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So since my wrist has been giving me troubles, I've had a chance to catch up on other things; like gardening, reading, butter churning. You know, vintage pre-computer things. I even got out my old design binders. Those glorious files of tear sheet after tear sheet stuffed into six (yes six) binders. Basically the paper version of Pinterest.


And while searching thru my old piles of inspiration I found this.

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An image from one of my all time favorite articles on Fran Keenan in Cottage Living (hand over your heart. How I miss that magazine). I have been looking for a way to spruce up my plain white curtains in the dining room since, oh the day I got them. I'd even toyed with adding ribbon along the leading edge of the curtains, but it just looked dinky so I never went thru with it.

But this looked more... substantial. And big key, simple(ish) enough to attempt. I tried several different sizes of ribbon from my stash (c'mon, like you don't have a ribbon stash?!) to figure out how big the ribbon needed to be. 1" was too thick and 5/8" was too small, leaving lucky 7/8". Before I knew it I was putting the girls in the car and we were off to Michael's to buy a 20 yard roll of 7/8" navy grosgrain.


This project went down so quick I didn't take many pictures of the process but I will tell you it is as simple as making an X with two ribbons, repeating it about 50 times and then trimming the whole thing with more ribbon. I just tried out a few different size Xs to see what I would like best and then once I found the right length, I cut 24 strips in that length to make the Xs. I glued down each one and then finished them off with trim at the top and bottom of the X and along each side of the drape. One thing to note, this takes A LOT of ribbon. My 20 yards wasn't enough and I had to go back and buy another 13. Crazy, I know.


Very simple and a great detail against the white curtains. I knew I kept all of those old magazines for a reason!




Can't show you the right side of the dining room as there are some other projects over that'a way that I'm finishing up. Soon enough my friends.

So spill it. Have you been so inspired by an image that you needed to create something right away? Is there an old magazine article that is burned into your brain? Have you ever used 33 yards of ribbon?

So, I got a new chandelier for the dining room.

Would this be the dining room that just got a new chandelier last year? Yep, that's the one.

Now, before you go putting me in the loony bin for buying yet another lighting fixture for the dining room (this makes #3), let me state my case. It is a vintage bamboo chandelier at a wicked good price. I couldn't very well leave it behind once I saw it. What if someone bought it who wouldn't have taken care of it? There was a lady with a bedazzled purse and a scrunchie eyeing it at the same time my mom and I were fawning. I couldn't let this light go home with Mrs. Scrunchie, that's just mean. So really I rescued this light from certain doom. I'm a humanitarian. Me and Angelina.


The only problem I had with it was the color. I am a card-carrying member of the black fan club but I've already got a lot of black in the dining room and the walls are darker so adding this big and wonderful black light was just sucking the remaining light out of the room. And the black was hiding all of the great detail that made me love the light in the first place.

I wavered between something sparkly and something with more pop. But while I wavered, I made myself useful and primed.


Sparkle took over and I went with gold. I think I had spent a few hours play dress up with the girls before hand, so that might have influenced my decision. But the subtle, glam, vintagey gold I was looking for didn't happen.


Bust.

It was a little too Golden Girls for my taste. I suppose I could have taken some rub n' buff to the thing to tone it done a bit, but have you taken a close look at this thing? It has no fewer than 47 sides. It's a mathematical anomaly. It was hard enough to spray it, I wasn't about to hand rub the sucker.

I decided to go with what my gut had told me originally and go with my color pop. Why I ever tried to ignore you gut I don't know. My apologies. After something red, with a bit of orange in it, I went to Michaels to look thru the hard core arty spray paint and landed on Cadmium Red by Liquitex.

The color was perfect and the paint goes on wonderfully. It dries super fast and the odor is almost non-existant.


I will warn you though this stuff chips like a... it chips really bad. I wouldn't use this on anything that would get any sort of day to day use, but since people rarely touch my chandelier, I figure it will be safe.


So up she went, looking beautiful. All of her pretty details showing up so much better now in her bright red. But she was missing one last detail. This was the perfect piece to try out one of my favorite blogger 'I want to try that one day' DIYs.


Yep, I followed Emily's lead and added some polka dot fabric to my plain little candle sleeves. You can go to Recently for the full DIY but I will tell you this was easy as can be. All you need is some fabric, scissors and Mod Podge and you'll be done in 10 minutes.


So the moral of the story is this - ignore trends and always go with your gut. Your gut will never lie to you. And never pass up a good light because you already have one. There is always room for one more chandelier in your life.

What about you? Have you added something to your house only to replace it with something else a year later? Painted anything with 47 sides? Watched Golden Girls lately?

It's warm, sunny and Monday. Two out of three, not bad. How was your weekend? Did you wake up confused as to what day it might be? I did. Bummer when you think for a split second that it is Sunday.

