My Living Room

I don't know about you, but after the holidays I look forward to the simplicity of my everyday home decor.   

This is our living room, it is right off of our kitchen and dining area.  We are in this area of the house the most.  You can see where I get my color inspiration for my blog too!  I love teal/aqua and red, if you couldn't tell.  The  layout of our home is perfect for our lifestyle and  we can all be together while I'm cooking or cleaning up.  Our TV stand is from Pottery Barn Outlet and has wonderful storage, see what's in it at the end of this post. 

  I pulled this look together for my winter/valentine mantel.  I love my little owl perched on the "love" blocks, its my "love bird." The "WE are blessed" sign I found at Dollar General of all places.  I  made the garland from scrapbook paper and just hot glued cut-out hearts to some red yarn I had laying around.  The mirror above the TV is new, from Target.  That bare wall has been begging for some attention the last year and a half we have lived here and I finally went and found the perfect mirror.  I love the sparkle it gives the room. 

The picture of my boys is one of my prized possessions, taken by a dear friend when they were 5 and 3.  Another great friend, gave me the iron wall art last week, after she decided she didn't want it for her own home.  I think it looks perfect above my sweet boys.  The antique desk was in my childhood home and I am thinking about painting it, what do you think?  Color suggestions would be appreciated too. 

This little writer's desk holds stationary and photos.  I also keep my menu planner. notebook and organizer in it.  I have various treasures that are meaningful to me in it, homemade geodes by my son and a sweet pic of me and my honey in college.  I got the little coral boxes at Target over the summer for $1...I heart them so much!!

                   

As you can see, I love to display photos of my 3 little darlings!  These were taken last year and I hope to add to this wall over the years. The table and chairs were my husband's grandmother's and I picked out the fabric and had them reupholstered a few years ago.  

This table we got for about  at Rooms To Go about 10 years ago.  It took quite a beating with my boys, rolling matchbox cars over it.  Last year I painted a harlequin pattern on it and am thrilled with the look.  This table is also functional because it has two storage drawers, at the bottom of this post I will show you what is in them! 

 This little kitchen and table used to be set up in my kitchen, but after moving some furniture around I found this perfect spot for my little girls play nook.  It is out of sight, but still in the main living area. 

 

Our leather couches we got from Rooms To Go, 10 years ago, too.  While I am not a fan of the chilly seat a leather seat offers in the winter, I must say these are a must for little children and pets.  They can take a beating and they only look better with age.  Clean up is a breeze too. 

 This buffet we purchased at  Pottery Barn Outlet.  It holds my table linens and candles and little trinkets on the shelves.  I made a glittered heart and hot glued it to a platter for my Valentine decor. 

   
Our sweet little Cocker Spaniel, Maggie, was catching a snooze on her favorite spot.  The green pillow is from ShopKo. 

 Well that's my living room.  I must say I have moved the furniture in that room about 5 times in the less then 2 years we have lived here, but I really like the set up now.  And as a side note, my favorite place to shop for home decor trinkets/frames/baskets etc. is Hobby Lobby, I never pay full price either, I only buy the item if it is on sale.  I 'm linking up at A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Super Simple Wreath Revamp

I have had this adorable heart berry wreath for years.  However, it has gotten weathered over the years and since I painted my front door black, it didn't stand out well from the road.  

 
So I grabbed a can of white spray paint and gave it a light spray.  I was going for a frosted look, since that is more the appropriate weather for where I live.

It looks like its been blasted by Jack Frost and I just love it.  It stands out so much better on the black door and best of all it only took about 20 min.  I love easy projects like that.

Do you have an easy peasy project you've done, feel free to share it on my Facebook page.

I Challenge You To Start Validating Others

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to offer more validation.  What does this mean?  It means, I want to make it a priority to offer support, encouragement or praise to  friends, family and those that come and go in my life.  

 Facebook, Twitter, Blogs....for the first time in history you don't have to be famous to have a voice.  One common dominator in all humans is that we all want to be heard and feel like what we do and says matters.  I started noticing the importance of this here when I was doing my 31 Days of Family Bliss.  The way we react says alot about ourselves and what we think of the other person. What reactions are we sending out to others?

Some questions to ask yourself....

1.  Are you a "Liker" and commenter on Facebook? 
     Facebook has made it so easy to validate others feelings and circumstances.  Are you a ghost facebooker, where you read everyone's updates and look at their photos, but never hit "Like" or leave a comment?  If so, why?  I promise you, your "friend" wants you to at least "like" it, otherwise they wouldn't FB it.  Now, I know that some people FB every detail of their life and I'm not saying you have to "like" everything, but for those moments of pure excitement, joy, stress or worry I urge you to leave a comment, it's the least you can do for a "friend" right?  I hate to think we are becoming so numb in our society that we can overlook life changing status updates without batting an eye. 

