Decor Archives

In Decor

5 Fun Ways To Spruce Up Your Home This Winter

3 Mins Read

Winter can be a hard time, and with the coronavirus pandemic, this winter looks set to be harder than ever before.

Sprucing up your home this winter can be a great way to keep busy and improve your overall mood – after all a change can be as good as a rest.

Christmas Decorating

This one is great fun for all members of the family. This winter spreading the festive cheer is more important than ever before, so consider going all out with your decorations, inside and out, to help bring some festive fun to your family and your neighbors up.

The great thing about Christmas decorating is that there’s something for everyone. Whether you want to create a winter wonderland for the kids or pick a tasteful natural theme, the world is your oyster at Christmas.

Time For A Renovation?

Winter might not seem like the obvious time to do work on your home but it can be a really fantastic time to change things up. Rustic is very much back in fashion now so why not try out some new wooden fittings for the kitchen?

Some quality new garden furniture which will be a great investment for the warmer months as well as providing a great place to have socially distanced visits from friends and family. No matter the size or scale of what you want to do you can be sure that you’ll find just the thing at Kefauverlumber.com

Invest In Some Cozy Blankets

There’s nothing better when it’s bitter and cold outside than snuggling up under a blanket to watch a film with the family. Blankets can add a great splash of color to your home as well as providing much-needed warmth and comfort in the colder months.

You can get the kids involved again with this one by having them choose their own blankets to use on family nights at home. Consider getting a blanket box to keep them in to reduce clutter.

Candles

Candles can be a great way to improve the atmosphere of your home – though of course, you will need to be careful that they’re out of the reach of any little ones! Candles are another great addition to make your home extra cozy this Christmas.

Whether you choose a festive scent or a calming scent like lavender you can really improve the atmosphere of your home with the right choice of candle.

Bring The Outdoors Inside

This doesn’t have to be limited to the standard Christmas tree! Plants and flowers have all kinds of benefits for your health and mood so winter is the perfect time to consider investing in some home plants. You could go for poinsettias for that Christmas vibe, and they will last well into January with the right care.

You could even try some indoor herbs or create an indoor fruit or vegetable garden. This can be a great one to get the kids involved with to teach them about the world around them and caring for another living thing.

In Kids

From Tot to Teen: Decorating Your Child’s Bedroom at Any Age

4 Mins Read

Having a space that is truly theirs is a luxury that every child wants. No matter what your budget might be, you will be able to create a fun place for your child to relax in during their down-time. Here are some of our top tips for decorating, to make it a truly unique space.

Keep Things Neutral

By choosing neutral furniture, you will be able to swap smaller things like bedclothes and décor out as they age. Though a racing car bed is cute for a toddler, they might not appreciate sleeping in it when they become teenagers. One bed made from a neutral wood or metal will be more appropriate and can stay with them as they age.

This also allows you to potentially spend a little more when you initially buy it if you have the budget to do so. Try to make a good investment that you know will last for years. The furniture could even potentially leave home with them when they get their first adult home too.

Make Storage a Priority

No matter how old your child is, you need to make sure that their room has plenty of storage. A young child is going to have a lot of toys to put away, while an older one may have interests like an instrument or art that needs storage space.

If you don’t have enough room within your home, you might want to consider renting some storage spaces nearby. Not only will you be able to keep your children’s items there, but you should be able to store other items around the house. You may have questions like “how much does storage cost?” or ‘how long will I need a rental space?’. However, you may find that it can fit into your monthly budget much easier than other items like expensive gym memberships that you hardly use. This could give you the chance to expand on your home’s storage capabilities, and leave room for some other things that might be needed a lot more.

Take Their Thoughts on Board

Whether your child is a toddler or a teenager, they will probably have some ideas on how they want their room to look. They will require a little more guidance as a toddler, and some of their ideas might need a few creative interpretations, but they can definitely still provide you with some ideas about what they would like to see in their room.

