No round of a-paws needed

Ok cheesy title... so sue me!

By a show of paws... who hates their cat bed?

If you're a pet owner with no kids then your pets turn into your kids.. am I right? Fur babies. They are so spoiled and they totally know it. It's sad when you're parents ask you how their grand-cats are.

Since I've been spending so much time making the human parts of the house look nice, the kitties were a little neglected. Time to spoil them some more. We have the cat beds that you can get at pet stores but they get so dirty and covered in hair SO quickly. They aren't attractive when they look like another cat! I was poking around Ikea Hackers, some people that had taken doll beds and other kinds of random ikea pieces and turned them into pet bedding. I found the doll bed at Ikea that I knew I could turn into a one of a kind, special resting spot for my boys.

The bed came with bedding for a doll, it was pretty thin. I wanted some pretty fluffy stuff for my pretty fluffy cat. I bought a cheap pillow insert at Ikea for a couple euro. The Fjadrar inner (silly swedes) in 16x24. I bought some fabric in the same pattern that I made our throw pillows out of for the couch. It, too, was from Ikea. God! I love this store! The material is Sofia, in case you are wondering.

I made a quick little envelope style pillow case. This way I can remove it and toss it in the laundry. The pillow fits perfectly!

Our living room has black wood furniture--- this was a job for spray paint! I went down to the local Leroy Merlin (it's like the Italian version of Home Depot or Lowes) and picked up a can of black paint for a couple euro. A couple coats later and it looks like I spent a million dollars at one of those hoity-toity pet boutiques!

Being that we lost our scratching post in the move.. I also wanted to make the bed double as a scratching post. Our NEX had sisal rope for $1.97.. SCORE! Little bit of hot glue and we are good to go!

Isn't it sweet?!?! We also put some of those furniture stick on pads to the bottom of the posts. This way the bed can move around without screeching.

Captain loves it, Beemer won't go near it-- I figured as much. He's a bit of a drama queen. Once the other cat touches it, he doesn't want anything to do with it. lol.

Our resident sleep expert gives it a snooze of approval. :) 

5 paw rating!

** EDIT **

I added a vinyl from Uppercase Living

Dinner on the fly... no fly on the dinner!

I was at a loss when it came to making dinner tonight. I thawed out some boneless skinless chicken, but like a lot of things I've tackled lately, its a blank slate.

Earlier this week, some girlfriends of mine and myself found this middle eastern "fast" food place in downtown Catania. I ordered a chicken tikka wrap, it was pretty darn good! I remembered that and attempted to make it tonight. For a second I was drawing blanks but then I remembered that a couple weeks ago I bought this spice mix in the grocery store. Thank you McCormick!! Luckily I had everything I needed... SCORE! I was so excited that I wanted to share this endeavor with you all. These spice blends are so flippin' sweet. Every spice needed to accomplish the recipe is pre-measured and the recipe card is on the back of the package. GENIUS!

I had already thawed out the chicken. Just needed to juice a lemon, which I actually had on hand!

Chicken Tikka Masala

*according to McCormick, by all means make this if you have the ingredients on hand.

2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (added for taste- optional)
2 tbsp Butter
1 1/2 lbs Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice-- fresh if possible!
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt the butter in a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add your chicken, the onion and the lemon juice. Cook the chicken til its no longer pink, about 10 min. Add all the spices, except the red peppers. Cook for about a min.

2. Stir in the tomatoes.

3. Mix the heavy cream with the cornstarch and salt til smooth. Pour into the chicken and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 min, constantly stirring.

4. Serve with rice, naan bread, couscous, or in a wrap like I did with romaine lettuce.

DIY Inspirations --- oui?

Cleaning out the bathroom, I realized that I have no where to hang my necklaces. I was gonna just get some sort of rack or necklace stand but nothing strikes me as unique. I was being sucked into etsy last night and I came across this... It's part message board part jewelry holder. I thought.. omg I can totally make this. Oui? This might just be in my list of projects.


