Update and Simple Fun Fall Decor

Earlier this week we finally got my daughter moved into her new apartment.  Yay!  After a few delays and issues with the unit, the wait is finally over.  She no longer has her wardrobe in her car and no longer feels like she is homeless.  Of course she was never really homeless, but staying with friends and not having her own space for two weeks, it did give her a whole new appreciation for having her own place again!!!

Her furniture fits perfectly in the new space.  This weekend we will be getting to some of the fun decor items up.  I will share photos with you all next week.

In the meantime, while we were eating at a restaurant in her new neighborhood I saw this fun Fall decor an snapped a few pictures.

I love the big branch and the Fall leaves hanging from it.  The fact that it is in front of a mirror helped to make it look like an actual tree was in the space. This pictures does not begin to do it justice, but in person it really was very charming.  

The restaurant we were at is called Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop.  It is an Organic Health Food restaurant.... But don't let that scare you. The flavors and combinations of so many amazing dishes that they offer make this a good lunch spot for just about anyone.

I had a quinoa side dish and a house salad.  Both were yummy and the prices were quite reasonable too.  If you are ever in the Newport Beach/Costa Mesa area, I definitely recommend giving this restaurant a try.   For additional information on this restaurant and their other locations you can visit their website: 

http://www.greenleafchopshop.com/costa-mesa-restaurant.html

Greenleaf
Hillgren Square Shopping Center
234 E 17th St
Costa Mesa, CA 92627

DIY Birthday Cake - Tools in the Toolbox

Today is my husbands birthday.  He is 29... okay, not really, but we've been celebrating his 29th birthday every year for the 10 years that we've been married. He is the best husband ever, so I just keep making him cakes that have 29 on the top.  It makes him happy, so it makes me happy!

I made him this cake a couple of years ago and wanted to share it with all of you.  It looks a little homemade, but all the love that went into it and the hours it took me to make all the tools made it super special. 

I molded the tools all in Chocolate Candy Molds with Wilton Candy Melts.  Then I painted them with edible metallic Silver Luster Dust.  You mix the luster dust with lemon extract and is makes a sort of paint. The Lemon Extract was recommended to me by a bakery.  Since the lemon extract is nearly clear it keeps the metallic color pure. Although vanilla extract would work, it has a brown color to it, so it would discolor the finish.  It took a few coats of the edible paint finish over the candy melts to make the tools look real, but they came out so amazing that it was totally worth the time it took!  

If you've never used candy melts.  They are very easy to use.  To see exactly how I use them you can read about it here in a prior post I did on Sweet Treats using Candy Melts.


Happy 29th Birthday to my hubby Jim.  I love you sweetheart!

Always,
Diana

New Thrifty Find - Barrel Cane Chair Makeover Begins

I recently found a new Goodwill (thrift store) not far from home.  It's a huge store, which I am loving because they get new items in daily. I've been there three times in the past week already.  I found this great barrel back chair with cane sides for only $30.  At first I debated on buying it, but after sitting in it for a few minutes, I knew I had to have it.  

Although when I first laid eyes on the chair I knew it had great makeover potential.  I wasn't sure if I could handle the tufting on my own so I was a little scared.  So what I did was this, while sitting in the chair at the Goodwill store, I browsed the internet for "painted cane chair photos".  Within a couple of minutes I was able to find several great inspiration pictures!!!  Those pictures of other peoples sucecssful DIY makeovers are what convinced me that I had to have this chair.  It had to come home with me.  Plus the fact that it was super comfortable, made it a winner.

The deconstruction process has begun and I'm super excited about what this chair will become.  Unfortunately I did put a small hole in my thumb with one of the staples as I was pulling it apart.  Oops, chalk that up to inexperience.  I guess it's a part of the learning curve!   Although it does hurt a little and has delayed my progress a bit, I am fine and soon this beauty will be a masterpiece.  

I went to my local fabric store and picked up two different fabrics. Since I wasn't sure which I wanted to use, I just purchased both. One is a cream color cotton duck fabric and the other is a striped greige (grey beige) with cream fabric.  Whichever I don't use on this chair, I can use on another project.  The plain fabric will definitely be much easier to work with, but I'm still considering using the stripe fabric and just not tufting it.  The finished project will be a surprise for both you and for me.  

I've decided to just let the chair talk to me as I make progress on it. No, I'm not crazy. I know that the furniture doesn't really talk to me. But if you like DIY projects, then you hopefully understand what I mean when I say it talks to me as I work on it.  Just like when it calls out to me in the store "please take me home"...  Doesn't this happen to everyone?

Until next time,
Happy decorating!

Diana

Moving During the Heat Wave... Ugh!

Things have been crazy busy lately.  I spent the past six days helping my daughter pack, move out of, and clean her old apartment.  It just happened to be during the worst heat wave we have had this year. The weather hovered near 100 every day... and we had NO air conditioning.  Ugh!!!  

She is moving from Fullerton, California, the college town that she has been in for the past six years to her favorite beach town (Newport Beach).  Unfortunately her new place isn't ready for another two weeks, so we had to move everything into temporary storage. You'd think moving and cleaning a two bedroom place would go quickly, but it was much more work than we expected!  

Due to the extremely hot weather we did get a hotel for five nights. I booked a killer deal via Hotwire.  We got our room for about 45% below the regular rate.... and it came with a free full breakfast, which made mornings super easy!  (Except the part that involved having to wake up, lol).

Overall, we had a good time, laughed allot, made some great memories while spending quality time together.  That is not something we get to do very often ever since she first went off to college.  Six days together was so enjoyable.  Now that I'm back home, I am missing her already!

When we get her moved into her new place we will be doing some fun decorating stuff.  I will be sure to share the pictures of her new beach pad.

Until next time,
Happy decorating!

Diana

Fun Fall Pumpkin - Easy DIY Painting

Things this week have been busy crazy!  So I thought I'd share a cute pumpkin painting idea from last fall.

I purchased faux pumpkins from my local craft store so I could display them for more than one season.  I love chevron, but I didn't necessarily want to paint an entire pumpkin chevron, so I taped of the center of this pumpkin with masking tape in the zig zag pattern all the way around.

I painted the top half with Martha Stewart Metallic gold.  I applied the paint with a sponge brush.  The first coat of paint was pretty thin so I opted for a second coat after the first had dried.

After painting the pumpkin with two coats the gold was much more prominent.  

The gold was a bit too yellow for my preference so after removing the tape from the pumpkin I brushed a brown antiquing glaze over the entire surface.  I love the final look.  

I hope you are all doing well!  I will share more fun Fall DIY's soon.

Until next time,

Happy decorating!

Diana