Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I've Been Featured In Romantic Homes - How Fun!



So I have a little bit of fun news today!  I just received the July issue of
Romantic Homes magazine and I've been featured in the "Blogosphere"
section...it's a full page with pretty pictures too!

Now I know that many of you talented gals out there have been published time
and again, but this little chick has been published just two times over the past
11 years...once in Artful Blogging and another time in a collectible book...so this
is quite exciting for me.  It sure is fun to see your name in print!





Here is a picture of the article...I think it's kind of pretty!





A closeup shot...





And another one!

A big kiss and hug to my friend JoAnne Coletti
from Vintage Rose Collection.  Thanks Jo Jo for
suggesting me to the editors!


~Stacy~

Thursday, May 24, 2012

My Marie Antoinette Favs - Part 2



Today is a continuation of my previous post showing some of my favorite
pictures and pieces inspired by Marie Antoinette.  The picture above was
purchased at an antique auction.  It is quite a big picture and the frame
is just fabulous and chunky with tons of ornate details.  I love the pretty
pastel colored tapestry...such sweet little maidens in pink dresses!





This is a huge sofa print that I have had for several years.  It hangs in my
front room on the main wall.  I love it and don't think that I'll ever part with it.





This shows abit more of the detail.  I just can't get over how realistic this
picture looks.  The details are just amazing.  The marble columns look like the
real thing and the fabric on the ladies' dresses looks just like real satin.





This lovely figurine looks like a version of Marie Antoinette to me.  It has such
pretty details and I love the pastel colors.  She even has a tiny pearl
necklace around her neck.  So sweet!





This is an adorable French style figurine that I picked up at an antique mall for
a mere $6.00.  I love his pink and white outfit and you can see in the mirror
his cute braid down his back complete with matching pink ribbon.





This adorable little boy figurine was picked up at a local thrift store for a whole
50 cents.  I think he is so cute and I love the colors on his outfit.  You will
notice if you look closely that the foot that is tucked under his leg is missing.
I didn't care...I couldn't leave him there.  He was too cute for that!  (*_*)

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse at some of my favorite Marie Antoinette
inspired treasures.  In my next post I will be showing you one of my favorite
pieces of furniture with sweet French style treasures inside!

Until next time,

~Stacy~

Thursday, May 17, 2012

My Marie Antoinette Favs ~ Part 1



Many of you know that I love French decor and Marie Antoinette style.  I
guess you could have guessed that from my blog design right?  (*_*)  So
today I thought that I would show you a few of my very favorite Marie
Antoinette inspired pictures that I have sprinkled around the house...

This picture above is in my hallway and it's huge!  It's takes up one entire
wall.  I purchased it from my friend Marci who used to have her whole house
done in French style.  She has since switched it around and I was fortunate
enough to be able to purchase this from her.  I love it!  It has kind of a
moody background and I just adore her dress and fabulous hat.  This lovely
picture measures 30" x 34" so it makes quite a statement on the wall.





This lovely book is a decorating item unto itself!





This is another gorgeous picture from Marci.  It was one of those items that
I made her promise to sell me if she ever wanted to get rid of it.  I'm glad
she decided to let it go...I think that this girl is so adorable!





I purchased this lovely picture off Etsy a few weeks back.  I have quite a
few of these portrait prints, but I have never seen one quite like this before
with four prints connected.  The prints are all printed on silk.  Love it!





This is a display that I have in our bedroom and you will have to forgive me,
but the lighting was not that great today so I had a hard time making my
pictures look good.  I collected these little pictures over time and I think
that most of them came from Marci...again!





I love this one...I've seen these at antique shows for as much as $400.00!





This is another favorite...probably because I picked it up at the
Salvation Army Thrift Store for $1.00.  Score!





Isn't she pretty?!





This is another favorite!  I have seen this little girl in another picture
where she is holding a white kitten.  I need to find one somewhere!





Here's another cute one.  I love the frame on this!





And yet another...I have several almost identical to this, but they are in
different frames.  I love her pretty hat with the pink roses around it!





This one is very similar to the one above, yet different.  So pretty!

I hope you have enjoyed a few of my favorite pictures.  I'll be showing
the rest of my favorites in a second post so stay tuned!

~Stacy~

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Banister Is Finished And It Looks Great!



In my previous post I showed pictures of my oak banister that I wanted to
paint white.  Well here is the finished product!  I only took me NINE hours
to paint the darn thing...those spindles are killers!  I did three coats and
each coat took me about three hours!  What a lot of work, but I'm glad
that it's finally done!  Why didn't I do this years ago?





It looks so fresh and clean now with our wood floors and it makes the
room look totally pulled together!  I love it!





I especially like the way the large post turned out.  I was really glad that I
didn't get any paint on the floors too...Wade would have killed me!  That
floor is his baby...  (*_*)





So if you are thinking of painting your banister, DO IT!  It might take you
awhile, but the end results are so worth it!  Thanks for your inspiration
Amy...Maison Decor never fails to inspire me!

~Stacy~

Monday, May 7, 2012

Banister Makeover ~ It's Time For Paint!



Now I don't know why it is, but I absolutely hate showing pictures of my house
when it is being worked on.  But to show the end result and to get to the
good stuff, you have to show the before and after right?  So I'll try not to be
so shy when it comes to this in the future...  (*_*)

So here it is...the banister and railing.  Isn't it beautiful...no, it is not!  This
is the only remaining area of the old blonde oak finish in our house.  It does
not match anything anymore and as you can see it looks really beautiful with
our new (well, 2 years old) flooring we installed.  It is time for it to go away!

I got inspiration a few months back from Amy Chalmers over at Maison Decor.
You can visit her by clicking here http://www.maisondecor8.blogspot.com/.  She is
always up to something and she is lightning quick at it.  Several months back
she did a post on redoing her banister and stairs and it looked amazing so I
thought I would give it a go!  Yes Amy, I know...it's only taken me two or
three months to get to my project.  I just can't keep up with you!






So here you can see the stairwell and when I took these pictures I had already
started painting.  There is an oak ledge along the back wall and this shows it
with one coat of paint on it.  You may not be able to tell, but our walls are
actually not white (they look white in the pictures don't they), but rather they
are a very pale yellow.  The color is called Lotus Blossom and it has a nice pale
contrast to the white trim.






I can't wait to see what this post is going to look like all painted up!  In case
you are wondering what I did to prep the railings...I just roughed them up with
sandpaper quite well so the paint would stick and then started straight in on
the painting.  Everyone has their favorite paint, but I absolutely love Behr paint
from Home Depot.  It is thick, covers beautifully and does not run.  I am just
using a white interior satin enamel.  I was thinking of using semi-gloss because
of the wear and tear, but I just don't like the way it shines.  If this wears in
certain spots, I'll just repaint the spots that need it.






Here is a view of the painted railing.  Now don't ask me why I did it this way,
but I am doing it in sections.  The edge against the wall is all done as well as
the railing and now I'm working on the actual banister.  Who knows!?

Now that you are looking at this picture...do you ever do something in your
decorating that is really really dumb?  Well this really takes the cake!
We used to have this berber carpet upstairs and now that we have the
wood floors look at what is still on the stairs...gasp!...berber!  Now take
a look at the downstairs...the carpet down there is berber, but it's a really
nice berber (if there is such a thing!) and it is in wonderful condition.  Now
why oh why did we not carpet the stairs with THAT carpet instead of
leaving this silly berber on that was upstairs.  There's kind of a no man's
land thing going on in the middle...good grief!  We need to fix that here
pretty quick!  And don't even pay attention to those walls going down the
stairs!  Yikes!  That cottage green color goes down the walls and down the
entire hall downstairs.  If that isn't horrific enough, that color was actually
upstairs throughout our large open plan kitchen and living room.  Not pretty!
What was I thinking?  I really can't answer that!  (*_*)

So now I have painted one coat on the actual railing and banister and it took
me THREE hours to do it...don't you just love painting spindles!  Not really...

I will post more pictures when I have the entire thing finished in a day or two.

Until then,

~Stacy~