Christmas/Easter decorations move over, the beach is back

Since we live in Saskatchewan, it can be justified that I JUST realized that winter is over.


No? You're not buying it? Okay...

I have to come clean:

I have been lazy in my home decor.

Sure I could spout out excuses such as.. we're moving in 1 month.. this isn't our house & it was already "decorated," but I've written over the 150 page limit of my thesis and am yet to be done, I need to build furniture for our next house, the dog needed to go rollerblading, etc. etc..

But it would be just that. Excuses. Good ones. But excuses nonetheless.



Yes, this was my Easter Pot/Tree.

Luckily Andrew was on my coat tail nagging for about a week after Easter that I remove the Easter eggs. The egg decorations that it held were one of the first things I packed for our move. Good thing too!

These babies.. (in tact) were on the mantle until yesterday.


Yup, vanilla scented Christmas potpourri in vases wrapped with gold rimmed ribbon... I don't even like gold. Except for Christmas decorations. and rings.

Lazy.

BUT..
all this lack of changing the decor in the house has given me more time to gain insight on what I want to have as decor in our new house..

I've see some pretty beautiful things.

And I've been jealous of many of you. Especially those with seashells and starfish and anything else beach-related.


But luckily, my jealousy will cease and my ego will grow within weeks as this beach lovin' gal will leave the landlocked province that has been holding her prisoner for the last few years.

... and my poor cowboy will be the one who suffers.

Shucks.


In the last few weeks I've been day-dreaming of ideas I could use with my own seashells (collected by yours truly) and beachy driftwood..

I also realized that most shells we find at the beach by my gram's is mostly mollusk or lobster shells.. and if I were to try and do anything crafty with those, I'd likely be laughed out of our family.

Thank goodness I found these gems at the dollarama yesterday!
I like my family, the Christmas scented potpourri had to go, and my easter-made pot needed some company.

Bad lighting.. but you get the idea..

I tore the Xmas ribbon off (easy peasy)

I then got out my beloved jute and started playing with it.

At first I put some only on top. It was quite boring.
No pictures were taken because I would hate to expose you to something so boring.

Then some on the bottom...

There was still something missing.

As I was sitting watching the criminal minds marathon, i was playing with the jute without realizing it and somehow came up with these wonky round things you can see below...

Which, thankfully, gave me the idea for the flower-like things!

Yup, that green thing is from Christmas too... I got rid of it, no worries.

The round wonky thing, while neat, wasn't quite me.

I left just one flower on each vase-thing.

I've pretty much decided that my new living room will be white, black and turquoise. Based on this. 

I love it when things fall into place.

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Books are my not-so-secret weakness

I'm so excited!

Andrew bought me a book today.

A real actual hardcover book!!!!!!!

I've been reading solely off either my kobo or netbook for months now.
I haven't even had to go through textbooks in months!!



It gets better.

How so, you ask?

It's Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.

I know you're jealous.



I would be.

I haven't read any of her books in years. There's just too many great books out there.

I can't keep up.



I still plan on owning all her books one day.

Display them all in a grand library.

Walls and walls of books

A comfy little reading nook

Bright & very light colors..

preferably with a big window right next to the nook.

I suppose there can be a couple of other comfy chairs for Andrew or others who may want to join me.


Here's some home-library love...


Picture borrowed from here




Picture borowed from here



Picture borrowed from here



Some day

My Jewelry has been framed.. is it a holder, a displayer or part of the decor?

 

Is this what you jewelery 'area' looks like?

I made one similar a couple years ago, but it`s now a sight for sore eyes.

Picture a plain black frame with a dark grey placemats.. and small makeshift hooks at the top..

Cute, eh?

Now picture it falling apart.

Not so cute.

Either way.. I have this thing where if I don't see it, I forget I own it - and don't wear it.

(I may do the same with clothes, spices & food as well).

Since we're leaving in about 1 month & 3 days (but who's counting), I've decided to go on a buying strike - well other than necessities that we don't already have.

I found these 10cents (per package of three) beauties at the first garage sale of the season!

Then took out some not so pretty frames I planned to use actual pictures.. I may or may not change my mind often.

This is what happens when I paint.

Never fails.

But the results were worth it...



These 2 frames were very plain. Dark brown. Nothing special.

I wasn't sure that I could make it "pop,"

But 2 light coats of off-white spray paint, the use of 'battleship grey' & ebony stain as light stains..

And some light sanding..

I like it.

Skip a few steps..

replace chicken wire with jute & hooks because of the no-buying strike & because Andrew hates chicken wire

... put the hooks in place.

... hide screws in the back and tie jute around it.

(I know a staple gun could have been more efficient..but there were no more staples & I couldn't find any more)

... play with fabric and make flower-look-alike prettiness

... add a said flowers to frame and glue rock-like gems in the middle for a more "realistic look"

... use jute to hide a corner that you sanded too much

... add jute to the side of another frame to make it look like that's the look you were going for

... contemplate adding more jute

... realize that less is often more

... step back & admire it.

Ta da!

 Change spots for one with better lighting..

take more pictures...

 .. Add jewelry

I'm still debating adding a background to this. I had some dollarama grey damask napkins laying around that would be perfect... I also contemplated drawing some stencil-like design...

But each time I put the earrings/necklaces on, it may tear at it as the jute is attached on the back..

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Brilliant Ideas?

 Alas, still with 3 frames there isn't enough room for everything.

I can't wait to move & hang this up in our new bedroom!

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Wasting time......

Getting inspirational ideas...