Home Decor

I am taking a little break from studying for my last final of the semester. I am so close to being done yet, I have a really long night ahead of me to finish all the practice problems, reading, and note taking I need to do.

I realize I have not posted on the old blog in a while so I snapped a few photos around the living room to show you some of the handy work my mother-in-law and I did while she was here. I have lots of decor items that I have collected over the years or have recieved as gifts but I am REALLY bad at displaying them. They tend to end up all lined up in a row on the 1 or 2 surfaces I have. Greg's mom is really good at styling things and creating little vinettes around her house (she used to run a gift shop where this talent was very useful) so while she was here I asked if she could help me group and display some of my things. Here are the results:

This is the area to the left of the TV on the TV stand. First of all the clock was a gift that Greg's mom and dad brought with them. Originally when they gave it to us I stashed it upstairs because I had no clue what I was going to do with a clock shaped like a sardine can. The main focus here was the giant vase that is really a lab flask. Greg had brought it home from work and we both like it but we could never figure out what to do with it. It has had rocks in it before but mostly it just sat empty. Marcia suggested faux flowers and and we picked out this grass at Michael's. She also suggested anchoring it with rocks which we got at Michael's too. After they had gone Greg brought down the clock and stuck it on top of the TV (just to drive me crazy because I hate stuff up there usually) and I thought, why not move it down with the grass. You know, for some reason I like it there a lot and it is nice to have a clock. It also makes a lot of noise as the fish swings back and forth and I like that rhythmic sound too. I put a few extra rocks in the tea light holder and called it done.

Next I had this votive holder that Greg had gotten for Christmas from his boss. It sat on the buffet for a long time. It had these ugly glass marbels in the bottom of the tray that came with it and I didn't really like them. So I used the extra rocks from the grass vase in here and think it is much cuter. BUT what Marcia did that was so cool is she removed a couple of the votive holders and put the little pots of faux succulents in the empty spaces. I had the little pots in a cabinet. How cute is that! I would never have thought of it. And I wouldn't have thought to put it next to the couch in front of photo frames because I would have thought it was "in the way" but actually it has been great.

On to the table. I had a great grean bowl that Suzan had given me as my secret Santa. At Christmas it had held holiday stuff but I didn't know what to do with it during the rest of the year (and didn't have room to store it with the decorations) so it had been holding napkins. Marcia put it in the middle of the table because she agreed it was a great bowl, filled it with black stones that had been in the bottom of my umbrella stand and stuck this tall grass in the middle (that had been in the bathroom on the shelf). Then she added my candle sticks and my cute salt and pepper shakers as well as the little glass bird. I later used the bird as a weight to hold down some pretty paper napkins from IKEA. I think this turned out great too and again I thought, oh that is too much stuff on the table, it will get in the way. NO IT DOESN'T! We still use the table a lot and in fact the decorations encourage me to clean it off regularly so I can enjoy them. Very scandinavian feel which is cool too. The bird is Finnish, IKEA is swedish, and the candlesticks remind me of danish modern. We even tuck our dice under the bowl out of site until we want to play over dinner.

Next is the buffet. This was where everything ended up in a little row like soldiers standing at attention waiting for an inspection. Marcia helped me make 2 groupings with a generous space between them. The space makes it look intentional and not like a jumbled mess. The first is this grouping of a metal tree, another set of candle sticks, and a couple birds to the left. The second is a grouping of pictures. The poster is new, in my accent color orange, and very appropriate slogan for Greg's and my life right now. "Keep calm and carry on". The poster was designed during world war II in England. Then there are a few smaller pieces that we have found that are kind of funny. We have a running joke in our house that Greg is afraid of squirrels. It is a long story but the imporant thing is that it is true. Greg found this woodcut print at an art show. In his mind all squirrel's look this viccious and mean. And I found this altered photo of two mischivious squirrel brothers from yesteryear on Etsy. And maybe you will recognize this little guy from TV. He is "hungry" from the Weight Watchers ads. They are selling these little plush dolls at our meetings and he was too cute to pass up.

On to the bathroom. You may remember that we had a leak in our bathroom a while ago and water had been running down the inside of one wall. The water weakened the wall board and my little shelf came crashing down and broke almost everything that had been sitting on it. I lost a potted faux orchid and a few small things. The wall was fixed, the shelf rehung and it sat empty. Marcia to the rescue. While at Michael's we picked up these cute puffy flowers and she arranged it in this little bud vase that looks like grass that I had recieved for Christmas and didn't know how to use because it was so small. Then I added a little plate I got for free from Paloma's Nest. They make custom little pieces stamped with words that you can find on Etsy. It is hard to see in the photo but this one says "I Love You". I added a couple stones for a trio. Then there are two little pots from our friend Jin who's father is dabbling in pottery. They are actually candle holders. Everything filled out really nicely on the shelf. The flowers make me smile every time I go in there. Not bad for under an hours worth of work. Thanks Marcia!