Feed Sack Chair

Through this past year, I have collected several old feed sacks. I have made pillows with some of them...

Solution to a Hole in my Vintage Tapestry!

Isn't it funny when you just can't think of a solution to a problem and someone walks up and gives it to you on a silver platter? In this case, I had picked up an old tapestry. The problem: a hole right in the middle of it. Too big to repair without notice. One day, my lovely daughter, Lisa says, "why don't you just cover a stool with it!"

I just happened to pick up this very old and very ugly stool...

Old Settee Breathes New Life!

You probably didn't even miss me, but we have been gone to Vegas Baby!


If you are ever going and can catch a show, you should see Terry Fator! He won America's Got Talent in 2008 and puts on a really well done and funny show.


On with the Settee project...

Buffalo Check Pillows

If I were to choose one favorite thing to sew, it would be pillows! I think they are fun to make. I can be as creative as I want plus they don't take a lot of time. And are fun to display!

I purchased this fabric...

I made two of these pillows...

Swag no more!

I purchased 5 custom made and unused swags at a garage sale for only $5 total! I knew that I could do something fun with them. This is one of the swags. See the pretty tassel trim? And the deep red fabric is very nice too.

I realized that they would make awesome pillows. It took a bit more than one swags worth of tassel trim to make an 18 inch square pillow. Which means that I was able to make four pillows out of the 5 swags with material left over for additional projects.

Holly Jolly Tutorial

I finally did IT! I made a stencil with freezer paper. I had seen this on blogland and wanted to try it. My excuse...Hubby was out of town and I wanted to do a fast, fun and easy project.

Here are the steps to making a stencil.

A Client's Formal Living Room

I recently shared with you a before and after of a built-in bookcase. Well, that is in a formal living room space that I have been decorating.


Here is what this space looked like when I was hired to warm it up and put personality into the room.

It had the basics, two sofas, two end tables and a coffee table...and a couple of wood side chairs.

Now I will step you through my decorating process. First, I borrowed the rug from under the breakfast room table because it looked like it would go better in this space and it was too small for the breakfast table.

Here is the room 90% complete.

More Feed Sack Stuff

It's raining and what a glorious day for me to spend time in my basement sewing room. Here's what I did in a couple of hours.

Feed Sack Liner for 2-Wheeled cart

Another Feed Sack Pillow

You know how I 'gotta' give the back story, sooooooo, Hubby and I went antiquing on a cold February day. Among the purchases and treasures that I came home with were these feed sacks.

Front Side

Back Side

I then found another large feed sack at my local antique store. With the Bemis A feed sack I made a pillow complete with a comfy down pillow form. It is large and as luck would have it, the pillow form fit perfectly from side to side, so all I had to do is sew the top together, stuff in the pillow form and hand sew the bottom shut. Easy, Peasy! You can read about the other two feed sack pillows on this POST.

My new Bemis pillow with my other two feed sack pillows

In the past, I have made cute liners for the metal two-wheeled carts out of pretty rose fabric. I sold those on eBay. They are really handy for storing dirty laundry, wrapping paper supplies, extra fabrics, toys...actually the storage ideas would be endless.  And I had another cart in my storage room holding pillow forms for future unmade pillows. I decided that I had enough feed sack pillows, so I would combine two feed sacks and make a sweet, shabby liner.

One of my previous made liners - sold

In the thought process

One Side

Another side

Ties to hold the bottom tight

Looking down in at the bottom

Front pleated ruffle I made from scrap feed sack and Buttons to hold it on nicely

I still have the smaller Funk's feed sack for a future project. I'm totally happy with my two projects today. Aren't you?

NOTE: You should be able to click on most of the pictures to enlarge to see further details.
These parties I love to link up to or check out my Blog Parties tab
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps On The Porch
Make It For Monday @ Cottage Instincts
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Making The World Cuter @ Making The World Cuter
Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle 
Twice Owned Tuesday @ House Of Grace
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Power Of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
Winter Blues Wednesday @ DIY by Design
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Piece of Work Wednesday @  Primitive & Proper
Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage
Open House Thursday @ No Minimalist Here
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
100 Ideas Under $100 @ Beyond The Picket Fence
Show And Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Frugal Friday @ Shabby Nest
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Strut Your Stuff @ The Saturday Morning Blog
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal 
Sunday Showcase Party @ By Stephanie Lynn
Pillow Challenge @ CSI Project 

Slipcovered Stool and Pillows

I love change. The change in the seasons, and changing decor in my home. I had a stool and some pillows that I decided to make slipcovers for and I could change them out every few months for a different look. Here are FOUR different looks of slipcovers that I made.

