Are you getting projects and extra cleaning done during this virus quarantine time at home? I work from home, so not a ton has changed for me in that regard. I'm pretty sure I will always have more projects, chores and things I want to get accomplished in a day than I have time or energy for! The thing that has been super hard for me is not being able to see my grandkids. Yep, that is for sure the very hardest part of this 'Safer at Home' quarantine. I miss my people!! Last week I veered away from my normal DIY post style to share a very personal post. If ... Keep Reading...
SIMPLE DECORATING TIPS
Endeavor
This post is going to be a bit out of the ordinary DIY posts I write. Just as the world around us is changing ever so rapidly, so is my post for this week. How are you doing in the midst of this pandemic? Everything is changing day by day, hour by hour. Six months ago, who could have imagined the changes we're experiencing now? Back in the 60's and 70's, I grew up by a tiny town named 'Endeavor'. Endeavor was a bucolic little town on the banks of the Fox River. 'Mayberry' through and through! My grandmother, the best cook on the face of the ... Keep Reading...
Announcing My New Interior Decorating Business!
Finally, I'm ready to reveal the website for my new interior decorating business!! Yay!! I've been showing you a little peek into it here and there... A couple weeks ago I showed you THIS amazing wallpaper mural I installed in the studio. Before that, I had told you a little about the new decorating business HERE. It was then that I showed you this: The simple 'F' logo with no explanation. I had several friends trying to guess the name of the business, but none were close. My brilliant daughter actually helped me tremendously with the name, ... Keep Reading...
Housekeeping Naturally
Are you going crazy cleaning your house with all the flu, colds and now Coronavirus going around? Me too, okay, maybe not 'crazy cleaning'... but I am being a little more aware of cleaning areas of the house that get exposed to more germs. I'm big on housekeeping naturally though... This is not a health report about me... we all have our own health things, right?! Mine happens to be migraines. I've had chronic migraine for almost 40 years. That means that I get migraines at least 15 times a month. Migraines are debilitating, but I have learned many ways to ... Keep Reading...
Re-Thinking the Living Room Furniture Plan
I love putting the Christmas decorations up... but I love, just as much, putting them away! By the end of December my eyes are exhausted with the visually tiring holiday decor and look forward to a clean house in January, (well, 'clean' is relative, right?!). This year I was inspired to re-think the living room furniture plan as I was getting ready to get the holiday decorations cleaned up. Back when we renovated the house, we demoed as many walls on the main level as possible without compromising the kitchen or home office. After the dust settled, ... Keep Reading...
Faux Fireplace
Our home was built in the mid 1970's, and lacked character. One of my goals in the top to bottom renovation was to add the missing character in the form of built-ins. As I worked on the re-do design plan, I thoughtfully considered each room with a goal to add interest but also make it functional and smart for that particular space. Here is why and how we added the built-in faux fireplace in the master bedroom. The renovation had significant changes to the look and layout of master bedroom. Three of the four walls would have window and door changes. The one ... Keep Reading...
Antique Inspired Kitchen Island
We have an antique inspired kitchen island in our newly renovated kitchen. I saw an antique general store counter advertised for sale around the time I was planning our kitchen and considered buying it, but it was so far away and I was so busy, that it really wasn't feasible to spend an entire day to go pick it up. Plus, to be honest, even though I loved the look of it, this island would be a workhorse for the function of the kitchen so I was a little concerned with it only offering all open shelving for storage. What we really needed were drawers for ... Keep Reading...
Wall Mounted Pot Rack
I love pot racks! They can offer beautiful and convenient pan storage. In the last 3 houses we've owned, I designed a pot rack to fit each kitchen's space best, both wall mounted pot racks and a free hanging pot rack. You can read about some of those other pot racks I've written about here. In our house we call 'home' these days, as I was designing the kitchen, I was able to squeak just enough space for a wall mounted pot rack at the end of the cabinets. (HERE is a link for the cabinets I ordered online. I love them!) This is a convenient location to the ... Keep Reading...
Romantic Centerpiece DIY
This post was originally published 5 years ago! That was in our last house, a 100 year old house we renovated and then sold. This centerpiece was so pretty, and with Valentine's Day just around the corner, I felt it was applicable to re-post it. I did add in online shopping links for you to duplicate fairly closely a centerpiece like this one. All the Christmas decorations have been put away for a few weeks, and now I'm ready to get a little Valentine's Day decor out. However, I'm really not in the mood for a bunch of hearts and 'busy stuff' this year. I ... Keep Reading...
Little Brick Cottage Back Entry Re-Do
Several years ago, when I first started to blog, I showed you this project I was working on. It was a very charming 1800's little brick cottage that really needed a redo! When we purchased this house, this is what the back entry looked like: It was ‘yucky’ at best, and it had some real issue. There was no natural light in the space, there was a door closing the kitchen off from the entry, yet the landing from outside was completely opened to the basement and felt dangerously close to the first basement step. The first thing we did was to remove ... Keep Reading...
DIY Wallpaper Mural
Last week I told you to be watching for the 'official announcement' of the business expansions I'm undertaking. (You can read more details in THIS POST) I'll be offering a few different avenues of decorating consulting and am super excited about being able to help people achieve the style and function in their homes that they seek. This was the peek of the name of the new decorating consulting business: Still just a teaser... I'm almost ready to reveal the name, but once I do, that means the web site for it goes 'live' and it just needs a little bit ... Keep Reading...
Business Expansions are Coming!
I've been so busy, and I'm super excited to share with you what's been taking up a considerable amount of my time lately. I have business expansions coming! Even though I'm super busy getting it all organized, I really wanted to share a bit about it with you here. Twenty-two years ago I opened up a design studio and was quite busy doing all sorts of interior decorating. Then, due to some personal reasons, I made the very difficult decision to close my design business. It was a hard decision, but once I did it, it was confirmed that it was the right ... Keep Reading...
Christmas Collecting 2019
Oh my! I have been having so much fun Christmas collecting this year!! Before I show you some of my found treasures though, Here's a quick view of our Thanksgiving table taken while I was working on setting it: I found these black and white buffalo check chairs here. They work better than the wider wicker ones we had here because they're a little narrower and we can more easily squeeze extra chairs in-between them when we need to. It was a lovely understated table setting. I love using my parent's wedding china, which is a simple 50's pattern of ... Keep Reading...
Front Entry Portiere
I finally got the front entry portiere sewn and hung, and we're loving it... both the way it looks and especially the function it offers! I showed you the front entry renovation progress a few months ago. (HERE you can read the post I wrote on the front entry reno to see it before!) This whole house renovation design plan included mostly removing walls, with the exception of the front entry. It needed defining so I actually designed the plan to add a wall with an open door way dividing the front entry from the front hall. We love the front door ... Keep Reading...
Vintage Screen Door
A few weeks ago I shared with you the details of the tile floor in the 2nd bath. If you missed that post, HERE is where you can read about the tile floor and how I found the right one after ordering 'samples' online. In that same '2nd bathroom' we have an antique screen door in use. Here's the story... When we first bought this house, a later Mid-century with very little character that we've been renovating into a Colonial Revival Cottage style, (see this page with all the renovation projects I've so far written about HERE) what we now call the '2nd ... Keep Reading...
