Color My World Features

Oooops...I'm a day late getting these features out.  I'm sorry!  Thank you for following our Color My World series and thanks to you that participated in the link party.

June & Bear is on the right track with her teal blue and pink dining room.  I love the rug she just picked up at Overstock.  It's an indoor/outdoor rug, which is a blessing when you have messy little ones!

Rindy Mae did a great job of incorporating Sea Turtle green into her nursery.  You'll have to check out the post for more photos.  The room is FILLED with darling DIY projects.

Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Color My World Link Party!!!

Thanks to everyone who has been following the Color My World Challenge!  We've reached the final week.  This is where we invite all of YOU to link up a post sharing how you challenged yourself to try a new color in your home.

The best thing about this party is that your link will show up on all 15+ Color My World challengers blogs.  Next Tuesday, we'll all feature a few of our favorite links.  So start linking at the bottom of this post!!!

In case you missed the last few weeks, I added navy to my living room. 

This challenge forced me to finish some projects that I've had lingering for a while.  Thanks Jessamie for dreaming this whole thing up!

It also gave me a good excuse to purchase some new chairs that I've had my eye on.

After I picked navy, I realized that I cheated a little bit.  I already had some navy in my living room, but the challenge encouraged me to add more!

I already had these navy banded curtains.

And these navy chevron chairs.  Wow, that's an old picture...I almost forgot I used to have that ugly carpet!  I must have blocked it out.

I promise I will show you pictures of the entire room soon.  I had ordered a jute rug from West Elm that came with some damage.  I had to ship it back and am waiting for the replacement.  West Elm has been great to work with through this process, by the way.  As soon as the new rug arrives, I'll show you some pictures.

I also have my eye on these pillows from World Market.  I love the colors.

I would like a throw for the couch to hide the drab olive green.  This one frome Serena & Lily is cute, but at over $200, I think I'll look for something a bit less expensive.

And the room won't be complete without the elusive fiddle leaf fig tree.  This tree doesn't seem to exist anywhere near me!

I don't think I have any "finished" rooms in my house.  They are all works in progress that are continually changing.  At least the living room is now on the right path!

Show us what you've got and link up!!! 

I know you want to see what the other challengers have been up to as well.

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Estate Sale Finds and Link Party Reminder

On Friday morning a friend texted me about an estate sale she saw in our area.  I hurried over and this is what I saw:

It was a little overwhelming, in a good way!  It looked like nothing had been thrown away in decades.  There were half-empty jars of Vaseline that looked like they were from the fifties.  There were numerous (at least 50!) complete sets of china and glassware galore.  Those sticks in the front of the picture above are all fishing rods.

There was so much stuff that it was piled on open trailers.  The lady hosting the sale said that they had to much more that they would be continuing to bring stuff out for at least two more weeks!

I got a couple of small things.

These plates would be fun for a tea party or to serve dessert.

Big K picked out this rocking chair.

I've been looking for a little table for my entryway.  As you know, I usually paint most of my furniture, but I kind of like this dark wood "as is."  The brass cranes were from the sale too.

I got a couple of mirrors.

This bookcase was only $3.  I'm thinking about painting it and putting it in one of the kid's rooms or maybe selling it.  All of this, including some books and another mirror came to $50!  I might have to see what they have next weekend.

Speaking of selling, I finished my first piece of furniture since last September.  As soon as I put it on Craigslist, it sold!  I'll show you some pictures later this week.

Did you get lucky finding any treasures at yard sales over the weekend?

Don't forget, tomorrow is the big linky party/blog hop for the end of the Color My World Challenge.  Link up a post showing how you incorporated a new color into your home.  Your post will show up on all of the Color My World participant's blogs and each one of us will be picking a few features.  Link up and YOU could be featured!!!

Color My World Week 4: Fabric

We are in the home stretch of the Color My World Challenge.  In case you need a little recap, here's what we've been up to in this challenge:

Week 1: Introduction and Color Choice
Week 2: Decor
Week 3:  Paint

This week we were challenged to bring our new color in via fabric.  Remember, next week (May 1st) we are having a blog hop/linky party extravaganza where you can link up a post showing how you brought a new color into your home. 

