Busy, busy painting bee

Yes, it's been months since I have posted anything new. I have good reason, I promise! It's been so hectic because I have been moving out of state and painting, painting, painting. I don't think I have ever painted so much in my life.
Our new home is close to 100 years old, so the work is there and so is the vision. Let me share with you what's been keeping me occupied for these past months. Keep in mind these are befores.

 

 Now this is looking into the living room from the dining room. As you can see, it's so dark and feels so closed in. The carpet had to be ripped out because there were hardwood floors hiding underneath it, making me question, "how could you?".

The bookcases in the living room are okay, I wasn't crazy about the doors on them, so I removed them and decided to leave it open.

The living room and dining room have wonderful beams on the ceiling. Now I know that many of you wood fans are going to be upset with me, but this is all the stuff I have been busy painting. Yes, I said it, I painted all the moldings, trims, and beams a lovely crisp cotton white.
I was very hesitant to touch the beams because the wood was so pretty, but I really had the plan of opening up the rooms in the home and making them bright and inviting. I can't wait to share with you some after photos. Now I'm off to run after my busy 19 month old who is keeping me super busy too. Love you all!
Big Hugs, Melissa



Peonies

I love the beginnning of summer, the warmer weather, longer days, BBQ's, and best of all, peonies. Of course I love roses, but peonies are definitely my favorite flower. I ended up cutting the majority of the peonies in my garden and decided to put my camera to work and share these beauties with you all, enjoy!

The beautiful Sarah Bernhardt peony

Sarah Bernhardt peonies are by far my favorite peony, they are large, fragrant, and have a double pink flower that blooms early June-July.

This lovely euro sham is from Bella Notte Linens. I love their linens, they are of high quality, and best of all, machine washable!

Okay, let's get back to peonies.

The white peony you see here is the Festiva Maxima, its large double white flower is very fragrant. And when I mean fragrant, it just takes one cut stem to put in a small bathroom and the scent is filled.

With all that pink and white, let's change things up a bit and introduce......

The Karl Rosenfeld peony is slightly fragrant, but that's okay because it's vivid double red flower is just enough to make you smile and say ahhhhh.

I hope you all enjoyed this post on peonies from my garden. These flowers are truly breathtaking and are perfect in my eyes. If only they were repeat flowering like roses I would truly be happy, but I guess we can't have everything.

Take care everyone!

Big Hugs, Melissa

Happy Anniversary!

It's been two years of being married to the most amazing husband. The day I got married was the best day of my life, I would love to re-live that day over and over, it was everything I imagined it to be. Now I know my blog is about decorating, gardening, and beautiful things for the home, but I thought I would make today's post about my special day and share some of what my day was like with you all.

Putting on the dress

I was lucky enough to have my dress custom made by a wonderful and very talented seamstress. She listened to every little thing I wanted without making me feel like I was asking for too much.
I wanted lots and lots of tulle, and a lace bodice with tiny little pearl accents sewn in here and there. This photo is a tiny close up of the bodice.

I wanted it very romantic and feminine, no sparkles whatsoever. She created my vision into a reality and I couldn't of been any happier.

taking a picture with the man who will always be special to me, my father. Now off to....

pictures with my beautiful bridesmaids

Yay! We're married!

Now time to party it up!

I wanted the centerpieces to be filled with peonies, roses, hydrangea, and various greens. The tall centerpieces had crystal garlands draped. I thought the crystals would look so romantic in the evening with the candlelight .

I also wanted there to be lots and lots of candles with pale pink roses, just to add to the romance.

Carey from Stems Flower Design did an amazing job and really listened to what I wanted. She made my vision a reality. I was truly blessed to find such a great team of people that were willing to take the time to create my dream into a reality.

I hope you enjoyed my day and much as I did. All I truly want is to live the happily ever after and grow old with my husband. He truly is my one and only and I couldn't imagine my life without him.
Now I'm off to painting, haha!
Take care everyone! Big Hugs, Melissa

Sneak Peek

Not too sure if any of you know, but I have an addiction for finding furniture pieces on Craigslist. I've had great luck so far finding a number of pieces for great prices. I will admit it takes me a lot of time and patience trying to find these pieces, but when I come across them I am so excited.

Well, I was more than thrilled this past weekend when I this vintage sideboard was listed and was free. Yes, free! I did not hesitate one moment and e-mailed the seller to let him know I was extremely interested and would be there the next day to pick it up.

I am so sorry for the before photos, if you notice on the bottom the cardboard and paint, I was just beginning to paint it, when I realized I needed to take a before shot.

As you can see the wood on the sides is a bit damaged, but I saw that as no problem.

