A Little Addition

This picture from the blog A Beach Cottage really inspired me. You see, my upstairs bathroom is tragic. Horrible faux wood looking vanity counter, old makup lights on either side of the mirror, cracked tiles that are ugly too, if it was hot decor in the 70s I've got it in my bathroom. But bathroom renos are $$$$$$$ and I can't swing that right now. So I make do with what I have and working with what I've got I did a beachy non-themey theme for my bathroom (I like to pretend the vanity top looks like driftwood, you know?) I love the above picture because that would look great in my bathroom and it is simple to do. But where does one find a preserve jar already fitted with a perfect handle. Well, just my luck Pottery Barn has them (found it while doing shopping for other items) and they are only $7.50 each. SOLD!

Photo from Pottery Barn. Even they are inspired to fill them with sand and candles!

And so, ta-da. My night-time beach walking jar filled with a candle, sand and shells and hanging where an extra towel used to hang.

For right now I'm going with it placed on the last hook.

Center hook placement is one option I'm considering too. (notice the hideous telephone outlet to the right in the pic another left over thing from the 70s having a telephone outlet in EVERY room, any ideas on hiding that thing would be welcome)

And a picture that has nothing to do with my night-time beach walking jar, but I wanted to show it off because those prints are actually hard place mats I found on clearance at TJ Maxx and I'm pretty proud of my creative use of them.

I'm still trying to decide if I like it on the center hook or on the last hook. Going with the last hook right now, I'm liking the off center-ness of it. What do you guys think?

Ok, off to enjoy the rest of this gorgeous day. I wrote this post from my balcony. Did I mention how much I LOVE spring? Later!

Dog Modeling

LOVE this image from some fancy-pants book about gardens by Jeanne d Arc Franske Fornemmelser (or something like that). If I could get Eddie to sit in an old timey baby carriage for a picture I'd be so happy. Right now it is all I can do to snap a quick shot when he does something funny. Being my "fur child" and the only one I have he has had to sit through many a photo shoot. Now all his pics come out with him squinting his eyes, anticipating the flash.

My office is near the photo studio in our building (male model day is always a great one in my world) and one day they had dogs there for the kids clothing photo shoots. I asked how one gets their dog into show business and they said you have to get them an agent. Huh? I guess for now Eddie will keep freeloading off me since I'm pretty sure you can't look up dog agents in the phonebook. I'll just have to keep dreaming about him sitting (perfectly still, did I mention we're a training school drop out) in antique baby carriage in a garden designed by someone who's name no one can pronounce.

And I know me posting two days in a row is blowing your mind. TV is a little boring right now so here I am!

Bachelorette Party

My goodness it has been a while. Two weekends out of town really knocks out the blogging. What did I do for the first weekend you ask? Well I went to an amazing bachelorette party in Dallas for the lovely Mandy West (now Miles). We stayed at the W (which is sWanky), ate dinner at Mi Cocina, and went to a bunch of bars that I now couldn't find if my life depended on it (thank goodness mini-van taxis are a dime a dozen in downtown Dallas, who knew?). I think everyone had fun, or at least I know the bride-to-be and I did!

The bride-to-be opening my gift at the lingerie shower.

We started the night with a group shot on the hotel stairs (we also wanted to end the night with a group shot but you'll see how that went later)

Drinks (yum mambo taxi) and dinner at Mi Cocina to kick off the night.

Heidi, Stacy, Tracy, and I at Mi Cocina

At the next place some weird guy took our camera hostage and named himself our "photographer."

Then he started taking random off center pics of our group.

More random pics and Mandy is starting to get upset with him.

Even more random pics. This guy was ridculous. (Notice Mandy, that is her I am making fun of you because I don't think you're funny face which is hilarious!)

Uh oh. Now she is going to get the camera back. Someone is in trouble (random guy that's you)

Night is winding down. We are now in the hotel lobby bar. Pretty much if you were a bar in Dallas we might have been there.

Last three standing. Should I be embarrassed that I can still hang? Nah!

Hope you enjoyed the pics. Stay tuned to see what I was doing last weekend. :)

Barstools on the cheap

I have had a huge problem finding the right barstools. What's the problem, you say, barstools are EVERYWHERE. Don't think I don't know this. But I have specific ones in mind. They need to look good (of course) but my space is small so they need to blend in a bit too. After countless months of searching I had decided simple white "saddle" barstools were the way for me to go. Who knew those would be so hard to find. Then I found some...
But these beauties are $89.00 each. That doesn't even count tax or shipping. No way was I paying that for something they could build on HGTV for $10. Then one rainy day while wandering through Bed Bath and Beyond I found these.

Notice that yellow tag in the upper corner, yes it says $14.99 EACH!!!! Buy me a can of spray paint and I'm set. There was a bit of assembly required, which can be problematic for me. But it was painless and easy.

Then came the priming. I did a darker color because I plan to sand some the paint away to reveal the brown underneath. Something I have come to discover the blogging world calls the "chippy paint" look.
Now let me tell you about a little device that changed my life. This spray paint nozzle gun thingy takes spray painting to a whole new level. You don't get it on your finger, your hand doesn't hurt, you can give a nice even spray, and you can even spray at an angle or upside down. The sneaky paint companies have now added nozzles like these onto the paint can, and they upped the price of the can from $3 to $6. Don't waste your money on something you'll have to throw away. Spend your money on the spray gun thingy (about $3.50) and transfer it when you need to use a different color spray paint. If spray painting your furniture is a huge part of your decorating skills (like me) you need one of these.

So these are the (almost) finished product. I didn't buy enough white paint, but by the time I figured that out on Sunday it was getting dark and the forecast for rain on Monday made me nervous. So my clearance barstools are hanging out inside for the next three weekends (with the Christmas ornaments I have for yet another project) since I'll be out of town and busy. Then I can give them their final coat of paint. Not to shabby for $14.99 a piece if I do say so myself.