first impressions

we've been in our house almost 2 years now, and i've been meaning to paint our front door since like... the first time we looked at the house with our realtor.

 before:

(no, not our car... neighbors, ugh!!!)

so, we bought a pretty peach/yellow "cape cod" style house

and it had this random light mocha-ish front door and shutters

after:

yay, much better now, right?

a better view of what color the door was

almost finished

love it!!!

add a little Texas Tech wreath

(this was my first wreath-making attempt,

and i'm certainly not quitting my day job,

 but it was fun and i'll do better next time)

an assortment of red and black ribbons,

so-so for try #1 but not necessarily a keeper!

the door and shutters look much better black,

dont you think?

happy wednesday!

the name game

you know that age, when its time to put the babydolls away... and put pics of you, your girlfriends, and Justin Bieber up?

i think i'm there,

jk....

i've been working on little miss ashley's bedroom (age 8)
and i must say, its getting too adorable for words.
new bedding + pink paint + babydolls up + fancy wall art = fabulousness in a bedroom

what does miss ashley want?
she wants "ashley morgan" in cursive above her bed...
so this is what i did for her

her last name starts with a "B"

we wanted to incorporate it,

so it was more of a modified monogram

 instead of just her first/middle name

new bedding and her name!!!

how fufu fabulous is that?!?

i love the layered name look,

i think its totally unique

and miss ash now has a one-of-a-kind bedroom

oh to be young and have a pink bedroom again!

*sigh of jealousy*

{happy friday}

pillow talk

so, a while back... i had a green wall in my living room, and then, it became a grey wall.
want to catch up on all that, read here
so, during my "green" phase, i purchased green throw pillows for the couch,
what to do with them now???

step 1: take sage green pillow, prepare to recover

step 2: paint the word "blessed" on burlap,

step 3: sew two pieces around the pillow

step 4-6: then did a little folding

and hot glue'ing for the edges to create a ruffle,

 yikes i know, hot glue'ing a pillow

-- not super fancy, but it works

step 7: ta-da!

and the formerly green pillow returns to the couch as burlap!

its not perfect, but it'll certainly do!

happy tuesday!!!

over the top

as some of you know, i've been working on my crafty room (its our upstairs media room, which we will never use as a media room... so i've taken over!-- see more here)

soooooooooooo--- here are the pictures -- it is absolutely UNFINISHED, and i'm sure i'll be tweaking and changing it over time, but i couldnt resist :) enjoy!

before:

the people who lived here before us used this as a bedroom

and...after:

woohoo! who doesnt love a leopard print wall?!?

i found this dining room table at a thrift store for $23

so, i painted her up a beautiful bright pink

and did a fabric collage on top!

i added some pom-pom trim to the underneath,

and maybe a few rhinestones on the legs

(really, is there such a thing

as "too much" for a craft room?

i think not!)

the top!

I used lots and lots of fabric to collage the top, then after numerous coats of glue, poured a lacquer over it to make it shiny and hard! (and, there is glitter sprinkled into the lacquer-woohoo)

how fun is that?!?

i used a product that you mix two parts together and it forms the ultra-durable finish,

you can find this at Hobby Lobby

it took 3 coats of this lacquer, and probably needs 1-2 more to be as thick and smooth as i want it! its quite the ordeal, but it looks so different than anything else i've ever seen!

i painted this little nightstand to hold my gift wrap accessories,

i plan to change the knobs soon!

and, my darling little collection of salt and pepper shakers

which will hold glitter and beads!

i love it, i love having a place to go and create!

happy "royal wedding" friday!

i'm watching it right now and loving every moment,

what a beautiful bride Kate makes!!!

a snow day project

is a house ever finished?

no. not so much.

when we first moved into our lovely home, i wanted to blog some of the progress/changes we had made to show our friends/family who we dont get to see often, as well as hopefully entertain others a bit, who knows if the entertaining part is happening, but the changes to the house part... those are never ending. hence the blog name: swoff-house

that said, when we bought this house, this was our kitchen

hubby didnt know i was taking a picture,

otherwise i'm sure he would have posed :)

so, very soon thereafter

i did this

love love love

seriously, one of the best decisions

we have made as far as upgrades go,

 and well... just making our house look

less like someone else's house.

plus,

i did it myself, so it was super affordable.

but it still wasn't quite right,

i wanted just a bit more pizazz

so yesterday i did this:

ta-da!

i wanted to open my cabinets, and boom:

see something fun and fabulous!

mission accomplished?!?

i love it.

i'm kind of on a houndstooth kick,

i found this super cute pillow for the guest room too...

