Home Decorating 101 - MEDIA ROOM

Friday, October 5, 2010


Ready to watch a little Glenn Beck (no rude comments, please)?  Follow me into the Media Room, kick off your shoes and get comfortable.....

When we bought the house, the folks we bought it from designed this room to be a 50's room.....black & white checkered floor, jukebox, Coca Cola stuff everywhere.....real cool Texas shaped wet bar sink....and the coolest part was this real unique train track that ran around the perimeter near the ceiling.  Unfortunately, the train always stalled out on the tressel......

So we turned it into a Media Room.  We painted those bare white walls (Errrrrrrrrr.....I detest white walls) a deep burgundy, installed carpet to help with the sound, put in indirect lighting, hot glued burgundy velvet curtains and found a kicker deal on the recliners.  Actually, we lived with my father-in-law's old yellow plaid hide-a-bed sofa for a few years until we could afford the media recliners. Chuck was as happy as a tick on a dog when we turned this room into a Media Room cause that allowed him to go purchase the 60" TV of his dreams..........the boy was actually slobbering......it was scary.

Most of the other furniture we already had....we turned the train track into a bookshelf.....hung some of my favorite art (which consists of Hobby Lobby prints, Bombay Outlet oils and a $10 poster I carried on my back all through Europe (am I right, Carla??).  HELPFUL HINT:  If you're looking to frame a favorite print or mirror, do not; I repeat, DO NOT go to a frame shop and order one.  Instead, purchase a pre-made frame from Hobby Lobby (every few weeks they're 50% off) or go to Kirklands, head to the back of the store to the Green Tag section and you'll pick up a HUGE frame for under $20.....Even if you don't need a frame, but you find one that you like thats cheap, BUY IT NOW......you will always find a use for it later.  I have a whole attic full of stuff I don't need....yet.

We're not rich, folks.....I'm just cheap.  Did you know that you can negotiate financing with most furniture stores?  Most of them will either lower the price or give you 0% interest......you just have to ask.  I ALWAYS ask.....It's about this time Chuck walks away shaking his head.......I think it embarrasses him or something...I get the same look from him when someone compliments his shirt and I enthusiastically tell them it came from Goodwill.....ohhhhh, he hates that.   He's begged me not to tell people his Cadillac Valet T-shirt came from Goodwill..........so don't tell anyone, okay?

Back to the Media Room.....This room had no door and no way to put up a door; but since the house originally only had 2 bedrooms,  we needed to use this room for overflow sleeping when the family was down.  Sooooooo.....out came my faithful glue gun, more velvet material and made a double thick curtain at the doorway that can be pulled shut to provide privacy.

Well, that's about it......I'm showing a picture of Chuck's snack basket cause its a permanent fixture in this room.  The entire bottom drawer of the coffee table is for his TV room snacks......I'm starting to think the boy has a worm or something.......

Home Decorating 101 - KIDS KORNER

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Ready for the Kids Korner?

We have two very girly-girl granddaughters (I know-I know...I'm not "old enough" to be a grandmother....), 5 and 7, who Grandpa Charlie and Lele love to have visit the lakehouse.   We realized early on, they needed their own little "space" to define themselves and work on their amazing artwork.  Before we added the Guest Bedroom you saw yesterday, we had a longer "dead-end" hallway which we used for their "space".  At that time, we had only one granddaughter, Isabella (Bella), and a godchild, Taylor, that visited us quite often.  So, I took some side profile pictures of them, and painted a chalkboard silhouette of Taylor and Bella on the wall for them to chalk around on.  Well, when we added on to the house, that wall had to come down, which meant the chalkboard silhouette had to come down too.  Oh what a painful day that was for me cause I had worked hard painting it and it always brought a smile to my face whenever I walked down the hall.

So, although we didn't have as much space in the hallway after the addition, we did have a slice of space that we turned into their special little corner.  Found this cute little chandelier at Home Depot (it was a REAL bad color....thus the cheap price), spray painted it cream, purchased some hot pink shades from Bombay Outlet, added some faux gems and there you have it; a chandelier fit for our princesses.  The whole thing was maybe $20.

The table was made by Grandpa Charlie for less than $10 and I just painted the top with chalkboard paint (I'm guessing there's at least 10 layers of paint on that thing!)....Helpful Hnt; if you ever do this, be sure to use MDF wood.

The chairs are pretty awesome, aren't they?  You will never believe where I found these.  These were discovered at a Goodwill store in Sulphur Springs; were stained an almost black dark stain; had red velvet attached with upholstery tacks to the backs and seats of both.  Looked like they came out of the  TV show The Monsters.....they were hideous!!  But I loved the shape of the chairs and was able to look past the hideous scary red velvet and snatched them up quickly for $5 each.  Chuck is use to me dragging stuff home from everywhere including people's curbs, but he was really scratching his head on this one.  I love freaking him out that way!

