More Ballard Inspiration

I must be honest, until I read Traci's post about her 'Ballard inspired' shelves, I had never even heard of Ballard Designs! Looking at their website though I can see that a lot of what they have, I love! Their prices - not so much!

I have a piece of furniture that I don't really like, but I don't want to get rid of it because it's pretty functional and would probably cost a lot to replace it with a similar piece that I would like. It's this.....

a mission style 'dresser' kind of thing that we originally bought to sit a big screen tv on a few years ago (and not in this house I might add). It later was moved to the dining room when we bought a new entertainment unit for the tv (that would be the dining room in this house). It holds a lot of my seasonal table decor/chargers etc, so that's why I don't want to get rid of it because I can't afford to buy another piece like it. As you see it now, it sits in our hallway because I was trying to free up some room in the dining room. I thought that I might stain it a little darker so it stood out against the cream wall. Then, after seeing a lot of 'Ballard' stuff recently I thought "why not black"? It seems all the rage right now, and I really do like the look.

So I did. . . . I painted it black this weekend (without even asking hubby!) Here it is after one coat of matt' kettle black' paint by Valspar.

I did two coats of black paint but honestly felt like the matt look was too 'matt' (for want of a better word). I distressed the edges then added a coat of satin polyurethane and . . . . got this!

It's still in the hallway and I added back the fall decor (except the bird cage is currently on my table and you'll have to wait til Thursday to see why ;-)

So what do you think? Better? Worse?

below is a view from me standing up the stairs a little,

I really like it (and hubby does too, yay!) but I would like to eventually move it back in to the dining room and use it as a buffet too.

It was only after I painted it I thought about going on the Ballard website to see if they had any thing similar, and lo and behold they do -

It looks a little shinier than mine but that's ok. I would like to try and remove the handles on mine and replace them but I'm not sure we can. They aren't just screwed in but actually 'stapled' with very thick metal. Hubby suggested I paint all of the handles black?

What would you do?

I didn't get to post on Friday about my grocery challenge because I didn't actually go to the grocery store! I went mid week for some fresh fruit and other stuff, but I still didn't over spend. I'll update later this week on that.

Pinky!You left a comment on my Thursday post asking me to visit your tablescape, but your name isn't linked to your profile or a website. So, if you're reading this please leave me a way I can return your visit.That goes for anyone else leaving me a comment. I love getting comments, and I love visiting your blogs but I feel awful if I can't. I don't want you to think I'm ignoring you. Check your blogger profile or whatever you use and see if people can find a way back to you :-)

I'm linking to Susan's Met Monday and Cheri's Knock Off Knock Out.

Said the Bells of St Clements

Strange title for a blog post? If you're from England you may know where I'm going with this, and if you're not.... well, you'll soon see where I'm going with this :-)

Are we all ready for another Tablescape Thursday? Don't you just love Thursdays now? I know I'm not the only one! Since I found Susan's blog at Between Naps on the Porch I've discovered a new 'hobby' so to speak, and that's setting my table every Thursday (well actually Wednesday, so I can have pictures ready for Thursday) whether I'm planning a fancy dinner or not! The main goal for me is to have fun, AND not spend much money. Believe it or not, last weeks setting cost me zero dollars. So this week I thought I might 'splash out' a bit and spend some.

My inspiration this week? Remember the 'cheap' napkin rings I used just two weeks ago from Kohl's. When I looked at them closely they reminded me of lemons (even though they kinda look like yellow apples!). So lemons it was going to be. As you can see from the above picture, I started off with fresh lemons in a vase, placed my green tablemats (seen previously here), added the gold chargers, white plates AND my big spend this week....4 green plates from Goodwill, a mere $2.99!

Next I added the yellow napkins (same ones I used here) with the napkin rings, and added a tablerunner (if you can call it that. It's actually just some scrap material I had that has sunflowers on it).

Next (above) I added candle holders. These are a set of 5 from Kirklands (I think) and all different heights, but I still think they look good).

I wanted to add a splash of 'freshness' so I went out back and cut some branches from our Pomegrante tree and a few bunches of basil from the herb garden (which as you can see, if you enlarge the picture, has gone slightly to seed, ooh but it smells so good).

Below is taken from the other side of the table with my terracotta wall in the background... looking rather 'Tuscany' I think!

A close up of the green plate from Goodwill.

So, all the while I was setting this table 'oranges and lemons' kept going through my head. Oranges and Lemons is a very old nursery rhyme. We used to sing it when I was a kid and played a game where two people stood opposite each other with their hands raised high and together to form an arch. Kids would line up to go under the arch as we sang :

Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clements
You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St Martins
When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey
When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch
When will that be, say the bells of Stepney
I'm sure I don't know, says the great bell at Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head

(at this point whoever was under the arch would be caught between the arms of the two kids as they swung their arms down.

You can read more about these old churches and the nursery rhyme HERE.

So, having just been out to the store this morning where I picked up some lovely mandarin oranges, I had to go get them and 'throw' some on the table :-)

What a beautiful splash of color they give it, don't you think? And total cost to 'play' TT this week.. $5.98, ($2.99 for the plates and $2.99 for a bag of lemons!) I bought the oranges to actually eat, and whereas I will eat the lemons too I did buy them specifically for the table.

I managed to get evening shots too :-) Don't you just love the glow of candlelight?




Hope you've enjoyed all the pics this week. I love to read your comments so don't forget to leave me a little 'hello' before you leave. I try my best to return all of your visits (if you have a link that is) :-)

Can you see the potential?

