OutOnThaPorch....

It's almost Easter!!! and I'm ready OutOnThaPorch now but I went down a "Rabbit" Trail to get here (Ha Ha - Rabbit Trail - get it ???)    When we finished the deck last October,  the nasty, off white cushions needed recovering and I didn't really know what I wanted to do.   YUK !!!!!! I didn't want a lot of color but we use these A-LOT so it needed to be something I could clean easily. So while relaxing OutOnThePorch one day I kept going back........ Way back........ to the first time I covered these same chairs - It was the 2011 article we did for Southern Lady Magazine in the October/November issue .  The article was about how we changed up my elegant dining room to be a little more casual with painter's drop cloth.  This was my very first experience using painter's drop cloth.  It was also the first time we used the Chenille-It along the edging. Chenille-It allowed us to simply serge the edges so we didn't have to...

Here are two pics of Abby's Altered Claudine valance.  This valance was already interlined with 100% cotton drapery interlining.  The first is a pic before we added the blackout lining - Interlined Valance without Blackout Lining And the second is after we added the French blackout lining.  What a difference.  That's right.  French blackout.  There IS more than just one way to block the light.  And to get the correct results, you need to use the correct product. Interlined Valance after adding French Blackout Lining Both shots were done at the same time of day with the same amount of sunlight and with the same camera.  Notice how the sun shines through the bottom of the valance that hangs over the window.  You can see exactly where the window stops and the wall begins.  You will also get the same line appearance if there is a contrast facing on the back of the valance.  The light will penetrate through the fibers and m...

Who says upholstery webbing isn't fit for the Christmas Dishes ??? So, yall know I like to use unconventional (and might I add - inexpensive) materials in elegant home decor, right?  Well, this year is no exception when it came to my Christmas Dinner Tablescape. Last Friday, while relaxing OutOnThaPorch with Mama-n-em - y'all know Mama-n-em, right? Mama-n-em aka Mother & Daddy, aka Claudine and Bill Ward, aka Cousin Eddie Anyway, we were talking about how cute it would have been to have had my old Christmas dishes for my previous OutOnThaPorch shoot.  And, how I would love to have them for us to eat on for Christmas dinner.  I hadn't seen them in 20 years.  I figured they were long gone, discarded in one of the many moves we've made over the years. Well that's all it took for my two "Cousin Eddie(s)".  The next thing I knew they were calling me on their way back to Nashville from Bham with, what I like to refer to as a "tru...