Literally. Below are all the things that my neighbors have thrown away! Aren’t my neighbors crazy? My poor husband gets so embarrassed when I come home with something from a neighbor’s trash pile. I just laugh & laugh… who doesn’t love FREE stuff! Their trash is now my treasure. I get such a rush out of finding fabulous, intact home stuff in people’s trash pile. No, I’m not an addict – nothing like those people on the hoarder “Intervention” A&E TV show – have you ever seen that show? Hoarding is a serious addition. I thank God I’m not addicted. I don’t dig through my neighbors’ trash either. I only take the things that are neatly next to their trash bins. As you can see from the items below. They’re usually large items. I have even knocked on my neighbors’ doors to let them know that I was taking their “trash” home with me. LOL! It sounds even funnier now that I’m sharing this with you! I think life (home, husband, kids, cooking, etc.) keeps me too busy to be addicted to trash treasure hunting.
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We celebrated Meme (our eldest) turning four this past weekend. Sweet, sweet party… I have some photos for you to see below. We had “Sleeping Beauty” come to have tea with Meme and a few of her friends. Just a precious, memorable little birthday party! Budget was tight and, of course, I wanted to decorate. As you may know, I’m a fan of Colin Cowie – he has a phenomenal gift when it comes to planning, organizing and decorating events. He SO inspires me. I read one of his book called “Colin Cowie Chic” a while back and just loved it… definitely worth re-reading. I found the left inspiration photo under the category “Recipes & Tips” on Colin Cowie’s website, titled: Having that Romantic Look. Here’s how Colin described it: “For an utterly whimsical and romantic look, try hanging individual fully blown, inverted rose blossoms in the trees above your ceremony or cocktail reception.”
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Goodbye piano bench… your new home is now in my bedroom closet! LOL! Yup! That’s where it is. I use it as a little shelf to stack shoes on. Somewhat of a downgrade of it’s intended purpose, I guess. I got tired of my piano bench matching my piano. Don’t you just get tired of things being matchy-matchy sometimes? So, I put it in the closet and gave my white Bertoia chair a new home. Then I got a book at the library this week called: “Decorating Junk Market Style” by Sue Whitney & Ki Nassauer. The book had the below left photo in it. I guess it can be used as an inspiration photo for this blog post. I just love the blue metal chair in the inspiration photo – so vintage, old-marrying-new looking. It compliments the baby grand piano so nicely. As done my Bertoia chair, don’t you think?
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Seriously… did you make your bed today? If not, shame on you (just kidding). Did you know that making your bed in the morning sets the tone for the entire rest of the day? It’s true. I’ve heard that multiple times from multiple people. If you don’t believe me try it & you’ll see for yourself. It has the same affect that putting on make-up & getting out of pajamas does. It somehow tells your brain subconsciously that the day has begun now get prepared to face it with your best foot forward… well, that’s my interpretation of it. One of the most valuable pieces of advice I’ll ever give (to be especially followed when having a bad day or during one of life’s difficult seasons) is: make your bed.
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Thank you Taco Bell for your “think outside the bun” motto – it has inspired this post! I know I shared this idea with my Manhattan ORK poster post, but I wanted to share it now with a photo. Do you like? I guess the point is that anything can be pant-hanger hung… posters, photos, art, calendars, you get the idea. This precious photo is of my mother in law, Nora, holding my hubby when he was a newborn. One of my favorite photos ever. I have it in our half bathroom / powder room for all to see. In case you’re wondering… no, there’s never any moisture in that room. It has an air conditioning vent & there is no shower or bathtub where steam would generate. If anything it’s one of the coldest rooms in our house, especially because of it’s marble floor tiles. I featured this half bathroom this past weekend in HGTV’s Rate My Space & it has just been slammed for it’s “think outside the frame” ideas… primarily it’s collage wall – which I must point out, is another great way to think outside the traditional photo frame. Click here for a link to the Rate My Space listing.
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Go easy on me now… My living room is somewhat incomplete. It does works for the time being. I can smile about that. Check out the inspiration photo (bottom left). Gorgeous, isn’t it? First time I ever saw a file cabinet look so great in a living room. It gave me the courage to bring our file cabinet out of hiding – it was cooped up in our closet. I placed it next to our lovely couch, added a little tray on top along with some accessories (books, of course) and voila! Now I have better access to organizing our files as well as a place to put a coffee mug. Great way to give an object more purpose. Not that storing manila folders isn’t significant… now this cabinet looks good doing it AND can help keep sticky coffee from staining my white couch (it’s slipcover – I can wash it, don’t worry)! I’m actually motivated to file away our bills now instead of just putting them in a neat pile one day & a messy pile the next.
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LOL! No, I didn’t burn them. If you remember, I had books in my fireplace for decor. Today, in this not-so-hot Florida weather my fireplace actually has fire in it. Do you like? This is worth posting about because we only get to do this about once a year here in normally crazy-hot South Florida. This is not your typical Florida photo folks. Most people think: Florida & they picture the beach or palm trees or Disney World, Sea World even NASA. I bet most don’t picture cozy fireplaces. I, myself, associate cozy fireplaces with white snowy mountains in Colorado. Or white snowy mountains in Alaska…. basically anywhere with white snowy mountains! So, enjoy this experience with me while it lasts.
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… my “gallery wall”! I promised back when I featured our indoor mailbox that I would feature the entire gallery wall & here it is (below right). Who says frames have to match when hung together? All my mix-matched thrift store frames somehow compliment each other when grouped together. I have several inspiration photos that brought my gallery to life – the original one is at the local library somewhere in a book in the interior design section… bummer, I can’t remember it’s name (when I find it, I’ll share it with you, don’t worry).
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Do you like my Christmas card displays? I love to receive Christmas cards – especially photo ones! I have this super cool old frame with no artwork in it (got for $30 at a local salvage shop in Fort Lauderdale, great price). I painted it that wonderful yellow, oh, painted the clothes pins too! I love small details, can you tell? It’s in my dining room.
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Thanks Ork for designing such a lovely poster & making it affordable. Thanks ’self’ for posting about a neat way to hang an Ork poster – check that out here. I love my new black & white Manhattan poster – even in front of my white wall. The black letters really stand out in the sea of white. I like it! In front of a colored wall the entire white poster would stand out, but I like where it is – it’s a subtle surprise, not poster-overkill.
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