4th of July Decorations

The 4th of July is just around the corner! I don't go all out decorating for this holiday, but I do like to have a few patriotic touches out in the house. I fill my white pitcher with American flags and, this year, I glued red, white, and blue stars (punched out of scrapbook paper) onto clear thread that I tied onto the light fixture above our table. The thread is sandwiched between two stars.
This "shower of stars" is a simple and inexpensive way to add a touch of patriotic flavor to our summer decor.

Linked to: Hookin Up with HOH

Children's Artwork

Displaying my children's art in my home has always been important to me, but lately it has become increasingly important. Although I don't want my house decorated in plastic and primary colors, I do want it to be a place where children are welcome and where it is readily apparent that young people live and are loved. To me, displaying my children's art is one of the best ways to do this.

The refrigerator is a great place to start displaying those crayon creations, but I think it is important to show children that their artwork is important enough to showcase elsewhere in the house. Today I went around the first floor of the house and snapped a few pictures of where my children's artwork is displayed--other than the refrigerator! The first location is in the playroom (aka the room that used to be the dining room!). I've posted about this rod before--it is so easy to clip new artwork onto the rings. Oh, and those wood sculptures were made by my little boy. He is so proud of them--the red one is a fire station and he's still deciding on the other one. They're not out on display all the time, but they do make appearances.

I recently needed a little "something" for this side table in my living room, so I cut some cardstock in the size of these frames and gave one piece to each of my children and had them go to work. My five year old opted to draw a tree with a sunshine, rainbow, and flowers. My seven year old drew a picture of our blue house with a red door. They love seeing their artwork framed and I think their sweet drawings are the perfect "something" for my table.

Whoever designed this house opted to combine the laundry room and powder room--not a good combo in my book. At any rate, this artwork by my little boy is over the commode, but he doesn't mind one bit. I love having these cheery pieces in there because it brightens up a room I spend a lot of time in! His fingerprint rainbow and sweet tulips warm my heart.

My daughter's artwork is also in the laundry room, opposite my son's work. I had them do their paintings and then I cut out their work and mounted them on scrapbook paper before framing them. This tiny room instantly felt 10x more cheery with these additions to the wall. (Of course it would feel even better if I painted the cabinets and we finished installing the trimwork...)

Summer hasn't really arrived here, so I still have this spring bucket of daffodils that my children made two years ago--I love it! The jagged scissor cuts on the daffodils make me smile every time I see them.

In the kitchen these tiles are above my stove. My children made these when they were almost three and almost five--such a simple project that has a lot of impact. The glass is tumbled (so no sharp edges) and glued to plain tiles with white glue. Then the tiles are mounted into frames. Simple!

It isn't just about displaying my children's artwork, it is about incorporating it into our home. I don't want our home's decor to be all about what "I" want--we are a family.

Easter Decorations

Despite a crazy weekend, I was able to get more of my Easter and spring decorating done--I showed you the mantel last week. Now if I could only get my house picked up too! This little vignette was inspired by the mossy vignette I saw over at Thrifty Decor Chick. I made my nest by putting paper lunch sacks through my shredder, my eggs are from JoAnn Fabrics, the mossy "rocks" are from Dollar Tree, and the sheet moss is left over from my bunny topiaries (more on those in a bit). Love this vignette and it looks great in my family room!
This colorful bucket of daffodils was constructed by my children two years ago and I love getting it out each year--it is such a fun pop of spring in the family room! I picked up the bunny at Goodwill last spring and spraypainted it white and he likes to sit right under the daffodils.
This is the art display in the playroom (click here for info on the vinyl and here for info on the display rack)--I finally took down the cute snowmen that my children made. Even though it is only 40 degrees outside, I'm determined to make it feel like spring inside the house!
I started off by making my bunny topiaries using bunnies from Pier One--they are mossy bunnies on a stick that cost about $2.99. Super cute and I've seen lots of versions of topiaries and crafty things done with them. I went for a simple topiary. Floral foam in a small clay pot topped with some sheet moss (cut to size) and then I jabbed my bunny stick (that I cut down just a bit) into the middle of the pot. I tied on a cute little pink bow and that was it! I love them!
In between the bunny topiaries I have one of my grandma's milk glass dishes filled with faux eggs. I have a number of milk glass dishes and containers, but my favorites are the ones that belonged to my grandma. In fact, now that I have a few (not many, but a few!) of her containers, I'm very close to getting rid of the pieces I picked up at thrift stores. The sentimentality of the family pieces means so much to me!
My living room is attached to the playroom (because the playroom really is supposed to be a dining room) so this next room flows right from the room with the piano. The table pictured above is right next to my couch. The subway printable came straight out of my inkjet printer and is from the girls over at eighteen25. I love their seasonal printables!
On the coffee table I have the same tray arrangement I did last year, including the glass pedestal I made out of a glass plate and candlestick. I get a lot of use out of that!
I also have these bunny themed Golden Books out on the coffee table for my little bunnies to read. They love it when I pull together seasonal book arrangements for them. I'm going to be sad when they outgrow this!
Here is most of the living room all decorated for spring. The messy playroom is off to the right...I shoved the excess mess out of the picture just for the picture. Isn't the little air hockey table under the window a nice touch? One of these days I want to build a console table for behind the couch, thus my barn stars are a bit high on the wall to leave space for the decor I'm planning to put on the table that doesn't exist yet. I like to plan ahead.

