Toile Tuesday~

Hello Everyone! We interrupt Spring Spruce-up week to bring you TOILE TUESDAY! I am joining the fun over at Pretty Organized Palace with her Toile Linky Party!

Hope you enjoy this little Toile Tour of my home...

One of my favorite projects...my Toile Barn Star!

This cute little toile birdie makes its home in the Princess' bedroom.

A banner also in the Princess' room...you all know I love a banner.

This pretty toile frame is in my kitchen...it makes me smile while I'm doing dishes...

Framed toile wrapping paper (the same paper from my barn star...I think I have a theme going here.)

This pretty toile pillow sits in my bay window...

Which brings me to my big project reveal...My window- seat cushion!!! (Sorry the photo isn't the greatest....I'll try to get a better one...) I have wanted a cushion for this bay window since we moved in to our house almost two years ago. What was holding me back? Well, partially it was the price of foam...until I hit on the idea of cutting up the other half of the old crib mattress I used on my mudbench. I pulled out my good old electric carving knife and cut up that mattress. Then I used electrical tape to hold the pieces together. (It sounds funny, but it worked great!) Then I sewed up the cover out of tan linen and red TOILE, of course. I love how it turned out! Just the softness this spot needed - the Princess has napped on it 3 times since I finished it last Friday!

And, if you still can't get enough toile, you can always wear it! (HA! It's a sickness, really.)

Thanks for joining my Toile Tour!

If you didn't get a chance yesterday, please check out my interview on Decor Medley.

Tomorrow, on my Spring Spruce-up Week agenda, some fun spring decor craft ideas.

Hope to see you then~

Spring Spruce-up Week...a winner...and other stuff~

Welcome to the first day of Spring Spruce-up Week at the Shabby Nest!!! Today our Springiest of Spring topics is Spring Cleaning! Stop that! I can see you rolling your eyes. I've got some interesting stuff for you all here...including some tips I bet you've never heard before. (And besides, somewhere in this post, I'll announce the winner of my Etsy drawing.)

So here we go...

For most of us Spring Cleaning is not exactly something we look forward to. It's a necessity. One of those things that we need to do to keep our homes in tip-top shape. But, the end result can certainly make you smile. For instance the closet where I keep my cleaning supplies was looking a little worse for wear. (The Hubby has somewhat of an OCD obsession with purchasing cleaning products.) Here is the before... Yikes, I know. Notice my poor sewing machine...it was feeling a little out of place...

But in about fifteen minutes... I had a garbage bag full of empty bottles, I had relocated out of place items like sunscreen (???) and Stingeze (???) and my poor sewing machine, and I had divided like items and placed them in these pretty little baskets that I got at the Dollar Store. Really. Then I added some hang tags to each basket, so my short little self could see what was in the basket without having to get a stepstool...that took another 5 minutes. So the whole project took 20 minutes and $7. Not bad. And now I get a smile when I see bright blue baskets in my boring beige closet! (Almost makes me want to clean the bathroom...almost.)

So on to some of the tips I promised...

1. Use Spring cleaning time as a chance to change out batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors (you can do the same in September around the first day of fall...or when the clocks change back.)

2. Make sure you wash down your walls...they get a lot dirtier than you think. Or, if you are like my hubby, repaint the entire interior of the house, and patch every hole with spackle...but leave the spackle there for a week so that your spouse can get sufficiently sick and tired of the polk-a-dots and will really appreciate the new paint. ;-)

3. Freshen your garbage disposal. Yes, sometimes our garbage disposals get bad breath. Use a little bit of baking soda and dish soap and scrub. Then run some citrus rinds through the disposal for a nice fresh scent.

4. If you like "green" cleaning products...try making your own glass cleaner by mixing vinegar and water in a spray bottle. (This works best if you use newspaper to wipe the windows rather than a rag.)

5. And here is a tip I bet you haven't heard...if you have brown stains inside your dishwasher, they are probably due to rust. There are expensive products out there that can remove the stains, but try this first. Take some Tang powder (you know, that Orange flavored Astronaut drink) and use it just like you would use dish detergent. Run a cycle (without dishes of course...unless you want everything you eat for the next few days to taste like orange punch). During the cycle, once the washer is filled with water, toss in a couple more tablespoons of the Tang powder. You may have to repeat the whole cycle a couple of times, but it does remove the rust stains. REALLY....I've done it!!

6. To remove Water Rings on wood, mix equal amounts of baking soda and plain white toothpaste (not gel) . Use a soft cloth to gently rub the mixture in a circular motion on rings.

7. Finally, do you have a budding Picaso...in other words, do you have crayon on the walls? Mister Clean Magic Eraser rocks!!!

Once your house is all sparkly and clean...you'll be a happy camper!

Don't Forget! Tomorrow is Toile Tuesday!!! Hop over to Pretty Organized Palace and link up with your posts about TOILE! It will be tons o' fun!

