August 4, 2015 by: The Domestic Fringe

Virginia Home Tour – Living Room

Today is part 2 of my little home tour. (Click here for Part 1 – Sitting Room) I always enjoy when other bloggers share glimpses of their home, so I’d thought I’d do the same.

For those of you who are new around here, we moved from New York to Virginia one month ago. Needless to say, I still have boxes that need unpacking and there are some empty spaces in our new house. As much as I know that we need a few more pieces of furniture to make entertaining comfortable for everyone, I’m kind of enjoying the uncluttered look of things.

Living Room

This is our living room. Before we left New York, our Walmart had tons of discontinued Waverly fabric on clearance. I bought up all they had of my favorite patterns, in hopes that I’d be able to use it in this house. So far, I’ve made curtains for four rooms and recovered a bunch of throw pillows. I’m so glad I thought ahead!

I made that giant wooden sign years ago. I wasn’t sure if I’d find a place for it in this house, but I think it works here in our dining room.

The fun flowered pillow is from Alisa Burke’s shop. She’s a super-talented artist who also blogs. I fell in love with her art about a year ago, and ordered this pillow for my birthday. You can visit her on her blog, check out her art, and even take one of her online classes. She has the cutest little family!

I’m using this old wooden crate as a side table. That lamp was a $1 DIY project I did a while back. It’s been in my bedroom, office, and now in the living room. It’s officially a traveling lamp with a wonky shade.

There’s a cute little built-in bookshelf in the living room, but I’ve decided not to use it for books. I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with it yet, but for now it’s housing my collection of little glass bottles.

All of these bottles have been dug up from the ground. Some came from our yard in Maine, but the majority came from New York. The kids on our street knew I collected them, so they’d dig them up out of their backyards and bring them to me. Kids can be really cool sometimes, even the pain-in-the-neck kids.

My daughter spied this little cup and saucer at a yard sale right before we left NY. Now, you know I couldn’t leave it there!

We need an area rug, don’t we? I think all the home design people on HGTV would say I need an area rug, so I’ve added it to mental list of things we need for the house.

Here’s the thing:

1. Rugs are expensive.

2. Area rugs are difficult to pick out.

3. Rugs are expensive.

Oh, did I mention rugs cost a lot of money? I think you get my point. The “perfect rug” may be on my list for a while.

Then, there’s the other side of the living room. It’s not so great at the moment. We’re working on it, but I’ll show it you anyway.

Please excuse the random commercial on the television, and the paint chipped kitchen table, and the ball of wires.

We all love this room. It’s very comfortable and it gets lots of light. There’s even a door that leads out to the porch.

Thanks for joining me for Part 2 of my house tour!

You can view my NY living room here. I always think it’s fun to see how furniture looks from one house to the next.

July 31, 2015 by: The Domestic Fringe

Virginia Home Tour – Sitting Room

Moving from New York to Virginia has been huge for me. I’m not sure why, because I’ve moved out-of-state before, but this time it felt a bit monumental, like a forever after kind of move.

We don’t plan on going anywhere for a very long time folks.

There are so many aspects of this move that I can blog about, and quite honestly, it’s a little overwhelming. I don’t think I’m ready to dig deep and give you post you can share one million and one times on social media. I’m not there yet.

However, I can show you pictures of my house. Wanna see?

I’m not exactly done unpacking. I know I should be done by now, but I don’t have places to put everything just yet. I need bookcases and a few other pieces of furniture to make life flow smoothly in the house. Buying those things will take some time, so for now, we’re rocking the boxes, the empty spaces, and the bare walls.

I think this house was built in the 20’s, but I could be wrong. I also think it has always been the parsonage, the house church owns and uses to house it’s pastor and family.

The Sitting Room

This is our sitting room in the front entry. When you walk in our front door, this is what you see.

Those are paintings on the loveseat, and they still need to be framed and hung. I bought them at an arts & crafts show before we left New York.

My gallery wall is quite eclectic. That’s a fancy way of saying it’s a mixture of art and junk that’s been spray painted. It’s also crooked, has a painting with a cracked frame, and is not at all hung straight.

I love it. Seriously, I do. This space just makes me happy.

