BESA GM

The time has come to change my fall home decor and get prepared for the coming holiday season. To get into the holiday spirit, I chose my front door as a starting point for the holiday decor.

Last night I made this unique wreath reusing magnolia leaves from one of my previous projects.

I love easy and quick projects that cost $ 0.00, and this was one of them. The leaves used to create the arrangement for my fall decor were perfect fit for a lush, formal yet modern wreath I was aiming to create; so I started by dismantling the arrangement made previously.

Next, using the fallen willow tree branches in my yard I created a wreath base.

To create a rich, lush look I attached the leaf bundles about 1 inch apart in zig zag pattern. I used wire to attach the leaf bundles onto the wreath base.

Using wire, I tied a set of two white painted pine cones and attached several sets on the wreath.
These pinecones were left overs from my Tea Light Centerpiece project.

I decorated a set of pinecones with thumb tacks and placed them as a focal point.

I added some decorative pieces of silver painted decorative dry grass as well as some fresh evergreen branches, and in less than two hours I got this beautiful, lush wreath which I proudly hung on my front porch door.

Even without any additional decoration, the wreath alone instantly added a rich holiday decor look to my porch.

Now that my porch got that festive look, I am looking forward to continue with the overall decor for the coming holidays.

Have you started putting up the holiday decor yet?

Thank you for reading.

Sharing with: A Pretty Life In The Suburbs
Great Thanks to the followig blogsites for featuring this post: A pretty Life in the Suburbs; Our Delightful Home; Momninvore’s Dilema
Besa

After a successful completion of the painting project of an upholstered wingback chair I was ready to undertake another DYI challenge; reupholstering a wingback chair.

I have never done a project involving upholstery/reupholstery so to me only the thought of undertaking such a project was kind of intimidating. However, the wingback chair for this project was for free so I would not have to lose that much in case the project did not go well.

I proceeded with the purchase of 5 meters of fabric in a local fabric store as I was impatient to buy online and wait up to a week for delivery. Online fabric selection is huge, and after I finished the project I kind of had regrets for not ordering online the striped fabric that I liked. Well, instead of the lovely striped fabric I now have an unique zig zag one.

Before starting this project I did a bit of research as to what is involved during the reupholstery process. Even though some of the tips and experiences found on the internet were helpful, I faced some challenges which I think were particular to the chair at hand. For example, the fabric and the piping on the wings of the chair required sewing, as oppose to some other chairs where the piping as well as the fabric on the wings are stapled on. I had difficulties fitting perfectly the wing pieces onto the chair after sewing, and I was quite annoyed with this.

I started with stripping off the fabric from the chair. Where to start? You start there where the staples are visible. In my chair the staples were visible at the bottom of the chair. I started at the bottom, and then I removed the back of the chair.

The back part was attached with a strip of 1 inch nails, which I carefully removed and reused later.

After removing the back, you will figure out which part is next for removing. Continue until you remove the last piece.

Take pictures of each step and also mark pieces by numbers and arrows for directions ( up/down/left/right) as this will help for a better placement of the old pattern piece onto the new fabric.

This step (numbering) is also helpful when putting back the new cut pieces as your will refer to numbers, starting to staple a piece with the last number first.

After stripping off the fabric and taking all those staples off, I spray painted the chair legs with Rustoleum-HeirloomWhite and proceeded with the preparation for reupholstering: using a seam ripper I took apart pieces that were sewn together; ironed the old pieces which served as a pattern and sewed the piping (reused the existing one). I did not change the batting since it was still in great condition.

I laid the fabric for cutting, and considering that I had to work around the fabric repeat pattern I had to cut one piece at a time. First I chose which part of the design I wanted to appear on the back of the chair, ( grey zig zag line) and then worked around that design.

I started to apply the new pieces in the opposite order that they were removed, and as I mentioned above if you mark the old pieces with numbers then this process will go smoothly.

I used an electric stapler, and I must say that I was not satisfied with its performance as most of the staples had to be hammered down.

After completing the upholstery process I sewed the cushion, and the chair was done.To add a finishing touch I decorated the upper leg part with nailhead finish.

I used 5 meters of fabric for $8/meter and, considering that I reused all other materials, this project cost me only $40.00 plus tax, which is not too bad for almost a new chair.

While the process was not too difficult, I found it quite time consuming; however, I would do it again as it is very interesting to see how the chair shapes up during the process.

Finally, all things considered, I am happy with the final reupholstered project, and I am hoping that you too will like this transformation.

So here it is:

the ugly BEFORE,

and much much nicer AFTER

Linking to: Coastal Charm; Our Delightful Home; Give me the Goods Monday; The Scoop; DIY By Design; From My Porch To Yours; The Turqouise Home; No Mininalist Here; Share Your Cup Thursday; The Shabby Nest; Made In A Day; Liz Marie Blog; A Pretty Life In The Suburbs; Creating With the Stars

Great thanks to the following blog for featuring this post: Be Betsy
Thank you for reading.