Aaaaaaaaand, I was interviewed this past week by the lovely Giorgina at Decor Medley. You can find the interview here. Please pop over!! (She did a beautiful job, and I feel like a mini-celebrity!)

And finally, the winner of my Etsy drawing - as chosen by Random.org - is...........

Princess!!!! Princess, you didn't leave me any contact info, so please drop me an email or leave me a comment with an email address so I can get your prize to you!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

I have some fun projects and Spring Decor in store as Spring Spruce-up Week continues, so y'all come back now!!!

Have a lovely Monday~

Touches of Spring~

Subtle hints of spring are making their way into my house...

This little rooster is a door knocker that the hubby and I found years ago. I keep thinking that I'm going to put it up on one of our doors...but I haven't yet. I stuck it in this tarnished silver sugar dish just to hold it for a while, but I liked it so much it's still there!

Remember the pretty mercury glass bird that Shannon sent me? He has a new home inside my little cloche.

Sorry this photo is so blurry...but I wanted to share with you all the pretty faux eggs I found at JoAnn's...on sale of course! I love the muted tones of green, beige and tan... not too "in your face" but very spring-y!

I just love this pretty little painting of a bird and nest with eggs. It looks oh-so-spring-chic in my little French toile frame!

My apothecary jars are all set for spring!



I was packing up this special order for a customer and thought it looked so cute in a pile on my bed...I had to snap a photo! And finally, a shout out for my very good blog buddy, the Pretty Organizer! She's hosting a Toile Linky party on March 24th (I'm co-hosting - which basically means she does all the hard work, and I talk about doing the hard work.) Hope you'll all join us at her wonderful blog on Toile Tuesday and link up with your posts about Toile...I know you all love it as much as I do...so I hope to see you there!


Have a lovely Wednesday~

Inspire-me Tuesday~

Bedroom by Heather Chadduck

Okay, one more inspiration from Heather Chadduck... this time for a bedroom. I *heart* this bedroom. Some of you may remember that I am getting ready to redo our master (or really, to design it for the first time, as it has been sorely neglected!) I just love this room for its soothing color palette, its mix of textures, the TOILE of course, and the chandelier. It's on my short list of inspirational bedrooms.

Doesn't it look like a place you could curl up and have visions of sugar plums dance in your head? (Hey, it's almost Christmas, I had to tie it in somehow!)

Go forth, inspire, and be inspired~

Inspire-me Thursday

Dining room by Heather Chadduck

Okay, yeah, I know, it's supposed to be Inspire-me Tuesday...but I was so excited to join in on Kimba's Holiday Open House that I kind of...uh...forgot. So today I wanted to share a dining room that I just adore. It's by Heather Chadduck. Isn't it wonderful? Okay, so I adore toile...and I adore typography...and I adore chalkboards. And here they are all in one wonderully perfect room. One of the things I love the most about this room is the fact that it is both formal and informal at the same time. (and it has no carpet under the table which is a must in a house full of the 8-and-under set.) Just imagine a holiday gathering in this fun room! And when I shared it with the Hubby, I told him that numbering the chairs was a perfect idea because then the kiddos couldn't fight about which chair was theirs...brilliant!

Go forth...inspire...and be inspired~

It's beginning to look alot...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Shabby Nest! On Friday, the kiddos and I cleaned up the rest of our fall decorations, and pulled out the boxes of Christmas goodies from the basement. Boy have I had fun! Here's a little bit of what I've been up to...


First, I put me up a garland. Since I don't have a fireplace mantel, I like to put my garland on our staircase. We do have a very pretty staircase, that turns at a 45 degree angle toward the bottom, so it really looks pretty all dolled up with a garland!

In our old house we had a formal living room, so I did two Christmas trees...a formal tree and a family tree. The house we live in now is open concept, and doesn't lend itself well to the two tree thing, so I decided to use a little bit of the "bling" from our formal tree for the garland. It gives it a shimmery feel! Love it! (wish the pictures did it justice.)


This little bird cage sits on my piano. Just filled it with some pretty toile ornaments that the Hubby bought me a few years back (he knows me so well) and some red Christmas balls. Threw down a little pine cone garland for atmosphere and voila! Easy peasy.

I loved my Halloween pixies so much, that I had to make a Christmas version. I gave her a little sparkle on her wings and dress and a cute little banner. So sweet!
My apothecary jars are lonely no more! I filled one with the the glass ornaments that I used for my formal tree, and the other with some fake snow and pretty wrapped boxes.

This is one of my favorite projects...a snowflake tree. I took my Thanksgiving gratitude tree and changed out the leaves for snowflakes. Then I added some more fake snow, another pretty package, and this pretty little bird! I found the pattern for the bird here. I am so in love with the way it turned out! Another view so you can see the rocks and the snow.

The whole vignette on top of my entertainment armoire.

Just gettin' started...much more decorating fun to come!

