More Mistreatment . . . This Time It Is NOT The Windows

I wanted to post something I just did today to find some space in my house. But first I want to show you the very first thing that I ever mistreated . . . My dining room fixture.

She is not that pretty but when we moved in, she was naked. They had really bright clear bulbs in this thing and clear glass hurricanes over the bulbs. I got these shades at Hobby Lobby for $1 each and hot glued the beading on the edge. That was probably 7 years ago. I really don't like that it is brass but I have gold picture frames and don't know what other color I could paint it. What do you think?

Here is the project that I did in 20 minutes this morning with a full size flat sheet from Walmart ($2.50 on clearance) and my glue gun. Tell me what yo think of my new "scrapbooking supply cabinet". Here is the before picture:

And here is the after picture:

And here is what she is hiding:

Judah didn't seem all that impressed but tell me what you think.

What the heck . . . ?

I am sitting in the office, checking my email and trying to get ready for my very full day when I hear this:

Caleb: Did you take that Nazi off the motorcycle?

Jeremy: The Russian guy is supposed to go on the motorcycle!

Caleb: No, Jeremy! The Russian guy died when Scooby Doo's alien girlfriend showed up to save the day.

Jeremy: Oh, you mean, Crystal and Amber?

Caleb: No not Crystal . . . just Amber.

Jeremy: Whose that in the Jungle Cutter?

Caleb: Oh, that's Napoleon . . . He's French . . . Not like the mustard!

Jeremy: I'm gonna go watch the Magic Schoolbus.

What the heck? Is anyone else confused? And did anyone know that Scooby Doo had a girlfriend?

I am off to do some laundry. Have a blessed day!

Mistreatment Partay with The Nester

I have been so inspired by what the Nester has done in her home that I have decided to "mistreat" some of my windows as well. I will even show you one disaster in the making (which of course I am stuck on). Maybe you can help me.



So here is my first mistreatment. It is a valance that I made for the kitchen window. I had a bag of fabric scraps and a box of OLD ribbon that I got from a lady at church. The fabrics is the skirt portion of a little girl's jumper and I glued the ribbons onto it and used coordinating plastic clothespins to hang it on an existing rod. I hung it at the ceiling and it mostly covers the wall. Please disregard how the wall paper is hung upside down on this section of the wall. It was like that when we bought it. The cost for this project was: $0

The next room I did was my formal dining room. I used some old homemade curtain panels and hung them at the top of the window so they would reach the floor. Then I hung a rod just below the crown molding and hung my nifty mistreated window topper to cover the wall and the top of the lower curtains. I really love this fabric and I had just enough to make it look like a custom cornice board. The velvet covered buttons make it look even more tailored and formal. In the first picture you can see the lampshades on the chandelier that I mistreated with some dangly, beaded trim. Even my husband liked it and he seldom gets excited about decorating. The scallops are not as crooked as they appear in these photos. The cost for this project was: $8

The next room I did was my bedroom. We have 2 windows on either side of the bed but since my bed was not made, I only took a picture of one of the windows. They are both dressed the same. I already had the sheers in there. The mossy green panels were a pair that I had gotten at Walmart at least 3 years ago on clearance. I cut each panel in half and glues the cut edge so the fabric wouldn't unravel and made dumby panels. It has almost a burlap weave but it is soft and smaller weave so it made a mess when I cut it. The toile and gingham were remnants from Hobby Lobby. I hung everything just under the crown molding on rods I already had. The cost for this project was: $6 (for 2 windows) Does anyone have any ideas for the lampshades?





The next room is a work in progress and I really need everyone's help. I started in the formal living room by pairing existing cream colored panels with the striped panels that I made using my glue gun. I have blackout fabric in the top windows because we live in the south and these windows face west. The sun bakes this room in the summer so I cut blackout fabric to fit these windows and velcroed them to the window frame. In the fall and winter, I can take them down and at Christmastime, I take everything down out of this window so the world can see my tree! Anyways, I am having a hard time dressing the top of the window to cover the blackout fabric. I also purchased some wonderful blue fabric on Saturday at Hancock's 50% off sale and some trim. There is a picture of all of it together. Any ideas for me?









I have some other projects and fabrics to play with after I finish the formal living room monster window. Take a look at my clearance finds:




I am thinking about mistreating a round table and a sideboard with these.

I am going to do a cornice or something in the family room with this.

I love everyone's pictures and ideas that I've seen so far. Thanks in advance for the help.

Toothless Wonder

I thought you might all enjoy some pictures of Jeremy with his front tooth missing. He was very excited when it fell out. It was the third tooth that he has lost so far. The Tooth Fairy left him $1 which he was very happy about. I just love when they lose their front top teeth. They look so cute and sound so funny. Then when it grows back in, it is way too big for their mouth.

I am not quite sure but, I think Michael had him laughing and that's why his eyes are closed.

Traveling Back to the City of My Birth

Well, we just returned from a trip to NYC. It was really a strange trip for me. Everything seemed so much more crowded and dirty than I remember it being eight years ago when I moved south. Maybe I've just gotten used to the slower pace of life and the wide open spaces of country living. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would be living in the country and be able to hear farm animals when I sat outside on the porch, I would have told you that you were nuts! I was born and raised in NYC. I spent the first 10 years of my life in Brooklyn and the next 12 in Staten Island. Aside from going away to school in Indiana, I has never lived outside the city. Now when I go back to visit family, I can't believe I ever lived there.

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and revisiting my favorite pizza place, my old babysitter, our old church . . . some things hadn't changed and other things were so completely different. The kids had a wonderful time and being raised in the south, they talked to everyone they came in contact with. I think they freaked some people out with their friendliness and their fearlessness. I just thought that I would share some pictures from our trip. There are some of the boys eating Italian Ices and Spumoni and a couple of them playing at the park that I used to play at when I was little.

I can't figure out how to get the pictures at the end of the blog post so, I'll just leave it as is.