home is where my story begins...

Filling Your Home With Personal Treasures

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I was looking through old posts the other day, looking for a picture.  I found an old post about antiques around my house.  It reminded me so much of my grandma and I thought I’d do a repost of a few of the highlights.  
I don’t mind if things around my house look a bit tattered or scratched.  I think those little imperfections show that things are used and loved.  I tend to be a collector.  (My husband would embellish that and call me a hoarder.)  But, there are so many special treasures that I love to display in my home that bring back memories or remind me of people.

 

This sewing machine was in a corner of my parents’ garage for years, before it found a home in my craft room. My step dad said it was either is mom’s or grandma’s.  I love the case as much as I love the machine and display it with several old wooden spools of thread that my mom had.

 

There is nothing more meaningful than holding your great-grandmother’s Bible. There are even handwritten notes inside from church services and Bible studies. It’s tattered and I’m always a bit worried that something will happen to it, now that it’s sitting on a table in the living room where the boys play their video games.

When we were going through my grandma’s old suitcases, many years ago, we opened one and found her wedding dress and my grandpa’s WWII army uniform. Many years before, she told us she had thrown them away because they were tattered. It was amazing to find them in perfect condition inside a suitcase in her garage.

The flower garden quilt is from my husband’s side of the family. His grandma sent it home with me after a visit to her house. It is very tattered, but I just have the good part of the quilt poking out of the basket. The star quilt was made my great grandmother. I had to bribe my sister to let me have it.

This one was made my great grandmother and my great, great grandmother as a wedding gift for my grandparents. The patterned fabric was made from old shirts and dresses. They didn’t have a lot of money and they used the scraps they had available. What a treasure!  I hung this in my hallway and think about a great grandmother and great, great grandmother who I never met, every time I walk down the hall.

I fill my home with these treasures because each piece has a story. It reminds me about home and family, and isn’t that what life should be all about?

What story does your home tell?

A New Shelf

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A few months ago my son tossed a kitchen towel toward the couch and inadvertently broke a table in the family room.  For the record, the table was on its last leg anyway… literally.  I bought the little table for $8.00 at Goodwill and used it as an outdoor table.  When the weather turned rainy, I brought it into the house but didn’t really know where to put it.  My daughter liked the way the table top spun and played with it a bit too much, leading to cracking.  I propped it in the corner and tried to make it pretty, while telling the kids to not put anything on the table because I had it balanced just right.

Onto the story about how a kitchen towel broke the table:

We had laundry waiting to be folded on the couch, including a few kitchen towels.  My son tossed a towel over to the couch and it hit the little lamp on the coffee table.  When the lamp moved, the table became off balanced causing it to fall, which then pulled the cords for the other lamps nearby and knocked those lamps off our taller shelves too.

Now that you know the story of How a Kitchen Towel Broke My Table, I can show you my pretty new shelf in the corner of my family room.

I looked all over the place for a medium sized table that had additional storage.  I was really looking for things like industrial carts that had a rustic feel, but all of those were too expensive.  A couple nights ago, we were at TJMaxx, killing a little time before a movie, and I spotted this little shelf.  It was just what I was looking for.  I wanted something a little taller, so I’d get better lighting from my lamp in the corner.  I also wanted something wood-toned but not matchy-matchy pieces.

I really wanted a place to store more “stuff” in my family room.  This shelf has room for a basket and blanket at the bottom, books and pretty jars, a few picture albums, a picture, and my new lamp that I bought with my birthday money.

I’m liking my pretty new corner in the family room!  It looks like it belongs there.

Happy decorating!

My New Barn Door

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I have a door!  I HAVE A DOOR!  Do you hear angels singing?  I do! I’ve lived in this house for TEN YEARS WITH NO DOOR!  I don’t know who designed this house, but why would you not put a door on a bathroom?  It doesn’t even have a door to a separate toilet area – just NO door at all until NOW!  
Here’s the before shot.  You can imagine how this must light up the room, when someone gets up in the middle of the night or gets up early for work.  It was an extra wide opening, so we had to special order a door that would fit.
Because of the shape, you couldn’t really just add a door frame without cutting the wall and evening out those corners.  Even if you cut the corners and ordered a frame and door, it would still all need to be custom because of the size.  Custom = $$$.

