An Old Door, Some Faux Fleurs, and A Basket

Hi everyone... You may notice some changes going on with my blog!  I wanted a lighter, pretty look for spring, so I am having Mandy from a la parisienne use her amazing creative skills to fluff up my blog and create a delightful and more soft look ...  

We aren't finished yet,  and will be working on it some more for the next week.  I need to pick out a couple of fonts, tweak some colors, and move some pictures around... etc...

Did you know that there are ten thousand, million, billion, trillion, gazillion fonts to choose from on Myfonts.com?

So, if you're a perfectionist, visual, and OCD, never ever ever go there... 
Mandy is going to do an intervention and help me out with that...

Anyway, Mandy is so talented and awesome...

You should go see her gorgeous blog!  

Ok, now i will show you lots of pictures of my old chippy door with faux fleurs!

This is such a great old door, it used to sit in my friends shop for years, finally i adopted it and took it home

cute basket, great price, good ole TJ Maxx

these faux hydrangeas are great when there are no real ones around!

Also, if anyone lives near Hillsborough, NC,

 you should come to our celebration/party at my friend's adorable shop on March 22nd 

from 6:00 to 9:00

I'm kind of, sort of a partner with her and two other awesome  talented ladies

this is the link to the shop

Fetch Antiques and Interiors

this is something that arrived at the shop today

i know, i know....

I do her blog for her with my limited skills, you'll probably notice it sounds a little like me

Anyway there will be really really good giveaways

...1 hour design consultation by Donna Dutton & Karan Sjoberg...

...Original Oil Painting by Cindy Austin (that's me !)...

...natural floral design by Deb Kelsey...

...custom duvet cover by Anna Edwards...
and a 

...surprise gift from Haven Salon...

just rsvp if you think you'll make it!

and  finally, look how pretty these old roses look, even dried out and done with their peak bloom...

(kinda like me)

...the end...

The Little Desk That Could...

I found this little old beat up desk at Le' Dump one day, and stuffed it in my car... I fell for it's cute little chippy feet...

Here are it's many incarnations...

This is the way it was when i found it...

i almost didn't want to paint over all that frayed and chipped veneer... i kinda liked her raggedy little self

but, of course i did

Here it is painted in all blue...

and here it is today...

I now have the greatest respect for anyone who can take a good photo for their blog...

I probably took 40 photos of this desk...

they looked just FINE when i was taking them

but when i'd download them at look at the pictures, the first thing i noticed was that ALL the handles were crooked, just pure plain crooked !  

Is my brain processing crooked things as straight?? i don't know!

So i fixed all the crooked handles, i thought..

observe...

and then i took more photos, you know climbing around on the floor, moving all the messes out of the picture..., getting up and down...

and then i saw that there were 4,000 cords showing up behind the basket in the photo!!!!!!!!! GAAAAAH !!!!

I did not see those cords before...

So back to the iphone, and crawling around on the floor etc... moving crap outta the way... 

you'll see the cords in the photo below... 

then i noticed the middle handle is crooked !!!!!

are you freakin kidding me!

The hell with it... i don't care..

because this is the story of the "Little Desk That Could" 

and how she got saved from le' dump

...  here she is, cords,  crooked handle and all...

... and i've accepted it, i'm not a detail person...

...the end...

Creating a Painting is Alot Like Decorating a Room!

A new painting in the works...

I usually start with a photo, something will strike me about the photo that says, this would make a beautiful painting

like this one....

then i pick up a similar sized canvas with my 50% off coupon for Michaels

prop it up on the easel with the photo close by

you can see on the photo, where i tested the colors i mixed by brushing them right on the paper...

here it is in the beginning stages...

painting is MESSY!

Once i get started, i don't care about the messes, what i get paint on, or anything, i just turn on my Pandora radio, grab my smokes , 

i know i'm soooo gonna die from cigarettes, it's the worst thing i do..

and go at it...

I'm like a dog circling his bed for a while before i paint, pacing around, deciding what i want to paint... etc...

If i have a big canvas, i'm always scared i'm gonna ruin it, because big canvases are expensive...

A blank canvas can be very intimidating!

see those two different size house painting brushes in all that mess on the table, i get them at the Dollar Store... so remember what they look like, and grab a handful if you see them...  if i do a tutorial, you're gonna need some

they are great, and cheap!

you know, i show you my paintings, but i don't think i'm so great at it all or anything...

half the time i spend on a painting, is fixing things i screwed up, or don't like... 

but that's why i love oil paint, it dries nice and slow...

