a home decor blog, making it pretty one space at a time
Thank you to Bulbrite for sponsoring this post!
A few weeks ago, our friend gave us his old TV. It was a joyous occasion because we’d lived for 3 months without a TV! We put it up on the record player and it worked like a charm. But it didn’t look good. I knew that I’d want to frame it the moment we put it up. Why? Just because you have a TV doesn’t mean it has to be an eyesore. Here’s how to frame a TV on the wall.
Last year I made a tutorial for how to make a rainbow wall hanging and it’s since become one of my most popular blog posts! I thought I would try out some better rope and try it with one small change. It turned out great so I thought I’d walk you through this tutorial in case you want to make one too.
In 2007, I got married and soon heard about starting a blog. I barely knew what a blog was, but I went ahead and wrote about being a newlywed, my travels and job and what we did with our friends. I’d take pictures and type up what I did- it was fun! A few years in, I found out that I could make a book by printing up my blog. And that’s where my yearly photo book was born! [Read more…]
For months, I’ve been planning a deck renovation. Then, a few weeks ago the furniture started to arrive and it’s been so exciting! We finally have a place to sit outside! One of the items I ordered was an umbrella- totally forgetting to get a stand. But then when I priced them out, they were pretty expensive. So I decided to make my own. Here’s a my DIY umbrella stand.
before of my patio once the furniture arrived
Side note, I know that it may seem insensitive to be working on a project like this right now. There are so much bigger things going on with the world. But my truth is that this project had been planned long before I had a clue that we’d stuck at home.
I am so grateful for the distraction and to have one more “room” to hang out in. I’m doing my best to make the most of this time because keeping busy with projects like this has helped me feel a little more in control.
The thing is, I feel now, more than ever it’s a great time to make your house a home. Make it somewhere you want to be because you’re probably there all the time. Might as well have it be a beautiful place! I’m going to be focusing on affordable DIY’s and ideas for decorating on a budget (like this post with 15 ideas for how to decorate a patio for cheap).
But even if that’s too much to take on, organizing and cleaning will make a difference. Our surroundings are one thing that we can control and if they are in order, we’ll feel better. I believe that and hope I can pass on some ideas for creating spaces you love no matter your budget.
Hi friends! Well, it’s been another week of weirdness. Who could have ever guessed that’d we need to stay home and not get close to anyone but our families?! It feels straight out of a movie! I’ve done my best this week to keep my spirits high. There are so many times that it all seems too much. But for me, keeping busy has been helping exponentially.
On the schedule for next week’s DIY is making a frame for my TV, redoing my son’s nightstand, and wallpapering and decorating the powder bathroom. I should also probably finish painting my house since the sides or back aren’t done yet!
Behind the scenes of Don helping paint the signs for the front of our house. I figure it was good hand eye coordination for home schooling 😉
This is the image that’s inspiring me this week- the orchids, the white parts, the subtle coastal look with layered accessories is so good!
A few weeks ago, I shared some ideas for enjoying this time at home. And it got me thinking of the fun hobbies I could pick up.
So I decided to try out needle point! Which is something I saw my mom and grandma doing when I was younger.
Plus, doing crafts has actually been shown to reduce anxiety and stress! When you work with your hands, it forces you to be in the current moment. Then you can forget everything else and just create. (source)
So if I can make something pretty and de-stress, I’m in!
But also, needlepoint has totally made its comeback with the granny chic look. And I’m fully on board with it!
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Here’s one of the needlepoint pages that inspires me! I mean, how gorgeous would it be to have an entire rug that was embroidered?
1 bee / 2 shell / 3 dog / 4 plants / 5 beach / 6 lemons / 7 zinnia / 8 VW / 9 kitty / 10 cupcake / 11 octopus / 12 flowers / 13 house / 14 butterfly / 15 sloth / 16 teacup / 17 dragonfly / 18 castle / 19 butterflies / 20 rainbow
Now, if you want to try it out too, I rounded up some cute needlepoint kits. And they’re all for beginners, so you won’t have to worry about them being too difficult.
Since I’m still in the process of decorating our Florida house, a lot of these have the granny chic look I’m going for.
Also, a few of them are for kids! #3, #10 and #14 are all made for little kid hands, ages 6 and up. This could be a really fun project to do as a family.
But I’m really loving the modern look too, like the octopus in #11! It’s cute but also looks pretty simple to do.
What about you? Have you ever tried needlepoint? Which one looks like fun to you? Tell me in the comments!
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This post is sponsored by Modsy
The living room in this house is surprisingly big! For a 890 square foot house, this room feels palatial. Which, after moving without any furniture to this house in January, it felt empty.
After working on it a bit, I had one wall of the room looking super cute, but I was a little bit stumped with the rest of the space. Where should I put a desk? What seating could I do? Should I try another layout? How could I make it feel more cozy and pulled together?
This is the space our family actually spends a lot of time in. This is where my office is and I work during the day. We have a TV in here so we watch shows through the day (especially right now). At night, after my son goes to sleep, this is my sanctuary and where I unwind. Having it feel good is very important to me.
I want this room to be great because it’s also the first thing people see when they come into my home. So I decided to team up with Modsy to create a plan and then I’d work off of it. If you haven’t heard of Modsy, they are an online interior design service that create the most gorgeous life-like renderings of your room’s design that I have ever seen.
Here’s the space when I put out an SOS- [Read more…]
Our house was the saddest brown color. When I first saw it, I knew that color had to go! Well today I’m sharing the massive project we took on- exterior painting of our house! Plus how to decorate the outside of your house for free while staying home. I probably should have made this a few posts, but here it ALL is!
First up, a before of the house with how it looked on move in day-
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.
Hello! I know that decorating backpacks seems silly right now (on account of there not being school), but this is for a good cause! If I can do any good while I’m at home, it helps me feel like I’ve spent this time as well as I can. Plus, this is a great activity to do with kids! Or you can save this idea for the fall when, hopefully, school is back in session. [Read more…]
A few weeks ago I installed new wallpaper in my dining room. It’s everything I wanted in the space! I looooooove it! BUT it did make me realize what else I want to change. The wallpaper is perfect so now everything that isn’t great is terrible. If that makes sense ;). So I thought I’d show you how to paint shelf brackets.
Since one of those things was the shelf brackets. They were black and technically fine, but for my house, they were too bold and stood out too much. I figured gold would pull in the chandelier color so I decided to paint them. I’m trying to enjoy the smaller DIY’s where I use what I have on hand to upgrade my house and aren’t that complicated. This is one of those projects!
Hi friends! Last week I started sharing my favorite links and thoughts and ideas from the previous 7 days. It’s kind of a nice way to reflect on things! I thought I’d continue it.
This week I worked hard on my living room- painting one wall pink and the door pink as well. We installed a wall of trelliage and it’s looking so beautiful! Having a room I love means so much especially right now. Are you working on any projects? Keeping busy and making things is my therapy. [Read more…]
Where can I put this rainbow rug in my house?!