Ahh, spring is in the air!

Easter and Spring Decorating

I spent Wednesday putting away my St. Patrick's Day decor and getting out my spring decorations and Easter decorations. I'm still tweaking some areas, but the mantel and table are done...at least for now!
Last week I posted about the boxwood topiary I currently have on one end of the mantel. Adjacent to the topiary you'll find a small stack of vintage books from my mother's childhood (Nancy Drew, I think!) topped with a ceramic bird candle holder. At the other end I have an apothecary jar filled with twig balls (I think I bought those from Target last year) and there are two bunnies (from JoAnn Fabric) perched near the base.
As an aside, the art work on the wall is made from scrapbook paper and MDF--inexpensive and effective! Click here for more info! I didn't distress it or anything!
My children are in love with these bunnies I use in my decor each year. There is a girl bunny and a boy bunny, so of course they've named the bunnies after themselves. They like to have the bunnies on the table positioned in front of their chairs so they can watch the bunnies while they eat. This year I switched things up and added the container of carrots to the table.
I love these carrots! I bought them this year at Pier One and wasn't quite sure how I would use them, but I just couldn't pass them up. I ended up popping them into an apothecary jar and just leaving the lid off the jar since they were too tall for the jar. It works for me and they make me smile. A jar full of carrots isn't exactly my usual type of table decor, but I'm liking it.
Hopefully over the weekend I'll have the chance to finish up my decorating! I can't believe it already is April! (Update: I finished my decorating!)

Linking to: Spring Mantel Party at The Stories of A to Z

Monogram Button Pillow

I sewed up this easy pillow project yesterday and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. No tutorial because this project is all over the internet, but it really is very simple. If you've never sewn a pillow cover before, Cottage Magpie has a simple step-by-step tutorial that I've used several times with great results. This was my first time adding in the piping around the edge of my pillow and I'm mostly satisfied with the results. I do have room for improvement for next time though! (And apparently I should have ironed the front of my pillow. Whoops!)

I bought the buttons for my initial at Saint Vincent de Paul (they have a huge bin of monochromatic buttons) and drew a letter on the front of my pillow with a sewing pencil. Then I just sewed buttons on as I went. No fancy layout or anything like that. Except for cutting out the fabric, I did all of this yesterday--it really was a quick and easy project, nothing fancy at all!

I'm still deciding where to put it--I kind of like it here with my new ruffly pillows... At any rate, I'm really happy with the results!

Linking to: Hookin' Up with HoH at House of Hepworths

Ruffled Throw Pillows

Last week I bought two of these great ruffled throw pillows at Costco for only $13 each! They're super soft and the fronts are covered in ruffles. They also had them in a gorgeous plum color, olive green, and one or two other colors. They were available in the square shape that I purchased as well as an oversized lumbar (rectangular) shape. I wanted the lumbar pillow, but they only had one left in the cream and the ruffles weren't looking too great on that one.

The one downside to these pillows is that they are spot-clean only...but for only $13, I bought two of them anyhow.

Sorry for the picture quality, we've been having some overcast and gloomy days around here but I couldn't wait any longer to share these pillows. They are gorgeous!

DIY Topiary

Look at this beauty I picked up for $4.99 at Goodwill awhile back! So springy and fresh--perfect for Easter!
Ha, ha! Really I just liked the container--it reminds me of tin ceiling tiles.

I quickly pulled off all the gnarly (never thought I'd use that word in a blog post!) faux flowers and revealed this anemic looking ball underneath. So much for using that for my sleek new topiary. It isn't exactly in scale with the base.

So I wrestled it off--and a few of the extra twig things came off too. At this point I shoved the whole thing in a corner and left it...for over a year. I picked it all up again this weekend and it came together really quickly--and cleared some stuff out of my craft area (which was my goal).

So, after my year+ long break, I took this styrofoam ball that I had in my craft supplies and jammed it onto the pointy stick that I had coming up out of my container. It went on pretty easily. I bought the faux boxwood garland a few weeks ago at Michaels Craft Store using a 40% off coupon and it cut apart very easily using regular scissors.

I dipped each cut end of boxwood into some tacky glue before sticking it into the styrofoam because I didn't want my topiary falling apart and becoming a craft fail after all this time. This was working pretty well for me, except I didn't like the glimpses of white you could see through the boxwood.

A quick an easy cure for the white styrofoam--paint it apple green! I got out my craft paint and one of my daughter's paint brushes and slapped a bunch of paint on my styrofoam ball. And by a bunch of paint I mean a bunch of paint. It went on easily but it sure did take a lot of paint. I probably should have used a green foam ball to begin with, but white was what I had.

I (mostly) let the paint dry and then kept on sticking the boxwood sprigs into my ball. It went pretty smoothly and dipping the sprigs in the tacky glue really made for a firm set for the sprigs. When I was done I checked my supplies to see what I could cover the base of my topiary with and I came up with some moss that I hot glued into place. I added a little bow and I was done!

