Decorating My First Apartment {A Look Back}

My son is on Easter Break this week and we’ve been working on registration for his post-secondary classes next year. It seems like not that long ago we were buying kindergarten school supplies, but that’s the way it goes. When I think back to my first year of college, I remember it being an exciting time. I shared a two bedroom apartment with a friend, and I was thrilled to “set up house” for the first time. It’s a memory that’s still so clear to me.

Back then finances were tight, and my decorating budget was basically nothing. If it wasn’t for garage sale fix-ups and a few items purchased by my parents, our living room would’ve been empty. My grandparents even helped out by going through their cupboards and closets, and giving me the stuff they never used (at least that’s what they said). I still have a set of sheets from back then and the odd pot and pan kicking around (some things just aren’t made the way they used to be).

The following years at university continued to test my skills as a decorator, as frugal living became the norm. I bought sheets on a major discount and sewed them into curtains, I painted my own artwork, and recovered a chair or two.

Decorating Your First Apartment- Create Your Own Watercolor Artwork

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I also began to “rescue” furniture from the side of the road and the odd dumpster. I guess I was repurposing and upcycling before I even knew what that meant.

Hanging Vase Made Out of a Lightbulb

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Thrifting: My Latest Finds and What I’ve Learned

As many of you know, I like to go hunting  for vintage or upcyle type pieces quite frequently. After cleaning out our basement storage rooms at the completion of the renovation, I vowed I wouldn’t bring home any more fix-me-up pieces until I had dealt with the ones I already had stockpiled. I’m like the addict who starts to make excuses or hide things so her dirty little secret isn’t found out!

Instead of quitting cold turkey, I decided instead that nothing would come home with me if I didn’t have a plan for it within the next few months. That criteria has paid off and my “collection” has been able to stay within the manageable and “safe” range. (Okay that still sounds a little crazy coming from someone who helps people de-clutter and organize their homes for a living!)

Since the basement purge, I have found a few treasures in my shopping adventures I just couldn’t leave behind. I started collecting milk glass (authentic and reproduction) a while ago and love how it all looks together. Pieces I picked up have ranged anywhere from $.25 to $4. Eventually I’d like to display them on an open shelf in our kitchen.
 
Thrifty Find- Milk Glass

 

Milk Glass Display on Open Shelves

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Christmas Decorating and Ideas Project E-book

As you may recall, a couple weeks ago I participated in a Christmas project blog hop thanks to Shannon from AKA Design. I had so much fun getting to know the other fantastic bloggers partaking in this series, and was inspired by all the amazing creativity. Projects like fun faux taxidermy ornaments, pretty spring snowflake ornaments, and a unique garland made from office supply materials are only a few.

As promised, Shannon compiled our holiday ornament and decor tutorials into one book, and I’m so happy to be able to share it with you!

DIY Christmas Ornaments and Decor Digital Download (PDF)

 

To download your free digital copy, simply click on the image above to get to the PDF and save (or right click the image and save).

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Jingle Bell Ornaments

As I was going through my Christmas storage totes last week to see what I had for wrapping supplies, I came across a package of tiny silver jingle bells I bought at the end of last year’s holiday season. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what I was going to do with them back then, but it’s hard to pass up on a great deal, especially when it’s something so adorable.

Last year, I made simple jingle bell ornaments to dress up some handmade gifts using large, colorful, and sparkly options that seemed to stand alone. However, I knew these smaller ones would require a little more work to create something with impact. Luckily, I had a little motivation from my friend Shannon at AKA Design, who inspired a group of design bloggers to create a Christmas ornament or other holiday decorating element to share in an upcoming book. So much fun!

 

Jingle Bell Wreath Christmas Ornament

Gold Gilded Bird Art

I was really impressed with the fabric paint projects the gals came up with last week, and I’m certain this round of the One Item Project Challenge will be no different. If you missed the introduction to this series and want to be brought up to speed, you can check it out the details and previous projects here.

