Thrifting “lady date”

Hey all! Thanks SO much for all the wonderful comments and emails about our sweet Peanut! Many of you asked, and he’s a Chihuahua/rat terrier mix. They called him a Chia Rat. ;) We had such a great day with him. He slept ALL night last night and didn’t make a peep! We had a great visit to the vet – and he’s really healthy. (That was a relief!) And tonight he “went” outside for the first time! (

In the Spotlight ~ Green Thumb decor

Did you enjoy the ‘In the Spotlight ~ walls with character’ series in Jan & Feb? I received a great response to that series and while I still have a few more walls to show you, I'd like to introduce the March & April series of ‘In the Spotlight' and it's called 'Green Thumb Decor'. Now don’t say.. you don’t have any greens in your lovely homes! Even a little plant?? Really?? *smiles*



The Green Thumb Decor series will feature the use of greenery and related decor around your homes, balconies, gardens, indoors or outdoors etc.... but I would like to not only limit it to greens... so please feel free to send me pics of all your plant related decor - bells, dwarves, mushrooms, fountains - I'm waiting to see all the creativity I know is out there!



I’ll start this series by showing you a few pictures of greens & outdoor settings of my home…. And then during the next two months… I'm hoping to make a trip to Hatta to buy a few earthen pots & pretty thingys…. And show you the transformed garden….

Can you spot my little dwarfs... ??

These plants definitely need some improvement... so watch out for this space to see how they'll look by April... (I hope!!) *smiles* I'm linking to a few blog parties...

Be creative ….. imaginative…. And ready to show off your style… Email pictures to torresp27@hotmail.com

Farrow and Ball Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone for entering and to all of my new followers!

The winner of Farrow and Ball’s latest book, Living with Colour published by Ryland, Peters and Small is:

Congratulations Maureen!  You will love this book.  Please email your address to vanessa@vanessafrancis.com.

Have a great week everyone!

Colorful Closets

Simple Joys...those glimpses of life that we should take time embrace, the reminders that it's the small and simple things that make life beautiful.

The closets of our home are full of color. . . . .
even when there are no clothes hanging in them. For nearly half of my mother's life she has been making these
yarn covered hangers. (A tutorial can be found HERE)

She has literally made hundreds of them for family and to give as gifts.
I remember taking a trip with a college friend when I was in my late teens. My mom put a bundle of these homemade hangers into my suitcase for me to give as a hostess gift for my friend's relative whose home we stayed. I was proud as well as a little embarrassed (the mixed emotions of a teenager) to present the made-by-hand gift.These colorful hangers have been a part of my life for most of my life. They remind me of my mother's creative and hardworking hands, and of her giving spirit.

They are a simple joy.
Do you have a made-by-hand simple joy?

Introducing Peanut

Hello all! Hope you had a fantastic weekend! It’s been a great one around here for more reasons than one. :) I finally, FINALLY got the decrapification of the basement done. I mean, almost every single bit of it. There’s just a few minor things I want to go through, but the big stuff is DONE! I even finished up going through the guest room closet, which has been on my list for about a year

Weekend Wrap Up - Wk 20

*sigh* I wish I had one more day to the weekend sometimes… One day to rest!! This was my super busy weekend… On my toes till late Thursday (late for me… is 10pm *smiles*) and then up early Friday morning… to be part of the Dubai Terry Fox Run…

Yay..!! what a feeling… when so many people gathered together for one cause… It was awesome to see the turn out… definitely more than the reported 8000 to 10000… The funds collected from the run were excellent too… Every single dirham collected goes directly towards cancer research at the Al Ain University.. It is indeed overwhelming to see the developments cancer research have made and even more breath-taking to think that this actually gives a few more days, months or even years to someone’s life. I admire the Doctors who put their hearts & souls into this.

Anyway… we finished at about 1pm in the afternoon and then I headed off to be back stage support for the Alice In Wonderland concert put up by the Turning Pointe Youth Ballet. I got an opportunity to see the kids practice… make mistakes…. be yelled at… It was like being in school again.. *smiles*

I must say, that the kids were totally awesome… every single one of them…. Hours of practice and a few butterflies in their tummies… yet they performed nothing less than true professionals… Sims was a little tea party girl… and was thrilled to be part of the show. She now understands how she fits into the bigger pictures. We watched the show on Saturday afternoon… totally awe struck!!

Then… Saturday evening, we wandered off to the Global Village… It was busy and crowded… But we braved the crowds to buy a dhol (I don’t know for what)…. and a few knick knacks… *smiles*…. As though walking at the Global Village wasn’t enough.. we went shopping for the upcoming birthday party… I’m super excited…. Its Yva’s party in two weeks… and there is lots and lots to do as usual… *smiles*…

image source

So my lovelies… How was your weekend?? I’m not in the mood for blah blah rules today… so am jumping straight onwards.. and inviting you to link up… tell me all about your weekend… and link back to me…. *smiles*

Please grab the Colours Dekor Weekend Wrap Up button!!