The older your child is, the more likely it is they might be able to help out with some of the choices around the room. For example, a smaller child could pick out their paint and help with the decorating. Meanwhile, a teenager could be given a complete budget and asked to handle the full renovation themselves if they are responsible enough to do so. There are many ways to get your children to help you out with a renovation, so think carefully about their capabilities before you get stuck in.

Ideally, you want to create a functional and relaxing space that is an extension of your child’s personality. You also need to make sure that you are creating a space that will last them for several years. Changing rooms for them every few years can be incredibly expensive, and just simply isn’t worth it. Take the time to speak to them and work with your children to create a room that they are going to love spending time in. From the colour of the walls to the choice of bedspread, there are tons of little things that could make a difference.

In Decor

How To Screw Up Painting Your Front Door

5 Mins Read

And…. we’re back.

It’s so nice to dust off the ‘ol blog and get back to crafting, creating and remodeling. Or rather, it’s nice to attempt to do that.

Sheesh. Where do I even start?

In the midst of taking a break from blogging to deal with an interesting start to the year, work on the house has been plodding along slowly.

Our entry way is miserably small and has always bugged me. So coming up with a punch list of projects was easy: 1) repaint the front door; 2) fix the giant hole in the drywall from the kids’ infamous sledding-down-the-stairs-in-sleeping bags-and-crashing-into-the-wall-repeatedly stunt; and 3) do something with the floor.

The first step seemed easy enough – repaint the door.

Here’s what we started with before we started painting the upstairs grey—boring, scuffed up white.

But then I was stupid.

Somewhere, someplace, someone told me that spray painting a door was much easier than using a roller. So I primed the door with spray-on primer and made a huge mess everywhere.

Oh, and it stunk like crazy since spray painting inside—even with good ventilation—is always a bad idea. At the time I didn’t care since I had big, big plans for the floor and thankfully the kids weren’t home to be around the fumes. But man was it a mess … and my trigger control was a little iffy so the primer ran in places … and it left a weird grainy texture which meant extra sanding to even everything out. Yup-much easier.

For the actual color, I had seen this grey/red combo on the paint swatch card we had for the living room wall paint and loved it. Plus, I think I was still missing my red walls a little.

I watched the local paint recycling center for a few weeks hoping red paint would show up, but no deal. So when I found the perfect color in a spray can …

… I was stupid again … and rationalized that spending money on spray paint wasn’t as bad as buying a gallon of house paint … and told myself that I would just be ‘more careful’ with the trigger control this time … and drastically underestimated just how far spray paint can travel in a confined space … and made an even bigger mess. Plus the irony of using a paint+primer or a primer nightmare did not escape me.

Stupid woman.

I loved the color, but it never looked great. The coverage was splotchy and after four coats and three full cans, I gave up. I’m sure you spray paint ninjas out there could have nailed this, but the door looked terrible—so terrible that I apparently never took pictures. Oops. Let’s just pretend it looked like this, okay?

Actually, that’s fairly close.

At this point I could have just admitted that I’d screwed up, gone back to the store, figured out a way to buy some red paint to roll over top and everything would have been fine. But I realized that I really didn’t like the red after all … and worse still, I didn’t have a clue what color I did want instead. And there was no way that I was going to cheat and spend/waste money on paint again until I knew exactly what I was doing.

And so I just left my hot mess of a front door like that for six months. Mr. Thrive was so happy.

I finally decided that brown was the winner after looking at pictures of curtains for the living room. Come February, we set aside a little tax money for repairs around the house and I was so excited to actually be able to go buy paint that was in a color I got to choose and finally finish the front door. So I marched down to Lowe’s and grabbed some brown paint and couldn’t roller the new color on fast enough. It was sad people, but I did an honest-to-goodness fist pump at the register as the clerk rang up more than just tape and glue.

Two coats later + lots of sanding/taping/painting the trim …

… I have a front door that I LOVE + plenty of left over paint for some other projects in the kitchen.

(I’m thinking I need to get rid of those ugly brass nobs like I did here. Maybe in a brushed nickel or platinum finish …?)

