Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Decorating with Ke$ha..

..well, kind of.  So maybe I was just listening to some Ke$ha whilst doing a little decorating in my guest room, but whatev.  Alright, so a couple of weeks ago I was cruising the interwebs when I found this tutorial on making paper wall flowers! Exciting!  I have been deeply in love with these wallflowers from Young House Love since the moment I saw them, but I didn’t exactly feel like shelling out the moola to have them for myself so when I saw the paper version I knew I had to make them. 
The beauty of making these myself is that I can use whatever paper I want, make as many as I want and, best of all, they cost me a big fat NOTHIN’!  Woohoo!  I won’t go into great detail about how I made them because you can read all about it for yourself in the tutorial but I will say that it is time consuming. I traced and cut and glued with my booty parked in front of the TV, watching some America’s Got Talent.  Although, this year I don’t really think America’s got ANY talent, but that’s beside the point. 
So today I came home and decided it was time to put up my flowers.  So, I gathered my supplies and cranked up the Ke$ha radio on Pandora and got down to business.  Here are my supplies…
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Ke$ha Radio on Pandora, Michelob Ultra and all my pretty flowers!  No, beer is not a requirement but I find that it increases creativity. Ha!
Now, before I put these up I knew I didn’t have quite enough flowers to really fill out my area but I figured it would be a good start.  I used some scrapbook paper I had lying around.  It’s white with a grey pattern on it but from far away it just looks white.  A couple weeks ago I put one of my big flowers up on the wall just to see how it would look.  It sat there alone for a while.
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I laid all my flowers out on the bed to get an idea of a pattern or shape I might want them to be in, but of course that little design didn’t exactly transfer to the wall.  I really just pinned them up the way I thought might look good.
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See? Not very many, but it’s still pretty for right now.
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I ended up not pushing the thumb tacks all the way in and I like the way they stand up off of the wall a little. 
I like the way they look and they perk up our guest room a little bit, since at the moment there is no color scheme or décor direction in there.  This weekend may bring a painting project, but the details are still up in the air so STAY TUNED!  We’re off to make spaghetti for dinner…yuummmm….  Thanks for stoppin’ by!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

A Few of My Favorite Things…

So, to give everyone a little introduction to our home I thought I’d show you a few of my favorite things! Yayy!  There are so many charming details in this house, almost too many to include in one post, so this will be one of many posts on the subject.  There are some things that I love because Nick and I have done them, and other things that I love because they are a part of the house.  Most of the things in this post are things that “came with” our precious little abode, but a couple things are improvements we have made since we’ve been here.  Given that this house will be 100 years old(!!!!)next year, some of the things that remain in the house are intriguing to me.  Old things fascinate me and make me wonder about the story behind them, which is something I wonder about on a daily basis in our house.  But those wonderings are for another post!  For now, I give you a few of my favorite things!
Here’s the front of the house, which OBVIOUSLY I love.  Yes, the landscaping leaves something to be desired but still, it’s so dang cute!  We plan on painting/getting new siding eventually in a nice deep grey color, which will help with the curb appeal, but for now it’s ours and we love it.
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The second I stepped my little foot on this front porch I knew this was the place for us.  From the big pillars to the bead board ceiling I love everything about it.  We’re in the perfect spot in our neighborhood to see everything from this front porch of ours.  I have big plans to paint that swing something OTHER than nasty green, but for now it’s so comfortable and it’ll do!
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Crystal doorknobs.  THAT. IS. ALL.
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Ok, ok, so I guess I should say a few more words about the ORIGINAL CRYSTAL DOORKNOBS!  If you can’t tell, they are my love.  No, seriously, right after I saw the front porch I saw the doorknobs and almost passed out.  That’s when I REALLY knew this was my house.  They’re a small detail that makes everyday in our beautiful house that much more beautiful.  Not to mention, the skull key locks are still on each door and you can see through them!!  Some people might not find it charming/convenient/practical but I personally find them to be a darling little detail on each door.
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The HUGE windows above my kitchen sink.  Even though all I can see is the side of my neighbor’s house I really don’t care.  They let in so much natural light and I absolutely love it!  **Please ignore the clutter in my kitchen!**
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Two words: BUILT INS.  Right after I almost passed out when I saw the front porch and then the doorknobs, I DIED when I saw the built ins and the two quaint little windows.  We’ve painted them since we moved in but they’re still mostly empty and a work in progress!
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And lastly, a little addition we’ve made ourselves.  A hammock!  I love being outside and the hammock is the perfect way to relax out in the backyard and look up into the branches of our huge American Chestnut tree.  (BTW, if you don’t know what kind of umm…”fruit” the American Chestnut houses I suggest you Google it. They are PAINFUL.) 
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Well, I think that’s it for now.  But don’t worry! I’ll be back at some point to share more of my favorite things.  Until the next post you can find me in the backyard, swinging in the hammock… Hey, where’s my beverage??