I hung each of these pieces with my son, and we really didn’t measure. I’m terrible with numbers, and knew I would stress myself out if I over-planned this gallery wall. So, I just began hanging things.

I have art from a few local artists in New York, a piece from an artist in Maine, some of my kids paintings, and a stained glass cross made by the wife of one my husband’s co-workers. Everything has some meaning, even the little yard sale painting and the ugly rooster. The blanket and the painting of the woman on the beach came from one of my blog readers. She sent me those years ago, and I think of her every time I see them.

This is the other side of the front entry way, opposite the gallery wall. It’s empty at the moment, but my plan is to put a tall bookcase in the corner and an armchair in front of the bookcase. Curtains would be nice too, and I have a rug already picked out.

This house is quite a bit larger than our house in New York, so it will take time (aka money) to finish furnishing it, possibly quite a big of time.

We’re still in the same room. These stairs go to the second floor and around to the kitchen, a feature we all think is pretty awesome.

That painting, the one that’s hung way too high, was my grandparents. I know it was special to them, and I love that I can have it hanging in my home.

My plan was to give you a complete house tour in one post, but it’s not going to work. I’d have to write about two thousand words to make that happen, and let’s face it, you wouldn’t read anything past the first paragraph. So, let’s quit here, and we’ll pick up in the dining room on Monday . Deal?

What’s your favorite room in your house?

If you blog, feel free to leave a link to your house tour in the comments. I would love to virtually stop by for a visit. I’m sure some of my readers would too!

December 1, 2014 by: The Domestic Fringe

Advent Calendar – Paper Crafts

I told you I went a little crazy crafting for this Christmas. You’d think I have tons of time on my hands, but really, I don’t.

In some weird way these crafts are a subtle mix of pleasure and pain.

One minute I love the monotonous labor that produces a cute little finished product, and then the next minute a corner won’t fold the right way and I want to step on all my cute little creations.

I guess in a way it’s like parenting.

Kidding. Strike that from the record.

Paper Village Advent Calendar

I cut and folded twenty-four of these little box houses while my family mocked me. No joke.

It was a lot of work, but isn’t this the cutest little Christmas village?

I saved the printable file to a flash drive and had it printed on cardstock at my local office supply store.

These adorable little houses are available from Mr. Printables. You can save and print the file like I did, or you can purchase the set already printed and punched. You simply have to fold and glue. Either way, it’s a great deal!

I’m so happy I stumbled on Mr. Printables’ blog. Holy cow, what cute things! I spent a ton of time just looking around the site and following along on instagram and Bloglovin.

If you are OCD, it’s probably driving you crazy that these little houses aren’t in numerical order. I am sorry. For real. I’m haphazard by nature.

I keep saying I’m done with my Christmas crafting, but I don’t know. I may be speaking too soon.

If you missed them, don’t forget to check out my paper garland and antler wreath.

Do you guys use an Advent Calendar? If so, what kind?

November 30, 2014 by: The Domestic Fringe

Christmas Crafting

I’m blogging – It’s a Christmas miracle and it’s not even December yet!

I got on a paper crafts kick this month and I’ve been going wild with a glue gun, scissors, and assorted sheets of paper. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve fallen in love with paper crafts.

Wish I could say I thought up each of these projects on my own, but while I may be crafty, I’m not exactly artistic. I definitely took inspiration from other talented people. Be sure to follow the links below each project and see the “real deal”.

Ok, I told you inspiration struck!

While I know giant paper flowers hot glued to a mantel isn’t everyone’s style, it’s definitely mine. I love this project. I doubt I’ll be able to safely store it for next year, but I will love every minute of it this year.

I was inspired by a post on an Etsy UK blog. Of course it’s a million times more amazing than my paper garland, but I had a blast making my own.

Leaves are super easy to make, so I just drew them free hand and cut them out. The flowers are slightly more complicated, but not much. I thought about making a tutorial video if anyone is interested in learning how to make them. I figure that will cut out some of the trial and error for you, but maybe I’m the only one who makes five or six test flowers and tosses them all before making a usable one.

I love this wreath so much, I want to keep it up forever!

