Suzy's House Party

I might get the House Party up late this Thursday or I might skip it this week (for the first time ever!) and resume next week.  I've spent the night at the hospital with my oldest daughter.  She has pneumonia.  This mixed with her asthma is NOT a good combination.  She's already missed a week of school and it looks like she'll be home for awhile longer.  I feel so badly for her.  I'm also hoping that the rest of us can stay healthy.  Of course the hubs is out of town for work.  (Doesn't it always seem like they are out of town when disaster strikes...be it a sick child, flat tire, or broken garbage disposal??)

If my blogging is sparse, know that it's because pneumonia has struck like a man girl eating shark!

More New Paint and It's a Small World!

Cassie at Primitive and Proper recently introduced me to a new blog, The Blooming Hydrangea.  She thought I would like it because Ange at the Blooming Hydrangea and I have a similar style.  In the last few weeks, Ange and I have bonded over our love of our goldendoodle puppies among other things.

Speaking of puppies, mine has chewed up not one, but TWO vacuum cords in the past few days!  Vacuums are a necessity in a house with two giant dogs!

Anyways, Ange and I were having an email exchange last night and she said that she wasn't at the computer most of the day because she was painting her living room Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.  Well, guess what I was doing most of the day yesterday?  Painting my living room Gray Owl!  I guess Cassie had it right when she thought Ange and I had similar decorating styles!

Here are some pictures of my new living room color.

 As you can see, I'm still waiting for *someone* to help me with the extra-high areas.

I'm waiting for that *someone* to help me move the piano as well.

 At least this gives you an idea of the color I started with.  Yes, those are the paintings I bought at an estate sale over two weeks ago...still just sitting out.

More areas my barely 5'2" self can't reach.  I think we're going to have to pull out the giant extension ladder.

I don't like how the TV stand blends into the wall.  I also can't stand that niche.  I never know what to do up there.  In fact, it still has the painting wrapped in wrapping paper from Christmas.  You know how one thing leads to another....  Now, I'm thinking about all kinds of new projects for the living room, starting with painting that buffet.  More on that later.  I'm off to take care of two sick kiddos.

Oh and by the way, I'm all ears if you have any ideas for me! You are always so helpful and have great ideas.

Help Me Stencil...Please!?!?

You might remember that I attempted to stencil a wall in my dining room way back before I started blogging.  This is the only picture I have of the stencil fiasco because it was painted over the next day.

I did this wall with a cheapy, little stencil from Hobby Lobby.  It was so hard to do and the results were NOT good.  My husband thinks stencils might not work very well on our walls because they are very textured.

Needless to say, I'm super impressed with all of the bloggers who are able to create beautifully stenciled rooms.  It's not as easy as it looks, or maybe I was just doing something wrong!?!?! 

I've decided I want to give stenciling another try.  Recently I won a giveaway on Simcoe Street for a stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils.  I haven't chosen my stencil, however, because there are so many great options.

 I also don't know where I want to put the stencil.  I'm thinking the wall behind my bed, but the wall is pretty big with a high, vaulted ceiling.  I'm scared!  So, where the stencil will be going is also still an unanswered question.  I think I've been driving my husband crazy with all of my stencil indecision.  That's why I'm turning to you, my blog friends.

Here are some of the stencils I like (all from Cutting Edge).  I'm generally drawn to the simpler, geometric patterns.

I like this gray color scheme (but not necessarily the headboard and bedding).

I'm not usually a damask-type person.  It's just too frilly and flowery for me, but I think this is gorgeous.

This is my husband's favorite. I usually love greek-key on anything, but this seems a little busy.

Do you have a favorite?  Do you have any stencil tips you would be willing to share?

February's Project: the Back Hall

Did you think Mary's room makeover was my February project?  It was what I spent the majority of my time on this month, but it wasn't THE project.




 Lisa over at Shine Your Light holds a monthly "before and after" party.  The first Friday of the month, you link up your before pics and the last Friday of the month, your after pics.  I needed some motivation to get started on painting basically every interior wall in my home, so I decided to start simply by painting my back hall as my February project. 

My before post can be found here.  But here's where I started:

Brown walls, dirty old rug, messy bulletin board and a very well-used doggy door.  Ewww!

Here's where we are now.

I painted the walls Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.  The door got a coat of glossy black paint and I swapped out the rug.  There's still a little cutting to be done at the top of the wall that I didn't quite get too.

Beware.  There are lots of pics of the dogs.  They like to hang out in this area and had to get in just about every picture.

This bulletin board needed some work.

I couldn't submit my "after" post with such an unsightly object.  So, at 8:00 tonight, I decided to makeover the bulletin board.