Found the cabinet on the wall at the Bombay Outlet (why oh why did they have to go bankrupt??!!) and just hot glued a little lace on the edge of the shelves to make it interesting.  Accessorized with tea party (and no; this wasn't the anti-Obama Tea Party) cups and saucers, couple little hot pink cowgirl hats, some angel wings and of course, a princess crown........we've had many many fun times right here in this little corner and some very expensive artwork has been created right at this very spot!

Tomorrow......we're headin' down the hall to the Media Room.....

DECORATING 101: "GUEST BEDROOM"

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

It was Unanimous.....well, almost unanimous.......there was the one comment yesterday asking to hear about the trip to the nudist camp.....I guess the stick people picture threw him off (see picture)......but aside from that comment, everyone picked multiple choice #2 - A Tour of the Lakehouse.   So, here we go.....we'll start with Guest Bedroom #1.

I must first tell you that Liz does not pay full price for anything.  If I can make it myself, I will.  I negotiate on price for everything; I borrow ideas from magazines; been known to take pictures from my cell phone of pictures inside magazines so I won't have to purchase the magazine and lastly, draw out my idea and beg Chuck to make it in his woodworking shop.

GUEST BEDROOM:
Now, a little history on this room.  When we first purchased our Lakehouse in 2001, it only had two bedrooms and this wasn't one of them.  After owning the house for about 3-4 years, we decided to add a large Guest Bedroom and a large Screen Porch.  This added about 500 square feet making the house about 3000 square feet total.  We were about 2/3 of the way complete with the add-on when we had to "fire" the contractor.   Errrrrrrrrrrr...........I was the only one in the neighborhood who trusted this dude and I had such high hopes for him.  It's very difficult in East Texas to find good competent, INSURED contractors that show up each day, don't blow you off to go fishing, and have all their teeth.  So we finished the job ourselves.....

I looked high and low for a king sized black 4-poster bed.....Now days, you can find them everywhere, but six years ago, they were no where to be found.  I believe I single handedly brought black 4-poster beds into the decorating world.  Found this beautiful bed in a small town in Arkansas, with a beacon of light from Heaven shining down on it.......meant to be mine!  I've always wanted a black/white toile theme and this was the perfect room to do it in.  I found the linens at Target (on SALE, of course!) and decided to make the curtains, canopy and bedskirt myself.  My favorite fabric store is in Dallas called The Fabric Yard and purchased this beautiful lacy fabric for about $2.00 a yard there.  A STEAL!  I've never been known for my sewing abilities (I had to take Home Ec twice cause I "paid" a girl to make my Home Ec dress....got caught), so I tend to use my best friend, hot glue, to hem most everything in our house.

We purchased stock cabinets from Lowe's and made the long window seat on the wall of windows.  Attached some molding to it, covered the backside of it with toile wallpaper, upholstered a cushion out of Target sheets, threw several coats of paint on it and whalla........It is a perfect place to put the granddaughters' books and toys in baskets as well as sit and relax looking at the lake.

The black dressing table was found at an antique auction in Sulphur Springs.  It originally was brown and, for some reason, much lower; too low.  We won the bid at $125, sanded it down, painted it black and Chuck made perfectly matching leg extensions to bring the height up to where it should be.  One of the end tables to the bed also was purchased at this auction for $40 and painted to match.  It's an old piano cabinet.  Found the stool at a furniture store closeout, then painted and reupholstered with sheets to match.  The three wicker baskets at the foot of the bed were purchased to hold the granddaughters' barbies and toys.

Now, the hardest thing in the room was picking the wall color.  I will never forget my brother-in-law, Brady's comment when he first saw the color.  I believe his exact words were "Baby Poop Green".  He has since worked his way back into my favor......lucky for him......but  I totally disregarded his comment because, well......afterall, he is a man, what does he know about paint color??   I actually took a pillow case to a store in Dallas some of you will remember, Gabberts, and asked one of their decorators what color I should use on the wall and he picked this color for me.  This is a perfect solution if you just can't decide, and it's FREE.

I hand painted the wording on the wall with the help of my overhead projetor, reupholstered an old screen porch wicker sofa (again with sheets) and that about did it for this room.  Added some merchandising around the room from garage and estate sales to complete the look.  Two of my favorite finds was the dog bed made out of a chair with red gingham fabric that I picked up at the chuch bizarre this past December and a picture frame with a plate and spoon from the Queen Elizabeth at an estate sale for $4.00.
I hope I haven't bored you too much with this little walk through of our Large Guest Bedroom......I truly enjoy decorating and love sharing my thoughts with you as well as receiving your ideas!

Tomorrow......we'll see our Granddaughters Play Area........

Oh What to Blog About.........

Tuesday, February 2, 2010


I've been dying to Blog this week, but just didn't know what to Blog about...........so, I've decided to give you a multiple choice and let you choose.  So, here we go.....

1)  Something creepy about my toes......my Dad is to blame.

