May 7
One of my lovely neighbors gave me a basket full of lilacs the other day, as well as carte blanche to cut lilacs from her yard anytime. With centerpieces this easy to make, I’m certain I’ll be two yards over with a basket and shears fairly often.
May 1
One of the benefits of organizing my craft space, an ordeal chronicled in Hoarder to Order, was rediscovering a lot of prints and frames that I had been squirreling away. Once I realized how much art I had just lying around I decided it was time to finally tackle a project that had sort of intimidated me, a framed art collage.
Apr 29
As I’ve mentioned before, I live in an old house. With this in mind, it can be assumed that my home has the same challenges as other older homes. In this instance, it’s a smaller floor plan where the size of my bedroom dictates that my bed be placed directly in front of a window. This can be a tricky situation, but after a little online shopping I found some beautiful headboards that could go in front of a window without blocking the light. Problem solved, right? Absolutely, if I wanted to spend $400 on a headboard, but I did not. So, I turned this inspiration into an inexpensive design solution.
Apr 26
Like gorgeous spring days, it feels like you can never appreciate good neighbors enough. We had wonderful neighbors during the first two years in our first home. A friendly older couple and with around 170 years of living between them, it’s no surprise that both Mr. and Mrs. M led extraordinary lives. Mr. M was a WWII Prisoner of War and was one of thousands in the Bataan Death March. Mrs. M was a photographer and artist who added color to black and white pictures before cameras had that ability.
In the past 12 months, both Mr. and Mrs. M passed away. We’ve missed having them next door – I learned something new every time we talked. Their daughter came by yesterday to tend to estate matters and asked if I’d like anything to remember them by. Even with Mrs. M gone, I’m still learning more about her – she had great style.
Apr 25
A perfect storm occurred in my rarely used front porch. A craft room in complete upheaval from a semi-recent move, debris from designing, creating and storing favors, invitations, menus etc. from our wedding last year, and unofficially designating this space as a storage unit, since our front door is rarely never used. These three factors along with dozens of projects requiring more immediate attention around our nearly 100 year old bungalow created the perfect storm, the creation of a 20′ x 8′ space that could easily earn me a spot on Hoarders: Buried Alive.
Though it pains me to show any space in this much disarray, in efforts to learn something from this pile of wreckage, it’s a necessary evil. Plus, who doesn’t like a nice, dare a say, dramatic before and after?
{before}
So Pretty is as Pretty Does. 