Paris In April

I came across the pictures from my trip to Paris the other day and thought I would share a few. My step mom and I have talked about going to Paris in April for our Birthdays ever since I was little. Two years ago we had the opportunity and off we went.
It was a hard decision for me to leave the little one but I knew she would be ok with Daddy.

It was a gloomy day when I took this picture. I love that it almost looks like a black and white.

I took this one because at that time in my life I was riding a lot of carousals. Actually, I just rode one yesterday, ha!

I was fascinated by the beautiful old doors and knockers.

This just says Paris to me.

 Walking from the Louvre after seeing Mona, a man was renting these adorable boats. I didn't expect The Mona Lisa to be so small, only 21"x30"

It was a short trip and I can't wait to go back someday. But then I get butterflies in my stomach because I really hate to fly. C’est la vie, that's life.

Have a wonderful spring weekend!

Linked toShutter Love Tuesday Trendy Tree House

Dining Al Fresco

It was a beautiful spring day today and the rest of the week looks good too. This gets me thinking about setting up the table and chairs for some al fresco dining.

This is so pretty, I would love to have a big tree to hang a chandelier from.

Pictures from Country Living

Due to the gorgeous weather, I got sidetracked on my painting project. You never know how long it's going to last here in the Midwest. It could snow this weekend!

First Garage Sale Of The Season

Last weekend we drove by a garage sale and even though it was raining I had to stop. The nice man running it told us everything was free so that made it even more fun!

This cool folding basket caught my eye.

Have you ever seen anything like it? I'm not sure what to do with it yet but I really love it. Not a bad way to start garage sale season!

I will be doing a little painting today and will share my project with you tomorrow.  Until then, here are a few pictures I had fun taking the other day.

Have a fabulous Monday!

Fairy Gardens

I don't know who would have more fun with a fairy garden, us or the little one.

Chasing Fireflies

We got inspired to make one after a trip to the Chicago Botanical Garden last year. It was so much fun looking at their miniature garden and all the tiny detail. It got a little crazy trying to keep the little one from jumping in, but who could blame her, I wanted to get in there and play too!

Better Homes & Gardens

A cute container, a few tiny accessories and some plants and herbs would get your fairy garden started.

Midwest Living

Midwest Living

Have you ever seen anything so cute?

So when we were at the flea market last weekend, we spotted the perfect little house for our project.

 I am still in the dreaming stage so I'm not sure if a container will be used or not. I know I want it to be big enough to play in and not be off limits. I'm sure there will be lots of different animals and critters visiting the garden often.

  

Midwest Living

My vision is to encourage hours of imaginative play as well as getting her interested in gardening. I think that will be pretty easy don't you?

A Spring Getaway

We got away this weekend just the two of us and had a fantastic time. We stayed at the Herrington Inn about an hour away in Geneva.

It's really cozy and the bathtub is so big you can swim in it. We have stayed there a few times before and always have a great time. This is the view of the river from our balcony.

I love a big city, we live about twenty five minutes from Chicago, but every time I drive into a cute little town I get really happy. I was even more excited this time because it was a perfect spring day for some flea market shopping.
I found some treasures here and there and I can't wait to share! We do a lot of rhyming at our house.
I even went to Anthropologie for the first time.


We must have driven by this cute little garden center five times on Saturday. It's called  The Pure Gardener
I wanted to check it out but the day went so fast they were closed by the time we got there.

The next day we went over to look in the windows and check the hours. They were closed on Sunday. (insert sad face)

Here is a little peek inside.

It used to be an old gas station.

 Do you see all the glass cloches? I was looking for one all weekend.

Can you see why I was so sad to miss this cute little place? If the weather is nice, a little drive might be in order this weekend. I still have a little shopping to do.
Happy Monday!

A Little Love For The Kitchen

When we were house shopping most of the kitchens we saw needed to be ripped out and redone right away. So I was happy to see that our house had a kitchen we could live with for a while. It had your basic 90s oak cabinets and laminate countertops but the layout was good. This is our kitchen today after it got a little love. Now let's back track to see how we got here.

This is right after we moved in and opened up the small doorway between the kitchen and living room. You can see the living room redo here.  Besides just wanting more of an open concept, the only way to have an island would be to open up the doorway. 

Another view of the kitchen and a peek into the dining room. The previous owners were using that room as their family room.

This is the kitchen after the dust settled. It stayed this way until I took on the job of painting the cabinets.

The island was found at a little shop that was using it as their checkout counter. We had just ordered a plain cabinet island from Home Depot the night before, adding legs and special details were out of the budget at the time so we were thrilled to find something with character. We were on our way home to measure our space to make sure it would work when we decided to just cancel our HD order and get back to the shop before anyone else snapped it up. It was a fantastic price and is now the focal point of our home. 

