I felt like playing around . . .

. . . so I pulled out my extra Scrabble and Parcheesi games that I bought at a thrift store.  I love the graphics on the boards and the game pieces especially when they're made of real wood.

You can even see the price on the top one

This is the display that was on my coffee table.

That's Angus the scotty dog and my faux geranium that is still my favorite silk plant after many years and two moves.

So I got out some of my peanut butter and jelly jars with the painted lids and filled them with the playing pieces.

I filled a canning jar that is missing it's lid with the wooden scrabble racks and then spelled out a message for my husband.  You get to see it before he does but I know he'll like it.  I left a bowl there into which to spill out the letter tiles because it's hard to find that one letter V or Y.

What do you think?  This was easy and cost me nothing because I already had all the items!

What did you do today that was just for fun?

I'm linking to The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday.

Also linking to My Romantic Home Show and Tell.

Some of my favorite things – Top Ten List

I’d like to share with you a list of my very favorite decorating items. I have a top ten list that already has eleven items on it. So instead of giving you the list up front, I’ll just add items as I go. Maybe I’ll make it a dozen

. . . or a baker’s dozen.

We’ll see.

Anyway, my very favorite, favorite decorating item is bead board!

(this is from a magazine but I don't remember which one)

My Dad installed my first bead board in my house in Colorado Springs. It was on the bottom half of the walls in my entryway and painted white. The picture is below but the detail on the beadboard doesn't show up well.  I painted the top half of the wall a beautiful, soft yellow.

(Bad photo taken with an early digital camera)

My husband installed the bead board in my last house in Lewisville Texas as a birthday present to me. It was also white and was about 6 feet tall so only about 2 feet of wall was exposed above it. It was in my breakfast room and included a shelf on top for my vintage roosters and chicks and my red plates. That was one birthday present I had to leave with the house.

My husband even used bead board for the back splash in our kitchen. Ladies, if you like bead board, you’ll find that it’s probably one of the least expensive materials you can use for a back splash. I can’t believe that I didn’t take any close up pictures of my kitchen showing it! 
 
We’re in a rental now and don’t know when we’ll be able to buy another house so I decided I need portable bead board. I have a four-section room divider that my Dad made when I was very small.
 

 
I remember that he did a weave of natural material and slid it down in each section; it vas very nice and added lots of texture to the room. There is still some of the natural fiber in the frame all these many years later.  My Dad is an Engineer but always wished he could be an artist and is very artistically talented.

 

Anyway, I have the room divider frame now and have been storing it for years. It will take some work, but I hope to cut sections of bead board and slide it into the frame, paint it and then I’ll have portable bead board that I can take wherever we live!


Here are some pictures showing how bead board can be very beautifully used:

Love the blue wall over the white bead board and I love the roosters

Beautiful green on the bead board and how about that galvanized counter top?

Did I mention that I also like tongue and groove and board and batten walls?:

Vertical

Horizontal

Once again, the blue wall.  Love it!

So pretty painted crisp white!

So how do you use bead board in your house?

My latest creative endeavor . . .

Just yesterday I decided that it was time to dress up the little stool that I keep in my kitchen.  I had some drop cloth fabric left over from a previous project and it was just enough to make a tailored slip cover for the little stool.  I wanted to add something feminine so I added a pleated ruffle.

What do you think?

I took pictures of the process of making it if anyone is interested.  Please leave me a comment if you want the tutorial.

Thanks for stopping by!

Why am I here in blogland?

I've been thinking about blogging for some months now and finally started it!  I'm excited to be here with so many other creative women. 

I always like to make my home into a comfortable haven that sparks creativity in me.  I'm just two months into a 12 month lease in a very beige home.  I have lots of nice things but having just downsized from a 4000 square foot, 6 bedroom house to a 2600 square foot, 4 bedroom house I'm drowning in my nice things.  I think this means only one thing . . . garage sale!

I'm planning on using this blog to chronicle the decorating process in this temporary house.  I'm also newly unemployed and my husband supports my staying unemployed for now so I finally have time to be creative all day long if I want.  I want to chronicle my creative process which involves some really neat stuff.

A little about myself:  I'm just at the beginning of the next chapter of my life.  I am married with four children.  My youngest and last child just left home on June 28 and my husband and I moved 3 hours from our hometown on July 1.  Wow! I have a degree in Civil Engineering and was working as a Civil Engineer up until right before saying goodbye to my youngest and making the big move.  I am also a committed Christian and hope to use some of my time serving Jesus through serving others.

My husband is wonderful and very supportive.  My only daughter stayed in our last hometown.  My three sons all attend West Point with the youngest having just begun in June. 

So that's it for the start of this next chapter of my life and my new blog 'Some Really Neat Stuff'.