Looking for more Cowboy/Farm ornament ideas

We've been sick this week and I didn't get around to taking window treatment photos for

 Funky Junk Interior's Saturday Nite Special theme this week.

 Since Donna said we could still join in, I thought I would share this post as I'm doing a bit of Christmas decorating pre-planning and hoping that I can get some ideas to add to our cowboy/farm inspired Christmas tree. These photos are from last Christmas (I didn't blog then.)

Cowboys, farms and most things western and rustic are very special to my family and myself, even though we live in a suburb. My husband grew up on a farm, his parents and relatives still farm, and our oldest is very active in our local 4H dairy and beef clubs. This past Christmas I was inspired by mysweetsavannah's Cowboy Christmas tree she did for her son's room. I quickly pulled together some ornaments for the tree in our living room. The boys and our guests loved it, but I it feels a little bare to me. (The rifle is a toy our youngest brought back from Disney World.)

I thought to use the lariats wrapped around the tree, but my boys actually practice with them so I left them in the old tool box at the base of the tree. This year I plan to add more ranch/farm decorations, as my boys spend hours planning for their 'one day' farm. They also have tons of collectible cows, horses and small tractors and I may just try to convince them to let me use the animals and tractors on the tree this year. Any more ideas? I would love to get some suggestions. Something to use as filler or in place of traditonal bows? I'll look for unique decorations when we go to the 87th annual Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto this week. I have two of these cowboy on his horse. 

I made the mini lariats/lasso at the last minute and should probably make some more this year.

I pulled this teepee out of the toy box. I used white lights, my favourite.

I Loooove stars, especially barn stars.

An outgrown leather kids belt and some rusty ornaments.

 I thought of using an inexpensive saddle blanket as a tree skirt, but I do sew if you have any other ideas. I would love to hear them! Thanks to Donna for hosting!

Pillow Love~Drop Cloth, Ticking and a little ruffle

I'm loving the crinkled and laid back look of these pillows I sewed for our living room.

I made two from the leftover fabric from the drop cloth drapes I recently made for our family room windows and patio door in the kitchen.

I added a box-type pleat for a bit of detail.

The smaller ruffled pillow, below, is a blue ticking like stripe pair I made (blurry photo!, it is so hard to get good lighting in our livingroom.) Here I added a gathered ruffle. I love making my own pillows and reusing the pillow inserts.

 

I'll be linking up with Cottage Instincts' "made it with what I had" party.

Easy Denim ottoman slipcover

 

For Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special, week 3 Anything Goes, I thought I would show this ottoman that I made a  denim slipcover for. We've been pretty busy here with all the trick-or-treaters (we get over 150 kiddos) so I'm reusing some photos  from earlier in the summer. I have since made pillows for this little bench at the end of our bed, but I need to upload the photos.

 White denim was the fabric I decided on and I'm very happy with it. So easy to wash when the kids spill the food or drinks they are not supposed to bring into our room.

This was the ottoman/bench that my friend from work gave me. The velvet fabric was in great shape but I was wanting something a little more neutral.

It was really quite easy to sew, just a simple gathered piece sewn onto a semi-fitted top. For those of you with access to a sewing machine and afraid to sew, this is by no means a pro job. Everything was fitted by eye, no pattern and all sewing involved straight lines. Pin, pin, pin and sew. You can see photos of the pinning here.

 Be sure to stop by Funky Junk Interiors hosted by the fabulous Donna to see the rest of this weeks Saturday Nite Specials. And if H1N1 is in your area, take care and be well!

Funky Junk's Saturday Night Special~~Vignettes

I'm joining Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special featuring vignettes hosted by the super creative and humorous Donna. Donna not only has a fantastic home and blog, but she has given some incredibly helpful tips on improving your blog that I have been so happy to take advantage of. Her Passion Series is very inspiring also. This weeks Saturday Nite Special is all about vignettes around our homes.

