Real Decorating for Real People
When you decide to move, it is one of the few times that you consider the design and colors of your entire home at once. This series will help you make decisions and give you ideas on how to accomplish this difficult task. Hi, everyone! I’ve recently been put in a position to talk to you about…
When you are shopping for comforters and bedspreads it is helpful to know the exact sizes of your mattresses to ensure you are going to get a good fit. I can’t tell you how often I have had to recite the dimensions of a mattress to someone I’m with. Seems crazy, but no one seems…
There are all sorts of pieces parts to a well dressed bed from the dust ruffle to sheets to accessoriy pillows. Read on to find out everything. As you know it is put together in layers. You choose the number of layers you want to have from two, a bottom and top sheet, to six…
Tired of scrapbooking? Well hang on to your materials and turn them into greeting cards for every special occasion! I do enjoy a bit of scrapbooking from time to time, but my daughter is crazy for it. She has accumulated quite a selection of patterned papers, stick on designs, lettering and much, much more. As I…
These cute yarn cards are perfect for the holidays but make one up for a special birthday or Mother’s Day! Truth of the matter is that you probably won’t be creating 100 of these cards for your greeting card mailing list. These cards are for those “special” people that have touched your life this year, or…
If you change the ornaments on your Christmas tree each month, you can keep it up and enjoy it all year long – just ask me, I did it! I LOVE the feeling the holidays bring. They make me feel warm inside, make me think about gathering with family and friends and I let some…
Beautiful Christmas stockings can be expensive, but they are very easy to make if you have a littel time, some fabric and trimmings! Yes, there are a lot of stockings there to fill. No, I don’t fill all of them. I have two children who love to have their stockings filled by Santa, and the…
This simple 2 inch by 2 inch wooden block greeting is a perfect way to express how you feel about the holidays or any day! I have a set in my home that I purchased many years ago and it is the first item I pulled them out of my Holiday treasure box. Placed on a…
Use up leftover ribbon or grab several spools of gorgeous Christmas ribbon and create one of a kind ornaments for your tree this year. This ornament is one of my favorites to make. It has a very classy appearance when finished and doesn’t look home made. It would be a lovely hostess gift if you’re…
Paper snowflakes are a fun and inexpensive way to make your home look like a winter wonderland! Looking for a low cost way to dress the house up for the holidays? Why don’t you grab a pair of scissors and a ream of copier paper and get busy! The whole family can get involved and…
Nine patch quilt blocks take nine smaller blocks and puts them together to make one large one which makes them fun, like a puzzle, to put together! The Ohio Star quilt block is the second in our series of 6 to create a quilted wall hanging. So let’s look into the make-up of the Ohio Star…
Last year’s greeting cards can be recycled into holiday artwork, gift tags and more to save you money this year! My Grandmother was a professional recycler, and I’ll bet many of yours were too! They lived through the Great Depression and they knew how to stretch a dollar. Or maybe I should say a dime in those…
Looking for easy ways to make your home look a little bit more like the season? I find that adding colored foliage, soft, rich fabrics and fall motifs around the house really make a difference for me. It gets me in the spirit of the fall season. One of my favorite changes is adding large…
This is a great block to get started on because it’s made up of three easy pieces with lots of straight lines and no triangles! I’m so excited to get started on the first block in our series of six that will them be made into a sampler quilt wall hanging. The Patience Corner quilt…
Even If you just make one of these changes, your room will take on a fresh new feeling that will leave you wanting more. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. There are 5 ways to make a recognizable change and update any room in your home. They are; furniture arrangement, color, windows,…
Have you ever noticed that a well set table seems to make food taste better? Even simple meals can seem like culinary delights when served in an interesting setting. Matt and I have decorated countless dining rooms and kitchens. With so many tables under our belts, we’ve come up with some tips to consider when…
Everybody makes mistakes when they are working on a project and so will you, these are just some tips from us about how we try to keep the problems to a minimum. Shari and I often hear that we make everything seem so easy! If only you could drive by her work room or my…
This easy to make floral mailbox spray is a fall decoration that your entire neighborhood can enjoy! When the seasons change, I find it very easy to make alterations to the inside of my house. I have bins of pillows and throws and boxes of artwork and accessories to exchange and I love every minute…
Instead of mixing up all of the ingredients for your wreath, attach them in bulk according to the rainbow to create a magnificent and unique wreath. When I started playing with the idea of a rainbow wreath, it was because I had my color wheel out and was working with fabrics. They were set out…
Looking for a creative way to acknowledge friends, neighbors, or teachers for Thanksgiving? Well, here’s a fun project you can do with your kids the weekend before the big day. It’s shaped like a turkey and inside it holds some of the makings for a turkey casserole to use up all that leftover turkey! The…
