Monday, December 31, 2018

Happy Puppy Come Day!

The Decorated House - Cody Bear, Puppy Come Home Day

December 31st. It's Puppy Come Day! 

From Cody Bear and his Family,
we send our heartfelt thanks to all of those who rescue Pups 
and Cats, too. ❤️🐢

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Rescued and Found Puppy Day... Almost Here!

The Decorated House - Cody Bear

Not that I would ever spoil a puppy dog, but Cody Bear has a few days when we celebrate just him. Oct 13th is his birthday, and he thinks that's a big deal. If you start singing Happy Birthday, to anyone, on any day, he starts looking for his presents. 

On December 26th, the day after Christmas he found my sweet daughter and me when we drove by a dog rescue event at Petco.  My daughter had decided that since she had bought her own home, it was time for a dog. And Cody Bear was just waiting for her.  So December 26th is Found Puppy Day. Cody likes this day as well, and you know, he kind of gets a few presents that day too.  

But he was actually home yet.  We had to wait until December 31st for him to arrive. And of course that day is very special and is Puppy Come Home Day! Crazy dog people, we have definitely joined the tribe wholeheartedly. And our whole hearts is what he owns.  
The Decorated House - Bottlebrush Dog - Bleached White

Even Christmas decorating sometimes is influence by our love of dogs. There a few of the bottle brush dogs included, and one always has a curled tail in honor of Cody Bear. 

There are great national charities that help dogs and cats, but remember to check your local charities as well. One that I discovered this year which is not local to me, but very special is Muttville. Senior dogs are the first to be eliminated. Not many people go looking for a senior dog. Muttville has excellent charity ratings and right now, there is matching funds for donations. 

Also the Petco Foundation is one the best for helping dogs and cats. Again excellent charity reviews. 

Everyday I am so thankful that Cody found us and agreed to be a rescue dog. To all of you who have rescue dogs, thank you so very much!

(The bottle brush dogs were purchase a  while back from Pottery Barn. They still sell the same pup only the new one is carrying a Christmas tree on his back. It is only available in the store. )

Saturday, December 1, 2018

Pottery Barn Wreath Pillow Knock-Off ~ Christmas Winter Decor



https://thedecoratedhouse.blogspot.com/2011/12/pottery-barn-wreath-pillow-knock-off.html
After pining for the Pottery Barn Wreath Pillow for awhile, I saw there had been a few copycat knock-offs. None where quite what I was looking for. Even the Pottery Barn version was the reverse of the colors I that I really wanted.

At first it seem the easiest solution was to just buy the one at Pottery Barn, and it was very pretty with the white background and greige leaves as you can see from the picture below. But it wasn't the combination that I really wanted and the pillow was also smaller than the size I needed.

What was more appealing for my decorating colors was to have a greige cotton/linen background and white leaves and berries. The one I made which is pictured next, is the color scheme more to my personal taste.  It is a 16 inch square and of course you can make it larger or smaller to your own liking.

I spent more time running around trying to find the leaves pre-cut than it took to just cut them and make the pillow. And while I was out hunting, I didn't realize at first that I wanted white leaves, so it was good I never found any. Afterwards I did see pre-cut leaves for sale. But since I have no patience, I wouldn't have waited for them to arrive anyway.

If you were thinking that pillow looked pretty simple to make, you were right! Give it a try. I like that my leaves are a bit larger/thicker. But you can make them however you like. One of the things you'll notice on the Pottery Barn version is that there is a stitch down the center for a vein look. The only thing I might do differently is to choose a beige colored thread so that the veins show up a little more.  But it is one of things that really makes the pillow look great.  I'm very happy with it and it was made from  simple unbleached cotton linen cotton, and a couple of 35 cent squares of white felt for the leaves.

** Tip: Do not use hot glue to attach the leaves and pom poms. Hot glue dries hard, makes a stringy mess while gluing this many things, and it's really easy to burn you fingers with little pom poms. :) There are several different brands of Fabric Glue made just for a project such as this.

See Y'All Soon~
Donna

Friday, November 30, 2018

Christmas Decorating with Lime Green

The Decorated House ~ Donna Courtney : Christmas Decorations Lime Green 

A few years ago,  I used some lime green with my Christmas decorating. As I unpacked the boxes this year, I began to fill a  couple of empty boxes with ornaments and everything else. I want to simplify. But Christmas is really a hard to time to do that. So now I am second guessing about giving away all those lime green pretties. They are such a nice complement to silver and gold, and also black and white. 

I still  love that large Mercury glass acorn. None of the Mercury glass decorations have gotten tired or old to me. The sparkle is still very Christmas shiny and bright. So off to GoodWill before I start taking things out of those boxes. Have a Happy Day!