While I have always loved accessories, it has only been since I started blogging that I have felt a tiny bit more comfortable creating vignettes. Before, it was put some nice things here and there and that's it. Now, I am trying to use my favourite bloggers' tips to use height, repeated shapes and colours etc.

I love this area on our countertop~with some of my favourite elements, white, black, blue, wood, metal...

A work in progress are these display and storage shelves in the eat-in area of our kitchen. I'm thinking now that the shelves are spaced too far apart. The white brackets are from IKEA and I am deciding between painting the shelves white and staining them to keep a rustic pine look. The wall behind will soon be BM Stone House. Another glass canister, this time to hold cookie cutters and cake decorating tips. The large charger is a match to the one on top of the fridge. I'm keeping my eyes open for a larger round silver-plate tray to layer behind the charger, some layerin' lovin' courtesy of Donna.

The rustic finish on this tray made by my friend Julie makes me very happy! One of my favourite pieces is this bread box she gifted me with when I made a multilayer bedskirt for her.

I was inspired by Kim from Twice Remembered and her What's on top of my fridge post to create this vignette on top of our fridge. We have a love of agriculture in our home, especially horses, cows and anything dairy farm, hence the milk bottle from a local dairy and one of my cows. There is still tweaking to do. I hope to soon make a rustic pine box to lift the vase in the back left corner and to bring some of the wood elements to that corner. I have been searching for some vintage boxes like Donna/Funky Junk's here, but have not had any luck.

These great glass canisters keep my baking ingredients close at hand for an after school triple batch of cookies (the largest canister holds whole wheat flour that we go through quite quickly.) Now all I need is to replace my B&D hand mixer with the KitchenAid Professional mixer that is on my wish list;)

I also collect 'Cream Lace' by Skye McGhie and recently added the blue 'Cottage Rose' also by Skye McGhie to this pie safe I painted for our kitchen. The yellow (BM Concord Ivory) walls are on their way out. Most of our main floor is now repainted Benjamin Moore Stone House that you might get a peek of in the back corner of the above picture. The last two kitchen walls and backsplash still need to be completed.

This vignette is on a small cabinet in our dining room. I picked up the lamp for $4 and spray painted it. I'm looking for a more interesting lampshade and just borrowed this one from another room. Maybe a drum shade? I saw one at HomeSense, covered in burlap. What do you think? I also think I need a taller mirror or framed piece to rest behind the other photo. For some reason, I just realized now, the cabinet is pulled over too far to the right. It usually does not sit in front of the wall opening, but centers nicely. I'll have to fix that.

And below, a little tray vignette I pulled together to photograph the coffee table I just painted. My parents gave me a pile of green, burgundy and my fav, blue, leather Reader's Digest Select Editions. I'm learning from Donna and I too will be on the lookout for more trays to layer. The black tray on the black coffee table could use some layerin' lovin'.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to see more Saturday Nite Special vignettes hosted by Donna at Funky Junk Interiors, one of my favourite places in blogland. And please feel free to leave comments or make suggestions. My hubby and boys are off to the arena to watch our local Ontario Juniors Hockey League team and since I was at the arena this morning with our boys at 6 a.m. and again today at 1p.m., I'm making myself a nice pot of tea and checking out the rest of the Saturday Nite Special participants.

Christmas Wreath idea

Have an old (or new) ceiling medallion kicking around? This cute wreath idea is from BHG.com Handmade Christmas Crafts and Gifts e-newsletter. You can find the link for this and others in the slideshow here. I could see this wreath done in so many different styles. A beachy Christmas look, traditional with a burgundy or deep red ribbon, or with a vintage vibe. I'll be keeping this idea in my seasonal picture folder in case I stumble across a ceiling medallion. Is it really only two months 'till Christmas??!!!!

Procrastinator's Party: The After Party

My family room coffee table project for the Procrastinator's Party at The Inspired Room is finished.

