Glitzy Boots

I recently bought a new pair of true Texas cowboy boots and have left my department store bought boots in the dust. However, after seeing loads of metallic cowboy boots recently I did a little research into painting shoes/boots.

This weekend I decided to go to town and give my old, worn out boots a new life by making them GOLD.
I stuffed the boots to ensure they stood up and then taped the heel so that it would still stand out.
I used a recommended brand of spray paint and covered the boots with just one coat.

The final product is everything I hoped for (the boots are more gold than shown and the wall is more gray then the bright blue it appears here)...bring on the glitz and glam because my boots and I are ready!

A ROARING Good Time!

Last night I hosted book club at my new condo. Each month we rotate to a different member's home and September was my turn to invite everyone in. Our book for the month was The Great Gatsby.

My dress is Elizabeth McKay and the belt is Lilly.

I love when a good theme is carried out so I decided to play up on parts of the Roaring 20's...

When friends arrived they were told to "put on their pearls!" I stocked up on pearl, mardi gras beads (sadly the parentals are no longer in India so real pearls could not be found at a decent price) and made the following sign which I cut down and put out:

I also made various quote cards that I placed around for people to read and, you know, ponder. :)

I decided on a black and gold/yellow theme for the evening. Black is always a safe choice and paired with the gold it seemed perfect like an appropriate combination that Gatsby and Daisy would have approved of. Since I have no china and linens in these colors I opted to use all paper and plastic goods. It worked out perfectly and was less mess in the end which was an added benefit. I used a greek key and polka dot fabric on the table (which were not pinned up as I ran out of time, oops, good thing it was only good friends coming over) and used sunflowers in my centerpiece.

Originally, I had wanted to serve taco-in-a-bag since I do not have the space to seat ten at a table (my table seats eight max with two leaves and that is even a bit tight). However, when giving it a bit more thought I decided I should live it up in the style of Jay Gatsby and put a bit more effort into the meal.

I finally decided on chicken picatta, rosemary potatoes and asparagus and then added biscuits at the last minute:

I was a bit worried about the chicken picatta cooking all the way through (I always worry about chicken cooking through) so I babied it in the kitchen as all my friends arrived. Thankfully, no one ended up with a pink breast of "Prohibition Chicken" so the time spent by the stove was well worth it!

For dessert we enjoyed a DIVINE cake for Aston's Bakery and champagne as it was Cassie's birthday. The cake was massive (see here for photos!), but so tasty and delicious!

Each guest left with a pack of candy cigarettes as their favor of which I neglected to take a photo as I was busy running around. Thankfully, Melissa has photos of those too!

All in all it was a WONDERFUL evening and so much fun to put together! I am already looking forward to hosting my next event in 2012!!

Free Quote Printables

I have had the same set of 8x10 gold frames for about eight or nines years now. I bought them off eBay when I was still in high school or early years of college and had some fun Vogue prints in them for years. When I moved I had planned to do a "picture wall" with all gold frames. However, that never materialized as each frame found a happy home around the abode. I had tired of the Vogue prints so I decided I would try printing out a few quotes for them. I had already had an Audrey Hepburn "I Love Pink" quote, but decided to a few more so I could have a grouping (please excuse the not-so-straight iPhone photo):

I used a Julia Child and a Coco Chanel quote I love and simply formatted them in Word in fun fonts and voila! I had instant "art" to be hung in my bathroom.

While these were nothing special to create (remember I am often challenged when it comes to electronics?), but I thought I would share them with you in case you might have a spot for them at home or in your office too. They are fun quotes, by fabulous women and they always make me smile. I have included both quotes below as PDFs for you to download or print if you so wish. I hope this works as I have never tried it before, but Scribd is often very reliable. Please let me know if their are any kinks (you should be able to click the links if your browser will not pull up the Scribd items) that need to be worked out and have a wonderful weekend!

Coco Chanel

*NOTE: The word "happiness" is not showing up here on the blog for some reason.... It will, however, print correctly. I tested it and it should be good to go!

Julia Child

Before and After: Coffee Table

I went a little crazy with re-doing things before I moved. As you know I painted my bar cart and chinoiserie bird cages and also my coffee table. I still need to do my bamboo plant stand and my bamboo chairs, but that is another story for another day.

Anyway, I have always loved glass top, brass coffee tables. I originally bought my glass top coffee table with the intention of painting it a more neutral color but just never got around to it until last month. The table is timeless when it comes to style, but the color did not match my new abode's decor. However, this was not a problem a little spray paint could not fix! I was pleasantly surprised to find out my preferred color of spray paint was available in a special primer/paint bottle when I visited Home Depot. I snatched two bottles and went home and got to work. I sprayed on one coat one evening and then added an additional coat for maximum coverage (the brown took more coverage as you can guess) the next night.

