We Interrupt this Blog...

I know, I've been slacking.  My Lovely Lady is still in the garage, in progress.  But this week has been especially crazy, not even taking into account that my boys started school on Monday (which is crazy - no kid should have to start the school year on a Monday.  Wednesday, yes.  Monday, no.)  A new school no less. 

Today could be the day. Waiting to see if the buyers who have gone through our house (twice) are going to write an offer. They're meeting with their realtor today, so I'm on pins and needles awaiting word. The good news is that when they went through our house the second time, ours was the only one they saw. The bad news is that we still can't find a house to buy. But again, given today's housing market, it's not such a bad place to be, right?

So, all of this has me fantasizing about that perfect house. (Who am I kidding? Like I have ever stopped.) The house that I walk into and it feels like home.

myhomeideas.com

 

The one where you spend your time visualizing where you'll put your furniture, what color you'll paint the walls, how you'll dress it up for the holidays...

Southern Living

 

The one where you can imagine everyday living...

Decorpad.com

 

As well as long-standing family traditions...

Coastal Living

 

And perhaps a space that's just for me.

Candace Olson

Ok, I'm getting carried away.  Like I said, I have been fantasizing about the perfect house.  And my perfect house would have a relaxing wonderland like this.  With a door.  That locks.

 

Perpetual House Hunter

I am one of those people who just loves looking at houses, even if I'm not in the market for one myself.  The venue doesn't matter - in person, on tv or even online - count me IN.  But now that I've left the ranks of "perpetual" house hunter to "actual" house hunter, I think I have taken my hobby to a whole new level.   And we have potential buyers with no strings attached, who have now been through the house.  Twice.  For the second showing, the woman brought her dad.  Her dad.  Evidently, he has some construction experience and gave the house a thumbs up from a quality perspective, which is good.  And now we wait.  We were told that they are pulling the comps and are getting back together with their realtor on Friday.  So, I probably shouldn't have just put that all out there, because I'll probably just jinx myself, but since my blog is still a baby, I'm probably talking to myself for the most part anyway. ;-)

So, now is the time to (possibly) really be serious about a new house.  But here's the thing.  We don't have one picked out yet.  Even though there is a lot of inventory, I'm apparently extremely picky and hard to please choosy.  What can I say?  This will probably be our long term house, so I want what I want, right?  To a certain degree anyway.

I scour the MLS for "new listings" on what seems to be an hourly basis, and do my weekly (ok, daily) neighborhood drive-bys, practically willing houses to have a "For Sale" sign in their front yards. There are a couple of neighborhoods that I drive through/stalk on a regular basis, and I'm sure there are some people who must assume I live there since I've become such a regular.

There are some beautiful homes in these neighborhoods, each with different styles and plenty of character.  

Traditional Custom Builders

And this...

 http://www.devolbuilders.com/

Traditional Custom Builders

Mind you, we won't be able to afford any of these homes, but it sure would be nice to live in the same neighborhood, right?  You don't want to have the most expensive home in the neighborhood anyway.

So, what do you do if you sell your house and have nowhere to go?  Aside from the homeless part of the equation, it's not such a bad position to be in, given the current housing market.  Do you rent and wait like a tiger in the brush, waiting to pounce on a deal?  Move in with the parents?  Or buy and make the best of what's available?

Lighten up, Lovely Lady

I bought this lovely lady on craigslist awhile back, and have been using it in my foyer as an entry table/great piece for throwing crap when people are coming over and I'm cleaning up in a hurry. But, it's kind of on the heavy side (no offense my lovely lady, I'm NOT calling you fat, I promise.  If anything, you're "PH" phat). Plus, some of the veneer on the drawers and legs has been chipping (and in one case was actually torn off by carpet cleaners who were dragging their stuff through my house). And, the bottom drawer didn't open/close easily at all.

But that's neither here nor there. This dresser needed some love and brightness, and I was finally getting down to business.

With our house up for sale, I'm always paranoid that I'll get into a project and then have someone schedule a showing while the house is in the mid-project-mess stage. But, I figured since we didn't have any showings scheduled last weekend, that I would be "safe" to knock this thing out. Well, I was good on Saturday, made some progress, but probably inadvertently wasted time as I used Citristrip to strip this piece (and another painted side table). Probably didn't need to do that for this project, but oh well, live and learn. I thought at one point it would be good to get all of the varnish/stain off of this and start fresh. You can see what it does though - good stuff!

Just as I was making progress on Sunday, with three good solid hours available at my disposal, we get the call. "Agent So-And-So would like to show your home from 4:00-5:00 today. Would that be ok?" Of course. So, drop dresser project and turn into psycho-whirlwind-cleaning maniac. Nevermind that my garage looks like Bob Vila's workshop just threw up all over the place. Did they buy my house? Of course ... not.

Can I make a suggestion to the real estate community at large? Would it be rude of me to ask for the implementation of a "Scale of Seriousness" for potential buyers coming through my house? So, let's say you're in from out of town, relocating, and have the weekend to make a decision and offer on a house. You have no house to sell and no contingencies. That would rank as a "10" on the "Scale of Seriousness", and I will bust my behind to get my house as pretty and perfect as possible. I will even take my dirty laundry and throw it in the back of my van to give the illusion of a laundry-free home. On the flipside, if you have just started looking, have two houses to sell and don't have either of them listed, that would rank as a "1" on the "Scale of Seriousness", and I won't kill myself (as much) trying to make my house show-perfect. Just a suggestion.

Here is a sneak peek at how it's coming along...

Adding some new hardware - ignore the price tag that's peeking out from underneath.  I just couldn't wait to see what it's going to look like!

More to come...  Happy Monday!

