My 200th Post, A Few Thoughts {and Updates}

Well, this one snuck up on me!  This is my 200th post and want to take the time to thank you {my loyal readers} for visiting and commenting and basically for giving this little 'ole blog the time of day!  I continue to refine my vision for this corner of the blogosphere, so you'll be seeing some different types of posts including travel, recipes, living in the South, more DIY, and loads of decor and design inspiration that fuels me.  I hope you'll give me feedback as I continue to learn and grow; I love hearing your thoughts!

El Presidente left town on Wednesday, and I immediately began dismantling our home office to get the long overdue makeover started.  Within an hour, I felt like I'd bitten off more than I could chew (ever feel like that when diving into a new project?).  I've had to take a few breaks over the last couple of days to get my head straight and my process focused.  You see, our home office is OURS (me, hubs, 3 teenagers) and organization --sustainable organization-- is a challenge.  More on that in a later post. :)

Remember this?

Yes, that's "my" desk.

It's actually an old banquet table covered in fabrics (that I never got around to hemming because I really haven't loved them from the get go).  The beauty of using an old banquet table as a desk is that it's an awesome size workspace, has abundant storage underneath, and it's something I already have.

Here's the desk I really WANT:

*Sigh*

But with one teen headed to college this fall, it's just not in the budget.  So... banquet table it is! 

I decided to change out the fabrics to something fresher against my beloved purple walls (read about how I arrived at the wall color - and why I'll never change it-- HERE).  But I'm going to use the fabrics a little differently, too.

I made the crazy decision to PAINT the top of my banquet table and create a tailored skirt around the base to conceal the necessary storage underneath.  Now, I have no idea what I'm doing here, so this completely an "in progress" peek. :-)

Love the size of the workspace but the visual just won't do!  I sanded the top lightly to even out the surface -- there are a few nicks and there was glitter from when we used this as an art table in the playroom.  I also HAD to vacuum underneath. :)

My secret for keeping my brush moist in between coats {this even works overnight}.

Here she is with a nice coat of Kilz.  I ended up doing two coats for good measure.

See that quart of paint (straight out of our paint cabinet in the garage)?  Porter Paint's Velvet White is a creamy white and the trim throughout our house is this color.  I figured, why not?

Crisply painted surface (two coats!). Ahhhh...

Then I decided this little old bookcase from my college days needed some paint, too.

Last night I put a coat of poly on both.  May put another on today, just to be safe. These need to be workhorse surfaces after all!

While this project is turning out to be more daunting than I'd imagined, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you're off work and the hubby is out of town. :)  More next week... in the meantime, what projects are you working on these days?

Happy Decorating!

Lake Rabun Living

The hubs (aka El Presidente) enjoyed a wonderful anniversary weekend on Lake Rabun.  Rabun is one of the man-made Georgia Power lakes in the mountains of North Georgia, about 2 hours northeast of Atlanta (click HERE for more about the lake).  We're so blessed to have a fairy godmother/aunt who graciously hosts us periodically... and we enjoy her hospitality every chance we get!  In fact, we got married there June 10, 2006 and quite literally took the plunge off her boathouse dock. It's still one of our favorite getaway spots.

Today, I thought I'd give you a taste of life on the lake in the North Georgia mountains.  In the summertime, it's all about the outside.  Can you see why?

One of our favorite warm weather spots is right here, on top of the boathouse.

We spent several hours a day in these chairs!  Our second favorite spot is her screened porch that overlooks the lake.

It runs the entire length of the house and wraps around to the kitchen.  The perfect spot to enjoy coffee in the morning and one last glass of wine at night.  Her rattan furniture was painted 17years ago when they built the house and it still looks wonderful.  Quite the paint job!

She's known for her quirky little touches that make it feel like home.

You almost feel like you're in a treehouse!  They were careful when they built the house to leave as many of the trees in place as they possibly could, for shade, privacy, and the treehouse effect.  Success!

This is their walkway down to the boathouse and dock.  See what I mean?

Cozy rug underfoot anchors the seating area and the soaring tongue-in-groove ceiling of the porch keeps it feeling open and au naturel.

Just outside the screen door is a stone patio that runs in front of the bedroom wing and houses the hot tub (of course).  My favorite thing about this space is this beautiful rail crafted from mountain laurel branches.

There are steps from the patio down to this second little dock with a handcrafted laurel arbor.

Think you could relax in this swing?  Or how about with this view?

or this one?

Cheers!

I have more to share from the lake, so c'mon back and put your feet up. :)

Linking up with Ten June's Summer Fun party!!

And Centsational Girl's Favorite Destinations!

I Can't Resist... John Gidding on HGTV's Curb Appeal

During a handful of days of spent *recovering* from my daughter's graduation and my son's departure for Greece, I lounged in front of the telly, flipping back and forth between the French Open and HGTV.  Decadent, I know, but I was seriously incapable of doing much else I was so emotionally and physically drained!

I'd watched Curb Appeal a time or two before and I love the premise of the show.  The crew shows up on a block (often here in Atlanta somewhere) and has chosen one house in particular that gets a stunning landscaping and often architectural makeover to enhance the curb appeal.  AND, while that makeover is going on, a handful of other homes on the block get a mini makeover, too!  Mailbox redo, trees limbed up, porches repainted and staged-- things like that.  Simple things that get you thinking: hmm, what a difference those little changes make to the way a house looks from the street!


