Taking Trash to Treasure

Hi there friends,
How is your weekend coming along? We are watching Storm Erika and praying she falls apart (which it looks like she's doing for us and many others down south) as we want to steal away for another quick beach trip to squeak out the last of summer that we can.

Today's blog posting is about two recent examples of turning trash to treasure which is honestly one of my favorite decorating tricks. It's budget friendly, green, and hey, it's fun!

Here's a sneak peek.....

Here's the story.

This beauty was found by Mr. Cottage Blue in the trash at the beach. Can you imagine? Someone did not see the rustic chippy cuteness of this piece that we see. Well, my sweetie picked it up and brought it home. That's literally taking trash and turning it into our treasure. Every time I look at it, I think about the beach which makes me smile. I am loving it especially with the blue-green glass vase I found on clearance and the oyster shell mirror I made from oyster shells collected from a restaurant at the beach and bleached.

The next story:

Recently I was rooting around our attic looking for something when I spied this piece of trash in the corner....

This had been a linen covered hanging light from our previous house that we purchased from Pottery Barn. The linen ripped and the poor light was condemned to a life in the corner of the attic. Until, I stumbled upon it recently and starting thinking....

I have never liked the builder grade ceiling lights all throughout our house but it takes a lot of money to replace ALL those lights....why not make something?

I scoured Pinterest and found several wood bead chandelier inspiration pieces. Next, off to the local craft store went I on the hunt for some interesting beads. I was considering colored wooden beads. I landed on simple plain wood beads and plain tan cording. Then I was in creative craft heaven attempting to turn this trash into something resembling a treasure.

See what you think....

 

 

I'm happy with my trash treasure. I think this hallway has a lot of personality and needed a fun light fixture to work with it. Now, the hunt continues for some more interesting light fixtures.....stay tuned...

Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Spicing It Up Again

Hi friends,
How are y'all doing? What's new in your world? Does it feel like your summer is winding down? Ready for fall to wind up?

Over here we are in our fourth, yes 4th week of school. I told my kids today that they're almost half way to their long fall break. Now, if it would just feel like fall....it's still super hot.

Did you happen to see that Money magazine named our small town #1? Here's the link...
http://time.com/money/3998655/best-places-to-live-2015-meet-apex/


Thanks for stopping by today. I'm excited to share with you our spiced up eat-in kitchen.

I did two things:
1. Moved our piano from our dining room to this room. I just finished an excellent book about change and supporting change called Switch, here's a link to it:
http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439853328&sr=8-2&keywords=switch

One of the things the authors of the book talk about is one way to influence change is to 'shape the path'. I will share with you that since we inherited my mom's piano last winter and the kids started taking piano lessons, I've been frustrated with their lack of practice. I already have to nag them about homework and nightly reading plus chores....I honestly don't want another thing to nag them about. But...on the other hand, I know how much I treasure the ability to play the piano, read music, and enjoy music. I see their interest in music and the piano and want to encourage this without being a nag. Welcome to being a parent, huh?

With our piano being in our front dining room, no one spends much time in there and thus it gets forgotten. Since it has wheels on it, it was pretty easy to wheel around the corner into the eat-in kitchen. Immediately, the kids started playing it more. My 'shaping their path' really worked. I also have put their piano books open on the ledge and they have stopped by and started playing. Shhhh! Don't tell them how manipulative their mom is!

2. The second thing I did was add new striped Pottery Barn curtains in here that I received as a birthday present. Our old curtains found a home in my husband's home office...right around the corner...I promise to share sometime soon (need to tidy it up first).

See what you think.....

Sorry these pictures are so dark. This room is very dark in the afternoon as the sun is setting.

I also want to share how open our dining room is now- not that the piano has moved out- more airy.

Thanks again for stopping by. Hope you are having an awesome week.

Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Fun Hallyway Find

Hi friends,
Recently I was able to drive north to Northern Virginia to spend time with my pops for his birthday. I even dragged him to the musical The Book of Mormon. Poor guy! We celebrated our July birthdays together:

While in town I got pops to go with me as I visited my favorite antique/junk stores in the Leesburg area. Here's the Lucketts Store...I was in heaven checking out their stuff....

I practiced some unusual restrain on my part and only made two purchases. A can of blue chalk paint- project to be created and revealed soon and....a sweet pop of color vintage globe...

This hallway is an art gallery, a bench to sit and put your shoes and socks on, storage for games, balls, and puzzles....

 

I've also been cooking up a new decorating plan in the eat-in kitchen....stay tuned.....

Happy decorating & living.
Hope you're having a great week-
Megan