A Living Encore - Plant Style

This is going to be a very different encore. It doesn't involve any glue, paint, wood or fabric. This is a green encore. If you read any of the popular home decor magazines you have probably noticed the lush green plants that are in every photo. You seldom see a room that doesn't have plants. Well, I only have 1 real plant in my whole house, and it's struggling. I'm  really hoping it hangs on until spring so I can put it outside and hope mother nature can lend a helping hand. Just about everyone I know has pretty good luck growing plants. I wrote a blog post some time ago about my friend Donna's garden, Third Day. Well, she also has always had beautiful plants inside her home. And I even had a friend who had over 50 houseplants in his apartment. Well, this is what I'm going to give an encore.

 At work today I encountered the lady whose company takes care of all the plants in our building. She was cutting back these plants. I always talk to strangers so I asked her what would happen to these cuttings. She said unfortunately they would be thrown away. They were lovely, healthy plants that were just growing too tall. She asked if I wanted them. Strong, healthy, and free, who could say no. Not me!!

                                            They sat in cups of water until I got them home.
I knew I had just the vases for them. I had a lovely vintage silver plated vase that I found while thrifting with my friends Shelly and Brandi.

Because the vase was so tall , I dropped two spray paint tops in and added a plastic vase from the Dollar Store to hold the water that the cuttings would be in until they grew roots.

     Just what this room needs, a beautiful plant, that was free! OK, don't think that because I don't have a monetary investment in these plants that I won't try my best with them

                                                          A silver ice bucket holds this plant.

Stay tuned and I promise to update you on the green encore. What about you, wouldn't you have saved these plants that were headed to the trash and given them a home? Let's face it, this is way better than bringing home a stray kitten.

Decorating On the Road

Hey all,

I had a great weekend. Loaded up my truck with child, dog and extras from my basement, garage and shed and took off over the mountain to Nashville. Armed with a new microwave as a house warming gift I made good on my promise to help my son Brandon decorate his new apartment. But before I left Atlanta I took a detour to visit Fabric World in Stone Mountain, Ga. My friends told me they thought it was a store I should check out and they were right!! I was not disappointed at all.

 

Lots of really inexpensive trim. Some great options.

                  

 

                                                         Lot and lots of fabric to choose from!

While I didn’t have lots of time to shop (Cass and Trey were waiting in the car) I did find a few pieces that I couldn’t leave without. Yea me!

 

                                        Could you have passed these up? I didn't think so.

 

On to Nashville we went. Brandon’s apartment was a study in beige on beige. Luckily, he wanted some color so there was hope!! I did have to rein myself in a couple of times but overall we agreed to work with earth tones. Saturday morning, we headed out in search of a few things. First we headed to the Nashville Farmers Market, then Old Time Pottery, and some thrift stores.

                                  These bar stools were perfect . We found them at  Music City Thrift Store

   We scored some great finds and after a full day of shopping, we headed home. This is what we found upon our return to the apartment.

Note to self – When your dog acts like he doesn’t like a place, pay attention. He’s probably not playing. When we left, Trey was in the window barking and whining.  I thought he'd give up , chew on his toys, take a nap, etc.When we returned, Trey was in the window barking and whining, only the window was missing 1 mini blind and 2 were shredded! One unhappy, stressed out 17 lb. Bichon is stronger than we thought.

    Dog vs. Mini Blind! I guess we know who won that fight.

 

 

Don't let all that cuteness fool you!!

                                         

In his defense, (I know, you’re thinking this dog could obviously defend himself) he heard each car that parked outside the apartment and was disappointed and mad when it wasn’t us returning. So, added to the list of hanging art work, curtain rods, unrolling rugs, etc we added a trip to get 3 new blinds.

Luckily, these were the cheapest blinds sold in the US.  So, when we left to go buy food and blinds, guess who happily rode along.

There was a table of great fabric right in the front of the store at Old Time Pottery and I scored some great pieces at an awesome price. I would have bought more but you have to buy the whole piece. So, I limited myself, but you’ll see the fabric in upcoming projects. Well shoot, here's a little sneak peek.

                                                       Wait til you see this again.

 I found a great piece of fabric that went well with the rug and wanted to make Brandon a few pillows.

 I was kicking myself for not bringing a sewing machine; I actually thought about it but decided “Nah, what for?”  So while waiting for takeout Chinese I ran into Family Dollar and bought a bed pillow to use as stuffing and a $1 sewing kit.

                                                      A movie later, I had hand sewn 3 pillows.

We hung the wall art and clocks. Arranged the bar stools, rugs and …  It’s looking a lot more like a home.

 

I plan to make a couple of custom pieces for his Gallery Wall.

Well, I'm on to the next project. Let me know what you think!! I love to read your comments.