This is my kitchen before I painted it..... The cupboards are a medium oak color and some of the cupboards were already painted black. It was very dark and dreary.


To lighten up the room ..I decided to paint all the Oak sections white as well as the kitchen island and it turned out fabulous! I love it so much. It is amazing what a little elbow grease and paint can do. This photo shows a different angle of the kitchen
If you enlarge this photo you will be able to see where I roughed up the edges of the black cupboards to make them look a little worn and more cottage like.
We would love to hear from any of you that have done this to your kitchen or another room in the house that was transformed with paint! Email us at admin@thestylesisters.net and send pictures too!!

Didn't my sister do a great job on her re-do craft room?? So I have a craft room too, only it is super duper skinny and it's also my laundry room. So I have put up many shelves to hold all of my "stuff". But some containers that I can't live without are these silver beauties from one of my fav places, IKEA! They are super cheap but yet so cute to have on display! I also got their magazine holders which work great for mags or for paper! I also use many baskets of all shapes and sizes to hold things. I love to organize! Sometimes my family thinks I am a little freakish because I am always trying to organize something!! But it makes me feel so good when it's done! Have a great night and remember to check back with us daily for fun new ideas!! Have a wonderful day! ~Tiffany

I always wanted a room where I could spread out all my sewing/craft stuff when working on a project and not have to worry about getting it all cleaned up before dinner. My sewing room almost always encompassed the kitchen or dinning room table. I feel very fortunate to have this nice room now.... with a large window where I not only sew.... but scrapbook (if the mood strikes me), wrap gifts, have storage for my tons of magazines and all my crafting/sewing supplies.

Recently I decided to organize it and here are my before and after photos.

Came across this fun blog that has tons and tons of creative blogs on it. If you get a chance take a peek but make sure you come back and see what else we have done here at The Style Sisters.

Once again my favorite white paper lanterns used in another fun way this time from Martha Stewart's website: Let a flock of colorful paper butterflies loose, and you'll instantly give party decorations a lift. Trace the template onto a folded piece of paper, cut out the shape, and unfold the wings. (For different sizes, photocopy the template, reducing or enlarging the image.) Attach some to paper lanterns with tape or glue dots (sold by the roll at crafts stores), then fold the wings upward for true-to-life flutter form.

We have put a new thing on our blog called snap shots. It allows you to view certain links on our site without having to actually go to the internet. We aren't sure if we want to keep it on our site. Let us know if you like it or if it bothers you. You can click on the top right corner of any of the windows when it pops up to stop it while you are viewing our blog if you prefer.

Also we will be sending out our first newsletter by April 1st so be watching for it in your inbox soon! For those of you who haven't signed up yet....there is a link to sign up for it on the right hand side of this blog.

Feel free to comment on any of our stories or photos listed here on our blog or on any of our other blogs. http://www.beyondthetable.blogspot.com/ http://www.capturelife-karin.blogspot.com/ and our two newest blogs.....http://www.thechildrensnest.blogspot.com/ http://www.flydaddyo.blogspot.com/ (for world travelers)

Looking forward to tomorrow where we will bring you new fun and exciting things on all our blogs!!
Karin and Tiffany

Here is a cheap way to hold all of your wrapping paper... I used shelf brackets that had large dowel holders on them. I then took twine and wrapped it around several rolls of wrapping paper and then tied the twine to the dowel! You can then slip the roll that you need out of the twine. It's great because it gets the paper off of your floor and up where you can see what you have!

Here is an easy cake for Easter or any time. Yellow cake mix baked in round cake pans. Once baked and cooled, cut each round in half. Place one layer of cake on platter or cake stand and spread a mixture of white chocolate pudding and real whipping cream that has been whipped together. Add sliced berried on top of white chocolate pudding/whipping cream layer and repeat untill all layers have been covered in the pudding whippped cream mixture. On the top layer just spread whipped cream that has already been sweetened with vanilla and powdered sugar. Decorate the top with sliced berries and add some green leaves or small purple johnny jump up flowers. It was a smash hit at our large Easter family gathering, in fact we made two!!

