TV Niche Redo Update

After I posted about redoing my TV Niche which you can CHECK OUT HERE, several of you have asked 'where did you put the TV'. Guess I should have included that in the post, sorry! So, I finally got around to taking some pictures of the whole room so you can get the feel for where the TV went. See the reason it would take a while to get around to that is because this means I would need to clean the whole room. What you may not realize is that when taking blog pictures, and I suspect this to be true with most bloggers, I just push the mess out far enough that it is out of the frame shot. 
If you remember (but really why would you remember?) the TV was in the TV niche over the fireplace. My son decided having the TV on the wall would make for better TV viewing (it is football season after all). So after a lot of mess and hard work (not on my part, thank you) the TV was finally mounted on the adjacent wall.

 And there you have it...the new home for the TV. The wires down the table leg bug me a bit but my husband assures me he can get those hidden better. The basket on the table is stuffed with cords, wires, and power strips...a pretty clever solution I came up with (if I do say so) when the mess behind the table about gave me a heart attack. The table came from the hallway...so what happened to the space where the table use to be? A trip to TJ Maxx fixed that. Stay tuned...

Barn Light Electric Giveaway

Barn Light Electric

Love Vintage & Modern?

Need new lighting for your home?

Barn Light Electric is giving away - 

one $1,000 Grand Prize 

and

one $500 2nd Place Prize 

to two lucky winners who enter their homes. 

 I have a new home and love so much about it but am always looking to bring more of my personality into it. This would be the perfect opportunity to do just that!  If I were to win the Barn Electric Giveaway I know exactly where I would start! The pendant lights over my kitchen island would be the first to go, this is how they look right now:

Since I get giddy over anything galvanized, a couple of these would be my first choice:

Outback Warehouse Pendant

Of course, if you're going to give them to me, I wouldn't turn up my nose to this either:

Chestnut Pendant

Or maybe, I should dream bigger, this is a giveaway after all! It would be so hard to choose, but that is a dilemma I am willing to face:

3 Light Industrial Chandelier The Chappel

So there are my picks! If you have a blog, here is your chance to win. Follow the directions below.

Here’s how you can enter our Barn Light’s Online Giveaway: 

1.       Look around online at Barn Light Electric and pick lights you’d love to own

2.       Feature your lighting picks on your personal blog, and link to the lights if you can!

3.       Copy/Paste these rules at the bottom of your blog article

4.       Once your personal article is up, you must email your blog link to: contest@barnlightelectric.com to be qualified to win. The contest ends October 12^th, 2011.

5.       Don’t have a blog? Find out how you can enter by visiting our website.

Once you’ve posted and submitted your link to us, that officially begins the contest. Everyone has from today through October 12th to enter.

Sunday Afternoon

Had the sweetest experience this weekend...love Sunday afternoons. With four children and very hectic lives our family treasures Sunday as family day. We are all home, all together and are able to 'just be' around each other. That being said...sometimes this means too much time spent together, the little ones get restless and something very close to what some might call fighting breaks out. So imagine my delight when my two youngest sons ages 8 and 5 decided to spend the entire afternoon coloring together. And then, all on their own created this...

They ripped out all their little coloring pages and taped them to the archway in our livingroom.

They even took pictures of each other putting the pictures up...uummm, do you think they are use to their mommy taking pictures of her projects?

Well, I certainly took several pictures of this project! 

My thirteen year old son decided to favor us all with his special cookie dough/brownie combination treat to complete the afternoon. That is what I call a Sunday afternoon. Hope you enjoyed yours too.

Kitchen Towels or Kitchen Curtains?

Saw this little number at Target the other day and held it close. It is a kitchen towel. Love, love the lettering!

But, of course, I cannot use it as a kitchen towel. How boring! My thought was maybe I could make a pillow out of it because that seems to be my favorite thing lately, accent pillows. When I got home though and started looking around my kitchen...I started to eye this area:

 And specifically, this area:

Now, I like these curtains, I really do. I made them so I have a soft spot for them. But they have been up for 2 1/2 years and that is a loooong time for someone who changes things...a lot. Lucky for me, I had bought two towels and two accent towels, so I could do this:

No sewing, just took off the tags and threw them up there. Five minutes, new look, who knew!

You may have noticed another little addition from the picture above (if you have a really, really good eye). In the window sill: I found these adorable little tins, $5 for the set of four at a garage sale while we were traveling this summer.

Those are raindrops on my window, not spots...okay, maybe it is a bit of both,

Another Valued Customer

Wanted to post today about another valued customer. Tara has purchased from me several times in the past and last weekend she invited me over for some lemonade and to help her put up some vinyl lettering she had me create.

Over the pantry door

In the boys' room

In the hallway

 Fleur Di Lis (a previous purchase from me, love where she put them)

Tara is a Cookie Lee Consultant and I got to take some of my payment in jewelry! I had fun shopping for these:

Thanks for a lovely afternoon Tara! And the lemonade was wonderful!

Want to purchase something too?
Check Tara Out Here!

Del Monte Cans

Another installment of what I am doing with my pile o' treasure! 

I was so excited when I found these:

Vintage tins are soooo popular right now and I have seen them in many price ranges, but never one this low. This set of three cans was just $10! I would expect to pay at least that for just one can. This didn't take a lot of creativity on my part. I simply added to the top of my kitchen cabinets where I have started a little vintage can collection of my own.

Wire Basket

Sorry I have been 'offline'...sadly, my computer had to go to the doctor.
The next thing I wanted to share with you was probably my favorite find of the day, because it was so unique:

The Wire Basket

It is a long wire basket that came from a farm, no idea what it was used for (don't know that I want to know, ya know?) The minute I saw it I thought of several places I could use it so I thought I had to have it. I think anytime you can think of multiple uses for something, you should buy it! I decided for now to use it with my newly redone mantel/fireplace:

A couple of $3 plants I picked up recently at The Home Depot bookend the subway burlap pillow I made several months ago.

Yep, that feels right...

but I think it would also look good on the porch, in the master bathroom with towels rolled in it, on the kitchen island with fall decorations in it...

Pile o' Treasure

I had myself a little 'me' time last week and stumbled on quite a find...for around $125 I got this little pile of gold:

 I was especially excited about the white plaster wall sconce since I have been looking for one for about 6 months and ALMOST paid $30 for one earlier in the summer...got this one for $8!
I have already started playing with my new finds. This is what I have come up with so far for the galvanized bucket with lid:

Watch my posts over the next several days to see what I do with the rest!

'Famous' Birthday Lunch

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend! My birthday usually falls around this holiday weekend and this year it was on Labor Day (yes, we tell lots of jokes about my mother having a 'real' labor day...ha, ha, ha). I spent this Labor Day on a different type of labor, a labor of love. I was working construction with several family members helping my parents who are building a cabin in the mountains, and I mean building, like swinging hammers, not hiring subcontractors...yep, that kind of building. The girls in the crew were able to take a little break though and sneak away to celebrate with a birthday lunch. We ended up here:

 Look familiar? If you watched TV in the early 90's it should. Check out the very last frame of this trailer:

Northern Exposure Trailer

Me, Mom, Niece, Madi, Kristin, Kelsey, nephew

The Roslyn Cafe was the backdrop for Cicely, Alaska...the fictional city in the popular television show Northern Exposure. The cafe really exists and has great burgers! It was the perfect quick get away for my birthday lunch and 'famous' to boot, thanks Mom and girls! (Don't judge our appearances too harshly, it was hot and we had been working in the dirt, using saws and sanders earlier in the day!)