Wednesday, April 28, 2010

{table inspiration~part 2}



here is my inspiration ....this table is semi  similar to our kitchen table ~ the difference is the distressed paint  and the wood top...

so you ask... what about the table top... your table had tile and now nothing??
good question! 

hmmmm,
i know what to do?....maybe i can get my husband handy man to make me a wood top like my inspiration picture? 

maybe,

 that's if i'm extra sweet to him? right? lol

now i'm off to search for some old barn wood or ?


wish me luck!

image source here

xoxo's nancy



Thursday, April 22, 2010

{lil sneaky peek~part 1}




xoxo's nancy

Monday, April 19, 2010

{compare to pottery barn}


i just love the way glass looks in any light..especially in the sunlight!

here are a few vintage glass jars i put in our bathroom

 & if you were to buy at  pottery barn{ahemmm} $44 for 1 large jar+ 3 = a whole lota dinero... don't get me wrong I heart Pottery BARN! but, in this economy i have to be more creative than ever!

i spent a big whopping $4.00!

you don't

 have to spend a lot to get the same effect and i might add i like mine better!








this has been linked to....



xoxo's nancy

Saturday, April 17, 2010

{repurposed doors}

a few months ago i stumbled upon  30+ old wood doors! i know can you believe!!!

someone put them out for heavy trash...i'm sure he was in the door biz at one

 time or was he a junker like me? hmmmm anyways, i'm glad he decided to part with them & super happy i drove by his house that day! SCORE!

if your reading "THANK YOU" lol

due to hurricane ike our old tattered fence went flying...it was only time as it was pretty unstable....we didn't have the funds to

 fix at that time so, we just salvaged what we could and rigged it up...it worked and served

it's purpose for a few years...we are great riggers! lol

we were finally ready to replace and came up with a plan....

i came up with this  grand idea to use 2 of the old doors instead of gate doors...

 with a little convincing my handy man{wink wink} was on board with my plan!

poor guy...i had him pull door after door out of the garage & of course these 2 doors were at the bottom of the 30+ door stack...omg i know


  reason i picked these 2 was 1. the color 2. they were used together at one time


 {if you look closely you'll see the panels are different in size}

 after a few days this is what we he built...



i had 2 serious jobs to do on this project....1.  fill the hanging baskets with flowers and ivy {found at lowes & walmart} 2.   find hangers for the baskets {found at target for $3.99 ea.}

accomplished!



we still need to find a door handle, distress the doors a bit and put a poly on them to

 protect them from our humid weather here in texas...





the 2 iron peices above the doors we bought several years ago at round top antique fair...really didn't know where

 we would use them but, my handy man suggested to use them on top of the doors and i really liked his idea! props to my handy man...i think i'm wearing off on him...lol

xoxo's nancy

Thursday, April 15, 2010

{It's a PARTY at Serenity NOW and YOU know how I like PARTIES!}




Amanda at Serenity Now is having a Dishing It Party and i'm attending!  I love parties!

I started blogging almost a year ago in May...my lil addiction started when a friend  had some pictures taken and I loved how her photographer  captured moments and decided to cruise on over to the photographers web page...
  at this point  I really didn't know much about blogs & thought it was something only writers did..lol  little did i know right? lol

As I entered her site I  saw the cutest little girls in these adorable outfits{one day i would like to have a tween line..one of my many things i'd like to accomplish in this lifetime  & there's more...OMGoodness I'm all over the place.. :)}...sorry, sometimes i just ..ok back to my story...in her post she mentioned the outfits were by "Matilda Jane" sooo, of course me as nosey as i am started googling...thank god for inter net!!  I found her site and clicked on "blog"...still had no clue what i was fixin to see..OH MY... I was instantly addicted & SOOO inspired by all the beautiful pictures and how she just wrote about everyday things!
SO, I thought to myself why not start my own blog w/ my own passions.. that's how it began :)

{ahemmm..i'd like to one day take photography classes as well...}
"La Borda Bleu" is derived from a couple of languages...Spanish & french which means in english "The Blue Cottage"
I don't live in a blue cottage but, I knew these words best described me & my style...Bleu for water & written in French {love the french eclectic look & LOVE being near the water}.  Borda means Cottage which is my ultimate flavor of decorating...

 I like to blog about different things...I love to show how much love we have been pouring into this house we call our home! We began our renovation of our 1957 bungalow 10 years ago!  Then, we added 900 sq. feet around 3 or so years ago and we are still working on the last stages of our home.  It's hard to document as it comes in stages when our money tree is in full bloom! :) I don't want to limit myself to one thing to blog about{ as you can see...lol}
to be honest it just depends on what i'm in the mood for that day whether it's about a tasty treat, a party idea, decorating eye candy or my family.

I really enjoy blogging, it lets my creative side out! I have very few to no friends who enjoy the same things I do so, blogging helps divert this energy that I LOVE!

I have made a couple new friends with similar passions and it puts a super big O smile on my face!

I hope for MORE new friends as I always have room for YOU!

xoxo's nancy

Monday, April 12, 2010

{keep calm and carry on}


i believe this is the most famous poster/slogan in blog land...right?

it definetely caught my curiosity and wanted to find out who the artist was so,  i  did a

 little googling and here is what i found....{intended for the late bloomers like myself..lol}

it's pretty interesting..a lil lengthy but, very interesting....



the history of Keep Calm and Carry On....
The poster was initially produced by the Ministry of Information[1] in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, and was intended as a "last case scenario" to be used only should the Nazis succeed in invading Britain via Operation Sea Lion, in order to stiffen resolve. Two-and-a-half million copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers.[2] The designer of the poster is not known.


The poster was third in a series of three. The previous two posters from the series, "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory" (800,000 printed) and "Freedom is in Peril" (400,000 printed) were issued and used across the country for motivational purposes, as the Government assumed that the nerves of the public would be shot to pieces (they soon changed their tactics). Planning for the posters started in April 1939, by June designs were prepared, and by August 1939, they were on their way to the printers, to be placed up within 24 hours of the outbreak of war. The posters were designed to have a uniform device, be a design associated with the Ministry of Information, have a unique and recognisable typography, with a message from the King to his people (whereas it later notoriously became "the People's War"). The slogans were created by civil servants, with Waterfield coming up with "Your Courage" as "a rallying war-cry that will bring out the best in everyone of us and put us in an offensive mood at once". These particular posters were designed as "a statement of the duty of the individual citizen", un-pictorial, to be accompanied by more colloquial designs. The "Your Courage" poster was much more famous during the war, as it was the first to go up, very large, and was the first of the Ministry of Information's posters. The press, fearful of censorship, created a backlash, and thus a lot of material related to these posters has been kept by archives
Rediscovery and commercialisation

In 2000, a copy of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was rediscovered in Barter
Books, a second-hand bookshop in Alnwick, Northumberland. Since Crown Copyright expires on artistic works created by the UK government after 50 years, the image is now in the public domain.[4] The store's owners, Stuart and Mary Manley, were thus able to reprint copies at customers' requests, as did others, inside and outside Britain. It has inspired ranges of clothing, mugs, doormats, baby clothes and other merchandise from various vendors,[5] plus a book[6] of motivational quotes. Parodies of the poster, with similar type but changing the phrase or the logo (for example, an upside-down crown with "Now Panic and Freak Out"), have also been sold.[7] The poster's popularity has been attributed to a "nostalgia for a certain British character, an outlook" according to Mary Manley. Its message has also been felt relevant to the late-2000s recession.[5] Merchandise with the image has been ordered in bulk by American financial firms, advertising agencies, and by Germans.[7]

It has appeared on the walls of places as diverse as the prime minister's strategy unit at 10 Downing Street, the Lord Chamberlain's office at Buckingham Palace and the United States embassy in Belgium.

The Manleys have sold some 41,000 facsimile posters between 2001 and 2009.

 
xoxo's nan

Thursday, April 8, 2010

{loving the natural look....}



i recently was introduced to wisteria  

 ...wow, i'm in  LOVE with just about everything they have especially the natural tones!

here are a few pieces on my wish list....









i LOVE linen!!!



i recently  purchased a lil side table in oak and sanded it to it's all natru-al

i haven't finished as my handy man has to cut a piece of wood to put in

the middle of one side

it was missing 2 drawers & a door

my plan is to put natural  color baskets in place of drawers & door

will post pics soon...my camera BROKE! :( i'm sooo bummed....

waiting for money tree to grow...i've been watering it everyday! 



xoxo's nan

Monday, April 5, 2010

{my life is full}


the day was a beautiful one..


 thanking God because he has given me ........


            


 a  beautiful mom....




sunny warm days....





a lovely  family....






beautiful flowers......{and potterybarn lol}






heart warming moments....






and most of all my loving husband and the most beautiful and sweetest daughter!


my life if full!
i'm so blessed!

Hope you all had a blessed day!


x0xo's nan