Dreamy Dwelling Guest Post

Today you can hop over to It's Overflowing to check out my guest post and snoop around the rest of my house {hehe}.  Aimee is full of wonderful ideas and tips on so many different things.

Crafts & DIY Decor

Simple DIY Candle Holders

Holiday Ideas
 

Anthro Inspired Wreath

Tasty Morsels
 

Crock Pot Sugared Pecans

 

 







Indoor Christmas Decor

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us - time to decorate for Christmas!  We almost completed the outside today, and we have a completed mantle inside.

This will be our first year with a REAL tree, and I have discovered an exciting assortment of light options - so exciting that I just had to share!

White-Irridescent-Clear Tree Lighting

Target has these indoor string lights in several varieties, my favorite being the mixture of opalescent, clear faceted, and sugared.  They are only 25 feet long, but for only $10 I was hoping three sets would be enough when mixed in with more traditional plain lights.  The ones I found are also from Target and look like the clear faceted ones, but are Phillips LED.

I'm fearful of the tree not making it alive to Christmas, so we are going to wait til the 1st to pick one up.  Hopefully next week I can show you what those lights look like on our tree!  We will be setting up the tree in time to watch Georgia maybe somehow miraculously beat Alabama in the SEC championship.  {Come on - with the Irish being the other one in the championship game I'm feeling a little hope that 1980 can happen again!  Go Gurshall!}

Outdoor Christmas Decor

The hope was to show you our new coffee table...but I have spent too much time watching football this weekend, and not enough time constructing!  It was glorious to watch Kansas State and Oregon loose Saturday night, but the hubbs is going to be livid if 'bama wins another National Championship. {He's just angry it took this long for his coach to be fired.}  It may take a miracle, but I am hoping for Georgia to pull this thing out.  We haven't had a championship in my lifetime - I"M READY!

We have slowly started preparations for our first Christmas in our house!  The mailbox is decked out with a battery operated lighted garland, I have painted and glitter "dipped" the letters NOEL for the mantle, and made one cluster of ornaments to suspend from one side of the mantle.  {I'll wait until after Thanksgiving to finish up the mantle for a photo.}

I could easily spend about $1000 on all the different elements I want for decor this holiday season, but I know if I wait until after Christmas I can load up on more for half the price.  So, there is a strategic plan in place here! My dream is garland around all the handrails of the staircase {inside stairs and the back deck}, wreaths on every front facing window, icicle lights from the eaves, snowflake lights at the covered entry, net lights on all our shrubs, big ornaments hanging on our dwarf Japanese Maple, and so much more!

I guess I am a little Christmas crazy.  Perhaps it is because my birthday is the 23rd, maybe it is because it is something I did a lot with my Dad before he passed, or it could just be because it is awesome and you are lame if you don't love it.  {Hehe.}

Clear Sphere

These lighted spheres come in 6" for $39, 8" for $55, and 10" for $85.  I think one of each size suspended as a grouping from the corner of our front entry overhang would be ah-mazing.  However, even at half off after Christmas, I'm not sure I feel great about spending that much.  Maybe that would be too much glow in one spot anyway?

I like all the lighted path lights as well.  The candy canes and lollipops could be great for houses with children, but these little trees or twigs are a little more my style.  I just wish the little swirly trees did not have the star on top.  {Not that I don't like the Biblical reference to the North Star, but it's just a little much on all four trees.}

Philips Warm White Winterberry Twigs

18" Spiral Tree Pathway Lights

There are even a few items I think may could solve a few of our landscape lighting problems throughout the year.  I would love some pathway lighting in the backyard, but the sunlight is spotty depending on the time of year, so solar lights are not an option.  These two options have super long cords and are simply plug into a regular outlet; going all-out with hardwired low voltage lighting is not in our landscaping budget anytime soon.

LED Garden Lights

I'll wait to share all the wondrous indoor discoveries some other day!  Hope your Thanksgiving week is full of delightful family moments.

   

Wood Wall Sculpture Inspired by Talking Dead

The DIY art continues...

This time my inspiration came while watching Talking Dead {the after show for The Walking Dead which I partially watch through my fingers or listen to as I hide under a blanket}.  Last week I showed that the end result does not have to be anything like the initial inspiration. Designers often see something and it sparks an idea that has very loose ties to the original. Personally, I think that's what being a designer is all about.

This time there is definitely a resemblance to my inspiration, but not an exact match.  I did go smaller in scale, and I also choose to leave the wood unfinished. In part because I did not want to put the extra time in, but mostly because I think the family room needed this light natural finish in contrast to all the dark upholstery and stained wood in the other furniture items.  I had the cheap 2x2 pine boards from another project that I changed my mind on {shocker}, and they were perfect for this project.  As I began chopping away with my miter saw I realized "I should plan this out."  I proceeded to cut 3", 2-1/2", 2", 1-1/2" and 1" long pieces.  I should have gone with about a 1/2" and not exceeded 2" because this started becoming heavy pretty quickly - another reason why I stopped at the approximately 13x13 inch overall size.

                 

I started with a completely random pattern...however, considering statistically it is difficult to achieve true randomness I decided why attempt that here?  Vertically the blocks are stacked according to height starting with the shortest, I add the next size on each side of that piece and continue in both directions.  I then shifted that up and down "randomly" as I went across to each column.  I used a 12x24 board I had down in the "craft room" and cut it in half for the back.  Now I have the other half for the other side of my fireplace.  Not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet with it, but ideas are flowing.  I would like it to stay in-keeping with this one, but not matching or even coordinating.  {Did you know there was a difference?}

I toyed with the idea of shifting the grouping of two {wood sculpture and framed print} over to allow for a vertical painted canvas about the same height as the two elements combined.  I really liked the grouping of three and the mixing of mediums; however, it seemed cramped and just too much on this focal wall with the mantle action happening as well.  Given the weight of my little wood guy, I thought it best to find a stud for attaching.  And wouldn't you know?  The stud is centered between the wall and the fireplace.  So, that ended the debate right then.

I used the attachment hardware than came with an old Ikea full length mirror - one centered at top and bottom.  For now, I do not think it will be necessary to add any to the sides.  Hopefully I won't have a heart attack in the middle of the night when it crashes to the floor.

DIY Showoff - Project Parade
Home Stories A to Z
TT&J Weekend Wrap Up
It's Overflowing - ...with creativity

Sunday in Suburbia: Antiquing Mirrors

Today we are in the foyer.  Our foyer is rather small thanks to our angled staircase, but it creates a little corner perfect for a focal element.  My long term plan will include a pedestal with sculpture; however finding a piece of sculpture that evokes the right feeling is not an easy process.  Especially when I want to keep it under $150.  {Too bad I don't have access to welding equipment anymore or I would do it myself!}  So far, everything I find is simply too...pedestrian.  {I laugh just saying that; one of the hotel brands I work with says this all the time!}  So, I decided on a temporary solution that could be used elsewhere in the house when the permanent solution occurs.

Several weeks ago when searching for accessories on a project I came across this wall sculpture from Phillips Collection.

It's a little rustic for me, but it sparked an idea.  Six square mirrors from Ikea no longer had a home when we moved from the apartment...so I was off to Home Depot to purchase muriatic acid to antique those mirrors.

Faithful Fridays

November!? How did you get here so fast?  That means we are just a few short weeks away from our first year of Christmas decorations in the new house! We may have already been eyeing those Christmas aisles at Home Depot and Target...and we may be starting the purchasing this weekend. I mean...what if they run out of the net lights for our shrubs and the icicle lights for the roof line? I would be devastated to say the least.

November also means our zombie friend from the front yard has been packed away for next year.  So {not} sad.

A new month means another first Friday of the month, and I'm going to toot my own horn. That New Year resolution from January?  I'm still on target. At least I am on one of them; however, it was the most important, so double {toot toot} for me.