And because I’m a Silhouette nerd with an affinity for vinyl, I couldn’t wait to put one of my favorite sayings on the inside of the door, too.

Ahhhhh. Much better.

So, what have we learned?

Do not – I repeat – do not use spray paint for interior doors that are still hanging.

Unless you’re a spray paint ninja.

But then only a really high, top-level spray paint ninja at that.

Smooth, foam rollers are much, much easier to use and will save you a ton of headaches and time.

Anyway, one entry way project down, two to go.

And do you see that little bit of check board goodness on the floor peeking through?

Yeah … that’s been a peach of a project. Stay tuned.

In Choose To Thrive

Valentine’s Day Window

2 Mins Read

Confession: I’m not that big into decorating for Valentine’s Day.

I like the holiday, but have never been the sort to break out the red and pink around the house. The front door is about as much as I’ll ever do like I did here, here, here and here. And the whole no-hearts thing has been even more true the last five years since we welcomed our 5th kid on Valentine’s Day night during what should have been our special dinner. Now you’re more likely to see balloons and streamers on the 14th instead of hearts and flowers.

But oh my word.

My kids think I’m the meanest mom ever for not decorating our house like their bulletin boards at school. So I caved and threw together a quick, free Valentine’s project that the kids were able to help me with.

Ta-da. My kids are now speaking to me again.

This came together super fast using an old window frame in my living room that had been sitting bare since Christmas.

(A large picture frame would work, t00.)

A quick wrap with some twine …

… some printouts of family pictures and conversation heart-esque names on cardstock …

… and some left over dollar store clothes bins that got a quick coat of craft paint.

Assembly took all of three minutes and could be swapped out easily for any season or holiday using the same materials.

And while I won’t admit this to my kids, I actually love seeing all the wedding and anniversary pictures from the great love stories in our family:

siblings and parents …

… grandparents and great-grandparents …

… even me and Mr. Thrive.

Hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

We’ll be celebrating five awesome years with our best Valentine’s Day present ever.

In Choose To Thrive

Christmas Subway Art + Free Printable

2 Mins Read

You asked and now it’s here – Christmas subway art submitted with words chosen by you awesome THRIVE readers!

Several of you who emailed me about the Thanksgiving design were disappointed when it sold out so quickly. I’m not a professional vinyl lady and am limited by the amount of time and materials I can cut. So when I got emails asking for a Christmas design, I asked my awesome neighbor Heidi to handle the cutting and shipping for me. That way I can work on more no-cost holiday projects to share with all of you – deal?

Here’s what we came up with using the suggestions submitted on THRIVE’s facebook page.

I love it! You guys picked the best, most fitting words to describe the season!

The picture above is vinyl on red painted canvas, but you can apply it to a board or wall. And to accommodate the reader requests for different sizes/colors, here’s what’s available: 8”x10” – $8.00, 12” x 14” – $10.00, 16”x20” – $14.00. You can pick the color when ordering HERE.

And as always, I’m all about the freebies and rockin-what-ya-got, too.

You can download a free printable 5”x7” of either version below.

Red background with white text HERE –or- White with red letters HERE

So there you go!

Have fun picking the perfect vinyl design color for your home or enjoying the awesome free version in a frame.

I hope this helps bring a little bit of the magic of the season to your home!

In Decor

Thanksgiving Subway Art and Free Printables

4 Mins Read

Where were we?

Oh that’s right … the naked wall under my Chevron wreath.

My favorite, favorite quote/phrase/scripture for Thanksgiving is the 100 Psalm and I knew I wanted to have that displayed somewhere in my home. The words are so beautiful:

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:

be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I thought about making a plaque with wording, but decided to apply the vinyl right to the wall since it won’t damage the paint and can easily be changed for Christmas. I planned on using all white vinyl, but my awesome neighbor had this beautiful copper/bronzy vinyl that she hooked me up with that I am smitten with.

Here’s how it turned out:

I love how the colors work together with the Chevron Wreath and the way the copper vinyl glows as the sun streams into the room.

(Love the still unfinished trim work in the living room, eh?)