I just love using black and white plates because they are so versatile! Tonight I used my black and white dishes that have black words all around the edges with some beautiful black and white toile salad plates (that the hubs bought me for Valentines day..Yea he is amazing!) then I set them all a top a very large yellow plate that used as a charger. I have all the plates sitting upon a textured dark dark brown placemat and it really looks nice. I experimented a little bit with a few other ideas as you can see in the photos.
I just love using large white napkins rolled up and pushed through a cute napkin ring holder. This one is made of metal and has silverware criss-crossed..soo cute! In this photo I used some lime green salad plates that I bought last year at the after Christmas sales from Pier 1 imports! I really love to play with fun colors and different glasses. Here I used a plain glass water goblet.
Here is our dinner table all set ready to go. Check out my other blog at http://www.beyondthetable.blogspot.com/

Country Home Magazine March 2008

You work hard. Your home office should, too. Put your desk in order with these projects from Sue Whitney and Ki Nassauer of JunkMarket.ALL BOTTLED UPForget jams and jellies. Old canning jars are a perfect place to stash paint chips, rubber bands, scissors, and more.
Drill through metal hose clamps bought at a hardware store, then attach them with screws to old pieces of decorative wood molding. (Use two screws per clamp so that they won’t twist.) Mount boards to the wall with additional screws. Attach vintage canning jars ($1 to $5) tightly with the clamps; hang some right side up and some upside down. To make it easy to snip a piece of twine or gift-wrap ribbon, punch a hole through a lid, then pull the material through. Be careful, though: If your vintage lid has a glass insert, remove the glass before aiming a drill or metal punch at it.

As I was looking at creative people's blogs the other day I happened to come across a fun one that showed how to make your own cake plate:(http://armellejewelry.blogspot.com/2007/03/make-your-own-cake-stand.html) I thought it looked so easy so I tried it and here it is!! This is the easiest project I have ever done! It took about 1 minute. All you do is go and find a clear glass plate or really any kind of plate you want and a dessert cup or vase that kind of goes with the plate. I found mine at the thrift store for a total of 2 bucks! I then went to Home Depot and found CLEAR caulking (in the paint section). All you do is squeeze some caulk onto the bottom of the dessert cup and adhere that to the underside of the plate (wipe any excess caulk off with a damp paper towel) and let it sit for about 24 hours. Mine seems to be holding just fine and it is beautiful!! Can't wait to put some gorgeous Easter eggs on it! By the way, this would make a beautiful handcrafted wedding gift!!

If you are ever in the North Dallas, Texas area there is a great little town called "Old" McKinney. It is more than just tea rooms and antiques, think mod home furnishings, quirky collections, and a vibrant art scene. One of our favorite shops is called "The French Mix" and as you can see by the photos....it will definitely make you feel like you are somewhere in Paris! They carry all kinds of unique items as well as a beautiful line of french furniture. We have highlighted them on the home page of our website at http://www.thestylesisters.net/ but it is more fun to go in person! Plan to shop at this and many other unique and fun boutiques plus dine at some amazing little restaurants. We will be highlighting more places from Old McKinney soon so keep checking back either here on our blog or on our website at http://www.thestylesisters.net/ Don't forget to sign up for our upcoming monthly Style Sister newsletter that will be filled with all kinds of fun tips and more DIY ideas! Let us know what you think of our website and things on the blog that you like!

Over the summer my oldest daughter got married and we decided that to save money we would do the whole reception ourselves (along with the help from lots of family members!!) It was quite a task to undertake....especially because I don't live by my daughter or the rest of the family but..... if there is a will, there is always a way! We spent many hours on phone planning, budgeting, researching all kinds of websites as well as purchasing quite a few magazines and books for ideas too. We came up with the idea of having a french outdoor reception...well unfortunately in the area of the country where the wedding was going to held .........August is just too dang hot for an outdoor reception so we had to move it indoors into a lovely little reception hall. It was a magical day and everything turned out perfect!
In the photos below you will see how we used white paper lanterns to make a really festive fun atmosphere. We bought them from http://www.asianlantern.com/ and we hung them them from strands of white lights all across the ceiling from wall to wall. (or should I say my awesome nephew did! He climbed up big tall ladders and hooked them onto suction cups for us !!) It turned out spectacular!

Later this week we will have lots more details from this wedding on our website at http://www.thestylesisters.net/ Including what we served, table decor and more! With lots more photos!

A couple of months later....... Halloween came around and I figured out a way to use the white paper lanterns decorated as ghosts and hung them in front of our house for decoration and then once again at a Halloween church teen dance. They kept on eye on everyone at the food table!









