Kitchen Counters Chosen

I went to the granite yard today and picked out my slab of granite. Yippee! I'm so excited!! You know how long we've been working on this kitchen! In case you don't know how long...we've been working on it on & off for over 1 year!! Not that it is a big kitchen at all. It's actually a small kitchen. It's just that hubby & I are doing it all ourselves and we haven't had much time between his regular job & running our business. I also didn't think we would be able to afford granite counters so was planning on butcher block counters. Thank the Lord we have been blessed with some extra money we didn't expect to have, so we are super excited to get granite! I chose New Venetian Gold.
Here is my precious slab of granite.

We have 2 weeks to finish painting the cabinets and build a pedestal for the breakfast nook. Oh, and I need to choose the backsplash. I'm leaning towards tumbled marble. I was going to do a mix of tumbled marble & beadboard, but hubby vetoed that idea. He would have had to move the outlets up higher and he didn't care to add more work to his already long honey do list. So, I better say goodbye for now and get back to painting!

Have a blessed day!

Darlene

Bathing Beauties

Just thought I would share something I just discovered. I know alot of you love the vintage look so when I saw these Bathing Beauties I thought of you.







These are by Dr. Livingstone. He was on HSN this morning, but you can also find these at HSN.com. I have seen similar ones at Ballard Design for alot more money.

Here is my favorite. She is called Spa Girl. She would look so great in a bathroom. I can see her sitting on a stack of towels. Unfortunately she has sold out, but I'm gonna keep my eyes open for when she gets restocked.


If you want one...Hurry...they are selling out FAST!!

Darlene

Come see my new chairs

Yeah, my new dining room chairs arrived! They are so comfy! I love them! They are so much more me than those golden oak country chairs I had.

As soon as the kitchen is done. I will be redoing the dining table. I think the base of the table will be painted black and the top will be gel stained Mahogany. Then we will have a glass cut to go on top the table to protect it. When that is done I'll have to redo the curio cabinet that is in the corner.

Have a great day!
Darlene

Garage Sale Finds

I hope you all had a great weekend! I sure did! It was nice & sunny most all weekend. We went out on our boat everyday and enjoyed the lake. Saturday morning my 20 yr old daughter and I ventured out to about 5 garage sales. We didn't have much luck, but we didn't come home empty handed. I bought these 2 vases which match my living room great and for $6...they were a bargain. The original price tags were still on them at $15 for the small one & $25 for the larger one.

My daughter found a new Panama Jack cowboy hat for $3.

Doesn't she look cute in her new hat?!

Did you hear that Rhoda from Southern Hospitality just started hosting every Monday a "Show your Garage Sale Finds" linky party. So go check out what everybody found this weekend.

By the way, my new dining room chairs arrived!! I LOVE THEM!!! Come back tomorrow (tuesday) and I'll show you pics.

Have a great week!

Darlene

Inspiring Family

Have you ever been captivated by a blog? One where you just keep reading through pages and pages and pages? Well, that is what happened to me the other night when I visited this blog.

I almost feel like I know her and her adorable family. She is a mother of 6 kids with 1 on the way. That alone is amazing to me, but even more amazing is that she homeschools all of the kids. She is an awesome Christian woman as is her family and they totally have their priorities in order! We could all learn something from her...I know I could! Oh, did I mention that she is a photographer too? Oh, well she is very talented as you can see from these photos.

**Click on the photos to make them larger**

Aren't they an adorable couple?! She is GORGEOUS & SKINNY after having 6 kids....I'm a bit jealous! She was 19, he was 29 when they married and their first kiss was on their wedding day! Such a romantic love story!

Alyssa & Robert

Their six super cute kiddos!

She is also a great decorator on a very limited budget. I think that is the true test of a great decorator! I mean, anyone can decorate if you have plenty of money. It's challenging when you don't have the funds. Take a look at their kitchen before she did her Magic.

And here is what a little paint can do to make it more inviting......

Here is the dining table they made

Huge cork board (Love the frames on the cork board...adds dimension)

Look how pretty she made the baby bed

This is their daughter's precious room

Stop by her blog to see more of her life, kids, photography and decorating.
Let me know if you get captivated like I did!

God Bless!
Darlene

Our Loss...Your Gain!

We had a client order a custom monogram rug from us and we messed up!! Yes, we are human!! She wanted two-4X6 ft navy blue rugs with a "M" inlay in red done in the Caslon font. Well, we had some miscommunication and we did a "K" inlay instead of the "M".

So now we have two-4X6 Navy Blue Rugs with Red "K" inlays. The K's look like this (but in red)...

I don't have a photo of the particular rugs because they are being shipped back to us. But here is a quick mock up of what it looks like...

The red is a true red and the navy is a true navy blue. Great in a Coastal theme!

So......if you have a K as your last name or a K in your first name or maybe even your child has a K name and you decorate with navy and red then this rug or both rugs can be yours for the low price of $99 each! That is a $60 savings!!

Let me know if you would like one or both.

Darlene

Have a Seat...Stay a While

Good Morning!
Thank you for coming back to visit! I just love my blog friends, old and new! So let me show you my friends the chairs I chose for the breakfast nook. I think they will look stunning with my baskets, don't you?

There were some amazing reviews on this chair and everyone said how sturdy it was and comfortable. I bought 2 as that is all the breakfast nook seats. I'll show you the breakfast nook as soon as it is finished. I can tell you that the pedestal will be painted cream with a subtle mocha like the cabinets and the top will be a walnut or mahogany stained butcherblock.

