Curio Cabinet Makeover

I bought this at a thrift store for $50 about 5 years ago.

I painted the exterior a creamy color and the interior back wall a pale grey-blue.  

I love the blue but I'm slowly swapping pale colors for darker, richer ones.

Here are some of my treasures that were in the cabinet.

I took everything out and cleaned each piece.  

The coral is delicate, so I ran it under water, got all the dust out, and let it air dry.

It came out pretty great.  

I love it :)

Out With The Old

After 15 years, our waterbed sprung its last leak.

So long, old friend.

We slept on this while we waited for our delivery.

It wasn't so bad; we sort've felt like we were camping.

Two weeks later...our bed arrived!

The upgrade from a queen to a king meant that our old furniture wouldn't fit in our tiny room.

Our old queen bedding wouldn't fit either. 

The wheels started turning...

Stay tuned!

Black Bedroom

I love black.  
I wear it, I paint my toes with it, and I decorate with it...it's my favorite.

I've been wanting to paint my bedroom black for a while, so here goes!  

before

Here's a little bit of my room featured in 

Blue Hydrangea

(Unfortunately, I don't have a better before shot.)

during

This is my view from the top of the ladder...
These two keeping me company while I cut in.

More pics coming soon!

Easy Art/Photo Display

Kevin cut about forty of these for Thanksgiving place settings; I took mine home.  

This little owl is cute for fall.

I switch him out with other art, post cards and photos throughout the year.  

Craigslist Score

before

after

Not bad for $50!

Hide your clutter in here.

The best sandwich ever!

1. white mountain bread from the Publix bakery

or any good bread

2. mayo

3. fried eggplant

4. mozzarella

5. bacon

6. avocado

7. portabella mushrooms

(cook these in olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and parmesan cheese)

put the top on

Put a little butter in a frying pan and cook it like a grilled cheese, 

pressing down hard with a spatula.

The finished product...

Enjoy!

Organize your junk drawer!

It's that time of the year again....everywhere you look, you're told to 

ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE!

I like to organize, but I don't have time for major projects like the garage....

so I'm starting small.  

This is nothing new but maybe you'll be inspired. 

We use our side door off the dining room as our main entrance, and the dresser in the corner houses all of the goodies: school supplies, note pads, pens and pencils, cards, games, etc.  The surface of the dresser is where we throw our keys, mail, glasses and hair ties.

It was starting to look a little messy, inside and out.

I cleaned out everything and put all of our stuff on the table.  

I threw away any trash and sorted the rest.

I looked around my house for boxes and bowls that were pretty and useful.

This soap box is perfect for the playing cards.

I took some jadeite mugs from the kitchen for the crayons and glue sticks.

The little bowl is from Anthropologie; I have at least one of these in each room for hair ties and loose change.  

Find them here

I found this old wooden box and lined it with wool felt.

Perfect for eyeglasses and switchblade combs.

I ordered the felt from

etsy.com

A vase gives some height to that corner, 
and the old lamp is useful and cute on a stack of books.

The charcoal grey pot is just another vessel for pencils 
and the pottery is perfect for mail.

Before

After

Happy organizing!