My version of Easter Parade

 I see things in a differnt way than some of you.. but you know that by now....I bought some  toy giraffes, elephants, dinasaurs, hippo, and alligator... OH I love alligators... I primed them and painted them fun colors.. added  dots, or stripes ,,, a little glitter here and there..I made some  tu tus from tulle  netting and organza. SOme string of pearls  to add some glam.. gold leafing too... added some ric rack,  and other trims I had found..I made the party hats from some scrap book paper, and cotton candy useing some fluffy quilt batting I spray painted pink... The balloons were made from  air dry clay, painted and used  wire for the string !  I added some paper  Easter grass, bought some  marshmallow peeps, easter candies and plastic eggs... AND this is the crazy colorful result ! welcome to my world of color !

Frame it UP !

When we built our house.. it didn't have a garage...so we added one, and it was metal..I never have cared for it..but we needed a garage and where we live it was hard to find someone to do a stick built one.. so we went with it.. I have an artist friend that was getting rid of a bunch of picture frames. So I snagged them up, and  painted them bright colors... then we hung them on the garage for interest.. to draw your eye away from the boring garage... The ones on the  garaged between the house will have pretty vines growing up them for summer..SOon will be time to buy some hibiscus and mandavilla vine.. My morning glories and  4 oclock seeds are already doing well..as is my banana tree and angel trumpet. This summer we will have a pretty view of them from the window...The shutters on both sides of the garage.NOW need repainted.. and since they are starting to peel.. they will be getting PAINTed soon.. I have a plan.. will update this when I get it done..soon  I hope...UPDATE (( P>S   Scroll down ... I have a couple pix of the repainted shutters by the door..))

Fresh Paint on Lil' Pink SHe Shed

I have been thinking about adding some  green apple color to the outside of Lil' Pink.. When a friend recently gave me a bunch of picture frames for a project... I saved one that would  fit on the out side of the dutch door window.. painted it green apple...then repainted the  metal decoration on the sides of the door and on the door... I love that pop of color !The decoration shows up so much better.

Summer Bedding

 I  enjoy swapping out my bedding in fall and summer.. Last fall I went with Bohemian theme... a lot of pops of color to get me thru the dull grey winter... I really liked it.. keep scrolling thru my blog and you will run into it... BUT  it is time for the summer version.. I ordered new bedding..since we bought a king size bed the queen sets no longer fit..  I  found these colorful summer flowers in a bold look on Wayfair... I made some fuscia buffalo plaid  shams, and then made some flowers from organza, chiffon, and  added pearl beads to the centers of some and some  rhinestone buttons in some.. I used safty pins to add flowers to the  bed skirt, since I will swap them out in the fall for the BoHO look again.. I made lighter colored fabric strip garlands for the entry into the bedroom and over the bed...they still are a little darker than I wanted.. .. The ones I took down I will hang  in the she shed..  I did pink and white garlands to hide the bamboo shades over the windows.. and to help bring out the pink walls..The Pink is so pale on the walls  I wanted a little more.. Bring on the sunshine.. It is spring !!!!  I still plan to chalk paint my fainting couch.. BUT have so many projects in front  of it to get to first..

Master vanity re-fresh

OUr master vanity it on it's 3rd redo.... First we used marble tiles 12 x 12 for the top and sadly it didn't hold up to hair spray, cosmetics..and just looked  dull.. SO  5 years ago  we had some glass tiles left from some projects at the condo we owned on Marco Island... might as well use them.. we reused our same sink.. liked the pretty green and blue tiles.. but after  5 years...the sink had a hair line crack, and the grout  would  attrack make up etc.. soo let's  do this AGAIN.. I really liked the undermount sink we put in the guest bath a few years ago..soo bought the same  counter top and sink set up..then  added a trough/water fall style faucet.. SO MUCH better.   I have more counter top space..and it is so easy to tidy up every morning.. YAY..

Guest Bath redo

I had been thinking the guest bath needed a punch up of color and a different look. It has been the same since we built the house in 2000 and it was the first room  finished. I had  done it in a smooth texture, and painted walls and ceilings sky blue with clouds, and the lower 1/2 of walls was two rows of wide border..so it looks like you are seeing pond life. Frogs, ducks, sail boats, little yellow submarine, fish.. Thinking cousins and visitors with little ones would enjoy the room..  A few years ago we did add the dark bamboo floors, and put in a new vanity top, and I just re-stained the solid wood  toilet seat with darker stain. Well this time I wanted  indigo blue ceiling, and pearl walls.  I did not want the boring texture .  SO first  I had to peel off all the wallpaper border. Yuk. That will turn you away from wallpaper for life.  Then I rolled on sheet rock mud that was  thinned with a little water to the consitencey of pudding.. just a random gloppy rolls here and there..and smush and streak a little more on.. I worked in sections, since I needed to let the mud set up a little... then I took a 10 inch wide trowel and  added a tad more mud to the edge of the trowel , and gently  went over the ceiing and wall to knock down the  mud to give me the old world texture. I taught myself this technique when we built the house, since we were going to do it all ourselves I needed a way to do it that I liked the look of.   SO this texture is in every room of the house and ceilings, except in the guest bedroom. 
  The  walls had to dry overnight.. then I primed them with  kilz primer.. that dried.. I then cut in the ceiling around the trim with 3 coats of blue, and rolled on 2 coats. Walls were primed and then painted oyster white, with 2 coats of metallic white pearl paint.. it  gleam so pretty in the light. I planned to reuse my mirror, but washed it and suddenly the paint came off to the plastic.. ughh.so i painted it black again, added some silver leaf, and then some silver rub n buff to keep it looking like the light fixture and the towel stand over the toilet.. FAIL.. it looked ugly.. so I painted it with the ceiling paint..UGHH.. fail.. gave up and ordered a new one. The  roll shade I wanted to decoupage some fun napkins too.. did that..but they  came right OFF.. never had that happen...so peeled them off and decided to try some alcohol inks in a water pattern.. FAIL.. I am NOT good at that.. so I cut off that part of the shade..and there was enough to just have a plain shade. So I didn't attempt to alcohol ink the white vynal shower curtain I had, I just ordered a new on. The plates I got in florida and glued  hangers on the back.. The  whale tails  canvas over the tub , I added some alcohol in to bring the indigo blue in . I framed a napkin in a 10 x10 frame. I was going to repaint the toilet seat a metallic blue..but that was a FAIL..I ordered a new silent auto closing lid one instead..it looks so nice and I like it enough to order two more for the other bathrooms. I bought a white ceramic octopus and repainted it with the ceiling paint, added some silver rub n buff.  Painted some indigo blue on the back of the door. I used a small cafe rod  and sewed a short striped valance to hide the roll shade.  I decoupaged the trash can, the toilet brush holder, and the light switch cover. Some indigo blue towels and rug, and the room was done.. It tool 11 days. I was distracted with failures, and frustration, and several days I wasn't even working in there.. escaped to town to shop.. or we just ran and played in the nice weather.  SO here are the before, during and after pix.

The peices of blue napkins with white coral decoupaged to roll shade..that peeled off, FAIL

My Dads fav hat... I used to hate it.. now I have inherited it..and love it.