A great web-site to get ideas for your HOME!

Here is the link to one of my favorite web-sites ~ http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/index.html . You can find everything under the sun about home & garden on there.

While you're here, I put a few pictures on of a little vignette that I gathered together over my husbands desk. Something really special in this pile of books is a replica of an old Book of Mormon. A book that is another testament of Jesus Christ and has a lot of meaning to us. The stones in an old canning jar are special to us also! They came from a little ranch that we used to own in Snowflake, AZ. We have mixed feelings that we had to sell the ranch, but grateful to have had the time enjoying it and that it still had a lot of equity after our job loss.
Isn't this a precious little wreath? One day 2 of our Grandcuties and I collected these acorns from an oak tree at a park. I love the natural beauty of the acorns!

Pretty Coffee Table

Here is a beautiful coffee table that I picked up at Goodwill. It is loaded with detail! In this first picture I had already given the top a very good sanding leaving it stripped away of the previous finish. You know, that dark stain with pepper flecks that was so popular in the 70's? That's what it looked like.Here's how it ended up!!!!!! Black with some distressing on the bottom and stained on the beautiful oak top.
It had a little damage on the other side, but wood filler and sanding fixed that right up.


I used the Watco stain in a medium walnut color on the top. Then I used my favorite polyurathane over that. That little pile of plastic on the table is something that I want to tell you about. I usually put 2 or 3 layers of the wipe on poly on stained wood finishes. So, while the first coat is drying I wrap my rag right inside of the vinyl glove I am using. This keeps the rag from drying out in between usage. You just have to take your glove off in a way (turning it inside out) that won't be too hard to put it back on later.

In-lays are so amazing to me! This top had 2 of these.


This is a pic before.

And this is a pic after!!!!

I hand painted the black satin paint on with a foam brush in 2 thin coats. I love the look of some wood slightly showing through. Also, I distressed a little to give it that beautiful aged worn look! I also like to spray some clear lacquer over the painted areas for extra protection.

Even though there is no drawer, a pull was added just for extra gorgeousness!

Love the Look! Rustic, Tuscany, Spanish, Country!

~*~Lynda~*~

Easter Flowers Shadow Box

I made this Easter art last year and I was excited to pull it out again as one of my few Easter decorations.

I got the idea for the simple, folded paper flowers from Martha Stewart. You can check out her tutorial online HERE.

I love shadow boxes because they allow a perfect, dust-free place for three-dimensional art such as these flowers. I had this shadow box on hand, so I made the art to fit it perfectly. I attached the flowers and simple green leaves by their centers using fast-drying tacky glue.

You should try out these cute flowers. They also add a little bit of dainty beauty to gift wrapping or cards.

I hope everyone enjoys a beautiful Easter this year!

~ Chelsea ~

I Love Easter Time!

Welcome to our home! Happy Easter to You!Isn't this door fantabulous! You won't believe where I got it. ~Bunnies & Birdies ~ So Sweet~

Here's a little vignette on our old mahogany buffet. I love gathering things together that are special to me. This picture of Christ with the Children is one of my favorites! It is so full of love! Easter is definitely all about love!

I enjoy mixing things together! Such as, the stack of aqua glass plates surrounded by a grapevine wreath with pretty bird and colorful egg topiary on top.

Imagine for a moment that You are in this picture with Jesus loving and blessing You! It is a very touching thought for me.

I have been putting ribbons on candles for a very long time. It's a fun way to decorate and bring some of your decor color onto them. On these candles I added some dimensional scrapbooking stickers for some extra bling. The candle holders were purchased at a second hand store. They used to be gold, but with a little spray paint they are now this beautiful off-white color.

Help yourself to a malted egg! I chose the blue and white ones out of the bag for some funny reason! They are very pretty & yummy too!

Another easy decorating idea is a lovely stack of various plates!

You are probably wondering why a photo ablum is in the kitchen??? Well, it is actually full of many of my favorite recipes!

I thought I would share with you this shelf that my Handsome Honey made for me out of scraps! I painted it blue and put some wonderful brown glaze on it. I decided to put a little curtain on the bottom to hide the array of music & hymn books that are kept there.

I really, really like this beautiful fabric! I bought it at Savers for $1.00. What a happy moment. I covered an empty hot cocoa container with it too and glued on some flowers in 2 different shades of blue. I think it's okie dokie if the blues are not all matching exactly.

Live for today! Hope for tomorrow!

Positive thoughts around the house are good for the soul!

