Dreaming

I realized this past weekend that summer is nearing it's end. I have about 2 1/2 weeks left. I have found myself wanting to spend less and less time in front of the computer and out having fun. I will be continuing on my slow posting for the next week or two. I have been reading all your lovely blogs, but have not been commenting as much as I usually do.  It doesn't seem like we are going to be taking our much needed vacation, so I will be doing my own blog mini-vacation to help slow things down.  I wish I were here right now,

 or maybe, here...

Both images via Pinterest

Hmm, if you'd like to guest post, send me an email and we can set it up.  That would be a great vacation for me :) Have a great day! I think I'm heading to the beach for the afternoon.  Not bad, right?

Bring It On

Who's up for a challenge?

The superstars behind Young House Love, Bower Power, Joey and Lana, and the really famous Emily Henderson are hosting a Pinterest challenge on August 2nd.  I've had a few things pinned that have been calling my name, and this is just what I needed to get me going.  Here's my Pinterest if you want to try and figure out what I'm going to be making.  Why don't you take a guess.

One question for all of you out there...if I'm DIYing something that is sold on Etsy, is it fair to post a tutorial on how to do it?  I figured it out using two of my pins and I'd love to share it, I'm just not sure if that's right. What's your take on this?

Come see one of projects over at

Outdoor Daybed

I worked on a bunch of products for  my backyard last week.  One of the best deals would have to be this daybed. It was actually our first couch (we had two), when we first got married.  We bought them from West Elm online before a store opened in our area.  We were under construction at the time, so they stayed in the boxes for a few months.  My in-laws came over the day we were ready to set them up and what a laugh we got.  We opened up the boxes, built them, and had to laugh. They were twelve inches off the ground.  My mother-in-law sat with her feet curled up and commented, oh, they are cozy. Ummm, I think she was being nice. We lasted with them for maybe 2-3 years. 

 About 6 months ago, I found this at a garage sale for $5.00.  An outdoor daybed cover.  I had done nothing with it, because I thought it was thinner than our mattress and I couldn't figure out what do with the mattress from not getting soaked through.

Here is the original mattress that came with the sofa.  The best part, white cloth. I don't know what we were thinking.  They have two back pieces that match as well.  Here is the cushion.  These cushions had been hiding out in the shed and not being used.  I found  a zippered vinyl mattress cover at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

I crossed my fingers and hoped the cover would fit and it did!!!! I can't tell you how excited I was.

This is the frame of the sofa.  It had been toppled over in the yard for a couple of years.  The wood slats had actually rotted.  My awesome father-in-law used some wood he had and made me a new platform.

Here it is.  I added some pillows.  (Pardon the dusty front, I dragged this out of the house myself).

I am so glad it worked.  This had been wasting away for four years now.  I plan to put an outdoor furniture cover on it, just in case.  I was on the verge of calling Salvation Army to come pick this up.  I'm so glad I didn't.  



Hobby Lobby Coupon

I'm excited to be writing today about Hobby Lobby.  I hear so many great things about this store.

Look at some of the projects that my friend Jen at Life, Crafts, and Whatever has done using supplies from Hobby Lobby.  Like this pillow...

 and this spool side table

You see what I mean, I need one of these stores near me.  The closest store to me is 105 miles away, which I find so unfair.  I have found myself loving someones project, only to find out the materials were from Hobby Lobby.  I just finished watching the Store Tour and I'm insanely jealous.  Every time I start a project, it takes me at least two stops to get all my supplies I need, including fabric and craft supplies.  How great would it be to have it all in one place.  I recently discovered that they have online shopping and I could not be more thrilled.  I'll take what I can get.

Well, for you in-store and on-line shoppers there is a 40% coupon on my sidebar.  Click on it today and go shopping...the coupon is good until tomorrow.  Happy Shopping!

DIY Zebra Painted Rug

My sister, Jessica (sister #3), had her eye on the West Elm Safari Rug for some time.  She wanted it for a small nook in her dining room.  We went to the store a couple of weeks ago to pick it up, but the size that she needed was only available for delivery.  Bringing the cost of the rug to about $130.00.

Which I guess ended up being a good thing, because she fell in love with this Capiz Chandelier.  She figured her husband would not be thrilled with both purchases being made in one day. 

We considered keeping my younger sister's old West Elm rug for the space, but the brown was not working with her new grey chandelier.  Here's a picture of the brown one.

We sent each other about 20 texts that night and the idea of painting a rug came up.  I found a bunch of links, including this one by Tatertots and Jello and sent them to her.  She was sold.  We spent a couple of days trying to find a cheap enough rug, the right size, that would work.  She found the perfect one at Ross for $8.99, yup that's right.

This is what happens when you try taking a picture of a rug with a three year old in the house. The Batman crawl.

We used painters tape to block out the small edging the rug had. It really didn't stick that well, so we pressed down pretty hard.

We used wax paper to trace out the pattern in the original brown zebra rug pictured above.  The idea was genius and can really be done with any pattern. It would work great with florals and other graphics.  Here you can see the traced lines if you look closely enough.

We used a can of Martha Steward latex paint in a grey color.  We cut out the pattern from the wax paper. Basically, it was our stencil.  We placed the rug on her dining room table, to make it easier on our backs.

We found the best technique was to dab the paint on.  For a few reasons, you can see above the brush, where we actually brushed the paint on, it changes the texture of the rug.  We realized this after a few rows of painting.  Also, dabbing allowed for the paint to get into the actual rug piles/loops (whatever that's called).  Having the wax paper was key.  We just held it down and it actually allowed for sharper lines. When we tried to free hand a line, it looked blotchy.  

