Garden Lattice Mirror

Last week I showed this image of our master bedroom

and mentioned that Hubby and I created the mirrors

above our bed.

A few years ago I spotted this mirror at Pottery Barn

and it was instant love.

I loved that mirror but couldn't justify spending a couple

hundred $$ for it. But I never forgot about that mirror.

Here we are a couple of years later and this mirror popped

into my head. That's what I wanted to hang

above our tufted headboard.

Sadly, Pottery Barn no longer sells this mirror.

I couldn't get that mirror out of my head though.

So I finally got my butt in gear and created my own version.

Hubby helped me assemble it 

and hang it above our tufted headboard.
I don't have a step-by-step tutorial for this
because I wasn't sure my idea was going to work out.
All supplies were purchased from Joann Fabric.
To create the lattice I found these 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch
wooden slats and stained them on all sides.. Once I had them laid out
in the pattern I wanted, Hubby helped me staple them together
using a staple gun.

The outer circle was created by using a 24 inch wooden

quilting hoop and stained the same color.

I only used the inner circle of the hoop.

Before staining the hoop, I placed the hoop on top of the stapled

slats and traced around the outer edge of the hoop. Using a jigsaw,

Hubby cut the slats on the traced line to create a circle.

The stained hoop was then secured on the side without the
staples (the front) using E6000 glue.

The inside design was created by using a 10 inch mirror,

a 10 inch wooden embroidery hoop and (8) 8 inch wooden

embroidery hoops, which were also stained the same color.

Four of the 8 inch hoops were cut in half to create the petals.

All hoops and the mirror were secured using E6000 glue.

The two side mirrors were created using 10 inch mirrors and 10 inch

wooden embroidery hoops.

To hang them, Hubby attached sawtooth hangers

on the back of each piece.

We are loving our version of the Garden Lattice Mirror.

I just knew it would be the perfect piece to go above our bed.

And the best part about our garden lattice mirror?
Not only is it a one-of-a-kind piece,

it was a fraction of the cost to build it compared to the

Pottery Barn version.

That's it for this week.

Until Next Time,

Veronica

Winter Blues

I'm so glad that the new year is here.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas

and everything that goes along with it

but I'm so ready to slow down and relax.

All that hustling and bustling and stress
from our appliances dying on Christmas eve
as I was preparing dinner has wore me out.

Winter is in full swing here in Wisconsin.
One thing I am not is a winter person.

I love seeing the freshly fallen snow on the pine trees.
Our snow has since melted and our
view is brown and drab.
What I don't enjoy is the long cold
 dark days that winter brings.

I was in dire need of a quiet

serene place to rest and rejuvenate.

What better place to do that than our master bedroom?
I wanted our master bedroom to be light and bright,
yet calming, soothing and peaceful,
not only to myself but Hubby also.
I'm a big believer in the psychology of color
and how it effects our senses.
Enter the color blue.

The color blue provokes a sense of calm and serenity,
which in turn provokes security and a feeling of safety.

I started with a set of  white sheets.

Next, a blue and white striped duvet with a down comforter

inserted created a layer of warmth.

To bring in a cozy feel and add an extra layer of warmth to the bed,
I added a knit throw at the end of the bed and a light yellow throw pillow.

I started playing around with different textured throws

to see what effect I liked best.

As I was snapping pictures Hubby walked in
and commented that
"That looks nice".

I couldn't wait to crawl into this bed at night with a good book.

 Those mirrors above the bed?

 Hubby and I created those.
Check back in next week and I'll show you how we made them.

 Nothing but warm and soothing colors in our master bedroom
to chase away the winter blues.

That's it for this week.
Until Next Time,
Veronica

Ch Ch Ch Changes

2019.

It's a new year

and new beginnings.

2018 for us ended with a big BANG.

We were scheduled to celebrate

Christmas on Christmas Eve this year.

Christmas Eve day started out great.

I woke up early and  thought I would throw

a load of laundry in the washer just to clean

up a little before anyone arrived.

Then I started to prep what I could

ahead of time for dinner.

As I was prepping I noticed the washer

didn't sound right to me. I walked into the

laundry room, which is just off of our kitchen,

to find water running on the floor and the laundry

room floor was flooded.

Oh That's Just GREAT!

I immediately shut off the water supply

and yelled for Hubby to HELP!

Thank goodness it was just the drain hose

that had worked it's way out of the drain pipe.

The installer didn't have it secured tight enough to hold in place.

Luckily, it was an easy fix.

But I still had a mess to clean up that I wasn't planning on doing.

After Hubby and I cleaned up all the water

it was time to start cooking dinner.

Into the oven the ham went.

After about an hour I noticed that I wasn't

smelling the wonderful aromas of the ham cooking.

Well, wouldn't you know.

Our oven wasn't heating up enough to cook the ham.

Oh great.

Now What?

Thank goodness I had a big enough slow cooker to hold the ham.

I placed the ham into the slow cooker to finish cooking.

After 20 minutes in the slow cooker

I still didn't smell the ham cooking.

I checked on the ham and it was just lukewarm.

This was JUST GREAT!

Our slow cooker had died also.
About 2 months before Christmas our
microwave died on us.
We did purchase an inexpensive one temporarily.
We knew that we were going to replace it when
the new year sales started on appliances.
Thank goodness for our insight
because our ham was finished in the microwave.

Our Son loves to have Cheesy Potatoes

for Christmas dinner. I was hoping our oven

would hold out long enough to cook the potatoes.

The cheesy potatoes along with a cauliflower casserole
were placed into the oven which took twice as

long to cook, but they did cook.
Thank goodness they finished cooking
because the oven died shortly after.
Even after our kitchen and laundry room disasters,
dinner was placed on the table on time and tasted wonderful.
The remainder of the evening was time well spent with family.
It will definitely be a Christmas dinner to remember.

SO....
All of this rambling to say that we will be doing
a little renovation to our kitchen.
We will keep our current refrigerator
and dishwasher as they are only a couple
of years old. We knew that we would be
replacing the remaining appliances as they
slowing died, we just weren't expecting them
to all go at once, especially on Christmas eve.

Here is a current view of our kitchen.

Stay tune for a few changes happening in the
kitchen in the new year.

Until Next Time,
Veronica