2.  Are you a blogger and you have loyal readers who leave comments, but you have never taken the time to read a single post they have written or comment on their blog?  They obviously think your blog is great and think highly of you,  I encourage you to leave them a little love too.   A quick, thoughtful comment, may make a bloggers day.

3.  When you are waiting in line or are at a doctors office do you sit around staring at your phone?  I encourage you to take notice of others, start up small talk or give a simple smile.  Several years ago, I was at a park and began making small talk with a mom pushing her child in the swing next to mine.  We had a conversation about her son being behind in language skills and while my child was older, he had many of the same issues.  Fast forward a year later and I get a phone call from her late one evening because she was overwhelmed that her son was just diagnosed with Asperger's.  Since that night, a wonderful, supportive friendship has occurred, that never would have taken place if we hadn't had small talk on the playground. 

4.  Do you offer encouragement or compliments to others?  When you talk with others make it a point to offer them a compliment or ask them about something important to them.  I don't think we should be over the top and fake, but start to truly look for the good in others and when you see it let them know it.  I have been blessed to have a mother like this.  As a child, she was always my biggest fan, encouraging, complimenting and just making me feel good about myself.  Even to this day, when I speak with her on the phone, she is always telling me what a great mother I am and I must admit, it feels really nice.  I have been lucky enough to have some friends like this over the years, that offer genuine care and concern for life's good and bad moments.

Now, I know we are not supposed to get our validation from others, but from God, but who was more compassionate and caring then Jesus Christ?  Who is a better example of offering validation then God, who forgives us for our sins AND still loves us, no matter what.  What a wonderful example of Christianity to offer validation to those that come and go in our lives.  Make it a point to see the best in others, smile, compliment, hit the "like" button and encourage.  Society makes it hard enough to feel good about ourselves and second guess many aspects of our lives.  How wonderful would it feel to be a source of encouragement to others?

I challenge you to show kind gestures to others  without expecting anything in return, you never know the impact you may make in their life.  So, what do you think?  Will you join me?

Cheater Chalkboard Art

I don't know about you, but I have been drooling over the chalkboard art I have been seeing all over blog land.

     

Lemonade Makin' Mama

Dream and Differ

 I thought for sure there must be some DIY kit you buy to make these lovely pieces of art that you can change with the seasons.....uh no...the creators are just amazingly talented artists.  I was at once bummed, but thought I could cheat a little and come up with my own chalkboard art, even though I am not naturally artistic.    First, I needed a chalkboard.  Months ago I updated a mirror in my 1/2 bath. I had this mirror stashed away, thinking I would be uber crafty and make it useful once again. 
 

It sat for months and months until I saw a picture, of a chalkboard with the same shape as my mirror in my fav home decor store magazine, Ballard Design.  It was about the same time I was noticing all this chalkboard art and the light bulb went off.  I could make it for less then $10.    I grabbed these supplies and got to work.

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My first step was to paint the  mirror.  I used 2 coats, letting them dry several hours in between.  then I let it cure  2 days.

 Then I made my word art on the computer, playing with fonts and sizes until I got it just the way I wanted it for my chalkboard.  I printed it off and laid it out on my painted mirror.

 

I flipped each paper over and traced the word with chalk then, I placed it on the chalkboard and rubbed it with my hand several times, to transfer the chalk to the board.  

 

I continued to do this with all words and then traced the chalk image with the chalk pens, for a cleaner look.  I used a cotton swap dipped in water to clean up any mistakes.   The regular chalk was used for shading and softening.  Then, I outlined the beveled edge of the mirror. 
  
I placed my finished product on the landing on my staircase and I love it.  The verse has special meaning to me and I love the simple reminder of Philippians 4:8 I see everyday.
 

I think the next time I do it it will turn out even better, since I am a more experienced chalkboard art cheater!  

We are off to have dinner with friends tonight and then tomorrow go see our first college hockey game.  What are you up too this weekend?

  

What I Wore....

I haven't' done a "What I Wore" post in ages and they always bring in the most traffic.  So, here some of   what I wore in December .  I will be linking up at The Pleated Poppy.

Striped Tee and leggings- H&M, Cardi-Kohl's, Belt-straight from a leather shop in Italy, Boots-Zulilly

 

Chocolate Velvet Dress-Vintage Gap circa 1993 I wore it to a Homecoming dance my sophomore year, Necklace-TJ Maxx, Shoes-Vera Wang, Leopard Print tights- Target

 Striped Sweater and Leggings and Scraf- H&M, Boot Socks- Ruffled BabyLegs, Boots-Zulilly

My sister and styling in vintage ski clothes circa 1980.  These were my mom's ski clothes, when she was my age.