Happy Thanksgiving

I know I have been horrible about keeping up this blog for a while now.  I really am sorry.  It is just that things have been so busy- Bailey's had fleas, I was doing some part-time work the past 2 weeks, the weather is colder and rainy so I have had to think of ways to keep Aiden entertained.  I am not making excuses, just informing you of why this blog has fallen by the wayside.  Ok, maybe I am making excuses.  But, I am really going to try to be better about this.  Especially since Christmas decorating is one of my favorite things.  I have already been collecting some new things to add to the decor this year and am excited to start decorating this weekend!!  So, I promise you will see more posts on here.  Even though the craziness of the holidays is upon us and there is lots of Christmas shopping/wrapping, etc. to do.

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend filled with lots of love and yummy food!  I don't know if I will ever host a Thanksgiving dinner, but if I ever do, I would use the above picture as inspiration for the table.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I'm back

Sorry I haven't done too much blogging recently.  Things have been busy around the Jonesabode this fall.  I finished an exciting project last weekend that I am finally blogging about.  

So, you remember how I have been whining about wanting the circle cut out chairs from West Elm?  Well, a couple of weeks ago we were up in Lancaster and stopped at the Pottery Barn Outlet.  They didn't have the exact chairs that I wanted, but they had these...

Yes, they are a strange bronze color, I know.  But, the weekend before I found these chairs, we were visiting our friends Peter and Tiffany.  They bought a house this past summer and Tiffany has been working on lots of decorating projects since they moved in, making the house look great!  She was showing us some of her spray-paint projects and so, inspired by Tiffany, I thought to myself, why can't I just spray paint these chairs white?!!  

Now, I have to tell you that the brand new white chairs from West Elm retail at $229 a piece. Which, honestly, I would never spend.  I also know that I have never seen these chairs in white at the outlet, and, even if they did have them, they would probably be pretty banged up.   These bronze colored chairs were $100 a piece at the outlet and were in great shape.  That is more than 50% off the price, plus I had a $50 gift card.  So I ended up only paying $150, which I thought was well worth it.

I did some research and it seemed like the best spray paint for this project would be the "Rustoleum Universal All- Surface Spray Paint".  In addition, I did prime the chairs and just used the Lowes brand, since all primers are pretty much the same.  I didn't do any sanding or anything to the chairs, just went at them with the spray paint.  I only used 1 can of the primer between the 2 chairs and then used 2 cans per chair of the Rustoleum.  

Here are the chairs completely done and drying outside.  

They turned out great and I am so happy that I took the risk and just decided to spray paint them.  Here they are in the dining room.  

I still have the other chairs that were in the dining room and I am playing with the idea of fixing them up a little bit with a fresh coat of paint, since this was so easy, and repairing the arm on the one chair, and then selling them on Craigslist for maybe $50 for both or something....I don't know, we'll see.  

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a spooky and fun weekend!  

I promise I will be back soon....

Sleeping

Sorry for the lack of posting recently.  To be honest, this house has been revolving around the Phillies recently, which is a good thing.  But, these late night games have left me walking around glossy-eyed, and chugging coffee to keep up with Aiden.  The good news is that the World Series doesn't start until Wednesday, so I plan on catching up on some sleep these next few days.  Doesn't this bed just look like you could stay in it forever??

I have a couple of projects that I should be letting you know about soon.  But, until the World Series is over, I am not sure how much I am going to get done, but I'll do my best!

Rainy day project

If you sew and have some extra fabric laying around, here is a quick and easy, rainy day project for you this weekend (since apparently there is a Noreaster up in these parts).

Recovereing a lamp shade:

We basically have a lightbulb in the ceiling of our walk-through closet, so a LOOONG time ago, I put a lamp shade over it until I find exactly what I want for that space.  However, I was never fond of the shade.  It was a paper shade and I actually ripped off the top layer so that you won't be able to see the design under the fabric.  You could also spray paint it white, but I didn't want to take the time to do that. 

All I did was measure the size of the shade around.  It was about 28 and a half inches, so I cut it at 29 to leave room for a half inch seam.  

I then sewed the 2 ends together ( right sides to each other) to make a tube out of the fabric.

Then,  I just turned the tube inside out, and slipped it onto the shade.  It was a tight fit, but that is how you want it, you don't want it to be loose. 

I then used decoupage glue and just glued the edges to the inside.  This worked well because I could do a coat under and then I did 2 coats over top of the fabric to really hold it down.  I also cut slits in the fabric to wrap it around where the wires are.

 

Voilla!  A brand new shade

And here it is in the closet.

 

Hope you have a good weekend despite the bad weather!!

Adding color to the bedroom

I love the color on the walls in our bedroom, and although I loved our all white bedding in the summer, I have been wanting to add more color now that the weather has changed.  I was looking at all of the pillow covers I have and I came across this one that used to sit on our living room chair last fall.  

I realized how much I like this golden yellow with the pale blue walls in the bedroom.  So, I looked at the other Amy Butler prints that had this same color in it and liked this one because it had gray in it and just a little bit of light blue to connect with the walls.  

I found this gray quilt at TJ Maxx months ago and have been checking on it periodically when I would go in.  The packaging it was in was open and it looked a little messy which is why I think it has sat on the shelf for so long.  When it was still there today, after not checking on it in a few weeks, I just decided to buy it.  It is exactly what I wanted and I don't think I could have beat the price - $40 for a King size.  I kept on the white quilt underneath.  

And, here it is all put together.

Other than that, everything is pretty much the same in the bedroom.  

Although, I did find this vase shoved in the back of a closet and realized how well it matched the new fabric.   

Fall

It is officially fall around here.  The air conditioners are out of the windows and the air is crisp outside.  We have been enjoying the cooler weather with walks at Valley Forge and around the neighborhood while leaves and acorns crunch under our feet. 

 I have never really been that into decorating for fall but I figure I should put in more of an effort.  One thing that I have been eyeing up are the mercury glass pumpkins that Pottery Barn had.  However, they sold out quickly and were a little expensive for a 6 inch size.  So, last week I stopped by Home Goods specifically looking for one.  And, long and behold, there was just ONE, sitting on the shelf amongst the other autumn decorations.  So, of course, I knew it was meant for me.  I quickly swooped it up and now it sits in the center of our dining room table.  

Of course we wil be purchasing some real live orange pumpkins for carving this year, but I was telling my mom that I would really like a white pumpkin for our indoor decor.  I was saying that I have only ever seen the mini pumpkins in white and I have never seen a larger pumpkin in white.  Well, the other day my mom called me to inform me that Genuardi's had them for only $4 each.  So, I had her pick me up one.  I hope it stays alive until Thanksgiving.  

As for now, I don't have any other indoor decorations.  I have a couple other DIY ideas that I may or may not get around to.  I do plan on decorating the front of the house with pumpkins and mums that I will hopefully have time to do this weekend. 

What about you guys, do you decorate for fall?  Have any fun ideas to share?