Then, recently we hosted an Asian Dinner at our house. We used three lanterns and spray painted one of the paper lanterns red and hung them from the ceiling......it really had an impact. You can see more details at our website.

And this just a few ideas of what you can do with Asian Paper Lanterns!!

Please share with us any ideas that you have used with the paper lanterns.

We hope all of you, our "REAL PEOPLE" friends will want to share your ideas and thoughts here on our blog. We can learn from one another as we all share our ideas, tips and motivation on how to enjoy "Everyday Life" in fun and creative ways! Looking forward to hearing from each you soon.

The Style Sisters :)

Do your children give you tons and tons of artwork and you don't know where to put it?? How about framing it! I have four children and they all LOVE to draw but my collection of their artwork was growing and growing. So together we picked out our favorites and I decided to do a collage of their pictures in our entryway! If you dont have black frames or the color that you want just go the the nearest thrift shop and buy cheap wooden frames and spray paint them the color you want!! Half of the frames in this picture were spray painted black. I love how it turned out and the kids get complimented on their art by friends and family! Have fun doing this in their bedrooms, kitchen, toy room, etc...

REAL!! REAL LIFE.....That is what we are talking about today. We have all seen the beautiful layouts in magazines and books with photos of spectacular homes that look like no one lives there! You know what I mean....nothing out of place, all the furniture looks new and never been sat in, beautiful fabrics are used throughout the home including the kitchen chairs (where four year olds sit!!) and bathrooms (again where toddlers like to play in the sink and make messes) !! There is never one piece of paper laying on a counter or a desk, never any pencil drawn on the walls, never a sticky lollipop found on the perfectly made bed! HELLO!!! who has a home like that? (Oh I know who does....the plastic people with all the newly acquired fake parts, injected skin and chemicalized insides, you know the ones....with maids and nanny's) We, THE REAL PEOPLE, have real homes where people live everyday lives dealing with such imperfections like.... dishes on the counter, clothes laying on the floor that someone forgot to hang up, papers on the desk...on the counter.....on the fridge....etc... Sound familiar? The REAL PEOPLE have lots of laugh lines (a.k.a. wrinkles), our plastic parts are in the kitchen or garage and we usually can be seen with lots of little children running around the town or with a cleaning rag in one hand and the cell phone in the other! We at The Style Sisters are REAL PEOPLE living REAL LIVES.... Sure..... we want our homes to be beautiful, hip, comfortable, warm, places to come home to at the end of the day....We want what we call the "cuteness factor going on" but we usually have very small or no budgets to get it that way....so we end up using our inventive resourcefulness and come up with ways to be creative by spending little or no money to get that "cuteness factor going on"! We will be sharing many of our ideas, tips and patterns here on our blog and on our website at http://www.thestylesisters.net/ along with all the things that really motivate us...like fabulous books, magazines, home decor and items that are unique and fun. Plus we will also share with you some really cool shops as we go out and about in our towns and different places from all over the world (yes....me the one who hates to fly will be getting in airplanes traveling the world over looking for amazing shops and trinkets that have the "cuteness factor going on" and sharing it with all of you!) Sheesh....The things I do for all of my "REAL PEOPLE" friends out there on the web! Any way that is about all for now...hope you enjoy your day and remember to CELEBRATE EVERYDAY LIFE by BEING REAL!!

I really have enjoyed Susie Coelho's Everyday Styling book. Susie comes up with such creative do it yourself ideas! This particular photo is from a blue babyshower and she used blue tulle to drape over some poles that you stick in the ground to make a canopy. The book gives great instructions and many photos of how to do it and then the final look of the project. It really motivates me when I can see how to create something fabulous for very little moolah!

This is a fantastic site to check out. Great ideas and tips. http://www.hostesswiththemostess.com/

Well Pink is how they started out!! I found 6 chairs one day at a local thrift store. They were priced at $4.00 each!! Oh Yeah....I was freaking out to say the least. I could see the potential. I brought them home and immediately took the seat covers off of them and started sanding them. I ran to Home Depot and bought some black spray paint and got them all painted before the Hub's came home from work. He was impressed! Then I simply got out my handy dandy staple gun and recovered the chair pads with some adorable fabric that has Red, Black, Yellow, Green and even some dark blue color in it. So perfect to cover up spills and stains. Voila! In one day I completed all six chairs and they turned out amazing! One fun tip....I used car wax and waxed the chairs and buffed them to give them a nice patina.