I have had a traditional golden oak clawfoot pedestal table and some very country looking chairs in my dining room. I like the table but have never liked the chairs. They just weren't my style, but for some reason I still bought them 14 yrs ago. Anyway to update...I plan on painting the base of the table black and then staining the top with MinWax Gel Stain in Mahogany and topped with glass. I hope to get to it this week. Goodbye, golden oak!! So sorry to see you go....NOT!!
Since I was in a chair buying mode, I went ahead and bought 4 of these chairs in the mushroom color for the table. They got great reviews too. They said they are very well made and comfy!


When we put the leaf in the table (christmas & thanksgiving) we will pull in the woven chairs from the breakfast nook and use them at the heads of the table.

If you want to know where the chairs were purchased, just let me know. I can also tell you how to save 25%!

God Bless!
Darlene

A Weekend Spent Shopping

This weekend I shopped and shopped and shopped........boy, my feet are sore! Just kidding, all my shopping was done online. That's my favorite kind of shopping!!

While hubby sanded, puttied, and primed the lower cabinet fronts and doors...I was busy shopping! I bought a Silgranit Sink in Cafe Brown. It got rave reviews. I bought this faucet. Isn't she pretty?!


Oh, and my biggest and most expensive purchase is this beauty....


I think I found some chairs for the breakfast nook and some also for my dining room table. I'll show you those tomorrow...so come back, please!!


OK, now I'm off to look at granite.

Darlene

Calling all Creative Photoshop Ladies

My 20 yr old daughter is getting ready to graduate from nursing school and we have decided to make the invitations ourselves. Problem is she wants a 2" tall banner on the invitation of aqua damask. We tried doing it ourselves, but it doesn't print clearly.

Here is just a sample of one we found on the internet...but she wants her damask to be aqua.


After searching the internet I found an instructional guide on how to do it, but you have to have PhotoShop...which I don't have.

So can anybody help me out so we can complete her invitations? I know there are some awesome people out here in Blogland that know all about this kind of thing...so hope someone can help!! Email me at darlene@creativecarpetdesign.com



Thanks much!!

Darlene

Awesome Kitchen

I've been busy trying to decide which kitchen faucet and which sink to purchase for our kitchen. I figure if I buy those things maybe it will entice us to work on this kitchen again and get it finished!!

In trying to decide on the sink, faucet, and granite I've been looking at a TON of kitchens!! I just ADORE the following kitchen and wanted to share it with you. Julie is the owner of this beautiful kitchen...isn't she lucky to have this kitchen?!

(you can click on the photos to ENLARGE)

Oh to have a FINISHED Kitchen....maybe someday!!

Darlene

Rhoda's Rug...A HOT Seller!

If you've been reading this blog for anytime you probably already know that we are custom rug manufacturers. The name of our company is Creative Carpet Design. We started our business in 2005. We started mainly doing custom rugs for local clientelle, but in the past 2-3 years our business has transitioned to being completely online. We sell on our website, ebay, etsy, and on amazon. We also have a few retailers selling our rugs. We ship all over the US and Canada.

In January I celebrated my 100th blog post with a custom rug giveaway. Rhoda from Southern Hospitality blog won the giveaway. Rhoda like myself loves animal print, so she asked if we could do a round black rug with a zebra print initial inlay. We had never used our animal print carpet as initial inlays, so I told Rhoda I would get back to her after I found out from hubby if we could do that or not. Well, we did do the rug and Rhoda loves it! You can see it on her blog post about it...click here.

Here is Rhoda's Rug

It came out so great that we started offering the animal print initial inlay (monogram) rug as part of our line of custom rugs. Apparantly everyone loves the look of animal print combined with their initial...we have been getting lots of orders! Thanks Rhoda for thinking of a combination we hadn't even thought of!

We just finished a rug done with the Leopard Print carpet for a client, so thought I would show it to you before we ship it off to her.




If you would like a custom rug of your own...just contact us at Creative Carpet Design

Darlene

Decorating Your Coffee Table

Consider Scale and Height
"Using too many little things," says author and home emporium owner Mary Carol Garrity, is the most common accessorizing faux pas that people make. "Instead, create a grouping that keeps your eye moving from one object to another by varying the scale of the items you showcase — but also keeping their proportions relative to one another." One rule of thumb is to make sure the largest item in the cluster is no more than twice the size of the smallest one.
To lift accessory arrangements to the next level, Garrity uses risers to elevate objects in height and importance. Boxes, small plant stands, stacks of books, cake stands, compotes, candlesticks and even upturned vases or bowls can all be used as a "stage" for another object. What's more, "setting a small item on top of a larger one helps them relate to each other and adds dimension to the arrangement," says designer Nancy Barsotti.

Make sure nothing on your coffee table is so tall that it blocks your view of the TV or the person seated opposite you. For example, rather than a tall, loose bouquet, place a tight cluster of flowers with their stems clipped short in a low vase or other small vessel.

Tricks to try:

Top a stack of books with a beautiful bowl.

Crown a compote with a flat tray, then layer the tray with another item.

Set a triple-tiered server on the coffee table and fill it with colorful bits and baubles.

Rest a photo, a petite painting or a pretty dish on a small tabletop easel.


Happy Decorating!

Darlene

My Gift to All of You on this Easter

Have you heard of David Garibaldi??

Well, if you haven't or even if you have...you have to see this!!!

It is amazingly cool!!

I so wish I had this talent!!

More than Chocolate Easter Bunnies

Happy Easter!!

I hope you know this amazing love!!