decor Archives - Page 4 of 5

October 4, 2013

Fall Decorating From Nature

Decorating your home for the fall season doesn’t mean you need to spend money on new items. You can essentially “shop” your backyard and neighborhood for everything you need. It just takes a little reimagining of how you think about home décor. Most of the items we typically use to decorate for fall are just fake versions of what comes from nature in the first place. Think pumpkins, squash, gourds, leaves and pinecones. Instead of buying fake versions, why not just use what’s already out there? I love decorating my home with elements from nature. It makes a room feel more alive. Give your home a natural seasonal style with these fall-themed decorating ideas. Pinecones If you’re not lucky enough to have a pine tree growing in your front or backyard, just take a walk around the neighborhood. Gather up a bunch of pinecones and use them all over your home. Add a few to your fall mantle display. Pile them up in empty terracotta pots, like I did. Create a table display with a basket filled with pinecones. The pinecone possibilities are endless. Pine needles While you’re gathering up your pinecones, be sure to also pick up a...

April 19, 2013

A Little Bit of Spring

The other day my sister and I received these happy postcards from a friend. (Thanks Caitlin!) Notice how the yellow one with the tree is extremely similar to the print hanging on the wall to the far left. This girl knows my style well! I just wanted to share them because they make me smile. I’m definitely ready for some actual springtime here in the chilly Midwest. These postcards make me think about all of the things I want to accomplish around my home this spring. Here’s my list: To Do This Spring: 1. Be super planty. Start more seeds in eggshells. Plant flowers from seeds in containers. Make my porch basically a container garden oasis. Maybe create a raised garden bed in my teeny backyard. 2. Repaint living room furniture. So many of the pieces in my living room are painted black. They all need a revamp. I’ve been all about the light and bright lately, so the black furniture is bringing me down. (Look for a future blog post on this.) 3. More do-it-yourself. I’m loving DIY home projects. I have a few in the works, but I want to come up with some on my own, instead...

April 10, 2013

3 Tips to Accessorize Your Home

Choosing items to decorate your home seems easy enough. Pick furniture, lamps and accessories you like. Aaannnd…done. While it’s true that you should pick items you like, you also don’t want your home to be filled with stuff just for the sake of having stuff either. So, how do you know what stuff to choose and what to pass on? With these three accessorizing tips, you can never go wrong. Choose comfort When it comes to accessorizing your home, don’t overlook comfort. (This is one I have to remind myself of a lot when shopping.) The prettiest pillows will just annoy you if they’re not snuggle-able when watching a movie. And, who wants a couch that you can’t lounge on? Or, a scratchy blanket? Pick comfortable accessories and you’ll be happy every time. Also, don’t forget about good light. Light affects your mood, and therefore your comfort! If you don’t get a lot of natural light in your home, use sheer curtains on your windows and keep your color scheme light and bright. I also can’t talk enough about the greatness of lamps. Lamplight is far better than overhead light. Fill your home with lamps to create cozy light...

February 9, 2013

5 Tips For Decorating With Rugs

Rugs add so much personality to a room. What was once just bare hardwood or yucky rental apartment carpet instantly gets a design makeover just by spreading a rug across the floor. I’ve lived in my share of dingily-carpeted apartments. Rugs added some much-needed visual spice to a room (and covered up at least a portion of the drab carpet.) If you have hardwood floors, which I do now, rugs bring coziness and a pop of color to plain flooring. They can do far more than just these decorating tricks, though. Here are five more practical and pretty ways to use rugs in your home. 1. Rugs separate areas Rugs work wonders at visually separating a room. If you have a room that functions as both a living room and a dining room, for example, then you can use rugs to create divisions. Place one rug in your living area, you know, under your couch, coffee table and armchairs. And, lay another rug under your dining room table to visually separate the two sections. Without these visual cues the large room will just sort of meld together. I used this same idea in my oddly-shaped bedroom. My bedroom functions as both my sleeping area and my office. Before I placed a rug in my “desk area” of the...

February 4, 2013

5 Valentine’s Day Home Decorating Ideas

I’m not usually one for decorating my home for, what I call, the “smaller holidays” (Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July.) Too much work. But, a couple days ago I went to turn my calendar to February and such a happy picture of heart-shaped cookies greeted me that I felt the urge to celebrate. Valentine’s Day may seem like a cliché holiday, but you can’t argue that it does bring a bit of cheeriness to this blistery-cold winter. The cookies and chocolates. The flowers. The happy colors. (Well, I’m a fan of red at least. See title of blog). The sentimentality. It’s one day where I think it’s okay to be corny. Even if you don’t have a special someone, you can still use Valentine’s Day to appreciate the other people you love. Write a cheesy poem for your best friend. Bake cookies for your co-workers. Give your doggie an extra treat and belly rub. And, why not decorate your house? You know, just a little. These five ideas are simple, not cheesy. You won’t find any corny plastic hearts or teddy bears here. 1. Accessorize with pink and red You can’t beat free decorating. Simply reuse items that you already own to spruce up your home for...

January 10, 2013

Mix-n-Match Your Way to Your Favorite Bedding

I have a thing for mixing old and new in my home. Take the bedroom. Layered on top of my 3-year-old Target comforter is an I-don’t-know-how-old handmade quilt. Vintage and modern. Something about the mix of the hand stitched quilt and the contemporary-patterned comforter just works for me. Pairing the modern comforter with the old world quilt creates an overall look that feels more texture-ized and comfy. It’s not as “flat” as either one of the pieces by themselves. And, even though the colors of the quilt and comforter don’t exactly “match”, they do work with each other. Like friends. Even in their distinct differentness, they’re both similar-hued and neither overpowers the other. So, what about you and your bed? You can use this same idea of mix-n-matching with your own bed. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a mixture of old and new. Just think about combining opposites. Pair a simple white duvet with a rich faux fur throw. Layer a plain yellow bedspread over polka dot sheets. Drape a ruffled throw over a smooth duvet. Anytime you look at the beds in magazines, they’re all decked out in blankets, shams, duvets and sheets in different textures, similar-style...

December 10, 2012

DIY Hanging Collage: Christmas Style

When I decorate for Christmas, I like to use items I already own and just Christmas-ify them. Take this hanging collage. This project actually started quite a while ago as a way to fill the empty wall space between two windows in my living room. I was having a hard time arranging the random bits of paper and other items on the collage in a look that I liked. Nothing was working. Luckily, Christmas time came along. So, everything else came down, and Christmas décor went up. I shuffled through drawers and photo boxes and ended up with quite the pile of sort-of-related-to-Christmas items to hang on the collage. Magazine clippings. A book. Last year’s Christmas cards. (I plan to replace these as new ones come in.) Random snowflake ornaments. A piece of felt. Overall, I think it works. This hanging collage couldn’t be easier to create. Even for the not so handy do-it-yourselfers out there. Here’s how. What you need: Picture hanging wire Nails Hammer Tape measure Small binder clips Cute items to hang Directions: Using a tape measure, determine how long you want your hanging collage to be. Also, decide how many rows you want. (I went...

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