Spotlight Sunday {Lindsay}

Welcome to the first ever Spotlight Sunday! I love seeing what all you blogging ladies come up with and am often so inspired by what you do!! I try and remember it all but let's face it... I'm a mom of three and I'm doing good if I remember all the sippy cups and bags as we leave the house each day! So, this spotlight is two-fold... one to showcase some of the cute things I've come across... and also for me to have a place to go back to to remind myself of what I wanted to do one day. (links to each are listed under the photos)

Have you moved a lot? I have lived in 5 places in 7 years of marriage. I wish I'd thought of this cute idea to do with all our house keys before I threw them all out. Very Cute!!

Love Stitched

I love love love topiary trees. In fact I've made one in the past. But these nope-iaries that Polly created are adorable.

Make Mine Beautiful

Can I just say that I want one of these in my house! Cindy at Cottage Instincts did a really great job! I haven't ever attempted to do a project like this but maybe one day when I find a great deal on something I will pull out the paint and my sander.

Cottage Instincts

I have seen this sign in my latest Ballard catalog and thought it was really cute. I only wish my laundry room wasn't in my garage... Check out Infarrantly Creative and see how you can make your own.

Infarrantly Creative

More Fall Decor & HELP please!

So my $200 piece of furniture has been dressed up for Fall but I still need your help finishing it. I started with this....


And gotten it to this...


It was very simply done with limited resources. I moved my cloche from another table and placed a fall wreath around it for some attention. For some reason it just looked blah to me without! I had a few fall springs that I added to my signs and vase. I even dug through leftover books from our garage sale that had fall colors and made a little stack with them. I got the cute lighted pumpkin at Marshalls a few weeks ago and love having a little light going at night that's not a candle!


Here is where I need your help!! See the little shelf with nothing but a black book on it? I have NO IDEA what to put here. I don't want a sign since I have the Special Home sign going on in the other shelf. I can't do pumpkins because of the pumpkin up top. What would you do? I just had a light bulb moment while typing this... what about a cornucopia with gourds spilling out? Help please! I know you lovely ladies have ideas galore. Please share in the comments below.

The last area I have completed so far is this little round table that used to house my cloche. I found the glass piece at TJ Maxx for $5.99 (a far cry from the $30 that another of my beloved home decor stores wanted for the same piece). I added seasonal potpourri (btw, who even knew potpourri was still in??). I then just added two things from my Fall decor box to round it out.

I still have my front porch and shutters to decorate over here. Slowly but surely I'm feeling like fall is here!! Now, if the Lord would just bless us with fall weather we'd be set! :) Happy decorating everyone!

Linking Here:
The Shabby Nest
Chic on a Shoestring Budget
A Few of My Favorite Things
It's a Blog Party

Fall Fireplace #2

So Tiffany shared her super cute fall fireplace with us on Monday. She inspired me to get mine finished that afternoon and I'm sharing it with you today! While hers was more of a "from scratch" experience, mine was adding to what I already have up there.

I started with this bucket that I made years ago that usually is hung on the wall. I had thought about hanging a wreath over the mirror but didn't have one. When I dug out my fall decor I found this bucket and thought it would fill the space just fine. I got two fall sprays 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby and stuck them back behind the bucket to hide the long stems (I could have cut them...but I'm lazy and who knows...maybe next year I'll want to use the long stems somewhere else). I added the Harvest metal sign in front just for added dimension. And it provides material for my loveable husband to kid me about what we are harvesting.... men just don't get it do they. :)

I've had this lantern on the mantel since we moved in over a year ago but it was missing something for 'fall'. So, I shopped the house and borrowed this tassel off our entertainment center knob. It has just the right colors to coordinate with the rest of the foliage.


I also shopped the house for the ceramic urn on the far right to add more weight to that side of the mantel. I never intended it to be part of my fireplace decor but I think I really like it and since it has red as its main color I think I can get away with using it again at Christmas (repeat: I'm lazy like that).

I'm not a huge fan of the all white fireplace, but that's a project for another time!!

I am pretty happy with how it turned out though. Especially for $8.00 (the price of the two HL sprays). So are y'all decorating your mantels yet?!!