DIY Sunburst Mirror

I've been busy with a mini makeover in the master bedroom and wanted to create a Sunburst mirror for over the bed. Well, what is a DIY Gal to do but make one! And you can too-When you see how easy this is, you will want to give me a {virtual} hug!! The possibilities are endless here as far as finishes!

Making your own sunburst mirror is super simple.

Here is what you will need:

-3 packages of wood shims, found at your local hardware store (You will only use 2 1/2 of them)

-White spray paint, or your choice of color

-MDF/scrap wood base, I had this in my scrap pile and cut it 12" x 12"

-7" mirror, from craft store, got mine at Hobby Lobby

-3" DISChanger

-Hot glue gun

I stained my MDF board because I knew I was putting it on a brown wall, and just in case any of the board showed, BUT, this step is not necessary, the board didn't show at all....I didn't know how it would turn out at the time, so I went ahead and did it. This is my first time making a sunburst mirror and all....

I spray painted all the shims in a gloss white. I believe you could get quite creative here...Black or some color would be nice too....or gold leafed, or stain the shims, that would look great....but I wanted gloss white.

First, I glued the mirror in the center of the board.

Then using hot glue, I glued the shims down, first on the corners and then centers, just simply eye-balling it...

Fill in all the way around until it looks like this:

Then stagger the next row and glue all the way around again until it looks like this:

I used a 3" DISChanger on the back and I was done. and giggling. I love it when a plan comes together!!

I hung it over the bed in our bedroom and find myself passing by the door just to look at it! :) I'm sure you could alter the size too, the finished size here is 23", but if you need it smaller, use a smaller mirror and wood base, and of course less shims

Just loverly!
I hope you try this, it's super simple!!


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are inspired!!

While you're here, enter my Autumn Giveaway by clicking on the banner at the top of the page!

Autumn Giveaway

It's giveaway time! I am really excited to finally be able to share a great giveaway, all about the up and coming Autumn Season! I know it's still sweltering out there, but very soon, the days will cool and the leaves will turn and I want to help you decorate and entertain for my most favorite season: Fall!

Here is what you can win:

1-Sunflower Wreath from my Etsy Shop (Lovingly crafted by yours truly)

2- Hand-glittered Pumpkins from my Etsy Shop (Lovingly glittered just for you!)

2-Ceramic food-safe Pumpkin serving plates (Hand selected, I just love these!)

My favorite combination of sunflowers, fruits and grasses, harvest bounty at it's best! Greet your guest with a colorful tribute to Fall! Over-all size 20"

Here are the rules guidelines:

1.) Leave a comment, instantly entered!

2.) For two entries, leave me a comment telling me you are a follower or that you have become one.

3.) For a third entry, blog, Facebook, or share on any other social networking site and leave a comment letting me know you've done so!

4.) Finally, become a fan of Sweet Something Design on Facebook, and let me know!

There you go, super simple! Four different ways to win, just remember to comment separately for each thing you do.

The giveaway will be open through Tuesday the 31th and the winner will be randomly chosen September 1st.

Good Luck!!

Ceiling Tile Turned Message Board

Being the mother of three kids, you can never have enough places to display/track/remember all of their "stuff". We have a Command Central of sorts in our kitchen that has two month's worth of white board calendars, a small magnetic white board and two small corkboards to keep tabs on all of our (ok, the kids') activities. Who am I kidding? What activities do I have these days, aside from Full-Time Working Mom, Family Chauffeur and Short Order Cook?

Anyhoo, I love pretty message boards, and was inspired by this cool one at Pottery Barn Teen:

Photo:  PBTeen.com

Kind of an all-in-one multi-tasking message board, right? It got me thinking about how I could possibly replicate that in my house, but not with the Pottery Barn price tag. Enter ceiling tile + plywood. A match made in heaven. It just so happened that the spare piece of ceiling tile was almost the exact same size as a spare piece of plywood that we had in the garage.  NOTE:  In completing my recent mirror project, which included (multiple) trips to Lowe's, I did stumble upon some great precut pieces of wood that would work perfectly for this project.

So, I used some liquid nails and adhered the ceiling tile to the plywood. Once it was dry, I covered it in batting and this black and white damask fabric that I am obsessed with had. To add some additional interest, I did a lattice pattern across the front with ribbon.  Just add some picture wire to the back to hang it and you're done!  To add even more interest, hang it with some pretty ribbon and hang it from a decorative knob or a pretty hook.

You could really expand upon this idea by adding in pieces of pegboard, chalkboard/magnetic chalkboard, corkboard, etc… Measure them all out and frame it up with moulding and you have your own Pottery Barn-esque message center.  I'm also thinking something like this would be a nice addition to my otherwise-blah-boring office cubicle.  With all of the different fabric and ribbon choices out there, the possibilities are endless!  A great spot for family photos - plus it's easy to add/remove photos as desired.  

Enhanced Handbag

Have you ever made felt flowers before? Me neither, but they are really fun and easy, I had it down after the first two or so!! I followed this great tutorial. It is very, very easy to do, not to mention addicting! I started making them and before I knew it, I had made a slew!

They look like ranunculus to me!

I picked up this fun, gently used handbag at my local DAV Thrift store for a whopping 1.48, and decided to jazz it up. I love the bamboo handles and I think the colors will be fun for the rest of the summer, aren't the paisleys fun?




After making my gazillion flowers, I glued them onto a separate piece of felt, concentrating on the composition and colorway


After I had all the flowers glued, I cut around the felt. I wanted the removable option, so I didn't want to glue directly on the handbag. Just in case I changed my mind, which I so often do...


I used some beads for further embellishment, then I attached the "bib" using safety pins on the inside.


I really like how it turned out!


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are inspired to personalize a handbag near you! :)







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