Have a lovely Monday~

Little Miss Muffet~

Some of you may have guessed from my teaser post last week that the projects I was planning were for the Princess' bedroom. (Hmmm...it might have been the pink in the fabrics that gave it away!) Well, I finished one of my planned projects over the weekend and I thought it would be fun to share it with you today.

It's a tuffet! As in Little Miss Muffet! I love whimsy in decorating...and especially in decorating for the kiddos. And I think this little tuffet fits the bill.

It started life as a box. This was a prop from my dancing days that I still had kicking around.

Well, I sewed a cover for it out of some yummy chenille and two of the fabrics I showed you all the other day....The green check and the green and pink toile. Then I used my staple gun to upholster it onto the box. I added a pillow top made out of the cute check fabric and a big toile button and VOILA! A tuffet is born! The Princess loves it, and it looks really cute under her desk!

Oh and last but not least! Please join me over at Blissfully Domestic where I'm talking about turning a closet into a mini-mudroom! Good times, people, good times!

Have a lovely Monday~

A cute little project...

Just wanted to share a quick little project. I was inspired by Andrea and Cherry to create this little plaque. I found the "family" magnet at Michael's. I would have loved to use some toile (of course!) but I opted instead for the upholstery webbing that I found at Walmart for only 69 cents a yard! I love the texture and color. I simply hot glued it to a piece of cardboard, then hot glued the magnet and skeleton key on top and VOILA! So pretty.

Happy Crafting~

My Living Room and Rate My Space

I've had a few people asking me to show some photos of my living room. So I thought I'd share some with you all today. The reason I hadn't shared them previously is because this room is still a work in progress. But you can get an idea of its potential by seeing what it looks like right now. Our house is open (it's like a big circle around the staircase) so all of my spaces on the main floor really have to work together. That's actually harder to accomplish than I thought it would be.


The color on the walls right now is a pale taupe. It's a little lighter than we'd like, so we are planning on painting it a little darker, more like a cafe au lait. We already have the paint, waiting patiently in the basement, just begging to be used. Once we get it all painted, I'll post the new pics (and let y'all know the brand and color of the paint - I'm too lazy to hike all the way down to the basement to find out right now.)

This view gives you an idea of the orientation of the stairs. You can see my little console table in the background. I just love the reflection of the stairs in the mirror- of course, you can't actually see that in this photo. This view also shows the beautiful charcoal drawing between the windows a little better. It's a piece done by my artist father-in-law and I love it. My taste in art tends more toward the traditional, and my father-in-law is very contemporary. By marrying into this family, I have really gained an education in contemporary art (the Hubby's fine art photos tend to be a little contemporary too). I think it works quite well mixed with my more traditional pieces. But I admit it can be an acquired taste.

Here you can see my antique trunk and box sitting below the charcoal. I love how they play off of one another.
A view of my piano...I love white frames...and my little birdcage. And I admit that I commit one of the biggest decorating no-no's. I have pictures of my family everywhere! With a talented photographer Hubby, I have a really hard time editing myself! (I'm fairly protective of my kiddos so I made sure all of these photos are older - those babies are now big kids - sigh.)

And here's another view of my buffet. When I asked y'all to vote on whether or not to leave it green...the overwhelming majority told me to leave it as is. I do love the color and it actually works really well because my dining room/kitchen which is just off to the right in the photo is actually painted Ralph Lauren's cathedral gray which is quite green.

This space still really needs draperies on the windows. The red roman shades are lovely, but they were really just put there to replace the vinyl miniblinds that were here when we moved in with the intent that we'd add drapes soon. Well, it's been over a year and I'm still debating between a yellowy-gold silk buffalo check, and a brown-toned toile...any opinions?

And of course, I need to find a coffee table. I'd really like a round one. I've been looking for the perfect yard sale find to cut down, but no luck so far. Our town is having a big yard sale on the town common this weekend...maybe I'll find it there....a girl can dream can't she?




On a different note...
I finally did something that I have wanted to do for a while, but I was a little chicken. I posted my boys' room over at HGTV's Rate My Space. I am passionate about decorating, and it's something that I have finally (after working briefly as an interior decorator about thirteen years ago) decided that I would really like to pursue in more of a career-type way, so I decided I better put myself out there. I'm inviting all my bloggy friends to PLEASE go over there and Rate My Space. Thanks for all of your kind comments and support...it's your encouragement that makes me feel like I can really do this!

An Ode to Toile and blog awards

I had grand plans to write wonderful poetic praise about one of my favorite fabrics...yeah, that might be a little over the top...even for me.


Seriously though, I think I have a little bit of a toile addiction - here's a very small sampling of the toile spread around my house.










I have also been given my first blog awards! I am SO excited!!! Sweet Ms. Tee over at Delightful Home passed these on to me. Thanks Ms. Tee!!! I know I am supposed to pass these on to five blogs that I love, but I seriously can't narrow it down, so I am sending bloggy love out to all my new blogging friends. Thanks for visiting me here and leaving me such lovely, encouraging comments! You guys are great!!!



5oth post coming up in a couple of days!!