Sunday, September 29, 2013

Halloween Dining Room 2013 - The Witches Table

Yes, we are all set for this fun Holiday (like since 3-weeks-ago-ready!), and no other room in my house can epitomize our readiness more than our Dining Room!


Lots of green and black
I wanted the room to feel like witches were about to come in for a meal, or whip up some potions...



As much as possible, I did not want to repeat what I've done in the past...
So I though branches were in order for this year...

Twig Centerpiece I made - super easy
...with a lot of moss - used reindeer and sheet moss


Spray-painted some thrifted plastic fruits (ll for $1 from Salvation Army) and added reindeer moss all around

Tha Bar area got an 'upgrade' too!
Web place mats and doilies from the dollar store on my sunburst mirrors, and purple flowers, make this section Halloween worthy!
Witches have to drink too right?

Skulls and hats abound in both shelving

Draped a clearance table cloth ($2.50 each from Dollar General last year) on the other ghost chairs
If you want to learn how I Halloween-ized my lamp, click HERE. It's super easy!
Perhaps my most favorite Halloween update this year is what I did for my Dining room chairs!

Added Runner on my  two head chairs (clearance find again from last year). Tucked it up front and
safety-pinned it at the bottom - easy peasy!

And circular placemats on my other ghost chairs - nylon string and scotch tape was
my friend for this one. :-)
Simple black gauze 'drapery'

Sets the mood for this witches dinner brew...
When I was finally done with all this, again, the most valued opinion in our home for me, is that of my youngest son, since he's the guy who's INTO this holiday the most.
He said in the car as we were headed off to church,
"How did you do all the decorations mom? It's like magic!"
And with that, I say, HALLOWEEN ACCOMPLISHED.

All I have to do now is prepare the candies and we're set for a fun Halloween night!
Can't wait to show you guys our family costume too!!!
So, how about you, are you ready for Halloween?

Have a Wonderful day!

*VEL*

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Antiquing

While we were renovating, I got out of the house a lot.
Other than thrifting, I also visited a couple of antique malls and scored these...

Large Brass Milk Can

Brass Champagne bucket

Gold accented Decanter
Tin Server

Fire King Gold-rimmed glass bowl with lid

Letterpress Drawers/shelves

But my most favorite find is this...


A genuine Mink Shawl!!
Makes me feel glamorous! Now I just have to go somewhere fancy enough this winter to strut it around!


I know that it's not PETA-friendly, but wouldn't it be a shame to burn or destroy this thing, knowing that it was made during times we didn't know any better?! That's just my humble opinion, hope nobody takes it against me. I got it at a great price too and so I could not resist. 


Have a Great Weekend!


*VEL*

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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Dresser Top Clean-up

With everything going on in the house, this is what our Master bedroom dresser ended up looking like...

A big pile of mess and catch-all

FOUND: Pool drain cover, camera attachment, receipts from 6 months ago, magazines from 4 months ago, missing homework, missing headband, clips and earring! 

So on one of my days off, I cleaned it up and came up with this...

Aaaahhh, much better.. :-)

I basically moved the Vessel Glass lamp to the basement and put my recent GOODWILL score orchid pot
 on the other end.



Yup, that's our wedding portrait taken years and years ago (used to be on my bedside table) and a recent photograph of the boys when we went on the cruise. The "BE" wall art was from TJ Maxx as well as the small "I LOVE YOU" display block. The mirrored jewelry box was something I got years ago too during residency from my "Secret Santa".

Remember this beautiful Blue & White Ceramic lamp I scored from GOOD WILL too? I think I'm starting a blue and white collection but don't have enough, so for now, the blue & whites stay in our bedroom. The "Keep Calm & Carry On" Bowl is a clearance find from TJ Maxx and the brass urn is from an Antique store. I have 2 bottles of sand from two of our favorite beaches that I want to display here, just don't know how yet, any suggestions? 

Anyway, hope it stays this clean and nice for a while... or at least until the next project... which is in 2 weeks! Yikes!

Have a Wonderful Day!

*VEL* 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...


Linking back to....

The Blue & White Bash at The Pink Pagoda

Sunday, September 22, 2013

DIY Bar Cart


I've shared with you this small corner before when I showed you my CLEARANCE BAR.

Here it is
Notice in the picture above I did not show any of you what held up the bar tray.
That's because the shelf I used there was this...

$9 shelving from Menards
I did not have any suitable table or Bar cart for that matter and since I mentioned before that both me and my husband are not big drinkers, I did not want to spend much on this area.

And so, I finally came up with a plan using this...

Got 4 of these lying around the house - typical wire shelf

I  then spray painted it Metallic Gold and then my dad helped me add Castors and here it is...

TA-DA!



I think it looks so much better than before and the cost? $9.00!!! ($3+ for spray paint and $4+ for  all 4 castors)!!! I am so in love with gold metallic spray paint right now and I think almost everyone in the blogosphere is too! It truly can turn anything into 'GOLD'! ;-)


Added trays to hold & coral things better


Top Bar

More glasses galore

Bottom Shelf 

I am definitely pleased. 
It's easy to move around too despite not having any handles.
Now, all I need are those fancy bar accessories and shaker right?!
Hmmm, wonder if I can DIY those too?! ;-) Probably not, but maybe I can save again by thrifting for them!

Have a Nice Day!

*VEL* 

 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...


As featured in...

The DIY'ers

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Have you heard about HUE?


This is HUE

I haven't.
Not until it arrived in the mail early this week!

You see, in our household, my husband is the tech-savvy and latest-gadget-craze person. 

From our  MINT Floor cleaner, robotic vacuum cleaner to our NEST thermostat, even our TOILET is hi-tech - all because of my husbands love for all-things-advance and convenience-full gadgets!

So when HUE showed up in the mail, he opened it up like a child during Christmas morning!
Here's what's inside...

Light bulbs and a controller-thingy!
Ok, so like you, I asked, "What is it and why are you so excited about it?!"
And with a quick bulb change and some tweaking in the computer, he showed it to me!

"Concentration"

"Pencils"

"Sunset"
"Beach"

"Concentration"

"Jump"

"Laila"
 As you can see, these special LED light bulbs can be manipulated into any color/shade and brightness you want and combine it any way you want!

It is also controlled remotely using of course, a HUE APP!


I was amazed of course! 
Can you imagine our house for Halloween, or during a party for that matter?!
I could just move the bulb elsewhere and create party scenes or change the overall mood in the house!

But what I really love about it is we can control the lights remotely anywhere we are, and I think for security purposes, that can make would-be-robbers have second thoughts right?!

However, one thing that didn't impress me at all was THE PRICE!!!!!

source
So until the price improves, I'm definitely not be buying anymore. 
These three are more than enough for now.

If you want to know more about it, just watch the short video below!



Have a Great Weekend!

*VEL* 


 Would love to hear your thoughts! Please share away...