Ta-da:

The result is fabulous and is the exact look I was going for! My steal of a coffee table has been revamped and looks like it could be on a page of a magazine. Oh, the wonders of spray paint!

Le Weekend

I cannot believe the weekend is almost over! I have been so busy I have lost track of time, but thankfully I have gotten LOTS done so all is well!

I have been working on lots of framed items to go on the walls. My mother comes to Dallas on Saturday for the night and she will be in charge of getting everything up. She has the best eye as to where things should be hung so I am staring at blank walls until she arrives. Best to do something right the first time, right? My ribbon wreath has been hung up outside and it is very happy!

The HOT sun made it hard to photograph the welcome mat and wreath, but here is a glimpse into my life. As mentioned, the door is in need of some love and some paint!!

All my living/dining walls have all been painted now! The painters will return this week to paint a second coat in the kitchen and finish the bathroom, but I have enjoying the blue in the main area this weekend. I just love the color and cannot wait to get everything in the right place and give you a final tour next week.

In the right of the above photo you can see my lovely washer and dryer which were delivered on Saturday. After a morning of waiting the installers called to tell me they had finally arrived. They promptly brought everything to me, checked the space, measured, chatted and then deliberated outside. They said they could not install the washer and dryer due to liability... They told me I should DEFINITELY keep the units because they would fit and were top of the line, but said I needed to call another installation service. Hmm... This did not seem to make much sense to me so I went back over to Home Depot who also thought this was EXTREMELY odd. They have scheduled a new installer to come get these in the closet and working. However, the new (and hopefully more professional and reliable service) cannot come until this next week so for the time being I am enjoying my new decor!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and that you were not as hot as I am here in the Metroplex!!

Ribbon Wreath

Last night I was busy running errands and had to run to the craft store to pick a few things up. I have been wanting a wreath for my new door (which needs to be repainted by the building first), but nothing stood out to me. A few years ago I saw a post on making a ribbon wreath and decided I might as well put some of my ribbon to good use and give it a shot. So, I picked up a wire wreath form for under $3 and as soon as I got home, I got to work.

I cut various sizes of pink and green ribbon (everything from half an inch to 3 inches) into 6 inch strips. I am unsure of the exact amount of ribbon used as I simply cut more when I started to run low, but more is better with this project.

I started by using my 3 inch, pink ribbon. I tied a piece on each "section" of the wreath and then used the pieces I had left on opposite sides of the sections.

I continued to use most of the bigger/wider ribbon first and began to fill in the sections. Since the wire wreath as two interior bands I would switch off tying ribbon on both the upper and lower thus creating optimal coverage.

Once the sections started to get fuller I began to concentrate on individual sections and filled in the open areas with the thinner ribbon. I completely filled in an entire section and worked around the wreath this way. I like full and lush so I continued to fill in my wreath to make it more substantial and very pink and green.







This happy wreath will be hung on my door this weekend. It is certain to look perfect with my pink and green "Welcome Y'all" doormat!



The entire project took about 90 minutes (this included cutting all the ribbon) and I am beyond pleased with the final product. I plan to make a fall ribbon wreath as well as preppy Christmas ribbon wreath too. If you have lots of ribbon on hand that you want to put to good use or you simply want a fun, evening project making a ribbon wreath is the perfect project for you!

Sunday Afternoon Revamp

I think bar carts are such fun and great pieces to have set up in your home. They might be very Mad Men and old time, but I find them to be rather chic and great conversation pieces!

I have been wanting a bamboo, brass bar cart, but they are very hard to come by (on Craigslist, eBay and the likes) and often way over priced too. So, when my friend Emily texted me and said she had found a cute bar cart at an antique mart for a STEAL I jumped at the opportunity to have her buy it for me. The low price did come with one condition; the cart needed a little love...

The cart was rather rusty and was in dire need of a new coat of paint. However, after using a metal brush and some sandpaper to remove all the nastiness the bar cart was ready for a new life.

I choose to use a brighter gold spray paint on the cart to give it more luster and life:

Here is my little work in progress....bring on the shine and glitz! I also painted my Chinoiserie birdcages the same color when I painted the bar cart. Everything turned out perfectly and I have a new love for spray paint!

My inexpensive bar cart now looks like it is worth at least $100 I think! I am SO pleased with how it turned out and it really is just as good as new.

The set up still needs a little tweaking, but it looks tres spiffy for now (madre comes next weekend and can add the final touches)!

Next up on my Sunday Revamp edition: brass coffee table and bamboo plant stand!