Have you ever tried using two shades of vinyl on your projects?

I hadn’t.

I cut the whole scripture in white vinyl first and then removed the letters I wanted to display in copper.

The I recut a few of the words from the copper scrap …

… and carefully applied them to the wall.

And just like that, one of my favorite scriptures came to life on my wall.

And as I sit here typing this, I can’t help smile at my view:

Now I realize that a lot of you don’t have Silhouettes so having a bunch of these projects can get frustrating. So … to make this project assessable to everyone and keep a Rock What Ya Got vibe, I’ve created several versions of this scripture in different formats so you can pick the one that works for you.

Option A: FREE COPIES

(yeah FREE!)

Silhouette users: email me at choosetothriveblog at gmail dot com and I’ll send you the file to cut your own. This should save you a couple hours of formatting and/or paying for a designs for the Silhouette store. A little tip here: weed slowly.

Non-Silhouette users: below are printable 8”x10” and 5”x7” versions that you can easily print out and pop into a frame you already have for a similar look.

8” x 10” Printable: Download HERE

5”x7” version: download HERE

Option B: Order Choices – SOLD OUT

1) If you need vinyl, my neighbor has kits for enough white and copper vinyl for this 12”x24” design for dirt cheap: $5. That way you don’t have to order a full role for a color like copper that you may only want a little piece of.

2) If you’d like to purchase a ready-made 12” x 24” version, I will cut a small number of these for $15 since they take quite awhile to feed and prep for application on a wall or board.

Again, email me if you’re interested.

So there you go …

lots of options for a beautiful reminder of this season of thanksgiving.

Linking up to:

Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, C.R.A.F.T. * Stories of AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Today’s Creative Blog, Sassy Sites, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia * Someday Crafts, Lil Luna, We Are That Family, Blue Cricket Designs, The Thrifty Home, * House of Hepworths, *Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Kojo Designs, Chic On A Shoestring, Momma’s Kinda Crafty, *Tatertots & Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors * I Heart Naptime, Under The Table and Dreaming

In Decor

Wicked-Awesome Witch Hats

3 Mins Read

Thanks everyone for your patience this week while we got everything transferred over to the new system.(Thanks Jon & Eric!) It’s soooo nice to be blogging on a computer that isn’t 8 years old. Now back to the regularly scheduled programming. 🙂

***

I believe the children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way …

Sorry. 80’s tangent.

What I’m trying to say is:

When you find a girl with mad crafting skills, hand over the glue gun and get out of her way.

Check out this hat!

I so wish I could claim credit for this awesome number, but the round of applause goes to this talented, 13-year-old rock star, Miss{K}.

Isn’t she sweet? I’m lucky enough to be neighbors with Miss{K} and her amazing mama Miss{A}.

When Miss{A} showed me these pictures, my jaw dropped. Seriously people … Miss{K} is 13 and she just “threw these together.” I asked Miss{A} if I could share the incredible hats that Miss{K} put together for a local Halloween craft festival they went to over the weekend.

I love this project since it can double as decor and a great costume. I’m not big into dressing up for Halloween any more, but I’d totally wear this all month if I had one. Seriously … if you see me at the grocery store you’ve been warned. The other thing I love is that you could easily adapt these hats to Rock-What-Ya-Got and make your own version using items you already have on hand.

Multi-Colored Tulle Hat

Miss {K} loosely wrapped orange, purple and green tulle around the brim and hot glued it in place. The tulle “flower” was made by tying regular bows out of the same colors of tulle and hot gluing them in place. Two rosettes were made from the 1”satin ribbon and tucked in beside the bows, a little scrap of black tulle stands in for a leaf, and a glitter spider adds the final touch.

Black Widow Hat

Same fun look with black and red glitter tulle using a braided band of tulle around the brim.

Purple Potion Hat

Miss{K} glued the tulle in bunches around the brim, added a tulle bow and a finishing black glitter spider.

I totally want all three. For me.