I don’t care anymore.  I have a door!  
We went up to The Door Store in Marysville with our measurements and my PInterest board filled with barn doors.  They said, “Oh, sure.  We can totally do that for you.  The door will be about $1,500 and the track is about $500.”  Then I mentioned that I want the cheaper version.  They showed me the cheaper version but it still wasn’t in out budget, so I forced them to get a little creative.  They said they could do a special order door, that wouldn’t be a true barn door, but would at least have a couple of panels.  They found an unfinished door for me, so I could finish it myself and save a little more money.  The unfinished 4 panel door cost us $350, which was a much better price for this project.  It’s solid and heavy, which is what I wanted.  
I was a little disappointed in the finish on the door.  We have been stripping, staining, and varathaning all of the doors, cabinets, and trim in the house.  It’s been a long project and we are only about half way done.  When I was staining the doors (we bought a new door to the garage too) I ran out of Varathane.  I took a picture of what I wanted and sent my hubby to Lowe’s to pick up a new can.  Well, either I took a picture of the wrong can or he bought the wrong thing.  (I’ll go with me taking the wrong picture since he’s always nice enough to run out and pick up anything I need for my hairbrained projects.)  Well, the lighting in the garage isn’t very good and I didn’t even notice how shiny the doors were turning out until I had them hung up.  They are shiny.  Really shiny.  I must have had my hubby buy semi-gloss instead of satin.  Grrrrr.  It really, really, really bothers me when I look at them, but I have no desire to take the doors back down and go through the whole process of refinishing.  So, the doors will stay.
The hardware was another area we had to get creative to cut costs.  The barndoor hardware I really wanted was about $450.  A bathroom door in my master bedroom, that no one will ever see (except my blog reading friends) is not the place I want to spend $450.  So, I asked my Door Store friends if they had any other bright ideas.  They sent us over to the economical version of a track for a sliding door.  This one was only $80.  Perfect!  My first thought was just to spray paint it black and call it done, but then I thought that a burlap valance might be a nice way to hide the track.  My neighbor also suggested a barnwood cornice.  I do have a few pieces of barnwood in my garage, so that may be an option.  For now, I will just be happy to have a door!  I have a door, friends!!

Yep, angels singing.  

I think I’ll go down to my local Farm and Garden Feed Center to see if they have any barn door handles.  
It’s a happy day!

Summer Beach Mantle

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It must be summer, because apparently I have some time on my hands.  I’ve been having a lot of fun decorating around my house lately, so I decided to swap out my mantle decor for a summer look.  (By the way, have you ever noticed how mantle and mantel are both used when describing that ledge above the fireplace?  Well, Google says that you can use either spelling of the word.  If Google says it’s true, then I’ll believe it.  Everything you read online is true. Right?)  Anyway, I don’t change my mantel-mantle decor too often.  I usually stick with the same candle holders and antique books year-round. I’m kind of linking this beachy theme though!
I shopped the house for this look.

Well, actually I shopped the garage.  Since I’m moving schools this summer, all of my teacher stuff is packing into my 3 car garage.  Lucky for me, I have absolutely everything that I have ever hoarded collected!  Ya know those shells that you collected when you were 5 and your mom said, “Why are you saving those?  When will you ever need them again?”  Well, I still have all of those shells.  Not only that, but I add to my collection every year!

Every year, when we go to Seaside, I add a few more shells to my collection.  I store those in a box labeled “good shells” as opposed to the other box that is filled with all of those shells I collected in my younger years.  The good shells made it onto the display, along with those neat glass jars (below).  Won’t those look pretty with a few strands of beachy looking grass poking out of them?  The jars were from my son’s antibiotics after having his tonsils removed a few years ago.  Did I mention that I may have some hoarding tendencies?

I love this big shell!  My mom brought it home from her honeymoon, many years ago.  She let me have it to add to my collection.  Does that make her an enabler?  You know… the whole hoarding thing???

I always brought back shells, from Seaside, for my kindergarten teacher friends’  collections too.  Boy, am I going to miss those ladies!  Maybe I’ll make new friends, at my new school, who like collecting shells too.

The shells that are stored in the other box – not the one labeled “good shells” -earned a spot in the glass jar. They aren’t as pretty, but they are nice vase fillers.   
I’ll share a few more beachy spots in my house soon.  Until then, happy shell collecting!!!
(I’m really not a hoarder!)

Springing Forward With Pussywillows

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Flowerworld to the rescue!
Every year my school friends and I do an art project with pussywillows.  The trees are hard to grow in this area.  I’ve heard that there is some disease that is wiping them out.  Combined with our wet weather, these trees just aren’t seen very often in our area any more.  Flowerworld sells cut stems by the bunch, so I ran out and bought a bunch for each teacher.  I bought two for myself because I knew I wanted some for home.  
It’s now officially Spring! 