2)  Home Decorating.  One of my Blogger friends asked me to do a home tour of our lakehouse on my Blog....

3)  Murphy's filthy habit......

4)  My skin cancer photos.....(did you just throw-up in your mouth??)

5)  Nothing.  We're sick of your Blogging......

Okay my Bloggites, time to vote!

I Had No Choice....I Had To Give A Press Conference

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - Bryan, TX

Dang!  We didn't run into George and Barbara today at the Bush Library here in Bryan, BUT we did see an upstairs deck to an apartment next to the Library that belonged to them!  That's about as close as we got to them.......well, that is, if you don't count the pointers I gave him prior to his giving the State of the Union Address......and then there was the "situation" of Chuck peeking in the White House windows which caused us to meet in the "Situation Room".   But I believe I got it all straightened out when I took the podium and explained everything to the Press......Robert Gibbs has nothing on me!  And I allowed Major Garrett from Fox News the first and only question!  Take that CNN!

GUYS ONLY.....NO NEED TO READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU'RE GAY......

I had to cut the press conference short to attend the MAJOR sale at Kirklands and pick up this sweet little piece for $8.95!  I have no idea where I'm going to put it, but it was a kicker deal, folks!!

But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to the awesome store we stopped at last week in Brenham!  I just now got the pictures off my phone so I'm sharing them with you a little late......this is easily the sweetest little antique store I've stopped at in a long long time.  She had such an eye for presentation.........check out the mirror with the plates on it.....I want the 2-door armoire with the green glass for my birthday.......and my friend Sue REALLY wanted that metal longhorn!

RV Aggieland RV Park.....I Just Love That Name!

Monday, January 25, 2010 - Bryan, TX




Well, today we pulled up the sewer hose, remembered to unplug the coach, cleared out all the men helping Chuck with various things around the RV, and left Rockport.

We had such a great time visiting with our old neighbors and dear friends, Norm, Sue, Brad and Betty in Rockport over the past 5 days.  I don't think I've ever eaten so much and will be fasting for the next two weeks.....I AM SO FULL!  Poor Chuck is used to 1 maybe 2, if he's lucky, meals a day and now he was eating 3 meals a day....But it really was good to see everyone again and meet their wonderful RV neighbors!  Too fun!


So here we are in Bryan, Texas.  We made excellent time on the road today.  Google Maps said it would take us 6 hours to get here; Mapquest routed us the exact same way and said it would take 4 hours 5 minutes; Norm & Sue's friend, Wayne, said it would take us 3 hours; the waitress at "The Diner" said to expect a 5 1/2 hour drive.........sooooo.......I know you're dying to know which one was right, right??  Drum roll please.............Mapquest was right on!!  We made it in 4 hours, 15 minutes with a 15 minute stop at the gas station.   We are staying in the, you're going to LOVE this, RV Aggieland RV Park.  Yep, you heard me right!  It's actually a nice park.......Aside from driving the RV in the park backwards, it was an easy setup.  No trees were hit today; the RV started the "1st" time and we now have AC and hot water in the Rv.  It's been a good day!

Just finished watching "The Bachelor" and I've just got to tell ya, this dude Jake is awesome.  Not only has he dealt with one of the ladies having a scandalous affair with a staff member, he chose not once, but twice tonight to get rid of more women than he was required to. WOW......how cool is that????  I'm voting for Tensley.......she's the one for Jake!  Stay tuned........

Tomorrow?  We're headed to the Bush Library.......I'll try and get our picture taken with Barbara and George for tomorrow's Blog......

There's Nothin' Finer Than Breakfast At The Diner......

DAY 4:  Sunday, January 24, 2010 - Rockport, TX

There's Nothin' Finer Than Breakfast At The Diner..........There's a real neat little cozy place here in Rockport called simply, "The Diner".  Now, we have eaten at least one meal every day, sometimes two, at The Diner.  They make a fabulous Grilled Cheese Sandwich which, if you know Liz, you know is my absolute favorite meal in the world.  Yumm  Yumm......  Well, we had Sunday morning breakfast there this morning.  It was PACKED!  Not only did we barely get a table, but it took forever to place our order and get our food.,,,,,just like Mothers Day at Ihop!  Anyway, Chuck got his food first; looked good.........knife and fork in hand, he was just about to cut up his eggs when suddenly the waitress came and took his plate away......  As we all looked up in shock, she notified us that his breakfast belonged to someone else and off she went with it.............As we all sat there with our mouths open, Chuck was sitting there, knife and fork still in hand, looking perplexed.

We did notice, however, that Brad and Betty at the next table were behaving like newlyweds instead of the married-for-26-years that they are.  They are simply the cutest couple!!

The rest of the day was spent outside in the warm breezy coastal outdoors visiting and solving the worlds problems, while Chuck and his new RV friends tried to find out why we don't have any A/C working in the coach............despite putting all 3 of their heads together.

Tomorrow, they have a new plan............