Besa

Tea lights, known as the most inexpensive candles, are incredibly beautiful when it comes to decorating tabletops and creating mood lighting and festive atmosphere at homes and celebratory areas. There are endless ways to use tea lights, which make them a very versatile decorating item.

Being as inexpensive as they are, most of us tend to have tons of them around the house. I found a box of these yesterday in my pantry (I have no idea how those ended up there) placed next to the bamboo skewers. Tea Lights and bamboo skewers hmm… “I shall create something combining these two”…and a few minutes later, after a short brainstorming for ideas, I was out in my backyard clipping some cedar branches which I intended to use for my Tea Light Centerpiece.

I started by piecing together three to four cedar clippings in a circular shape.

I placed small pieces (1 square inch) of white paper on the front center and at the back center of cedar clippings, and secured them tightly with a stapler.

This way I created a wreath like tea light holder.

To add a distinct festive look, using tacky glue, I wrapped each tea light with white ribbon.

I attached the wreath and a tea light to a bamboo skewer.

Next, I used a florist foam, a Dollar Store plastic silver look plate, pinecones previously painted in white, and 4 pounds of epsom salt to make the arrangement.

And there you go.

It turned out quite neat and nice, and it can be used mainly as a centerpiece for dinner, tea parties or simply as a decor on console tables, sofa tables or elsewhere throughout holiday season.

It is an affordable and easy to make centerpiece. Most importantly it is fun to make and, as simple as it is, it adds elegance to any sitting for this holiday season.

If you decide to make one I would love to hear how yours turned out.

Sharing with: The Scoop; Common Ground; Silver Pennies

Great thanks to the following blog for featuring this post: One More Time Event; Craftionary
Thank you for reading.

Besa

Even though there is no snow and the temperature has not gone below zero as yet, evening after evening we are cozying by and enjoying the fire of our open wood burning fireplace.
As much as I was enjoying the coziness of the fire, I was pretty much disliking the dated and unattractive fireplace screen that we have.

Despite disliking it, I was not ready and willing to pay a big buck for a new one which I like, so I gave my fireplace screen a mini makeover.

I started by creating a (left and right) greek key corner template on a A4 sheet of paper. After creating the template I laid down the screen and positioned the template under the screen.

With a piece of chalk I traced the lines of the greek key onto the screen, using the template placed beneath the screen. Transferring the pattern onto the screen made it easier for stenciling.
Previously, using the mentioned template I created a stencil. I used this stencil to apply the white paint onto the screen.

After applying the paint on four corners, I used the painter’s tape to create a line for joining the greek key corners. After taping off the line, I applied the paint and immediately removed the tape.

And that was it.

In less than an hour, I had an updated fireplace screen which I instantly started liking.
These simple corners in white acrylic paint added an interesting detail and modern touch to a fairly dated fireplace screen.

Now I am fully enjoying the fireplace as well as the coziness of the fire coming through the screen which underwent a quick and successful makeover.

Is your fireplace screen in need of a makeover? If so, perhaps you may consider updating it using this or similar design!


Linking to: The Shabby Nest; Dwellings; Coastal Charm; Give Me The Goods; Make it Pretty Monday; Emanuela@ My Little Inspirations; Bloom Designs; Common Ground‘ Thrifty Things Friday; The Charm of Home; Life After Laundry; Embracing Change; The Shabby Nest; The Cottage Market; The Girl Creative; My Romantic Home; Liz Marie Blog

Great Thanks to these lovely blogsites for featuring this post: Maison De Pax; Life After Laundry; Salt Tree; <a href="

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Thank you for reading.
Besa

Ever since entering the world of blogland I have seen quite a few painted wing chairs and sofas from bloggers out there, and many of them are quite fantastic.

While I was convinced that paint can fix and bring up to date almost everything, I was not sure whether the ordinary latex interior paint could fix and bring a cast-off chair into an up-to-date furnishing, so I wanted to undertake a challenge of painting an outdated wingback chair.

I found two (quite ugly) wingback chairs in the local adds for free, and had some leftovers of different colors of latex interior and exterior paint so I decided to paint one of the chairs.

I partially followed the instructions of Hyphen Interiors for painting a chair. I did not use the textile medium as I found this product to be quite expensive. Textile medium is a permanent bonding solution that when mixed with paint will become permanent to fabric, so when you wash the fabric the paint or the dye does not come off.

