My house, well....errr....the parts I'm okay with you seeing!

What's that saying?  "The cobbler's son has no shoes"?  I think that's how it goes.  That describes me to a tee!  I'm full of great ideas, ready to help everyone else make their home beautiful on a budget; yet my own home has so many unfinished projects.  BUT, I did want to share a few things I have accomplished!

I would describe my style as transitional with a touch of funky.  Yeah, that sounds about right!

Many more pictures and projects to come...

This is a chandelier that I "refabbed".  My sister-in-law was going to put this on Craig's List for free pickup.  I snagged it, of course!  It was gold with tons of drippy crystals.  Now being that my style has a "touch of funky", I spray painted it blue (Rustoleum Hammered Finish Spray Paint is great)!  I cleaned all of the drippy crystals and rewired them to the chandelier (which took about 4 hours, standing on top of the dining table!)  I love that its just a little bit gaudy & a little bit over the top.  I think every home needs a statement piece like this.  And the best part?  Total cost:  $16 (2 cans of spray paint)!!!

Here are the what I like to call "Kendall Kustom" curtains in my dining room.  I bought the linen panels at Ikea, used striped upholstery fabric left over from my side chairs and trimmed the fabric in chocolate grosgrain ribbon.  Total cost for 4 96" panels?  $108 ($60 for panels, $8 for curtain rings, $40 for rods).  Beats custom all to pieces!

These are the "Kendall Kustom" curtains I put together for the family room.  I found curtains that I loved on Pottery Barn for about $150 a pair (*heart palpitations*), so of course, I had to recreate them "on the cheap"!  I bought chocolate linen panels and stitch witched white grosgrain ribbon from the Dollar Store (yes, the Dollar Store).  Total cost per pair:  approx. $45.  Not bad, eh?

This is a table that sits in our breakfast area that my Mom helped me paint (lemme just say, my Mom is like the craftiest person I know!)  I know what you're thinking, "Where did ya get that CRAZY pattern?"  Well, I had 2 pieces of art hanging in the breakfast room that served as the inspiration for this piece.  However, one fell off the wall and so I had to get rid of both (story of my life).  So, the table remains, but it will probably get repainted in the next year (*uh, that would mean approx 2 - 3 years!)

 

This is the feature wall in my master bathroom.  I have a thing for CHOCOLATE and BUDDHAS, preferably together!  I will most likely paint the rest of the bathroom at some point, but this was a good way to get some color in the room.  It's very "zen".... (sorry for the way blurry shot.  Still figuring out the new camera!)

These are some examples of "art" photography I've taken over the years.  Both are special to me, because they were taken at the beach, my absolute most favorite place to be.  I took both with a point & shoot camera.  Just think what I'll be able to do now that I have my "fancy" camera!  I had both of these put on canvas.  The "Hands" piece is in our master bedroom and the "Brothers Walking" piece is in the art niche in the family room.  I love the ethereal quality of both pieces.  If you want to convert your own "art" photography to canvas, Canvas on Demand does a great job!  They often run specials, but even with discounts canvas is pricey.  I think I paid $99 for the first one and $129 for the 2nd.

This is a shot of the large art niche in our stairwell.  I love the art piece and the photo really doesn't do it justice.  My husband calls it "prison art".  I'm content to know that he just doesn't understand contemporary art.  And another reason I really love it?  I scored it FREE from a vendor when I was a retail buyer, and it's signed!

This is our portrait gallery.  I've spent tons of money over the years in professional photography!  I like how everything is tied together by the black frames with white mats.  Most of the frames were $5 and under.  I've found that if you stick with a basic color like black & white, you can get away with less expensive frames.  I velcroed the frames to the wall, so they wouldn't move when the kids run the stairs or launch balls, etc.

This is just a shot of our family room.  We have always had a hard time with furniture placement in here, because the room is so small (but we have huge soaring ceilings, go figure!)  A sectional seems to work the best and can seat a lot of people.  The sectional came with a matching square ottoman, but I didn't like the "matchy-matchy" look, so I paired it with a large antiqued glass table, to introduce more texture into the space.  The little square storage ottomans were a steal at Target for $15 a piece.  They provide extra seating when we need it and store blankets as well.  The turquoise leaf throw pillows are my bargain of the year...$1 at Pier 1 on clearance!  The lamp was also a great bargain at $20.  It had smudges all over the shade so HomeGoods knocked 50% off and I took fabric paint and repainted the shade! 

I love this slipper chair.  I found it on Ebay for $125 from a model home furniture clearance outlet.  I love the persimmon colored welting on the sides that ties in with my accessories.  See those vases on the mantle?  They used to be aqua blue and I spray painted them!  Remember, you can always paint something different to give it life in a new decorating scheme.  Those wooden masks hanging on the wall are just a quirky thing I collect on our travels.  Some came from the Bahamas and some came from Mexico.  (sorry for the yellow tennis ball under the chair -- kids!)