I really wanted to start working on my dining room but I'm kind of at a standstill financially with it. I found someone that can duplicate the Pottery Barn buffet for $300. That is a hell of a lot better than $1500!!! The Ikea one would've costed me almost $300 with the conversion from Euro to USD going the way it is now. So, if I can set aside that money, then I will have him make it. Once I can get that project going then I will feel a little better about my dining room. As of right now it looks like a hot mess.

With thoughts of my dining room simmering on the back burner... I have started on the bedroom. I've been on a bit of a Parisienne kick lately. I found this fabric on ebay ^ & I fell in love, but not for $229 (8.5 yards). I trolled etsy again and found someone selling 2 yards for $45. That I can do, I don't need much. Remember that chair project? Thats the fabric I was thinking of doing the cushion in.

(<< West Elm)
We have been on the look out for new bedding for a little while now. I came across some white bedding at West Elm for a decent price. I had my eye on it for quite some time and went back and forth on the colors. I finally went to buy it and with my luck it was sold out and on back order til November. UGH! I googled it to see if anyone had anything to say about it. It seemed that the consensus was that it had a low thread count and didn't hold up with washings. I thought "ok, can we make this?"... "si se puede!"
I stumbled upon another DIY lady with the same mentality and I followed her almost to the T. I found 2 flat white sheets at Ikea for a heck of a lot cheaper.

My changes to the design were:
1) I made the twisted "pleats" on the "wrong side of the fabric" so that I didn't have the fabric nubs hanging on the top of the sheet when I sew it together and flip it right side out.

2)Instead of alternating the pleats... i did every corner of the grid.
(mine >>)

West Elm $119
Shipping    $21
TOTAL     $140

Ikea €11,50 x 2 = $32 
yeah.. I think I win here.


It is on my bed now but not 100% finished. I am in between making ties to close it or using buttons. I had a duvet that we were gonna toss anyway so I cut the buttons off of it to recycle them... but I might just use charcoal colored satin ribbon and make ties like pictured here.

I really like the Pottery Barn: The All White Bed series. I am currently on the hunt for all kinds of pillows. I want all white bedding but I plan on bringing in the Parisienne feeling with the fabric mentioned above in the form of the dressing chair and some throw pillows. I started to make a pillow with some natural colored linen but I ran out of fabric and Ikea is currently out as well. UGH. I had enough fabric to make 3 flowers... I did make a table runner out of the same fabric but I'm not married to it and don't mind cutting it up to finish the pillow. A friend of mine has an embroidery machine and has kindly offered to embroider a "D" on it for me. I will hold off the flower making til the embroidering is finished. Not too shabby eh? I need to figure out how to make other types of flowers. Although, I do love those rosettes AND they were really easy to make. I think I'm gonna try them again on a headband :)

I hope to start the chair next week.. I have a relay for life event this weekend so I won't be doing much DIY til next week. But I do hear the whispers of a Union Jack pillow -- this might happen this weekend. Dunno where I'm gonna put it but I'm totally gonna make one :).

A chair by any other name....

I introduce you to the Ikea Ivar chair... my new blank slate.


It could be anything. I need your help! Help me give it a personality.


<< Here someone stained it and then wrapped the rungs in sisal rope, I dooo love my sisal rope!


Not having a dresser has left our bedroom looking like Old Navy during a Black Friday Sale. It's very stressful waking up in a room that I am constantly hating. But its coming together, slowly. My husband always hangs things on the footboard, which then fall to the ground because the footboard is not meant for things to hang on it. SO.. I thought I should get something for him to be able to sit on to put socks and shoes on, or hang his military uniform on. In comes the chair.

Personally I would really really really like the Josette Chair in Frenchy from Pier 1, but I can't get to one any time soon and they don't ship any more. (insert choice phrases here)

<< Oohhh!!! Ahhhh!! just look at it!! GAH! love.

I was thinking I could paint or stain the Ivar chair in black but Ikea was out. I saw that they had white but it looked like a pointless color as it left a slight frost to the wood.. ehhh. I can always get paint.

