LOOK UP

I've been trying to stay busy, but it's just so hard. The other day before the horrible tragedy in Newtown, I was having a rough day. Not really sure what was wrong, but I knew I wasn't feeling myself. After dropping the boys off at school, I pulled up to the house and got out of the car. For some reason I decided to just look up. I never just look up into the sky like that, but that day I did. At that very moment I felt a sense of calmness come over me. Peace is another word I would use.

Before I went into the house I wanted to share my view with others because there was something there. I know for some it's just maybe the sun peaking through the clouds, but I saw more...I felt more. To me it was much more. I shared my view on instagram without any filters or alterations to this image. My caption was "sometimes looking up makes things better". I know that for the families who lost loved ones it will take a little more than just looking up, but to me, it's a start.

 

God bless us all.

L.D

THRIFTING IS JUST NOT THE SAME

I've said it before and I'm here to say it again, Thrifting is just not the same. I stopped inside a Goodwill the other day and headed to their furniture section. First off, they didn't have much. Most of what they had was pure junk and the few pieces that would catch catch your eye was priced a little steep.

I happen to be a fan of these rockers. They are totally cute for a nursery or child's room and even a family room. I have one in my garage that I paid $5 for. These on the other hand were a lot more than $5.

Ummm... I mean, yeah they could totally go for these prices somewhere else. I'm just not use to paying this at Goodwill. They did have a few other pieces at prices that weren't to shabby. Like this chair for instance

Very nice right? I could see it lacquered a fabulous color with a geometric print fabric added. The price?

less than $30! There was a time I could have gotten this chair for at least $10 less, but who's complaining?

I thought long and hard about ignoring my husband and snatching these babies up

Excuse my language, but I damn near died a thousand deaths when I saw them! I'm still kicking myself for not getting them. Their price?

That price is not for the pair. They were marked separately. I should go back just to test my luck... Ugh they look so good right now. I'm a hoarder and I know:-)

These chairs weren't badly priced either, but for some reason, I didn't get excited about them. Maybe because my husband was rushing me out of the store? I did snap their price as well

Not bad unless you're like me and remember when you could have gotten the same chairs for $30 a pair.

That pretty much sums up my goodwill trip from last week. I did leave with a little something for a whopping $2.50....

A boring little coffee table book about the city of Atlanta. I say boring because well... It's boring! But is is a nice shade of purple so it was perfect:)

When was the last time you thrifted and scored big? Oh and I know that you guys are going to scream at me for not getting those etageres. I know, I know, I know!!!!

CHALK IT UP THIS HOLIDAY

Have you guys gotten over the chalkboard craze? I haven't! It's still going strong in my house. I was on pinterest and I found myself pinning so many pretty chalkboards with holiday phrases that I just had to jump on the bandwagon.

A few weeks ago, I decided to pull out an empty frame that had been sitting in the garage for a year or so. I grabbed my trusty chalkboard paint and and a $3 piece of plywood from Home Depot and got to work. By the next day, I had a pretty little addition to my holiday decor!

 

Are you still using chalkboard paint in your home?!

 

EASY DIY ADVENT CALENDAR

How did December sneak up on us? Do you know what that mean? It means we have to hurry and get all of our holiday decor done by next week! Well at least for me it does.

Every year I tell myself that I will not be decorating for Christmas all December and every year I do. This time around, I decided to lite the fire under my own butt and get things done. For instance, we have an advent calendar!

I've always wanted to make an advent calendar for my boys and figured this was 'The Year' to do it. I knew I wanted it to be simple because I knew I was going to wait till the last minute to do it. With our advent calendar, that's exactly what I got. The hardest part about this project was coming up with the activities and deciding on what day is best for each activity -__-

 

Here's how to recreate our advent calendar:

Start by coming up with a list of activities or scriptures or whatever you want your calendar to consist of. Since I have 3 boys I knew all of the activities for ours had to be something the 3 could do AND be cheap... Ha!

some of our activities include going to grandma and granddads house, riding Macy's pink pig, going to see Christmas lights, making hot chocolate and watching the polar express, wearing new pjs to bed, ice cream after school, dancing contest to Christmas music, buying and dropping off Toys for Tots, going to the movies, making teachers gifts, wrapping cousins presents, making cookies for Santa, writing a note to Santa and dropping it in the mail, etc...

There are so many things to do so be creative!

Next up is gathering supplies

again, simple was the key word here. I purchased some Kraft paper tags from Michael's, I had the clothes pins already (from the thrift store!), a sharpie, and some jute string.

