A Room Somewhere

Showing Off Tracie (and Winners!)

Well hello!! I’m back this weekend to show off another fabulous DIY blogger – I know you’ll love her! But first, I need to announce the winners of the Two Broads Design giveaway!

The two lucky ducks are Hope with The Thrifty Queen and Elyssa with I Create Beauty! Ladies, please email twobroadsdesign (at) yahoo (dot) com to get your $40 credits! Have fun with them!

Okey dokey – it’s been waaaay too long since I showed someone off, so I’m excited to brag on another great blogger!

Tracie with Cleverly Inspired always has something fun up her sleeve – whether it be crafty goodness, DIY fun or some YUMMY recipes:

I love her header! Too cute! :)

One of her latest projects was transforming her bathroom vanity – here’s the before:

Of course, there’s the go-to project – painting the cabinets. But then she did the unexpected! (And I love that!)

She used an old window shutter as the new countertop:

Isn’t that lovely? (And yes, you can use wood near a sink – you just need to poly and caulk the heck out of it!)

You can see more about that project here.

We all know spray paint is the bee’s knees, and Tracie proved that once again with this $2 sconce:

She sprayed it a beautiful blue, then added some pretty little crystal gems to glam it up a bit:

Double thump to the chest for the spray paint!! I love how this turned out!

I’m totally, completely jealous of how pretty her garage is! She transformed it from this:

To this:

All with just some paint and fabric! And that cart is a changing table – brillz. ;) I so need a spray paint station like that.

You can see more about that project here.

One of my very favorites is her foyer redo – it was pretty to start with:

But with some paint, trim and a new light, it’s stunning now!:

SWOON!! Love it! What a great first impression!

She’s also a crafty chick (I’m working on some crafty goodness myself this weekend – it’s been way too long!). I love how she used copies of her mother’s recipes to create a super cute recipe box:

I just think that is lovely. :)

And speaking of recipes – here. you. go:

You can click on the photos to get to the recipes. And yes, I totally chose comfort foods on purpose. Tomorrow we’re down to 80 degrees here and that feels positively winter-like compared to this summer! I see that crock pot mac and cheese in our future…yummo!

I hope you’ll give Tracie a visit – I promise you’ll be hooked! And you’ll want to bake something. Trust me. :)

If you are interested in being highlighted, send an email to thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and title it SHOW ME OFF! Send a me a few links to your favorite projects and maybe some photos as well. I’ve got a long list of great bloggers to highlight, but I’d love to add a few more!

The September Before and After Party will go up Monday evening – so get those posts ready! Until then, I hope you have are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Beach Brights

Traditional Home

August in Review!

Well hello! Another month has come and gone and THANK GOD, it’s September!! Although Mother Nature got all sassy pants and our temps went from comfortable 80’s to 100 degrees every day for the next three days.

Har har…very funny Mo Nature. Hilarious.

The good news – next week we’ll be in the 70’s! Ah yes, temps fluctuating 30 degrees in a matter of days – that’s Indiana for you.

The end of another month means another month in review…because you can’t be missing a TDC project. Your life would fall to pieces. Believe you me.

We kicked off the month with 400 fantastic projects at the August Before and After Party. My friend Traci and I transformed the pleather parson’s chair in my office and I LOVE IT:

 

Did I mention the only sewing was hemming the bottom? And that could have been done with hemming tape. We were just being fancy schmancy with the machine. ;)

Next up I showed you how I start projects and leave them for weeks and months and half a year:

Our powder room has been torn up for about six months. I think. I’ve lost track, it’s been so long. I was happy to learn I am not alone!

I did complete something outside, and that was making a wood tabletop for our metal tables:

The metal tables are actually ottoman bases that came with our outdoor set. I think they’re much more practical used as a table, and I love the rustic look!

I shared the small transformations that made up much of the family room redo – and most of them involved spray paint. (Shocking.) My fun vintage lamp has gone through quite a few changes over the years:

Who knows what color it will be next! ;)

A few of us are back yet again with another series of blogland linky parties – this time with a FALL theme!:

Whoo!! I actually took a trip to Hob Lob today to gather supplies to make a couple fall wreaths. I had specific ideas when I walked in, but walked out with new thoughts running through my head so we’ll see how they turn out. ;)

We are SO excited about the upcoming Haven Conference next summer – tickets went on sale a couple of weeks ago and last I heard there are still some available:

I am SO excited to meet so many of you and put actual people with the faces on your blogs. :)

I got to hang with my blog friend Myra at Midland Antiques here in Indy a few weeks ago and I shared some of my finds with you here:

Ohhh…my lovely island. I miss it. Sniff.

I was tricky tricky and put my own spin on Pottery Barn pillows by making some with their napkins and placemats:

Many of their table linens match their pillow selection, so it’s such a thrifty solution! I picked up more for the family room too. ;)

Next, I shared the progress on our HUGE outdoor project:

It’s big and awesome and mostly done – the landscaping is waiting on the deck which has been waiting on the patio…it’s all very confusing. But so far we LOVE IT SO MUCH!!

I am ready for it all to be done, that is for sure! But it is going to be so fantastic and I can’t wait to show you.

My Dad and I completed a project for the deck that I couldn’t be more pleased with – the DIY Pottery Barn potting bench. (Say that three times fast.)

Dad took my inspiration and we created our own, for about $900 cheaper:

 

I’ve decided to just seal it and leave it as is – it’s just too lovely to mess with!

My big decluttering project for the month wasn’t even a room in our house – it’s my clutter nemesis and it’s THE CAR:

People – it’s been NINE days and it’s still clutter-free!! It’s definitely work to keep it that way, but so far so good!! I can’t believe it. :)

We ended the month on a wet note. What started with the fridge failing turned into this:

Hence the missing kitchen island.

We’ve ordered the new fridge, but it won’t be delivered for two weeks. And we’re still waiting to hear from the adjuster – I’m SO anxious to get this moving along. The blowers are gone, so that’s a step in the right direction – at least we can hear each other. ;)

But again, in the scheme of life, it’s just a bump – we’re so thankful it wasn’t worse!

And finally, I shared a few of the bloggy tools I use all the time:

I hope you found them helpful!

And there. you. go. – all of August wrapped up in one tidy post. Thanks for coming along for another month with me! (And August just happened to be the biggest traffic month ever at TDC – thanks to you!)

If you have any questions about a project from last month, please leave them in the comments!

I hope to share some big reveals coming up in the next few weeks! Crossing my fingers that one is a non plywood floor. ;)

Are you ready for September?!  I may have bought a caramel apple today to celebrate. :)

Making it Lovely

Katiedid