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Happy Magnolia Furniture Purchase Day To Me

Happy Magnolia Furniture Purchase Day To Me

I want to live in a Magnolia Furniture store.

That’s all, end of story.

Okay, maybe there’s a little more to the story.  🙂

Last week when Sam was in town, we went to The Northtown Mall. For whatever reason, I rarely go to this particular mall but we needed to kill some time while Sam’s car was being fixed and the mall is right across the street.

I had totally forgotten that a Becker Furniture World store had been added on several years ago as an anchor store.

Solely with the intention of killing time, we entered the furniture store first and then planned on continuing with the other stores in the mall.

Ten feet into the store, they had the Magnolia Home section.

I love the whole collection. Every last bit of everything.

Wade had wandered off to look at gas grills, so Sam and I pretended to re-decorate my house and furnish her new apartment.

And then I saw this.

And then I looked a little closer and saw this!

Be still my heart.

I NEEDED this cabinet.

Okay, I really WANTED this cabinet.

In my mind, I  justified 3000 different reasons why I should buy it. But, I didn’t have a spot for it.

Or did I????

Shock of all shocks, we left the store without the cabinet.

We picked up Sam’s car and had a great rest of our weekend, but I could not get that cabinet out of my head.

Then I realized that this was the perfect spot. (And no, I don’t have my Christmas Tree up anymore.  I just really liked this picture. )

But as you can see, I had the awesome dresser in that spot.  (You can read here and here all about that dresser makeover.)

The answer to the problem was easy, sell the dresser.

I listed it on Craigslist around 8pm on Sunday night and it was sold and picked up on Monday night.

Bada-bing-bada-boom.

Miracles of all miracles, I then waited another FIVE days before Wade and I went back to Becker Furniture World, holding my breath the entire way that no one had already bought it.

The store opened at 10am.

I walked straight to the spot where I had last seen it.

And………..

It was still there!

We grabbed a salesperson, swiped the ‘ol credit card and we were headed home by 11am.

As we were waiting for our purchase to be loaded onto our truck, I said to Wade, “You know, we could save a lot of money if I just lived in the furniture store.”

He smiled and shook his head.

What do you think?

~Wendy

P.S. I added a set of casters to the cabinet. You know, just as a personal touch. 🙂

The Story Behind The Handmade Shower Curtain

The Story Behind The Handmade Shower Curtain

Long before I knew how to sew, I would go over to my best friend Lizzy’s house and be in awe of the way she decorated her home.

Her Mom was an interior decorator and could put together fabrics, furniture and statement pieces that no one would ever guess would work together. Her Mom has since passed away, but she instilled a great sense of style in Liz.

I am still in awe when I visit her home.

Not only does Liz have a magnificent home but she has sewn many of the pieces.

One thing I will never forget is the day I visited her house and, well, needed to use her restroom.

In her downstairs guest bathroom, hanging from a heavy gold shower rod was a large white with green ivy shower curtain. (Ivy was all the rage back then. ) 🙂

It was perfect with the rest of the decor in her bathroom and I asked her where she had bought it.

She told me she had made it!!

What? Are you kidding me? Who does that!

I was amazed.  You never would’ve guessed it was not store purchased.

I remember telling her that I would never be able to sew. I just didn’t have those kinds of skills.

She lovingly laughed at me.

So yesterday my Oprah “Ah-ha” moment happened and….you guessed it, I made my own shower curtain.

We, and by we I mean Wade, haven’t found the time to repaint the tub/shower/toliet room off of the bathroom.

So in the meantime, I made a shower curtain to pull everything together.

I bought these two fabrics from Walmart. I thought they looked kind of Pottery Barn-ish.

I measured out the fabric, sewed a two inch hem on the top and a one inch hem on the bottom, added 12 grommets for the curtain hooks and called it a day.

But then I had a problem.

You probably already noticed it.

Yep, the shower curtain did not play well with the window curtain.

Without a second of hesitation, I pulled that baby down and whipped up another curtain using the same fabric from the bottom section of the shower curtain.

Problem solved.

I apologize for not having a “full” picture of that room, but without busting out a wall or buying a new fancy dancy camera lens, this is as much view of the curtains as I could get.

I feel so accomplished now that I have made a custom curtain.

Thanks Lizzy for knowing that it was only a matter of time (or almost 20 years) before I would conquer “The Shower Curtain.”

~Wendy

 

Capturing Spring During A Snowstorm

Capturing Spring During A Snowstorm

Did you remember to Spring your clock forward early on Sunday morning?

I didn’t.

But thankfully Wade did.

Keeper. 🙂

Wade and I went Estate Saling on Saturday and found a couple of treasures. We also stopped at IKEA and bought candles and sit-arounds to put in the living room. (You remember sit-arounds. Those pieces that add depth and dimension to your decorating but other than that….they just sit around.)

When I finally did shake the cobwebs from my sleepy eyes this morning, I got to work on redecorating with a Spring theme in mind although outside we were in the middle of a snowstorm.

You’ve already seen the pillows I made, but hey let’s take another gander.

I used the color scheme from these fabrics to create the rest of my Spring 2017 look.

Giving you the big picture first, this is the finished view from the staircase, looking down to the room.

I started decorating from the center of the room by keeping the wood tray on top of the nailhead ottoman. I grabbed a variety of candlesticks from various spots in the house and added the candles from IKEA. The anchoring piece is something my Mom gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago and the lightweight ornate balls, were also purchased from IKEA.

I wanted to keep things neutral and fresh – just how I imagine it will feel when I finally throw open my windows and welcome in the fresh spring air.

Using two more of the robin egg blue candles, I placed them on the mantel with a faux plant, wood sit-arounds my Dad made me, a plaster bunny and some of my other favorite items.

