Decorating with Dina Michele

 I found out my youngest son Nick had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at age 6. When you hear news like this it is earth shattering! The prognosis is bleak. No cure, wheelchair bound by 12 and life expectancy 21. The disease so far has been a true test to all of us.   Fast forward to present day. Nick is 21. He is in a wheelchair and still no cure. On January 2 of this year 2020, he had elective surgery on his colon. Surgery went well and we went home after a 5 day stay in the hospital. The second day home, Nick was in excruciating pain. We immediately head back to the hospital. Did I mention that it is about a two hour drive!  Arrive at the hospital which consisted of 2 emergency surgeries where we almost lost him. 8 surgeries later and an ilestomy bag that helped save his life.  It was just about 2 months staying in the hospital. We had to leave our 2 adult children without their mom, dad and brother. My husband had to go on a family leave with no pay from his job so we could be with our

A new idea for your tiered tray styling.  For me it takes a lot of work to figure out how to style these trays. I think the best way is to have a theme and then rummage through the house like a maniac! (just kidding) Try finding unique items like this Willow Tree figure. Old vintage tea cups and saucers bring in some pink with the addition of books that happen to say Mom in the title.(thanks Joyce Meyers) Try and use repetition of colors for a more cohesive look. I always add some greenery and flowers too.  Now get going!....

 Diy Sheet Music Garland   I wanted to show you how I made this simple garland to drape over the piano Materials  nylon string or twine copies of sheet music  fabric wooden dowel rubber band Basically I started out by finding sheet music images on the internet. Then I printed out 3 copies. I folded each in half and cut with scissors. I took a left over wooden dowel or even a pencil would work and rolled the sheet all the way up and secured with a rubber band. Next, I took an old curtain and cut strips of fabric. You can use anything that you have around the house. Tea towels work great!  Now, take your twine and measure out how much you need to hang across where you are placing it. I literally used masking tape and taped it down on my runner on top of the piano. I took the one end of twine and slid it through the rubber band of the rolled sheet music and evenly spaced out. In the empty space add the strips of fabric. You could tie it

   

 This traditional style hutch was here when we bought our house. It originally had a mirrored back.  At first, this didn’t bother me too much until Pinterest happened. It seemed like everyone was chalk painting their hutches. I didn’t want to change the whole look, but I did want to get rid of the dated mirrored back. So what do you think I did? Chalkboard paint baby!  This small investment in an $11.00 paint was worth a shot. It was scary at the first coat of paint because it looked like it wasn’t going to work. I decided to press on. Guess what? It worked! I will take at least 3 coats of paint.  The next step was to take the glass out of the doors so I could view the decorations better.  Here are a few close up photos of my decor.

I have a white bi-fold  door in my kitchen that is screaming for a change! I wanted to do something different but  I wasn’t sure exactly what? I had some black chalkboard paint on hand so that will do. When I begin a project I never really plan it out, and sometimes it works out.  I just begin with a foam sponge and start in the corners then back through each slat. After this was done, I started to sand in spots to give it a distressed look. Now it looks okay but not really the worn look I was hoping for. I had some light grey acrylic craft paint. I started to go over each slat again. This gave it a softer color. I went back and sanded in random spots.  Sometimes just painting a door can be the key to creating something dramatic. BEFORE WITH CHALKBOARD PAINT AND SANDING AFTER WITH GREY PAINT AND SANDED                                                                                                                                   I hope this inspi