Painted Lampshade & a Quick Guest Room Makeover | Pretty Handy Girl

Easy Window Treatment Upgrades | Pretty Handy Girl

Whoa. What happened to summer? Labor Day is here and that means the holidays are just around the corner. I’ve started to think about sprucing up our guest room in anticipation of having guests. The number one complaint our guests have (not that many of them complain) is that there is too much light that comes in the window in the morning. When Lowe’s asked us to focus on window treatments in September, I realized the time had come to address this blinding light situation. Little did I know, that installing new blinds and curtains would take less than an hour!

Here is the basic window that I started with. (Yes, there’s a roller shade there, but it was hidden under a valance and frankly it’s a pain to use.)

How to Install Window Blinds and Curtains | Pretty Handy Girl

After taking a few measurements, I headed to Lowe’s to look at the options for window blinds and curtains. It was a tough decision because I really liked some of the roman shades. But, I wanted a blind that wouldn’t block much light when it was raised. I settled on the Levolor cordless room darkening cellullar shade. Not only does it have a low profile when installed, but raising it and lowering is as easy as pressing a button. Plus, no strangulation hazards because there are no external cords! I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner.

How to Install Window Blinds and Curtains | Pretty Handy Girl

How to Install Blinds and Curtains from Lowe’s in less than an hour: Read more

Color Wheel Mirror

mosaic works blue mosiac mirro

Have you ever been browsing Pinterest or the blog world and come across an artist that has literally left your mouth hanging open? Well Karen from MosaicWorks may have caused me to drool a bit on my keyboard. I immediately asked her if she’d like to share a tutorial with you.

But, first let me give you a little background about Karen. She studied Illustration in Art School and ended up as a graphic designer (the similarities are uncanny.) She also authored and illustrated a children’s book called Mr. Bob’s Magic Ride in the Sky. She lives in Oshawa, Ontario with her husband, two daughters, and  two dogs (William and Kate…the royal canine couple.) She’s a blogger and an extremely talented mosaic artist! You MUST follow her blog at MosaicWorks.ca. Her creative projects are brilliant and her musings and short photo posts are enough to lighten your day.

Without further chatter, I turn you over to Karen!

Karen Johnston MosaicWorks CA

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Hello Pretty Handy Girl readers. I’m a mosaic artist who, like Brittany, is always up for a good DIY. Read more

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My grandmother wouldn’t mind that I painted and then wrote all over her coffee table. She was one of the most giving people you’ve ever met. She truly was the type of person that would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. I strive to live up to her legacy every day of my life.

She was also a very lucky lady. I mean lucky as in she could spot a four-leafed clover in a field of them. She was constantly finding money on the ground.

gma_in_silver_sweater

When I was living with her my freshman year in college, she made me do a U-turn on a street because she saw a five dollar bill in the middle of the road! She was a hoot and loved to make people laugh with her jokes or just dressing up as a bunny every Easter.

gma_bunny

(That’s my sisters and me in the floral skirt.)

She also won several contests in her life. But, she rarely kept her winnings. One of the things she won was a solid construction coffee table. When I was moving into my first apartment, she gave it to me. We used it for years until my design tastes changed and I bought a new one. Grandma’s coffee table moved into our attic. It sat there for years, buried under bags and suitcases.

When the big tree fell on our house, we did some serious purging in the attic. I should have taken the coffee table to Goodwill or sold it at our yard sale. But, something made me keep it a little longer. Read more

watergarden

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As the weather changes and the flowers start to wane outside, it’s a great time to focus on bringing natural beauty indoors. I’ve gathered some beautiful and unique ideas for creating your own tabletop gardens. For those with less time to water, may I suggest trying one of the succulent or cacti gardens. Regardless of the plants you use, I love the wide variety of creative containers used for these mini-environments.

Tabletop Gardens and Terrariums Ideas

Let’s get started with some beautiful tutorials for planting a tabletop garden:

1. Easy Terrarium in Minutes! Read more

GMC_Acadia_roadtrip

My goodness, it has been a whirlwind week for me. I left on Wednesday to head down to Atlanta, GA with my good friend Holly (of Storywood Designs). We rode in the lap of luxury in a swanky new 2014 GMC Acadia Denali! (My boys were in love with the new SUV. Especially the bluetooth headphones that let them listen to another radio station as Mama belted out the lyrics to “Blurred Lines.” I can’t blame them, singing is the one skill I don’t have.)

I was sponsored by GMC at Haven and they let me borrow the vehicle for the week. It’s a good thing we had the Acadia with loads of cargo space, because neither of us travel light. We even brought our own furniture:

bellhopOur bellhop barely skipped a beat as he loaded furniture onto the cart with our luggage.
(photo courtesy of Holly)

Holly and I didn’t waste a moment. We checked into the Grande Hyatt in Atlanta, spread out our ScotchBlue Heavy Duty Non-Slip drop cloths and started transforming furniture: Read more