When I saw this pin on Pinterest, I knew I had to make one. I mean, if this doesn’t scream holiday cheer, I don’t know what does!

Like I said, I absolutely took inspiration from others for my Christmas crafts this year. The original deer wreath was made by She’s Kinda Crafty. Our wreaths are a little different, but that’s how inspiration works.

I couldn’t resist making a little paper flower for my wreath. The center of the flower is just a little bit of glitter. Glitter makes everything better, doesn’t it?

FringeMan said my wreath looks like it should hang in a Mexican restaurant, but what does he know about decorating?

I say, bring on the tacos! Fa, la, la, la, la.

Oh, and there’s more, but it will have to wait for the next blog post. I promise you wont have to wait long!

Now my friends, have you been crafting for Christmas? I’ll try and keep in touch more. I miss blogging!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

April 12, 2014 by: The Domestic Fringe

DIY: Hand-Painted Linens

Ever since I saw Emma and Elsie paint napkins on A Beautiful Mess, I’ve been itching to try my hand at painting linens.

It takes me some time to get around to things, but the other morning, I woke up feeling crafty. I think it was the sunshine and the slightly warmer temps, because I zipped up my sweatshirt, threw on a pair of flip-flops and headed out in search of DIY supplies.

My time to paint linens had finally arrived.

I think I found what I was born to do. While that may be a tad dramatic, I think napkin artists err on the side of drama. Don’t they?

This is so much fun!

I may have gotten a little carried away, because now we have a startling amount of freshly painted, unmatched napkins, or towels. I used bar mops, so they are pretty big and can be used as fancy napkins, decorative kitchen towels, or even a square table linen.

Anyone can do this project. You don’t even have to be super crafty.

I used old cookie cutters, a small soda bottle, a cut up sponge, and one cheap stamp to make these. Then I just filled in a few details with a paint brush.

You’ll need…

Craft paint
A fabric paint medium
stamps or other household items you can use as stamps
a paint brush (maybe, maybe not)
Cloth napkins or towels (I used 100% cotton)

Below are they types of products you will need to complete this project. There are many brands of fabric medium. I’m sure they are all pretty similar, but follow the directions on the bottle. Mine call for a 1:1 paint/fabric medium mix.

After the painting was done, I let my linens dry and then set the paint with an iron. After that, I threw them in the dryer for thirty minutes. These instructions were on my bottle of fabric medium, so adjust according to the instructions on your brand.

I’m totally gonna be the girl with a thousand miss-matched linens. I’m officially in love.

If you ever run out of napkins, come steal one from my collection.

So, what do you think?

Would you try a project like this??

Disclosure: The Amazon link is an affiliate link.

March 27, 2014 by: The Domestic Fringe

Chalk Paint: How does it hold up?

I want to give you a little update on the desk I painted with a homemade chalk paint mixture. I had not previously used this method and I was more than a bit skeptical. I mean, it seems weird to mix paint with plaster. Add the final step of waxing painted furniture and it sounded downright insane and kind of messy.

Some of you may remember my trash-to-treasure desk. I found it on the side of the road and brought it home. I was so excited to finally have a “real” desk and not just the kitchen table.

This desk turned into quite the project, because after I had a desk, I needed a room to put the desk in. That led to changing bedrooms around, moving lots of furniture and funk-i-fying (is that a word? probably not.) my new office’s walls. Now I love my space, but the desk took a bit of time to redo.

I sanded the top and painted a flower pattern on it with stain and then I decided to chalk paint the rest of the desk.

You can find my recipe and more detailed instruction on how I painted and waxed the desk on the original post.

Today, I really want to focus on how this paint treatment has held up.

I’m not a gentle person. I’m clumsy and I bang into things all the time. I dread summer clothes, because then you can see all the bruises on my arms and legs. I’m really that clumsy.

So, you can imagine that I’m not very easy on my furniture. In fact, not one person in my family is easy on furniture.

I’ve painted a lot of furniture in my time. It’s how I bring old junk to life. My kitchen cabinets are painted a turquoise and my kitchen table is painted red. I have end tables and side tables and chairs and bookcases, all painted.