Linking Here:

Blue Cricket Design

Someday Crafts

My Backyard Eden

Me and My Bucket

What $200 Can Buy

Have you ever sat and looked around your house adding up how much money you've spent on furnishings? My husband and I made a decision when we were newly married that we'd never finance any furniture. I am happy to say that we've lived up to that for the last 7 years and hopefully we can continue. We (particularly my husband) are firm believers that cash is king and is the most powerful negotiating technique. We have three pieces in our house in particular that we've saved a lot of money on by paying in cash and negotiating. These three pieces were each bought for $200.

Normally these doors are open to see the TV so I don't ever notice the clutter to the right...I guess someone should take care of that, huh?


This piece was thrown in when we were buying mattresses... all because we asked and had cash!


And the BEST most EXCITING $200 purchase EVER is.....


So the furniture guy told us all about this piece by name-dropping the maker and where he got it, etc. It all meant nothing to us to be real honest... but imagine my surprise when I got home & Googled to find this piece being sold for $1,700!!! Let's just say I did the happy dance a time or two. It wasn't exactly what I was wanting...but for $200 I thought I could make it work. :)

So, get out there... take your cash ONLY and negotiate!!

Fall fireplace

My Fall decorating moved from the porch to the fireplace this weekend.

I wanted to anchor the mantel with a large something before layering Fallish things around it. I tried both a window pane & mirror, before settling on a beautiful clock that I found at Kirklands.

The window seemed too lightweight. Maybe an option for next summer.

I liked the darkness of this mirror, but it's just not practical that high.

The richness of color & hammered details really sold me on this clock.

I used red urns (for lack of a better word) & a green platter for a pop of color before adding my Fall swag in front.

The lamp & candlesticks add a sense of warmth & homeyness.

I'll probably sit a bucket of firewood on the hearth...

even if it's only for decoration purposes.

I'd be kidding myself to think that we'll actually need it any time soon.

I'm linking up here

Skip To My Lou

Making the World Cuter

Between Naps on the Porch

Storage solution

I'm not sure why it just occurred to me that we don't have to store our wreaths in those plastic tubs from Target. I now just hang mine on nails in the garage.

My husband claims that I'm just decorating the walls. And maybe I am. Adds a little color don't you think??

Linking to:

Tatertots & Jello

Be Different Act Normal

Chalkboard Calendar

I'm so excited to share this post with you today!

It comes from my sweet friend Lisa...

I recently saw this dusty, ugly framed mirror on a routine trip to Goodwill, I instantly remembered Tiffany's chalkboard and knew the ugly thing had the potential to become the perfect weekly calendar for our kitchen. So I haggled on the price and got it down to $25. Not exactly cheap, but I thought it was worth it for the vision I had in my head.

I didn't think to take a photo of it before I sanded it and popped out the scratched mirror. You'll have to just use your imagination...

Then I took a trip to Lowe's and picked up a quart of chalkboard paint and some backer board. Since I had measured the frame before I left, I asked the nice old man that rubbed my son's head ;) to cut the backer board to fit the frame exactly.

I painted the smooth side of the backer board with the chalkboard paint using a sponge brush. It would have been nice to have a wider sponge brush, but I just used what I had on hand and a normal paint brush left brush strokes. I also used some glossy white interior paint that we had on hand to paint the frame.

Second coat:

Third Coat:

And....Ta Da! I think it fills the tall, awkward corner wall in our kitchen quite nicely.

I liked the weekly calender on Tiffany's board so much that I copied it. Straight up copied. It's the best form of flattery, right?

The color is off on this photo. I don't have yellow walls...but you get the idea. :)

I love it! It replaced our weekly dry erase board in the laundry room where I wrote dinners and commitments down and the grocery list that was on the fridge. My husband even uses it for his own lists and the ledges make the perfect "tray" for chalk. Now I'm just working on training my son not to grab for (and try to eat) the chalk. ;)

Thanks for sharing Lisa!!

Check out Lisa's Bible covers, personalized magnets, & more.

So, so cute!!

Navy Mango

I'm linking up here..

Finding Fabolous

The Shabby Nest

Home is Where My Story Begins