September Acres

I have been working on LM's room for a good while now. She has a new bed, new paint on the wall and a new closet system. She originally said she wanted a pink and brown room so I brought home 32, ooo different pink paint swatches - none of which met her approval ( some design clients can be soooo difficult!) Then her friend S had her room painted tan- I later found out that the reason it was tan was because she couldn't make a decision and her mom had the painter paint the room the same color as the rest of the house. I guess all 8 year olds are difficult clients. So LM wanted a tan room. I painted the room tan (Pony Express by Olympic @ Lowes ). I actually love the color. Still trying to work in the brown (tan) and pink color scheme, I put together her bed with hot pink knit sheets ($9.99 @ JCPenney ) and a pink duvet cover she has had for a while. White furniture, brown curtains and lots of pink accessories completed the look. Or not. I just couldn't put my finger on

It's that time of year when we can enjoy some meals outside. Not too cold or too hot (as will soon be the case here in Arizona). I set a pretty table for breakfast tomorrow so we can enjoy our breakfast on the patio. And I did it all using things I already had. :) My mom made the quilt that I keep on this table. I love the colors in it - they're so cheerful. I cut some branches from a bush out front and put them in one of my faux mercury glass jars. I love the look - and it's a quick, frugal way to add some greenery to any table. A basket full of muffins wrapped in a crisp white napkin. (I took all the food in for the night after I snapped these pics.) The little bird hanging on the spoon of the jelly jar was given to me by my mom's cousin. It's actually supposed to hang on a branch but I love how it looks with the jar. We have had this wrought iron table for 14 years. We got it right before we were married. It has been through 2 moves - one across the country - a

I have tons of jars and clear glass vases. I use them for many different things. The obvious: storage (jars) and flowers (vases). And the not so obvious: gifts and pen/pencil holders (jars) & decorative containers (vases). But like I said, I have alot of them. I was watching The Nate Berkus Show last week and someone was on talking about 'looking glass spray' which she sprayed on the glass in frames to make a mirror and also in clear bowls and vases to make faux mercury glass. So I went on a 'mini' search for looking glass spray. I didn't want to trudge all the way out to Lowes or Michaels so I headed over to Ace to see what they had. The young man who helped me said that a couple of days before another lady was in looking for the same thing (we live in a small town, who is this woman? Maybe I know her!) and he guided her toward the metallic spray paint. There was one can left when I got there so I bought it and brought it home to give it a try. I painted the i

We finally re-did our guest bath. It's the only room in the house that hadn't been painted or otherwise changed since we moved in almost 12 years ago. The room is very small. Most people have closets bigger than this room. So no matter what we did to the room it wouldn't make a huge difference. Or so I thought... Here are a few before pics. Kind of yuck and all over the place. The polished brass fixtures were really not my cup of tea. We headed to our favorite home improvement warehouse. Otherwise known as Lowes . We have a Home Depot as well but I just generally like Lowes better. Plus it's a bit closer to home (less than 1/4 mile really!) I am glad we went to Lowes because we did get some great buys. We replaced the vanity top with a carrera marble top. It's what I had in my head but figured it would cost more than I wanted to pay. But we lucked out when my husband found the top in the size we needed on clearance for $82! (Regular price $230). The only problem

LM's class had a field trip today. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. We drove through wild, wild west towns on Route 66 like Hackberry, Valentine (you may have actually sent your Valentine's here for postmarks at some point) and Peach Springs. The little towns lead you to Grand Canyon Caverns . The caverns are not actually in the Grand Canyon but about 40 miles away. The opening that brings air into the caverns is at the Grand Canyon. The Caverns are the largest dry caverns in the United States. It is a beautiful sight once you reach the bottom. It is always 56 degrees F down there. 'Down there' is just over 200 feet. You get down there via elevator. The three third grade classes in LM's school went to the caverns today via school bus (always fun for the adults, right?) I chaperoned along with some other parents and got to ride on the bus. When we arrived the 3 classes split up and went down to the caverns one at a time. While we waited we ate lunch and sp

Friday afternoon we decided to spruce up our guest bath. Very spur of the moment. Sprucing up meant the following: Painting the vanity New vanity top New faucet for vanity New medicine cabinet Bead board New base boards New shower curtain I still need to get the new hardware for the vanity before I unveil the project. I do want to show you a little sign I made for the room. When we took down the old medicine cabinet I noticed the shelf (wood) easily came out. So I kept it thinking that surely I could do something with it. Then I thought that it would make the perfect sign. I painted it white. I then printed the words 'fresh towels $1' on the computer. I traced the words with a pencil on the back of the paper then placed the paper on the wood and traced the front of the letters making an outline of the words on the wood. I colored in the words with a black sharpie - I was out of black craft paint so I decided to give the sharpies a try - they worked great!! I sponged a little b