year's party...and its this coming weekend!  Any suggestions?  I have $25 to spend...

So, decorating for Christmas is something my mom has instilled in me!  It's a precious time for me.  I turn the Christmas tunes on, grab myself a nice cup of tea or eggnog and I rome the house scattering my Christmas goodies, trinkets, candles and garb!  I move every object at least three times before it finds its perfect home for the month!  

This year was even more fun b/c its the first year I've had the house all to myself...meaning I decorate my house and my mom decorates her house!  I thought I felt pressure with the Mantel project!  


My Dollar Store sparkly stars!  Love them!
 Thrifty Decor Chick gave me the idea for the Dollar Store star - but I had no idea how much I'd love them!
The Princess's Santa

A gentle reminder on my Chalkboard
 Wish I knew I'd be a blogger - my chalkboard project was so much fun and so easy!  I'll have to do another one so I can show you...
Love my twine/berry balls from Christmas Tree Shoppe

Project Mantel



One of my most favoritist things to do at Christmas time is to decorate the house!  I don't think there is anytime of year when a house looks more COZY than at Christmas time!  It feels warm and loved!  I so enjoy decorating for Christmas...it takes me weeks to get everything just right!

So this year we started to pull the boat loads of totes out of the attic the weekend of Thanksgiving.  Slowly the totes made their way down the steps and I scattered my trinkets around the house.  I scattered, and rearranged and scattered more for 2 weeks!  I almost have everything just where I want it!  Almost!  

This was my first year doing my mantel - and I felt a lot of pressure to get it right!  My mom has always decorated her mantel to the tee!  She had Nutcrackers and Carolers and lots of lights and more greenery!  She did the same mantel year after year, tweaking just slightly and improving just a bit every year!  This year - the mantel was MINE!  I wanted something simple and natural, but fun and whimsical!  We have a gorgeous stone fireplace and I just wanted to accent it!  I started out with one of my favorite winter time decorations - PINE CONES!  I sent Little Man and Princess out the door with a bucket in tow and gave them strict instructions not to return until the bucket was full!  They very quickly returned with everything I wanted and more (like leaves, stones and pine needles - YEAH).  But, I had the pine cones I needed!  So, I filled my glass jar to the brim and found a hurricane to use for the opposite side...placed one on either side of the mantel and moved on!  
The kids and I went out and trimmed some greenery off the white pines that line our back yard and I filled in the rest of the mantel.  Gotta love free decorations and they smelled beautiful!  I rounded up a slew of white votive candles of all different heights and used them as the centerpiece.  Red berries gave a splash of color...and then the piece de resistance...the huge Christmas balls from Christmas Tree Shoppe ($1.99 ea.)!!!!!!  So love my ginormous, bright colored Christmas balls!  Then I took a step back and admired my work - something was missing!  I needed something in the middle.  I wanted a mirror and knew I had to have one somewhere in my house...but couldn't find one!  The Hubs searched the attic, I searched the garage, we both searched the basement...no mirror!  I ran out to Christmas Tree Shoppe and they had two to choose from...one too big and one too square!  I darted over the TJ Maxx and the angels started to sing!  The perfect mirror - and it was on sale!  Allelujah!  Mantel complete!  I absolutely love how simple and fun it is!  

Our GREEN Christmas Tree


So, every year The Hubs insists on buying a ball tree.  The first few years I thought it was great!  We planted one in honor of each of our children.  Such a special memory that we will always have, right!  Well now we are on year 5 and my thought is - Where are we planting this one?  We live on just over an acre of land...there is only so much room for evergreen trees.As usual, I gave in and we went out on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.   We wandered the fields of gorgeous green trees in search of the perfect tree.  We LOVE Concolor trees!  Christmas Tree.org  (Click to read about Concolor trees)  They have great big, long beautiful needles, they are really full and they have a gorgeous blue tint!  Best of all - they fill your house with the smell of orange citrus!  The first year we bought one we fell in love!  S0, on our quest for the perfect tree we realized that we had a very limited selection.  On the entire 10 acres of trees we had to choose from only 20 of the trees were Concolors and 17 of them were already tagged!  OMG - how early do people go out and pick their trees??!?!? We found one and I was very hesitant!  The problem with getting a ball tree is that you can't get a tall three b/c you lose 2 feet of space at the bottom for the ball!




















We let Little Man tag the tree and we came home empty handed and with an empty truck!  Very dissatisfying!  We waited almost 2 weeks because of rain and finally picked up our tree on Thursday!  I couldn't stand the anticipation - waiting impatiently for that luscious citrus scent to permeate the halls and fill my house with holiday cheer!  The Hubs had to use a dolly to get that massive ball in the house.  But, she fit perfectly in her spot (in fact, we could have gone a bit taller - BOOO).  


Lots of room underneath for LOTS of presents!

We knew she needed a little something.  So we added some fresh cranberries that the Hubs and little man strung.  And then the Hubs added some white ribbon (honestly its drywall tape)!  Very creative!  


 
Love my star!  Very AU~Natural! 


I am happy with the way she turned out.  Very simple, but cozy!  And, she'll be much prettier when the presents hide that cord - ARGH!


PS - A Concolor only gives off the citrus scent when its CUT!  Big huge BOO!  



Christmas 2010

Retro Ornaments Brown Christmas
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