 

 

This time I chose gold leafing or gilding as the supply. I’ve been wanting to introduce a bit of gold into our home for a while now, and thought this was the perfect opportunity. After working with silver leafing in the past, I thought it would be fun to give something new a try, so I picked up Martha Stewart’s liquid gilding on one of my trips to Michaels. After pondering what I could do with it for a couple weeks, I remembered a beautiful bird tray I saw at Pier 1 Imports in the spring, and decided to use it as a source of inspiration for an art project.

 

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To create your own gold gilded bird art, you will need cardstock (I used a 12″ x 12″ piece of glossy linen-look called glass slipper from the scrapbooking section of Michaels), small paint brushes, gold gilding, bird graphic (I found mine here), fine pencil, scissors, and a frame.

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Printed Tea Towels {One Item Project Challenge}

As some of you may remember, way back in May and June, I was part of the Outdoor Extravaganza. I had so much fun collaborating with a few of my blogger friends during the series that I decided to create something similar this fall, but with a new twist.

 

 

For the One Item Project Challenge, each blogger was given a specific craft supply to work with per week and had to create or decorate something with it. To kick off this 3-week series, we started with fabric paint.

I have been wanting to try Martha Stewart’s fabric paint medium for a while now. It can be mixed with an array of colors of acrylic paint to make it soft and adhere to fabric, even through a delicate wash cycle. Although I’ve done a lot of fabric painting projects in my textile design classes at university, I never got to try my hand at screen printing. Martha Stewart makes a good selection of pre-made silkscreens, and I thought it would be fun to try them out.

 

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What you’ll need for this project is two white tea towels (or fabric to make your own), fabric paint medium, acrylic paint in a few colors, silkscreens, small squeegee, painter’s tape and an iron.

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DIY Terrarium

Happy Monday! I’ve been admiring terrariums for some time now and thought I’d try creating one to liven up a dull corner in my family room. I often like to bring a little life to a room with a plant or fresh flowers, but this space is painted a deep color and the blinds are often drawn for TV watching, making it difficult to keep anything alive. A couple years ago, I added a dried boxwood globe I found at Restoration Hardware to one of the shelves and I liked the pop of green it added to the space. I thought a terrarium would repeat this effect, also adding a few other natural elements plus the sparkle of  glass.

 

DIY Terrarium

 

To start with, I cleaned the large cut glass canister and layered the bottom for drainage with about 1″ of gravel. I then added a small layer of charcoal and a few inches of sterilized potting soil. When choosing the type of plant, I made sure it was shade tolerant due to the lack of light in the room and could take the humidity from natural evaporation in the jar. I decided to go with a variety of fern.

 

Table Fern

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DIY Mustard Bath

Much to my dismay, the flu that started with my son is now making its way through the house. It’s not very often that any of us get sick, so when we do, it’s a real drag. On a normal day, I take many precautions to keep my immune system strong. I like to get fresh air, drink my morning power smoothie packed with protein and antioxidants, try to do some sort of exercise and stretching, drink plenty of water and take time for myself to de-stress. For the most part this works, but on the rare occasion there’s no stopping it.

I’ve discovered that often the best thing to do is to try not to fight it. I’m not one to be able to do nothing for very long, but sometimes you just need to rest. I drink plenty of water and tea and try to sleep it off. I also find that hot baths work wonders for the aches and pains that usually come with the flu. Fortunately, my husband’s aunt introduced me to mustard baths (a traditional remedy in England) not too long ago. They work wonders for all kinds of ailments, including the treatment of colds, fatigued and achy muscles, fever, congestion and stress. Mustard has been known to stimulate the sweat glands, opening the pores and helping the body rid itself of toxins. As a result, circulation is improved, congestion is relieved and pain is eased. In addition, essential oils including eucalyptus, wintergreen, and rosemary are used for their therapeutic benefits to help reduce pain, assist breathing, increase circulation and provide general antiseptic properties. If that isn’t enough, chamomile is used as a mild sedative, with anti-inflammatory and soothing properties.

Therapeutic Mustard Bath

2          cups magnesium sulfate (epsom salts)

¼        cup baking soda

¼        cup mustard powder

2          chamomile tea bags or 2 tbsp. of loose tea

6-8      drops eucalyptus essential oil

6-8      drops wintergreen essential oil

6-8      drops rosemary essential oil

Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well until all lumps are gone.

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