I love it--and totally wish I hadn't taken a YEAR off midway through the project.
Right now I have it on my fireplace mantle, but I'm not sure where it will end up. I have some other plans for some Easter decor for my mantle, but for now this new topiary will do. Behind it you can see the wall decor I made with scrapbooking paper last spring.

And, since I'm not the first (or the last!) to fall in love with topiaries, here are some more ideas for you:

Miss Mustard Seed (a fluffy version of a boxwood topiary)
Tales and Trials (apparently we even like the same black and white ribbon!)
Scissors and Spatulas (find some premade boxwood balls and go from there!)


Linking to:

• Tutorials and Tips Tuesday at A2Z
• Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts
• Hookin' Up with HoH
• Look What I Found Friday at Vintage Revivals
• Weekend Wrapup Party at Tatertots and Jello
• Best DIY Projects of March at Beneath My Heart

Quick Floor Upgrade

Boring builder heater vents. I've been staring at them for years and disliking them. We had new carpet installed in our house almost three years ago and put the same ugly heater vents back in place. There isn't anything wrong with them except that they hurt my eyes.

I finally decided "enough is enough"!
I bought new iron heater vents and like them so much better! I even propped a scrap piece of the new white trim against the wall so I could imagine how everything will look together...and I like it!

This was such a quick and easy upgrade--one that I'm mentally kicking myself for not doing earlier.

By the way, enter at A Bowl full of Lemons for a chance to win a Silhouette!

Bathroom Remodel in Progress

Hello, electric blue faux marble counters and rubber ducky decor that I've now used in two homes (so for almost ten years now).
Hello, Hollywood vanity lights and big plain mirror.
Hello, oak cabinets. Yes, this is the bathroom that nobody but my children ever sees! I'm tired of cringing when I walk in there though and have had enough of that vivid counter--trust me, it is much brighter in person! The budget doesn't allow for a full-scale remodel, but a small-scale remodel is something that we can do!
I was pleasantly surprised that the oak backsplash came off so cleanly. It was nailed on (and not caulked to the counter at all, thus providing no protection at all) and having it come off cleanly (without damaging the drywall) really opened up our counter options.
Next my husband removed the sink and the counter. We were hoping to reuse the sink (for budget reasons) but he accidentally chipped the sink during this step. Whoops!
Next it was off to Home Depot to buy a piece of stock laminate counter. Remember, we're working on a tiny budget in a children's bathroom that NOBODY ever sees--no granite going in here! This was the best option we found. My husband cut it to size and hauled it upstairs...and we had a problem. Notice the front edge of the counter and the ugly oak trim around the door? Not going to work.

Except, I didn't really want a backsplash on the counter. We only bought one with a backsplash because that was all that Home Depot had on the shelf and I didn't want to pay extra to have laminate custom cut.
Hooray! Cutting off the back of the counter worked! No more electric blue laminate and now the new counter doesn't overlap with the door frame. A win-win situation! Next my husband did boring (but essential) stuff like cut a sink hole and install the new sink and faucet. Meanwhile I was looking forward to the next project--framing out that big ol' plate glass mirror!
We framed the mirror with simple MDF boards with straight cuts to match the interior window trim that is going up in our house--not that there are actually any windows in this bathroom... The MDF is held onto the mirror by Liquid Nails. I can tell you that we tried multiple ways to temporarily hold the boards in place while they dried (me standing there, painters tape, me standing there plus painters tape, me standing there plus lots and lots of painters tape...) but the absolute best way was putting these little wood blocks under the bottom edge of the mirror and the trim. No tape, no need for me to stand there. Otherwise everything kept sliding down the mirror.
My husband was quite concerned about what the exposed edge of the mirror would look like. So if anyone else out there is concerned, here is what it looks like after it is painted. I simply painted the edge of the mirror as well as the trim. I think it looks fine as it is, but you could hide it even more if you filled it in. For me it isn't worth it because you only see this edge if you are getting out of the shower or if you stick your face against the wall. In other words, I really don't think anyone will be paying attention to the edge.

And, if you are wondering, our mirror does have metal clips holding it to the wall. My husband notched out the back of the bottom board so that it fits over the clips and we left the top board alone. We just couldn't get good adhesion with the bottom board without notching it.

Still a work in progress, but so much better!
Speaking of so much better, look what is above the mirror now! No more Hollywood vanity lighting! Again, this light isn't my dream light fixture, but it is a vast improvement over what we had and it is just fine for our budget and for the children's bathroom. Compromise--in this case, I'm compromising with the budget!
So far--new light, new trim on mirror, new sink, new faucet, new counter...
Next up--paint the walls and ceiling, paint the vanity cabinet white, new shower curtain, new towels...and let's not forget getting rid of the oak towel bars and paper holder. (Can you tell that I'm not a fan of oak?)

Someday--change the bathroom door to a white door, upgrade the door trim and millwork, put the light switch and fan switch on a single plate to eliminate one of the switch plates on the wall to the left of the sink...

Linking to Hookin' Up with HoH and Tatertots and Jello