How Do You Decorate a Wall Niche?

Do you have a recessed wall niche in your home?  How did you decorate it? 
This was the dilemma we had when we purchased our tract home ten years ago.   
Here is how I decorated our two niches.

The first one is over my fireplace. I painted this urn with hydrangeas many years ago. I have plans to redo it because I love change and I'm getting tired of it.

It took me about three weeks to paint this because at the time my girls were one and a half and four years old.  I had very limited painting time back then.

Here is the other niche we have in the rotunda between our great room and our master bedroom. 

It's been decorated this way for a few years.

I painted the rotunda black and left the border wall of the niche and the ceiling white.  I added upholstery tacks to the edge of the niche and around the recessed area on the ceiling.  It cost me about $25 for a box of 1000 tacks.  I use them everywhere like my powder room and still have leftovers from the original box.

To see more upholstery tack ideas go here. 

For this niche I added a mirror and hung a sconce on it.  I love how the candle light reflects in the mirror.  I found the mirror at Marshall's and re painted it a silver gold.

After hanging the mirror,  I used a glass and tile bit to drill a hole through the center of the mirror (WEAR EYE PROTECTION and GLOVES).  I carefully placed a nail through the drilled hole and hammered it into the wall behind the mirror.  You might need to add a molly to secure the nail into the wall if it's not hammered into the wall stud.   There is a chance you can shatter the mirror when you drill it or hammer the nail through the mirror.  Be careful and wear gloves and eye protection.  I used to make table top fountains and frequently drilled glass and ceramic containers.  Sometimes the hot drill bit will shatter your project.  This was a inexpensive mirror from Marshall's, so I was willing to take the chance of it breaking. 

 I used some earthquake tack stuff (not sure of the real name) to secure and cushion the back of the sconce on the mirror. It looks like chewing gum and I think I bought it Home Depot?  This keeps the sconce from scratching the mirror and from sliding around.

The sconce was brown and I painted it the same silver gold color as the mirror. 

I think I bought at Marshall's for under $10?

I added some of my magnetic crystal drops to the sconce for a little more bling.  To see how to make them go here.

The candle gives off beautiful light at night.

The upholstery tacks catch the shimmer and look like mini pin points of light.

Here are some other pictures of interesting ways to decorate niches. 

There are so many creative ideas out there!

Paint a meaningful quote.

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Personalize with family photographs.

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Paint an interesting pattern.

I love this!

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Frame out the niche and paint the recessed area a different color.

I'll take one of everything.

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Add shutters.

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Add shelves.

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Add drama with lighting.

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Add art.

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Tile it.

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Do you have a niche? 

I'd love to see how you decorated it!

Thanks for checking it out.

House Warming Gift

My mom could give Martha Stewart a run for her money when it comes to entertaining and hospitality.  She made sit down tea and dinner parties for 60 look effortless and always top notch.  You would have thought they were professionally catered.   My Dad is a retired Navy Admiral and my parents frequently entertained and were invited to dinners with foreign dignitaries and other high ranking military personnel. 

My mom was always one to bring a hostess gift whenever she and my dad were invited to an event at someones home.  I have always admired her graciousness and style and tried to follow her lead. 

This is a hostess gift I gave for a recent house warming party our family attended

The pictures aren't great because I didn't remember to take any till we were getting out of the car at the party address.  Our host and hostess recently moved back to San Diego from Washington DC and they just purchased their first home.  They are expecting their first baby at the end of the month.   I like to give living gifts when possible because I think it brings life into the home. Flowers are nice, but it's not always convenient for the hostess to find a vase to hold the flowers while trying to entertain the rest of the guests.   

I made this simple terrarium that was inexpensive to make and goes with almost any decor.  Our host's last name starts with a 'V.'  I picked up a package of monograms at Big Lots a while back for under $2.  They are printed on nice card stock.  I wrote a note on the back of the monogram congratulating them on their new home and new baby.  I used a  sliver wire curled into a circle to support the monogram in the terrarium.  

This gift will continue to live while flowers die within a week and it's very easy to maintain.  With a new baby on the way, they aren't going to have a lot of time for indoor plant maintenance.  This terrarium will thrive on neglect.

The only thing I purchased was this succulent.  I used three of the rosettes for the terrarium and still have two left over.  I already had the glass vessel, sand, rocks, moss, and dirt. 

I like the gray/blue color of this succulent.

Here's how I made it.  I layered from the bottom up, sand, small pebbles, large pebbles, moss, and cactus soil mix. The layer of moss keeps the dirt from seeping into the rocks when it's watered.  Otherwise your rocks will look "muddy" over time.  I gently pulled apart the succulent cluster and planted three of them in the vase.  Then I added a final layer of small pebbles.  I added a couple shells and a piece of found driftwood.  Easy to make, personalized, and doesn't break the bank.