guess who's picture is going in there?

yes, prob this handsome guy!

anyway, another happy change for me,

and i'd be even happier if

this stupid ice would melt,

and it wouldn't be 2 degrees outside. ugh!

happy wednesday to all :)

going grey

once again, rather than taking down my Christmas decorations, i found something else to do.

except, this something-- well it is something i've been talking about doing for a while and was back and forth about a color.  a color for what you may ask? the green diamond accent wall in our living room. what to do?

ugh... brown or charcoal ?!?

here is the before:

(this was Christmas 2009)

when we moved in,

 we painted all the walls in the

living room/kitchen a neutral beige

{color: Nomadic Desert @ sherwin williams}

then,

i got bored.

and did this:

i wanted a little pizazz!

just a little something to brighten up the room

and make a statement, the green wall was lovely!

but, i got bored.

so, yesterday i did this:

bye bye green wall, hellooooooooo grey!!!

{color: Falcon @ wal mart, colorplace}

i love it.

its kinda hard to explain, but i'll give it a shot.

grey is complicated, it always has an undertone

its either

1. blue

2. purple

3. green

or 4. brown

and i wanted a grey with a brown or green undertone,

and i think it came out great

in fact,

i decided this might be a good color for our master bathroom

so, i just went ahead and painted that too.

excuse the towels, the walls are still wet

originally i wanted our master bathroom to match our room,

{bedroom color: sidewalk grey @ wal mart, color place}

but then,

i thought maybe the bathroom should be black.

(insert husband giving you the "you must be crazy" look here)

i'm glad i stuck with grey,

its crazy how much darker the bathroom looks,

i'm really happy with it!

now, time to do new mantle decor,

and decorate the bathroom!

happy friday :)

pretty little frenchie

a while back, i bought this gorgeous french provencial dresser to use as our tv stand... read here if you want to hear all about that :)

so, after much debating about what to do with it, and finally finding the time to have drop cloths all over the living room while painting, i have her finished!!! ta-da

I crackled the top and the inlay designs on the top two drawers.

i still need to do one more coat on the top drawers,

but its almost finished!

side view!

i'm so happy with it- and it was just what i had in mind :) 

happy monday.

a desk for Judie

our sunday school teacher's daughter (Judie) inherited her big brother's desk when he got a new drum set-- but she was a little bummed that it looked so bland. soooo, to brighten her room up- her super fun momma hired me to give it a little whimsical pizzazzzzz! the desk is from Pottery Barn, color: honey... something like this, but not exactly this style:

Judie's room is a light neutral grey color, with all white bedding (very chic for a 4th grader) and then...

this

i added "i am fearfully and wonderfully made" to the middle drawer

~and the top is covered in whimsical swirls~

its the perfect little statement piece,

and custom made just for Judie!!!

who says hand-me-downs arent fabulous?!?

happy tuesday

not everything turns out the way you see it in your head

and here you have it... another before and after:

before

yep, found this lamp at old faithful (hobby lobby)

a while back, on clearance, and i just bought it...

sometimes, you just see something and know you will need it someday, so buy it when its a great deal!!!

no, your eyes do not deceive you... the lamp was $9.00................ what????
 ugh, i know... totally awesome.
so what did i do with our good friend "clearance lamp?"

this:

my, my... hello,

aren't you cute all painted white and chic like that.

(yes, thats my horribly embarrassing stack of golden books... yes, i know, its out of control and i'm really trying my best to stop... i realize that when your collection of golden books is taller than your nightstand, you've encountered a problem. hello, my name is jacquelyn and i buy too many golden books. thanks!)

haha! yay! the guest room is coming along quite well...

i'm working on a few more touches, pics soon!

and another b&a

white wicker armourer goes black

thanks hubby for being tall and spray painting the top for me!!!

note to readers:

spray painting wicker, not easy

after 4 cans of spray paint, it still doesn't quite look finished.... blah! i give up... its upstairs in our media room, and i finally have a place to store serving pieces, they all seem to be way too wide for our kitchen cabinets.

okay, really

the lighting is bad and it

doesn't look this horrible in person,

but it sure doesn't look awesome either.

so, word to the wise...

wicker is a pain to repaint.

proceed with caution.

this one needs another coat, and some funky shelf paper to pizzazz it up, but all in all i'm happy and it is serving it's purpose... to hold my dishes that dont fit. problem solved and problem created all at the same time. ick.

anyhoo, i've been a busy little bee...

sometimes creating marvelous things, others doing a mediocre spray paint job,

but either way, i'm at least trying to entertain with my pictures!!!

stay tuned.

happy wednesday!