I've decided i want this painting to work vertically or horizontally...

So maybe i could use it over my mantel...

Betsy Speert, who is a famous interior designer,  answers decorating questions FOR FREE on her blog on Tuesdays, 

she is funny as anything to read too

She told me i needed something vertical over my mantel... 

here it is still in process, i decided i didn't like the area at the bottom, it needed a dark edge, more balance, more weight to ground it... or something...

and i don't like the way that one petal in the upper left hand corner goes off the edge of the page, so i'll try some different things with that...

so here you can see i added more dark brown around the perimeter   

I'm dying to do a tutorial with you guys, so we can do a painting together... i can record on my iphone, but i'm not sure how to put the recording on the blog, any ideas of an easy way to do that?

Last night i was moving stuff around in my living and dining room, noticing the lack of balance or weight on one side of the room, there was too much black on a chalk board frame i made, too dark, 

too much stuff over here and there, 

and i was thinking, arranging a room with the right weight, and color and symmetry is just like making a painting.,..

the room you're working on is your painting 

it has to have good color, and composition and balance..

you are all painters, just in a 3 dimensional sort of way!

anyway, i'm gonna darken the edges some more, maybe add some green to the dark space to indicate,  green leaves or something...

(this is a photo from before i darkened the edges, just propped up in front of another painting, but you get the idea)

and here it is at this point, almost finished

So start grabbing those paint brushes at the Dollar Store

and let's figure out how to make a simple, but pretty painting together 

i really believe if you have the desire... that you can paint too!

...the end...

Blogger, Followers, Random Stuff, and a Touch of Hoarding...

So... What's the deal with blogger, and us maybe losing our followers???
Probably better ask someone smarter than me!

What i am hearing is that we may loose some of our followers as of March 1st because of some random weird thing where Blogger won't support the Friend Connect "followers" that don't use Blogger... or something like that???!!  

I don't even know what i just said
much less act on the whole thing.
  
I don't know about you guys, but i really really like my followers and the people i follow and i don't want to lose them!  

So, now you have to add different ways for some of your followers to continue to "follow" you, and for you to "follow" them...

Just kill me... 
I think i just said some version of "follow" like 50 times!

I thought the followers/friend thing was just a part of the blogger program, i didn't know it was called Google Friend Connect...

is it me??? 
should i just be knitting in a corner somewhere?

So, from what i've discovered ... if you add this "Networked Blog" program, everyone can continue to follow you... 

 and i guess you should ask your followers to follow you on that too????

Anyway, i added it to my blog, and if you still want to follow me, maybe you should follow in both places???

here is a good explanation of what this is about, thank you Marty!

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2012/02/following-nightmare-lets-discuss-linky.html

here's the link i used to explain how to add it to my blog

http://help.networkedblogs.com/entries/20856391-widget-setup-for-blogger

i guess now i will follow my bloggers on both thingys too, i've been mostly ignoring the other follower gadget, 

but not anymore!


Ok, so now i'll stop fussing, and show pictures of random stuff, just to prove once and for all how ADD i am if you ever had any doubt
Let's start with this pretty little hat, that i just plopped on a lampshade... pink is always a good way to start a post!


in front is a vintage chandy that needs to be rewired
it's all rusty and i like it even if it's broken

now i'm gonna show you the cutest cup in the world
it's official
i ordered 4 of these online from ebay, and two arrived broken..
oh well... i still have two

ok, so can you tell i don't have anything really interesting to talk about or show you 
because i've spent last last week trying to figure out the whole blogger/follower THING!
I had to get a PhD in computer programming to figure it out..


I know, i know.. I said i was gonna stopping !#%^@!?ing about it


closeup up of chandy in dining room with crazy silky stuff tied around the shade.... and one very crooked shade...
probably won't get a job staging photos anytime soon

I think this hand soap dispenser is cute, got it at TJ Maxx or Marshalls for like $3.99, you could just put your dish soap in it and put it by the kitchen sink... It's pretty big, and heck for $3.99 a really cute addition!
I "staged" it in the my little cupboard, because blue and brown are pretty together... seeeee, i'm getting a little better !

ok, now i will own up to something i HATE to throw away even in the recycling bin
it's paper bags!
What is better than a good paper bag???
They're natural, they're kinda crunchy in your hands in a good way, they hold wine bottles,
you can flour your chicken in them...