Here it is.  It took the two of us about two to three hours to get it done.  Thank goodness for my mom who was doing crafts with my niece and nephew.  Without her help, I think it would've taken like three days.

We were actually quite shocked at how incredible it looks.  There are no texture issues and the rug looks amazing. I think we stared at it for about an hour after we were done.  Actually, that whole night my sister would randomly text me pictures of it.

Here's a shot with the fabric memo board.  She is going to have the space painted and add a desk or console to the area

What do you think?  What a way to save about $110.00.  We can't remember what the can of paint cost, but figure about $20.00 for the whole project.  It's not a high traffic area, so we think the durability will be fine.  My sister's philosophy right now is, if it lasts a year, she'll get the real one then, but at least she got her chandelier and her rug.  I would have to agree.

I'll be linking up to these parties

Fixing up my Backyard

As I mentioned earlier this week, we hosted my parents 40th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We hadn't hosted a party since my older sister's wedding party 3 years ago.  My backyard was in a sorry state.  Here are some pictures I took a while back.  Last week, the trees in the pots were actually brown, as to which my husband responded...why don't you just spray paint them.  I gave him a dirty look and went along my merry way to the nursery to buy some plants.  

Some other angles of the yard. Notice the wires hanging from the roof overhang. 

 Junk laying everywhere.

I spent all of last week working on the yard.  I hired a gardener to help me with the planters, a handyman to fix some broken things and hanging wires, and I had my cleaning lady bleach the floors for me.  Small disclaimer, this is not my ideal outdoor furnishings...I am working with what I have.  I added bougainvilleas to my white pots.  I added sheer curtains to the orchid arbor/bar area.

I fixed up this curbside table and garage sale chairs.

 I also worked with my old indoor West Elm couch and converted it to an outdoor couch. 

This is the other view.  Those french doors lead into our family room.

I dream about the day that I have a covered terrace and gorgeous limestone floors.  For now, I will have to live with my stained and cracked concrete and loads of sun.  The change has been drastic and I actually want to be outside.  It was worth all the work and can you believe I did it all in a week?  I'll be posting some of the individual projects that I worked on for my patio so you can see how everything came to be.  Have a great day.

I'll be joining these linky parties

Zig Zag Painting Pinboard

I hope you all had a great weekend.  We celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary on Saturday at our house.  We had a great time, even though it rained.  I had spent all week fixing up our dilapidated backyard, only to have to move everyone inside about thirty minutes into the party.  My dad got all sentimental talking about my mom.  It was a great night.  I'll be posting pictures of my backyard later this week.  I got the house cleaned up yesterday morning, but all the tables and chairs are still all set up in the backyard.  Ugh.

Here's a cute project that I worked on for my sister's apartment.  I found this flower foam tile rose painting at Goodwill for $2.00.  I knew the print wasn't for me, but there was something about the texture of the tile that caught my eye.

I gave it a coat of Rustoleum's Aqua spray paint.  The color seemed a little too strong for what I wanted.

I wanted to soften it up a bit so I used the same technique that I used for my cherry blossoms painting. I filled a cup with about two fingers of water and then I dipped the tip of a paintbrush in the can of paint and then dipped it in the water and mixed it up.  I then brushed the tile over and over. It's a weird finish at first, kind of bubbly, but just keep brushing and brushing.  Eventually it evens out and softens the color on the tile.  Then I taped a zig zag pattern to the tile.  I tried to do my best measuring it out. 

For the final step in painting, I used Annie Sloan's Chalk paint (not watered down) to fill in the spaces between the tape. 

I then removed the rope and added a pretty satin ribbon.  I hot glued it to the back of the tile and here it is.

Here you can see detail of the tile and the softness of the blue after using the watered down chalk paint.

I made this for my sister and it will be sitting by her new chevron chairs and chandelier.  I'm thinking it might work great as a pin board.

I'm so excited about setting up her apartment. I've been working on projects for what seems like months.  I think the painters will be going this week and then we are ready to get everything in there.  We will be heading to the beach today (weather permitting), I LOVE summer.

I'll be linking up to these linky parties.

Golden Chalkboard & a Guest Post

I wanted to share some recent finds with you.  I found this fabulous frame at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. The house was as packed as any hoarders show I've watched.  There was a path made out for people to walk through.  I'm sure there were some amazing things in there, but who could find them. I started sifting through some piles and found this lovely.  A great buy at $5.00.  The frame is huge, maybe 3 feet long.  It was just the frame, no mirror.

We bought a smooth piece of wood that my husband found in the as-is section for less than $3.00 and we had it cut to size right there at Home Depot.

I've been wanting to try chalk board paint for some time.  I bought Rustoleum Chalkboard paint and I loved it.  I primed the wood and applied the paint with a foam roller. 

I gave it two coats and just followed the instructions on the can.  The finish was very smooth.

Here it is.

I figured it would be perfect for my recent acquisition.  A mid century dresser for $39.00 at Salvation Army.  Can I tell you how much I love this thing. 

This next picture will give you an idea of the mirror's size. 

This last picture is a little sneak peak at my guest bedroom.  I will post it as soon as I have it completed. I love the gold finish and the chalkboard paint is my new favorite.  Have you painted using chalkboard paint?  

Another exciting happening here at JandJHome today, I'm guest posting over at one of my favorite reads, Primitive and Proper.  I'll be sharing some of my favorite projects.  Cassie does the most amazing furniture transformations and is a must read.

I'll be linking up my golden chalkboard at these parties.