Brand New Hallway!!

So, since I'm waiting to sell some of these pics in frames, I decided to use our house as more of the display.  I spent some time looking at different ways people grouped photographs in their homes and decided today to start- literally 1 frame at a time!  Here are some of the stages...

I literally started with the frame on the left slightly above the light switch.  Then, according to color in the photographs, I tried various ones around to create balance.  This is 7 frames in...and granted, looks a little crooked, but wait until we get a little farther ahead...

Here (on the left) we've added 3 more frames, going up the stairs, keeping them at a similar distance apart.

This is a closer look UP the stairs!

Now I took a break and stepped away and came back about a half hour later when I had a chance to think.  What I am NOT showing you is ALL the photographs I have spread all over the sitting room to choose from! =)  Messy for a purpose! O.k. after that rest, I jumped in and put the rest of them- once again ONE AT A TIME...moving them around and eyeing it the whole way...

Here's where I'm at now...

And here's a view from the top down...

And here are a couple straight on...

I'm so happy with the way it turned out!  But I am always looking for comments and feedback!

(Please forgive my occasional bump on a frame as I took these photos- there are a couple crooked!)  Not completely done, yet, but we're getting there!

And as always THANK YOU for liking my blog!!

                                     =D

One more example of using Photography!

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Three pieces of 11X14 photography of a Flamingo Imitating a Swan I took and developed into 3 different colors that pick up the colors in our front room- the blue, the black and white, and the orange/red.  Here is a close up of the pictures themselves:

Decorating doesn't have to be difficult or fussy.  And this is a cost effective way of changing the look of your room frequently- I am not a huge fan of expensive art, because I enjoy moving things around and don't want to toss out an $800 painting because I'm a little bored with it :)  But that's just me...comments are always welcome!

Easy Photography and Art Displays

Another simple example of displaying similar photographs on
a small wall- actually makes the wall appear larger!  Similar matting helps tie them together!

Widening a Collection of Art

So I showed the beginning of a collage of photographs in an earlier decorating post.  The new room- turning the rarely used dining room into my own little place :)  This is a demonstration of how it has shifted and I've added different pictures that I loved.  You can do this too!

Just to remind you- here is a before:

And here's a more current picture:

Using same size frames on each side to maintain balance, I've slowly made a larger impact statement above the couch.  I love being surrounded by beautiful and inspiring things!  And even more satisfactory- AFORDABLE!!  By the way, the amazing quilt on the couch was a self-made gift from one of my moms! 
Never be afraid to play around with your pictures- it helps to have someone hold them up to the wall so you can stand back and eye it :)  And always place them on the floor and move them around first!!
Your feedback is ALWAYS welcome...

Classy Black Doors!

I saw this simple idea on Pinterest and loved it!  When I tried one, I was out of my mind, so I did all of the rest.  Here is an easy way to classy up your doors- from white to black. 

This is the only picture of before.
And these are the afters!

Absolutely love the outcome! And all it took was a few cans of spray paint! (Of course we took the doors off the hinges and outside first =)  Never be afraid to try...

"Absolutely Delicious Blueberry Cake"

Soooo, I'm not much of a cook, but I don't mind baking on the occasion and I wanted to share a couple of new recipes I tried...

I was throwing a little "shin-dig", and wanted to try something different with the blueberry muffins- I used 2 boxes of mix with real blueberries and sprayed vegetable oil inside of a bunt cake pan...there were no instructions on how to do this, so I estimated about 10 minutes longer than the longest cooking time, and let me tell you- IT WAS SO GOOD!! Moist beyond belief! and I added a small amount of drizzled icing- by mixing 2 Tbsp of margarine and some confectionery sugar...! Here's a pic before the icing!

Here's the other- a turn on "No-Bake Cheesecake"- my husband loves this stuff...this was a suggestion from the box.  Instead of putting it into two round pans, make individual cheesecakes in muffin cups!  And although it took a little longer, it was worth it!  They are also easier to keep from getting dried out as quickly.  One scoop of strawberry preserves on top and you're done!  I recommend this one with 5 stars! Easy and good!!

Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know if you try one of these!! Thanks! =)

"Our Dining Room Table Re-do" (actually it's just the chairs)!

Last year, we put our 4 person dining table on the sunporch and got quite a bit of use out of it...HOWEVER- the oldest dog did, too..! She scratched her face on the seats and wore them out and made them smell...Here's what the chairs looked like a week ago...

I wanted to recover them inexpensively and also keep the exposure of the seats to a minimum... so of course I looked for material and found a great mix packaged altogether (mostly for quilters) at Wal-mart!!  I also found clear plastic material there for 97 cents a yard that is made especially for covering tables, picnics, and this type of furniture... Here's how I went about it...

Removed the screws and the seat...

I used the can of spray adhesive to initially attach the material...(and no, I did not do this on the carpet- this is an after shot) 

Cut the clear cover and stapled it over the material onto the back of the seat!  Notice I chose a DIFFERENT but compatible fabric for each seat, instead of making them all the same!! :)
Here is a picture of a couple of the completed chairs! I'm very pleased with the way they turned out...

 screwing the seats back on was the hardest part ironically!

And here is a couple pics of the finished product!  Hope this helps somebody with their decorating issues!   The dog is going to hate these- they are way too slick for her to scratch her face- she'll have to move onto the fence ;)

Happy, happy, happy for now!