I started with a free table left over from a neighbour's yard sale. It was sturdy but although my style is a little rustic and I love rustic wood, the orangey coloured table was not what I had in mind. Our 12 year old son loves power tools and home improvement projects. He offered to sand it and I was hoping to get down to bare wood that I could do a combination of stain and paint on. No such luck. While he was sanding I quickly realized it was partly a simulated wood piece. Staining was not going to work. Oh well, what's a girl to do but make the most of it. Deciding between a creamy white and black, I ended up choosing black. We have lots of black accents in our home and I thought this would work well.

After sanding I primed with Benjamin Moore Fresh Start (two coats). Lots of drying time between and then two coats of Benjamin Moore Black (a mistint can so I don't know the name).

Both cans of paint were from previous projects and since the table was free this was a $0 freebie fix-up. This is not my forever family room coffee table, but it will do for now. And can you believe I actually chose the wild fabric for the couch and chair only 4 years ago!  I liked the colours (it incorporated the colours we use in our home, beige, black, blue and green) and had advice to pick a pattern so as not to show as much dirt. What was I thinking!!!! A $1500 decision that I would so love to be able to go back and change. I will do the big happy dance one day when these pieces head down to the basement sitting area and I can buy a new SOLID colour sofa to replace it. I did however learn from this and we bought a beautiful heritage leather sofa for our living room. I love love love that one. Thanks for visiting. Be sure to stop by The Inspired Room for more Procrastinator's Party: The After Party reveals.

Ten Tasks in Ten Days~~The Results

I joined the Shabby Chic Cottage's Ten Tasks in Ten Days Challenge and ten days are now up. It is time to reveal how far I got on the ten tasks I wanted to complete. The canoe paddle was sanded and distressed and hopefully has the aged look I was going for. And yes, I forgot the before photo but it was clear wood and highly laquered.

I printed some numbers that represent our anniversary. And as two of my nieces so kindly pointed out, 725 is not only July 25th, our anniversary, but apparantly also a brand logo for Wal-Mart. I hand painted the numbers and they looked even better when they were distressed.

The second project was to make some pillows with two fabrics for our family room. I end up picking them up several times a day but love the detail they add to a room. I chose stripes for two and recovered these pillows that came with the comforter I picked up for my parents. They didn't want the little cushions so I reused them as inserts. I had plans to make more with the leftovers from my drop cloth drapes, but haven't got to that project yet. The pleat I plan to put on those pillows will take a little more time.

The coffee table project was two items on my list of 10. Sanding was done mostly by my 12 year old son. I used leftover Benjamin Moore Fresh Start to prime it and then it was painted with two coats of Benjamin Moore Black (a $15 mistint can that has been used on many projects.) It will probably get one more light sand and another coat of black, but my painting was interupted by Thanksgiving dinner for 30.

Before:

After:

I like how it turned out, we have a lot of black in our home, even in the wild couch fabric print.

This fuzzy mix of greens scarf I started to knit two years ago is finally finished. It is shorter than I wanted but I think I misplaced a ball of wool. The brown scarf I knitted is peeking out from under my arm in this photo. When I attempted to take a photo of it, my useless camera ran out of batteries AGAIN.

I finished the drop cloth drapes for the family room and hung the curtain rods in the family room and kitchen but with no batteries, I was unable to post the photos.

 Two projects out of ten left to finish. Previously I had sewed dining room drapes but have not found a rod at a price I can tolerate so they are almost ready to go. We need to hang the peg hooks in both boys rooms for extra hats and their lariats. Be sure to drop by Shabby Chic's Cottage to check out many more Ten Tasks in Ten Days results. Thanks for stopping by and I would love if you could take a minute to leave a comment or suggestion.

