10 Sweet Ideas to Help Celebrate St. Valentines Day!

With Valentine's Day only a few days away, I decided to pull together 10 fun and creative ideas from around the net and from my own little corner of the blogosphere, for this special holiday of LOVE!

Hopefully you will find something here which inspires you!!!

Here are some of the cool ideas that caught my eye!!!

St. Valentine's Day Runners from Pottery Barn

Make your own Heart Shaped Soaps
(click on the image above to find out how to make them)

Make your special someone a Gift Cone.
(click on image to be whisked away to the tutorial)

Martha Stewart's Candy and Tulip Bouquet
(click on the image to find out how to make this darling gift)

How about making a Mozzarella Strawberry Salad with a Chocolate Vinaigrette?

(click here for the recipe)

Or a Deconstructed Strawberry Shortcake?

(click here for the recipe)

-

Re-purpose some old spaghetti jars into pretty Candle Holders

(click image for to find out how to make this darling craft)

Another Pottery Barn item...this All You Need is Love pillow!

This one I LOVE

A Valentine's Day Cupcake Bouquet from Better Homes and Gardens.
(click image to find out how)

Create a romantic Mantel Display like this one from Craftberry Bush. I found this image over at BHG.

Have a great week!
XO

Top Ten Blog Posts of 2014

Good morning and in the words of my dear friend Judy over at Gold Country Cottage

Happy Friday!

Wowzer...here we are heading towards the end of the first month of 2015 and I have finally managed to figure out my top post for 2014. Some of the posts I pretty much knew were heavy hitters, while others were a total surprise! So without further delay here is the countdown. 

To see each post in its entirety just click on the image. 

In the NUMBER TEN position

(The hutch my dear friend Colene gave me)

NUMBER NINE

(Living room reveal at Christmas)

NUMBER  EIGHT

(This was part of an amazing beach house kitchen makeover)

Coming in at NUMBER SEVEN

(A total surprise to me)

NUMBER SIX

(Love the white ironstone paired with rustic silver in this vignette)

Halfway through with NUMBER FIVE

(One of my faves from this year)

NUMBER FOUR

(A $60 yard sale find gets a new look)

NUMBER THREE

(You need to see the before pics)

Down to the wire here...

NUMBER TWO

(Do you remember my big Master Bedroom reveal last April?)

And much to my surprise the NUMBER ONE most viewed post of 2014 is from over a year ago, way back in January...

And there you have it! 

2014 is officially a wrap!!

Wishing you an awesome weekend!!!

XO

New Window Treatments in the Living Room

Well I am still chugging along with my living room makeover as my progress seems to be going somewhat slower than what I had anticipated. I think I am getting a little bit more persnickety in my old age, but I did manage to settle on some new window treatments. If you don't remember or didn't follow me back in 2013, here is what use to be on the windows

These valances have hung in our living room for over 10 years...oh yeah. time to make a change!

Along with the lighter wall color I opted for lighter window treatments. The bay window is the only source of natural light in this space so I wanted to make sure I was allowing as much light in as possible. Plus in the past I always felt like I was on a stage once the lights were switched on at night because there were no shades or window blinds to close for privacy. 

I really like the texture of the bamboo and linen together, it adds so much more interest to the rather large window. Then there is also the natural component of wood in regard to the 2 curtain rods of the flanking windows.

Another natural element comes in the way of an iron wall hanging I picked up at Hobby Lobby. It was hung above the large window to help fill in the blank space above the window and between the curtain rods. 

I would like to replace my slip covers with a Twill set I saw over at Sur-Fit.  Also I wanted something with a relaxed fit and a bit more feminine in style. I think this one fits the bill.

The wheat color will work well for the fall, but I really love the  idea of the white for summer! 

I am still working on a gallery arrangement to put on the wall above our large sofa so currently I'm on the hunt for some weathered window shutters. I'm also hoping to find coordinating fabric to recover both the window seat and it's large pillows. Or better yet maybe I'll purchase some pretty bolster pillows...we will have to see! So much to do...but it is all good!

And the beat goes on!!!

Here is the breakdown of where everything came from...

Curtain rods ~ The Martha Stewart collection at Home Depot. 

Bamboo Roman Shade in a white wash ~ online at Home Depot 

Two Faux Linen drapery panels ~ Home Goods

Hanging Iron piece ~ Hobby Lobby

Hope you are throwing your windows open so to enjoy this fabulous early autumn weather!

XO

Simple Summer Coffee Table Vignette

For this vignette I wanted to keep things light and very simple because we really do use the living room in our home as the family room, so this road side find table gets A LOT of use. 

I brought in from the back patio two pretty wire candle holders I bought last summer at the Christmas Tree Shops, and paired them with the wine cork serving tray I made a couple years ago. (To read how the wine cork tray was made just click here.)

An inexpensive somewhat beachy looking faux arrangement was added to the tray along with a small coordinating starfish. I then placed a pretty piece of blue glass in the way of a small vase on top of a stack of summer issue decorating magazines. I love to peruse through them while enjoying a little kid and hubby free alone time.

I am really liking the soft blue in this space...I may have to shop my home for more blue to add to the rest of the living room!

Wishing you all a great start to your weekend plans!

XO

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Summer Entry

This year things got a little bit mixed up due to the fact that in the process of redecorating both the master and the guest bedrooms (no I haven't revealed the guest room just yet) I have had to do some re-figuring as far as the placement of the furniture in the house. So the cedar chest which once sat at the end of our bed before the master bedroom makeover, no longer fit in the room, therefore it had to find a new place to live.

I then brought down the large mirror which was hanging in the upstairs hallway and placed it just above the chair rail. The cedar chest was topped off with a pretty turquoise Portuguese pitcher, a farm basket to hold some of my favorite magazines...

...and in the center of the chest is a large pitcher I picked up at Home Goods last year filled with faux hydrangea.

Don't hydrangeas just scream SUMMER? 

But the wall still needed something more so I dug out of the garage a shelf which had once hung in the kitchen, spruced it up with some white paint, and Mr. Rosemary Lane hung it for me just above the mirror! 

Jokingly he asked me how long it was going to be before it comes down. I had to laugh because I LOVE the idea of one more surface to decorate, so my answer was simply..."Not for awhile."

The shelf has a groove for plates so out came these beautiful turquoise blue dishes, another Home Goods find from a few years back. Some green glass items were added along with my thrift store swans that I love so much.

I think the pops of turquoise against the soft yellow walls really makes the front entry of our home feel very summery.

Have you lightened up your decor for the summer months? Better hurry since the solstice is tomorrow!

Wishing you a relaxing weekend and a beautiful first day of summer!

XO

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