Thie bright, fun photo was found on Flickr.  “Funky Chair” by omatix.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/omatix/3663587807/

Love it love it.

I know I have been kind of MIA, but I am back!  I have taken a small blogging vacation as well as a trip to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion.  We had a wonderful break, but now back to the real world.  I am working on a few projects in particular, and hope to show you soon.  But, there are some major changes in the works, so we are super busy, therefore blogging might be a bit more sporadic that usual. 

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip…

Road Trippin'

Our little campsite. See the log cabin in the background?

Heidi Newfield in concert. She sings 'Johnny and June' which is going to be our wedding song!

We got her autograph and a Good Luck, and even a high five when I told her we were using her song for our wedding!

And here is Tony with a very large steam engine, the main reason for the event!

Today I noticed this curvy chair on Apartment Therapy in a post about painting concrete floors.  Not only is the painted floor in this picture gorgeous, but so is the curvy chair!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/dc/painted-concrete-floors-093833

 Love this room!

Our friends at the bistro up town have been saving all of the used wine corks for us to use for a project.  Months later…we have a cork board!

I painted an antique frame that was falling apart with a shiny black paint.  The nailed a piece of solid peg board to the back of the frame.  I used a hot glue gun to glue the corks in, and viola!  A message board for the kitchen. 

Actually, we have a little gap in one of the rows due to corks all being different sizes, but we are cutting a cork down to half size and filling in the gap.  Also, if you are going to try this, nail the peg board to the actual back of the frame, not inside where a picture would go.  this makes the framed area a bit deeper, for the fat corks. 

Simple, easy, and best of all, free!

http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2009/08/stalking-in-surry-hills.html

Isn’t this chair funky?  And the color is gorgeous!  Actually the whole room is gorgeous!

Yesterday I received my Apartment Therapy package in the mail!  This was my prize for being picked as one of the “My Great Outdoors” winners.  This means they featured our backyard on their site.  This also means that I got a T-shirt, their book, and a sticker for my car! Check it out:

Awesome, huh?  Apartment Therapy really is an awesome site and an awesome group of people.  Check them out here:  www.apartmenttherapy.com.  You can see our yard there, too, under big back yard! 

Thanks AT!!

Tony knows me well.  The other day he sent me a message and said he had a surprise for me that I was really going to love.  Aw. Yup, he was right.  He pulled in the driveway with a chair in the back of his truck!  Tony is in the Masonic Lodge and they are updating and selling off some of their old chairs.  So, he nabbed one.  He picked the oldest (see, he does know me well!).  It even has straps underneath holding old straw stuffing in! 

The leather seat is in bad shape, so we plan to refurbish it.  I would love to find some old, worn looking leather for the replacement (if you know where I can accomplish this please let me know!).  We would really like to keep the nostalgia of the chair, so are trying to keep it similar to its original look.  Currently Tony has set up camp for the new chair at the head of the table

Now, where to find pre-worn leather pieces!??

When I saw this photo on Desire to Inspire I was so excited!  I love the Barcelona chair and now love the Barcelona couch! 

http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/2009/08/ok-so-i-was-stalking-again.html

Want. One.

Ok, so this little thing I am having with ruffles, it might be more than just the shower curtain.  I thought ruffles were “too girly” for my taste, but either my taste changed just a smidge or these things are growing on me.  Don’t get me wrong, I would still probably pair them with something black or steel, but I do in fact love me some ruffles.  Here is what I have been craving lately:

http://greylikesweddings.wordpress.com/

These ruffle pillows struck me this morning as I was blog browsing.  Aren’t they so “sweet meets manly”?

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=huc_ic_2_img/179-2733649-8695932?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001IARUZ4&nodeID=&merchantID=A1VC38T7YXB528

These sandals from Target are calling my name as well. 

http://greylikesweddings.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/real-wedding-jennifer-and-jason/

Then there is this wedding dress!  What can I say?  This is what I have been searching for!  Actually, the entire wedding was gorgeous and exactly what we had planned (until deciding to go away!) so check out the link to Grey Likes Weddings to see the entire thing!

So, what do you think?  The ruffles are totally funky, right?  Thought so.

I got the shower curtain in the mail… and I love it!  I ran out the next day to get a new curtain rod that is curved (I hate the curtain touching me, and we hated the gold!).  I also picked up a couple white and black towels and a new rug.  The new toothbrush holder is actually an old jar.  What a huge difference these touches made!

Here is the before:

And here is the updated bathroom:

A bit more sophisticated?

Of course there are still changes we would like to make, but it was a great start for such a small budget!  With the new curved rod we are thinking about getting a second curtain, as it is a tight fit.  We would also like to paint the walls.  Next year we are getting a new shower, and would still like to try the corrugated metal idea.  Its getting there!  What do you think?