When I Was Your Age

Hats Off To This Mirror

Spruce up an old mirror. This one went from blah to beautiful with a little paint, less-than-perfect vintage flowers from an old hat and craft store birds. Vintage

flower hats are found in most flea markets and lots of antique shops. Some of the flowers are in a little crushed from age but useful, nonetheless. Remove them from the hat and spruce them up by holding them over the steam of a tea kettle (careful not to burn your fingers!). They should pouf back. Use your glue gun to attached the flowers to mirror frame (if you can find Wood Glue sticks, all the better). Insert/glue craft store birds or other items in between flowers. If you can't find vintage flower hats, you can always go to your local craft store, grab an inexpensive pre-made bouquet, pull the flowers off and glue. E-mail us your own version.

Stop and Smell the Roses

It's spring and all of us who have hibernated for the winter are now out and about. Front and backyards are being raked, seeded and weeded. And planted.

Climbing roses are so special and so easy. One planting can be nothing short of a show stopper.

We're not talking about just any climbing rose. We're talking about antique climbing roses. Not the kind you generally find at the nursery or your local Home Depot. Antique roses are roses that have been around for generations that are bred to withstand drought, bugs and other garden challenges. Our favorite place to buy climbers is the Antique Rose Emporium in Texas (http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/)

Planting and maintaining these beautiful roses are really so easy and the result is nothing short of spectacular. We've had climbing roses grace every sunny spot in every home we've ever owned.

Roses can be ordered either bare root or potted. The potted is super easy. Decide where you want your climber to grow. Give it a space where there's at least 6 hours of sun, good drainage and room to grow UP and OUT. The only thing you'll have to do is make sure you have some plan in mind as to where the growing branches can find a home. A trellis of some sort is your best bet. Make sure you put up enough trellises. Don't buy just one of those measly trellises from your local home improvement store. One small rose plant will completely overwhelm it. Buy at least 3. Screw them into place. A climbing rose will not twine around a trellis on its own. You'll need to tie them to your support system.

Once the trellis system is up, dig your hole, mix in some compost, plant your rose, water and wait. That's the beauty of antique roses. They really are that easy. Rose roots need moisture (not soaking standing water, just moisture) and until they grow deep enough to get their moisture from the deep soil, make sure you water the soil around yours and keep it moist.

Our favorite antique climbing rose is Climbing Pinkie from the Antique Rose Emporium. It's a fast grower and prolific bloomer with a light scent. Just look at this 2 year old specimen from our former cottage in Texas.

Cheap Tricks

This staircase treatment is a super easy, super inexpensive way to make a statement on your steps. It's done with wallpaper. This set of stairs was the focal point in a center hall colonial. If an entry hall seems to daunting, try it on your back staircase or basement steps. The good news is, that like wallpaper on walls, it can always be removed and repainted. If you've ever wallpapered a room, this project will be a breeze.

Start with a roll of wallpaper, wallpaper paste, wallpaper brush, wallpaper burnisher, scissors, a ruler, a straight edge, a damp rag and lots of razor blades. Many wallpapers come pre-pasted. Pre-pasted wallpaper doesn't always adhere well. So even if you purchase the pre-pasted kind, use paste anyway. You can use gloves if you prefer, but make sure they're the surgical kind that allow for finger mobility.

Measure the depth and length of the front of the stair riser. Cut pieces that are approximately 1" bigger around for however many steps you'll be covering. To begin, brush the wallpaper paste onto the front of the stair. Place the paper over the glue and smooth out with your hands. You'll have time for moving it around before the glue dries to get it right. (using a floral or other pattern works better than a geometric, which can be difficult to get straight). Once the paper is in its proper place, smooth it out with your hands and then take the wallpaper burnisher and smooth it out further in all directions. Make sure you don't skip this step. The burnisher is what really laminates the paper to the wooden stairs. You will have extra wallpaper glue oozing out a bit. That's normal.

Now you have to trim the excess paper. Take your straight edge and align it to the edges of the front of the stair. Holding the straight edge tight, make a cut across with a fresh razor blad to get a neat, close cut. Once you have trimmed all 4 sides, take your damp rag and wipe off the excess wallpaper paste. Wipe it off in the edges where it's oozed and the paper itself.

Remember to also: Rinse your rag regularly to avoid glue buildup. Change razor blades often. They get dull quickly and if it's not sharp, you'll end up ripping the paper instead of cutting it. You can usually patch mistakes. (Another reason to get a highly patterned wallpaper. Mistakes are less noticeable).

As was done here, you can also finish off the stair by painting stripes.