I wrote out the numbers 1-24 on each card and then on the other side, I wrote a simple note of what we were going to do for that particular day

After the numbers and activities were written on the tags, I strung them on the jute using the clothes pins

And there you have it... Our easy peasy advent calendar! So ummm, I totally forgot about our Christmas stockings. Maybe I can hang the stockings behind the tags? We'll see.

Did you make or buy one this year? If you haven't made one and want to, by all means do it! It's only Dec.1st!

 

 

BOXWOOD WREATH: a diy tutorial of sorts

With Christmas swiftly approaching, I wanted to get a head start on a few holiday DIY's that I've been wanting to do. For starters, I've always loved the look of boxwood wreaths for the holidays. They're just so clean and simple. I decided to make one that would hopefully last me years and years, but if not that's fine because it didn't cost me much to make anyway;)

I started with some faux boxwood branches and a grapevine wreath from hobby lobby

After cutting the branches, I started placing them around the wreath just to see if I had enough and to get a good base so all I had to do was wire them to the wreath.

 

 

After that was done, I took out my wire and wire cutters and started wiring down each piece of the faux branches

 

 

 

 

Once I went around the entire wreath, I did have more branches left so I just stuffed them in the wreath. No wire or anything. I did that until I was out of branches and until I got the look I wanted. After that was done I tied a ribbon to it and tossed it on my sideboard next to my new chalkboard frame I made (more on that later!)

 

This wreath cost me less than $20 to make and I'm totally happy with it. I may need to make another one:-)

 

What have you made for the holidays so far?

 

HOUSE OF FIFTY HOLIDAY ISSUE IS LIVE!!!

The day I have been waiting for is finally here! House of Fifty's holiday issue is live!

 

My favorite way of reading it is on my iPad!

This is issue is the beginning of the magazine being "pay to read", but don't fret, it's only $1.50! Total deal right?!?! Right!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Click here for a preview

 

I CHOOSE FOOD

Thanksgiving is swiftly approaching, obviously. And of course we're all thinking about how we can decorate our tables...

 

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to decide if I want a bunch of candles and white pumpkins on my table or if I want a large flower arrangement. Then for a minute I thought: what if the food was the "decor"?

 

So this year I'm forgoing the centerpieces and pumpkins and what not. You know, the stuff that usually is removed from the table anyway? I'm going to put my collection of platters and cake plates and glass pitchers to good use this year so that my food can grace my table beautifully.

What about you? What's on your Thanksgiving table?

 

 

WRIST SOIRÉE HOLIDAY SALE!

Hi all! I hope you're having a fabulous Sunday. I just wanted to pop in and inform you that I have started the first round of holiday sales in the shop! First up is the "Sparkle" bracelet. The regular price is $24, but for a limited time, it's available for $10!!!

These are by far my favorite out of my entire collection. They're perfect for stocking stuffers, secret Santa gifts around the office, or even as a special treat to yourself!

Ps, feel free to "Pin" this or even help me spread the word:-)

 

Laters,

L.D

Vote! It's just as easy as reading this post!

Make a date of it!

 

BETTER PICS OF THE LIVING ROOM



Ok, I promise this will be the last post about the living room until I've done something different to it.  I just wanted to post better pics than I have previously.  I finally gave in and purchased a laptop!

 

 



Next up will be the dining room!

 

Laters...



WARMING UP FOR FALL

Fall and winter are no doubt 2 of my favorite seasons. During the warmer months, all we can think about is getting out of the house enjoying the sun. For me, in the cooler months, I think of cuddling up on the sofa with a good book and a throw.

When I started thinking about how many years we've been in our home and how long I've been "decorating" it, I realized I haven't had much time to do just that. I also never have my home what I like to call "season ready" in time to really enjoy it like I want. That's all coming to a change!

For the past few weeks, I've been warming up my home. Making it feel like "home".

 

This picture makes the living room look a little busy, but in all honesty, I love it like this! It's perfect for that book and throw. I have finally had a chance to start a gallery wall (still have a few pictures to add to some frames). I have a little tweaking to do to it, but so far so good. I also purchased a fiddle leaf fig from Home Depot. I felt like the space needed some more "life"!

(I have yet to find a basket to sit it in!)

It not going to sit in this spot, I just sat it there to get a little sunlight.

I have a few more things to do and then I'm going to snap some better pictures. I've also started rub n buffing the frames of the mirrors in the dinning room

 

They are looking great! I can't believe it took me so long to hang them. And just in case you missed it, the mirrors came from Goodwill a while back. I knew they'd be perfect on this wall when I purchased them:)

 

And of course I can't end this post without mentioning voting! Make sure you go vote! It doesn't matter to me who you vote for, I just think its important that you do!

 

Laters

L.D