a home decor blog, making it pretty one space at a time
I’ve been trying to be better at cleaning my house. So every morning after Don is in school I clean up the clutter, wipe off the countertops, and then vacuum and mop. To simplify things, I’ve been looking for a way to vacuum and mop with one machine. I ended up buying the Bissell Wet Dry vac and for an amazing price! I thought I’d share how you can save money buying certified refurbished on eBay.
This post is sponsored by eBay
We recently redid our main bedroom and as part of that, completely re-did the closet. I’ve never had a fancy closet, so I figured that this was my chance! I decided to do an Ikea Pax Hack. So I used the affordable IKEA wardrobes and then added trim to build them in. I thought I’d walk through the build in case you want to try this too.
There is nothing I love more than a cute, homemade advent calendar! It’s festive, a great way to make each day special in December, and there are so many options to make them fit perfectly in your decor! This year I was inspired to make some cozy stockings and hats in a rainbow of colors. If rainbow isn’t your thing, these can be made in any color!
This is a great project because it’s small to store and easy to pull out to enjoy annually. The little hats and stocking stack really compactly and then they go in with my other Christmas decor bins. I keep them on the yarn I hang them on so I just pull that out and re-hang at the beginning of the season.
What is Advent? Traditionally, it’s the season leading up to Christmas as celebrated by Christian churches. This was a time of preparation and celebration. In some churches wreaths were lit with candles, or Christmas trees were put up, or doors were marked with chalk to count the days leading up to Christmas.
The first advent calendar was printed circles in a German newspaper in the 19th century. They were for kids to cut out as a countdown to Christmas. Later, in the early 20th century, printed calendars were made. Then a few years later, around 1920, wooden advent calendars with little doors were first sold in Germany.
If you aren’t Christian, but celebrate Christmas or just want to do an advent calendar- here’s a language tidbit for you! Advent comes from the Latin word “advents” which means arrival. So just think of it as a way to countdown to when Santa comes! Advent calendars can work for all families (especially since they’ve been so heavily commercialized- ha!).
Thank you to A Beautiful Mess for the inspiration for this project.
This year I planted zinnias and they absolutely thrived! They have 100% been the highlight of my garden this year. I decided to save the seeds from my mature flowers so I could plant the same variety next year. The good news is that this is super easy! So if you have a zinnia plant- you never have to buy seeds again. Here’s a tutorial for harvesting zinnia seeds.
How do you get seeds from zinnia? You let a mature flower dry on the plant. Next, cut off the head and let it dry an additional week. Then, pull the petals from the dried zinnia. At the base of the petals will be an arrow shaped seed. Pull those off the petal and let dry for an additional few days. Once the seeds are gathered they can be stored in a seed packet or envelope.
I was recently re-doing a hall in my house and I thought it’d be fun to do something unique on the walls. I remembered finding some little vintage wood houses and I thought this would be the perfect place for them to go. They’re called Shelia’s Houses and are from the 1990’s. They’re also known as “shelf sitters.” I thought I’d tell and show you all about them!
It’s officially spooky season! We love Halloween over here so I thought I’d make a Dollar Store craft to decorate with. I love the look of old bugs in frames and cloches so when I spotted cloches and giant bugs at the Dollar Store I was excited! I figured I could make an entomology DIY Halloween cloche. This is a super easy project and I’m excited to show you the tutorial!
When I we designing my room, I knew I wanted a bed crown or a canopy- just something hanging that’d make it feel super cozy and romantic. I spent a ton of time researching HOW to create the look I want. Turns out, there’s some hardware you can buy that makes it super easy! I thought I’d show you how to make a DIY bed crown if you’re into this look.
I recently bought a wool rug while vintage shopping. The seller gave me a great price since it desperately needed cleaning! I thought I’d show how to clean a wool rug in case you have one that’s stained and gross too. This is a project anyone can do at home. Let’s get started!
Anthropologie is one of my favorite stores to get beautiful decor. I recently fell in love with their Flora Taper Candlestick, but at $38 for each one and I wanted 5, I figured I could make this for less than the $190 it would have cost to buy them. So I made my own! I thought I’d show how to make a Flora candlestick dupe in case you love this look as well.
Who’s ready for a look for less DIY?! Today I thought I’d make my version of Anthropologie’s Minka pot. This beautiful planter is $88 so I thought I’d try to see if I could make it for much, much less. Ready to DIY this Minka textured pot dupe?!
