home decorating

Simple “Free” Decorating Solutions – Basket of Hydrangeas

by

Sometimes the best ideas for decorating our home comes from the natural world around us.

When you’re hard pressed for ideas on how to bring your home to life, perhaps taking a peek outside at the “living world” around you will give you just the decorating tip that you’re looking for 🙂

There’s something very comforting about walking into a home that has a “bit” of nature there to greet you. I like to call it “feathering my nest” 🙂 When you think about it, you are actually bringing life into your home when you bring in items from the outside.

So many times, people automatically reach for what they already know (such as a bouquet of flowers) and their creativity seems to stop there. The next time you’re looking for a new little touch around your home, try to look past the things that automatically come to your mind & look for the unexpected.

This cabinet needed a little something on top, but I wasn’t sure what to use. I already had a nice basket that I was using to display some of my magazines, so I decided to fill it up with some dried hydrangea stems. I really like the way it turned out.

Here are a few other articles that you might like as well.

Grapevines for the in the Sitting Area

Lots of Creative (cheap 😉 Fall Decorating Ideas!

How to Make Easy – Beautiful Curtains

by

Easy Curtains For Any Space!

Nearly 8 years ago, my husband & I decided to look for a bigger piece of land to move our family onto. We did a lot of praying & looking before we miraculously found our “perfect” piece. So… for several years, when I would find something that I loved at a great discount, I would pick it up & pack it away “for the new house.”

The piece of fabric that I made this set of curtains from is no exception. When I saw the bolt of fabric in the Walmart craft section, I knew I needed to buy some – especially at the $3 pr yard price!

When we were finally able to move into our new home, I had the perfect place to use that piece of fabric that I had secretly tucked away a few years ago.

There are 2 windows in the living room. Because the windows flank both sides of the love seat, I decided to make one panel per window. During the day I open them up to the outside of each window which makes them look like a “pair” from the other side of the room.

This type of window treatment is very easy to make! They remind me of a big pillowcase (except the opening is sewn shut 🙂 I like to line the curtains unless both sides of the fabric are pretty to look at. After all, you want the folks outside to see something pretty as they look at your house.

Here are the simple instructions.

– Cut each piece of fabric to length that you want
– Be sure that the pattern of the fabric is not upside down
– Put the right sides together (the side you want showing) so that the wrong side is facing out on the front & the back
– Pin down the sides for easy sewing
– Sew down both sides
– Sew across the top
– Sew across the bottom leaving an open space in the middle of the seem big enough to turn it right side out – Press flat
– Hang with sliding round hook clips

After looking everywhere for the cheapest hooks, I found JoAnn Fabric to be the cheapest. They have a 10 pack of iron ring hooks for $4.99! There are lots of different types of round hook clips, but the iron ones are my favorite. Not only do they look nice, but they seem to be much stronger as well.

I made another set like these for my bedroom with NO SEWING at all! I simply used tablecloths that I picked up as an end of season sale for a few dollars each. They were the perfect length for a luxurious puddle effect at the bottom.

You could also use a flat sheet, which would make it very easy to coordinate your curtains with your bedding.

You can make these types of curtains for any space. They are quick, easy, and most importantly – easy to open 🙂

Vintage Pine Cupboard Redo

by

Because I already feel SO blessed, when my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas, it took me a while to come up with something.

Some of you may remember my post back in October about one of my favorite antique pine cupboards that I picked up years ago for $2? Well, when I told him I’d like to have my cupboard painted as my Christmas gift, he painted it right away!

I really love the deep red, because it compliments everything in our home. Many readers wanted to see the finished result, so I thought I’d post it for you all to enjoy!

What a wonderful husband I have – and as I told him… he is my gift 🙂

Here’s a picture of the cupboard before

antique country pine cupboard

* From Pearl

Thank you all for the kind words!

Just goes to show you – one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure!

I picked this piece up at a yard sale. When I asked to gal if she had anything else inside
for sale, she took me downstairs to show me a few things – however, nothing really caught my eye. But when I turned around to come back up the stairs, I spied this cabinet standing up behind the door. When I asked her if she wanted to sell that piece, she said – “oh that thing, I don’t think you could even get it off the wall, because it’s been sitting down here in the basement for so many years!” When I assured her that my husband could indeed remove the piece from her basement (I was thinking piece by piece if we had to :), she said – well, you could have it for $2. No thinking on my part – a quick “SOLD” came out of my mouth!

It has provided a lot of joy over the years, and now with it’s new coat of color, it is ready for many more ahead!

Ok – for those of you who might be saying… well, that was many years ago, those things don’t happen today! I want to tell you – the same thing happened just a couple of years ago to me! I picked up a VERY large vintage pine cabinet for $17 at a local estate auction. Everyone was pretty much finished with the “good stuff” inside when they moved out to the garage. Most of the gals wandered on home, but from my past experiences, I knew that great treasures lay waiting for me out there! Sure enough, when everything was pretty much said & done in the garage, everyone started home. I went up to the auctioneer & said, I’d like to bid on that old cupboard against the wall. He said… who will give me $50, who will give me $20? But no one was really paying attention. I said, I’ll give you $17! Once, twice, sold to the lady. Now… how to get this huge beauty home? Well, because it had tiny wheels on it, my friend Kelly & I simply pushed it down the street 🙂

The moral of the story?
#1 Keep your eyes open, because most people don’t look through the same eyes of vision the way that you will!
#2 Don’t buy a huge cabinet unless you have a friend to help you push it down the street 🙂

Antique Country Cupboard

by

antique country pine cupboard I bought this vintage pine cupboard approx. 16 years ago for $2 at a yard sale! I’m getting ready to paint it a deep shade of red – with a cream color on the inside.

I like to use it to display lots of dishes in my dinning room. I think the deep red will bring some needed color to this section of the cottage.

I’ll post a new picture when I finish the painting job.

Don’t you just love pine country cupboards (especially for $2 bucks!) If you’re trying to bring some warmth & history into your home simply add a pine cupboard!

Cottage Style Sofa

by

cottage sofa, home decorating

No matter what the weather is like outside (it’s been raining here for several days), you can always find comfort in a cozy place to sit, read, and meditate on the issues of the day.

I thought I would show you my favorite place to get comfortable in our home. This sofa was one that I had my eye on for quite some time. I first saw this piece when my friend took me with her to visit an upscale furniture store. They had so many great pieces that I think I fell in love with several 🙂 This cottage style sofa was one of the pieces in the front showroom. When I saw it, I knew that it was just the type of sofa that I would love to have in our new home, but the price was out of reach for what I wanted to spend on one piece.

When we finished building our home and were ready to buy some furniture, my husband & I went back to that store, if nothing else, just to get some new decorating ideas. You can imagine my excitement when I stepped into the clearance section, only to find that “my sofa” was sitting there against the wall – marked “way” down from the original price! It was just sitting there waiting to go home with us 🙂

Needless to say – that week I found myself relaxing in my new cozy sofa, enjoying a good magazine & a hot cup of vanilla tea.

I love the feeling that you get when surrounded by the warmth of the “old world” colors. We use many shades of red, mustard, cream, blue, green, – and of course – always a good dose of black in the different rooms of our home.

The black coffee table is nice and big – wonderful for putting your feet up at the end of a long day.

The wooden bowl is an antique butter bowl that I bought at an auction for $1.