decorating
Hiding a Router and Modem in Plain Sight
When we moved into this house we set up our Internet connection in the easiest spot for the Charter Internet guy, which was in the basement. It worked great. Until it didn’t. Isn’t that how it always is with your Internet service? If I was into conspiracy theories… So, last weekend my husband got up early and tells me he’s going to move the router upstairs. In my un-caffeinated, still-in-bed state, that’s all I heard. Router and upstairs. He was literally moving the router 6-feet straight up. I thought he was going to leave everything plugged in where it was and run the wire directly through the basement ceiling/living room…
Outdoor Decorating with Farm Junk
My stepmom has put in countless dirty, filthy hours cleaning out old barns and sheds on the family farm. God bless her. There have been piles for Goodwill, piles for scrap metal recycling, piles for burning. Then there’s the pile she’s kept. What’s in it? Old lights, saw blades, tractor seats, mole traps, springs…the usual. Why does she keep these things? Well, she’s the Junk Whisperer. This wall is on the back of the garage. A spot that nobody, but her and my dad are going to see on a regular basis. When I arrived in Oregon this summer, this was simply an empty wall with a flower bed on the…
Vintage-Looking Animal Prints – Free Printable
A couple of weeks ago on our trip to Oregon we visited the WildLife Safari in the small town of Winston. The highlight of the Wildlife Safari is actually driving through the safari with your windows down. In some instances the animals were close enough to the driving path for a few really great photo ops. Now, when the ostrich came a little too close and decided to peck the car, the windows were definitely UP for that encounter. Here’s a photo I took of the American Bison. His coat is looking a little sad in the original photo. Here he is all vintage-y and with a little haircut. I’m seriously considering…
Birdhouse on a Post
This is a birdhouse post about a birdhouse on a post. (Prepositions are little, but mighty.) In this particular instance, it is not so much a house, but a bird chapel. Preach it little birdies. If you have or find or make an amazing birdhouse, you don’t always have to hang it in a tree. No sir. Bring it closer, make it a part of your outdoor decor. Stick it on a post! My stepmom secured this bird chapel her super-talented brother made for her on top of an old 4×4 fence post. To get the fence post to stand upright without putting it into the ground she cut four…
Tractor Seat Art
I’m lucky a gal. When I go “home,” I actually get to go back to my childhood home. Yep, I grew up on a ranch. Cows, hay fields and lots of memories. There are also a lot of country treasures to be found on the ol’ homestead. My stepmom rescued these 2 old tractor seats and gave them new life as wall art. She’s a clever gal! The metal flowers came off of a piece of art my stepmom found at Kohl’s – on deep clearance, of course. She liked the flowers, but said they were attached to a weird, tacky piece of tile. It took a while for inspiration to…
Patriotic Table
Last week at Target… That’s how all of my good stories start. So, last week at Target, I picked up some vinyl placemats. I have no intention of using them as placemats, but that’s a story for another day. Before I embark on my little placemat project, I thought I’d use them as a table runner to help get us in the mood for the 4th of July. I also bought myself roses for the first time in my life. They are from Trader Joe’s. I pretty much use whatever excuse I can to go to Trader Joe’s because a $5 bouquet of flowers really floats my boat. Red roses signify love, which…
Kid Chairs Get a Little Glam
I’ve haven’t been feeling too motivated in the crafty, decorating department lately. What can I say? Sometimes you’re on fire, sometimes you’re not! When the urge to spray paint something this week surged through me, well, I grabbed the first thing in sight that hadn’t yet been altered: the chairs at my kids’ game table. I’ve had these kid chairs for a few years now. And yes, they still had the price tags on them. *insert forehead slap here* They are from The Container Store and are probably the only thing I’ve ever purchased from that store. At the time, I was looking for a set of kids’ chairs that weren’t obnoxious.…
Repairing Nicks and Scratches in Linoleum or Vinyl Flooring
If you were to play that game “which of these things don’t belong,” well, the flooring in our kitchen would definitely win the prize. It does not fit in with the gorgeous wood floors throughout the rest of the house. It is a big sheet of chipped, scratched, dinged and maybe-burned linoleum. I really have no idea what could have caused so much damage to one section of flooring. While this was not the overall ugliest linoleum I had ever lived with, it was certainly the most damaged. I couldn’t wait to tear it out. But then I couldn’t decide what to replace it with. So, I sat there staring at…
Joanna Gaines Made Me Do It – Wire Baskets
Have you guys seen HGTV’s Fixer Upper show? It’s my favorite. I truly hope Chip and Joanna Gaines are as kind, funny and down-to-earth in real life as they appear to be on the show. I was binge-watching Fixer Upper episodes on the HGTV site while painting my kitchen cabinets when I saw Joanna hang some wire baskets on a wall. I know that, in and of itself, is not revolutionary. However, it inspired an “aha” moment. Or maybe that was the paint fumes… Anyway, I couldn’t find a picture of the actual image that got me motivated, but Joanna uses wire baskets often, so this is another instance of how she attached…
