:: R & R ::

I'll be here, soaking my tired legs and feet...
and resting my frazzled {and somewhat burned-out} mind.

Hope you're getting some R & R this weekend as well!

Hugs~

T

image via Atlanta Bartlett and David Coote

DIY soap and lotion dispensers

I'm back to my copycat ways.

The fabulous Heather Bullard posted this a few weeks ago and I fell in love with it.
I obviously can't touch her photography skills and her soap dispenser is so much better than mine, but dang-it, I tried.
I only have pink hand soap at home (and buckets of it I might add) so that's one strike against me.
No sweet, vintage Kerr jars with shabby lids hanging out around my house either, so I used Starbucks frappuccino bottles for my dispensers.

OK, OK, enough whining.... since you've already taken a peek, I'll give you the full tutorial. I have these half-empty and ever so chic plastic soap dispensers stashed away in our upstairs bathrooms. I used my heavy duty scissors to cut the plastic top off of the bottle.

I prepared to cut a hole in the frappuccino lid BUT {being the big clutz that I am} I decided against trying to cut it using a blade. I hammered a large nail around the opening that I needed, until the metal popped out.

I forced the plastic screw top into the metal lid.

I printed some small labels on the computer, covered them in packing tape, and glued them to a piece of frayed fabric. This was tied to the front of each bottle with hemp twine {just in case our guests aren't sure if the pink stuff is koolaid or watered down pepto bismal.}

I poured my pink hand soap and Lubriderm lotion into the bottles, screwed on the cap and here you have it.

"Come on up"

I'm still getting ready...
but come on upstairs and visit with me...
while I put on my lipgloss...

and find my sunglasses...
so we can go sit somewhere in the sun...

and visit with each other.

images via Atlanta Bartlett and David Coote

DIY linen chair skirts

By now you know that I've been in major DIY mode.

Here's my latest creation. I inherited four "L Hitchcock" chairs when my grandparents passed away over 20 years ago. These were the kitchen table chairs in my grandparents farm house in Colorado. My grandmother loved these chairs and took extra special care of them {my mom recalls having to dust these black chairs as part of her weekly chores as a child}. They are in very good condition all these years later (over 100 years in my family), but I've been wanting to make skirts to help protect the seats and update them a bit.

{This image was taken before I added the back skirt and ties and cushion}

After Joni posted this image a few weeks ago, I was finally inspired to get started.
Since the chairs have some gold and tan in them I figured tan linen fabric would look best. I love the way this skirt falls below the seat, making a more casual ruffled skirt.

I purchased three yards of this tan linen fabric from Jo-Anns for $15 per yard. You can see my chicken scratch drawing below where I measured the chair seat and allowed for a 2 inch overhang on each side and a 5 inch ruffle. Once I cut the square piece for the seat, I cut a long piece for the ruffle (I used the entire 3-yard length for the ruffle). I didn't pin anything {laziness= unprofessional finish}, I just pinched the fabric every half inch or so as I sewed the ruffle onto the seat fabric.
I went back a few days later and decided to finish them off by adding a ruffle and ties to the back. I had just enough fabric left to finish this off and I'm so glad I did.

Before, without back ruffle and ties:After, with back ruffle and ties:

I also added a cushion that I made out of leftover feed sack material and minimal stuffing to the underneath. It's comfy to sit on and pulls that extra fabric hanging over the edges up a bit.

Voila~ my easy and affordable solution to protect those family treaures AND add texture and lighter colors to my house.

A Morning T house tour

Karli from Rocky Bella blog dedicated her post on Friday to me and my house. I'm so flattered and wanted to thank her! Please check out her fun post here, where she shares pics of my house that I'd forgotten I even posted. She also shares the one and only picture of my elusive master bedroom {it's the only corner of my room that's presentable}.

A giveaway over at Dreamy Whites

Head over to Dreamy Whites now and enter her incredible giveaway!!

Happy Friday!

I've been tagged by this fun lady who's declared today as 'Binge Friday'.

"Life itself is the proper binge." - Julia Child
Be it that the day is almost half over already, I'll share 3 things I've binged on already, and 3 that I have planned for this evening.

1. Reading to daughter's kindergarten class at 8:00am {whew~who needs caffeine?}
2. Enjoyed a long and delicious lunch with a wonderful new friend {that I met through my blog.}
3. Finished off the remaining half sleeve of Thin Mint cookies {thank you Girl Scouts of America!}

After 5pm:

1. Finish off that bottle of Chardonnay that I opened last night.
2 & 3. Binge on snuggles and watching the Olympics with the family.

Thanks for tagging me Virginia and Happy 'Binge Friday' everyone!

Make it a good one.


Image via Sandy Nicholson. I've used it before but it sums up my day/week perfectly!

What's in your bag?

I let Anthropologie borrow my blog post idea for their handbag campaign "What's in your bag?"

I think it's safe to say that we're all curious about what's inside other women's handbags.

OK, well it's safe to say that I'm curious....I'm just plain nosy, but then again, I enjoy peering into women's lives and homes via their blogs, so why wouldn't I peer into those same women's handbags? Come on now.

You've seen most of my house at this point, and my family (minus the shy man-figure in my life), so do you want to see what's inside my handbag? I'll spare you the dirty kleenex, candy, epipen, office keys, crumbs and broken crayons, and skip right to the girlie stuff.

If I have to run out the door and taking my oversized handbag isn't an option, these are the first 5 things I'll grab (aside from cell phone, wallet and keys):

#1- hand lotion. The thicker and greasier, the better~ love L'Occitane's shea butter in the little yellow tin.

#2- chapstick. When in desperate situations I'll put lotion on my lips. My new fav is Burt's Bees replenishing lip balm.

#3- lipgloss. I always have at least 3 in my bag at all times. Right now I'm switching between Buxom (Isabella), Lancome Juicy Tubes (Peche), and MAC lusterglass (Ensign).

#4- hair elastic. I rarely make it through an entire day without putting my hair in a pony.

#5- water. I have a water bottle with me at all times.

I get VERY nervous if I don't have one of these items with me.

The little round black compact is just a mirror, I do like to have a small mirror with me too...ah the price of vanity.

All I need is this chapstick, and this hand creme, and this peppermint chewing gum, and these 5 bobby pins, and this pair of sunglasses, and this cell phone, and this pink lipgloss, and this credit card, and this bottle of Evian, and this gripper hair elastic, and this bag of band-aids and tylenol, and this small mirror, and these coupons....

...remind you of anyone?

OK- it's your turn....spill it ladies.

What are the 'critical items' that you're carrying in your handbag right now?

One quick trip to Tarjay =

one {much needed} Shark iron for $34:

{ah, this new slip cover that I made this weekend was SO in need of the new iron}

one white silk lamp shade for $7:

one pair of Tabitha shoes for $19:

... the satisfaction of not having to hide your new purchases from your hubby...

PRICELESS!!

(yes, that's a shout out to you Mr. Morning T~ luv u!)

I don't know about you, but stepping foot into Target for 'just a few things' is risky business for me!

Three days of sanding...

...and painting...

...and sanding...

...and painting...

This hand-me-down server has been in the family for years and has become a necessity for me. It holds all of my table linens and party supplies AND opens up into a server. This is where we served dessert at our wine tasting party earlier this month.

Is she pretty? NO
Is she handy? YES

She needed to stop hiding her age and the unsightly 60's wood and design from her childhood years. I'm not even sure what kind of wood she's made from, but she's heavy and bulky and she's a Drexel, so her quality is fine.

Out to the garage (aka: my lab) she went on Saturday morning, looking like this:

She spent two cold nights out there (yes, it gets cold in Houston~ in the 30's and 40's recently).

She was sanded and scuffed, painted, glazed, sanded, painted and glazed again, spray painted, painted and sanded A. LOT.

I typically buy 'oops' paint at Lowe's so I don't know any of the colors (sorry).

Here are the steps:
- sanded her down as best I could
- left the top the dark wood stain but shabbied it up a bit
- painted all over with a blue/gray semi-gloss paint
- added antique glaze
- painted a coat of white oil-based paint (didn't work with the antiquing glaze)
- spray painted using gray spray paint (wanted something to cover up sheen of the white oil and allow new coat to adhere)
- mixed 2 parts tan semi-gloss paint (only can I could reach in the back corner of garage) with 1 part blue/gray semi-gloss paint. Created a muted grayish blue/green color.
- added one coat of this new color, another coat of antiquing glaze (again, didn't work!), then one final coat of my custom mixed color.
- sanded all of the edges down to distress and reveal underneath coats.

Some of my supplies here (how bout those fancy paint stirrers~ yes, sticks from the yard...talk about repurposing)

*Note the pink scooter in the driveway, my helper fled the scene within seconds of the electric sander turning on.

And in she came on Monday evening, looking like this:
Here you can see the layers of gray, white, blue-gray, and natural wood peeking through. Instead of putting the door-knocker-ish pulls back on I opted to pull some strips of natural drop cloth through as door pulls.


View from the front entrance into the dining room. My grandmother (now 99 yrs old) painted the gold painting to the right of our coat closet.

(click on image to see full view)

View from the mirror at the front door into the dining room.

I'm much happier with my now-centered 'DIY botanicals' over the fully opened server.

I think she's much happier now too. She's letting her gray show and is wearing her age well!

(click on image to see full view)

Two of my dining room chairs tuck nicely underneath the server while we're not entertaining. I like the way my new linen chair skirts {future post} look brushing up against the server.

My inspiration images (top left- here/ top right- here/ bottom left- here/ bottom right- here)

This inspiration image via Belgian Pearls: