Pretty Blue and Cream Striped Rug, the Sideboard Saga Continues, And I Need Your Ideas, Because You Guys Know Stuff!

 I found this really cute Dash and Albert rug, and i like it on my yucky carpet stairs, but i have 2 dilemmas,  one is... how in the heck do i get it to stay put??? 

Do I nail it down, or do i go buy those stair bar thingys that hold rugs?  i bet they're expensive, can't i just nail it down, is that really really bad...  of course being really really bad never stopped me before.  

Right now my son is living upstairs,,, so lets see how long before he goes skidding down the steps on the cute rug, or before he sloshes something impenetrable by any cleaning agent known to man, like mustard and texas pete,  his favorite condiments... of course..

Number two dilemma is... it doesn't cover the whole stairs, I really need another one, but can i get by with just one???.  It costs $84.00,  hmmmm... It's really really cute... but another $84.00...  

Let me see, oil change, dentist, or really cute blue and white striped rug??? 

and remember this sideboard, the one i painted around 70 different colors before i gave up and painted it white... well, what do you think of this combination, with the gray and white... and maybe i'll do something on this sideboard, like the one at 

Dear Lillies house

see in the next photo...  

here is the precious buffet  in her dining room, it has little designs painted on it, I could do that...

you HAVE to go to her blog, her photos will take your breath away, and her house is so cute it will make you hate your house... click here and you'll see     Dear Lillie

  

 Here is the sideboard when i first got it, it was free 

which was cool, except i've spent eleventy billion hours messing with it..

here is when i painted it blue and white, and i thought it looked too countrified

Here is where i gave up and finally painted it all back white again....

 and here is the latest attempt... what do you think?

New Baby Chandy in the Kitchen...

 Isn't this the sweetest little baby chandelier... I hung it in my kitchen over the sink, and it makes me so happy to stand right near it while i do dishes.  And believe me, there are always dishes... ! It came from my friend's shop in Hillsborough, NC.  I know I talk about my friend alot... she always tells me when she gets good things in, so i can see first, and always gives me a good price.  This little girl was there for a while, because she was so small in the shop, she was hard to notice, but in my kitchen she is just right! 

and last...a heavenly gardenia with a fading Pearly Gates  rose....

Yummy Long Curtain Panel at a Little Shop Near Me, This is Hard to Resist...

I'm really liking these curtain panels, they're nice and long too...  they're from one of my favorite little shops in Mebane, NC. 

This Used To Be an Ugly Brown Dresser... Look What the Perfect Shade of Gray and a Couple of Mirrors Can Do..

Photo's a little blurry , but you get the idea... This is in my friend's shop, and i won't even tell you how much she paid for it...  but it looks like a million dollars now!

An Amazing Scarf from Target Mixed in With Some Pretty Stuff...

My very Favorite light pink geranium... I hardly ever find this color around where i live, but i scored it at this little country convenience store down hwy old 86, where someone does the most amazing flowers and hanging baskets...

Ok, my sister and her daughter, who i might add,... knows every thing i like, found this amazing gauzy scarf at Target... So of course i draped it over everything in my house and took photos of it to show you... I love it !
It's like a fairy scarf...

on the banister.... where i have this random wreathy wired garland thingy with little white seeds,... it's actually really pretty, i have no idea where to put it right now, so of course i just hung it on the banister, because that's pretty much where i put everything i don't know what to do with... on the banister, or on the stairs to go upstairs....

on the sofa.... (oh my lord i hope this photo does not show the dog hair around the bottom of that sofa...)

on the pillow....
you should go get this scarf

another photo of the light pink geranium...

My favorite garden chair in the world....

(See this pink rose, it's called Abraham Darby, and it is wonderful and fragrant and everything good...)

I have two of these chairs, they're vintage, and they rock.... literally!

My window box...

A sweet little cherub sitting on some rocks with his toes in the water... see my broken solar lamp... i like this one, because the light is that pretty golden yellow, not that awful blue white light that some of them have....

Abraham Darby, faded Eden roses, white hydrangeas from Whole Foods, (i couldn't resist), some lavender, and other stuff from the garden... The air outside tonight smells like grass and flowers, and a touch of something delightfully musky... i wish i could bottle it... It's heavenly

Do Ya'll Like My New Table? Before and After, and French Chairs and 23 year old boys...

I found this cool old table on Craig's list, and decided to give it a try. I was worried that it would be too big, but it actually isn't too big at all. Mr. FracturedFairyTale and I drove out into the country to pick it up, and the cicadas were so loud, it made my ears ring. It was crazy! I have never ever heard anything like it! Of course it wouldn't fit in my car, so we tied it to the roof, and off we went...

Here it is before...

Ok, here's something you should never do, sand a table WITHOUT WEARING A MASK! I was congested for days, what a dummy... I mean, i thought most of the dust would just sit on top of the table... uhhhh ... no... I'll probably develop some central nervous system disorder from inhaling whatever it was on that table, because i was too impatient to cover my nose...

Ok, so most every peice of furniture in my house is from the thrift store or from dumpster diving, or craig's list or was like $12.99 from TJ Maxx. Sooooo, here are some chairs that i spent actual real live money more than $50.00 for. And here is what happened the first time my very sweet, clueless 23 yo son sat on one of them without pulling it away from the table, because it is waaaaaay to hard to pull a chair out from the table before you sit in it...

ready???

GAAAAHHH!

Finally... here is a wide view of my living - dining - kitchen (sorta) area with my new table... Just because wide views are tricky to get, and it's fun to see the whole perspective thingy... You know, i really don't think my house is that great or anything, but thanks to Jennifer at The Old Painted Cottage, it is soooooo much better than it was... I had such a hodge podge of cool "stuff" but no direction, or cohesiveness... now things actually kind of go together!

see that chair, i'm finally going to be able to get slipcovers for it soon! I'm so excited!

A Delightful Color...

My friend Karan, of Spruce Antiques and Interiors, a precious little shop in Hillsborough, NC... decorated the Visitors Center in Chapel Hill, NC several years ago. She and I were there last night hanging some of my paintings up for the Friday night art walk. Even though she decorated this space 4 years ago, the style is still fresh and timeless. The colors and fabric she used were Delightful! So I snapped a few quicky photos to show you guys... as usual my photos are not that great, but you can a least see some of the colors...


Look at these yummy vintage corbels, they're wonderful! They were huge!

And i would never have picked this wall color... but it is delightful...! that's the word that comes to mind whenever i look at it. It's bright and fresh, yet soft, and handles different lighting beautifully... It's such a happy color

They weren't able to do molding in the inner square, so she just had it painted on...

The fabric on the slipcovered chairs is just as sweet as it can be, but not too sweet... The print is dogwood blossoms, the state flower, how cool is that!

The coffee table above is soooooo cute, and was made from old windows... and you can see a teeny peek of the complementary fabric she used on an ottoman, and a bench which you can't see because my photograph was so bad... sorry...

primitive cabinet with the original old paint... my goodness!

I think she said she had this long entry table made, she was doing that wonderful gray color before it was cool! And all the colors she used had to be able to handle multicolored brochures... amazing Karan!

i couldn't resist adding this scrumptious photo from Shabbychic.com, Rachel Ashwells site. If you haven't already seen this photo, feast your eyes! As you can see... my friend karan was using this color 4 years ago!

and one last reminder, to me and to you....believe in your dreams...

New Painting, Sneak Peek at a Project, and... Did You Ever Just Paint Over Dirt?

Just finished, this new painting of a beautiful shell i have,...

I had some chippy corbels that i put up... do they look cute, or do they look stupid, like i'm trying too hard to do the chippy shabby thing...?

And.... if you live any where near Charlotte, or Concord, North Carolina, you have to go to my sister's best friends fabric warehouse !!! She has tons and tons of fabric,
for example... she sold me this soft white linen fabric for $5.00 a yard ! Can you believe that! I can't wait to get my chairs recovered....
And she's a super talented lady, she can fix up a room in a heartbeat with what you already have. Plus, she's funny and irreverant, one of my favorite combinations...

Here is a sneak peek at something i found on Craig's list that i'm working on...

when i get rich and famous, and i have my charming little beach cottage,
i can hang a shell painting just like this over the bed...