Do you have a signature hostess gift that you like to give as gifts?

I would love to hear your ideas.

Thanks for checking it out.

To see other terrarium projects I've done click here and here.

Thanks Kelly over at

Modern Earth Design,

for the blog love!  Go check out her beautiful blog, she's having a give away!

I linked this project up to

 Remodelaholic

Mirror Transformation

If your anything like me, you have a callous on your index finger from some trigger happy spray painting.  Here is a quick mirror transformation that I did this week with my old friend spray paint. 

Here is the before. 

Not bad, but I'm over the brown.

I am slowly getting rid of the any traces of the Tuscan look in my house and these mirrors are part of the change going on.   I love re purposing stuff I already have. Why buy new when you can just give an existing piece new life with a little spray paint.

I purchased these metal mirrors hanging behind my living room couch several years ago at Marshall's on clearance.  They were a distressed brown and gold finish.  I'm going to slip cover the couch, but haven't gotten to it yet. 
To see more of how I changed our living room into our home office go here.

After carefully removing the mirror I spray painted the metal frame white.  Then I taped off the outer border of the frame and painted the inside grill work bright gold.  Be careful removing the mirrors.  Newer mirrors are often hot glued in place and difficult to take apart.  This was the case with these mirrors, but I was able to gently remove the glue and ease the mirror out of the frame.  Wear gloves and eye protection in case it breaks.  Been there, done that, it's a bummer when they break.

Then I used a gray glaze over the whole piece.  Here is the glaze I mixed up.  A little white paint, black paint, water, and glazing medium.

Piper is very curious about everything and she tried to help.  She curled up in my lap while I was sanding.  I think Roscoe sent her a message that I need puppy help with my DIY projects.

 After the glaze dried I distressed the whole piece with some sandpaper.

Here is the mirror detail before sanding.

Here it is after sanding.

I washed the mirrors with warm soapy water before putting them back in the frames.
Soap and water is the best mirror cleaner I've found, no streaking.
Here they are back in the living room.

I'm liking the gold detail on the mirror with my HFH re purposed hanging light fixture.
You can see more of that project here.

I like them...for now. 

Bye bye Tuscan, hello Swedish Gustavian?

How has your design taste changed? 
Are you transitioning too?
I would love to here all about it.
Thanks for checking it out.

Meet Piper

My mom and I were scheduled to go meet a dog in Pismo Beach last Monday, but a series of events delayed our trip.  Sometimes serendipity has a way of intervening on your behalf and I truly belief this was the case in our situation. 

In the simplest of words, serendipity means a "happy accident."

Had we gone on Monday this would not be the dog I would have met. 

This is the dog we were meant to have.

Meet our new family member Piper.  She is a one and half year old Sealyham Terrier, sister of the original dog I was interested in.

  After many hours of conversations with two different breeders.  It was a consensus that this dog would be a better fit for our family.  She's got some spunk.   She is referred to as the "Wild Child" of the liter.  To put it into perspective, Seelyham Terriers are known as the "couch potatoes" of the terrier breeds, just so you don't think I'm adopting an out of control wild dog. 

Here she is just after getting groomed.  She already follows me all over the house and sits at my feet while I'm on the computer.  She is so sweet.

The journey to pick her up started with an over night trip spent in Solvang.  It's an adorable little Danish town on the coast north of Santa Barbara.

We had lunch here.

We drove up in the morning and stayed at the Petersen Village Inn. 

A very quaint and nice place to stay in the center of all the shopping. 

We enjoyed strolling the streets and wine tasting the rest of the afternoon. 

It was nice doing a girl's trip with my mom.  I can't believe I didn't have anyone take our picture!

The next morning I drove up to Santa Maria and met Piper.   

It was a quick 30 minute drive through wine vineyards and rolling hills.

Many of you told me to go with the tug on my heart and I did. I just knew she was the right dog for us.
She was bouncing around like a rabbit when I met her.  This was a dog I could fall in love with. If you haven't heard of a Sealyham you probably aren't alone.  Sealyham Terriers are very rare.  I only recently have come to know of the breed.  They don't shed, they're highly intelligent, great family dogs, and funny.  They were popular in the 20's and 30's.  Alfred Hitchcock used them in many of his movies.  May West, Cary Grant, and Gary Cooper all had Sealys.  After doing some research I decided they were the right breed for us.

Her name was "Sabine," but she didn't come when we called her that and she just seemed more like a Piper to us.  So Piper it is.  Cami stayed home from school sick one day last week and Piper kept her company on the couch.  She's still adjusting to our home and is a little shy.  Her crazy side is starting to peep out every once in awhile.
We took her to a soccer tournament this weekend and she did great, she likes kids, other dogs, AND she likes our bunny Rosie, Yay! 

We still miss our Roscoe terribly, but Piper is filling our hearts with love, happiness, and laughter.

Thanks for checking it out.