Scrapbook Paper Flowers – Spring Fireplace Decor
Let’s talk scrapbook paper flowers and all the ways you can use them to decorate your home. I’m craving the color of spring flowers, but it still looks like winter in New Jersey. So, I do what I often do. Fake it till spring arrives I make it. This time, I used scrapbook paper flowers to decorate my dining room fireplace for spring. It looks like I’m ready for spring now, doesn’t it? I still have snow shovels by the front door, but that’s a little detail we don’t need to dwell on. What you need to make scrapbook paper flowers: Scrapbook Paper (I used this paper, but you can use…
A Mixed Bag For Overwintering Plants This Year
It’s been a mixed bag for overwintering plants this year (2024-2025). We’ve had some successes and some unfortunate failures. Have you ever had one of those restaurant experiences where the food was great, but the service was terrible? You think to yourself, “I don’t know if this was worth trying again.” That’s me right now with overwintering plants. Keep in mind, I also forgot childbirth was painful, and I had more than one child. So, take my whining with a pound of salt, and meet me back here next year for another update. Ha! Seriously though, we have the ideal setup for overwintering plants on our sunporch. It’s like having…
Vintage Floral Easter Eggs Using Temporary Tattoos
Breaking Crafting News! I made vintage-looking floral Easter eggs using temporary tattoos. Yes, temporary tattoos…for that vintage look. HA! Until last week, I had lived my whole life not knowing that temporary tattoos can transfer to items other than skin. I saw a video of someone customizing sneakers using temporary tattoos. Do you know what’s related to sneakers? Not wood Easter eggs! But that’s where my brain went, and I needed to see if that technique would apply to Easter eggs. Spoiler: It works beautifully. This is a game changer for someone who can’t paint to save her life. Fake it till you make it, which is kind of the…
9 Wood Knob and Pull Ideas For Your Cabinets
It is safe to say I like wood knobs and pulls. I have them in at least four places in our home. Some are painted. Some are stained. I was painting a set of wood knobs a few weeks ago for the desks in our office and thought to myself, “Gosh, I really like wood knobs.” And by “thought to myself” I mean I was talking out loud in that voice you reserve for babies and cute dogs and saying, “You look like a million bucks all painted! Yes, you do!” Embarrassing gushing to inanimate objects aside, there is a certain charm to wood knobs and pulls. I mainly think…
Nature Art Gallery Wall – Oh, It’s Expanded
In October 2023, I shared the nature art gallery wall in our living room here on the blog. In the 16 months since that blog post, it is safe to say the nature art gallery wall has expanded. If you give a mouse a cookie a woman a thrift store painting… Here’s how the nature art gallery wall looked way back in the olden times of 2023. (It wasn’t that long ago and yet it feels like three lifetimes have passed since then. Why is that?) Here’s a pulled back view of how that wall looks now in February 2025. It’s cold and barren outside, but inside I’m faking it…
The Prettiest Easter Decor
Do you know what is in stores already? Easter decor. How quickly we move on from holiday to holiday in the U.S. Is it like that everywhere in the world? Weigh in and tell me! The good news is Easter is in late April this year (April 20), so you’ll get a lot of bang for your decorating buck if you sprinkle a little Easter decor around your home this year. Check out the prettiest Easter decor I found: Empty Tomb Scene | Amazon I know we do a lot of woodworking, but this empty tomb scene would be tricky to cut for us, so I’d gladly spend $20 on…
Under-A-Table Pull-Out Trash Cabinet
With limited kitchen cabinet space and nowhere to conceal the trash and recycling cans, we got creative and made a pull-out trash cabinet to go under a table. Yes, a table! We have a partially unfitted kitchen, meaning not everything is fixed in place. We use furniture to supplement our lack of kitchen cabinets and counter space. In particular, we have a rustic table pushed against one wall that serves as a counter, coffee station, and eating area. That’s where we decided to tuck our pull-out trash cabinet. Here’s that rustic table before we started this project. And, ahem, here’s how that table has looked on any given weekday with…
Copper Toe Kick For Built-In Desks
Allow me to acquaint you with the most amazing thing – a copper toe kick with an adhesive backing. If copper isn’t your color, don’t write this idea off. Brass and nickel toe kicks are a thing too. Sure, toe kicks or kick plates are not a new invention. They’ve been around since women started complaining about people and pets damaging their gorgeous front doors or so I assume. Seems like something that would drive me nuts. However, we’re not getting distracted by assumptive history today. We’re focusing on what drives me nuts creative problem-solving with gorgeous materials. I most often see a toe kick or kick plate on the…
Building In Our Fridge: The Reveal
It’s reveal day! We’ve been working on building in our fridge and customizing it to make it look panel-ready(ish) and now I get to show you how it looks. It does make me a little insecure to release these photos into the wild because I know this is just one step in a multi-step process of making over our kitchen. There is still more to come as time and budgets allow. I hope you enjoy seeing a transformation over time because that’s what happening here. Here’s the original before photo of the refrigerator. Try to contain your jealousy. Fast forward a few years and we removed some wallpaper, painted, and…
Make A Magnetic Bulletin Board With Sheet Metal
I prefer to test out our DIY creations before I share them on the blog and the magnetic bulletin board we made with sheet metal is no exception. It is the second bulletin board we made for our Carriage House Gym and we have put this magnetic bulletin board through its paces to see how it will hold up. If it can survive being hung in a well-used gym with no heating or cooling and some moisture issues (humidity, not sweat – but a little of that too), it can survive your house or business. Why did we make magnetic bulletin board instead of a cork board? First, they are…
