Friday's Find

I come across all sorts of things while searching for furniture.
Sometimes I like things for no great reason.
I've learned that if I go with my gut, and buy what I like, it all works together somehow when I put it in my home or if I decide to sell it.
I found this copper bowl at an estate sale.



The inside is really pretty, and looks like the copper vessel sink in my bathroom.
The little old ladies at the estate sale loading up on glassware and silver never gave it a glance.
I'm excited to see how it looks once it's polished.
Now, where to use it?

I know what I did last summer...

I didn't blog once this sumer.
I could give a million reasons why, but the truth is I spent time with my children when I wasn't painting.
I'm not sorry.

I'm ready to get back to it, so here's my summer condensed.......

We had a preschool graduation.
(which doesn't really count since she's going back to pre-school for one more year. Next year -Xanax.)

.

An elementary graduation.



Oh, my, did he ever hate the tie.



Notice my neighbor turned photo bomb. His daughter looks on in embarrassmnet.



We had a sudden, totally unexplained swollen eye one day.

I leave the kiddos with the husband, my daughter's eye swells shut.
Go figure...



Lilly's Dear, (my mom), taught Lilly how to sew a button.



Her fingernails were wonderfully grime-free for this close up.
Sweet little hands...



We went to the strawberry patch.
It's in the middle of nowhere.
Well, in the middle of nowhere next to a really strange, mid-century modern house that looks like the Jetson's.

We had a mom and her 3 racoon babies living in a tree in our backyard.

We watched them, or they watched us, while we would eat on the deck.

See the eyes?

We went to the beach with my family.

It is seriously my favorite week of the year.

Lilly and my dad.

My kids with their "depression era" stares.

You're at the beach, smile for pete's sake.

We roasted marshmallows (covered in sand) on the beach.

Lilly and Baker fought over the ipad.

Sometimes they shared.

Lilly had a birthday too.

We had a pool party.

The weather was perfect, and all her friends came to swim and get sugared up.

A lot of my friends live for throwing a birthday party.

I'm not in that club.

I like 'em short and sweet.

This was a fun group of moms.

School had to come back around and ruin it all.

Thanks, Baker for the goofy look.

Tomorrow----some actual furniture pictures and this summer's flea critters.

Kim

http://littlebitsdesigns.com

Pretty Bird

A couple of things I learned over the weekend:

1. The more you value something, the better it tastes to your puppy. The otttoman I painfully re-upholstered must have been delicious.

2. My Baker can argue, pretty convincingly, that Scooby-Doo was actually the bravest one in the gang.

3.Birds are sneaky. They can get into my house somehow without me knowing it.

4. Kids grow up waaay to fast.



Baker turned seven this Sunday. To add insult to injury, he also lost his first tooth.
No, I didn't skimp on a cake, he wanted donuts.
I'll tell you about the bird in a moment.

First, pictures of stuff that left here recently.



Burlap covered shade with handpainted monogram.




A couple expecting their first baby brought me a crib just like this one....



...and it went home like this.

A birthday plate. I did a wedding plate for this girl a while back. Waaay more than 9 months ago for those of you that like to whisper about that stuff.

A little girl baby plate.

Here's today's bird.

I posted about a different bird here.

Lilly was playing with her new babydoll.

As I walked across the room, and a bird swooped over my head.

Naturally, I screamed.

Lilly looked panic stricken, so I shooed her up the stairs empty handed.
She realizes she doesn't have her doll, and starts screaming, "My baby! Save my baby!", like the star of a Lifetime movie.

When the bird is gone, she tells me "I'm so glad the birdie didn't eat my baby's face."

Is she watching Hitchcock and Lifetime movies in the middle of the night?"

I'll never know for sure .

Littlebits Designs

Pillows on your bed or your head.

I'm smack in the middle of a big ole mess. Baker is moving into Lilly's old room, Lillyis moving into Baker's old room, and all of the 'decor' (I hate that word), from Jackson's room is being moved to Baker's new room.

Confused??
Me too.

