Rev Up Your Outdoors {a Fancy Giveaway!}

Anyone else have the urge to play in the dirt?  As we've gotten warmer here in Georgia, I can hear my garden and containers calling me!  This weekend I will be purchasing my first ever tomato plants to have in containers on my back deck... my husband is a great skeptic, but I hope to have some delish red tomatoes to enjoy this summer.

Since I have a graduate this year (Yikes!), I'll be putting a little extra care into my beds and containers.  We'll be hosting some out-of-town company and, of course, an outdoor soiree in her honor. More on that later this month-- once we're ahead of all the interior repairs, of course!  But I've already started my list of annuals and a few transplants, so the wheels are turning.

I was thrilled when Amanda over at Fancy Little Things gave me a heads up about their latest Home and Garden Giveaway:  a Bloomerang Lilac!



Isn't this gorgeous??  Here's some information on this particular plant from Better Homes and Gardens:

"New Bloomerang dwarf lilac covers itself with clusters of purple-pink, sweetly scented blooms in May, and then continues flowering off and on throughout the summer! Reaching just 4 to 5 feet tall, it fits perfectly in foundation plantings or small gardens. Plant several together and create a fragrant hedge."Reblooming lilac blooms from spring and again from mid-summer to frost and does best in full sun.


I did a little digging (no pun intended!) and found a few more features of this variety of lilac online.

• Attacts butterflies (love this!)
  • Best Seller
• • Cut Flower
• • Deer Resistant
• • Fall Interest
• • Fragrant Flowers
• • Landscape Plant
• • Needs Good Drainage

These are just the kind of things I like to know about new plants and I like to keep it simple ~ hence the bullet points!

I've got the perfect corner of my yard for this beauty... how about you?  Head over to Fancy Little Things between now and May 2nd to enter this fabulous giveaway! 

Happy Decorating and Happy Gardening!

Urn to Lamp {DIY}

Confession: my home is in serious disarray right now as we deal with a broken toilet induced flood in our finished basment, a faulty water heater, and ... gasp! ... termites.  Ugh.  Just as I'm counting down to out of town guests for my daughter's high school graduation in a few weeks!  We're trying to get on top of everything, but you can imagine! 

All that to say that some of my planned projects this month have gone out the window while I deal with repairs.  Such a bummer.

Luckily, I have this urn to lamp transformation that my son and I did together to share with you.  Remember this sweet little Southern Living at HOME urn in my family room?

It's been around awhile and I decided I wanted a little accent lamp on my family room bookcases.  This was the perfect candidate!

I got both of these in the lighting department at Home Depot - less than $15 for the two.  I wasn't entirely sure I would need the harp, but bought it just in case!

We decided to use the harp as part of the assembly, because I could always remove the top part if I didn't want it.

We just followed the directions on the back of the lamp kit... super easy!

Before we inserted the socket down into the harp base, we tested our connection.  Success!

Here's where I had to get a little crafty!  The lamp kit did not come with an insert large enough for the opening of the urn.  So I simply used hot glue to secure the harp base and lamp kit apparatus to the urn.

See how the arms of the harp apparatus rest against the lip of the urn?  Since this little guy won't see a ton of use, I'm pretty confident that we're all secure!  After all, I'm the only one in my household that actually turns the accent lamps off and on!

And here she is!  I love the pop of red on the bookcase, and the lamp is the perfect touch since it tends to be a dark corner anyway.  I'm not crazy about the blah little shade but it was $4.99 at Old Time Pottery, so I'm seeing a little stencilling or fabric in it's future. :)

I'm hoping to continue progress on my months old home office revamp, so look for a post or two on that coming up-- home repairs permitting! 

Can you relate? Do your home repairs ever get in the way of your fun projects??

Happy Decorating!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas {April Sale!}

Shameless plug alert!!  But honestly, gals, this is too good not to bring it to your attention...Have you seen all the Willow House goodies on sale this month?  Perfect Mother's Day {and teacher!} gifts!!






Does Mom like to entertain?  Our Adair Upside-Down Cake Stand {my personal favorite!} or our sweet Ruffled Glass pitcher OR our Gramercy Beverage Server and Stand would all delight her!

Is Mom a gardener?  Our beautiful Hampton Court Rain Gauge or Tealight Garden Stakes will add the perfect touch to her outdoor spaces!

Is she a whiz in the kitchen?  Our gorgeous Hyacinth Measuring Cups, Mixing Bowls, and Ramekins are lovely and the highest quality kitchen ware, and our sweet little Pixie Measuring Spoons are adorable.

Sale prices are good through Friday April 30th while supplies last.  Click HERE to place your order online.

Happy Shopping and Happy Decorating!

Happy Easter

Alleluia!  The Lord is Risen!

Have a most blessed Easter, friends.

Green Decorating {My Favorite Tip}

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I would touch on natural elements in decorating.  Of course, plants are a beautiful way to bring nature into your decor...