Super Simple Floor Pillows

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My floor pillows have a new look!  Over the Summer, I dressed our over-sized pillows in Moda’s Salt Air prints.  The Salt Air line just screams Summer.  With the start of Winter, I thought they were in need  of a new look.    Last year, I made a quilt with Moda’s French General line and I had some leftover fabric from that project.  (My original plan was to use the reds in borders and backing, but I liked the light and bright better.) I had just enough of a solid and a floral pattern to make two pillows.  I love the way the pillows coordinate with the quilt!
Floor pillows are SUPER simple to make.  I bought extra large pillows at JoAnn and cut squares the same size as the pillow.  I added zippers to my pillows so I can easily wash the covers.  I sewed the zipper into the fabric first, and then sewed right sides together all around.  


Floor pillows are perfect for movie night, fort building, and great for adding a bit of color to a room.  My family room has been lacking color since I painted it white, added white drapes, and a few chocolate brown pieces of furniture.  A little red for the winter is just what we needed.  

Happy sewing!
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Kids’ Desk, Writing Center, and Bulletin Board

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Yesterday I shared the cute little gallery wall in my daughter’s room.  Here’s the other area we’re finished with.  This is her desk area, which she uses as a writing center and art area.  (She does her homework downstairs, so this is more of an arts and crafts area.)

We had an old bulletin board sitting around, so we painted it with one of our sample paint colors.


Then, we printed out a few pictures with some friends.
 
 

 The furniture used to be in my son’s room.  So, the desk is new to my daughter, by not new.  I painted the peg board writing center that used to be downstairs.  This is the perfect spot to keep writing supplies on hand.  I loved having this in the kitchen because it encouraged writing every single day.  My hubby got tired of running into it and politely asked if it could go somewhere else.  He lets me do just about any hairbrained idea I have in our house, so when he says something bugs him, I try change it for him.  He puts up with a lot of crazy ideas.  It’s the least I can do.

With a few projects down, we only have a few left to go!  Happy painting!

Gallery Wall With Painted Frames

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I still haven’t posted pictures of my daughter’s finished room because… well… the room isn’t exactly finished yet.  The curtains are still hanging in puddles on the floor, waiting to be hemmed and embellished.  The quilt is still at my long arm quilt lady’s house, being finished, and I haven’t even started on pillows or cute pillow cases.

I did finish up the gallery wall with some cute painted frames though!

I used frames I had around the house and painted them with colors that coordinate with my daughter’s quilt. I purchased four different colors of sample sized paints from Lowe’s.  I knew we’d be doing a few projects in this room and paint seemed like a cheap and easy way to go.  

I started pinning several different arrangements for gallery walls.  My original idea was to include an old window or some sort of subway art, but this seemed like plenty. I had planned to let my daughter choose all of the pictures for the frames, but she was a bit overwhelmed when I started scrolling through options on the computer with her.  So, I just picked photos I like instead.  She was happy with the finished wall, even though there wasn’t a lot of ownership into the selection.

This wall is above the long part of my daughter’s bed, so I thought a reading lamp was a good idea.  I found this one for about $12 at IKEA and my friend, Diane, picked up the wood block that the lamp is mounted on from Michael’s.  I love that redish-pink color and wanted to add one more little accent with it on this wall.

 

Old picture frames and several paint colors make a pretty cool gallery wall, if I do say so myself!

I can’t wait to show you the finished room!  Maybe I’ll get everything done by Spring Break! Now, I need to find more things to paint with those cute sample size paints!

Happy painting!

What’s Your Color Story?

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Are there certain colors that are just “you”?  You know what I mean… when your family is out shopping for your birthday and they see a shirt in “your color” and they know it’s perfect for you.  Right now, I’d have to say that red, tan, white, and brown are definitely my colors.  I was looking through some rooms I had pinned on Pinterest and noticed a theme.


They may not all be seasonally appropriate, but you can totally see the color story here, can’t you?

I’ve been thinking about new quilts recently and the colors I’d love to use. I’m using the colors in the above pictures as my inspiration. I also found these color combinations on Pinterst and I’m kind of liking them too.

   

Here’s an idea I came up with.  We’ll see how it goes.

That’s my color story, and I’m sticking to it.

Happy quilting!

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Fall Pillows

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It’s not officially Fall yet, but the Fall pillows have made a return.  Last year, when I broke my foot and couldn’t go the pumpkin patch with my kindergarteners, I was forced to stay home and craft.  (I’m really thankful for fabulous teaching partners who jump right in and take over!)  I whipped up these little pillows with some burlap I had on hand, fabric paint, fabric scraps, and my embroidery machine.  I recovered outdoor pillows I already had, so I didn’t even need to make a trip the craft store!
I saw this idea on Pinterest and couldn’t resist.

 They are the perfect outdoor pillows for fall!

The leaf pillows have made a return as well.  They were made from cheap Wal-Mart placemats that I stuffed with batting and sewing up.  I love a simple project!
Happy Fall Decorating!