I used:
Less than 1 Quart of Latex Water Based Paint-White
1/2 Quart of Latex Water Based Paint-BM Sea Haze
Spray Bottle full of water
2 inch paint brush
sponge brush for edges
Sponge roller
Spray paint- white
Thumbtacks- about 200
Total cost of the project: $1.25 for a package(300 counts) of thumbtacks purchased at a Dollar Store.

I mixed 1 part of white latex paint and 1 part water for the first and second coat. For the third and fourth coat I mixed 1 part of paint and 1/4 water. During the first and second coat I lightly sprayed the fabric with water before applying the paint. The spraying helps the paint to evenly penetrate into the fabric. I used a sponge roller to apply the first and second coat and small sponge brush for painting the edges and the piping. The third and fourth coat was applied with the brush. I did not sand between the coats as suggested by many bloggers who undertook this challenge previously, and I was satisfied with the results I was getting.

For the back and the sides of the chair I used undiluted paint and gave the chair two coats of paint-Benjamin Moore’s Sea Haze.I applied this color with a roller. Initially I started with Foothills – Sherwin Williams but I was not happy with the color choice so I switched to BM Sea Haze, and I am so glad I did.


I allowed 24 hours between applying each coat.

I spray painted the legs with Rust-Oleum-heirloom white.

After applying all these coats of paint, the fabric turns into a vinyl/leather like material, so if you like leather you will be okay with it. My husband tried the chair, and his comment was funny: “it feels like you are sitting on heavy starched linens”. It made me laugh to tears.

Lastly , using a template as shown in the picture below, I nailed the thumbtacks about 1/2 inch apart around the piping on the wings and on the front bottom of the chair.

After drying, the paint does not get on your clothes even without the use of the textile medium. Moreover the paint does not crack when you sit on the chair. I am not sure what will happen after a while, but for now it seems that this chair may have a long life ahead.


Even though it may appear like a daunting and lengthy painting process, I did not find it as such. It was not tiresome either, considering that you only spend about 30-40 minutes of your time for each coat every 24 hours. It is a bit messy process though as it involves paint and a bulky chair in the middle of your garage (carport in my case),backyard or an indoor space, but other than that it is a fun project to undertake, especially if you are happy how your project is coming along.

I am happy that my challenge paid of so the ugly wingback chair turned into a beautiful white swan.


Unfortunately, due to the limited space in my home I cannot make a use of this chair, so I am thinking of donating it to one of the charities in the area I live. It would be a perfect furnishing for a girl’s room, nursery or as an accent chair in a bedroom, hallway or elsewhere. Depending on the accessories, this chair may add a romantic feel as well as dramatic look to any space.

Do you have a chair in need of a face-lift? Well you may try painting it. It may turn as beautiful as my chair.

Linking to: The Shaby Nest; 504 Main; Romantic Home; Classy Clutter; Dwellings; By Stephanie Lynn; Liz Marie Blog; A Blossoming Life; Coastal Charm; DIY Showoff; Crafty Allie; The Charm of Home; Serenity Now; Give Me The Goods Monday; Silver Pennies

Great thanks to these lovely blogsites for featuring this post: Blissfully Ever After, The Cottage Market; The Shabby Nest: Serenity Now; Dimples and Pig Tales; Carrie This Home; A Pretty Life in the Suburbs, Lovely Crafty Home; Power of Paint
Thank you for reading.

Besa

These past few days we are experiencing a nice rainless sunny wether, so I take every opportunity to spend the afternoons lounging on the sun at my backyard porch curled up with my favorite blanket.

I have had two checked lambswool blankets for over 20 years, and even though throughout these years I bought other different throws and blankets, none of them was good enough to replace my favorite oldies.

However, the age has taken its toll so these oldies are getting thinner and quite fringeless, so in order to make them more fun and to add to them a bit of texture, I replaced the remains of the fringe with huge pompoms. Pompoms are fun, and for me they evoke nice childhood memories, warmth, coziness…

I found a very suitable bulky loosely twisted yarn (BERNST Rowing -5) at craft store, in cream and black. I got one ball-100gram (120 yards) in each color.

To create pompoms I made 2 cardboard rings (3 inches in diameter) as shown below. I started wrapping the yearn around the ring about several times until I wrapped about 18 yards (for each pom).


Once I have wrapped the yarn around the rings, I placed one scissor tip into the loops and started cutting the loops open.

I slightly separated the cardboard rings and using another piece of yarn, at about 7 inch in length, I tied off the center tightly and securely. Once it’s knotted, I had a “ two-strand tail” so I could attach the pompom to the blanket.

Once the yarn was tied, I slowly removed the rings from the cut yarn, and I had a beautiful pompom in less than 10 minutes.

Since my blanket was quite worn at the edges, I had to create kind of a blanket stitch (using a crochet needle) before attaching the pompoms. I used the “two strand-tail” to fasten the pompom to the blanket.