Back to the fabric.  Not wanting to sew anything, I kind of took the easy way out and ordered new chairs.

They have fabric on them...that's not cheating, right?  I actually ordered these chairs a few weeks ago from Target when they were having a buy one, get one 50% off sale.  I got both of these chairs, including shipping and tax, for about $180 total.  They remind me of the chairs pictured in this room that I like:

I was feeling guilty that I didn't DIY anything with fabric, so I whipped up this fabric-covered box too.

I used an old shoebox and some fabric scraps.  I would show you pictures of the process, but the pics are on my laptop, which is in the shop being repaired.

I basically followed this tutorial from Lori May Interiors.  I used Mod Podge and hot glue to adhere the fabric to the box...pretty simple.  I used a heavy weight, outdoor fabric, so the corners are not as crisp as I would like.  If you try this, I would recommend using a thinner, light weight fabric to reduce the bulk.

Stop by the other Color My World challengers to see how they used fabric this week and be sure to get YOUR posts ready to link up next week!

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Color My World Challenge Week 3: Paint

Welcome back to the Color My World Challenge.  This week we were challenged to add our new color using paint. 

My big paint project was painting a nook navy blue, but I haven't tried to "style" this area yet.  So, no good photos of this area until Thursday.  Here's a little sneak peak.

I wanted to add more navy, so I used some Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint in glossy navy on some accessories.

First up, was this pair of candlesticks.

I changed things up on the mantle, to incorporate the navy.

The ginger jar on the left was black, but it got a coat of navy spray paint and then I added some gold stripes.

I also had a bunch of white vases.  You can always find these at the thrift store.

I tried dipping one in the leftover paint from the niche.  I think I might experiment with this a bit more.  Stay tuned.

Stop by the other Color My World Challengers to see what they've been painting this week!

Remember to join our link party in TWO weeks to show off how you've added a new color to your home too.

Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Color My World Challenge: Week 2

As you might remember, I'm participating in a challenge where a group of bloggers has been challenged to add a new color to our homes.  This week we're adding decor in our new colors.  I chose navy.

If you missed the kick-off to this challenge, you can click here to read all about it.  Remember that we're having a big link party/blog hop on the last day of the challenge where you can link up a post showing how you incorporated a new color into YOUR home.

I had picked up a brass lamp at the local Goodwill recently for $2.99.  The lamp came with this ratty old shade.

I had originally planned on just replacing the shade with a new drum-style shade and maybe embellishing it with some sort of trim.  But, then I remembered that I had some Waverly Cross Section fabric in navy left over from when I recovered an old corkboard.

Why not attempt to cover the lampshade in the fabric?  A quick trip to Pinterest and I found lots of tutorials on how to cover a lampshade.  Unfortunately, most of them only worked on a drum shade.

I ended up improvising this project and it really wasn't that hard.

1.   First I cut a piece of fabric that was a few inches larger than the shade. 

2.  Next, I sprayed spray adhesive on the shade in small sections.  I attached the fabric and smoothed out any bubbles or creases before moving on to the next section.

3.  I wanted to make a straight seam, but since the shade is angled, it worked better to make a diagonal seam.  I just folded the end of the fabric over several times and used hot glue to firmly tack it down.

4.  Finally, I folded the fabric down tightly around the top and bottom of the shade.  Again, I folded the fabric over twice so there aren't any unfinished edges and then glued it down.  This was the most difficult part.  Mainly because I kept burning myself with the glue gun.  Ugh!

In the background you can see a little sneak peak of my new wall color.

I originally planned to spray paint the lamp, maybe coral or white?  But, I like the way the brass looks against the navy blue in this inspiration photo:

Source: jillianharris.com via SaraJane on Pinterest

Do you remember Jillian Harris from The Bachelor?  I didn't know she had her own blog, did you?  She bugged me on The Bachelor, but her blog is pretty cute.
Here's my new brass lamp against my navy wall.

What do you think of the brass?  Does it bring back bad flashbacks of the 80's?

I'm happy with it considering the entire project only cost me the $2.99 I spent on the lamp.  I had all of the other materials on hand from other projects.

