It's begining to look a lot like Christmas

After a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with the family it was definitely time to lug out those boxes of Christmas decorations and get to work on spreading a little holiday cheer around the house.  So I spent the better part of Saturday cranking the Christmas music and working on projects to bring the holidays into the home (luckily Justin headed out of town or else I think he would have gone crazy after hearing the 30th version of White Christmas).

Project one:  Ceramic Christmas Trees

I started out with three gray/white ceramic Christmas trees that I picked up for $.50 each.  I coated them with some antique white spray paint before rubbing on a coat of "Garland Green" latex paint.

Here's a tip - all of the major home improvement stores now offer test pots of their paint colors.  You can usually pick them up for less than $5 and they are perfect for small projects around the house.

Here is how the trees turned out - I love how the white still shows through the green.

I tucked them in my wall cubbies that were already that gorgeous shade of red and then added some strands of fun glass bead garlands to add that festive touch.  It's the first thing you see when you come in through the garage and I love it.

Project two: Starburst Mirror

I picked this sweet little mirror up at the local Salvation Army for just $1.50 but wasn't in love with it's gold finish.

 

 

But after a quick coat of candy red enamel this became the perfect pop of red for my mantle.  Using some of that great jute strapping leftover from another project I layered the starburst over my existing mirror.  I just love how it turned out.

There are more fun projects coming and I'm putting the finishing touches on my mantle tonight so check back tomorrow for photos.

Gratitude

Gratitude noun; the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.

Tomorrow I will gather with my family and share a meal, we will laugh, play games and share stories of years gone by and eat a lot of Mom's homemade rolls.  It's easy to forget all that we have as each day unfolds in our busy lives but for all the turkey, fancy centerpieces, and black friday's I think it's important to think for a moment about what tomorrow is all about...family, gratitude, appreciation for the people in our lives and making sure they know it.

So with that I would like to say...
I am thankful for my brother Adam and his individualism & friendship
I am thankful for my brother Aaron and his integrity & sense of humor
I am thankful for my sister-in-law Lauren for the happiness and love she brings Aaron
I am thankful for my sister Maren and her quiet strength
I am thankful for my brother-in-law Nathan and his devotion to his family
I am thankful for Evan and Megan for bringing joy to the family with their smiles & observations.
I am thankful for my Dad and his unconditional love & belief in me
I am thankful for my mom and her example of independence & patience
I am thankful for my mother-in-law Sherry for the sacrifices she made for Justin and Heather and for the fun, sprited lady she is.
I am thankful for my father-in-law Harvey for his steady example and quiet affection for the family
I am thankful for my sister-in-law Heather for her friendship and her toughness
I am thankful for my brother-in-law Steve and his love of baseball and belief in family
I am thankful for the "monkeys" for their big personalities and their ability to always put a smile on my face
I am thankful for Justin for more reasons than their is time to share.  But mostly because he is a strong man with integrity and purpose whose moral compass doesn't always make things easy but it shows the measure of who he is.  His heart is big and his love is vividly honest, patient, and without a doubt always unpredictable and fun.

Maybe it is cliche to share what you are thankful for on Thanksgiving but what's the harm in letting the people who come into your life and bless you with their friendship and love know just how much they mean to you.  Trust me, it's better than any slice of pie...even Mom's coconut!

Just in time for the holidays

A great sale is happening at one of my favorite online retailers, Ruche.  For two days they will be offering an additional 15% their already fantastic prices.

If you aren't familiar with Ruche I would encourage you to go check them out.  They have such a great assortment of fun and unique clothing and accessories that remind me of the type of pieces you'd find at Anthropologie but for a lot less.  Here are a few of my current favorites:

Perfect little party dress - all you're missing is a pair of mile high heels

this purse must find a way into my life - love that color

my obsession with white continues with this perfectly printed cardigan - would look great with jeans

How fun - pair it with a casual tucked in white tee and riding boots

The best thing about it - any of these cost less than $60, how awesome is that!  So head on over to Ruche and find something special for a friend or yourself.

Strap happy laundry basket

 

What we have here is your standard, three dollar laundry bins from Target - not exactly the most attractive storage solution.

  Here they are now after a few yards of jute webbing/strapping and it couldn't of been any easier.