Pillows...Front and Back, so I can display them on the sofa either way...two looks in one.

Stool slipcover

Slipcover pillow look #2

The chair was newly reupholstered then I sold it.

Made this slipcover with pieces of leftover fabric.

I made two of these, but then have sold them to my friend. They look great in her space.

Front and back...this is on my sofa currently.

The best part is not that they look good and it feels good to switch pillows out, but they store flat since I use the same pillow inside and just unzipper or unbutton them and switch out the slipcover.

NOTE: You should be able to click on most of the pictures to enlarge to see further details.
These parties I love to link up to or check out my Blog Parties tab
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps On The Porch
Make It For Monday @ Cottage Instincts
Motivate Me Monday @ Keeping It Simple
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Making The World Cuter @ Making The World Cuter
Twice Owned Tuesday @ House Of Grace
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Power Of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Piece of Work Wednesday @  Primitive & Proper
Good Life Wednesday @ A Beach Cottage
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
100 Ideas Under $100 @ Beyond The Picket Fence
Show And Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Furniture Feature Friday @ Miss Mustard Seed
Frugal Friday @ Shabby Nest
Vintage Inspiration Friday @ Common Ground 
Creative Girls Blog Hop Friday @ The Girl Creative
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Strut Your Stuff @ The Saturday Morning Blog
Sunday Showcase Party @ By Stephanie Lynn
Pillow Challenge @ CSI Project 

Quick and EASY Wall Fun and Giveaway!

Before I tell you about the give-away (sorry, this giveaway is over) , I will tell you how to have decorating fun for only $7.50!

Yep, $7.50 is all it cost and it looks like this...
I went to TJ Maxx and purchsed this...

Sorry it's blurry...it's not your eyes. But this does exactly what it says, Peel, Stick, remove and reposition. Easy, Fast and Inexpensive.

After I was done. I realized that I could keep the bird outline part and use it as a stencil once for another project. It would stick down, I could stencil it in black silhouette then throw the stencil away. Now I will have to do another project...maybe a bird silhouette pillow?

And did I tell you it makes enough for two birds on limbs with leaves? Yea, all for $7.50!! The best part to me other than it being cheap and easy, is that when you get tired of it, just peel it off and no harm to your walls. If you are like me, my taste changes almost on a daily basis and I change things around all the time. This happens when you become an empty nester, stay at home wife and love decorating!

So while we are on the hall wall, I will show you how I decorated it with my children's pictures.

Purchased at Hobby Lobby. Loved the silhouettes of boy and girl. Instead of putting in their pictures, I just added their names and a heading of "Our Kids". Instant art.

My kids when they were young.

Daughter's hand print when she was 2 years old.

Son's hand print when he was 5 yrs. old. I cross-stitched the saying, "This is to remind my mommy, when I've grown so big and tall, that once I was a little boy and my hands were very small."

My kids at ages 10 and 1 1/2 years old. I used material to cover the mat.

The above picture was of my daughter's hands. The hands were blue, yellow (which has faded to almost gone) and pink to represent tulips. The sides of her hands were used to make the green leaves and stems. She was 2 when I did with with her. She is now 20. Click on any picture to enlarge for viewing details.

Now on to the give-away! Do you remember this pillow that I recently made?

French Inspired Pillow Give-Away!!

I have decided that since I have over 200 followers and over 52,500 visitors on my blog in only a little under 3 months, that it was a good time to celebrate!  Don't you think? I really appreciate all who have commented and become a follower as well.  I didn't realize that blogging was going to not only be a way to document my projects, but be so fun too.

So here are the rules:

Become a follower then comment that you became a follower on this blog. That is one entry. If you happen to already be a follower, then comment that you are such.

Second entry will be, if you talk about my give-away on your blog, then come back here and comment that you did such. It will allow you a second entry.

Remember, the comment becomes your entry into the give-away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will have a random number generator select the winner on the morning of February 14! So the winner will get a French Inspired Pillow just for Valentine's Day!  Good Luck and Thank You!!

I am linking up to these parties:
Sunday Showcase party
Met. Monday 
Make It 4 Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Motivate Me Monday
Just Something I Whipped Up
Before and After Party 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Good Life Wednesday
Transformation Thursday
Frugal Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Saturday Nite Special 
 SassySite Friday

Dining Room Tour & Confession

I must start this story with a confession. Back in 2005, Country Decorating Ideas magazine called me and asked to feature my home in their magazine. Well, of course I said yes. I will post on that long process in another blog post, however when my home FINALLY came out in a 2007 issue, my sister called and said bluntly, " Your dining room was sooooo boring! You need color in there!" She has never seen my home since she lives in South Carolina and I am in Illinois. Well, here is the picture of that page from the magazine and you can see what she meant. She was so right!

I had white lace valances on the bay windows. I had a cream colored carpet on the cream colored marble floor. Yes, I had red walls but not much of the room was walls. So, I put her in charge of finding area rugs. My sister surfed the internet and found the perfect rugs for the kitchen and dining room. They matched the theme (roosters) and my wall color perfectly.

I couldn't believe it when they arrived! She is so good! It looked like I had the rugs and matched the wall paint to them instead of the other way around. Unreal!! And look how the rug 'POPS' on the light colored marble floors!

So I went about adding personality to the room...after the photo shoot...too bad. But you get to see the results.  I changed the shades on the light fixtures purely by accident I found the current ones at a garage sale for $1 each. I added the eyelash fringe. The chandelier came out of the formal dining room (it was in the photo shoot). All I did was purchase a $7 plastic ceiling medallion and painted it to look like marble. The magazine had it wrong. They said I paid $52 for the medallion! NOT. And I also covered the chain with a cord sock.

I then made new valances with the same material from the kitchen but in a different style.

We purchased a new dining room table and vintage chairs that are painted black. We wanted the lower backed chairs since we love looking out at the lovely gardens, fountain and bird watching.

Looking around the room now, you can see the bar that is between the kitchen and dining area with the painted bar stools that I did. You can see the blog about them here.

Along with a cute rooster tassel that I made.

Then spinning on around the room opposite the table is a chair that I found for $20 at a garage sale. The only change I made to it was in the corners of the skirting, I added the red check accent fabric and made a coordinating pillow. What a great find at a great price and from a high end furniture store!

I also made the stool using the leftover curtain fabric. Above that is my wine rack. This started because I have another sister in Oklahoma that started a winery and I had some of their wine on it but it is now kept in my additional wine storage above the refrigerator in the kitchen. I found this wine bottle holder on eBay and though it doesn't hold very many bottles, I thought it had great form.

Next to that is an antique Seller's cabinet. A wedding gift from my In-Laws. I painted it black and painted the rooster on the bottom door.

Lastly, spinning around opposite the kitchen is the large doorway into the living room and a back door by the bay windows out to the patio. We have a pillar collection and you will see one of our 7 here.

So here is my promised dining room tour. You can see my kitchen here. Our home was built with a formal dining room that we converted to a study that you can see here. That left the 'breakfast nook area' to use as our only dining room. It is very adequate now that we are empty nesters and when the kids and family do come, there always seems to be plenty of room. Our table will extend for seating of 8 and the bar will hold three that the little kids love to sit at. It is open to the kitchen and has a wonderful bay window viewing the back yard gardens. Remember, you can click on each picture that you would love to see the detail on further. Enjoy Terry


UPDATE: Out went the Seller's cabinet and in went the newly painted antique hutch. So much better and it sure does open up the room. You can read all about the hutch HERE.

And we got new bar stools...

And I made new valances...

I am joining these parties:
Met Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Boring To Better 
Transformation Thursday 
Evolution Party 
Frugal Friday 
Show and Tell Friday
Sunday Showcase party
Before and After Party 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday