GIVEAWAY ENDING THURSDAY NIGHT!!!...SPREAD THE WORD!!

Time is ticking...enter now to win this great Ballard Designs tote!!  Scroll down for your chance to win...Good luck & spread the word! xo, Mariaelena

HOORAY!!!...100TH FOLLOWER CELEBRATED WITH MY 1ST GIVEAWAY...

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!...

I entered into the blogging world in February 2011 and I am honored to have met so many wonderful, gracious, encouraging and talented people!!!...A special thank you goes out to Kristin from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, her patience answering my questions, and her encouragement are so appreciated!!..Also, Kim from Restoration House shared some great tips with me to help me get started ...They were total strangers who offered such valuable advice to me.  They are both treasured gems!!...I am hosting a giveaway in celebration of my 100th follower....The giveaway will be this beautiful Ballard Designs large tote bag...... Don't you just love it???....I have one myself and it holds a ton....Here is how to enter:

1) BECOME A FOLLOWER AND LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING ME YOU DID (looking forward to meeting you)

2) IF YOU ALREADY ARE A FOLLOWER,  LEAVE A NICE COMMENT LETTING ME KNOW...AND YOU WILL BE ENTERED

take a stroll through my entire blog...hope you enjoy it...
please spread the word on your blog!!!

YOUR CHANCE TO ENTER WILL END ON:  Thursday,  March 31st at 12pm EST
.

xo, Mariaelena

GOOD LUCK!!



BIG WEEKEND FOR US - 2 BIRTHDAYS & SWIM JUNIOR OLYMPICS

So, I haven't blogged much about my family, trying to stick to the home decorating, but I can't help myself this time...It is a BIG weekend for my 3 girls....First off, our 2 oldest daughters will be swimming in the Junior Olympics this weekend!!...They have both swam competitively for the past 9 years.  This will be my oldest daughters last swim meet....She is heading off to college in the fall and will most likely be rowing on a crew team there...(I'll keep you posted)....It will be bittersweet for her this weekend!!....NEXT....our middle and youngest daughters share a birthday 10 years apart!...I know, can you believe it???....and yes, the youngest was a SURPRISE, but the biggest blessing we have ever known....(I could write a whole blog about having teenagers and a toddler at the same time)...never dull around here...haha...anyway, tomorrow is our middle daughters SWEET 16TH BIRTHDAY and our little ones 6TH BIRTHDAY!!!....we will be spending their birthdays watching a swim meet, but my middle one wouldn't want it any other way....she absolutely LOVES swimming!!....so I'll be back next week hopefully with a big milestone and a giveaway.....STAY TUNED!!!!.......and here they are, the loves of my life.....celebrating at the little ones bday party last weekend...Happy Weekend...

and GO DOLPHINS SWIM CLUB!!!!

more fab shopping finds....

Just a quick post to share some great items I purchased this week at IKEA & Home Goods...don't you love them???

PS:  I LOVE Fleur de Lis!!!!

redo of a black iron and wood chandelier...

About 14 years ago, I had this chandelier made. It had a wooden center with black iron arms...no shades.....a few years back, I was about to order a new chandelier to go with my cottage decor. I loved the lines of this one though....so I hung it from a tree and spray painted it, rubbed on some antiquing glaze, added some shades and...tada!!!....this past Christmas I bought the crystals from Target for $1 each in the ornament section....

LOVE this now....it is perfect in our dining room.....and I spent almost nothing...yay!!!...

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linking up to
http://junkernewbie.blogspot.com/
http://serendipitychicdesign.blogspot.com/

Spring tables, and mantels and shelves...oh my!!!!...Oh and PS: finally figured out how to make the photos larger...YAY!!!

I wanted to add a touch of spring inside the house since is is soooo dreary outside here in the Northeast....enjoy your weekend....

please don't mind the vacuum in the background...haha..too much blogging, not enough vacuuming..

linking to:
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

ADDING CHARACTER WITH MOLDING AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS ......

My husband has added molding to just about every inch of our 1963 ranch home to give it some much needed character...

Great guy that he is, he also made this beautiful corner built-in in our kitchen from a picture I showed him...

I found this outdoor trellis and we nailed it to the wall on the opposite side of the kitchen to add interest and height...

Old picture frames that I've found at flea markets and garage sales, also add some fun interest...

llinking up to:
http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/

5 minute pillow cover..tutorial over at Restoration House

http://www.bringrestoration.blogspot.com/
I loved the quick pillow cover that Kim posted on her blog..and decided to make one of my own......visit bringrestoration.blogspot.com to learn how....it really is super easy...

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A new beginning: a peek into the story of our beach house...

BEFORE:::...Our 800 square ft beach cottage that we purchased before we owned our year round home..we knew we wanted a beach house and if we didn't do it in that order, it never would have happened...we fixed it up ourselves and rented it out by the week in the summer for 15 years....In the meantime, we bought our home in NY (1963 ranch)  that I've been blogging about....In the early fall of 2009, it was time to stop renting and knock down the beach house so that we could rebuild our dream at the shore....These are some pics we took on the day we were emptying it out and saying goodbye to the cute little house....It was bittersweet.....so many happy memories there...but it was time to move on...

After years of my husband and I planning and drawing out how we wanted our new house to look, (it was a challenge because the lot is sooooo small) we finally bit the bullet and went for it full steam ahead....There are too many photos to show, so I think I'll start with the finished product!!!..(well almost finished)  .so many choices and decisions to be made...we had never built a house before....I wanted to get it all right!!!  I hope you enjoy and please follow along with me as I get to the decorating this summer....HOORAY!!!!

About a billion more photos to see in the coming months.....so much to do and so looking forward to summer 2011!!!

I LOVE old windows!!!

 I gave this one a new coat of paint and stapled toile fabric on the back...It hangs on the wall in our small entry foyer..

With this one, I ( meaning my husband, Mark, ) broke the glass out and I brought it to a glass maker and had them fit it for a mirror after I gave it a fresh coat of white paint.  It hangs in our family room. 

I just brought one more down from the attic that I plan on antiquing and hanging in my hallway bathroom......stay tuned for that...I need to get the motivation to go in and paint over my 10 year old flower stencil first!!!