Stained Glass Window

A few years ago my mother-in-law took up stained glass as a hobby. When we moved into the house she generously offered to make us a stained glass piece for our upstairs window. After picking out a pattern and selecting the glass (wow, who knew there were so many different kinds?!), she went to work...and boy did she work!

This week she and my father-in-law came over to install the window. When I came home and saw it, it literally took my breath away. It is amazing! And, let me tell you, this was no small undertaking. The window is about 5 1/2' by 3'. It is a remarkable gift.

I am in LOVE with the finished product! It's gorgeous and, as a practical matter, provides us with some much needed privacy (this window is in Mr. Mel's closet).

Christmas Decorating 2011 - Part 1

It's that time again! Time to decorate the house for the holidays. To be honest, I both relish and dread decking my halls. I am so persnickety about how things are done that it can easily take 5-8 hours to decorate a tree, hours upon hours to hang garland on the staircase banister, by the time it's all done my entire body aches, all that primping and tweaking is just exhausting!  

This year, I am hoping to knock it all out in one weekend. As a rule I decorate the first weekend of December, and it all comes down the first weekend on January. I'll admit, it almost seems crazy to do all that work only to leave it up for a month, but the obsessive-compulsive gal in me just can't do it any other way!

Each year, Mr. Mel cringes and complains as I come home with hundreds of new ornaments, ribbons and garlands. I am the first to confess that I can go overboard on the colour themes for the trees. This year, I decided to try and just use what I already had (but let's be real here peeps, I couldn't resist the urge to pick up just a few new ornaments. Shhhhh, don't tell Mr. Mel, no one likes a tattle!)

My main floor tree is a slim 7 footer that I've had for about 8 years. I like that it's compact and densely packed, so it'll take fewer ornaments to make a big impact, but it's not pre-lit and I loath stringing lights. The colour theme I chose for this tree was turquoise, copper and brown.

500 lights, 5 hours, and 310 ornaments later and this is my completed main floor tree! Are you ready for photo overload?!

Whew! Tomorrow we'll take a little house tour and visit the upstairs tree! Thanks for visiting!

Hello My Pretties

Alrighty peeps, time for another coffee table re-do! Am I the only one who is obssessed with coffee and side tables? I won't tell you how many I have stacked in my garage, lest you think I'm a loon.

I am a fickle creature and, despite the fact that I just bought wood side tables for my living room last year, I have already decided that they were the wrong choice and it's time for a change. Our main floor living room is a space that rarely gets used, but that doesn't mean it can't look pretty. It's right next to the dining room, which is a sort of formal space, so I want the living room to have the same formal vibe. I recently sold my Urban Barn velvet sofa and replaced it with a smaller 3 seater sofa in a cream colour. It was definitely the right decison. But the room was still far too casual! 

I swore that I would never again own glass topped tables - between kitties, visits from kidlets, and husbands, they are never clean - but I really like the look so I decided that it was time to suck it up and stock up on Windex!

I just swoon over a particular style of table, something similar to what can be seen in these rooms...glass top gold-ish base.

 

I have found some new tables similar, but I can't justify the cost. And going vintage was out of the question. This pair of vintage tables was over $1200!

I picked up this set of tables for $30 off a local online classified site. The size and shape were great, but the finish was pretty horrible. An aged brassy, bronzey eyesore. Someone please tell me why this finish is on so many pieces of furniture?!  I am not totally anti-brass, I am just anti-ugly-brass.

I cleaned and lightly sanded the table, gave it a coat of primer, and two coats of a metallic brass spray paint by General Paint (no colour number or fancy name - huh). I have never used this product before and was a tad nervous about how it would turn out, but I shouldn't have been. It went on easily and dried perfectly to a nice brushed metallic finish.

I decided to get rid of the cane and wood on the bottom of the table, it felt too heavy for the look I wanted. I initially wanted to replace the cane with a piece of glass, but Mr. Mel said he preferred them without a bottom shelf. Okily dokily. I suppose these are done, then.

I popped the glass top back in and have myself a pair of glitzy new end tables!

Cost breakdown for this project:
Tables = $30
Paint and Primer = $12
Total Cost = $42

Guess What I Did This Weekend

Here's a sneak peak...

I'll have some pics up soon!