Saturday, November 24, 2018

White & Silver Christmas Mystic Centerpiece - Inspired by Mythic Nest Anthropologie

The Decorated House . Christmas Decoration . Mysthic Crown Nest . Anthropologie Inspired
In 2009 Anthropologie showed a wonderful Christmas decoration that they called the Mythic Nest Tree topper. It did look like the fairies might have created it. I missed it in 2009, and  the knock-offs appeared in Blogland. After seeing it pop up somewhere a few weeks ago, my searching led me to the company which had actually made it for the store. They called it a crown nest. Which made sense as well. The funky natural kingdom meets glitter world was intriguing.

The Decorated House . Christmas Decoration . Mysthic Crown Nest . Anthropologie Inspired
After filing away the image for a while, it kept coming back in my mind how much I loved certain elements, especially from the original ones. So I set out to make my own version that went with the colors and feeling of our Christmas decorating.

The Decorated House . Christmas Decoration . Mysthic Crown Nest . Anthropologie Inspired

The base is a simple cream/white bleached bottle brush wreath that I used as the crown/nest. I added some sparky eyelash silver yarn, and other things that mimic the colors of my favorite found nest. I had a found an abandoned bird nest which the Momma bird built in something that looked like cotton from a field, very soft, fluffy and cream colored, do I also add some yarn was the same color she used in an eyelash style with a tiny bit of gold woven in.

The glittered branches came from a  craft store, and they are glittered better than I could have done with homemade, although you could do that yourself. A few pearl and silver balls adds to the sparkle of the crown, and dried sticks from the outdoors completes the nest look.

Mine turned into a centerpiece for the dining room table with a tall candle in the center. This should be really easy to change a little each year if you decided you wanted a little change.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Happy ThanksGiving

The Decorated House : Thanksgiving Fall Decoration : White Velvet and Painted Pumpkins

Wishing you all a
Happy ThanksGiving!

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Perfect Weather for a Broom Ride! Halloween Decorating

The Decorated House ~ Halloween Decorating Black and White

I'm enjoying the fall pictures from north of us, which is just about everywhere here in the states! Even though it still feels like Summer for us, it's time for a little Fall decorating.  This is my favorite kind of decorating ... making use of what I already had and adding nothing new! Oh, I did drag that branch in from outside, but that was free.  Hope you enjoy a quick peek of a little Halloween fun.


The Wizard Art Print : Halloween Decorating Black and White © Donna Courtney ~ The Decorated House

See Y'All Soon!


Sunday, July 22, 2018

Slipcovers - Lots of Ideas! Chairs and More

The Decorated House ~Slipcover Ideas

Slipcovers are magic!
They can change the look and feeling of your room with just a quick change.
If you are making them yourself, you will finds some tutorials among the many links
that I have posted on my slipcovers board on Pinterest.
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For me, since I am better with a hammer than with a sewing machine, it would have been much easier to just reupholster the dining room chairs.  Slipcovers can actually be fairly easy to make, although if you are more skilled a sewing you ca make them  more constructed. I didn't know if I would want to have the chairs with the fabric that was on them again, so I chose to do slipcovers. It is also a great idea if you are trying to keep the chairs' fabric looking good and you want an option that can be easily removed and washed.  For me it was mostly that I wanted a white chair cover, which would allow them to be washed as needed.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

How To Create a Beautiful Aged Turquoise Patina - "Secret" Tutorial - French Drawer Pulls - DIY Tutorial




DIY How to Create a Beautiful Aged Turquoise Patina - The Decorated House 
How to create this beautiful patina for 
French Drawer Pulls 
or any other thing you might want to paint!
........................
The "secret" is how  darn easy this is! I certainly hope it didn't sound like the painting of the drawer pulls was some difficult or complicated secret. It certainly isn't. It's quite simple.  Don't worry about changing it to suit your needs, go right ahead, it is very adaptable. Over the years, this has been one of the most asked questions, how to create this look. So here are the directions!

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Summer Flowers Green Envy Zinnias

The Decorated House ~ Donna. Summer Flowers - Green and Purple

One of my most favorite flowers of all time. Green Envy Zinnias. 



The Decorated House ~ Donna : Green Envy Zinnias and Persian Shield . Summer Flowers

The vase is filled with the Zinnias in the delightful lime green, along with purple Persian Shield, Angelonia , and Green Coleus.

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Summer Time

The Decorated House - Donna Courtney - Potting Bench

There's no need to tell you that summer is here. By now, almost everyone is feeling the heat, unless you are visiting from way down under of course. The rains have been coming everyday as they often do this time of year, and the weeds and tall grass could not be happier. Fortunately I got some pots planted up with flowers as well. And they too are very happy for the drink. 

This little potting bench area has always been a favorite of mine and readers. If you haven't previously seen how easy it is to build by using your fence as the backside, or if you would like to visit again, click the link  for more pictures and a little more information. 

It is in need or some cleaning up,  maybe a little paint touch up and cleaning the bench top.  It has been used and little abused over the years. I think it deserves to be spiffed up a little bit.
 
The Decorated House - Potting Bench

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Happy Easter!


                                         Happy Easter to You and Your Family!