I’m working on other areas of the house also, but for now….

What do you think? Did I capture Spring?

~Wendy

Spring Has Sprung On My Nailhead Sofa

Spring Has Sprung On My Nailhead Sofa

Spring has sprung!  Until it didn’t.  🙁

Remember the other day when I was all about the great 60 degree day we were having here in Minnesota?

Yea, it’s 2 degrees today.

We had two days of high winds out of the west, and with strong wind and temps in the upper 40’s, all of the ice melted off the lake.  There were actually swans swimming near our little beach and the sun was a true, warm, early, Spring sun.

Now there is a thin layer of ice by said beach.  But ironically, the swans still showed up to catch some breakfast.

By the way…don’t swans head south for the winter? That water has to be cold.

Anyway, I’ll google it. I am getting way off track on what I wanted to tell you.

Yesterday I spent the day with this little nugget.

She is the daughter of a friend of mine and her name is Piper. Her Mommy went back to work but her daycare provider isn’t available until the first of April.

My day to play with her is Thursday. Her Grandma and her Mommy’s cousin play with her the other days of the week.

Yesterday was my first Thursday with her and we had so much fun! Unfortunately for me, she took a looong nap, so I absorbed some major TLC cable channel viewing time.

There was an episode of Love It or List. It was the episode where the wife was a contractor. The couple bought a fixer upper, but she was so busy working on everyone else’s home, that she had a lot of projects yet to fix up in her own home.

And that got me thinking.

The recent bout of warm weather put me in the mood to “Springitize” my house. But then it got cold and I had a rush of Etsy orders for others that were “Springitizing” their homes.

So my house went on the back burner.

But today is a new day!

Today is the day, that I start with some fresh spring pillows.

I’ll give you a full room view after I complete the whole area, but for now here is a quick Winter to Spring before and after.

 

Let the Springitizing commence!

~Wendy

 

Walk With Me On This Great Minnesota Day

Walk With Me On This Great Minnesota Day

In Minnesota from November to April, most days are gray.  Winter is long and cold and long and cold and long.

I’m complaining, but that’s just something that people do when they don’t enjoy gray. We just wait and sometimes months and sometimes hours later the weather will do a full 180.

That full 180 is what happened last week when we had an amazing, unseasonal 60 degree day…IN FEBRUARY!

I took full advantage of the sunshine and walked from my house, around the lake to the little cabin that is being renovated.

And….I wore a sweatshirt. No big heavy bulky winter jacket, gloves or hat.

So, I thought it would be fun to show you what a warm sunny day here looks like in my neck of the woods.

After walking through the neighborhood, I enter the Lake George Regional Park from the back side.

This entrance is not used by the general public because there is an official entrance about a quarter of a mile from this point.

Not that I have a lot of experience visiting regional parks, but in my opinion this park is very well cared for with several shelters available for picnicing, a clean and safe playground, a well groomed beach, a volleyball court and great exercise paths.

But as soon as the temperatures drop, this park is typically only used by the residents that live around the lake.

As I walked through the park, I met several people also enjoying the sunshine.

Total aside, I met a young girl on her skateboard being pulled by her dog. She had on a tank top and shorts 🙂 Oh to be young again.

After soaking in the warm sun, I made it to the other side of the lake to the little cabin.

Kris and George, the owners, let me know that most of the progress was made under the house in the utility room.

They have updated everything. You name it, they have it. The new, shiny, 2017, up-to-code not exciting, but necessary it.

What is exciting is the changes in the house!

Ready for some before and during pictures?

As we enter the cabin, this is/was the bathroom.

The kitchen now looks nothing like a kitchen.

The big blue wall is almost unrecognizable.

Things are going to shape up quickly now. Kris said that the kitchen cabinets are going to be installed this coming week.

They are going to be white! Be still my heart.

I’ll keep you updated!

~Wendy

P.S. Two days after these pictures were taken, the temperature dropped back to the 30’s and south of us, they received over a foot of snow.

Cutest Little Cabin: Demo Days Including Before and Afters

Cutest Little Cabin: Demo Days Including Before and Afters

We have an appointment for our taxes in March. March seems like light years away so I should have plenty of time to get my taxes ready.

I will do almost anything to avoid pulling all of my tax information together. Almost anything. I would rather prepare my taxes then dust. That’s how much I dislike dusting. 🙂

So today, to avoid sitting down and pulling out all of those receipts and spreadsheets, I drove over to the other side of Lake George and took progress pictures of a cabin that our neighbors are renovating.

You can read the first installment about that here.

I honestly thought about walking across the lake with my camera, which as the crow flies would be a shorter distance, but then I realized I would have to walk back. One way or the other, the 15mph wind was going to be against me and today’s wind chill temp is 2 degrees.

Two cold for me!  (pun intended)

K&G, the owners of the cabin told Terry, their demo guy, that I would be stopping by periodically to photograph the progress on the renovations..

This is Terry standing by the front door looking through the kitchen at me. He was so “in the zone” of demo, that I had to ask him to stand still and smile.

Across from the front door, is the/was the bathroom.

The easiest way to describe what stays and what is being removed is, anything brown comes down. New drywall will replace the miles and miles of tongue and groove wood.

Moving from the bathroom, though the kitchen, to the back of the house is the big blue wall in the living area. It will also see some changes and not just repainting.

At the peak of the big blue wall, a small loft bedroom will be constructed.

Down below through the left door is the only other bedroom. The door on the right is the view into the kitchen.

So as of today, the cabin basically looks like a war zone. But things always get worse before they get better.

~Wendy

P.S. If you are one that likes before and afters or in this case, before and durings…here are some side by sides for you.

Kitchen:

Big Blue Wall Room:

Bathroom: