Fall Color & Snow In October!

Two weeks ago, we made a trip to Upstate NY to visit my husband's family.  I brought my camera and tried to snap a few pictures along the drive through the Pocono Mountains, which were full of fall color.  As the weather turned to rain, the rain turned to snow.  Snow.  Snow in the middle of October.  Really?

The leaves did look beautiful through the white snowflakes though...

The next day, the weather was gorgeous.  This is the view of Conesus Lake, NY.

And, this is what we came home to!  I'm not a girl with a camera at-the-ready, but I had to stop and take a picture.  This is the pond next to our neighborhood.  As the sun was setting.

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Friday's Etsy Shop: Red Red Orange!

Today's etsy shop is owned by a fellow Philadelphian!  Sarah, of RedRedOrange, sells cards and personalized stationary (I LOVE the monogrammed flat cards with the yellow envelope!).  I'm especially fond of the punchy, saturated hues with fun, yet sophisticated graphics.  I love giving personalized cards for bridal or baby showers.  It's an unexpected gift that the bride (or mommy-to-be) wouldn't necessarily think that she would need! 

So, go shopping.  Buy yourself some personalized cards.  Oh, and her prices are really really low, so that makes it even easier.

marigold and avocado stationary set

Or, would you prefer blue?  And, don't you love these color combinations?  Mango with turquoise, and marigold with avocado...  even sounds yummy.

mango and turquoise stationary set

Love this little bird on a nest. 

bird's nest personalized stationary set

LOVE the colors here.  What a happy card!

cumpleanos card

birthday cupcake card

umbrella notes in turquoise, peacock, and citrus

Check out these modern Christmas Cards!!!  I love that apple green envelope!

holiday circles card

(she also has holiday cards with adorable blue snowflakes!)

Visit the RedRedOrange shop HERE!

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My dresser on Design*Sponge!

Wow!  Our faux bamboo dresser was featured on Design Sponge today!  Thanks, Grace!

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Press: Shop Local, Philadelphia!

Thank you, Sarah Lockard, editor of AroundMainLine.com for including my shop in your "Shop Local: Philadelphia" article for The Storque!  I am among some pretty talented artists and designers here.  What an honor!

Read the article HERE.

By the way, my husband took that picture of me at a flea market last month, and no, I did not buy that sterling silver trophy.  The $2,500.00 price tag was just a bit too much for my budget.

Butcher Block Countertops

Since posting about A Country Home's incredible kitchen makeover, I've had butcher block countertops on the brain.  They're beautiful, aren't they?  So warm and cozy...

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Cozy Bedrooms

Some of my favorite cozy bedrooms on this rainy rainy day in Philadelphia!

Before & After: Sunburst Mirror

Thank you for the emails and comments about my faux bamboo dresser!  So many people emailed me and asked about the mirror, I thought I should post about it.  And let me tell ya, it was a cheap DIY.

I wanted a mirror that looked like this beauty from Mecox Gardens.

But, buying a $500 mirror was not on the priority list.  So, I bought this mirror at Pier 1 Imports for fifty dollars.   Here is what it looked like when I brought it home...

With a coat of metallic champagne paint, it looked almost as good as the Mecox Gardens mirror...

I did this project back in April, and now I cannot find the tube of paint that I used.  If you want to recreate this project, use a basic acrylic (metallic) craft paint.  I purchased mine at Michaels.

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Before & After: Faux Bamboo Dresser

It's been so busy around here, this project has taken months to complete!  You might remember this piece, I've mentioned it before.  I found this yellow "tiki special" dresser at a thrift store last spring...  it sat in our guest room until Labor Day Weekend, when my husband and I finally carried it outside for a new paint job.  And now, months later, I installed new hardware and snapped some "after" pictures to share with you.  Finally, it's done!

The lovely dresser before:

Outside, we sanded it and primed it (our primer has a grey tint, which made it a bit more tedious to cover with white paint)...  filled the holes in the drawers with wood filler, and secured some loose pieces.  After all that, it was ready for glossy white paint!

  

Here is how it looks now.  It sits in our small guest room, at the edge of the bed, and I love seeing it when I come up the stairs.  It took me forever to commit to any hardware, but finally settled on simple brass pieces from Restoration Hardware.  We bought the small "adeline" knob in antique brass, and the 6" pull from the same collection.  I actually love how the simple hardware works with the room.

UPDATE:  Thank you for the emails about the dresser and mirror!  The mirror was a (cheap!) DIY from Pier 1 Imports for $40.00.  It had a horrendous "southwestern" painted finish when I bought it.  All it needed was a coat of champagne metallic paint!

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