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Saving a Chair

One of my clients had this chair sitting in her garage for months and had intentions of donating it.  When she told me she originally paid $2000 for it, I suggested that we reupholster it and place it in her family room.  The upholsterer agreed that the construction of the chair was first rate and it was worth bringing back to life.

 

I agree with Michael Penney that every room needs a stripe and this particular stripe has a real beachy vibe which works well in the room.  Wing chairs never go out of favour and play nice in almost any style of room, from modern to traditional. (The area rug above is staying for the short term so I ignored it when choosing the fabric!)

Consider re-upholstering a chair if it is good quality and keep in mind that you will need 6-7 yards of fabric plus the cost of re-upholstering.

I also designed this custom bench for this client, providing extra seating at gatherings and making good use of this unused space off her kitchen.  I love the extra thick foam.

Thank you for your sweet comments on my last post.  If I haven’t emailed you, I will answer your questions in another post.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I am linking up here.

If you require help creating a home that makes you happy, please contact me at vanessa@vanessafrancis.com.

Wall Project 1

Here is featuring our first wall project… Last weekend, we painted two walls at the Filmfare Middle East office…

My brothers at work… I had to buy these dungarees to get them to do the work!! *smiles*

As usual, it was like a family fun fare weekend… we laughed, we joked, we put paint on each other… and continued with the wall… I'm now linking into these awesome blog parties.

The colours… grey… merging into yellow… then blending into a bright orangey red… was the client’s requirement!!

This is what the complete wall looked like..

We were nervous… It wasn’t like painting a wall at home.. really!! I was so nervous that I didn’t even touch the roller.. with butterflies in my tummy… all I did was give instructions.. *smiles* That’s what brothers are for… isn’t it??

10,000(!) and month in review

Hey all! First of all, before I say anything else – I need to say a huge THANKS and a WHOOHOO! Tonight I hit 10,000 followers: I had to take a screenshot, just to remember that milestone! (I really, really hate that “followers” term by the way.) But it’s pretty cool to hit five digits. I now have 10,000 of you Squeezies! Squeezays. Squishes. :) Crazy!! Anyway, I want to try to bring

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Have you ever looked at a blog and wondered what it must be like to live next door to the blog author and see how things are in "real life"? Are you curious to know if their life is always as pretty as the photos on their blog? There are times that I feel like a bit of a hypocrite because while I post
The Good, as in my recent front porch makeover.

What you don't see is The Bad,
the Christmas lights still out--but not on--at the end of February (I'm happy to report that I risked frost bite fingers
to finally un-wire these and put them away).

And then there is The Ugly,
leftovers that haven't been cleaned up since
decorating for a wedding in December.
(My husband and I both laugh and cringe at this sight.)

So why did I choose to post The Bad and The Ugly? Was it to relieve the pangs of hypocrisy? Perhaps. Was it to make you feel better about your real life messes? Possibly. But I think that it was mostly to remind us both that it's okay to look passed the bad and ugly in life to be able to see the good.

Last year we had so many crazy things go wrong in our life that one day my friend asked if I were keeping track of all of our of disasters. I sat down to write a list and decided that instead of writing of the bad things happening to us, I needed to make a list of what was going right. It was that list that helped us make it through the rough waters without totally sinking. We were able to find a balance of good along with the bad. In fact, the more we focused on the good the more there was to see. There is a lot of bad and ugly in this world but there is also so much good. Maybe that's one of the reasons why we like to look at all of the pretty pictures in magazines, catalogs and blogs. They portray a beautiful lifestyle, they give us relief from the ugly around us, they inspire us, and give us hope for something better.
No one has a perfect life. Everyone's life is a combination of good, bad, and ugly. But the more we look for the good and give it the attention it deserves the more we come to see that life really is what we choose to put our focus on.

Walls with Character ~ Anu

Hello my lovelies.... this series of 'in the spot light'... was meant to finish by end of Feb... however, I've got a few more walls to show you... so this will blend into March as well... *smiles*... The intention was also to complete two walls at home before this series ended... .. However, that's now a dream... So when I get it done.. *sigh*... 'when'!!... I'll talk about this later...

Today I'm showing you... Anu's wall... overflowing with character... She blogs at a fleeting glimpse!! ~ Over to Anu!!

Both hubby and I are huge fans of comics, starting with Tintin and Calvin & Hobbes to Frank Miller. So this one wall in our room is pretty much comics all the way! The framed Tintin series is from an old calendar. We cut out the pictures only and had them laminated. Tintin and Asterix postcards are framed. Comics (and some other books) stacked up in the shelf...and there's an Obelix ceramic plate in the shelf on the left.

