The Apple Street Cottage

The holiday hoopla is about to begin (if it hasn't already) and I thought I'd sneak in one more post about creating our Charming New Cottage.  If you missed the first post here are the important points I made: There will be LOTS of posts about making this little house our new home.  Please keep in mind, the updates will not be fast and furious since we're retired aaaaaand....I believe bad knees were already mentioned.  Wink-wink! It was a rental property.  In other words, we are (and will be) dealing with lots of 'landlord specials'...affectionately nick-named by our daughter. We have  down-sized  and   I don't mean it's a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1800 square foot house.  No, this is just a little over 900 sq. ft.....Did I mention 'dowwwwn-sizing'? I want to create a home that is cozy, relaxed, and welcoming while incorporating practical elements. The focus is on  comfort, not grandeur. I've always promised to "Keep it Real" and share the good, t...

  Hello, Everyone!  It's almost Halloween and I thought I'd add a little bit of 'spooky' to my decor.   Just a little ! It all started at the dollar store where I spotted these napkins: I remembered I had a jar that's been hanging around the craft room for quite a long time.  You may remember it from my Chair Back Shelf project . It worked great as a vase for a silk rose, but it was time for a change...and  decoupage . I took one of those napkins and separated the layers.  Having just a single layer is very important if you want your napkin to stay in place. Mod Podge was applied to the jar... ...and the napkin was placed on it. Some plastic wrap smoothed out any wrinkles. Since the jar curved at the top and I wanted to preserve that spider, I cut the top of the napkin into strips.  No Mod Podge was applied to that curve at this point. Some Mod Podge was carefully applied to the glass and each strip was pressed against it. After allowing time to d...

  ...and put it on an upcycled cutting board.  That's right, this post is a 2 for 1!  Fall is here and our thoughts turn to the pumpkin patch, the apple orchard, and Halloween.   W elcome to the 'Do It Over' Designers blog hop.  We are a group of bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY.  I'm happy to host this hop and I hope you'll visit everyone to see what they have to share with you.  The links will be listed at the end of this post. This post may contain affiliate links. Let me share how to upcycle a vintage doily into cute decor for Halloween.   This is the doily I chose: Since I wanted a little of the bottom edge to 'drape', I grabbed a votive holder and a golf ball that were the right height.  Since the golf ball fell right in the votive holder, I crumpled up some paper and rested the golf ball on that.  Covered with plastic wrap to prevent sticking, we were all set. I made a 50/50 mixture of Mod Podge and water. It wa...