With spring nearly here, I guess I’ve been in an outdoorsy kind of mood. I put together a new mantle display with the great outdoors in mind. It’s a little quirky, a little colorful and lots of fun. I don’t know how long I’ll leave it up, but I’m enjoying it for right now. I’m not the kind of person who can leave the same mantle display up for long. (As you can tell if you keep up with my blog.) After a while, I just need to switch it up. When I get in that mood, I’m usually too lazy to take everything down. If I did that I’d have to find places for everything to go, haul things up and down stairs, and do a lot of reorganizing. There’s no way that’s going to happen very often. Instead, I sneakily move items around and add just enough new pieces to make it look different. (That’s what I did with the mirror, plants and vintage tin. You can see them all in this display.) This is an easy way to freshen up your mantle without doing a lot of work. Leave the basic pieces you like, add a...
Favorite Weekend Things
Weekends are for relaxing and putzing around my house. I usually always have some kind of decorating mess going on. I flit between projects with about as much concentration as my dog chewing on her wide array of bones. Neither one of us can seem to choose what we want to work on. But this weekend was beautiful with all kinds of gorgeous sunlight streaming through the windows and I couldn’t have been happier just messing around. And boy did I have a mess. There was potting soil. There was artwork. There were cleaning supplies, coupons and newspapers. Here are a few photos I captured of the weekend. Andi dog and I are both trying to decide what we want to work on. I picked up that green chair (and a bunch of other goodies!) at an estate sale this weekend. For now, it’s living here by the T.V. I (finally!) ordered custom photo mats to frame these scientific posters I bought in Sweden almost a year ago. I can’t wait to hang them! One of my new favorite beverages is this spiced chai tea from Trader Joe’s. (That pile of clothes to the right is freshly folded laundry....
The ‘Making Do’ Office
Even though I moved into my rental house back in September, I’ve been holding off on featuring too much of the house because none of the rooms feel complete. Well, I’ve finally realized that they’re never going to be “complete.” So, I may as well just show off what I have managed to do. Decorating has been quite the challenge after my boyfriend and I moved in together for the first time. Meshing our random assorted furniture together has been…interesting. Especially when he refuses to get rid of things like a really (really!) ugly 70s plaid armchair, but that’s a topic for another time. Not too long ago, I revealed how I turned part of an upstairs room into my open closet. (It’s pretty neat.) Well, here’s the other half of the room. The makeshift office. Any of the furniture we didn’t want downstairs, made its way to this upstairs room. I’ve managed to turn it into something that resembles an office. I’m making do right now, but I have better ideas. For one, I have big plans for a whole new desk. I hope to get going on that project at some point. I’ve outgrown this midcentury desk with...
Decorating with Greenery
If you lack a green thumb but like the look of houseplants, then you’ll want to use this simple trick. This is by far the easiest (and cheapest) way to add some green to your home. You don’t have to buy plants. You don’t have to buy flowers. You don’t have to grow anything. Ready? Huh? Huh? Here’s what you need to do. Go outside. (Bring scissors.) Snip some trimmings from evergreen plants in your yard (or a nearby park). Run inside so the neighbors don’t see some crazy lady trimming bushes in her slippers. Or, is that just what I looked like? Once safely inside, slip your trimmings into your favorite mason jars or vases. You’ll get the “look” of luscious green plants without having to give the TLC required to keep them alive. I’m getting a lot better at keeping my houseplants alive. But I like the ease of just heading outside to snip a bit of greenery and using the trimmings to decorate my home. When I’m craving something fresh in my house, but I can’t really justify the unnecessary expense of buying flowers, this is the perfect solution! This is about as easy as it...
Closet Makeover Reveal
When my boyfriend and I moved into a rental house back in September, he promptly took over both closets on the main floor. Really, he just put his clothes somewhere to get them out of the way. We were tripping over boxes, each other and the dog we had so much stuff everywhere. But as time passed, his clothes stayed in the closets. And I got tired of living out of a suitcase. So, I turned the upstairs room into this… Dream closet! Really it’s a mishmash of furniture that couldn’t fit elsewhere in the house. But look how great it turned out. Girl dream room. The clothes racks are my favorite part of the room. They make the it look like a store, and I get to go shopping every morning! They’re also my favs because I was determined to find cute clothes racks—for cheap!—and I did. I found one of the clothes racks at a fancy-schmancy estate sale. It was holding (way) overpriced clothes and wasn’t marked as “for sale.” I asked anyway and offered $10. Sold! The other I found by placing a wanted ad on Craigslist. Scored that one for $15. Not bad considering that...
Make a Travel Art Wall From Souvenirs
When most people travel, they buy one thing: souvenirs. I’ve bought plenty of keychains and magnets from those kitschy souvenir shops that seem to exist everywhere. As great as the magnet or bottle opener is, I’ve found that I want something more memorable to remind me of the places I’ve visited. Over the past few years, I’ve collected different types of artwork from the countries I’ve visited. To show them off, I put together a wall of travel art in my apartment. Displaying memorabilia collected from the different trips I’ve taken works not only as a souvenir, but also as personalized home décor. It also makes a great way to remember my travels. The great thing about creating a wall of travel art is all the possibilities! The collection can be made up of prints, photographs, postcards, one-of-a-kind paintings, fabric, scraps of paper… (you get the idea). When I travel, I try to keep the expenses low. Most of my trips to foreign countries have involved staying at hostels or budget hotels, and packing lunch from the free hostel breakfast. As such, I try not to spend too much money on souvenirs. Here are some...
Fresh Mantle Display
It’s a New Year. Time for a new mantle display. If you can get through the chore of taking down your Christmas decorations, the chance to freshen up your fireplace mantle can make up for it somewhat. Even though it’s only January, I’m yearning for spring. How about you? I decided what better way to make it feel like spring than to bring a bit of nature indoors? That’s what’s going on with my mantle display. It’s simple. Clean. And, it has fresh touches from nature here and there. Need some feel good spring-like inspiration for your mantle? Here’s how I got the look. Overall, I kept the mantle super simple with white vases, a bit of glass for sparkle and natural elements. See those branches and that snippet of greenery? I ran outside in the snow (in my slippers no less) and trimmed those bits from plants in my front yard. The dash of green makes me really happy during this bleak winter. My boyfriend found these antlers on the ground. Little did he know they were so handy for holding up garland. Pinecones scavenged from my yard look fancy displayed on a tiered tray. (P.S. I made...