Anyway, during my *two day recovery* I must have watched four or five episodes of this show and realized that part of the appeal of the show is this:



The impossibly good-looking, talented, and personable host, John Gidding.  My daughter just laughs at me, but he is fun to watch!  Out of curiosity I jumped on hgtv.com to find out more and learned he has a Master's Degree in architecture from Harvard's Graduate School of Design.  Okay, so he's brilliant, too.  And accomplished.  He's worked on Brooklyn Bridge Park and pavilion for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing.  Knew I couldn't resist him for a reason!  Oh, and throw in that he was a fashion model along the way... just sayin'.

Find out more about the show including airtimes HERE.  You'll be inspired to get out and enhance your own curb appeal!

Image via hgtv.com.

Happy Viewing!!

Incredible Antiques Sale Continues {45% off!}

Well, friends, my trusty laptop is back in the game!!  Woo hoo!!  Just in time for my hubs (aka El Presidente) and I to head to our favorite lake to celebrate 5 years of blended family and wedded bliss.  I'll share some snapshots of mountain lake living with you next week... a fun change of pace here at Show Some Decor!

In the meantime, I leave you with a tempting weekend shopping spree.  My good friend Tricia of Avolli Swedish Antiques is continuing her Early Retirement Sale with 45% off.  I just perused her website and she's got some incredible deals available on what I call heirloom quality pieces. Beautiful furniture, rugs, lighting, and artwork are still available!


This gorgeous Oldemark watercolor is one of my favorites.



And what would you do with these architectural elements?



And a 19th century chest with perfect scale for any spot in your home.

Head to the Avolli website to see her incredible inventory and don't forget to check out her blog for the scoop on helping spread the word about this sale.

Happy Decorating!

Graduation Party Decorations {Centerpieces and Wrap-Up}

Today I'll share the last of my DIY decorations I pulled together for Erin's graduation party.  When my son graduates in two years, I'll be able to whip these out in no time, even reusing the Congratulations banner and the buckets with flags {thanks for all your sweet comments on those, by the way!}.

For the centerpieces, I pulled out my glass hurricanes (Willow House Hawthorne and Hemingway), juice glasses, paper shred, and three more flags on spray painted dowels.  My mom and I picked up daisies and yellow and red roses at WalMart for just a few dollars a bunch.  I wanted two centerpieces in yellow and black for the food table and one in red and black for the cake table.

We started by putting a layer of white beans in the bottom of each hurricane to anchor the juice glasses, which held the water for the flowers.  We (Mom) combined some yellow and black paper shred and then some red and black paper shred and we tucked it around the juice glasses.

Here you see them without the flowers, but with their own little flags added.

Flowers added...

And here they are on the food table and cake table.

To share a few other quickie decorations, remember these letters and the gold stars from WalMart?

They became this little banner on my family room mantle.  I put one of her baby pictures and her senior portrait up there, too, since it was all about the girl.

And a couple of final touches...

Letters from Old Time Pottery for $1.99 each... they're now in her room. :)

And I think this is my favorite.  My Southern Living at Home Dress Me Up Platter (now retired), red ribbon from WalMart, and a snapshot of her at 6 months {wasn't she a cutie?}.  I simply used a couple of photo mounts to adhere the pic, dry erase marker for the message and a simple Pier One plate stand to prop it up.  You spied it earlier by the cake... this one drew rave reviews.

Whew!  So there you have it!  Party decor on a dime... hope you can use some of these ideas for your next celebration!  If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I'll be happy to answer.

Happy Decorating and Happy Celebrating!

Graduation Party Decorations {Paper Banner and Buckets}

Well, I can finally share some more of my handcrafted graduation party decorations!  Thanks for being so patient. :)  I wanted to share with you sooner, but -- well, you know the story.

I posted HERE about the diy paper banner... still marvel at how simple and inexpensive this project was.  The measuring and cutting was a little time consuming, but I love how economical it was and I will reuse this, I'm sure.

So here is the finished product, hung across my breakfast room bay window and party ready!

I had a plan as well for some sweet little yellow bucket decorations that I could spread around the house and deck.  I used the leftover scrapbook paper and cut out additional smaller triangles, like pennants.  Then I printed out a few phrases on white card stock, like "way to go!", "UGA Girl", "Top of the Class", etc.  I cut out smaller triangles with the phrases and glued them on top of the scrapbook triangles.

I attached each pennant to a dowel that I spray painted black.

Remember these little yellow buckets I scored at Old Time Pottery for 88 cents each?  I cut a square of florists foam to fit into each one and covered it with black paper shred.

I inserted the dowels with pennants attached into the florist foam.

Viola!!

I put one of these on each outdoor table on our deck, one in the powder room, one beside the beverages, and one on the coffee table.  Easily under $1 each to make. My favorite kind of budget party decor!

Next I'll share the centerpieces and a few other celebratory touches that drew rave reviews.

Thanks for stopping by!

More News from Willow House! {June Sale Is On!}

First of all, I'm sorry I've been MIA for the past week or so.  Graduation, out of towners, sending one child off to Greece, and a crashed lap top have made it really difficult to post.  I promise I'll share the graduation party decorations soon, but with my computer issues my photos have not been accessible.  So I thought today I'd share the Willow House June sale and more.  Love a good sale on home decor and this is a good one!  Remember you can order directly online at my website by clicking HERE.






And some sweet deals for the Hostess, too {let me know if you'd like to host an online catalog party to take advantage}.



And for something new and different, check out our new jewelry line that is launching this fall!  Click HERE to preview our designs and then come back and tell me what you think!

Hope you all are enjoying the onset of summer!
Happy Decorating and Happy Shopping.