A Woman After My Own Heart

So today I stumbled across an Etsy artist who makes the most amazing vintage photographs at a VERY affordable price. Hello Alicia Bock!

Her artistic and original photographs have been featured on many popular television series such as Gary Unmarried, Sex and the City (Movie), and Grey's Anatomy, and they have also been featured in several magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens and Martha Stewart Weddings. However, it's no wonder why they chose her photos to be featured, because not only are the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, but at around $35 each, almost anyone can afford to take them home!

Check out her website: Alicia Bock Photography

Etsy shop: Alicia Bock Photography, and see everything that she has to offer!

Some of my favorites include:

Old Fashioned

Monday. Monday.
Little Garden

Solstice
Life is but a Dream

Today's Finds: Home Goods

Tonight Brandon and I went to Home Goods after checking out the Farmer's Market (there was funnel cake!) and I spotted this mirror and I knew I had to have it. At $29.99 it was pretty hard to turn down.

Alongside the teal mirror (it's much more teal-ish in person), we also scored a humongous peppermint scented candle for Christmas time, however it is hardly interesting enough to photograph.

INSTEAD.... here's the awesome funnel cake. See, much more interesting.

New Pillow

So I spotted this Dwell Studio design pillow at Target and I had one of those "No, you don't need it (start walking away)... WAIT! What if they don't have it when I change my mind (run back)" moments and I just had to bring it home. At $24.99 it wasn't exactly a steal, nor a scam, just a pillow, but it seems to tie in well to the rest of our room.

Two little love birds seemed both appropriate and cheesy enough for us....

and best of all... Izzy approves.

Pretty Petals

Today I was very excited to see that the rain had brought my flowers back to life!

Sooooo.... as a true flower fanatic, I went on a pruning spree and snagged every bloom I could.

I borrowed these from my neighbor's honeysuckle bush that hangs over my fence... I hope they don't mind.

Today's Finds: Michael's and Pier 1

I found these mirrors at Micheal's and LOVED them ($59 each), they'd be gorgeous in an entryway or hallway, or even as a headboard!

I saw these candle-sticks at Pier 1 and I thought my mom would love them... she decorates with a lot of reds, much more-so than I do, but they were gorgeous to say the least, and the curved glass gave them an antique style charm.

Pier 1 also had this pillow which sums up my ideas for how I would love to decorate our spare bedroom/office. I would love to go with colors that would accommodate either gender because Brandon and I both spend a lot of time there (that's where our computer is) and you never know who is going to be your guest :-)

I loved the peacock blues and the greens and the browns. They are both energetic and soothing, perfect for me... but of course I didn't buy the pillow or even check the price (no price tag)because this project will be waiting for a little while while we tackle bigger projects like our out dated kitchen or maybe our bathroom (which still has carpet flooring. YUCK!)...

One thing I DID buy (one for me, one for my mom) was this dessert dish. It was only $10.00 at Pier 1 and it's a thick glass that not only makes a gorgeous dessert dish, but is versatile enough to be a candy dish, centerpiece, candle holder, or even a pretty display for soaps or loofahs in the bathroom.

Fall is here...

It may be October, but fall has finally arrived... so has pomegranate season! Yippee!

My parent's have around 500 trees and two varieties, so my supply of the fresh red fruit is plentiful, and hopefully this year I'll squeeze out the time to make some homemade jelly before Christmas!

Last night I stayed up peeling pomegranates and was so happy to be snacking on the delicious red fruit all day... ah, I wish these were here year round.

Mmmmmmmmm... so pretty you could frame it!

Today's Before and After: Patio Set

So, we needed a patio set, but I'm a little stingy these days and so I began hunting for a cheaper alternative to buying a whole set. Instead I used some gift money from my Oma to put together some antiques into a fun and color dining set. Here's an old table that's been sitting in the loft storage at my parent's shop for YEARS (it belonged to my Ompa) and has seen better days--but it's FREE!
I painted it Valspar's "Du joir" white and gave it a heavy coat to try to cover up the dings, dents, and chips... but it's still a pretty worn out table. For now we'll call it 'character".

Here is the after combined with yesterday's "before and after" with the antique chairs I scored for $65.