I've been frequenting the local Goodwill store lately in the hopes I'll find some bargains, perhaps for my tablescapes (which I did, but I'll share those another day!). The other day I came across this rather sad excuse for a topiary! Hubby laughed when he came home and saw it in the garage :-)

But I see the potential, don't you? I've often envisioned some kind of topiary at my front door, but look at the prices of these things ! They don't come cheap. This one did! This one was only $7 at Goodwill.

I am aiming for something like this (picture from Michael's website). Even at Michael's these cost at least $50 when not on sale.

So, first of all I pulled the flowers off, then I started snipping away at the 'wood' wrapped around it. Everything was wired together, and there were Christmas lights on it too, although strangely enough I never did find the socket at the end? The greenery had to go too. I want to get some new ivy. I will have to go take a closer look at the ones in Michaels as I'm not sure if the leaves are stuck on separately or if it is wrapped around the balls in long strands.

Right now my 'soon to look fabulous' topiary looks like this. . . .

I actually like the look of this, very Autumnal, don't you think? But I do want to cover it with greenery so it can be used for other seasons too. I'll keep you posted on it's progress :-)

For more fabulous 'outdoor' posts visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer.

84 years young

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Maaam-my

Happy Birthday to you

LOVE YOU MAM,
Wish we could be there with you .
Hope your day is as beautiful as you are.

x x x x

A Little Before and After

Who doesn't like to see 'before' and 'after' pics? I know I love to, so I thought I would share some of mine with you today. I've been surfing some great blogs lately and many of them share some great designer ideas. Recently I came across Traci's blog at Beneath My Heart. The first post of hers I saw was THIS ONE, where she took the time to share with her readers/friends how to make a Ballard inspired shelf! I've been a follower of her lovely blog every since.

Oh my gosh, I SO want to make these shelves. From all the instructions Traci gives, I just know I could do this. I might need a little help with the miter saw, but I know I could do it ;-) Until I decide to get the wood though, I remembered two little shelves I had stored in the spare room upstairs. They are similar to Traci's shelves, just a little smaller.

I thought if I painted them black they might look nice above the toilet in the downstairs 'powder room'. Here's the wall in all it's bare glory. The only thing I had here was a fake green planter on the top of the toilet (that I had removed before I took this pic).

So, I painted the shelves and had Jason hang one of them. I realized after he put the first one up that I didn't really need them both.

What do you think? I got the 'S' from Hobby Lobby, 50% off last week (just $5) and the finial type thingy at Kohl's for just $5. Hmmm? Still needed a little something to me. Kohl's also had a great sale on some 'word art' so I grabbed a tube for $5.99, and I bought a little tile from Kohl's while I was there . . . .

Ahhh, much better. What do you think? And as you can see I added a touch of 'Fall' too :-)


I'm linking this post to Met Monday over at Susan's lovely blog, and Knock Off, Knock Out at Cheri's. I'd also like to thank Traci for the time and effort she put in to her wonderful 'shelf' tutorial.

In Memory

Week 2 of the challenge... for me!

I'm off out to the grocery store this morning, I'll post when I get back and let you know what I spent and how I've done this past week with meal planning etc.

10am - I'm back from grocery shopping, and yay! I kept it under $75 again. My full total after some coupons I got from Allyou.com and Pilsbury was $73.77 And that included splurging $6 on a fresh (unbaked) pizza for tonight!

I stuck to my meal menu pretty good this week. The crispy chicken I made with the cornflakes was really tasty, as was the creamy beef enchiladas we had yesterday. Hubby said these were so good that I've decided to make another batch of the filling today and I'll freeze it for sometime next week. The recipe called for 2lb of ground beef and 1 can of mushroom soup, I halved the recipe so was left with half a can of mushroom soup and half a can of chopped chilis too. That's why I decided to make another batch with a $2 pound of ground turkey this week. I'll make that later and try to take pics then share the recipe with you.

I'm trying not to buy too many 'snacks' and stuff, instead I have been baking cookies. It's nice to have homebaked cookies in for when Kristen gets home from school or to have with a glass of milk at bedtime. I will make the 'no flour' peanut cookies again this week , they were a big hit (now that I have sugar in again), but earlier this week I had no sugar and wanted to make cookies. I found this recipe in my Simple and Delicious magazine that uses instant pudding mix and biscuit mix!

Pecan Butterscotch Cookies
1 cup of biscuit mix
1pkg (3.4oz) instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/3 cup melted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted.

Beat the biscuit mix, pudding mix, butter and egg until blended. Stir in pecans. Drop by tablespoons 2 in apart on to greased baking sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass.

Bake at 3.50 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen.

So my cookies were a little different. I only had vanilla pudding, so I used that and halved the dough, putting pecans in one half for my hubby, and chocolate chips in the other half for my daughter. I forgot to flatten the cookies (didn't actually see that part until I wrote out the recipe!). But they turned out really nice. 1 1/2 dozen cookies doesn't last long, so you might want to make a double batch ;-)

The weather is changing :-) It's finally cooling down here and we actually have rain today. It's still pretty warm out there, probably mid 70's right now and the forecast for the coming week is still high 80's, but when the sun isn't shining it feels much cooler than it has been that's for sure. I have lamps lit around the house today because it's so dull out, and I'm loving it. I've been getting out my fall decor and doing a few projects around the house. I'll try to post pictures of them all soon.

Have a super Friday.