I’ve learned that no matter how good your paint and how many coats of clear acrylic you put on top, eventually paint chips. Especially when your son accidentally slices into your kitchen table with a giant metal sword. Paint manufacturers thought out a lot of scenarios when manufacturing durable paint, but I bet they never thought to make it sword proof.

We’re a disaster waiting to happen.

The homemade chalk paint has proved extremely durable. I have two chips on my entire desk and they are both where I crash into it about thirty times a day with my chair. That’s it!

I’m sold on chalk paint.

It’s not the same chalk paint as chalkboard paint. This is different. It’s a mixture of paint and plaster and it looks and feels chalky. (recipe here)

It has held up better than I anticipated and I will definitely be using this DIY method of painting on my furniture again.

Have you tried homemade chalk paint? What do think of it??

Do you have any painting projects in your near future? Tell us about your project in the comments.

January 6, 2014 by: The Domestic Fringe

How Pinterest Helped Me Find My Style

For the longest time, I never really knew my style.

I like old, new, modern, vintage, and country. Throw in touches of white paint and I’m a shabby hodge-podge of style. My decor ends up looking more like a community yard sale than a well-thought collection of things that reflect my personality, but for girls like me, it’s hard to nail down just one style and it’s even more difficult to put words to that style.

With a limited budget and a collection of hand-me-downs, I’ve managed to create spaces I like, spaces that work for us as a family and fill a need. The problem is before long, I start falling out of love with my design, decor, and in general, my stuff. That’s because it’s not really me.

Maybe you have this problem too.

Now I love hand-me-downs and I stop for yard-sales, but by defining my style, I can become more choosy about what I buy or which items I thankfully accept. Hopefully the result will be me loving my things, my designs, my spaces, my home.

Enter Pinterest, or Pin-Terrorist as my husband fondly calls it.

I began pinning images I love, clicking through, reading the articles attached to the pins, and then pinning yet more images. My “Home” category filled up and I had to create new pin boards for each room. Then someone left me a comment on one of my pins. She said, “I knew this was your pin before I even saw your name.”

That blew me away. What? Wait, how did you know it was my pin?

She told me she could tell because I like colorful spaces with bold graphics and patterns. And, I love a gallery wall.

Vintage Revivals
The House of Belonging
Oh Joy
DOSFamily
Kitchen with Pink Tree – Can’t find the link…so sorry.
SF Girl by Bay

That’s exactly what I like!

It was my light-bulb moment. It didn’t matter if it was brand new, vintage, farmhouse, modern, shabby, or chic. It just had to work together to form a bright space with graphic prints, lots of color and patterns, and probably a gallery wall.

I can do that.

It’s so simple, a little silly even, but it’s quite freeing to be able to define your style. Now I understand why there are places in my home I’ve never truly loved. They just don’t fit my style.

I finally have a style.

Thank you Pinterest.

Find Your Style

Get thyself on Pinterest.

Yes, it’s a time suck, but there are worse ways to spend your time. It’s just so pretty, all unicorns and rainbows and glitter.

Pin what you love.

Pin images you’re instantly attracted to.

Pin for you.

Don’t pin something because it’s popular or because you think that should be your style or because you kinda like it. *Refer to previous step*

Don’t over-think it.

If you’re like me, you can probably talk yourself out of liking just about anything. Stop the brain chatter. Follow your gut on this one. If you’re drawn to a space, pin it. You can always delete it.

Click through.

Pinterest photos are great. I love them, but they are just a snapshot. If you want to see the big picture, and of course you really do, click through.

*******************

I paid attention to what I really liked when I worked on my home office/play room. Out of all the spaces in my home, I really feel like this room reflects me. I love being in there, even though the space isn’t 100% complete. I’m not done painting and I don’t have enough light, but the room is me and I like it a lot.

And that is how Pinterest helped me find my style.

Have you defined your style?

What style elements do you love or what designs draw you in? Is it color, texture, white space….????

Follow me on Pinterest!

Some spaces in my home…

The Recycled Kitchen – DIY Renovation on a Tight Budget, My Living Room’s New Look – From Paneling and Green Shag to Fresh Paint and Built in Bookcases, The Great Bathroom Transformation with Before & Afters