A Little Bling

I took off from work this week to work on my house. I've been trying to get it back in shape since it's been ignored for so long because of illness. I wanted to show you some candlesticks I've been working on. One of them is a candle holder that I bought at Marshalls. It was an ugly gold color when I bought it, but because of the drop crystals I knew I could change it, so I painted it white.


The flower on top is a tissue paper flower that a friend made and gave to me.



The other thing I wanted to show is my new candle holders with drop crystals. The crystals are actually part of a brioche that I bought to catch the drips from the candles. I think they add a touch of elegance to a table setting.



I don't think I'm going to be able to get much more done this week since I go back to work on Monday. I also think I lost a little steam around Wednesday. There are still some things I want to do, but they will have to wait for the next go around.

Hydrangeas

In my last post, I talked about how much I love hydrangeas. I was in Michaels last weekend and saw the most beautiful silk hydrangeas. They were so luscious looking that they looked almost real. And, they were on sale. I bought some to put in an old butter churn in my kitchen to replace some old, warn out eucalyptus. They are so pretty and add so much color to the kitchen now.


And then yesterday I was watching Barefoot Contessa and she went into her garden and gathered some of the most healthy looking hydrangea blossoms for her table setting. I was so jealous. I wish my hydrangea plant looked like that and produced those beautiful, healthy flowers.

Petit Fours and Tulips

Yesterday as I was going home from work I was thinking about how dark and gloomy and rainy it's been here, and how starved I am for sunshine and spring. I decided to go to my local grocery store that I know has a wonderful floral department and see if I could find some pretty fresh flowers to put in a vase at home. When I got there I was happy to see that they had some pretty tulips. There were several in a bunch and I bought one bunch to put in a vase at home. Then as I walking to the checkout I noticed this pretty lavender bud vase. Lavender is my favorite color and checked the price and saw it was only $1.29. So, I bought it. Then I decided to take a couple of the tulips from the bunch and put them in my pretty lavender vase to bring to work. So, now I have some tulips at home and at work. Happy dance!! I apologize for the messy office desk pictures, but I took them quickly after I got to work this morning.

Then after that I decided that I wanted some petit fours, so I stopped by our local bakery and bought some. I also stopped at the Goodwill store that is almost right next door to the bakery and I found some pretty milk glass bud vases. I'll post a picture of those later.

I also have that neat project that I'm going to take pictures of and show you. I'm planning to paint it white and I'll try to post before and after pictures. I hope to get that done this weekend.

Crystal Lamp Finials and Hydrangeas

This week I was in Tuesday Morning and stumbled across these pretty crystal lamp finials. I thought they would make a nice addition to the lamp shades in my living room. I bought them and I think they are so pretty. Unfortunatly, once I got them home and tried them on my lamp shades, they didn't work, so that was disappointing. But, I'm not giving up. I'll try to think of another use for them.



I love hydrangeas. I'm so ready for spring. This has been the coldest winter here in a really long time and it's been a long winter. I think everyone around here is just chilled to the bone and ready for warmer weather.

Here are some pictures of my hydrangea bush from a couple of years ago.

It bloomed beautifully for a couple of years and then it just stopped blooming. It seems like it's really been struggling the last few years. My mother-in-law said I need to feed it, so hopefully today we'll be getting some food and I'm going to try feeding it and hopefully it will recover.

Not only do I love hydrangea flowers, but I also love beautiful things painted with hydrangeas on them. One day when I was surfing the Internet for hydrangea pictures, I found these:

My Home

I know I said I wasn't going to post any pictures of my home, and I'm not going to post pictures of the messy part of my home, but I decided to post some pictures that are inspiration for me. One morning I was making homemade biscuits and decided to take this picture.

This next picture is of the Hoosier cabinet that my grandmother (on my mother's side) had when they lived in the country. I'm really surprised that my mother ended up with it, but she did and when she sold her house and moved to an apartment, she gave it to me. My husband and I sanded and refinished it and it looks great.

This next picture is of a corner cabinet that was in the house that my mom and dad bought the year I graduated from high school. The house was full of antiques, some we kept and some we sold.

Last year we had some wonderful fresh Silver Queen corn and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it. It was delicious, by the way.

By the way, I found a wonderful treasure yesterday at T.J. Maxx. I have a plan for it and I'll post a picture of it and hopefully pictures of the process too.

Candle Holders and Table Settings

My life is so disorganized right now. I'm embarrassed for anyone to come to my home either announced or unexpected. It looks like Sanford and Son. Honestly. I'm not lying or exaggerating. I'm not going to post pictures of it here because lots of folks will think, what a slob. Think Clean House. It's not quite that bad, but it's close. I'm baring my soul. Right now my house makes me depressed every time I walk into it. At one time, it was tolerably clean and tidy, but there have been illnesses and other obligations and, sadly, the house has fallen on the back burner. But, no more. I've been trying to work up the nerve and energy to get it back in shape. I started this blog to sort of document my journey to organization and cleanness once more.

My fantasy is of a house that makes me go "Ahhhhh" when I walk into it after a long day at work. I've just been putting it off. But, I found a wonderful blog and, believe it or not, what set me on fire to get my house in shape was candle holders and table settings. Clear, crystal looking glass candle holders with clear dangling bobeche. Like these pictures.




This blog has so many great ideas and it's been my inspiration. It's called My Romantic Home. I've put a link to it on my sidebar. I emailed Cindy and asked her about her candle holders. She told me something that I didn't know. And there is lots I don't know, believe me. She said that she had some regular glass candle holders and that she had bought some bobeche for them. I had never heard of bobeche. She gave me a link and I ordered a pair from this company. Here are the ones I ordered:


So, that's my first step toward my shabby chic home.