**While I'm at it-- who the freak puts all the stain in a corner unit so that when you're searching for a specific color you have to reach CLEAR in the back of a corner? Also.. it was completely unorganized! Random colors all over the place!**

Flipping through a catalog for Uppercase Living, I saw a chair I immediately fell in love with. It looks like they upholstered the seat with a burlap, canvas or a linen and then stenciled numbers on to it. I could do our anniversary date (079). Wouldn't that be cute for our bedroom? I just love the way that looks, not to mention that freaking awesome mirror above the fireplace!

I did see a black chair at Ikea for about the same price but they were sold out. Go figure. I was hoping that would save me some time in the painting department. Oh well, I can always make the first chair and use it in my entryway as a place to put your shoes on. The ideas are a-plenty!

Challenge : Delightful Dining Room

This post is aptly named.

When my husband and I got married, we didn't have any furniture to our names really. He lived in the military barracks and I just left my parents house. Over time we've slowly been purchasing random items and pieces of furniture but its never been something that matches. Now that we've moved into a decent sized house we are realizing that what we have is not enough. This house is the biggest house we have lived in and the small amount of furniture isn't cutting it.

I've been kind of a DIY nut lately and Ikea has been my best friend. In a previous post I talked about duplicating Pottery Barn ideas for a lot less money and this is what I'm hoping to accomplish in the dining room.

I want something rustic. Something that gives my dining room kind of an airy feeling. I love this buffet table but I can't pull $1500 out of my back pocket. I'm trying to save up to go to London!

Poking around I did see something similar in style. It's not exact by any means, but its close and comfortably priced at less than 200 euro. (Man I miss craigslist!) This one is at Ikea and like the PB one, it offers the drawers and the shelving for storage as well as being similar in color. I wonder if the shelves are adjustable? This will probably be our next major purchase.

I've started bringing some natural elements into the room, already, in the form of canvas chair covers (I found the tutorial from Hammers & High Heels this girl's blog is amazing!). I used canvas painters drop cloth from Lowes (mail order cause there is no Lowes here). I needed one drop cloth per chair, at around $15 a chair you can't beat it. $15 x 4 = $60 whereas PB similar one is $50 for one chair!

I hung some gauzy cream colored curtains and found this awesome bowl made of banana leaves for 10 euro at, of course, Ikea; as well as these pails that reminded me of dairy farms. I love them!! I put the tall one in the bathroom and I hope to put a bunch of dried lavender in it-- but the bathroom is for another post. The big one I think will look nice on the buffet. I also picked up a smaller galvanized bucket for napkin storage.

This room is most definitely a work in progress. I would love to get some sort of bar area to store our liquor bottles in and maybe some shelving units. The buffet is just one wall! Initially I wanted to hang a mirror horizontally over the buffet but I'm not sold on it. The wine rack was a great idea (high 5 PB!)-- I also like the idea of chalkboards or even a grouping of nice pottery.

I'm just gonna throw up some ideas here:

Love the simplicity of this set up. The glass definitely makes it feel really airy and is a substantial decorative piece, but it doesn't block the view from the window. I can easily find olive leaves here.. hello.. I'm in Italy! And of course.. look at that basket! UGH I love baskets!







This one is a little dark for my liking, but I wanted to point out the needle.. or obelisk or whatever that thing is.. it brings height to the table. The grapes are a neat idea as well. That barstool on the side of the buffet is a great little design piece.

Now this... I like!! How can I copy this!

Hmmmm ok.. off to brainstorm!

Starting on the entryway!

I've been thinking about how to make our entryway a little more appealing. Its been like a suck hole for all my ideas. I need some sort of area for my husband to dump his crap daily treasures that always end up scattered all over the living room.

The area isn't very big and is more like the the fork in the road at the end of a hallway. Completely uninspiring and white. Not even ivory... WHITE. Some people look at an empty white room and think "blank canvas". I look at this space and think its the Bermuda Triangle for shoes, keys, wallets, purses, miscellaneous mail, etc. I need some sort of solution that was not only nice to look at but functional too.

