A Designer's Tale

Happy Monday and Merry soon to be Christmas. Have you finished your Christmas shopping? I haven't started yet. So today I will be making a mad dash to the store, to get it done. Any who, I didn't do a lot of decorating this year, so I figured I would share a Christmas tree from a few years ago. I had purchased several spools of ribbon that I loved. I wanted to use the ribbon, but I didn't know how or where. At the time I purchased the ribbon decorating trees with poly mesh was BIG business. I liked the look of the poly mesh trees, but I didn't have any on hand. So I decided to decorate the tree with the ribbon......   Animal print ribbon....   I am slowly easing you into the finished tree, so be patient. I used not one, not two, but three different ribbons. What can I say about the tree topper? I like it because it's everywhere, sort of like my hair! lol. You like?      The addition of the ornaments and poinsettias add depth, dimension and sparkle

Happy Tuesday, I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed, and your Black Friday prosperous. A lot has been going on in my neck of the woods, and I have been a very busy little Bee. First up, a few weeks ago I took the plunge and started excepting interior decorating clients, and I am currently in the process of helping my new client create her dream home. I will post pics of the progress later. Later that week I was contacted by Liz a community manager at Hometalk, concerning a post I did last year.  " No More Clutter ". Below are a few pics from the posts. No More Clutter is a 3 part post .     BEFORE     BEFORE     DURING.....     AFTER   Any who, Liz really liked the post and wanted to know if I would curate a board on easy closet organizing tips, and I said "Yes". Below is a pic of the board. That's it for now! Because I have a long list of things to do. I will be back next week with Christmas, Christmas, and more Chris

Hi All, and Happy Thanksgiving. Just wanted to pop in an share my easy, no cost Thanksgiving table setting. I had BIG plans of how I wanted my table to look, but the pocket book said, "NO"! Instead I used what I already had. And below is the table setting I created on a ZERO budget. Enjoy the pics. The table cloth is 3 yards of upholstery fabric I purchased at Walmart years ago. I am waiting for the perfect piece of furniture to put it on. I really, really, really, like these plates. They were purchased at one of Dillards awesome clearance sales! The center piece consist of fresh onions, lemons, bell peppers, carrots and red potatoes from my kitchen.   The artificial foliage adds interest to the center piece. I think this fabric makes a BOLD statement. You like? Happy Thanksgiving! Lory

Happy Monday All! Fall is officially here, but it's still hot in Florida. I found myself daydreaming over the weekend about what it would be like to see the seasons change. And how neat is would be to pick Fall flowers from the garden, and make beautiful DIY arrangements. Since I live in Central Florida, the likely hood of seeing the seasons change and picking fall flowers is slim to none. Oh well, so much for daydreaming. Any who I decided I wanted to create a floral arrangement using flowers that were blooming in my own yard. So I grabbed my sneakers and a pair of shears and headed outside. And here's what I came up with. Pine Cone Ginger, Tricolor Ginger, Asparagus Fern and  Palm Fronds. Since floral design is not one of my strengths I decided to keep the arrangement simple .   I started out by placing the Tricolor Ginger in each corner of the vase, but I immediately came up with what I thought was a better idea. So..... I took the Pine Cone Ginger from

Hello all, it has been several weeks since my last post. But what can I say, "life happens"! I could give a lengthy synopsis of everything that has happened since my last post, but I won't. Instead, I am going to share a previous post, of a fall table setting I shared; when I started blogging two years ago. This table setting is super simple except for one thing, but I'll talk about that later on in the post. By the way, you can see the other fall table settings here and here . So let's get started.....   I wanted to try something that was kinda different so I came up with this look. All white with just a splash of orange . Hmmmmm! Delightful!   I needed a white table cloth, but I didn't have one, so here's what I did. I used a pair of  lace curtain panels . Do you see the white band in the center of the table? That's where I joined the two panels together. I think the band adds a nice touch.     Next, I brought out

Hi all, summer is officially here and it's hot in Florida. I have been enjoying lazy days in the pool, even though I have several projects that I would like to complete, before school starts back in the Fall. A few weeks ago I took inventory of all the mini outside projects I could accomplish in a few hours or less. So my first Simple Summer Spruce Up project was the exterior wall lanterns. ( instant gratification baby! ) They were extremely faded and in need of a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. So, I got to work. For this project I used a teeny weeny paint brush and 1 quart of RUST-OLEUM Ultra Cover Premium Metallic Paint , in oil rubbed bronze. Try saying that three times fast. I really like this paint, because it got the job done with just one coat.  Before This lantern is outback beside the patio door. Did I mention it was rusty, dirty, and faded?    After WOW! Improvement or not? You decide. Before I really like these pineapple wall lanterns

Happy Summer Everyone, we are six months deep into 2014, and Summer is finally here! My to do list seemingly never shrinks, and there is always something going on around these parts. As I mentioned in the last post, I hosted a Luau and it turned out pretty okay. (no post for the luau yet) But I do want to share an oh so simple, easy breezy summer idea. To make a long story short, I wanted to hang wall sconces/lanterns for the Luau. I searched high and low, but to know avail the sconces were too pricey. I thought about hanging mason jars and adding tea lights for some ambiance, but I decided not too. Reason being, I wanted to do something different.  Since Bromeliads are plentiful  in my front yard, I decided I could do something with them. But what?  So I put my thinking cap on and came up with an idea for a sconce, a Bromeliad Sconce that is! KEEP READING...... This is how the Bromeliads look when they aren't in bloom. I had the Hubs to pull several of the plants from the

Hi all, can you believe it's almost summer? This year is passing by in record speed. Any who, I hope you all had a fantastic weekend, I sure did. Saturday night we hosted a Luau and it was great. I will  do a post on it later on. As I mentioned earlier summer is almost here, and I have been doing a few home improvement projects like painting, organizing, and rearranging before it gets too hot. The rug in my fab foyer was on my summer to do list as well. And while my daughter is here visiting she agreed to repaint the rug for me. I feel so special . This is how the rug looked before it was repainted. It had lost it's luster but..... My daughter breathed new life into this rug with......   we used the 2oz and 8oz sizes.  several bottles of apple barrel craft paint, time and patience.   my daughter hard at work.   It took about 8 hours to complete this work of art and.....     me and my daughter.    I was able to get in on the action at the ve