Accent Wall in Master Closet

From the master bathroom, you look into the master closet at a blank wall.  I considered filling this with hooks and hanging my scarves & chunky necklaces there, but was worried this would look messy & cluttered after a while.

This before photo is quite a bit before... the moldings & doors weren't installed yet!
But it's the best shot I had that shows the view of the closet wall from the bathroom.

I decided to do the same stencil that I did in the little hallway off the other side of the bedroom.
Instead of metallic purple on gray, I decided on silver over the purple wall.  But I used the same method, so feel free to check that post for more details.

This project was on the back burner, so to speak... so it took months to complete.  I had the stencil drawn out before Thanksgiving.

The wall is 4 feet wide, and just under 8 feet tall.

I bought 6 little bottles of the paint, but only ended up using 3 of them!  I found success using the little paint brushes- easy to control and stay in the lines.

Over the last 4 months, I squeezed this project in between work, kids' sports practices and other house projects (usually getting just 1-2 hours in at a time).  

The pattern took three coats of the silver to look really solid.
The first coat was the most tedious, but it got easier & faster with each additional coat.

The print was a yard sale find from two years ago!  I paired it with a brass hook & hanger that my mom gave me, and a vintage pair of stockings that were my grandmothers and were packed away, new in their tissue paper.

Here's the new view from the master bath...

Yard Sale Finds- April

Yard sale season has started!  On a rainy day last weekend, my mom & I went to one that was a fundraiser for a local wildlife sanctuary.  We had never been to this one before, and were worried it would be cancelled due to the rain.  But we headed over anyway, and we're SO happy we did- we found a bunch of great items!

Here are my finds...

This canister is going over on our coffee nook in the kitchen to hold packets of hot cocoa.



I loved the blue & yellow in the feathers of this chicken.

More fun decorating above the stove!

Next I found this fancy little cup that's on the left of the photo... It matches my canister set (bought years ago at a flea market in NYC).

For just 25 cents, I couldn't leave it behind!

The baskets were also just 25 cents each... I'm usually not big on baskets, but found these two that I think will come in handy.

This oval basket struck me as the perfect size for putting out
utensils at a BBQ or picnic.

This basket is hand-made.
It can hang on the doorknob or a wall hook.

For the outside, I saw these little garden markers.  

Sure, I could have made these myself... but for 10 cents, now I don't have to!  

Then there's the holiday decor... Halloween this time.  This pumpkin is made of metal and has a heavy duty hinged stand attached to the back.  It's about 20 inches tall and will be fun for decorating outside next October.

The next two finds I think I'm going to use in the master closet...

I've been on the hunt for pretty hooks, and these will fit right in.

I spent a total of $15, and had a fantastic time!

Dining Room Rug

Things are really coming together in the Dining Room... I've been looking for a rug that incorporates the brown of the walls and goes well with the dark wood floors.

Here's what we found..

The rug is 8x11, and looks fine when the table is normal size, but when we extend it out the table will go to the very ends of the rug.  We have 2-3 feet of exposed wood floors on each end, so could fit a larger rug (8x14?), but I'm not sure if that'll look funny when the table is normal sized.  Agh- I don't know... we'll see.

Anyway, I couldn't believe how well the pattern matched the new coverings I put on the chairs over the winter!  That makes me feel like it was meant to be!

Kitchen Decorating Details

I've been switching around and deciding on what I want to decorate the kitchen with.  Here are a few photos...

I found this little list & key holder at Homegoods.  The gray matched the cabinets!  I put it on the wall between the cabinets where we have the computer and the dining room doorway.


This ---->
is the little wall between the butler's pantry & the kitchen.

You can see it from the dining room table, so I wanted to have something pretty there, and not look messy (like the "To Do" list might, or our bulletin board does!)

I put my little mason jar flower vase.  The iron kitchen tools were a Christmas gift from my parents (mom & I found them at an antique shop)



To the right of the windows that stretch across the back of the kitchen, I put my little chick wall hanging.  This is really neat- it is magnetic and has different pictures that can be swapped out... 

I  chose the chicks for now, since they go well with the decor on my under-counter shelves.

That jar-looking thing on the top shelf is an antique mason jar chick feeder that Mike got for Christmas.  To the right of that is a wire chicken egg holder (thinking I should either move that to the top of the counter for daily egg gathering, or maybe put some wooden eggs in it and keep it on the shelf... not sure yet!)

Second shelf has our egg scale & prayer jar.  The napkins bounce between here and the center of the table.

Bottom shelf has an antique rolling-pin, bowl (love the yellow!) and some cookbooks- I pulled out our Irish cooking ones for St. Patrick's Day!



This nesting measuring cup set I found at TJ Maxx months ago... with the blue & yellow, I had to get it!




My aunt & uncle came to visit recently and brought us this cool cheese board... it's a melted bottle, and since we live in "horse country" they thought the Saratoga theme went well (along with the awesome blue color!)  We love it!



I held up the cheese board so that you could see the light shining through the blue glass... in the background, you can see that the lights in the kitchen cabinets have finished being installed!

This is the spot we're using for prepping/serving coffee when we have guests, so I put the Maxwell House tray up there (yard sale score!)  The tea tray was a Christmas gift from Mike's parents.

I've been having fun swapping out decorations above the stove too...
I tried out some blue & white for late winter, and am now bringing in some flowered items for early spring.  I'm already eyeing some of the more flowery & rose patterned items for June.













Inside the Butler's Pantry...

Mike's parents gave us these framed prints when we were first married & living in an apartment. They are signed & numbered prints by Bo Jai.  The top one is a basket of onions and the bottom is apples.  I thought they went really well in here!









On the window sill I placed a few old little bottles, and the base of a tiny oil lamp. I need to find a mini chimney for it- that's one of the items on my list of things to look for at antique shops & yard sales this summer!

Sitting Pretty

We've gotten the parlor finished up for the time being!

This is the old dining room. After getting the dining room furniture moved into the new dining room (which was the old kitchen), we started pulling the parlor furniture together.  It was sprinkled throughout the house, just waiting for this room to be emptied!


Here's a view from the foyer...

The piano had been in the family room.  Mike's family helped us move it when they were visiting for Thanksgiving.

The rug had been up in our bedroom.  It's a good size for this room and goes better with the colors than it does upstairs.  So, now I'm on the hunt for a new bedroom rug!

The chaise lounge had been in the family room.  We tucked that into the corner by the radiator- it is so cozy to read there on the chilly days!



The little round side table that's next to the chaise lounge was up in the attic for the last few years, so I brought that down.

The antique couch was from my parents' house.  They gave it to us when they downsized, and we had been storing it out in the well house.  We've still got the Lincoln couch out there too... but it needs to be re-upholstered.  The coffee table we bought last summer at a local historical society's flea market.  The bookcase we had in the family room for years.

Here's a reversal of the room... taken from where the chaise lounge sits.

I still have to get two frames up on the frame wall.  On the left side is the small liquor cabinet that I had purchased for my first apartment, right after graduating college. 

On it is a lamp that was from my parents' house.  It's one that my brother & I got it BIG trouble for knocking over once.  There's a crack in the top globe from that incident!  Hanging on that wall is an oil painting that Mike's dad painted of our oldest son. Mike's father is an amazing artist!