Monday, March 28, 2011

heart of a home

I think it's the little things around a home that make you smile. Make you realize ~
 "This is what makes my house a HOME."

Pretty blue and white teacups and saucers...
(Blue and white anything makes me smile!)


A kitty peeking through the flowers
even though she's not supposed to be on the kitchen table...


A stack of vintage books with a pretty heart atop...


 All three cats sleeping in the sunshine, on my son's unmade bed...


My son's decorated bedroom door...


Little "pretties" on display in the kitchen...



Take a look around your own home.
What are some of the things that make you smile?
Make your home uniquely yours?
I'd love to hear about them.



Saturday, March 26, 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

think spring!

Little touches of spring around Comfy House...








It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want - oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!
~ Mark Twain


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

laundry room makeover

I don't exactly have a laundry room, per se - but I do have a laundry area. It's in the unfinished part of my basement, AKA The Dungeon. The area basically consists of a washer and dryer with two ugly pieces of plywood serving as shelves, nailed onto plywood above the washer and dryer.

These shelves became a catch-all for all kinds of stuff: snacks, cat food, rags, laundry detergent, extra Tupperware, a plastic grocery bag filled with cut-out recipes, and lots of dust.

I'm a little embarrassed to even show you all what the area looked like BEFORE:




Here's the AFTER:



This was just a super-quick-maybe-one-hour makeover on a Saturday afternoon. I started out by taking everything off the shelves, taking the shelves down and washing them in the laundry tub, then lining them with yellow "rubbery" contact paper from Wal-Mart. It doesn't have any sticky backing, but "holds" to the shelves with its rubbery material.

I then took a look in my scrapbook papers and found some yellow and purple papers I liked. I simply taped those to the drywall beside the shelves.

Found a copper wire basket that used to hang in my kitchen and hung that above the washing machine to hold the rags and clothespins. The green basket on the bottom shelf is from Michaels. I'm using that to hold the cat food cans. The little round basket on the top shelf (found in one of my bins of household decor) holds dryer sheets. The green bird planter on the top shelf holds extra plastic grocery bags that I use when I scoop out the cat boxes.

I then added some cheerful decor that again, I found in my stash of household decor.

Now if the Laundry Fairy would just make a visit to my house...


Thursday, March 10, 2011

thrifty treasures

Oh, Goodwill...how I love thee so!


 Josef Seibel shoes - which retail for an average of $130 - for $4.99.  The leather is like butter. They feel SO good on my feet.


Snowman salt and pepper shakers in a cute red basket for $1.99.


Bath sign which had a $14.99 HomeGoods sticker on the bottom - $1.99.



Couple of hardcover books, for $1.79 each. The Kennedy one is for my husband; the poetry book for me.



One of my favorite finds...100% cotton cableknit LL Bean cardigan for $3.99! Look here http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/51561?feat=611-GN1 to see the retail price! ;-)




Brand-new fleece gloves for 49 cents.


And a beveled glass picture which will be perfect in my re-done basement family room - $4.99. Clementine approves.


Have you found any wonderful treasures by thrifting lately?



Sunday, March 6, 2011

kitty cat love

Zippo - almost 12 years old - is still King of the House. I remind him regularly that he's still #1.


Monkey, the baby, is now 5-1/2 months old. He is so cute - but such a terror. He gets into garbage cans, knocks plants over, tears the tablecloth off the kitchen table, and has a plastic fetish. Plastic grocery bags, anything covered in plastic wrap - he will tear up and chew on. This morning I heard rustling in the kitchen and went in there to investigate. Monkey was up on the counter and had torn off the plastic wrap that was covering a pan of carrot cake - and was happily licking the cream cheese frosting!



Couldn't help but laugh when I found Monkey hiding inside my son's bass drum...


Monkey thinks he's friends with Zippo and will curl up beside him when he's sleeping...sneaky kitten!


Mama Clementine is still very protective of her baby and loves to wash him...


Clementine and Monkey...this photo won my veterinarian's competition for their monthly Facebook profile photo!




 

Monday, February 28, 2011

what's new around my home

The lamp, books, glass bowl, and plate rack on my buffet aren't new, but the vignette is. I like playing around with the decor in my house, changing things depending on my mood and the season. With the plate rack, I thought outside the box and tried putting some little pictures in it instead of plates. I like it! The vintage green bowl with the marbles (which belonged to my grandma) used to be on the console table.


Since I moved the green bowl with the marbles from the console table, that meant I got to play around with the console table decor, too. I found this glass candle holder at IKEA. I'm slowly changing some of the living room decor over to lighter items for spring, so this was a perfect choice.


The basement re-do continues. We made another trip to IKEA and picked up this large Chicago print. I think the little bits of orange in the picture really "pop" against the orange wall. Oh, and see the curtain rod above the window? I tried several different curtains, including one held back to the side with a hook. Looked terrible. I'm going to take down the curtain rod and brackets and just leave the window bare. This is the only window in the basement, so it's the only source of natural light.


We also bought three black floating shelves for another wall. The grouping on the shelves - mostly our son's paintings - are temporary. We are going to mat and frame our son's black and white photos and put on the shelves. I went to Michaels craft store today with some of the photos and unfortunately, only one of the photos fit their standard mats. You can see the photo on the bottom shelf, to the right.


Close-up of the photo. Sorry for the glare; the frame is glass.


When we were in Lake Geneva a week and a half ago (see post from Feb. 21st), I saw this bird votive holder and little dish in a store we stopped in. I have this obsession with bird decor...



Lastly...my hubby is into composting and makes daily trips out to the backyard composter, which is kind of a pain - especially in the winter. We'd been looking at kitchen countertop composters, but never settled on a particular one. I was at TJ Maxx the other day and saw this pretty red one on clearance for $12! Sold! I'm assuming it was on clearance because it's red, as the stainless steel ones were over $30. Red is perfect for my kitchen.


I hope you have a lovely day, puttering and fluffing your own nest!