Stop by the other Color My World challengers to see what they've been up to this week.
Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...

Come back on Thursday where I'll reveal some more navy goodness as part of the Spring Into Action Challenge.  Is it cheating that I've rolled both challenges into one?  Wait, you really don't have to answer that one!

Challenge: Spring Into Action!

I might be crazy, but I'm participating in another challenge.  I love these challenges because they give me motivation to finish projects that I have lingering around the house.

As you might remember, I have a project from March that didn't go quite as planned.

I tried to stencil this area and build a shelf.  This is as far as I got.

For my Spring Into Action project, I intend to repaint this niche, finish building the shelves, and maybe even do a few DIY projects to style the shelves.

Back in March, I contacted a friend who is a handyman to see how much he would charge to build the shelving.  He quoted us $400, but as soon as he said "You can totally do this yourself," I politely ushered him out the door and pulled out my measuring tape. 

I found this tutorial from Vintage Revivals that doesn't look too tricky and that I actually started on in the photo above.

courtesy of Vintage Revivals

Best of all, the shelving pictured only cost $30 to build!

I like the look of bookshelves with a colored back, similar to these:

Source: emilyaclark.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Hmmm, that navy might fit in nicely with the Color My World Challenge (the other challenge I'm participating in right now)!

Source: simpledwellings.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

This series will run for the next two Thursdays.  Next week we will be sharing progress on our projects.  The week after that will be the big reveal of the (hopefully) completed project.

This little challenge was dreamed up by the creative Linda of My Crafty Home Life.  There are lots of other great bloggers participating in the challenge.  I'm looking forward to checking out their blogs to see what projects they are tackling over the next few weeks. 

Here are the participants:

Tiffany – Living Savvy

Kerry – Design du Monde

Laurie – Traditional & Modern

Cathy – Room Rx

Carrie – Hazardous Design

Lisa – A Room with A View

Sam – The Junk House

Becca – from Gardners 2 Bergers

Jean – Flower Hill Design

Nancy – Powell & Brower Home

Linda – My Crafty Home Life

Color My World Challenge!

I'm so excited that today marks the kick-off of the Color My World Challenge!  This challenge was dreamed up by Jessamie of Bird and Branch Redesign.

A group of bloggers has taken the challenge to introduce a new color into our homes.  This series will be running for the next four Tuesdays.  We'll be using our new color in decor, paint, and fabric.  The final week will be a wrap up and a HUGE blog hop where you can link up a post showing how YOU added a new color to your home too.  I really hope some of you will take the challenge and link up on May 1st...mark your calendar now.

Source: threepinkdots.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

It was a little hard for me to choose a color.  I already have tooo so many colors in my home and was wanting to go a bit more neutral.  But, I kept coming back to NAVY.

Source: veranda.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Suzanne on Pinterest

My favorite living rooms feature not just navy, but navy paired with pink.

Source: bit.ly via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: mypinksketchbook.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Or navy and coral:

Source: melissahare.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: decorpad.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Even my favorite princess is drawn to navy and coral!

Source: applesandonions.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

What looks better with navy than some warm gold and crisp white?

Source: emilyaclark.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

I hope you'll follow along over the next few weeks as I incorporate navy (and maybe even some pink, coral, and/or gold!) into my living room.

Some of my absolute favorite bloggers are also participating in the challenge.  Stop by and see what colors they are adding to their homes.  This challenge should be fun!
Ange - The Blooming Hydrangea
Anna - A Newfound Treasure
Carmel - Our 5th House
Cassie - Primitive and Proper
Jadyn - Dutch.British.Love
Jessamie - Bird and Branch Redesign
Julia - Black Tag Diaries
Julia - Pawley's Island Posh
Kristy - Hyphen Interiors
Lisa - Shine Your Light
Lisa - Trapped in North Jersey
Maury - Life on Mars
Shaunna - Perfectly Imperfect
Shelley - Crazy Wonderful
Suzy - Saved by Suzy
Tiffany - Living Savvy
Tiffany - Worthwhile Domicile
Vashti & Jamie - Like me Some...