Serenity Now!

For years I've been trying to find some inspiration and focus when trying to decorate my home. I knew that I liked the colors green and blue and I wanted to incorporate them in my decor. However, the problem was always, which blue and green and what other colors will work well with them?

After I found this color palette generator, it became clear how I was going to be able to narrow down my color choices. A favorite blog I follow called This Young House shared a neat idea from CSS Drive. All you have to do is upload a personal photo and they will generate your color palette! I used two of my favorite locales for color and design inspiration.

The first photo is of Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica. I like the palette generated by this photo because of the different shades of green. I really like the color green because it reminds me of palm trees and vacation.


The second photo is of a Magen's Bay in St. Thomas. It generated several blues that I'd like to use to give a sense of relaxation and serenity. It also has several neutral colors I will use. The new rug in my living room was inspired by this color palette.


Have fun using your favorite photos, vacations or memories for your home designs!

Can you Spare a Square?

Check out this great rug I just put in my living room! It really lightens up the room by hiding some of the dark, cold feeling wood floors. It also adds some color that this room desperately needed.


I've been very annoyed lately when shopping at various company websites. The kind of annoyed where you want more than you can afford. Even when the stores boast "BIG SALE"....when it comes to rugs, it's a bunch of crap. In order to get a rug this size, you'd have to spend $150+ even with it being on super sale. And, you know the ones I really wanted were $850! But, guess what....I don't have $850, or even $30! So, in order to accomplish adding a large area rug on my tight (tight!) budget, I had to get very, very creative. Today I took a trip to a local building materials resale store. I found these carpet tiles that looked interesting.

These carpet tiles were 50 cents a piece!!! All I had to do was lay them next to each other. Total cost for my 6x9 area rug: $12!!! Later on I'll connect them together by spraying adhesive on the back of them and adhering them to some fabric I bought at the same store. It was $1/yard. We'll see if that pans out. Until then, this will do!

Handywoman's Hero

Living in a house that is 130 years old, you know there's alot of repairs and upgrades to be done. I've been lugging all of these tools around the house fixing or installing this and that. They "live" in the dining room for the time being. Eventually they'll go in the basement. Here's the mess:


If you've ever made repairs in your house, you've probably gathered the few tools you know you needed later to find out you were wrong. Going back and forth for the right tool gets super annoying....not to mention trying to find where you put it last! Here's my solution to the mess AND the 15 trips.



This handy little bag by AWP was purchased at Lowe's and was just under $30. Now that looks and feels better!

Jane's Bedroom Dilemma

Jane is having trouble transforming her bedroom from boring apartment... to classy, relaxing and clean. Because she lives in an apartment, she would like any money spent to be on items that can move with her. So, this means no painting and/or installing anything of semi permanence. She has a budget of $150. We'll follow her likes, dislikes and other details in order to get that relaxing, classic bedroom she desires.

Jane's Likes:
1. White bed linens that give a sense of cleanliness
2. The natural light from her bedroom window
3. Antique Bedroom furniture recently purchased

Jane's Dislikes:
1. Boring white walls
2. Lack of storage
3. Cold room due to the window

About Jane:
1. She likes to knit
2. Enjoys shopping at flea markets
3. She enjoys clean, yet classic design

Let's see what she's working with:


Here we go. We'll start by keeping all of the furniture and the white bedding. Here are some inspirations that will add to what she already has:


Inspirations Information:
1. Adding more pillows to the bed will give her bedroom a more luxurious and relaxing feel. This sham from Target has a little detail, but not so much that it will take away from the clean, classic look Jane desires. White linens can easily be found at garage sales and flea markets at rock bottom prices!
2. Jane could knit wall panels such as this one from Christien Meindertsma for the blank wall opposite her bed. Hung in odd numbers, this wall art would be dramatic, can bring in a little color and can move with her easily to her next home.
3. A simple metal bed frame from craigslist or freecycle would be very inexpensive and get her bed off of the floor. Fixing that one problem will have a snowball effect. Not only will it create an elevated, more relaxing look for her bed, she'd then have storage space under her bed for any of the items that don't currently have a home. This inexpensive storage box from Ikea should do the trick.
4. Jane also has another bedside table that is currently in another room. She could move her bed over to the right a bit and add the second table which will then balance out the bed. Adding lighting like this lamp from Target to each table will brighten up the space. The crystal candlestick base will go well with the clean bed linens without drawing too much attention. Finding two flea market lamps that look similar, but not matching, would give the room a more personalized look rather than a catalogue feel.
5. The window blinds currently in the space add little design elements to the room. However, they cannot be removed. In order to soften up the window and use something Jane can reuse in her next house, we suggest something like this window panel from Bed Bath & Beyond. By using a panel this long, she'll create a look of elegance and add warmth to the window. She'll also be able to use this in any house she moves to later by cutting and hemming it to fit. To save some mula, she could try finding fabric at a fabric store or some linens at a flea market.

Other suggestions would be to work with what she already has in her home. She can move the artwork higher above her bed or to another empty wall. She could also remove some of the items from the furniture. Hanging smaller photo frames in a cluster on a wall is a good way to still have them in your room without taking up space on flat surfaces.

With some time spent at her local flea markets, this room will be ready for relaxation and done within her budget! Good luck, Jane!

Flooring Frustrations

Flooring can dramatically change the look of your home. It's not an easy project, however! We recently changed the flooring in our home which took alot of time, energy and patience! Our goal was to reuse what was already there in order to save money and resources. Here's what we started with:

The dirty old carpet needed to go, along with the nasty carpet padding. Now, a normal person would probably just lay new carpet down and be done with it. Because this house is as old as it is, there was a strong likelihood that there was hardwood underneath the many layers. So I began to dig:

Eureka! Under 5 layers....YES FIVE, I found wood floors! Unfortunately, it wasn't hardwood, but the subfloor. No worries! Because this house may be used as a rental in the near future and because of my husband's many allergies, I decided to go ahead and work with the subfloors instead of install carpet. Carpet can be costly to replace every time a tenant moves out. I also decided to paint the floors instead of stain them because the wood didn't look very good. The color I chose was City Loft by Sherwin Williams. Take a look at how clean and nice these floors look.