Now that I have revived my favorite blankets I am looking forward to sunny fall afternoons at my backyard porch, and cozy nights by the fireplace.

I hope that that my dog is going to resist to these fluffy balls of fun. I had a hard time keeping him away from the yarn while I was working on pompoms.
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Do you have an old blanket or throw which you would like to keep it forever? I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading.

P.S. Linking to Silver Pennies Sundays Link Party; Nifty Thrifty Things Sunday, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson; Common Ground; We Call It Junkin; The Shabby Nest; Embracing Change; Made In A Day
Great thanks to the following blogsites for featuring this post: Embracing Change; Have a Daily Cup of MRs. Olson; Made In A Day; Stephanie Lynn
Besa

Lately, the traditional jack-o’-lantern is being replaced by more glamorous pumpkin decorating, so I easily and happily embraced this trend.

Few days ago I picked up another big jack-o lantern pumpkin at my nearby grocery store, and this time instead of chopping it up and making it ready for my cakes, pies and soups, I decided to give it a glam makeover.

I wanted to incorporate thumbtacks in my pumpkin decor. I already had a few which were a left over from another project. I also had white and gray spray paint cans, and I thought this color scheme would be a perfect match for the high gloss nickel thumbtacks.

The pumpkin I picked was flat in one side, so this imperfection gave me an inspiration for my design. The whole design idea of my painted jack-o-lantern evolves over the flat side of this pumpkin.

After taping off the stem I spray painted gray the flat side, and continued with a 4 inch line all around the center of the pumpkin.

In order to proceed with the white color I made a pattern, as shown below, from the kitchen towel paper to cover the gray which I originally wanted to be shown on the design.

Something went wrong, and while removing the paper towel the gray paint peeled off in some spots, so I had to cover this with what I had at hand.

As you can see it was a black glossy paint, another left over can of paint from my porch railing project.

Luckily, it turned better than I expected, even though I was not as precise as I should have been while covering the gray. However, the thumbtacks take away the attention from the sloppy job done with the black, so all in all it turned out nice.

After placing the thumbtacks, I used white french manicure nail polish to “engrave” our monogram “M”, and the glamorous pumpkin was ready to take the stage.

I placed it in an ice bucket, and surrounded it with a hand made wreath of fresh cut snowberries. I like these juicy white pearl like berries, and I wanted to incorporate those in this year’s fall and holiday decor.

Who would think that a pumpkin can add a touch of glam to a place or setting. Well this is a prove that it can, so do you feel like swapping pumpkin orange for another color this fall?
If so then try this glamorous pumpkin makeover.
Thank you for reading.



Sharing with Our Delightful Home; Common Ground; The Charm of Home; The Trhiftiness Miss ; Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson ; French Country Cottage ; The Romantic Home; Under the Table and Dreaming; A Dedicated House; Home Stories, Serendipity Spice; DIY Show Off

Besa

I find magnolia leaves breathtaking. They are shiny green on one side, and velvety, cinnamon brown on the reverse. Even the fallen and dried ones have that distinct rich shine and beautiful, beautiful fall colors.

I do not have such a tree in my front or back yard, but luckily there is one in my neighbor’s front yard , so I can enjoy this beautiful tree all year around, and even sometimes pick up its fallen leaves for my floral arrangement.

We have experienced quite a stormy whether during past week, so as a result my front yard was full of fallen magnolia leaves. This made me very happy as I was planning to change my mantel decor to welcome the fall, and magnolia leaves were a perfect fit for fall decor.

Few days ago I bought two metal decoration balls, and after collecting all the fallen magnolia leaves in my front yard I started thinking on how I could arrange these leaves into these balls.

At this point I decided to use the wire as I figured that elastic is not working anymore. I started wiring on bundles of leaves at the top of the ball, and continued all the way down. I tied them tight and kept them as close as possible, so I could create a full look.

After achieving the desired look I placed the arrangement into a white bowl to create the stability, and showcased it on the mantel.

I have replaced the mirror used for my summer mantel decor with the wall art purchased few years back at Bombay & Co. After moving to our new place, this framed art (stored in my closet for months) was patiently waiting to get hanged and displayed in a decent place, so I am glad that now these pieces of art got the focal point.

The colors in the hand painted glass complement the magnolia leaf arrangement, and the white surround within the frame complements the white fireplace trim, so there is a right balance and nice transition from dark to bright colors. The candle holder in gold goes nicely with the touches of gold in the glass painting. Touches of gold in home decor accessories have been quite trendy in 2013; “ hence, some touch of gold in my mantel decor”.

I think that my fall mantel looks pretty and elegant. What do you think? I would love to hear from you about how you have incorporated magnolia leaves into your home decor.

Thank you for reading.
Linking to: A Stroll Thru Life ; Common Ground; The Charm of Home; Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Besa