Grow // Raising Succulents Indoors

A few weeks ago I shared my faux diy succulent alongside some real succulents that I keep on my window sill. I received a few emails from folks wondering how I manage to keep them alive indoors. So, I thought I'd offer up my succulent-raising advice. I've kept mine alive for almost 5 years… hence, I am an Expert. Okay, not really. I've had my share of plant casualties and I've learned a thing or two over the years.

Click "Read more" for the full post

Our Home // Fall Mantel + Teal Pumpkins

Can you believe that it'll be October in a few days? How is that even possible? So I may be in denial, but today I decided it was time to pull out the Fall decorations. I'm hit-or-miss with the other seasons, but I love Fall decor. Something about pumpkins, those rich colors and the changing of the seasons.... Not to mention the kids being back in school so I actually have some time to think about stuff like this!

Over the past couple of years I've collected a variety of decorative pumpkins. I think I've met the fake pumpkin quota, so this year I decided to remake a few instead of buying more. Inspired by a recently purchased accent chair, I decided that the addition of teal would add just the right amount of "pop" to our traditional pumpkin display.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Faux Bois Vases

A faux bois project has been on my to-do list for a while.  It fits with my decor and I like to bring in the look of the outdoors whenever I can.  With just a few materials, some of which you may already have on-hand, these faux bois vases can be created in an afternoon.

One of my favorite things about faux bois-- It's perfectly imperfect. The less straight and the less perfect the lines the better!

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Wordless Wednesday] Icy Succulent

photo taken in our backyard. it hardly ever freezes here so.... brrrrrr!

pssst... stay warm!

[Organize] Our Entry

Let me just say it... Our entryway is problematic! We are a shoes-off household and when we enter through our front door, shoes, backpacks, and jackets are discarded immediately upon entry. Unfortunately, this means that our formal living room also doubles as a mudroom. gasp! Oh the horrors! 

We do have a large hall closet, but it's in the middle of the house and too far away for the sand-dropping, mud-tracking set. So our living room has to double as a "mudroom". Poor living room... If he had a voice it would be British and he would be cursing and tossing around "bloody" left and right. Kidding... sorta.

So balls, boots and bags... oh my! They took over our entryway and they had to go. The balls went to the garage, the boots found a new home and the bags with sports gear went into the closet. And the jackets and hats and shoes... why they found a new and improved "home" on their proper racks. 

Click "Read more" for the entire post

[Wordless Wednesday] Winter Mantel 2013

pssst... simple, isn't it? have a great day!

[Home] Our Christmas Home

With the last minute Christmas shuffle and two little guys that are out of school and stir crazy, our home is rarely photo-ready this time of year (or ever, to be honest). The rest of the house is still in disarray, but I wanted to drop off a few photos of our Christmas decorations... if anything for posterity's sake!

Our Tree...

after almost buying a new tree because of broken strands of light, this gadget came to the rescue! no black hole in the christmas tree this year!

Some of the handmade ornaments that I've made in the last few years...

clockwise from top left-- burlap stamped ornament : giant muslin ornament : lace pinecone : crushed shell ornament : old ornament upcycled with puffy paint (snowflake design), spray paint and glitter paint.

 The back of the tree (facing our great room) has an entirely different vibe...

 vintage ornaments from my childhood and my kids' creations. some day i'll have enough handmade ornaments so that these guys will get their own tree.

The Living Room...

our card display.  i just took these branches, punched holes in the cards and... voila, instant card tree!

The Santa Photo Display...

the only downside of having these photos together... when your kids start asking why all the santa's look different.  oops!

The Tree Vignette in our Entry...

details and links to the diy here

The Family Room...

i embraced my inner-girl and purchased this mini white tree and candy-themed ornaments on deep discount. it's the Martha Stewart brand from Macys and i LOVE it!

i used gold lame (my old diy tree skirt) and my snowflake garland to spiff it up.

and our very cheery JOY mantel.  

And THAT is a wrap!  I have a couple more errands to run and we should be set for Christmas!

sharing with...

[Home] Christmas 2012 Living Room Mantel

We haven't put up our tree yet (saving that for the weekend), but I feel like I'm finally getting into the holiday spirit. This year I decided to decorate our living room mantel.  It's been ignored for too long!  I have something fun and kid-oriented planned for our family room mantel, but I decided that the living room would be for me... When I need a time-out.  :)  

Click "Read more" for the details

[Make] Handmade Tree Vignette

Here's my 2012 Handmade Christmas Tree vignette. It's peaceful, it's neutral and little woodland creatures are hiding in there...My kind of decorations!  Many of the trees were used in last year's vignette, but I also added six more. Is there such thing as having too many trees? 

Click "Read more" for the details

[Home] African Basket Wall Decor

Three years after moving in, I finally hung something up on our kitchen walls.  It's about time, right?  I'm not one to frequently change up my wall decor, so I took my time to find just the right thing. After contemplating contemporary art work and a gallery wall, I decided to go with something that I will love for a long, long time. Our kitchen has a natural and contemporary vibe so, with their earthy colors, texture and graphic designs, these handwoven African baskets are a perfect fit. They add interest without overwhelming our kitchen's narrow wall space.  To see the entire kitchen area (pre-baskets), click here .

Click "Read more" for the full post

[The Look] Basket Wall Display

I love the look of beautiful baskets artfully arrange on a wall.  With an assortment of textures, colors and shapes they are versatile and can enhance a variety of styles-- From rustic and natural; to clean and contemporary; to bold and modern.  Whatever your style, baskets as wall art definitely adds character to a space.

basket wall display via bloomingville

their catalog is amazing... I think I want everything in it!

Here are more Basket Wall Display ideas --

Backyard Tales - Part 1

The pool is starting to look like a pool!

It was interesting to watch and very quick.  The gunite (cement) guys started at 7 AM and were done by 1 PM.

More of the process--

tarp to protect the house and hill

spraying the gunite

shaping one of the waterfalls

Apologies to our neighbors for the construction zone.  We're lucky that our immediate neighbors are wonderful because building a pool/backyard is a big, messy, noisy job!  And to think that this is just after 1.5 weeks... it feels like we've been under construction forever!

So that was our Monday.  Oh, and I can't forget this--

what would we do without andy?  :)

Digging for Treasure

The backyard project is coming along swimmingly (I know... pun intended).  It's actually quite amazing how quickly and efficiently the contractors work together... Dancing around each other as one team excavates, while the other twists steel into intricate patterns.  It's an art form.

Although visions of a beautiful backyard dance in our heads, the highlight so far has been some of the found treasures.

fossilized shell--

Since we are over 10 miles inland and 900+ feet above sea level, it's amazing to think that this area was once under the ocean... several million years ago.   

It's possible that this marine dweller (perhaps brachiopod?) was around before mammals...

I love the green and rust colors.  I should clean it up a bit more, but I'm hesitant to do too much.  It's actually quite big, the size of my palm.

snake skin--

My husband found this after the workers left for the day.  I've chased garter snakes out of our garage before and our neighbors have had large rattlesnakes in their backyard... so not exactly shocking.   Luckily this one is pretty small though.  :)

 

Here's where we're at with the backyard.  I believe an inspection is in order before they can continue further.  

Have a good one!

[Home] A Little Spring Decor

Simple and refreshing.  That's the look I was going for.  This little table is in our entryway.  I find that if I put out some decorations, it has less chance of being the catchall for keys, sunglasses and mail.  So far, so good!

  

For a touch of whimsy, I also added a little twig banner.