Anyway, as those of you that are long time readers know, I can't go very long without changing things around these parts. It is chronic and there is no end in sight (sorry hubs). But often the changes are small enough that they aren't meaty enough for their very own post. (see, I now remember the word meat)

So I thought I'd gather them up and every once in a while do a little show and share - thus, the birth of 'you had to be there'.

Let's go into the living room, shall we? Don't look at the Barbie's on the floor but turn your eye up. I decided that keeping blue and white platters in a closet is just as bad as putting Baby in a corner. So I've added them above my favorite Pink Pagoda couple.


Since you are already looking up, you may also notice this.


Yes, I'm changing my dining room chandelier again.

We finally have a rug in our bedroom.


The hubs got it for me for Christmas. Which is in December. And it is now April. I know, I know.


This is happening in the entry hall (if you can call it that).


And finally, my ongoing battle with my mantel continues and I've changed it yet again. I pulled out some old sconces that I got at an estate sale way back when and slapped those suckers up. I had always thought I might spray them but I think I like the patina on the brass. And I love my pink candles.


Why yes, that is one of my lovely Indie Mats on the mantel. Good eye! Let it serve as a reminder - this is the last day you can enter to win these lovelies for your own home! Make sure you enter to win!

What about you? Do you move things around your house often? Made any small updates lately?

If you could paint my dining room bench any color, what would it be?


Would you go neutral?

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Green?

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Or maybe pink?

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Orange possibly?

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Of course, there are also a million other wonderful colors out there as well. As you all know, I'm no chicken when it comes to color. So I want to know - what would get your vote?

I'm currently working on a little experiment in the dining room. As much as I love that big chunky sisal rug, it is a pain in my arse. It is not very easy to clean when little ones drop their food and it sheds like a...something that sheds a lot. It's like having another dog in the house.

So after cursing at it and complaining about it, I had the hubs help me to roll it up and take it out. Just to see how it felt.


And so far I'm loving it. It's like cutting off all your hair, or a long hot shower after a camping trip. I feel lighter, and my vacuum is happy for a rest.

I was a bit perplexed about a room without a rug but the more I see it around, the more I like it.

Home of Tanja Vibe via Pinterest

Anna Spiro

Bailey McCarthy

Nate Berkus via Pinterest

Elle Decor via Pinterest

Progress made!!

I can cross #4 off my 2012 goal list! That blasted crooked, crappy, creaky (and any other c adjectives you can think of) chandelier is gone.

You may remember it was a lovely 80's brass when we moved in.

I sprayed it black immediately and it stayed that way for a few years.

Until its most recent life in white.

Its had shades, no shades, round bulbs, candle bulbs. You named it, I've tried it. I should say here that this is a classic chandelier shape, and in many cases I really do like it. However in this instance it always felt like putting lipstick on a pig.

It had also been hung way too high and, the cherry on top, several of the arms were loose and crooked and all tightening attempts would fail. Usually resulting in a shade popping off and landing in your salad. True story.

So after years and years of hearing me complain about it, my parents were kind enough to give me a new chandelier for Christmas. WAHOO!

Now normally this would be an hour project on Saturday as my husband has hung many a light in his day.

However, since the table is off center, I wanted the light centered over the table, rather than centered in the room. We've had many guests bang their head on that chandelier, so it was really for the safety of those I love. I know, I know, I'm a giver.

Luke, being the wonderful husband he is, said no problem (while rolling his eyes) and headed up to the attic. Not a problem was the verdict. We measured, figured out where the new hole needed to be and he got to cutting. A perfect hole for a plaster ceiling I would say.


Now all he needed to do was move the wiring over a few inches, drop it thru the new hole, install and enjoy.

It was all going just too well.

Enter knob and tube wiring. For those not familiar with it, its kind of like asbestos - best not bother it if you don't have to. And really, comparing something in your home to asbestos? Never a good sign.

Apparently the wire was just a few inches short of reaching the new hole. And my husband's many attempts at getting a new wire to connect to the old wire were just not working. Something about the grounding of the wire blah blah blah. All I heard was 'electrician needed'.

Damn.

So while we waited for the electrician, we patched the old hole and painted the ceiling. And when I say we I mean Luke did the work and I said "looks great babe."

A week later the electrician finally arrives and after a lot of grumbling and several "You sure you want me to do this lady? You know that whole ain't in the center of the room?" I had my new wired and ready hole.

And now....

tahdah!

I love it! Its warm, more to scale for the room, and it gives off a really great glow.

It also gives off a saucy reflection in the mirror.

But of course, nothing is ever 'done'. Now I've got to fix the curtains. But that's another story for another day.

For now, I'll just enjoy my new lovely lady. Have you had any electrical projects lately? Been able to cross anything off your resolution list yet? Ever had an electrician tell you "whatever lady, I guess its your house."?