A Face Lift

Yesterday afternoon I decided to tackle a project I've been putting off for a year- reupholstering my favorite chair! I purchased this chair last summer at an estate sale. The house was stuffed with antiques and I fell in love with the chair. Here is the before:



Hideous fabric- plus it was just old and worn- lots of little stains and just not my style. The chair itself is a reproduction Hepplewhite Shield Back chair and I was dying to recover it in something more appropriate.

I found the fabric a few months later, it's Covington's Bosporous Toile. It usually runs about $20 a yard, but I bought it on sale at Hobby Lobby. :-) Here is the finished product:







playing with the flash:





It really was a simple process. I removied the old fabric and just used it as my pattern. All it took from there was some upholstery nails, some staples (and maybe a tiny bit of hot glue- don't tell on me, okay?!) LOL

About a 2 hour process from start to finish!

Soooo Much Fun

I know this post is annoying, but I don't care! LOL I saw Brit at the BOK Center on Tuesday and it was AMAZING!! I saw her earlier this year and the difference between the two shows was night & day. She is so much more confident, polished, and entertaining now- she is really getting back to her old self. :-) We were in Row "A" which meant we were right behind the ringside couches- insanely good seats!! I took over 300 pictures- so I really did try to just pick a few for the blog. :-)

Recovering from the Circus

I took about a million pictures last night at Britney! I'm still editing and uploading but I wanted to share a couple of the videos that I took. The quality isn't fantastic, since it was just from my point & shoot camera, but I love them! Our seats were phenomenal- like so close it was scary! haha!

I've been decorating!

I spent yesterday working on a little bit of my Halloween decorations and wanted to share! Normally I just decorate for Fall, but this year I decided to step it up a notch and go all out for Halloween. :-)

Get ready for picture overload!





I filled the two frames on our entryway table with vintage Halloween illustrations. I just printed them out and popped them into the frames- can't get much easier than that!

a bat lady above and a witch below.


this candle holder was only a few dollars at Kirkland's.

Spider webs EVERYWHERE!!

another Kirkland's item- around $5.

The antique sideboard in the living room.


the haunted house was only $1 at an estate sale this summer! Love it.

the fireplace mantel, all decked out.


I'm loving this black glitter skull- creepy but really pretty in the candle light.

I made the pumpkin topiary in an afternoon, super easy and something that I've wanted for a while, but could never find in a store. Oh, and did you notice the black crow? The cats are completely intrigued. Ha!

I'm still working on two different Halloween projects and I promise to share them soon. I also have to share our outdoor decorations. I should have them ready by the end of the week. I'm so glad it's Fall!! <3>

loving this:

(thanks to my friend Allison)

Where I Live Wednesday: Entryway

My friend Jenna does a Where I Live post on every Wednesday and it's been a lot of fun to see her gorgeous house and her decor. It looked like fun, so I thought I'd start participating. :-)

I chose my most recently updated space to start with: our entryway. I spent all of Labor Day weekend working on it- when we purchased the house last year, this space was covered in FOUR layers of wallpaper! The wallpaper was attached to drywall which meant it was an absolute nightmare to remove and I had so much repair work to do on the walls it made me want to cry. I had to strip the paper (all FOUR LAYERS!), prime the drywall with a stinky oil based primer, repair the extensive damage with spackle, prime again, sand the walls smooth, prime AGAIN, texturize the walls, and finally paint them. OMFG, a nightmare!! I think there is a special place in hell for homeowners that don't do the appropriate prep work before they apply wallpaper. I imagine they are forced to repair drywall for all of eternity! ha!

So, here are some pictures of the entryway- and yes, I did pick the gloomiest, darkest day to take pictures- it's storming pretty badly right now.

a shot coming in from the front porch:

the wreath was something I threw together last year.

Marty and Pinkie were so curious! Here they are trying to make their escape! The rug was $5 at the Walmart Associate's Store (a store for employees and their families only- it's amazing!).

Please excuse the mess in the background, I was going through all my Fall decor- I can't wait to get started!

above is the entryway with & without flash. The wall color is Olympic's Pony Tail. The valance was $2 at the Walmart Associate's Store. The hook on the right holds the dog's leashes and was only a few dollars at Hobby Lobby. We have a new light fixture to install this week, I'll share as soon as it's finished!

The table and mirror were $100 at Bed Bath & Beyond. They came with a lamp, but I use it in our office. The lamp shown is from Kirkland's and was around $20. The decorative swag was purchased at a local antique shop.


Above shows a shot of the table: one picture frame is from Hobby Lobby and the other is from Tuesday Morning. I just printed off the "S" (our monogram) to put in the smaller frame. I love cheap (free!) art. :-) The other frame holds a wedding photo. The glass container holds Renuzit Crystal Elements- they actually smell pretty amazing. :-)

I know it may not seem like much, but I am so proud of the work I did in this space. If you guys could have seen the "before"- omg, it was terrifying! LOL I can't wait to share the other room I spent Labor Day weekend in-- our guest bathroom! The before and after shots of that space are pretty astonishing. :-)

I'm a bad blogger but...

I haven't posted in a few days- I blame all the insane projects I've taken on around the house- I'll be posting about everything over the next few days! But in my absence I received the MEME award from Jackie! YAY! If you don't read her blog you are missing out! Always funny and completely entertaining. :-)

I always wanted one of these awards! ha! so i love this- and it totally motivated me to finally post something. Here are the rules:

List 7 personality traits...
Pass onto 7 other bloggers who deserve...
Recognition for the personality they share...

So, here we go- my 7 personality traits are:

optimistic- I can't stand Debbie Downers! LOL I tend to look on the bright side of things-and I think that's a good thing. :-)
sensitive- sometimes to a fault. I try to keep this side under wraps, but those close to me know how sensitive I can be.
loving/caring- I'm a very nurturing person (but not very maternal- that's probably weird, huh?)
sarcastic- I'm fluent in sarcasm.
opinionated- super opinionated. But my old age has helped me keep this in check (for the most part!)
type A- I'm hardcore type A. I'm a planner, I make lists for everything, I'm super competitive, I love to multi-task etc. I've been like this since I was a little kid.
affectionate- I'm a lover, not a fighter! lol

I love all my fellow blog buddies and can't pick just 7 of you, so I'm giving it to everyone! Ha! If you want to participate, feel free to. :-)

I'll be back tomorrow with a new post and some pics off all the work I've done around the house this past week- let's just say my Labor Day weekend was full of LABOR!!

October 3rd!

Super super excited to see Kings of Leon live in OKC! I was surprised that it wasn't sold out yet but I managed to score 2 pretty decent seats. I wish they were playing in Tulsa instead but they are well worth the drive to Oklahoma City. Here are two of my favorite KOL songs performed live at one of their shows: