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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Imperial Hotel in Vienna

A friend of mine just came back from a whirlwind weekend in Vienna.  She was there to celebrate Lifeball, which is Europe's largest AIDS charity event.  The event was star-studded and spectacular.  My friend stayed in the Imperial Hotel which is just gorgeous.  She knew I would love to see photos of her hotel, and of course, I wanted to share her photos with all of you.
 An old palace was converted and changed into this hotel.  This is one of the many staircases.
Look at the stunning architecture.
 This is the sitting room in my friend's suite.  I love the wall paper and all of the molding work.
 Gorgeous ceiling and chandeliers.
 Talk about crystal...there were five chandeliers/sconces in their one hotel room.
Hope you enjoyed the eye-candy.
-Judy
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Swing into Spring - It's a Party #67

Welcome to this week's Swing into Spring party.  

Last week's party was filled with so much inspiration and great ideas.  Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:

Decorate with a Little Bit made this custom DIY rug for her kitchen. What a great idea.  
Stop by for the full tutorial.
My friend, Kathy, from Creative Home Expressions, created this gorgeous crown over her bed.  I love the toile fabric and she gives a great tutorial.  

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:
Making it Homey transformed a second hand store find into this beauty.  
I love the dark top and the painted drawers. 
Inspiration Overload transformed an old dresser and gave it new life.  Simply gorgeous.

CRAFTY CREATIONS:

Decorating Cents created this super cool artwork out of paint chips.  
Confessions of a Plate Addict created this gorgeous DIY artichoke tea towel.  

TASTY TREATS:

Scattered Thought of a Crafty Mom shared her recipe for Barbecue Chicken Pizza.  
This looks so yummy!!
Joyful Homemaking shared her recipe for this orange banana smoothie.  
The perfect drink for a hot summer day.

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.





A few rules:
1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Linen Closet Organized

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend...the unofficial kick-off of summer.  We were busy entertaining all weekend and spent almost every minute by the pool.  
It was a gorgeous weekend here.  
Although we were super busy, I did have time to sneak in organizing a closet.

It all started when I went into the linen closet in my son's bathroom.  His bathroom is the Jack and Jill bathroom between his room and my daughter's room.  He now uses that bathroom exclusively 

and my daughter uses the bathroom in the guest room exclusively.

Anyhow, I don't know the last time I went through this closet.  There were eight sets of twin sized sheets.  The only problem with that is that we no longer have any twin sized beds in the house!!  I did keep a few sets in the closet for when we go on vacation (we often rent a house in Cape Cod and you have to bring your own linens).  Then there were crib sheets (yep crib...even though my kids are 12 and 15) and other baby items. as well as expired medicines.  
After purging and donating and keeping only what I need,  the closet is so much more organized.  I used one bin for my son's things, one bin for my daughter's things and a bin for baby bath products (for when my three year old niece and nephew are over and use this bathroom).
I have to ask myself...what took me so long?

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Swing into Spring party.


The party opens at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy
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Monday, May 28, 2012

Winner of Shabby Apple Giveaway

The winner of the Shabby Apple $50 gift card giveaway is...Julie.

I will be sending Julie an email this morning.  

Thank you all for participating.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day!!
-Judy

Friday, May 25, 2012

Garage Makeover

My brother and his wife recently bought their first house.  The house is 17 years old and the garage was never finished.  The walls had years of holes from various hooks, pegs, screws, hammer slams and car doors hitting it.  As you can see from the photo...the walls were a mess!!

The garage is a one car garage and measures 20' x 9'.  It took drywall compound and sheetrock squares to patch up the small and large holes in walls and ceiling.  Then the walls and ceiling were sanded and retouched again.  It took three coats of Kilz premium primer with stain block to cover over everything.  The marker was especially a problem bleeding through the first two coats.  
Here is the garage with it's new makeover.  The paint color is Valspar Autumn Fog in a satin finish.  
 It's gray with a hint of blue.   The blue adds brightness to the normally dull gray color.


1 x 2s and 1x3s were screwed into the studs and used as cleats for the shelves and brackets.  The shelves are made from a 4 x 8 piece of plywood ripped in half.  This  created over 20' of shelf space.
For extra storage, and to keep things off of the floor, bicycle hooks were used for the trikes, tool hooks for brooms and mops and utility hooks for the ladder and step stool.

The power of paint never ceases to amaze me!!  My brother still plans to refinish the floor or buy tiles.  He is still researching feedback on epoxy floor paint, as well as build a standing or folding workbench.  He will also be adding more organizational things to the walls.  I'll be sure to share this with you when he is finished. 

If you're thinking of tackling a project like this, here are a few tips:

1.  All products were purchased at Lowes and Home Depot.  

2.  There is no reason to purchase an expensive shelf system - furring strips screwed into studs and plywood shelving is a fraction of the cost and takes paint really well.  

3.  Having a stud finder makes the job easier.  Other tools used for this project were a level, power drill, 2 paint rollers (thrown out after using, not worth cleaning), 4" paint brush for cut-ins, step stool for reaching corners (easier than moving ladder), paint tray and liners, paint extenion pole, hat, gloves and glasses.  Trust me, wear a hat when sanding and painting, you'll thank me later.
4.  My brother did this project by himself over the course of a few weekends (keep in mind he has twins that are 3 years old which makes it a bit tougher to carve out huge chunks of time), but you could probably get this done in a weekend with help.  Perhaps spackle on Friday, sand and prime on Saturday, and paint later on Saturday or Sunday(primer dries in one hour) and hang shelves and move stuff when paint dries.

Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!

-Judy
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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Mood Board for Family Room

I've been thinking for a while that I need to lighten up our family room in our basement. 
 A few years ago we reclaimed a portion of that space, that for years was one giant playroom, 
and made it into a family space.  I am a very visual person and it always helps me if I can see what a space will look like before I commit to anything.  The easiest way to try out my ideas was 
to make a mood board on Olioboard.
So here's what I'm thinking...  I am loving this Amy Butler wallpaper I recently found.  Before I buy it, I wanted to see how it would look in the space.  To create my mood board, I used similar looking furniture to what I have already.  I added punches of color throughout the mood board.
Here is what the room looks like currently.
I was thinking that the wallpaper and a lighter area rug could really transform the space.
I was thinking painting this end table an aqua color, like in my mood board,  
could be really cool.

I love designing on Olioboard.  How about you?

-Judy
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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Swing into Spring - It's a Party #66

Welcome to this week's Swing into Spring party.  
Last week's party was filled with awesome ideas and inspiration.  Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:

Dixie Delights  shared her guest room makeover.  GORGEOUS!!  When can I stay over??
French Country Cottage shared the open shelves she created as part of her kitchen renovation.  I am in love with this kitchen...especially the chandeliers.

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:

Hospitality Designs shared this upholstered chair which she tweaked by having the monogram added.  
I love this idea...especially the chair was already upholstered.  You should stop by her blog to read the cute story surrounding the monogram.
551 East shared this craigslist find that she transformed using paint.
LOVE the ruby red!!

CRAFTY CREATIONS:

Confessions of a Plate Addict shares a tutorial for creating vintage fairly tale book covers.
I really love this project and definitely want to try this.
Living Rich on Less shared how she made this DIY magazine holder.
This is a great project.

TASTY TREATS:

Deep in the Heart of...Arkansas shared her recipe for a coke marinade.
This looks like the perfect summer recipe.

Pine Cones and Acorns shared her recipe for cinnamon cream cheese coffee cake.  Try and say that five times fast.  This looks delish.

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.





A few rules:
1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy


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