The Queen Bee Suite

Welcome to the Queen Bee Suite, otherwise known as Myah's room.  She acts like the queen around here! (Little does she know she is the princess, mommy is the queen!) She rules this nest (or so  she  thinks she does!!).  Her room really earned this title a few weeks ago when I noticed a strange noise coming from her room,  I thought she was playing with books or papers when she was supposed to be sleeping and after yelling up to her room to quiet down and go to sleep, I went to check on her and noticed she was sleeping after all.  Uh-oh, then where was the noise coming from?  Apparently from the yellow jackets making a nest in our drywall, they were eating away at the drywall paper, thankfully I had talked to a few neighbors who had this problem a few years  ago and I knew right away what the problem was.  They were entering from the peak outside Myah's window.  So a nice bee exterminator came and put some sort of mixture in our ceiling to kill the bees.  Whew, that was a close one!!   Even more reason that this room is considered the Queen Bee Suite!!! 

Where our little queen sleeps, in her pale yellow bedroom. Her bedding is from Target's Shabby Chic collection.  I found the large bolster pillow at Sal. Army, it was PB!! And her crown pillow was from SaSea Boutique!

I had purchased this old desk before Myah was here and recently I decided to put it in her room as a vanity and hung a mirror that I have had (after I gave it a white paint job!), she loves having her little lip glosses, hair clippies, undies and socks in here where she can reach them.  I found the cute little vanity box at Salv. Army a few months ago for $7, it says Shabby Chic on the bottom (from Target). I had the stool from the same collection and luckily it fit perfectly under the vanity.  I hung the mirror somewhat lower than normal so that she could see herself in it.  She spends alot of time in this pretty little spot!

On top of her dresser I placed a few of my favorite photos of her. 

I don't know if you know this about me yet but I have always loved Royalty.  I have been collecting royal memorabilia since I was 11 years old, Princess Di and Prince Charles were married the day before my 11th birthday and I really thought it was their gift to me.  I spent my birthday money on a pictoral book from their wedding, I still have it.   So when I came across a man at an antique fair a few years ago selling these pages from English books on Royalty, I had to have two pages,  they give just the perfect royal treatment to Myah's room.

You have probably seen this little chandy before but I had to give it another shout out, I paid $5 at a garage sale for it before Myah came to us.  It is not perfect but I love it!  It was really bright brass before I got my hands on it!   And the little hat stand holds a very special piece to us, this baby hat was from China, actually handmade by the locals, we had Myah's first photos taken in it (see below).

I found this cute little rack at a sale this summer for $6, perfect for my little book lover!

I love this photo of her wearing the hat, I found the pretty sparkly pin at a sale this year and attached it to the bow on this frame. 

Pierre here was a $7 find at an antique sale!  So cute!!

I love the crystal touches in her room!

To corral her toys I had these baskets from PB outlet , I found them for $7 a piece, the prices have gone up greatly since then, they fit perfectly under her bed.

Of course our little girl's room would not be complete without a bit of vintage lace!!!

Hope you enjoyed a peak into the little nest we have created for our Queen Bee!!!

Sailing,sailing ..........

I have been wanting to make a driftwood sailboat for months now and the other day Myah and I were trying to think of something crafty to do together and this idea popped into my head. It was such a simple project and actually went together very easily and quickly.  It was the perfect little addition to our decor, I can see this as something I will be doing more of!! We had collected the driftwood from our vacation and the twig came from Myah's favorite park. 

The sails were made out of an old linen pillow case that had ripped and I had held onto for this very purpose.

The blue ticking  flag we made by just cutting a tiny triangle from this old laundry bag that I picked up at a sale for $1.   My hubby drilled a small hole in the bottom piece of wood so that the stick would sit in there firmly, I actually had a little wiggle room so I ended up heating up the hot glue gun and using that to attach the stick and the sails. 

I attached a little bit of some tiny rope that I had, I frayed it before I used it, to give it the not so perfect look that I was going for. 

The finished product!!! Myah was so proud and I love that it was something we made together. 

It looks so sweet up on our shelf in the kitchen with our family photos from Seaside.  Now I am going to have to hunt down some more driftwood, this was just too much fun!!!

I just love my 8 & 6 votive holders.  1986 was the year Mark and I started dating, he graduated and if you flip them around, he was born in '68.  And I love the #8 anyhow because that has always been Dayton's jersey number and it turned out to be Myah's this year too!  And the #6 is just as sweet, the day we received our little Myah in China was 6-6-06.  I know, I really go overboard with things having meaning in our home but I can't help it! 

Sheet Music and Ironstone....together at last!

Do you ever have a little project that takes just minutes to accomplish but you just put it off for like oh, let's say a year because you just don't want to do it???  Well, this little 5 minute project was just that.  I have had my  white cupboard for years and it came with  green paint on the inside,  I enjoyed the green and really did not want to paint over it, ( just yet!) but I was ready for a change.  I have seen people take vintage sheet music and line cupboards with them, I have had a ton of sheet music  that was my grandmothers, I had the notion to line the backs of my shelves  in this cupboard for years.  It wasn't until I moved this cupboard back out into my breakfast nook a few weeks ago that the green really stood out against all of my white decor.  Then I went to the coolest barn sale and acquired all of this ironstone for pennies, as soon as I saw it I knew it would go into that cupboard.  After living with it for a few days I realized that I wanted to try displaying the collection against a lighter background, but lazy me did not want to paint.  So I finally decided to get out a roll of packaging tape, my sheet music and go to town.  Five minutes later I had the look I was going for!  Why did I wait so long???  And it is only a temporary fix, if I don't like it I can just pull it down. Easy as that! It definately fits into my all white/creamyish scheme and reminds me of my family's love for music at the same time.  I am a sentimental person if you have not already figured that out about me, I love to surround my  family with mementos from our past by displaying them in our home, I believe it keeps sweet memories alive. 

