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~

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~

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~

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~

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~