I sewed together some $5 (Pier 1 clearance) placemats and some leftover fabric I had laying around to make a table runner. I threw together some thrift store finds and voila! There it is!

Jealous Much: Katie Bower's "dressing room"

Ok, so as if I didn't adore Katie Bower's "All Bower Power" blog enough already, I am now in love. I mean, she HAS A DRESSING ROOM!!! SOOOooooo jealous!

Anyway, this brings new ideas to my mind for conquering my brother's old bedroom... one of these days I'll post a before pic so you can see what we're starting with, but for now, we'll keep playing with the idea of what it is going to become VERY soon.

We've played with the idea of several colors to mix into the pink and cream color scheme, such as fuchsia, gold, bronze, and brown. Out of fear of looking like a nursery, brown is currently on the outs... but after seeing this room, thoughts of charcoal come to mind. The bed-frame we have is a dark brownish-bronze-ish-black so it can be somewhat manipulated into looking lighter or darker...

However, that's also where our color deciding dilemma begins because we need a darker color to tie in with the dark bed-frame ---which we could paint, but we just bought new...---
Any suggestions?

Today's Before and After: Patio Chairs

I found these awesome chairs in an antique store for only $65 for a set of four, and at $16.25 a chair, I couldn't beat that deal. However, they were pretty darn ugly and looked like school chairs.

However, after some sanding with 180 grit sand paper and priming, the seats and backs were ready for some paint (I used Valspar's spray-paint because it's easier than brushing on the cane). I learned a serious lesson about painting on plastic.... not only did the plastic end up sticking to the chairs and require a second round of sanding and painting, but also I painted barefoot and whoa, was that a bad idea (you can see my foot prints ALL OVER the plastic!):

After having them stick to the plastic I moved them on top of paint cans for the second round of painting...

Once the seats and backs were painted I convinced Brandon to paint the legs for me. He roughed them up with steel wool and primed and painted them with auto spray paint.

We went for blue and white to add a bit of color to the back porch. We're going to add in a few other bright pillows and accents once I finish the table for the patio set.

Conquering my Brother's Old Bedroom

So, as I mentioned before, I plan to take over my brother's old bedroom at my parent's house and go for a pink and cream style. We think we're settled on Valspar's "Berry Taffy" for the ceiling and "Pearly Violet" on the walls. In the photo above I have the Target pink curtains and the pillow from Home Goods that are starting this "pink trend" and I thought it could use a little pop of color like that fuchsia bra (sorry, it was the only thing I had in the right color!) to add a pop of color.

Below, I found a ruffle pillow on Pier 1 for $29.95 that would match perfect! Now if only my mom and I could agree on a bedspread!

What about this duvet cover from West Elm?! It would look great with the pinks and it's machine washable so it's Labrador-proof (i.e. my parent's crazy black lab "Indy")!

Jealous Much

Today I was skimming over A Life's Design's blog and I spotted what I believe every porch needs...

A SWINGING DAY-BED!!!!

As if a porch swing wasn't great enough on its own, why not make it into a bed?! Wouldn't it just be so awesome to walk onto the porch on a sunny morning, curl up on a comfy day-bed and swing peacefully in the breeze? Sounds pretty awesome!

My porch is lacking the size of this porch, but maybe someday I can talk Brandon into adding on a pergola or maybe even more covered patio... then I'll have my swinging day-bed.

Yesterday's Finds

So yesterday was a fabulous day! Not only was it perfect weather, but also I got several things accomplished and STILL had time to go shopping (all thanks to my class letting out an hour and a half early!). So where did I go? Why to Micheal's of course!

Although I didn't buy anything, I was sure to check out some butterflies that I'm thinking about using at Christmas ornaments combined with pine cones and natural colors with gold and bronze ornaments. It's very hippie-ish, but apparently that's the road I travel these days.

Brandon says, "Butterflies don't belong on a Christmas tree", but I disagree... What do you think?

Also, Micheal's has this awesome leaf-wreath! It was $29.99 and I LOVE the colors! I just might buy this for our front door... or somewhere... I thought of replicating it, but working with dead leaves sounds pretty tough so I'm thinking it's a "no".

But isn't it lovely?