I covered it with some fabric and added a little nailhead trim.  And, voila!

I'm not sure if I love the bulletin board with the black and white rug.  That's something that will be easy to change.  Especially since the rug was something I had on hand and did not purchase especially for this space.

I ran out of nailheads.  Oops!

See where the hallway curves around to the left?  I got that all painted, but I still have some art ideas for the walls that haven't happened yet.  Hmmmm, maybe for my March project?!?!

Happy weekend friends!

Feature Friday: Charmaine from My Best Friend Craig

Hooray for Friday and another feature!  Today Charmaine from My Best Friend Craig is sharing her beautiful dining room with us.  I love Charmaine's eclectic style.  She's not afraid to mix a mid-century piece with the traditional.  Her blog features lots of great inspiration and pictures.  Stop by and say "hi" to Charmaine when you get a chance.

Hi all!  I'm Charmaine from My Best Friend Craig.  I am grateful to be here on Suzy's fantastic blog.

Today,  I want to share some before and after photos of our dining room.  We moved into our house 2 and a half years ago.  It is a Tudor style house built in the 80's and with it came 1980's orange colored oak trim.

I personally think it dates the house.  The first thing we did was paint the trim white and the walls a nice bluish gray shade...

Next,  I tackled the built-in hutch and painted it gray.  Since we entertain a lot, I also replaced our old dining room table with a thrift store find table that has 3 leaves and painted it turquoise...

You can say that my style is eclectic.  I like mixing old and new, high and low and traditional and modern pieces.  

I am a big fan of craigslist for all my vintage finds(hence my blog name)

Here is what our dining room looks like now...

{The chandelier and oval back chairs are both craigslist finds}

Here's a look of the before again...

and after...

Hope you guys enjoyed this post!

Thanks again Suzy for having me here today!  Have a great weekend everyone!

Suzy's House Party #32 - Link Up!

Happy Thursday friends!  The weekend can not get here soon enough.  I have had a busy week with work and finishing up Mary's room for the One Room Challenge.  Now that the Challenge is over, I need something new to occupy my time!

I know some of you like to hear about my Goldendoodle puppy, Emma.  This was a big week for Emma as well.

She graduated at the top of her class from puppy training.  Can you believe she just turned five months old today and she is already 50+++ pounds?  She is going to be a BIG girl.

I still have kids' rooms on the brain after finishing Mary's and now gathering ideas for the my other childrens' rooms.  I think this button art by Megan at A Lived in Home is darling.

This dresser from Turnstyle Vogue is gorgeous.  Check out the soft stripes.  The finish is so unique and I love the mixed knobs.

Check out these beauties by Redoux.  The black tops tie in so nicely with the dark hardware. 

<div align="center"><a href="http://savedbysuzy.blogspot.com" title="Saved by Suzy"><img src="http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd408/lizzygal18/Savedbysuzypartyblogbuttonchevron-1.png" alt="Saved by Suzy" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

•Link up your home decor project. Pretty much anything to do with you house is fine.

•Please provide a link back to my blog. A text link is fine, or feel free to grab my "Saved by Suzy" party button from the sidebar. The more people that know about the party and participate the better for all of us.

•Be sure to share the love and leave comments for others.

•That's it.

The One Room Challenge: Week 6: The REVEAL

The One Room Challenge wraps up this week and that means that the tranformation from nursery to big girl room is complete!  I have had so much fun participating in this challenge and meeting some new-to-me bloggers; but most importantly, I've created a room for my daughter that she likes. 

Here's where we started:

I kept the dresser and the bed, but that's about it.

I love the elephant print from the Pink Pagoda.  Mary loves the picture of our puppy wrapped in her blanket.

I made a few prints using Picnik.

My mom sewed this for me when I was a baby and it was in my room as a child:

Painted butterflies

Embroidery hoop collage

If you look closely, you can see the DIY ombre art and tissue paper pompoms on top.

 Here's another little print I made on Picnik.

I had to include this sweet baby picture as well as Mary's favorite stuffed animal, who she calls "Baby Jaguar."  He's missing an arm.

Here are links to some of the projects:

DIY Upholstered Headboard
Supersized picture
Striped Curtains
Painted table and lamp
Throw Pillows
Make your own prints
Ombre Art

Stop by some of the other One Room Challenge participants to see how their rooms turned out too!

Dutch.British.Love
Trapped in North Jersey
Nicole Scott Designs
Kim Macumber Interiors
Rue de Emily
The Pink Pagoda
refresheddesigns
Nana Moon Shop
Taylor Morgan Design
Insideways
My Crafty Home Life
House Four
Living Savvy
(A Lifestyle Thing)

Linked here: