House Revivals

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Easy Party Decorations

Most of you saw the re-purposed bulletin board tray, we made for my daughter's baby shower last week. We also made a few decorations for the party.

We made about a million giant tissue paper flowers, including a rose for this sweet gentle dog; and we had fun re-using some decorations from last summer's beach wedding. I can share about making the tissue paper flowers in a later post, if you'd like. For now, I will share how we re-made these paper lanterns.

We had quite a few of these simple paper lanterns saved from the wedding reception.

For the wedding reception, we dressed them up a bit to go with some of the other decor.

Remember the flower pompoms we made from leis and Wiffle balls?

Well, most of the leis came with elasticized ankle and wrist bands, as well. These were the perfect size to slip over the bottom of these colorful paper lanterns to dress them up!

These were lovely decorating the wedding reception, and my daughter requested that we re-use them for the baby shower. We wanted the lanterns to feel more "showerish", though, so we pulled off all the flowers.

Then we gave them all brand new skirts, using pink tissue paper fringe.

To make the fringe, we simply cut strips about three and a half inches wide from a stack of folded tissue paper. Then we snipped a fringe into the sides of the strips.

Next we just glued the fringe to the bottom edge of the lanterns, gathering it as we went.

I used a tacky glue, as I've not yet recovered from that last hot glue episode.

The finished product turned out pretty cute, and it was fun to re-invent decorations from another special day!

This post is being linked to the following lovely places:

Mad in Crafts

Between Naps on the Porch

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Stone Floors and Beautiful Spaces

The beach house we're renovating has flagstone floors. They're actually not my favorite flooring, but replacing them is just not in our budget. And, actually, they are very beautiful -- and perfect for a place where sand is constantly being tracked into the house. So, I've been collecting images of beautiful interiors with flagstone flooring.

image courtesy countryliving.com

I love the contrast of the colorful galoshes and cheery yellow wall in the image above. And what's not to love about that great dog!

image courtesy countryliving.com

This image feels homey and welcoming. Love the row of cowboy boots and the woven rug on the flag flooring.

image courtesy countryliving.com

Don't you love how conservatories sort of blur the line between indoors and out? In the room here, the stylist brought in an assortment of elegant chairs and textiles, and they look right at home with the more rustic flooring.

country living

Here's another great space and another great dog! The shabby dreamy aesthetic is lovely with the flag flooring.

eclectic kitchen design by san francisco architect Mark English Architects, AIA

This yellow kitchen makes me happy. Who doesn't adore a cool vintage stove? Once again, the bright color plays off the natural stone beautifully.

Candy sweet pinks and purples and yellows are amazing against the stone!

Sullivan Conard Architects traditional staircase

traditional staircase design by seattle architect Sullivan Conard Architects

Here, the flagstone flooring holds it own in a very elegant and formal entry way.

traditional family room design by seattle architect Bosworth Hoedemaker

Doesn't this space make you want to snuggle in with a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa?

tropical living room design by philadelphia showroom usona

Here, the gray slate flooring is understated, and takes a backseat to the dramatic views.

This scene from Wisteria is gorgeous... This scene from the beach house... not so much, but things are coming along.

All the new framing is completed, we have the plumbing, HVAC, and electric all roughed in, just waiting to be inspected, and we have stairs to the front door, so no more climbing in on a ladder! Next week we order our cabinets (should have been done already, but life and travel and income taxes got in the way).

Now, tell me what you think.

Could you live with flagstone floors?

Love 'em or hate 'em?

Do you have a picture of a gorgeous interior with flagstone floors?

If you do, add a link in the comments!

This post is being linked to the following lovely places:

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

The House in the Roses

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Re-Purposed Ottoman Tray

Last week, I traveled to Colorado to see my daughter and help prepare for her baby shower (for logistical reasons the hostesses had the shower in my daughter's home).

The night before the shower we were rearranging furniture and realized there were not enough surfaces for all the guests to put their drinks down. My daughter's sofa is a sectional, similar in configuration to this one, with a large ottoman instead of a coffee table.

source

With twelve hours before guests would arrive, we did some brain-storming. We needed a huge tray. We felt that two smaller trays would feel too cluttered. Twelve hours doesn't give you time to order something from Pottery Barn, so we headed out to the only stores open at that hour -- Hobby Lobby and Target.

HL had some great trays, but they were all either too small, or woven. We worried that a glass would tip too easily on a woven tray. Target had a few trays, but they were too small, too plastic, or too warped. Then we saw this:

A bulletin board! It was big, flat, and had clean lines that would work with my daughter's modern furniture. We didn't want it to look like we just plunked a bulletin board onto her ottoman, so we also bought these:

It took about fifteen minutes and a drill to create this:

We simply marked where to drill holes to attach the handles, drilled the holes, then attached the handles. That's it! There was a white decal in one corner of the frame that we scrubbed lightly with a Brillo pad, then we touched up that area with a black Magic Marker.

Keeping the styling very simple worked well with my daughter's decor. If I were to do this for my own home, I might have added some molding and distressed the tray a bit -- this project can be adapted to any style! The tray got lots of attention at the party -- everyone loved it. Even the son-in-law liked it!

This tray cost around twenty-three dollars to make, but if you used a thrifted bulletin board, you could cut the cost in half.

We liked the cork surface for its practicality and its beautiful texture, but of course you could cover it with burlap, fabric, or paper to make the project your own.

Hope you liked this quick, easy project!

This post is being linked to the following places:

Remodelaholic's Anonymous

All Thingz Heart and Home

Krafty Kat

Under the Table and Dreaming

Between Naps on the Porch

The DIY Show Off

Coastal Charm

Friday, April 8, 2011

Nature Inspired Vintage Style Garland

Hi friends! Many of you probably saw this post over at Beckie's last week. She was so sweet to allow me to guest post at her wonderful blog Infarrantly Creative. If you missed it at Beckie's, here it is.

While we remodel our house, we're living in a tiny city apartment with a rooftop garden. The garden has some beautiful blooming shrubs. They are really lovely right now and inspired me to create this simple spring garland.

The shrubs look a bit like a Pussy Willow, but the branching pattern is different. With some research, we discovered they are a variety of Japanese Magnolia.

The buds are velvety soft, and open up for these lovely white flowers to emerge. Eventually, the entire shrub will be covered in these white blossoms.

The garland interpretation is not literal -- it's just inspired by the simple exuberance of the blooms.

I wanted to keep the form simple, adding interest by layering texture. This was done by using a combination of vintage crepe paper, crinoline, and vintage book paper. You don't need to use exactly what I used to create a similar effect -- just use what you have on hand. Maybe you have an old silk blouse, some cheesecloth, and a binder of old hand-written college notes? You could even use your junk mail!

Begin by cutting your materials into strips and cutting a fringe into both long sides, as shown here. The size you use will depend on the width and fullness you want for your flower. I used pieces about seven inches long by about two and one-half to three inches wide, depending on which layer I was cutting.

You can stack your strips, cutting several layers at a time, if you wish.

Then tie each strip into a little bundle, using string or thread or wire.

Layer your bundles as desired and tie them together. Then fluff and coax your flowers into shape.

I actually added the book page layer last, gluing it to the back perpendicular to the other layers to sort of "fill out" the flowers. The centers are simply tiny scraps of crepe paper, about three-quarters of an inch square, snipped into fringe and glued down. You could use bits of fabric, string or yarn -- even a button or bead.

The flowers were glued to lengths of finger crocheted thread to create a garland. Again, you'll want to use whatever you have on hand for this -- it could be torn strips of fabric, selvages, twine, even wire -- just use what's handy.

I layered my garland with lengths of torn draped crinoline.

On a difficulty scale between one and ten, I'd give this project about a three (owing mostly to having to clean up all the little snippets of string and thread and paper -- I had it all over my clothes, on my desk, and on the carpet before I was finished)!