Wine Corks

Drinking wine is one of my most enjoyable things to do. Red in a big goblet in front of the fire in the wintertime or white on a hot humid night on the patio. I recycle the glass bottles but keep the corks. (especially if they are on the pricey scale) I have through the years accumulated a whole bunch which I keep in glass vases and bowls for decoration.
 I was at Michael's yesterday and they had these shadow boxes on sale. I brought one home to put my expensive corks in for display and good memories.

It really is such a simple thing to do and it looks really cool. This will go on my kitchen wall and I am thinking about grabbing few more frames for future projects.

Here are other ideas from the world wide web that I encountered.

 

 

I went to a wedding last year where they actually used the corks as a name tag holders...so neat

 

I tried doing this wreath few years ago but it ended up way to big and uneven.

Feeling crafty? That's a cool Keychain!

Wow That's a lot of cork...
On one of my adventures through Tuscany I saw this curtain made out of corks

Here is the last idea that I thought was really cute

Happy Hump Day Everybody, Have a Great One!

Slipcover

Here is an example of how easy it is to buy a slipcover instead of buying a new couch when the old one is perfectly fine and comfortable.

I went to Bed Bath And Beyond and purchased one slipcover for the sofa not overly hopeful it would work out for me. I had tried the concept once before and it was just plain annoying, never stayed in place and the kids ripped it so it got thrown out. I decided on this "higher end" cover $99 for a loveseat size in dark brown.

The fabric felt nice and stretchy and very soft and it was extremely easy and quick thing to put it on

Good front and back coverage

I got some pillows from TJ Maxx and Christmas Tree Shop 

Here is the couch before

This worked so well that I bought another slipcover for the sofa.

2 new sofas = $220.....Yeaaaaah!

Accidental Kitchen Project

Okey, I am spontanious.

 I was getting ready to gut out the boys bathroom (a project long overdue)

So I hired my usual guys from United Homeworks and started ordering the new cabinets and and appliances for it. As everything got delivered I got a phone call from Lowe's saying that the shower was on back order. Hmm...what to do? I had the guys scheduled to start the following week so my head started spinning. In the meantime our fridge was breaking down and Hubby decided to surprise me with a new one...since I like all to be matching we had to order a stove and a range as well in stainless steel. (our dishwasher is already a stainless steel) I admit it I am a royal pain in the behind...

 When the guys showed up for work I had my house filled with kitchen appliances ready to be installed. They got quickly to work and in one day installed everything.

  Afterwards we sat down and discussed the look of the kitchen and future projects. How about a back splash? Since I had already spent so much money on the bathroom I decided to be frugal. I visited Home Depot and found these funky tiles ($10 each) I knew I needed about 27 so I decided to go ahead and buy them.

Here is a photo of the kitchen with added tile back splash and the new appliances.

Another idea we came up with since my ceiling is so high was to go ahead and create a finish look of the cabinets and add crown molding. This would really make this kitchen "richer" and create more flow to it.

I went ahead and decided it had to be done...Stat....right?

 Here is a picture of the kitchen all finished. I decided at the last minute that my old lights were ugly so I replaced them with these chandeliers.

I am still wondering what to do with the window. I will keep you posted on that!

Decorating the fireplace...

So...still obsessed over this beautiful fireplace of mine and even though the room is not finished I wanted to start decorating. Few candles in and voila...looks even better if you are sipping on wine!

I also stumbled across this photo on pinterest. What a cool idea for Fall!

Painting The Fireplace

Here is a story for you...

Emerging myself into a project isn't hard for me. Sometimes I get myself into trouble. I get an idea and decide to tackle immediately. This is my newest project...still not finished...

One day I was sitting in my family room and looking at the fireplace. What would happen if I painted it white? I sent a holla out to my FB friends and few of them had painted theirs. That gave me the courage to start the never ending project while my hubby was away on a business trip! Can you imagine the look on his face when he returned. I started by scrubbing and cleaning the whole fireplace with a course brush.  After that I started painting with a basic latex flat paint with a primer in it. I probably did 2 coats. The inside of the fireplace needed some make over too so I got black heat resistant paint for that at my local Home Depot. Once the fireplace was done I decided that none of my furniture matched. Instead of going out and purchasing new stuff I decided it would be ideal to paint over what I had so everything would be matchy matchy...

Ooops...a little splash of paint on the carpet turned my attention to how worn out it was but it came with the house and really has taken a beating by kids and pets and me spilling wine on it :) so I ordered new carpet...Which is still not in (2 more weeks) and I will post more pics then. The walls got a fresh coat of paint in a slightly darker color than it was before...just to make the fireplace pop. After all this...I decided to do over the windows to tie the room together and ordered custom made shutters for the larger window and for the 3 skylights that have been bugging me ever since I moved in 12 years ago I got pleated tan shades. These are all special orders so I have to be patient for few more weeks. Not my speciality I might add. What do you think?