Archives for November 2010

My First Bloggy land Award!

Hey everybody, I just won my first bloggy land award from Sue at Beach Bungalow! Sue was my first follower and has helped me along on this wonderful journey of blogging! Thanks sue for this award! You can go take a peek at her lovely blog.

In accepting this award I must:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded me this.

2. Share 8 things about myself.

3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers I’ve recently discovered.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about their awards.

Here are 8 Kim facts:

1. I married my best friend and we will be celebrating # 24 in a couple of months.

2. I have 3 lovely daughters named Charity, Faith and Hope. (No I am not a hippy! Lol)

3 With names like that you can guess that I love the bible and have a strong faith in Jesus.

4. I love to travel and have been to some places where I have literally prayed “God don’t let me die here!” lol.

5. I’ve travelled to some places where I have prayed “God I could die here”!

6. After 28 years of swearing we would never get a dog, my daughter Faith walked in the door with a puppy…and I was smitten! He is a long haired chihuahua named Butters and I heart him!

7. I love to live by the water. My parents and their parents and so on…were all born on a small island in the atlantic.

8. I love to blog and am so impressed with the giftedness I see everyday here in blogland!

Now I need to give this award to 8 others. You can check them out too!

AKA Design
Fern Creek Cottage
Shells Shabby Shack
And Then There was Home

Cozy.Cottage.Cute

Sweet as June
Desire to Decorate
JunkRestore

Breakfast nook table redo

2:23 am by kim 48 Comments

Hello blogging friends!

I’ve been busy this week preparing for the Christmas season with cleaning, crafting, decorating and the list goes on…but enjoying it all!
Do you remember the dining set I got on line for $50.00? Well I got it mainly for the round table. It comes with two leaves and can be extended to seat 8 people. However, I like it without the leaves as it fits so nicely into my small breakfast nook.

This is what it looked like when I found it.

This is what it looks like now!

It doesn’t look like a major change, but oh the work that went into her!

The table top was badly damaged and most of it needed to be sanded off.

I found a stain that matched the set as closely as possible and then sealed it with a couple coats of varathane. The bottom was given a good cleaning and a new coat of paint. BM’s cloud white.

I kept my previous chairs with it. The chairs that came with the set need some work that I don’t have time to do just yet!

It is so comfy and cozy in there now! So much roomier with the round table than with my little harvest table.

In my last post I showed you a mercury glass lamp from PB that I fell for but couldn’t afford.

I found a pair of these at value village.

Although not mercury glass. It is very similiar and I fell for them.

They are quite large!
I used my old shades on them for now and have been looking for new linen shades.

Here is a little peek at my topiary outside the sliding glass doors in the breakfast nook
(Just thought I’d throw it in!)

Really enjoying my new table!

This is a pic from anthro. Don’t you like their little cedar garland with the spoons?

I thought it was a cute idea myself.

I decided to make my own for my cedar garland. I bought a few little pieces of cutlery at GW.
I used spray glue on the bottom of the utensils and then covered them with glitter like the anthro ones had.
It looks like sugar here but they really do sparkle!
I also used burlap instead of tartan as this is more in keeping with my look.

I even put in a couple of forks!

Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting with me today!

I’ll be partying it up with these ladies this week,

HookingupwithHoH

A little Christmas Inspiration

2:21 am by kim 4 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

I hope that everyone is enjoying this festive time of year and taking time to give thanks and to share with family and friends.

I recently went to the Seasons Christmas Show and was so inspired by all the wonderful Christmas decor. I felt like a kid in a candy store!

One of my favourite things to do is decorate and redecorate and this show offered up plenty of inspiration for the season. Please take out a few minutes of your busyness, grab a cup of cocoa, find a comfy chair and be inspired!

Loved these urns filled with greenery!

It needn’t be expensive as many of these items could be found in your yard. Some greenery, a few branches in the center, I’ve even placed green apples on sticks and placed them in my urn one year along with everything else and it looked great!

Don’t you just love this? Some simple topiaries , a plain green wreath and just add ribbon.

Another great urn.

Isn’t this a lovely wreath? Apparently it’s made from rattan. I like the little variegated boxwood wreaths beside it too.

A few little real trees in some dirt in a box and presto! Place a few berry picks and you have a real show stopper. Love it.

Sooo loved this arrangement that I did my own! Will post it shortly.

Loved how they added some cedar greens to this tree, the picture doesn’t show how pretty this really looked.

Soo pretty.

Nobody inspires like Pottery Barn! Just had to stop in after the show…it was in the same neighborhood!
I fell for this mercury glass lamp with the lovely linen shade. A little too pricey for me but maybe I found something like it at Goodwill…will let you know soon!

Cute tree at Pottery Barn. Love all these decorations.

Hope you enjoyed a few minutes of inspiration!

Glimpse of Christmas

8:33 pm by kim 8 Comments

Hello everyone,
Every year I usually have a theme colour that I decorate with for Christmas. It is usually white sprinkled with a touch of colour. Last year it was a pale green. The year before was a touch of red. This year I love the juxtaposition of lovely white sparkle with rustic wood, twigs etc.
I’m trying out a few things here
I think this is where I’m going…

Right now everything is all over the place as I try to see if this is the look I want.

I also love mixing greens into everything, my favourite is cedar branches. They looks so festive even when draped over the counter! Here they are with some lovely hydrangeas.

This little olive wood camel fits in nicely don’t you think? My hubby and I got him outside of Jerusalem as a keepsake after our camel ride.

I think lots of pinecones in every size.

Love the sparkle with the old linen. I just began making some new stockings. This one is almost finished. They are a little large… but I fill them up!

Yep, I think this is where I’m going…

Thrift table redo

11:35 pm by kim 39 Comments

I hope everybody has enjoyed a wonderful weekend with family and friends! I’ve been busy working on a couple of projects along with preparing for Christmas decorating. I noticed that the Christmas stockings that I made about 10 years ago are a little outdated (and quite colourful!) which is nice but just not in keeping with my current style. I found a lovely linen table cloth from value village that I used to make some “new” ones, they are simple but nice. I will show these in an upcoming post.

Here is one of the projects I worked on this weekend. Remember that little thrift store table I got for $19.99?

This is what she looks like with a little paint on!

Trying out a few Christmas decorations

We all look good with a little paint on! I scuffed up the edges to give it a little more vintage feel.

Hoped you enjoyed this little restoration project, thanks for stopping by. I will partying with these ladies this week:

Goodwill hunting redo and more thrifty finds…

4:53 pm by kim 8 Comments

Do you remember this Goodwill hunting find? This chandelier was only $6.99!
I had seen what Sue at Beach Bungalow had done with her chandelier and decided to try it.

A couple coats of spray paint and…

Isn’t she lovely?

We are currently redoing my daughter’s bedroom and this light fixture fits in perfectly. Stay posted for her bedroom makeover coming soon!

I just found this wonderful dining set with table, six chairs and two extra leaves on-line for $50.00.
I love the shape and the table would have been worth the price itself. A little paint, sanding, pretty slipcovers and this will be gorgeous. Stay tuned for “after”.

I love the colour of the wood. I will probably just sand then stain the top and repaint the bottom.

The chairs will look so pretty with little linen slipcovers.

Love the detail.

This was a little end table I found and will give it a sanding and coat of paint. Love the caning detail.

I found a pair of these topiaries at Goodwill. I really like them but my daughters say they are ugly!
They remind them of cartoons! I think they are cute but now I’m second guessing myself…
are they as nice as I thought they were or are they hideous?

What do you think?

I placed them in some white bowls, and with a bit of greenery and sprucing up I think they will be nice for the holidays.

Thanks for stopping by!

A peek at my bedroom…

5:19 pm by kim 10 Comments

Hello everyone! I thought I would give you a little peek at my bedroom. It is not very big and so you think it would be easy to photograph however it proved difficult with my little point and shoot.
Hope you enjoy…

The pillow cases with the crocheted ends were only 9.99 a pair at pottery barn. I thought it was a real find.

You may notice that the black mirror over the bed still has the price tag on it from Homesense. I’ve had it for over a month and am still undecided. I was thinking of painting it white and perhaps putting some candle sconces on either side of it like the ones here

I will splurge on real flowers. Especially hydrangeas, and these ones dry beautifully.

Do you see my one ode to Christmas? One large silver ball! Will work on that soon.

One of my crystal nobs has fallen off can you notice it? It is somewhere in the room.

Yes I have a picture of myself up there, is that wierd ?

Picture of hubby and I.

We all know it doesn’t always look like this! Although I try to keep the bed made and my clothes in the closet, I usually have magazines, books and bibles all over the place! There is at least one fur baby up their as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Driftwood key holder

6:17 pm by kim 10 Comments

I can’t seem to get enough of this driftwood! There is no end to what you can do with a piece of old water logged wood

I decided to put some of these little hooks that I got from Home Depot…

Onto this piece of old driftwood

I drilled a small pilot hole first and then screwed the screws in. Very easy.

I continued down the length of the driftwood

It is great for a place to hang your keys, leashes etc.

My husband hung it up by placing a few long screws with plugs into the wall and the piece of driftwood sits on it nicely. Great in case I want to move it.

There is still enough room to sit and put your shoes on and the keys don’t get lost!

This would also be wonderful as a coat rack hung higher. Also would be great to use in a bathroom for towels. (Which is where I may eventually hang it once I redo the main bathroom.)

Hope you enjoyed yet another driftwood tutorial.
Thanks for stopping by!

Fur babies revealed…

1:09 am by kim 9 Comments

Most of you have already seen Butters in previous posts. He loves to jump up on my cushions and “mushes” them down until he has a comfortable spot. Butters is a long-haired chihuahua.

This is my beautiful boy Jack. He is a mitted seal point ragdoll. Doesn’t he have beautiful blue eyes?

He does think he’s all that and more.

This is my seal point siamese girl “Tara” she is very shy and spends most of her time on one of our beds.

Tara dreaming of catching all those birds outside the window.

Call to order for the family meeting! They love to sit with us and snuggle on the sofa. My daughter Hope is shy along with Tara who wouldn’t look at the camera.

Butters taking a nap.

Butters sunny side up!

Butters and Jack both doing the “ragdoll flop”.

Bath time.

Jack opens up the shutters with his giant paws whenever he wants a peek outside.

Hope you enjoyed all my fur babies 🙂

Ironstone Pitcher

5:09 pm by kim 10 Comments

Isn’t she a beauty?

I found her yesterday at the Goodwill for 9.99!
I have found ironstone platters and bowls at the Goodwill but NEVER have I found a pitcher!
I was doing my Goodwill/Salvation Army run and was about to leave with nothing and then I spotted her from the corner of my eye. Most of my ironstone collection is from Ebay.