 

I primed and painted the cabinet boxes and had the doors sprayed by a painter. Hardwood floors, new hardware and appliances finish it off for now. We saved a lot of money buying the fridge and stove from an outlet store.

Now our kitchen is a much happier place to be. 

Updated dining room pictures here.

Kitchen Island Part One

When we bought our house I knew I wanted a kitchen island. In order to have one we had to enlarge the doorway between the living room and kitchen here. The people we bought the house from thought we were nuts! I have some kitchen before pictures coming soon.

When we found our island it was being used as a counter for a cute little shop. It was perfect and just the focal point the house needed. We eat there everyday but things have changed. 

The butcher-block top does not hang over so it's not really intended to have chairs pulled up to it. That worked just fine for us, but if your only three feet tall it does not work at all. Without that overhang our little one can't tuck her legs under and is too big to be using her highchair.

So the search is on for a new kitchen island. This has not been an easy task! Especially because the one we have now was found for such a great deal.

Of course I have pictures of  islands I think would work with a little tweaking, all very different....

I love the open feel of this one but would hate to lose the storage.

I think this one from Annie Brahler is so unique and pretty. I love the legs and color but the shape wouldn't work for us. Stay tuned to see what we come up with without breaking the bank. Wish us luck!

Thrifting

When I started reading blogs, I found so many people finding great treasures at thrift stores. Garage sales and Flea Markets are only going on when the weather starts warming up here. That makes for an extra long winter.

I finally made it into one of the thrift stores close by and found a couple of treasures that I wanted to share with you.

How cute is this litte guy and only $1.99. The primroses were a dollar at the grocery store.

This is where the story gets a little sad. This adorable basket, which I thought would be perfect holding eggs for Easter, broke right after I cleaned it all up. This too was $1.99.

Of course it left a big dent in the floor! Nevertheless, I have a new love, thrifting.

Love And Happiness

Surprises are so fun!  The Brick Cottage  awarded me the Happy 101 Award. I am so flattered!
The DIY Channel has a new show called Run my Renovation and The Brick Cottage was chosen to have their attic converted into a bedroom, how exciting!

I have to list 10 things that make me happy

1. Hugs and kisses from my little love bug. Sometimes she can be stingy with them.

2. My handsome husband and the way he loves us.


3. The beach.

4. Dining al fresco. Especially fun with wine or a margarita!

Better Homes And Gardens

5. Blogs.

6. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Macadamia ice cream. Don't try it you will become addicted like me.

7. National parks. The mountains make me happy but I'm afraid of bears.

8. Music. I love all kinds of music but classic rock is my favorite.

9. Sleeping in.

10. Gardening.

And now to pass this award down to 10 blogs that brighten my day.

1. Beauty In The Attempt
2.Morning T
3.Vintage Home And Garden
4.Living It At Home
5.Flower Patch Farmgirl
6.Tinsel & Company
7.Posh Pieces
8.The Cottage Nest
9.Cutest Little Things

10.Cottage On Rosewood
11.The White Farmhouse I know Maggie just got this award but I wanted to mention her.

French Goodies

Anita @ http://iowajunkgypsies.blogspot.com/  was having a giveaway of some French goodies from her boutique she used to own, and I was the winner! I got my special package and wanted to share with you.

Look at her pretty wrapping, its all about the package!

How cute is this little bird she made?

Thanks Anita, I love everything!
I started reading A Women's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl and it's really fun so far.

Anita and her friend Judy sell fun things at a few different flea markets. I'm looking forward to meeting her at the Kane County flea market in May.

Super Cute Kids Valentine

I came across Alissa's blog and fell over myself for the Valentine's she made. She is such a talented photographer and so creative, I just had to borrow her idea!

This was so easy! The hardest part for me was getting the little one to hold her arm out with her hand closed. Alissa had her pictures printed as a 4x6 with some "Happy Valentine's Day" text done in Photoshop. I just added some stickers to mine.

Next I used an exacto knife to cut a slit at the top and bottom of her hand and slid the sucker in. I secured the lollypop in place with some tape on the back. Done!

Here they are all boxed up and ready to hand out to her preschool class. Thank you Alissa for being so darn smart! Happy Valentine's Day!

Crazy Life

Last week we found out my brother in law had a brain tumor. They did surgery today and removed everything they could. We will find out if its cancer in about a week.

My house is a total disaster, my husband hurt his back and the little one went from this....

To this in five minutes flat.

I know she is feeding off my negative energy so I need to get myself together. I thought some retail therapy at TJ Maxx would make me feel better today but not so much. I did find a few fun things though. Stay tuned.

* Update 4/20/10 Thanks for your well wishes, my brother in law is doing fine.