Cottage Starfish Dresser

This is one of my newest pieces just completed. For sale at Maximus located in Old Saybrook, CT.

Design by Lab & Hound: Chic Shore Decor
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Lab and Hound

Well, a few years ago I started this blog as a reflection of what my husband and I have done to our home. We certainly will continue this process.... actually, as I write, I can hear my husband using some sort of power tool in the kitchen.

Besides updating a tired 80 year old home, my time over the past year has been spent starting a small side business. I have always had a love for design and antiques and combining them in an interesting... mostly into something entirely new.

I have gone from starting my own Etsy shop to owning my own little space in a Antique and Home Decor store located on a busy Main Street. I am proud of the goals I have set for myself over the past year and I have bigger ambitions for my little business.... but, one step at a time. I just simply wanted to share a post about my business and I hope you enjoy my art and work!

Most importantly please visit me at: Lab and Hound to follow some creations from beginning to end before they end up in the store!

Creative Ornament!

Happy warm holiday wishes from my house to yours! This is a very creative way to re-use all those extra wedding invitations you may have laying around. My husband and I have been cleaning out some crawl space in the future nursery and I came across some extra invitations. Caving to my husbands pressure of calling me a hoarder, I actually threw them out... then I panicked and went back into the garbage and pulled them out!! I am happy to say I found a use for them!!

My wedding invitations had a star fish and ribbon attached as well... so I incorporated that into the up-cycled ornament. But, there are endless ways to use your wedding day. Be creative!

Unless you have these hanging around... head to Michael's or Jo-Ann Fabric's for these great plastic ornaments (ask where they are located in the store, you will never find them!!). Happily, I spent less than $1 on them! I was worried that the plastic was going to be too cloudy... but they were perfectly clear! This also extends the life of the ornament in my opinion!

This is what it looks like put together, very easy assembly... haha.

Next, I dug out my wedding invitation and dissembled it, ribbon and starfish included! 

Next, I threw some glitter on the star fish. Look at a previous blog post on this process. Yes, there is a particular way to stick the glitter on and make it stay!

Next, cut up your invitation (tear drop). I did smaller strips and only used the pieces. I was careful to make sure the strip had all the writing on it... basically, cut your invitation up line by line. The most important part to this process is that you still want to read it while in the ornament! Also, I cut up the guest response card, but only the "accept with pleasure" and put that in the ornament as well.

Take a pen or pencil, wrap the invitation strip tightly around it so it curls. Card-stock invitations will work best for this project.

Next, the plastic ornament comes in two pieces so arrange your pieces how you want then close. I used a little Krazy glue on the seem of the ornament to keep it shut for many years to come!

 I ended up liking the plastic the best, because with glass I wouldn't be able to arrange the pieces how I want them to be. There is a loop located at the top of the ornament so I attached the ribbon and hot glued the starfish in place. I attached some clear thread to the top.

 My ornament quickly found a spot on tree! I keep picking it up and looking at it and reading the bits of writing. I love it!!

Lastly, if you don't have ribbon from your wedding, you can use white tulle, Walmart does carry it (ribbon aisle). Also, you could use your wedding colors with ribbon... the options are really endless! I actually have some orchids from my bridal arrangement that I want to somehow use for maybe another ornament project. Whatever the idea, have fun creating!!

Reinvent with Vintage Photo's

I love the old character of homes. I think being able to balance old and new can be very difficult, but well worth it. My house has a "beachy" feel to it but I wanted to incorporate a sense of vintage beach into our home as well. I want to honor this 83 year old house! So... I thought the wall above our coat hangers seemed empty.... and this is how it all started.

I've always wanted to have a picture of our home from 1929 displayed somewhere but with some searching, I couldn't turn anything up. So, I got the idea to use old beachy black and white photo's instead. I went onto www.etsy.com and searched "vintage beach photo's". I was able to find TONS of them and for a good cost (some under $5.00!). I had to make sure the measurements where all the same or close (which was challenging) and I wanted originals (which was also very challenging, most are copies or prints). It can take some time to find what you are looking for.

Once I got my three photo's I bought three identical white frames. I then recruited my husband once again to do the hanging (love you!). Tah-dah! I was all done. Sorry the pictures are not super clear!

This reminds me of a beach in Maine, rocky beaches up North.

This looks just like the Old Saybrook lighthouse coming out into The Sound.

This looks like Hampton Beach or Ogunquit 

All together now....

I've just noticed you can tell a lot about me just by what is hanging! My riding helmet, bags of books, lots of dog leashes AND ready for rain!

There are some other projects I am working on... so more to come!

Some Changes With a Little Paint and Sweat...

My husband and I have been very busy with both of our jobs and me finishing my graduate school work. With one more class to go and all my work completed, today I finally had time to go outside and garden. I wish I had taken before pictures of our overgrown gardens, but I think you will get the idea!

These are the daisies that I thought would look so 'wonderful' in the front garden... but, my husband was right, they needed to go...

Now just the hydrangea and some drift wood sits in the garden... no cost spent here.

Now I need to show the amount of work has been put into the front of the house... with very little cost. This is the picture of the house when we first looked at it... we didn't even own it yet.

This was when I came home with a can of solid stain for my husband to try on the house. He ended up painting the entire front of the house with it. This sparked a new project of ripping out trees, sanding the house and painting it. We still have one more side to do!

 This is the front of the house now with the shrubs taken out, a freshly painted door (as seen on a trip to block island) and new paint on the house. We bought some more hydrangea which we planted in the front of the house (you can see two out of the four have flowered, very small). So in a few years will have some nice bushes filled in.

This was all a more cost effective way to make your house look nicer with of course some blisters. We still have more work to do on the front such as new steps and front light. But... we continue to move forward on our projects!!

Increased square footage

On a recent visit to Maine, my husband and I were relaxing one night chatting about various things. Of course, we started talking about our house and the renovations. We have been going back and forth about our "third bedroom" in the house. Right now it is used as an office, but we are turning into the sole purpose of another bedroom. The room being tiny already, we decided to steal space from the closet and make the bedroom bigger. There will still be a closet off to the side in the room, which is perfect. We also have room in another location in our house where our linen closet can go.

Finding places to store "things" can be challenging!!

Eric begins to take down the doors, etc.

I want to help... drew a little picture first.

Sooo much fun!!

Getting closer...

The new closet, the very last bit of yellow carpet is ready to come out!

That's a crawl space in the back. We are going to put a door over the open space, as well shelving for our books. We envision this space as a mini library. Hardwood floors getting put down in the "library".

This is picture driving the vision. I know the sizing is not the same, but at least you can get the idea! This is a closet turned library as well.

SO, we took away storage space from one location, but adding it to another place. Lesson learned? Be creative with the space in your house!!

Get some more great idea's here