Real Home, Real Family, Real Life
From the category archives:
I don’t do a whole lot of Halloween decorating. Not because I don’t like the holiday (I love it!), but mostly because it usually sneaks up on me and I’m not prepared. Shall I show you my boys store-bought costumes as proof? But my boys are of the age where a little bit of spooky [...]
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via A couple of months ago, I saw this picture of Martha Stewart’s Gourd Garland on Pinterest. I loved it. So simple and pretty. And it made me want to put a split-rail fence all around my yard. I have no doubt that Martha’s version is made with hand-twisted, organic jute twine and air dried [...]
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I had an empty wall in my laundry room that was begging for something fun to fill the space. Last month, I saw this project over at Young House Love and I couldn’t get it out of my head. But I didn’t need a clothespin chandelier. I needed something to hang on the wall. So [...]
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Hello, my friends! Yes, I am still alive. Somehow, the last couple of weeks have slipped through my fingers. I’ve been savoring the last few drops of summer and our time has been filled with bubble blowing, birthday celebrations, camping and the stuff of real life. All wonderful, if a bit overwhelming at times. Can [...]
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Whenever I post pictures of my family room, I get questions about my sofa. And since I just splurged on a major update to it, I thought I’d give you all the details. I am a firm believer in buying a high-quality, classic sofa whenever possible. Mostly because I’ve made several mistakes in that area [...]
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We’re having a party for over 70 people on Sunday and I’m having a ball making things a little festive around here. I may have a problem, though. I bought a bunch of American flags from Oriental Trading Company and the craft store a few weeks ago and I’m putting them everywhere! All along my [...]
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Oh my word. I love this so much I may never take it down. Which will look a little strange in December, but whatev. I think the American flag is beautiful. This 5ft x 8ft American flag came from Amazon ($27.00 with free shipping). I used a few tacks and hung it right over the [...]
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I’ve been wanting something new for my front door for a while now, but I can never figure out what to put on the door in the summer. A wreath feels too fall-ish or winter-ish. And I’m not a huge fan of fake flowers, but these silk hydrangeas look almost as good as my real [...]
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There are few things that I love as much as fresh-cut flowers in the house. They add such freshness and life to a room that I’ll shell out a few bucks when I find some that I love. These spider mums were the best deal at Wal-Mart the other day. $5 for a bouquet of [...]
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Did you catch my disguised light switch last week? Well, now I’m working on another project that has me dealing with more poorly placed switches and outlets. Le sigh. So I’ve been searching around for some more ideas for creatively working around them. Here are a few of my favorites… The Nester hid one behind [...]
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I GOT A TOBACCO BASKET!!!!! Sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you. But some things just need the CAPS LOCK. Let me back up a moment. Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about my latest decorating obsession? The humbly glorious tobacco basket? The beautifully rustic tobacco basket that you simply cannot find in [...]
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My 1st grader brought home a piece of sweet construction paper artwork the other day. Of course, it was jammed into his backpack all wrinkled and tattered. But I love it. And it reminded me of how much I love willows….we’re going to call them kitty willows for the sake of avoiding some unfortunate google [...]
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Last weekend, we went through the agonizing process of choosing a paint color for the basement. Over the years, I’ve made enough paint color mistakes that I’m very indecisive careful when it comes to choosing a new color. (Remind me to tell you about my pumpkin-vomit kitchen sometime.) From left to right, the colors are [...]
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Thank you for all of your kind comments on my Kid’s Artwork Gallery Wall. You make a girl blush. After the big reveal, I promised to give you the “how-to” and some tips for creating a gallery wall of your own. So let’s get to it! This gallery wall was designed specifically to display my [...]
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Oh happy day! I finally did it! I finally finished the children’s art gallery wall that has been inside my head for over a year. For the last 2 days, I’ve been shopping my house to get all the frames I need, picking out kid’s artwork (and commissioning a few new pieces) and spray painting [...]
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Domestic Ease Thanks for all your sweet compliments on the maps I used to fill the frames in my family room. I loved reading all your comments and emails yesterday about the creative projects that you’ve done with maps. The Country Cottage Chick So let’s see them! I thought it would be fun to see [...]
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I still haven’t found the perfect solution for the empty frames on my family room wall. But I got tired of waiting for perfect (and of explaining why I have empty frames on my wall). So I turned to one of my go-to frame fillers. Maps. They’re beautiful and easy to find. I found an [...]
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The Painted House It all started with these two pictures from The Painted House. That gigantic basket made my heart go pitter-patter. I had to have one. But I didn’t know what it was. So I turned to Uncle Google and spent hours searching things like “giant flat basket” and “the most glorious basket I’ve [...]
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I get lots of emails from people asking how my husband feels about my home decorating ways. They usually come after I make reference to my rather extensive stash of stuff in the basement. Even though I seriously reduced the size of my stash at my garage sale last summer, I still have quite a [...]
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I have three empty frames hanging on my family room wall. They’ve been there for a couple of weeks. I don’t apologize for them, but I do usually explain. I used to have a big blank board and batten wall. One of my 2011 house goals was to put some artwork on that wall. But [...]
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