My Dreamy Master Bedroom Reveal! And Giveaway Winner!

My long awaited all white dreamy bedroom! 

I made the mirror from and old mirror that I found in a thrift shop for $7, I will post about that later! The shells came from our vacation to Seaside over spring break!  I found a great inspiration piece while on vacation and decided to try to make my own version.  It is very heavy!!  I moved the table up from the family room and put this $3 garage sale chair with it. 

Love this tag my sister gave to me, she knows where my heart is.....

I leaned  this old shutter  against the wall on top of my lingerie dresser with my garage sale candle sticks.We have cathedral ceilings in here and I try to use that space in a creative way.  My sister made the nest sign, I just had to have it in our "love nest"!! Hee heee!

His and Hers nightstands were repurposed from old tables that I repainted, and the lamps I have had forever, just waiting to feel like they belong in a dreamy space!  I think they finally feel like they are part of our clique!

Everything in our home has a story,  this pillow was made by my sister, she actually tossed it to me at her house one day saying "take it, I was just practicing on that one!" I had to ask her what Reve meant, apparently I have never dreamt in French! 

This table was in my grandparents house for years, I have photos of me as a baby with it in the background, I gave it a coat of white paint this past winter.  Reminds me of my grandmother and her great curvy legs!

Ahhh....this is where we lay our precious little heads........and where my hubby tells me to turn over because I am snoring!!! Oh no!!!!! Does that come with age too?????

These gorgeous draperies were a gift from my little  nieces for my 40th!  Their other fabulous aunt could not use them so they bartered  with her and gave them to me!!!!   I am so lucky!!!

An upclose view of my oyster shell mirror

These prints hang on the wall between our windows.  I found the upper frame/photo at Iron Grate's sidewalk sale!  And the lower frame I have had for a  few years, I printed off a botanical shell print from vintage printable.com and put it in here.

Love my Shabby Chic ruffled sheets with my matelesse comforter, just right for summer!

At the same sale that I purchased this $3 chair,  I also bought a gorgeous vintage chandy for $5, now I am just trying to find a place for it!

Thought you might like to see the gorgeous  pleats on my new draperies

So as you can see, I really only purchased a few gallons of paint in order to make this transformation. I already had the bedding, furniture and accessories.  All I needed was 2 gallons of Dove White by Benjamin Moore and my I got the look I have been trying to achieve for so long!   Remember my room had very dark brown walls, my hubby has to sleep here during the daytime so I had to make it kind of cave-like! I have to  thank to my sweet man for helping me create our dreamy getaway!  He actually likes it too!!!  That is very important in creating a space that you BOTH can relax in! 

Mirror Mirror On the Wall....Who Is The Winner Of My Giveaway After All????

Congratulations to Shannon of Carbajal Fun, she has won the gorgeous canvas original painted by my sister Melanie in honor of my 40th Birthday that just doesn't seem to want to end!!!  ( At least I don't want it to!!)  Thanks to everyone who entered and shared such sweet sentiments for my birthday, it means so much to me! 

And don't think that I forgot to share photos of my newly painted master bedroom with you!  They are coming up next! (Actually this photo is another sneak peak! )

My Oh No The Big 4-0 Giveaway!!!

Ok, let's just say I know how to milk a birthday!  I have been talking about my special day all week!  I am only in my first week of my 40's but I feel great about my new decade.  Something liberating about being a woman of my age now.  I love it!!!  I feel like I have a fresh new start, a new life of some sorts!!! 
I sure thank you all for the sweet wishes, I sure feel loved! 
I have been blogging for almost 5 years now, I remember my first conversation about blogging was over lunch with my new friends who I was adopting with.  At the time it was kind of a new thing, so many family members and friends followed our every step as we followed our hearts to China and back.  I started this blog a few years afterwards because so many of my posts on my family blog were pertaining to things that I was doing around our house, finally I gave myself a place to journal about my decorating passion and my ever evolving home improvements.  A place to journal about all of the "feathers in my nest". 
I love reading blogs about cooking, cleaining, organizing, family life and of course decorating.  I have gained so many wonderful tidbits of knowledge through reading blogs.  As a stay at home mom I feel like I have a group of girlfriends who are always checking in on me and who can appreciate all of the things that I love.  Kindred spirits if you will. 

My adoption bloggy friends will always have a very special place in my heart, they are family to me.  But my decorating blog friends  are like best buds, you ooooh and aaaahhhh over things just like I do, you are squealing in delight just like I would when you see something that is just "blog worthy" and you just understand why I change my furniture like a 100 times a year, it is just me, and you love me just the way I am !!!  So to thank you for your friendships I am giving away a beauty!!! I know many of you follow my sister's blog and love her artwork, well, as a good big sister would do, I forced her into giving me something from her collection to offer to my friends in honor of my big 40th!!!  She gave in much easier than she did when we were little!!!  Just look at what I have behind curtain number 1 ladies!!!! 

This sweet little canvas original painting by her!!!  We both love the water so much, it is a part of our DNA I am sure!  I loved this little piece when I saw it in her studio a few weeks ago and it can now be YOURS!!! Please leave me a comment between now and Tuesday   and you can be entered to win this one of a kind by my little sister Melanie at Pretties and Posies.  Just my way of saying thank you for being my friends, for loving me just the way I am. Even if I am 40!!!   Good luck ladies!!!!