I particularly like the brown bags from whole foods with little handles... 
i probably have 10,000 of those

 here is my brown bag stash on the lazy susan, which by the way, is the greatest invention ever - 

and yes, that is a bud lite on the right... 

hmmmm ok, now i'll show you a really pretty scarf i got at a shop near me, The Elegant Relic

 i'm gettin kinda thick in the middle these days...

and finally the other thing i find hard to resist

a really good basket!

This is just one of a bunch of baskets i couldn't resist

we use it for our recycling...

it has a wooden bottom and it's wonderful..

i think i'll end with a pretty photo from Pinterest 
when i heard about Pinterest, i was like 
"Oh No, not something else new to figure out!"
great attitude, huh?
Anyway, Pinterest is wonderful
Here is mine,if you want "Follow" me
there's that word again
http://pinterest.com/pinkgloves/

i couldn't find the source on this one, maybe you can, Pinterest usually takes you to the source
which is really cool

couldn't find the source on this one either, sorry


ok, that's just about enough from me for one day !
 talk to you soon.. 

...the end...

Just For Fun...

Ok, just for fun, 

 - and  since i have nothing else interesting to talk about right now- 

let me go back and do a little before and after of part of my living room... mainly the sofa and chairs

 I mean it's not Fabulous, Amazing , Shocking, like some i've seen... but it's better!

I'll start with an after photo, so people's eyeballs won't break when they see the picture on the blog post...

sofa before, bought on craigs list

Living room before with random cool vintage sofas

and ginormous vintage rug that weighs a thousand pounds that i grabbed at the Le recyling centre

(the dump)

sofa after slipcover with blue pillow...'

and a couple of great lamps from TJ Maxx

sofa after with flowers behind it....

here the walls are the original kinda yellowy color, i lightened them to "canvas natural" by Ralph Lauren

and decided the faux flowers were too much, even though i kinda liked them...

sofa after with plates all around the mirror...

cute, but it got a little annoying after a while... seemed like too much

as you can see, i'm constantly changing the pillows... and the stuff on the sofa table

one more...

sofa now with just 3 plates over the top

a few more befores...

after

notice i white washed the gold mirror 

chairy before...

chairy after slipcover...

Chairs before slipcovers...

sofa looking messy with throw on the middle because kids are home and they like to eat things like pizza and chocolate stuff while they sit on it...

 before....

chairs after...

So it all was a process, still ongoing..

I guess one of the best changes was lightening the walls and painting the living, dining room and kitchen all the same color

i added a seagrass rug from ikea, it's GREAT and was not that expensive

adding lots of mirrors everywhere!  I'm sure any decorator would say i have too many mirrors, but i don't care... they're cheap and you can fix them up!

finding that square coffee table on craigslist, it was dark wood, and I painted white and distressed it...  

the rest, the mantel and the coffee table and little stuff gets switched around all the time!

But the very best thing i spent my money on, 

and believe me.. i don't have much money, so it was a splurge

were the slipcovers...

I love my white sofa and chairs

I guess if i had to choose between something practical like new tires so i could drive safely to work,

and slipcovering a cool old chair

i would just drive a little slower... ;)

so total cost over a couple of years

well, lets add it up!

paint  around $50.00

sofa craigs list $75.00

sofa fabric $150.00

sofa slipcover $400.00

one chair thrift shop $19.99

other matching chair free

chair slipcovers for two chairs $250.00 each  $500.00

fabric for chairs $100.00

lamps TJ Maxx around $40.00

rug ikea around $140.00

random mirrors $150.00

craigs list coffee table $75.00

$1699.00

Holy Crap!  

did I spend that much!  That's alot! at least for me!

but to redo a whole living room, maybe that's not too bad

and i had to save up each time for the slipcovers...

you could actually go to Ikea and buy two really cute white slipcovered Ectorp chairs for around $250.00 each

but i couldn't get to Ikea

anyway, i've never really added all this up before the post, so while i recover from trying to show you a thrifty makeover that wasn't really that particularly thrifty

...

let me end with these gorgeous pink flowers from Pinterest after boring you with another rendition of my living room...

wouldn't this make a cool painting done on a really big canvas!!!?

ok, when i "previewed" this post, some of my fonts were all BIG and wacky... the only thing i really typed in extra large was the 
"HOLY CRAP"  part
so if it looks like i'm yelling stuff with big fonts,... sorry guys, i have no idea why that is going on!

...the end...