 I also love to pull things out of my pantry and use them to decorate.  In the winter time, coffee beans.  They smell delightful and cozy and they are eco-friendly.  Layer them with creamy Northern beans for even more interest.

In the spring, my go-to item is a bag of green split peas. 

Inexpensive!  Publix will sometimes have them 2 for $1.

I filled a small square glass vase with peas, tucked in a votive candle and then wrapped one of my favorite ribbons around the outside.

Here I filled my Willow House Hawthorne Hurricane with split peas, then wedged a juice glass down inside to hold the water and flowers.

And they secure a large pillar in my Coronado Stone Pedestal's glass cylinder.  Perfect pop of color here.

And I can't resist showing you my sweet bunnies with the amazing birch texture.

They join me every spring, bringing nature's look and textures into my decor.  Speaking of nature's textures, check out a few others on the Ballard's website.

What natural elements do you use in decorating?

Have a blessed Easter weekend with your families, everyone. :)

Easter Tablescape

Easter is actually a really easy holiday table opportunity... with the arrival of spring, you have all kinds of fresh flowers available and eggs galore in every store!  This year I rescued my beloved Drake Lantern from my pollen-covered front porch to join in the table scape for Sunday's Easter brunch.

By the way, how do you dine on Easter Sunday?  Brunch?  A late lunch?  An early supper?  We have always had a late lunch, but this year we've decided to do brunch before the later church service.  I'll let you know what I serve, but I'm leaning toward ham, a frittata, some Lemon-Blueberry Bread, and fresh fruit.  How simple is that?

Anyway, I digress!  I pulled out my old Southern Living at HOME Barley Twist Pedestal to anchor everything and then built my table scape from there.  My stand-by was this bag of Spanish moss (a bright green color) and an assortment of decorative eggs I've assembled over the years. 

And I had to use my mercury glass pillar holders from Pottery Barn because I love them.

The pillars got a fresh bed of new moss (you can see the aged old moss beside my scissors there-- yuk!)

Here's the Drake Lantern on a bed of moss, surrounded by a few eggs and with a miniature birds' nest tucked in.  I really wanted white lilies in the glass canister, but they were not to be found!  So I settled on these soft pink Gerber daisies instead.

The bed of moss is on top of one of my Villa Stoneware dinner plates-- just love the cream beaded edge peeking out!  And then I popped the whole ensemble on top of my Barley Twist Pedestal.  Do you see my little Drake Firefly Lanterns that have migrated from my family room mantle?  They just fit right in with their little nests, too.

Love the speckles on the different eggs.

So here's a view of the whole arrangement.  Sorry for the glare!  The lines of the lanterns are really beautiful.

View from the other side of the table.  See that dated foyer light fixture?  Gotta a can of spray paint waiting for that bad boy.

From the other end of the table.  Now, how about some details??

The different metals and variety of textures keeps this interesting and the combination of fresh and faux keeps it simple.  Don't forget you can head to my Willow House website and shop online for the Drake Lantern, the Drake Firefly Lanterns, the Villa Stoneware Dinner Plates, AND Lemon-Blueberry Quick Bread Mix.

So, again ~ how do you celebrate Easter Sunday around the table?

Linking up over at Between Naps on the Porch this week... pop over there for more wonderful table scapes!

Looky What I Found: Scavenger Saturday

I should have been home doing... something productive. Like pulling together my Easter tablescape to share with y'all this week. But instead I had to pop over to Woodstock Antiques.  They were having an outdoor open market and many of their indoor vendors were offering discounts in their booths as well.  So I went to do a little... ahem... research.

Great day for shopping research.

I'm picturing this in a large open foyer, with a Swedish finish and fun graphic upholstry. 

Pretty, but too steep for me!

Cute display in this French themed booth.

I could think of about 100 places for this little chippy bench.

Sorry for the blurry IPhone pic-- love these little pearl monogram ornaments AND how they're displayed.

Bundles of vintage postcards, letters, envelopes, and sheet music.

Love this idea-- one of those Reader's Digest collections covered with sheet music.

Extra large frame would be perfect on a gallery wall (I'd have to spray paint it, I think!).

Tastefully done booth-- lots of pretties and not too cluttered, plus I love the use of space by hanging the chair on the peg board.

Sweet little basket of antique books {you know how I love those!}.

Can you see the price on the chalkboard?  Can you say DIY??

Lots of shabby chic finds today-- cool use for a ceiling tin.

More books in excellent shape.

The magnifying glass is awesome, but I'm all about the ledger.

Loved the lines on this chair.

Another great DIY!

This booth was so interesting... everything painted gray or pewter and lots of silver and pewter pieces.

Even remnants of fabric. :)  Kicking myself for not picking up one of these.

What an awesome piece!

Are your wheels turning yet?

These came home with me. :)

One booth was all sports memorabilia.

Clever and pretty idea for displaying or storing your necklaces.

All in all a successful shopping research excursion.  So now you'll have to wait until tomorrow for my Easter tablescape.  :-)

Happy Decorating!