decorating
In Praise of Wood Trinket Boxes
When I was a kid, a family friend gifted me a personalized wood trinket box. They built it themselves and it had my name on it! My uncommon name. As a kid whose name never appeared on any of the pins or magnets at the touristy gift shops, I relished the idea of having something with my name on it. I felt so special…and normal. This wood trinket box has been a secret keeper and a memory holder through all the phases of my life: teenage angst, falling in love, getting married, and so on. What sorts of things have this wood trinket box held over the years? When I…
Our New Living Room Rug Gives a Warm Feel To This Part of Our Home
Make one change and an entire space can feel different. That’s what happened when we rolled out our new living room rug. Our new living room rug gives a warm feel to this entire space. And that’s all I have to say about that. The end. Kidding! You know I can wax on about pretty much anything in a blog post! Our old living room rug, which I still like, had a brighter version of the same colors this new living room rug has. Blues, yellows, orangey reds, browns. It was bright, playful, and didn’t take itself too seriously. Our new living room rug is a bit warmer tone-wise, understated,…
In Praise of Miniature Table Clocks
Ah, miniature table clocks. Those take me back. When I was a teenager my piano teacher gifted me a miniature table clock. I felt so fancy and grown-up. Looking back on that gift, I have no idea why she selected it. Now I wonder if it’s because I always had trouble counting or keeping time as a pianist. It’s not that I couldn’t count. It’s that Teenage Me lacked the discipline to play the piece as the composer intended. I thought I should be able to take creative liberties with the sheet music. Go where the music led me…or something like that. Adult Me has the same problem. Actually, I…
In Praise of Pretty Scissors
I use our kitchen scissors (shears, if I’m being fancy) a dozen times a day and they aren’t the prettiest scissors on the planet. They aren’t the worst either. Our kitchen scissors are used so frequently for all manner of tasks that more often than not they will be left out on the counter. Putting them away has become a point of friction in our kitchen, so I have been thinking about designating a wall hook specifically for the kitchen scissors. But that means those scissors need to be pleasing to look at if I’m going to intentionally display them instead of intentionally being lazy and leaving them out. Can…
In Praise of Pressed Flower Art
Pressed flower art has been around forever! Well, maybe not forever, but at least since the 1500s. So, close enough? Artists in Japan used pressed flowers as their medium for creating large-scale artwork in the 1500s. As trade between nations expanded, the practice eventually gained favor in England and the United States. Like any type of art, pressed flower art has trended in and out of style. Is it trendy now? Who knows? Who can keep up? Who wants to? Make what you like. Buy what you like. The end. I recently had the most enjoyable experience making actual pressed flower art for my home. It turned out as delicate…
Our Not Quite Fall Front Porch
We have a not quite summer, not quite fall front porch right now. Anyone else feeling like they are sitting on the fence between seasons at this very moment with their decor? No? Just me? You couldn’t even give me a shove either way off the seasonal fence because I like it right where I am at the moment. It’s just so pleasant in New Jersey right now. We can hang out outside without wilting under the intense heat and humidity of summer. It’s not yet sweatshirt weather though with the daytime temperatures still in the 70s. In other words, it is perfect. If New Jersey was always like this,…
In Praise of Embroidered Pillowcases
All of a sudden I’m seeing embroidered pillowcases everywhere and I couldn’t be happier about it! We received a set of embroidered pillowcases as a wedding gift over two decades ago. I can’t remember who gave them to me (sorry!) or if they were even handstitched. I always thought those embroidered pillowcases made my bedding look far fancier than it really was. Unfortunately, fancy eventually turned into threadbare because we used those pillowcases so often. I don’t know how many of you learned to hand embroider, but I’d venture to say it was a much more common skill if you go back a couple of generations. Not to put an…
It’s Time to Establish Sentimental Provenance for Family Keepsakes
What is sentimental provenance? It’s a term I coined to describe a historical record of an item’s origin and ownership for sentimental reasons, not monetary reasons. How many times have you bought something at a thrift store and wished you knew where that item had come from, in other words, its provenance? For me, it’s every single time! I wish I knew that table, painting, or bowl’s back story. Where did it come from and how did it end up on this dusty thrift store shelf? If that item could talk, what stories would it tell? What historical events did it witness? How much did it originally cost? I don’t…
8 Fresh Ways to Repurpose a Piano
As a pianist, it pains me to say this, but it can be hard and expensive to get rid of an old piano and you might need fresh ways to repurpose a piano. I truly wish everyone had the space for a piano and wanted to learn to play, but I also understand why this instrument can be a burden to move, maintain, and learn to play. We own a baby grand piano that I hope to pass down to my kids one day, but we unexpectedly became the owners of an old upright piano too. When we purchased our current home, the previous owners left their piano in the…
Blanket Ladder With DIY Brass Leg Tips
I recently discovered you can buy thin sheets of brass and now I want to cover EVERYTHING in brass. My first project was jazzing up a blanket ladder with DIY brass leg tips. This DIY brass leg tips idea should be transferable to almost any blanket ladder style. You don’t need to have rescued a rotting wood ladder covered in dirt and spiders from under a deck in a house you were renting as I did. I wouldn’t blame you if you did though! Here’s how I made the brass leg tips for my blanket ladder: The thin brass rolls I ordered come in different sizes. My roll is about…