Step 1:

Gather materials.  You will need a laundry basket, jute strapping, scissors, and your glue gun.  Make sure to select a laundry basket that has wide enough spaces to accommodate the strapping.  For each basket you will need approximately 4 yards of strapping.  If you wanted to get really creative you could spray paint the baskets a decorative color, I chose to go with the existing white.

Step 2:

Start weaving.  Simply thread the strapping through the holes, spacing is completely up to you [I skipped every two spaces] and staggered the rows so that the white plastic spines didn't line up exactly.

Step 3:

Secure the strapping with glue.  Since my basket is going to be used for off-season clothing storage I decided to just glue the ends down.  However if you are planning on using this for toy storage, daily laundry, or something where it will be handled more I would suggest gluing the strapping down every 4 inches to ensure it is very secure.

Glue right on the plastic spines, pressing securely.

 When you get to the end, trim the excess and glue down the end.  Jute strapping does not fray so there is no need to worry about that.

Once you are done you will have a unique storage solution that costs less than $7 basket.  I think they are a fun alternative to your ordinary woven basket and they fit my budget a lot better.  Here they are in their new home.

My five things list

Melisa over at the Lil Bee has a fun project on her blog called My Five Things where she asks readers to share five things they want to accomplish in their lifetime.  I went ahead and emailed her my list and thought I'd share it with you.  It's bound to change as life goes on but for now here it is...
1.  Become a parent
2.  Open my own shop/business where I can sell beautiful found objects, homemade goods, and produce from my garden
3.  Discover how to dance with no inhibitions
4.  Travel the world with my Mr. - Italy, South America [especially Machu Picchu], Australia, any and every where
5.  Create a homemade quilt

What about you?  What does your Five Things list look like?

Weekend motivator

Have a told you lately just how much I adore my husband?  He has patiently tolerated the clutter, chaos, and disaster area that I've turned our home into the last few weeks as I started project after project.  That is the problem when you live in a little old house and have no space other than the living room, laundry room, and bedroom to work on stuff [ok part of it is that I am just a messy person].  But it all ends this weekend as I work on finishing everything and putting the house back in order so that the devastatingly handsome and oh so adorable "clutter-free, everything in a place" man of mine can enjoy being home next week.

Adore: Kitchens with personality

image courtesy of House Beautiful

having all your dishes on display - so fun

updating your old cabinets by pulling out drawers and turning them into shelves for baskets - brilliant 

 

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rustic wooden island, ethnic inspired tiles, colorful dishes, lattice floor - homey and special

 

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chalkboard walls, deep black sink - lovely

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quirky cow prints, red pulls, graphic rug, mixing old with new - what's not to love?

Looking for something?

A fellow blogger, Bryn Alexandra shared one of her favorite online sources, SaveOn Crafts, yesterday and after checking it out I can see why she loves it so much.  The site features any and everything you could want for party supplies but they also have so much great stuff for home projects and decor and the prices are really reasonable.  Here are a few products that I'll be purchasing soon...

 

 Handmade flowers - so amazing

birch bark wrapped flower pot

 

Cloches - for a very reasonable price

Adore: Cloches

As the holidays approach I keep finding myself coming back to the idea of displaying simple items under a gorgeous glass cloche.  It seems to transform them from their everyday use to a museum quality piece.

 

above images courtesy of Country Living

 

image courtesy of all4you

 

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What a weekend

Our weekend centered around football, it was the big Boise State Broncos vs. University of Idaho Vandals rivalry game which always causes some excitement around our house since Justin played for U of I.  We spent all day Saturday down at the game, Justin was on the sidelines watching all the action with the team and since I didn't have a ticket I spent the day tailgating with friends.  Sadly the Vandals lost but we still had a great time and finished the day with an impromptu trip to the bowling alley where I bowled the best game of my life - a 71 (no I'm not joking).  All in all it was a lot of fun.

After bowling we entertained the thought of hitting the karaoke bar next door but decided to just rock out to Journey in the parking lot instead - after a long day I think we were all a little loopy.

Sunday brought about some time to work on projects and I knocked off a few more things on the bedroom list including the closet doors...

Once I decided to paint the whole room white I knew I needed a splash of color somewhere and I came to the conclusion that the closet doors were the perfect place.  I grabbed some leftover green latex paint we had laying around the house and thinned it down (1 part paint to 2 parts water) and using a old t-shirt proceeded to rub the paint on the closet doors, eventually doing two coats to get the base I wanted.  See below:

 

Next up I sanded down some spots and roughed up the edges a bit before grabbing some glaze that I mixed with a bit of old brown paint.  It was really easy to layer it over the green using another trusty old t-shirt, building up the color in the corners to highlight the details of the door.  Here is how it looks after a coat of glaze:

 

Although I loved the original green color sans the glaze it was rather bright - too bright.  Now with the brown it gives the doors a distressed patina that mimics old painted wood.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out and I think it gives the room a lot of personality.  I have a few sewing projects to wrap up and then the room will be ready, I'm really excited to see it all come together.

In love with this program

I cannot even tell you how pleasantly surprised I was when I tuned in to check out a new show on the Sundance Channel called Man Shops Globe.  I  saw a promo for it and it seemed like an interesting enough show about some guy who goes to different countries looking for cool design objects.  I thought it would make for good background noise as I worked on some projects but to my surprise it is my new favorite show - he is the guy who finds objects of inspiration for Anthropologie (just the most amazing store in the universe).  His name is Keith Johnson and he spends most of the year abroad searching for decorative antiques and found objects that he then takes them home for the Anthro design team and independent artists to draw inspiration from for furniture items and accessories for the more than 120 Anthropologie Stores in the US and UK.

As a huge fan of Anthropologie and their creative and accessible designs I really enjoyed seeing how he culls through the many pieces out there to find a handful of items that he thinks will speak not only to the customers but also the artistic people who then create everything from bowls to sofas.  It's rare to see the behind the door process that goes into the consumables that are shaping mass market design. For anyone who loves antiques and loves Anthropologie this show is a must see - the things he finds will leave you in complete envy.

Adore - Sarah Richardson

Many of you are familiar with Sarah Richardson and her keen eye for design that manifests itself on several programs on Fine Living including Design Inc. and Sarah's House.  I simply adore her design style, not to mention her never ending collection of cute blazers and wanted to share with you some of my favorite projects she has done.  To check out her full portfolio please make sure to visit her website which is full of great design inspiration and helpful hints.

Master Bedroom, love that upholstered bed

These chairs are just perfection

 

I want this to be my entryway with it's marble floors, open staircase, & adorable settee

Such a great kids room- love the light blue and red color combo

 

I might actually do laundry if my room looked like this  - love that chrome back splash

 

Where I have been

image courtesy of Country Living

Lounging in my bed whenever I can get the chance.  Last weekend Justin moved a spare TV of ours into our bedroom so that our friends kids could camp out and watch some movies while we hung out with their parents.  We normally do not have a TV in the bedroom which I fully support as I would never leave if we did but Justin is out of town and the TV is still in the room which means I have been in pure heaven.

Confession: I love, I mean really love watching TV in bed.  It takes me to my happy place and instantly relaxes me.  Another confession, I love Gilmore Girls and own every season on dvd and watching them makes me happy, reminds me of shared moments with family, and basically acts as a dear old friend coming for a visit.  So every night this week I have crawled into bed, snuggled up with Tripps under the flannel sheets and new chenille quilt and have escaped from the stresses of the day by watching Gilmore Girls and drinking chai tea.  After some recent tough moments and disappointments it has been the renewing moment that I needed.

What about you - what is your refuge from daily stress?  Friends, a comfy bed, church, family, a hobby?  I'm a firm believer that everyone needs their own happy place and I'd love to hear about yours. 

I've also been busy working on completing the projects in the bedroom and would say that the finish line is in sight.  Stay posted as pictures from some of the projects will be coming soon.

Adore - Red & White

I'm starting a new type of post on my blog called Adore that I will feature 2-3 times a week.  It's my place to share with you images that I've fallen in love with and that provide me with endless amounts of inspiration (too much inspiration if you asked my patient husband).  I hope you find your own take-away from these images and that they inspire you to jump into a new project or to find some corner of your world to make more beautiful.

 

 

all images courtesy of Katrin Cargill Interiors