My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Sofas, Pillows and Redone Lamps

A reminder again to visit my pinterest page for more than 13,438 photos and 10,248 followers. All the photos I post on here are on there, actually many, many more that I'll never get on here. It's a real treat to have so many beautiful photos on one spot to just ogle over. I know you'll love seeing them. I search the internet diligently finding them to post.

Two things I've come to realize lately:
1. A best friend is one who will listen to your potty habits and lament with you.
2. Also, only a great grandmother will spend $2.28 to send her great grand daughters a 68¢ package of M&Ms!
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Since I post a lot of other homes and rooms, I thought I'd post my living room again today. It's a relatively small house at 1800 sq. ft., but even small houses can be made to look lovely and somewhat elegant—not saying mine is at all though, but pretty and comfy, to us anyway. I've switched the furniture from our family room back to the living room as I love this sofa more than any other. I made those side pillows out of some of the leftover fabric in which I had some chairs reupholstered many years ago. I had so much I eventually gave it to a friend as I doubted I'd ever make anything else out of that gorgeous fabric. The pillow in the middle I just made out of some drop cloth canvas, added a ruffle in a mini-rose fabric and added a little crown key chain sent to me by a member of an eBay group I had several years ago. I took it off the key ring and sewed it onto the pillow in the center. I rarely let anything go to waste around here if I can reuse it glamorously!


I stenciled a fleur-de-lis on two of the corners.


And here's a closeup of the little key chain crown. Easily sewn on and proudly announces that I am the Queen of this home! Just ask th' hubs and he'll agree posthaste. ;-)


I switch lamps around in this house frequently. This is one I redid with a new shade and added feathers, some Christmas beads in clear, white and red and a red ribbon flower I made many years ago. I reuse a lot of stuff around here. I usually try to get the other decorations off with a heat gun but I was afraid I'd set the ribbons on fire this time so I bought a new lamp shade at Wal-Mart. I have taken things off with a heat gun but I'd never try it with feathers. They'd catch fire for sure.


Here's a closeup of it. You can see on the bottom left I still have the rubber bands on the garland till I can find a way to keep them from unraveling (low on my priority list at the moment).


Here's a close-up of the shade. It's a $15.00 bell-shaped shade and a bargain at that price. I'll sometimes find lampshades at the thrift stores I can redo. I find a lot of lamps at the thrift stores also and bring them home, paint them white and voilĂ , like new. No matter what they looked like underneath—and some of them were pretty ugly—I can make them beautiful. An avocado ceramic one is now in our bedroom in white with decals on it. This one was metal and I painted it white and look how good it looks. Amazing what you can do "on th' cheap"!


An absolutely stunning elegant room, out of my price range, but I love the arrangement of furniture in it. I'd have pink on the walls of course. Pink just makes me feel good. I just love the color and I look good in pink. ;-)


A Charles Faudree room again, French style of course. He's one of the masters at doing French decor. Also, notice the mix of patterns he uses. I'm all for that. I love having different patterns in a room. Those flowered chairs especially appeal to me.


Mario Buatta. Another showcase home. I love his use of vivid colors and chintz.



Just an elegant, yet basically simple, room designed in a French style.


While the colors may be a bit wild, I get excited when some homeowner is as brave as I am with color. Love this room!


Mark Hampton is another favorite of mine. I guess you could say I tend more towards the traditional homey style.


Another French style room that is truly gorgeous while being in the range for most of us.


Anthony Baratta. I cannot say enough about his clean, fresh, bright rooms. He is just fantastic with his designs. They always touch my heart. I absolutely love this room and would live in it without a second thought.


A gorgeous very unpretentious room. The stone fireplace is a beauty and I love sofa tables behind sofas. My living room doesn't have enough room so my sofa table is on an opposite wall holding treasures of mine.
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Linking up with Pink Saturday.