my spring mantel

ok, so here's my spring mantel--it has a little bit of everything I'm lovin' right now: chalkboards, urns, a cake plate,
a little bit of green, and burlap,
white frames, and pots,

a white plate with my lucky number '6', an old architectual element, and a bookpage wreath I made about a year ago.
I love the muted colors of white, cream and rust, with a touch of black and green.

I'm linking up to Layla's spring mantel party over at The Lettered Cottage.

lavender, and a few collections

I just added this pretty lavender wreath on my front door. I found this beauty piled under lots of junk at the thrift store. All I needed to do was switch out the existing ribbon for some burlap. This makes me feel like summer when I look at it even thought it has been raining here, on and off, for weeks, yuck!

I guess I have a thing for clocks.

I've been collecting them for a while, and the funny thing is I've probably won about half of my clocks at my monthly bunco group. Here are just some of my favorites I had spread around the house. I grouped them together to make a collection for visual impact.

Also, I did a little rearranging with the accessories I have on my shelves next to my mantel.


I brought in some urns, and moss,

some blues, and of course my lucky number "6".

Oh, and here is a little sneak peak at a project I'm currently working on.

chalkboard labels, an old crate, and thrifty organizing finds

I decided that with summer just 4 days away I needed to get a little more organized around the house--yep my kids are out of school on Thursday--yikes!

Here are some things we're doing around here to keep the mess to a minimum:

chalkboard labels:
can you tell I'm in love with chalkboard paint yet?

here's a shot of my mud room/laundry room.
I have 4 laundry baskets to organize the dirty clothes

and these 4 baskets are for each of my kids. *Hint* This is the best organizing thing I have ever done--got the idea from a neighbor one day. Each of my kids have their own baskets (as marked by their chalkboard initial tag).

When the kids sort the laundry they put the clothes in that person's basket. Also, as I go around the house, if I see something of theirs lying around I will pick it up and put it in their basket. Once a week (or sometimes more) their job will be to empty their entire basket and put away whatever is in there.

I love organizing bins and totes, and never pass up a cute basket or bin from the thrift store--I know I can always find something to put in them.

I found these cute old crates for $5 each, and love the additional character the signage makes.

In one, i've thrown in all kinds of stuff (egg cartons, paper plates, random scrap papers) for the kids to go to town on any art projects they want.
I found this cool vintage coal bucket to coral shoes.

more buckets: this small one is from the dollar spot at Target--I just spray painted it with chalkboard paint--it works great to hold my gardening supplies and random balls and baseball mitts, etc.
This really large metal bucket was found at the thrift store--it sits in the garage to hold larger items like bouncy balls and bats.

thrifted paper organizer:

summer school: In the summer I try to be the good mom and have my kids keep up on their school work. They do one math page and read for 20 minutes, then do one job, per day. I have 3 kids in school so I have prepared math pages on their level for each of my 3 kids.

Remember my chalkboard door I recently finished?


This is where I put the jobs my kids need to do each day.



I think these ideas will help keep my house from looking like a total disaster this summer. What ideas do you have for me?

new {old} bistro chair

it's new with an {old} look You may have seen part of it peeking out from under my new farmhouse table.

This chair was purchased new from Kmart for about $30.
It was originally bright turquoise which I dulled down with first primer and then flat olive green spray paint. Then I sanded a ton to make it look {old}.
I got the idea from The French Country Cottage and was so excited to finally find an affordable bistro chair.

I'm lovin' this new {old} chair.

and the winner is ...

The winner of my 1 year blogiversary giveaway is ...

Jane from Blondie's Journal

Email your address to: maraven@sfcn.org

Thanks to everyone who entered and for all your great ideas on what I should primp next--a lot of those very ideas are already in the works so stay tuned over the summer as I plan to get a lot done!

a new table

Here's last weekend's project: our new table.
This is what it looked like before I was done with it.

I painted it 'swiss coffee' and distressed the heck out of it.

We've been without a table for a couple of months. Our old table just wasn't fitting my style anymore. I bought this years ago when I was going for a more traditional look and starting buying everything black. The Nester has this same table and I was tempted to paint it when she painted hers, but decided I wanted a smaller table with different chairs.
I found this one for the right price, and have been collecting different chairs that I will paint the same white color.

I pulled up my turquoise bench for temporary seating, until I can get all the chairs finished.

You can see part of this french beauty I finished months ago,

and also some of the chairs I currently have there.
Stay tuned for more on my green french bistro chair, and where you can get one too--for cheap!

I love how the white table showcases my new pretty bowls from anthropologie.

Here's a peek at a couple of my chairs.

Three chairs need the seats recovered, but this one is temporarily covered in a large vintage reproduction tea towell that has just been casually tucked around it--although I kind of like it--maybe it will be permanent.

Now I'm off to finish the rest of the chairs and figure what I'm going to do with the seats--I'm thinking more tea towells or grain sacks.

Come back tomorrow to find out who won my giveaway!

1 year blogiversary giveaway

{This giveaway is now closed}

It's been a fabulous year, wow how time flies. It has been almost one year since I started my blog. I am always so surprised at the sweet comments I get with each post. To show my appreciation I've collected a few of my favorite things as a giveback to one of my loyal readers.

1. Romantic Homes magazine, May 2011--I'm loving this issue and I'm sure you will too! It's filled with shabby and cottagey goodness.

2. Burlap french chair sillhouette pillow--combining my love of burlap and french chairs, this pillow was handmade by me using this simple (and cheap) method.

3. Cute Anthro clutch--I was happy to find this pear clutch at Anthropologie, and am loving this mustard color for summer.



5. Chalkboard tray--I had to throw in something thrifted here, to which I added chalkboard paint for a cute little message board. My favorite place to shop is the thrift store and I've been loving chalkboard paint for a while (I just finished this chalkboard door, and always have one or two thrifted chalkboard frames around the house).




6. Vintage Resin Ring--When I saw this ring I knew I had to add it to the giveaway. It is so pretty with a vintage flair, and adjustable band that will fit anyone.

To enter the giveaway, simply become a follower (if you aren't one already), and leave a comment answering the following question:

What would you like to see me primp?

This little blog has become a great passion of mine--I really love it, and especially love to hear your encouraging comments. Thanks so much to everyone for a great year.!

This giveaway is now closed!