I do know that I'm painting Jackson's room gray. He wants it to be "cool", so that seemed like a good place to start.


I'm thinking grays, some brown, creamy white, and pops of color in the pillows, etc.




I'm leaning toward some orange, and maybe a little bit of blue.



I'm in love with pillows from Jonathan Adler.

I'm hoping to mimic them, not pay $98 - $165 a pillow.



They're graphic and simple. Jackson even gave me his approval.
This one was his favorite.


We both liked the peace pillow too.



While looking through the images brought up in my google search for "Jonathan Adler Pillows", I noticed this lady with her pillow on her head. I thought it was odd, but I moved along.





Then I saw these.

Ummm, Did I miss some sort of running joke?
Is putting a Jonathan Adler pillow on your head sort of like taking your picture in front of the Eiffel Tower so that it looks like a hat?



But, brace yourself, this last one was the worst.


This photo was titled "Meditation" . Not what I would have named it....

Yes. That guy is totally nekkid.
(I threw up in my mouth a little while photo shopping over his "personal space"...)

Yes. He has a big fat guy in suspenders and an untied shoes as his spotter.

Yes. That's a Jonathan Adler pillow under his head.

Google Search with care my friends...




Littlebits Designs

Sweet little budget nursery

How would you feel if I showed you this lamp and said, "I found a great floorlamp for your nursery!"
Luckily, my friend Heather trusted me to turn it, and a car load of other stuff, into a sweet nursery for her new baby girl.




Heather is very frugal, a trait I seem to gravitate to, so we sort of challenged ourselves to do this on a dime.





I insisted on a very neutral pallette. I think that if you keep everything clean and simple, all the fun little details are highlighted.
We painted the crib and changing table a linen color, and she chose a chair in a similar color.
All the curtains and bedding are done in whites and creams. We chose fabrics that were wide off the bolt, giving us more fabric to work with. I think the cost of the fabric for the 2 window panels, dust skirt, bumper, and trims totaled around $75.



The light fixture we worked out in a trade. My neighbor had this fixture, and it was black. Heather had the fixture seen here, before it was a carrot. (If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, go to the link, I promise you'll understand).
I had them agree to trade, since each other's fixtures were more suited for the other's project.

I made some metal flowers and leaves, and covered some shades in fabrics amd ruffles left from the curtains.



A flea market frame, re-worked a bit, now serves as a memo board or bow hanger.

For now, since the baby is only 1 day old, and has no hair, we hung the pacifier clips her mom has collected.

The curtains were hung on simple white rods with white rings.

Rarely do I buy something and do nothing to it, but these I left completely untouched.

Well, except for the little clips that were attatched to the rings.

I hate those things.

It's like hanging curtains with clothespins.

If you can drive a car, tie your shoes, or use the microwave, then you can thread a needle and sew on a curtain ring.





And, because I try to have a Bible verse in every room I do...

The one and only print in this room is this toile. The trim is actually vintage, recycled from an antique bedspread I used to cover a stool in my bedroom.

Here's the lamp from the beginning of my post.

I got to use my hacksaw on this project. One of the neighborhood kids was over as I sawed the useless arms off the lamp.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

My response - "What, you've never seen your mom using a hacksaw?"

End of discussion.

A made a little nest for the bird to sit in.

And, I love, love, love this shade.

I think it's my favorite thing in the room. I'm excited to make more.

I painted a taupe tree and leaves behind the crib, and a sash with the baby's name.

I covered a light with pillow scraps. This will provide just enough light for middle of the night changes and feedings.

The bumper is scallopped along the top, with a tight flat pleat ruffle.

The skirt will adjust as the crib height is changed.

Satin bows tie on the bumper, and trim out the skirt.

There's no doubt who this bed belongs to.

Blue birds add a touch of color.

Flowers made from - you guessed it - fabric scraps, dress up the branches.

I wanted to post a picture of the baby with the nursery pictures, but she was a 9 1/2 pounder, and her mom is recovering from a c-section. I won't bug her for a photo.