I have loved baskets my whole life! I don't know why really. These 2 pretties have an added feature ~ lapel pins. The round swirly one was gold, but you know what I did to it! (oil-rubbed bronze).

Now we come to my very favorite thing on this whole shelf! This is a picture that our kids took last year and gave to me for Mothers Day. I sure love them all!

Decorator note ~ Our daughter, Crystal, asked everyone to wear blue, brown or white for the photo so that it would coordinate with my home decor! She's so thoughtful

Bye for now & With Love ~*~Lynda~*~

Many lessons learned from one great refurb!

We had a wonderful opportunity to refurbish this bedroom set for some friends! It's a great pine bedroom set made by Bassett.

(Sorry, this first picture is actually after beginning the project)The tops had a lot of damage ~ gouges, scratches & dings. I was unable to sand them all out because the tops were only a very thin piece of wood veneer. Wood filler to the rescue. This brings me to a very important lesson and something that a lot of people ask me about. How can you tell if a piece of furniture is solid wood or not? Some companies such as Bassett & Lane are very good at making it look like solid wood.

Here is a very good way to tell ~ look at the back. Can you see the 6 different pieces that are used on this night stand? 3 out of the 6 are solid wood. The top & center support is made of high density particle board with a very thin piece of wood veneer on the top of that. The 2 decorative moldings on the top edge & on the center of the tall dresser molding are made of solid wood. The side is made of regular particle board with a photo type of veneer on it

(which must be sanded very lightly ). Here is a huge misconception ~ If a piece of furniture is heavy it must be solid wood. No, not necessarily. Particle board is actually heavier than most solid woods. Some woods are very light weight, such as ~ alder, mahogany, some pines & etc. Be very careful when buying furniture that claims to be solid wood.

One interesting observation is that dogs quite often will chew on the solid wood parts of furniture. So, lots of wood filler was needed for the job the doggy did on this dresser.

I just molded it on there and let it dry for 24 hours, then sanded it into a nice shape.
The dental molding, the bullseye, the drawer fronts, knobs and bun feet were all solid pine! But the interior of the drawers were made of particle board. Something to look out for ~ if you want to buy a better quality piece of furniture look for real wood there too.

Here is the night stand after a few coats of black satin paint were sprayed on.

Another helpful lesson to pass on! Rubbing wax on the wooden drawer guides helps the drawer to slide more easily. Just rub it on both pieces ~ the guide on the bottom of the drawer too.

Notice ~ only the top drawer guide is made of wood on this dresser. The others are made of metal, which didn't need any waxing to help them glide better.

Now here is the night stand after some distressing and then all nicely sealed with clear lacquer.

And the dresser looks fabulous too! You can't even tell where the dog chewed on it.

One more picture ~ nice and close. I don't like to over-do it on the distressing and only the solid wood parts could handle it. Also, I did not distress where there was a lot of wood filler. That wouldn't look so good.

Bye for now, ~*~Lynda~*~

Painting in my Bedroom

One time my husband was gone on a camp out and I decided to do something brave. I painted large branches on my (our) bedroom wall. I sketched it out on a piece of paper first and then I went at it with my brushes and brown paint. It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned and all my husband had to say about it was "Wow, that's bold".

So, what's your opinion on this painting on my wall? 

Make your vote on the left column of our blog!

I won't take your honesty too personally, because I haven't even made a final decision for myself. :)
(VOTING CLOSED MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011)
Thanks to those who made their votes! I think the painting will stay there for now. :)

Please excuse my ever-unmade bed.

~ Chelsea ~

Large Wall Painting (Re-do)

Here is a very lovely painting that I picked up at DI. I loved it, well, except for the colors. I apologize if you like these peachy & purpley colors. Maybe you had better not look at the next picture if you do.This is what I did to it! But first, I went on-line to make sure that the signature on the bottom was not of a famous artist or anything. I really like the layered oil paint on the canvas.

It gives some beautiful dimensions. Once I discovered that the artist wasn't showing up anywhere, I spray painted the whole canvas off-white. It actually took 2 cans of spray paint to cover the beautiful bright colors.

Next I painted the raised flowers with tan & taupe acrylic paints. I needed some blue to go with my decor, so, I just started adding some touches here and there.

I ended it off with a somewhat, random covering of brown glaze! Then I took a very small disposable paint brush and put the brown glaze on nice and thick to make it darker on all of the edges of the petals.

I really like how it turned out, simple, but beautiful. I really love where it ended up!

Donated & sold at a benefit yard sale!

~*~Lynda~*~