Now... isn't this fabulous!! Hope all these walls have inspired you to do something in your home... and whenever you do... don't forget to share it with me!! *smiles*

Photographs: My favorite art

Well hello all! Can you believe it’s almost the weekend already? I swear this week has absolutely flown by. I got one project completed this week that I’m really, really happy with. (GLEE!!) And I did most of it with what I had, which is always a bonus in my book. :) When it comes to filling wall space, we don’t have much real art in our home. OK, let me rephrase…we have ZERO real art. :)

Walls with Character ~ Anjum (Kids room)

You've seen the creative Anjum's living room wall... Now check out what she did for her little baby!! Anjum... you totally rock!!

Over to Anjum

We wanted to make Z a different nursery. Not the typical Winnie the Pooh, Mickey/Minnie or Disney Princesses room. Initially we wanted to paint either stripes or polka dots but after some research we discovered wall decals and were fascinated by the ideas! We found a couple of places in Dubai that do decals but they didn't have what we were looking for so we customer ordered all the decals from the US. We chose to have two decals on opposite walls and littler ones around the room.

In-Between Porch Decor and a Winner

It's such an odd time of year, one might call it the "In-Between Season." There are no holidays in sight, it's too cold to decorate for spring, and decorating with the grays and browns of winter has gotten old. To cure the winter blahs that one gets in the in-between season, I pulled out my brightest spray paint colors and some old, very old, thrifted items.
First I gave an old frame and a piece of scrap beadboard a fresh coat of bright orange. Then I painted the legs of a stool with a creamy yellow and finished the top off with gray.The beadboard is now the ideal spicy backdrop for an average woody wreath.Faux ranunculus in a crusty pot resting on a silver tray are appropriate for this time of year. Fun Fact: Ranunculus flowers season is usually from January till May. The flowers look so pretty framed in orange with a bright yellow little bird that seems to be enjoying the scene.Even though the flowers are fake I couldn't resist adding a cheery teal watering can into the vignette, along with an over-sized lantern to shed a little light in the crisp early evenings of this time of year.I now have a bright, delightful, and perfect In-Between Season porch.According to Random Generator, the winner of the Thirty-One Gifts Giveaway is number 35. Hooray Gayle! Gayle is a very talented rug hooker and loooong-time reader of my blog. I'm so excited for her. Giving prizes is always fun but when it's someone I "kindda" know (we've never met in person but I saw her on TV), it makes it even more exciting!
Thank you Diana from Thirty-One Gifts for hosting this giveaway.

Shashi ma'am's magic!!

Do you have a favourite teacher in school??? Do you know someone who could resemble your best teacher ever..... When I saw this post on Vistas of life.... I just couldn't help but reminisce my school days... and my fav teachers....

Introducing Mrs. Shashi Prabah..... She beleives that everything is beautiful... In her early 50s... she is a true mentor... brimming with creativity, energy and enthusiasm!!

The speciality of the art... in her work... is the perfection!! Using natural materials like flour as binding agents, dry leaves, coconut shells, fibre, garlic peels, onion peels, twigs, drift wood..... etc... she creates beauty!! Nothing around her is trash!!

Shashi ma'am has the creativity to transform Cactus into a beautiful peacock, discarded table fans into exotic decor peices.... Anything useless... unwanted... and her magic hands transforms them into masterpeices of craft!!

Do comment... and let Shashi ma'am know... what you think.. I admire her!! And wish her all the best in all her future endeavours...

M’s Bedroom Update

Remember way back when I wrote this post about my daughter’s bedroom? And this one on searching for a bedside table? Well, we did things in stages and I am happy to share a sneak peek with you. There’s still a few things to do yet! (Definitely a case of the shoemaker’s daughter.)

But first, I spent a few hours this weekend spiffing up her dresser. It was her change table/dresser when she was a baby but is still in great shape.



So what colour to paint? Off white to match her side table? Black because it always looks crisp? Or a fun colour taken from her headboard fabric (below)?  Yes, M agreed that the red would be a good choice.





I used Beauti-tone’s  Cranberry,  part of the Style at Home colour collection.  The paint expert at my local Home Hardware, where Beauti-tone is sold exclusively, suggested I use the Trim and Door paint which gives a finish similar to semi-gloss.

That’s her artwork and accessories are from Anthropologie, West Elm and Ikea.

Tips for Painting Pine Furniture Red


1) Prime with a Primer/Sealer like Zinsser BIN as it will seal the knots.

2) Prime again with a primer specifically made for red paints.  I already had some Ralph Lauren primer on hand so I used that.



3) I painted three coats of the Cranberry paint and may do another one still.  After two coats, it was still looking more like a hot pink than red.

And since you have all been so patient with me, here is a sneak peek at her room so far.  But first, the Before:



I originally said I was going to keep her bed but it felt really juvenile so I sold it to my daughter’s friend who loves it!



M loves the headboard that I designed, the West Elm bedding (sheets and quilt) and the peace sign pillow by Rock my Soul that I won.  On another post and when everything is done,  I will reveal all of the sources.

I’m linking up here.

What do you think?

Do you require decorating help?  Contact me at vanessa@vanessafrancis.com.