I love the legs on this piece, so French, so pretty.  There were so many cobwebs in this piece, it took about an hour to clean up. (I was so lucky to have my husband right there to kill all the spiders hiding in there)

Now here is just a sneak peek of the "almost" completed work. I still have yet to put a protective coat over the top, and a little bit more distressing to do. But for now......

I really liked the wood on this piece and wanted to keep some of it, so the top was left alone.

The hardware on the piece are all of it's original ones, I decided to keep them the way because I felt they complimented the wood perfectly.

Hope you all enjoyed this short post. I will be posted a bunch more shortly and cannot wait to show you a lot more stuff.

Take care everyone!

Big Hugs!

Melissa



Lovely Little Baskets

Lately I have been quite busy making these adorable little baskets. Everyone seems to be loving them and wanting them. How could you not, they're not too bulky, they look fantastic on your door, your wall, or just standing on the floor in an empty spot. I've been busy making some samples for custom orders to list on my etsy shop to try and reach a broader audience. The first is one in pink and white flowers.

I love these little baskets and love making arrangements in them, it just adds to the charm.

I love adding dried florals in a number of the arrangements, they always give off a nice scent.

I enjoy making these baskets, they always put a smile on my face and it's so easy to create beautiful arrangements from them.

I love using higher quality artificial flowers, because they don't look, how do I put this....fake. Plus they definitely photograph so much better.

This purple and white basket is one of my favorites, it would look great on a chippy white door.

I intertwined some antique white satin ribbon in the basket. However, there is the option of choosing a different color ribbon, or no ribbon at all.



From baskets to wreaths, I finally completed making this lovely vibrant wreath that welcomes spring for sure.



Lush greens, and sweet bright pink flowers with touches of purple here and there fill up this round beauty.

More wreaths and arrangements are to come, now I need to tend to my garden since the weather has been so beautiful. Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed my creations!

Warm Hugs,

Melissa :)

What a Find!

After weeks of searching on Craigslist for something to catch my eye, I came across this piece.

The glass on the main door was broken, but I saw that as an easy, inexpensive fix. There was no knob, however that did not bother me at all because that would be an easy fix as well.

This piece was moldy and just screamed to be taken home by somebody and given some TLC, and apparently it yelled out my name loud enough because for only forty dollars, yes you read that correctly, forty dollars how could I walk away from this piece, how?

After a lot of cleaning and painting, the finished product turned out........

The lock that previously was on the door was removed and replaced with this pretty crystal knob.

As you can see the glass on the door was replaced with new glass, I really wanted to replace it with beveled glass but this piece wasn't made with a thick enough depth to hold a beveled piece. Oh well, I'll take this over the broken taped up piece.

There are still parts on the wood that are chippy and a bit broken, however I feel that adds to the charm and I kind of like it. It took a while for me to decide what to paint this piece, at first I was thinking cream, but lately I have really been liking pale gray colors and noticed I did not have much furniture in that color.

It took a while to complete this piece and I must say I am satisfied. Now I am off to tackle my next project on my list and once I complete it, you bet I'll post and share it with you.

Warm Hugs, Melissa :)

Welcome Easter/Spring Tablescape

Easter is pretty much knocking on our doors and so is beautiful spring. I swear the holidays and seasons keep creeping up on me faster and faster each year.

I am so excited to share with you my Easter or spring tablescape. Here in the northeast the Bradford Pear trees are blooming up a storm and are so lovely, how about cutting up some twigs and using them as your centerpiece?

I love the cloud of white and the exposure of the twigs, giving the look a more natural feel.

This look is so easy and inexpensive to change up for Easter, you can go with a spring theme on your plate settings and just tie the napkins up with a satin ribbon (color of your choice), and some boxwood and spring flower of your choice. Here I chose grape hyacinths because they hold up pretty well without water for an extended period of time.

Now it's so easy to turn this plate setting into an Easter setting, simply place a decorative nest of your choice and voila!

You can certainly add some tiny artificial eggs into the nest to give it an even more Eastery feel, however I chose to keep it very simple and sweet.

The wired urn I had purchased from Aidan Gray. It has a top to it, but I decided to remove it for this particular arrangement. I lined it with a moss mat and also added the moss mat onto the scrunched burlap I laid on the table. I wanted to give this look a little more of a garden feel, and I feel that moss is a great way of incorporating that look.

You can purchase moss mats at any of your local craft stores, and the nice thing is you can cut them to fit your needed size or leave as is!

I hope you all enjoyed this post and got some ideas for decorating your next Easter or spring tablescape. I wish everyone a Happy Easter!