decorating
The Great Guitar Hanging Debacle
I’d like you to think that all of our home projects go off without a hitch. We don’t encounter any unexpected challenges. The husband and I always agree about the ideal method of approaching a project. We always come in under budget. Heck, we probably make money because we find a suitcase of $100 bills hidden in the walls – every time. Furthermore, my husband reads my mind when I have a vision of how I want something to look. It saves so much time with the communication process. Doesn’t this happen in your house too? Hahahahahahahahahaha. Real-life home projects with your real-life significant other are slightly less perfect than that. At least, they…
The Tale of 3 Houseplants
I bought a houseplant. Yay me. It’s still sort of alive a month later. Yay me? It’s not looking good though, which is a shame because I had to carry it home from the grocery store like this. People don’t even look at you strange here for carrying home a plant on the train. I’m not confident the plant is going to survive. Something weird is going on with the soil. And the stem. If we’re going to be thorough, then fine. The leaves too. As for the obvious question, yes, I have watered it. And not just that one time. I have dutifully followed the directions that came on its…
Irish Flag Centerpiece
Our celebration of St. Patrick’s Day would not be complete without showcasing the Irish flag on our dining room table! Isn’t this Irish Flag Centerpiece festive? My flag holders are milk bottles filled with green mung beans, white basmati rice and orange split lentils. My son and I poured the dry ingredients in the milk bottles in color order as it relates to the stripes on the Irish flag. The simple design of the Irish flag was very helpful in this regard. The Irish flag, also known as the Irish tricolour, has been in existence since 1848. However, it didn’t become Ireland’s national flag until the rebels hoisted it over Dublin’s General Post Office during…
Quick and Simple St. Patricks Day Wreath
My kids are counting down the days until they get the day off from school to celebrate Ireland’s biggest holiday – St. Patrick’s Day. Waiting is oh, so hard! Until then, they did help me make a super simple felt wreath to decorate one corner of our home. We traced shamrocks onto green felt, then cut them out and hot glued them on a wreath form. Super simple and not overly obnoxious! Those are my two main criteria when it comes to holiday crafting. I used a wire wreath form like this one so I could easily remove the felt shamrocks if I want to reuse the wreath form in the future.…
St Patrick’s Day Craft: Burlap Pot of Gold
Happy first day of March! Who’s excited? March is a big month on the little island I currently call home. Ireland. I don’t say that every time to rub it in. I only mention it, again, on the off chance someone is joining the blog today for the first time. It could happen! Anyway, there’s this little holiday on the 17th with leprechauns and drinking. Lots of drinking. You might have heard of it. Well, have you heard of island time? Ireland operates on its own sort of island time. I just started to see advertisements go up for St. Patrick’s Day events. The local newspaper is still asking for entries…
Colorful Wall in a Girl’s Room
It was inevitable. Every parent faces it. That moment when your child develops an…it’s hard for me to say…here goes… An OPINION about what his or her room should look like. Cue the dramatic music. A little bit louder, please. Now, cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth. Mine. Yes, it happened. Opinions, opinions galore. Conflicting opinions that changed without rhyme or reason. It was exhausting to keep up with it all. I’d add a “woe is me,” but I don’t want to sound melodramatic. After much discussion, brainstorming and compromise my daughter and I ended up agreeing to a basic framework for a design plan for her bedroom. The design plan was very specific. It…
1960s Wood Paneling That Looks Good
There’s a bookcase in my house that bugs the crud out of me. Really bugs me. I have to make it look good without changing the root of the problem. I’m still not sure how to do that, so I decided to dive into the black hole of inspiration commonly known as the Internet. While there, I got a little distracted… But those boots I’ve been eyeing were finally on sale! Then I stumbled on a new-to-me blog, Bigger Than The Three Of Us, and ran across a picture of blogger Ashley’s playroom/office. Two things made me pause in my scroll. 1) She has a wood bookcase similar to the one that bugs me to pieces.…
The Easiest Way to Make a Pretty Home
I thought I’d go for a sensational headline to kick off my 2017 blog posting. I’m baaack! I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about after my Christmas blogging break. I didn’t do much that was project or craft-related. I tried to feed my kids cereal three times a day instead of cooking. I stayed off the computer more than normal. The days were lazy and unscheduled, which is needed from time to time. Well, except for that one day when we went hiking and Handy Husband swore this was a trail. That’s totally a trail, right? Needless to say, that wasn’t a lazy day. I did flip…
Christmas Tree 2016
It’s hard to wrap my mind around how fast time flies. We’ve been in Ireland almost 6 months. We’re getting ready to celebrate our first Christmas in this beautiful country. I’m convinced that the true beauty of Ireland is not its scenery, but in the spirit of the people who have welcomed us with open arms. Now, let me segue out of the mushy stuff into some practical matters. We downsized DRASTICALLY when we moved from the United States to Ireland. I cannot emphasize how drastically. Have-no-furniture-to-sit-on drastically. One of the things left behind in the downsizing was our fake Christmas tree. Haters can hate, but I am firmly in the fake…
