Friday, January 29, 2010

Queen Bee Designs by Amanda Giveaway



This giveaway ended at noon (Central Time) on Sunday, January 31st.

A couple of months ago, our friend Amanda at Queen Bee Designs made me the greatest hand-stamped necklace.



And this weekend, she's giving away a Queen Bee Designs gift certificate worth $50 to one lucky TLC reader!



If you'd like to enter for a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday, January 31st at noon. (Central Time)



Click on the button below to visit Amanda's wonderful website. Her pieces are so beautiful and inspiring!

Good luck and have a great weekend!

Layla


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Houzz Ideabook- Lodge Love: 7 Ways to Land the Look



Every couple of years, Kevin and I visit a charming little cabin that sits atop a woodsy mountain ridge in northern Alabama...



The place we visit is called Bear Creek Log Cabins. It's about three hours from our Lettered Cottage.



It is a place of clarity, beauty, happiness and tranquility.



Whenever I'm feeling stressed, I think about going there to get up, up and away from it all.

Do you have a peaceful, primitive place you like to visit too? I'd love to hear about it. (And if it's in the South- please leave a link to their website if they have one!)

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Looking back at our vacation photos, I was inspired to create an Ideabook about all things "lodge" this week. So if you're interested in checking it out- click on the badge below to view some fabulous photos of lodge-style homes, and read my tips on how to capture some cozy cabin style in your home too!




Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.


Someone sent me flowers this morning...



Wasn't that sweet of Him?

:-)

Gertrude S. Wister once said, "The flowers of late Winter and early Spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size".

I couldn't agree more.

Seeing those sunny blooms bursting from the ground this morning instantly made
me feel more alive too!

So in the spirit of all things uplifting, I thought I'd share this great list of advice my Mom e-mailed me recently...hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


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Old Farmers Advice:

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled.

Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.

Don't judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.


Happy Wednesday y'all!

:-)

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Want more flower photos?



Head over to here for a chance to win a beautiful numbered and signed print of an image plucked straight from Flea Market Style magazine!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Friendly Frames

I love the character of a great, old flea market frame almost as much as I love the character of a great, old flea market dresser. ;-) So when I spotted this old beauty, holding a huge hunk of mirror, I couldn't get to it quick enough!



The color of it was exactly what I had been secretly visualizing using in our guest bathroom for the past few months...

(new mirror)


Yeah, Kevin didn't know it, but I mentally replaced the white-framed mirror that was previously hanging in there as soon as he hung it up. :-)

(old mirror)


I've trained myself to not say anything about decor-related things that bother me until after I find a replacement for them. That way, Kevin doesn't have to stress about them too. Or should I say, that way, Kevin doesn't have to stress about me wanting to buy something else after he just spent a half an hour hanging the heaviest mirror in existence. :-)

If you aren't familiar with my "wait and wow!" technique, you should try it.
It works like a charm. Nine-and-a-half times out of ten, your spouse will like your "replacement idea" more than the previous option too- they just have a harder time visualizing than you do. Presenting them with an actual item you'd like to use instead, and explaining why it makes more sense when you have it right in front of you is key.
I'm tellin' ya- it's a bonafide stress-saver! :-)

PS- Kevin likes our new mirror so much, he didn't even mind that he had to spend two days adding extra tile to the wall because the new mirror is a little smaller than our old one...



Okay, that part isn't true. :-)

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This next flea market frame, however, was a little bit harder to sell Kevin on...



...but I quickly put his worried mind at ease by explaining my "big transformation plans" for this piece. (More on that project to come!)

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I got all the frames in our dining room at flea markets too...



I used to have everything framed in new frames on our picture ledge, but there was something about the colors, textures and shapes of these old ones I collected over time that just seemed to work in here...



Muted blue and chippy, meets cloud white and smooth...



There's comfort in the cracks too...



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In the living room, I mixed a flea market frame with a couple of new frames I got at Michaels for a crisp, collected look...



I got the middle frame for $2.00, and I took the photo of a rooftop in Charleston, South Carolina while visiting with my Mom last summer...



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In the reading room, I used a bunch of different frames too. I found this Roger Tory Peterson lithograph (© 1942) at a flea market for $14.00, and although I'll probably switch out the frame, it is sort of nice how this one takes a back seat to the artwork inside it...



On the other side of the reading room, I used another mixture of new and old frames, but I made a conscious to decision to use only frames that looked old.



The mirror, on the left, was previously very shiny and silver. I used a rusting kit to age it, then dry-brushed on some creamy-white craft paint to give it a "salty" look...



The frame holding Kevin's Moms photo is an old frame...



...while the frame holding my Moms photo is a new frame, that looks old.



The white shadowbox filled with shells is also new, but it's distressed, so it blends in nicely with look of the other frames.



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In the guest room, I used all new frames...



...but because they're all different styles, I was able to put together a grouping that still appealed to my love of all things "loose". :-)

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In the end, what type of frames you use isn't half as important as remembering to use them is. Surrounding yourself with images of the people, poetry and places you love will not only make you feel good, it will give your home a pulse too!

Layla

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This post brought to you by...



My Mom's Shellboxes!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Our New/Old Dresser


Behold the power of a SOLD tag...



Don't you just love how they protectively scream "BACK OFF- I'M SPOKEN FOR!" to all the other shoppers while you scramble to figure out whose truck you can borrow to haul home your fabulous new find?



The day we spotted this delightfully, decrepit dresser I knew it would be ours before I even looked up to see Kevin's reaction to it...



Thankfully, when I did look up, he was just as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as I was.

:-)



We just couldn't resist it's rustic-meets-romantic charm...



(would you believe it was only $40!)

The patina is so beautiful. It really just needs a good cleaning.



And since the mirror is missing, we'll have to get a friend of ours to cut us a new piece (Ooh! Maybe I'll antique it!...Uh oh. There I go announcing things again).
It does need some new knobs too. Picking them out will be so much fun! There are so many amazing options out there to choose from. I love these...

(click on the photos for store info)






I also love these "knobs"...

Photo: Cottage Living


Photo: Country Living


Ooh! And I think I'll have some fun on the inside of the drawers too...



Photo: Country Living

To be honest, I've actually got quite an unhealthy obsession with old dressers. I just can't seem to stop buying them! We're the only people I know that have three old dressers in our bedroom instead of a bed. If only we were small enough to sleep in the drawers...

Photo: Jennifer and Co. Photography


Here are some more dashing old dressers I found online while searching for inspiration...


Photo: Donna Pochaski

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Photo: A Beach Cottage

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Photo: Royal Oak Cottage

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Photo: Country Living

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Photo: Country Home

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Photo: Rustic Rooster Interiors

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Photo: Country Living


Hubba hubba, right? Somebody stop me!