I walked around Ikea and I found some hooks sold individually for just a couple euro. I have the matching row of hooks in my kitchen for all my aprons. I really like the rustic look of it, the metal is kinda beat up looking. Since the entryway has a walkthrough to the kitchen, I thought it was a subtle tie in.

Hanging the hooks all by themselves seemed a little dry to me. I had to come up with something different. I remembered that I had some old black wooden frames that I've used so many times they were all worn out. The little clips that hold the cardboard backing have all fallen off or gotten really weak. So I removed the backing and mounted it to the wall with the hooks inside. I think it turned out pretty dang cute.

During the same trip to Ikea, I came across a plant stand in the gardening section. I probably should've gotten it in black since I hung the black frames. But for now white will suffice. I can always get a can of spray paint-- and I just might. (Opinions??) This table sits underneath the hooks, I would like to get a basket to sit next to it to collect shoes.

Eventually we will start working on our hallway. My husband and I came across these shoe racks from the Hemnes line at Ikea. This exact set up would almost fit in my hallway if the contractors that built this house didn't hang control panels and smoke detectors all over the wall! It looks like they were throwing dice! I love that mirror but I don't think I could manage it. But, I will not be defeated! i will figure something out.

Now onto finding a catch all tray of some sort, or a bowl. I'm open to suggestions. This might be a new project in itself. I'm sensing this might be a job for something decoupaged? The creative wheels have already started spinning.

I currently have 2 framed mirrors with hooks hanging asymmetrically on the opposite wall-- those are going to come down. I need a replacement... maybe a mirror or a chalkboard.

I have some research to do!

Pottery Barn Fake Out!

Alright, its time to start blogging the ongoing decorating of the house.

Living in military housing has always been a pain convenience, but I have to say it... these houses have no personality. I could paint, but why? I'm only going to be in this house for 4 years. Paint is expensive on the Italian economy and my time is a price I'm not willing to pay. So I am finding different ways of bringing life to these white rooms. It's not an easy, or cheap, task. I love to drool over websites like Pottery Barn, but let's face it... I can't afford most of their things. I have this trick-- show me a website and I will tell you, without looking at the price, which is the most expensive item.... because thats the one item I like. Why me.

I've found that if I troll Pottery Barn (PB) and really look at their staging in the photos... I can inexpensively copy the same ideas. Take this for example...

I have an obsession with lanterns. Big ones, small ones, metal ones, vintage ones, rusty ones...
you get the idea. Every time I look at PB, I find one I just get giddy over.. then I see the retail price. ughhhhhh..

< These are the PB Mercado lanterns... these retail at up to $94 (for the big one) ON SALE... yikes. Not to mention that there is NO PB in Italy and I would need to also pay for shipping. No, thank you. On top of that, they wanted $16 for a couple of shells!! Insanity! I can do better than that!

I love the nautical theme but I just can't bring myself to spend that much money. So I trolled the local Ikea to see what I could find.

Say "hello" to Borrby... he was only €6,99 ($7.99 in the states). He also comes in black, but I bought silver because I have a black coffee table and I wanted him to stand out.

Lantern (ikea): $10*
Candle (ikea): $2.86*
Rope (NEX): $1.70
Shells: free collected over time
Starfish (eBay): $1 each (2 shown in lantern)
Project Total: $16.56

How do you like them apples, eh PB?

*converted prices from euro rate





Duplicating this look wasn't hard and I can show you how I did it.

What you will need:


Hot glue gun (and glue)
about 2-3 ft of rope, depending on your candle size
scissors
various shells (or rocks)
a candle
a lantern

I don't have a tutorial created for this but I know you're a smart cookie!

At the base of the candle secure the end of the rope with hot glue. Then, wrap the rope around the base of the candle twice, at this point you have creative freedom to wrap it as many times as you want. Secure the other end with hot glue as well, cut off any excess. Then place your candle in the lantern and surround with shells... make sure you look all the way around your lantern. You want it pleasing from all sides. That's it guys and dolls.. super simple and inexpensive!

Try it yourselves. DIY is fun!