Place cards are a great idea for special dinners with lots of people because it saves the confusion of who site where – one less thing to think about! Although I only have about 6 people for dinner on Thanksgiving, this year I’m up to 8! My husband’s parents are going to be able to…
How would it be possible to go wrong combining pumpkin with chocolate chips? Well, you can’t go wrong, and these cookies prove it! What I found interesting about them is that they really end up tasting just like chocolate chip cookies, but a moister, softer version of the old favorite, surely because of the pumpkin!…
Add a candy pumpkin or candy corn to the top of these pumpkin with cream cheese frosting to give them a festive holiday look. Matt and I had so much fun in the kitchen with our cookie “cook off”! He was making this pumpkin cookie recipe given to us by a wonderful friend, Marcia, who…
I wasn’t always creative with my party décor because I was always too busy with work and kids to really get anything done. Well, now I’m still busy, I just care more and these bowls made out of autumn squash prove it!! These appetizer bowls are made out of both acorn and butternut squash. The…
There’s no excuse for bare table this fall with these ten different centerpiece ideas to choose from! Centerpieces indicate that you are placing something at the “center” of attention. And, when we put a floral arrangement or candles in the center of our dining tables we are doing just that. We are bringing attention to…
You don’t need to go out and buy beautiful dinnerware for Thanksgiving, improvise with what you have! One of my favorite things to decorate is my dining table. There are so many possibilities when you combine placemats, chargers, different dinnerware, napkins, napkin rings and let’s not even get started on the centerpieces and candles!!! I think…
A flanged pillow cover is a pillow with an additional fabric strip going around the edge as a special detail and it is easier to accomplish than you think! Easy! That’s the first thing I want you to think when you look at these flanged pillow shams. They take about an hour to put together…
These little turkey roll ups will ensure the leftovers don’t stay in the refigerator too long,, in fact you might make them throughout the year once you see how tasty they really are! In my house there is always leftover turkey on Thanksgiving. Not for the reason you are thinking….I make a delicious turkey. Mainly…
Now how cute are these colorful and attractive pumpkins made out of mums? Well, cute enough for you to make a whole mumkin patchful! Ah, the sweet, sweet aroma of fresh picked mumkins! We grow them especially for the fall time of the year. They are used first as decoration and then we cut ‘em…
Layering your salad in a glass bowl does absolutley nothing for the taste – it’s all for the appearance, and it looks fabulous! After 23 years of marriage and many, many requests, my husband finally bought me a wooden salad bowl for Christmas. I’ve been serving salad in a crummy metal bowl with a couple…
This very colorful salad can be made up ahead of time because adding the dressing and allowing it to soak into the vegetables gives it a nicer flavor. There is a fine line though between nice flavor and mushy veggies, so give it a try and judge for yourself! Our veggies were still crunchy 24…
We all know wreaths are nice to look at, but imagine a lovely wreath that also has a nice aroma! It’s easy when you use potpourri! This particular fall wreath is a combination of two ideas. First, by keeping the wreath neutral in color, it automatically says “fall” and will work with any décor. The second…
Flying bats are the perfect Halloween fright. You can quickly make up dozens with these easy instructions. These flying bats are definitely NOT the spooky kind! Although, if you decided to attach them to monofilament line and hang them from the ceiling or a chandelier they could get a little spooky! My favorite hanging spot is…
It’s time to create something really different for Halloween and these “boo” candles are exactly what you’re looking for. When Halloween is just around the corner (and to me that is in early September) I start making Halloween stuff! I have my kids just as hooked on Halloween as I am. It’s such a different holiday for…
The ability to slipcover a loose cushion give you alot of verstility in your decor since you can change the design and color of things just by the new fabric you choose. Many people are fearful of slipcovering loose chair cushions because of the zipper along the back. I have to agree. Zippers can be tough,…
All you need to try a woodworking project is some inspiration, a bit of extra time, some tools and most of all, a sense of adventure! When Shari is developing a plan for the decorating of a room she does her research. By asking questions and making sketches of the room, she will be able…
There are so many glue options out there that it is nice to have a resource to go to to find out just what glue to use for what…this is that resource! Recently I was looking for an adhesive to use in a project and was amazed by the all the different types of glues…
It’s amazing to see Alaska’s stunning beauty and vastness. They say everything in Texas is big – well everything in Alaska is huge!! Summertime vacations sure bring back memories for me. We usually stayed fairly close to home, in adult terms, yet in a child’s eye it took eons to get there. Our favorite place…
Hot dogs are meant to be covered in all sorts of different toppings and so we’ve put together some of our favorites for you to consider. Yes, when Matt comes to my house, all “you-know-what” breaks loose! We don’t go to bed on time, we skip homework, we build things out of the sofa cushions,…
We have all make a decorating mistake or two in our lifetime, so here are the secrets to avoiding them in the future. As everyone knows, the best way to avoid disaster is to know what causes it! The same goes for your home’s decorating. There are certain “disasters” that are so noticeable to the trained…