*Swoon*

Hopefully Miss{K}’s awesome hats will inspire you to make your version using items from around your house, Rock-What-Ya-Got-style. (Or even from the store, tulle and ribbon are pretty cheap). I’m so planning on making one of these for me and my girls using what we have on hand: scrap t-shirts and ribbon in the same colors.

If you make one, send me an email or post it on Thrive’s facebook page—I’d love to see it!

Thanks again Miss{K} and Miss{A} for sharing your wicked-awesome hats!

Linking up to:

DIY Show Off Fall Festival, Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, C.R.A.F.T. * Stories of AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Today’s Creative Blog, Sassy Sites, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia * Someday Crafts, Lil Luna, We Are That Family, Blue Cricket Designs, The Thrifty Home, * House of Hepworths, *Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Kojo Designs, Chic On A Shoestring, Momma’s Kinda Crafty, *Tatertots & Jello, Be Different Act Normal * I Heart Naptime, Under The Table and Dreaming

In Decor

Kicking Ugly To The Curb: The $3 Mailbox Make-Over

2 Mins Read

Ever notice how the threat of company stopping by can motivate you to finish those someday projects?

Well this week’s visitors finally got me outside to make over our curb-side travesty of a mailbox.

Oh sheesh this thing is bad.

I mean swinging-from-the-ugly-tree bad.

Just check out that chipped paint, rusted top, peeling house numbers and seriously thrashed post. Our neighbors must hate us.

But since Katie proved that spray paint and sanding can save anything, I figured a mailbox make over was worth a shot.

I mean really … could the thing look any worse?

I removed the peeling, reflective house numbers with Goo Gone and then scrubbed away the residue with a little soap and steel wool.

Next is was the fine sand paper + damp cloth wipe down + coat of primer routine.

Finally two coats of high gloss spray paint on both the box and post + a day to dry …

… and my neighbors are speaking to me once again.

And thanks to my handy-dandy Silhouette machine, I was able to cut out new house numbers to replace those awful reflective ones.

Since I’m not thrilled about showing my address on the ‘ol blog, so I’ll show you the photoshopped version using the same Porcelain font and ivory vinyl that I did use.

Ah, dignity …

… how I’ve missed you.

*Swoon*

The paint, primer and vinyl were all zero out-of-pocket supplies for me since I had them on hand, but the cost from the store is dirt cheap:

Walmart cheapy spray paint primer – $0.99

Walmart cheapy high gloss spray paint – $0.99

Scrap vinyl or contact paper – $1.00

So whether you’re rockin’ what ya got for paint or buying this from scratch, $0-$3 bucks for a total curb-side face lift ain’t bad at all.

See?

Enjoy your weekend and go show that mailbox some love!

Linking up to:

Skip To My Lou, Craft-O-Maniac, C.R.A.F.T., The DIY ShowOff * Stories of AtoZ, Tip Junkie, Sugar Bee, Today’s Creative Blog, Sassy Sites, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia * Someday Crafts, Lil Luna, We Are That Family, Blue Cricket Designs, The Thrifty Home, * House of Hepworths, *Remodelaholic Friday, Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, Kojo Designs, Chic On A Shoestring, Momma’s Kinda Crafty, *Tatertots & Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors * I Heart Naptime, Under The Table and Dreaming

In Decor

Saving Ugly Betty: A Furniture Intervention

3 Mins Read

Let me introduce you to Betty, my sad little end table. I found her seven years ago at D.I. right after we moved to Utah. She was only $10 and in near mint condition. And being a Broyhill, she was the only piece of real furniture that we owned.

Since that time though, she has been loved and beat to death by my Dirty Half Dozen. They have decoratively carved her … driven metal trains on her … raced match box cars across her … jumped, climbed and leaped off her … painted, spilled and colored on her. In short, they have sucked every ounce of beauty and grace from her life (just like they did their mother-ha!)

So for the past few years she’s been relegated to the living room corner as an impromptu TV stand. Luckily the screen is big enough to hide the top and cover most of the brutal wear and tear. But still, Ugly Betty constantly reminded me how sad my house looked and how much I wanted to change that. I figured Betty would need to go straight to the dump if we remodeled, because come on … who could salvage that, right?

