{Jonas's * Room}

Yes, believe it or not, there are other rooms in our house besides the dining room.

Currently, I've been working on my son's room.

{it's been sorely neglected}

sorely...

{in my defense, we just moved in this past summer}

but, we're movin' past that, 

this room will shine I tell ya'.

I've got a great grass green on the upper part of the walls, and just finished (we'll most of) the trim.
Here's the over-all plan...

Jonas by paintedhome on Polyvore.com

with some fun bedding thrown in.

So, more to come.

Another Fabric Hunting Adventure - Texas Style!

Whenever we travel I am always on the hunt for the next greatest fabric store.  I think it is so fun to check out new places in other cities besides where we live (Chicago).  So, this past week we were in Texas for my Mom's wedding and Thanksgiving.  My Mom had mentioned to me that there was this giant fabric store only 5 minutes from her new house with over 5000 fabrics.  What?!?!?! The thought of this place got my heart racing.

So the day after the wedding, after all the relatives had said their goodbyes, Mom and I headed to "Fabrics and More" in Houston, Texas.  Wow, this place was a decorators dream!  They had more upholstery fabric and trims than I had ever seen in one place.  And the nice part was they were all arranged in a pretty organized manner (unlike my other fabric hunting adventure in Chicago).

How adorable are these nursery decorator fabrics?  I can just see these in a little designer baby room - SO cute!!  I especially love the giraffes!

And the trims, oh the trims..........

The trims ranged in price, but overall they were a really good value.  I just wouldn't even know what to choose if I was redecorating my house - they were all fabulous!

But if I HAD to choose, it would have to be this one (above).  The delicate little lace with ric-rac and sweet little buttons.  Just too perfect!

Above was the clearance section, so you definitely had to do a little more looking through that section, but if you were shopping for a deal, this would be the place.

You could also take your old furniture to this store and they would recover it for you there.  It was pretty neat because they had huge windows where you could watch them re-upholstering some really great pieces of furniture.  I'm not too familiar with the cost to re-upholster furniture, but my Mom said is was really reasonable in comparison to some others she had seen out there.

Personally, I was a little disappointed in the fact that they had barely any apparel fabric whatsoever, but oh well, it was still fun to look.  I am always on the hunt for new and exciting prints for The Cottage Mama, but that didn't happen this trip.  Maybe I'll find some in the next city we visit.........

What is your favorite fabric store where you live?  Have you discovered any hidden gems?

{ Simplifying the Tree }

This year I borrowed an artificial tree for my dining room.

I wanted to complete the tree by spending as little money as possible.

With a trip to my local thrift store, & some quiet nights with the hot glue gun, here's what I came up with...

And you can too.

Vintage Paper Ornaments

so simple to make.

And these paper chains by the mile...

I found mini canvases at A.C. Moore, decoupaged paper to them, them added some farm animal silhouettes to them along with a ribbon.

Next, I stopped by my local thrift store and picked up small pitchers, creamers, & pretty much anything little, pretty, and white.

I even picked up a kid's Raggedy Anne tea set & spray painted it white.

Attached a few ribbons, and bingo, ornaments.

I also found some gorgeous silver, that I attached ribbon to.

Another easy ornament...

So, with some luck at the thrift store, & some hot glue, you can have a simple, elegant, inexpensive tree.

{ H a p p y   H o l i d a y s }