DISTRESSED CANOE PADDLE IN OUR FAMILY ROOM

 Antique paddles and oars have always been a favourite of mine.  I have seen them used many times in homes, cottages and camps, both in real life and in magazine photos. In Aberfoyle, Ontario there is a weekly outdoor antique market from spring to fall. I took a trip at the end of summer in search of some painted or well worn paddles. No such luck. So, the next best thing to do on a budget, use a canoe paddle we already had. It was new with a shiny laquer that I sanded and primed. I used several layers and colours of paint. Then I took our trusty palm sander to it to distress it. I borrowed an idea that I have seen popping up in blogland to hand paint our anniversary date on the paddle for a little more interest. I was not very impressed with the way I laid out the date July (7) 25th ,when not one but two of my nieces asked why I had the Wal-Mart brand on the paddle. DUH, apparantly Wal-Mart advertises a clothing line with the 725 logo. Wish I had known that BEFORE I painted it.

It hangs in our family room over our what was I thinking/yes I actually chose and paid more for this upholstery sofa. That's a whole other story. I dream of white slipcovers, but since I can't seem to keep my boys from eating in here that would be a nightmare. I have made white denim slipcovers for chairs in our living room and although they are easy to wash, I really don't want to have to wash my couch cover every week. The photo colours are not great, but my walls were just painted Benjamin Moore Stone House. Can I tell you how much I LOVE Stone House? Too bad for the horrible camera quality. I'm dreamin' of a new Nikon or Canon. I wrapped some rope around the handle to add texture and to make the paddle easier to hang. I made the two striped pillows and picked up the two black feather pillows at HomeSense on clearance for $10 each. I added some black and white family photos.

The bit of black coffee table in the foreground of the picture is the one I painted for the Inspired Room's Procrastinator's Party. The after photos coming soon. Our family room is long and narrow. When I finish the curtains I will show the office end. Too much work still needed on the fireplace/tv wall to show that yet. So what do you think? I'm linking up to Kimba's DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out more great DIY posts at Kimba's. I love comments and appreciate any advice you may have.

I'm joining the Procrastinator's Party!

I'm participating in The Inspired Room's Procrastinator's Party! It is a chance to finish one of those inevitable projects that tends to be put off.  You can find the before photos at The Inspired Room here. My project is one that I have seen several times around blogland. A tired coffee table in need of a new finish. In this case a good sanding, priming and a paint job.Our friends and neighbours were getting rid of this coffee table and I thought it would work for our family room. Our oldest son loves power tools and was happy to get out the palm sander and safety glasses.  He gave the top a good sanding and a light sanding for the legs.

 

 

Now here is the procrastinator's part: he sanded this in August and it has been in our garage ever since. With a cold and snowy Canadian winter less than two months away, it is time to get this baby out of the garage. My excuse is that I can't decide on a colour to paint it. But now that I have linked up, I will have to get to the priming and colour decision part. First, some Benjamin Moore Fresh Start primer. Then I need to decide: Benjamin Moore Black or Benjamin Moore Cloud White?

Closet love

When we had our home built we sacrificed a walk in closet for a soaker tub and separate shower in the ensuite and a laundry room on the second floor with the bedrooms. Instead of the walk-in closet, we ended up with one very long closet (larger than the one shown in this picture) with 3 large sliding doors. Can I tell you how much I hate wide sliding closet doors? I. Hate. Them. California closets came up with this great ad that I may just have to steal some ideas from. First, the beadboard backing the closet. To die for. We keep our closet doors closed but since organizing is a big love of mine and I am not a clothes junky, I could keep my closet tidy enough to show off a bit. Maybe not wide open, but we could certainly show 'a little leg'. Also love the three tones of wood used in the closet shelving. Sort of an acquired over time look. I would probably add more draperies,so the drapes would be really full even if you did want to close it up.  I have one vintage suitcase and am on the lookout for more. We have an extra bedroom that I use as a workroom for crafts and sewing. It has a closet that stores out of season clothing and bulkier items like hubby's suits. We also have a small walk-in closet in the guest suite in our basement. For now, this is just a dream closet. We have way too many projects in the works, and way too little money to buy semi-custom closet organizers. But I will be keeping this inspiration photo for that day when I can begin to work on it. Would you ever consider open  or semi-open bedroom closet storage?