Apparently my awesome friend Katie can.

Hello sexy Betty!

I have the most awesome visiting teacher! Katie has one of those houses that strikes the perfect balance between catalog beautiful and warm-inviting-and-children-can-actually-live-here. She is a furniture restoring rock star who has mad spray painting skills that I so envy.

Katie had stopped by the week before we left for Washington to see how I was doing and how the house was coming along (or not really coming along). I told her how frustrated I was with how slow we were going and asked for her advice on to do with the living room furniture. She took one look at Ugly Betty and the bookcase Mr. Thrive made me right after we got married and immediately offered to paint them for me.

I thought her offer was sweet and didn’t think much about it until she called the day before we left to offer again. “I’m serious, “ she told me excitedly. “I really would love to paint them for you while you’re gone. That way you’ll have two less projects to worry about when you get back.”

And so she did.

I had Mr. Thrive unpack all the vacation stuff from the suburban and ran Betty and the bookcase over to Katie just before 9 pm. Then we repacked the suburban in the dark, got a few hours of sleep and then left for vacation the next morning at 4 am.

And while I was gone, Katie was busy. She sanded down the wood veneer around the outside of the table to get rid of most of the scratches. Then she lightly sanded the center area to leave most of the veneer in tact. The result was an awesome, two-toned topper than stained up beautifully.

She used Dark Walnut stain from Minwax on the top and sealed it with a few coats of poly.

The legs and drawer got a few coats of glossy black spray paint. Katie swears by the .99 Walmart spray paint and I’m a believer now.

And I love that Katie left some of the dings, dents and scratches behind to make sure Betty didn’t loose her I’ve-been-well-loved look.

Katie even added a left over knob she had from her stash to finish off the table. *LOVE*

Betty looks amazing and I can’t wait to get the dang house painting done so that she can move back in.

Thanks again Katie!

PIN THIS TO SAVE FOR LATER

In Decor

Quatrefoil Lanterns – Ballard Designs Knock Off

3 Mins Read

Do you remember these awesome quatrefoil lanterns from the Ballard Designs catalog?

I love them. I want them. I can not afford them.

So I made my own.

Ta-da!

Catalog-inspired quatrefoil lanterns straight from the cereal isle that look good day, dusk and night!

Really.

Want to make your own?

For each lantern you’ll need:

As always I hope you’ll Rock-What-Ya-Got and adapt this project using items around your house to make this without a trip to the store.

And to make life easier, you can even download the pattern pieces I created HERE.

So do that first. (I’ll wait.)

Trace, cut out and score all the lantern pieces according to the pattern instructions.

Glue the three main pieces together with hot glue:

… roof …

… quatrefoil side pieces …

… and base.

Attach the roof and quatrefoil pieces together with hot glue.

Mark a line 1/4” down on each side support pieces …

… and glue just the top 1/4” of each side support to the inside corners of the quatrefoil /roof piece.

Glue side support pieces to the outside corners of the base.

To make the “X” pieces on each side of the lantern, attach the long 1/4” strips with thumb tacks and trim away excess.

Carefully push through remaining thumb tacks around the quatrefoil piece.

To attach the hanging loop to the roof, make a quick loop out of wire or even left over holiday garland from the dollar store like I did.

Make a hole in the roof with a craft knife and hot glue the loop in place.

(You could also glue a small bead to the top and thread an old key ring or wire loop through.)

Spray lantern and door piece separately with a couple light coats of black spray paint and let dry.

(You’ll probably want to put something in the middle of the lantern to keep it from being blown over while it’s drying.)

To attach the door, cut two 1/2” x 3/4” pieces of scrap regular paper and glue along the left side.

Line up the door in the lantern opening and hot glue in place, making sure you leave a slight gap between the door and the side.

To make a latch to the hold the door in place, glue a small cardboard rectangle on the door, make a small hole in the side support and thread a 1” piece of wire half way through.