DIY Halloween Decor

Here's a quick, easy, inexpensive and fun idea for Halloween decor in honor of our batty house these days!

What you'll need:

• 1 roll black foam paper (purchased at JoAnn Fabric)
• Scissors
• white chalk
• hole punch
• bat stencil (I just drew my own free-hand but there are printable versions on Pinterest)
• monofilament multi-purpose string (like fishing wire or picture hanging wire)
• clothes pins or clips
• hot glue gun

Fold the black paper and trace half a bat at the fold.  Cut.

Fold the bats at the center and punch holes at the top to resemble the eyes.  Punch holes at the ends of the wings and thread string from one side to the next.  

I used three different strings and hung them from a tree in my front yard to my front lights and another tree.  Because it's so windy, I had to hot glue the bats in place but if you do this inside, they shouldn't slide.

Enjoy!

DIY decorative planters

I'm not an expert gardener, but I enjoy it so much that I can't help but dabble.  From the shopping to getting my hands dirty in the soil, for me there's nothing better for the soul than a few hours spent creating something living and lovely.

My favorite sources for plants are:
Gethsemane in Andersonville
City Escape on West Lake
Matt's Urban Garden at the Green City Farmer's Market

And here's my personal 6 step guide to planting a decorative container garden:

Step 1: Find an inspiration

I picked up the Paula Hayes garden book for a steal the other day and found the below arrangement that I used as my inspiration.  You can also just walk your neighborhood, check your favorite florist or garden center's website or look on Pinterest or Instagram.  I find that it really helps to have an inspiration when shopping or it can get overwhelming and quickly become daunting.

DIY walnut cutting board

When we renovated our home last year, I fell in love with walnut- the color, grain, warmth, depth…all of it.  Our architect, Matthew Hufft of Hufft Projects and designer Kali Buchanan were the original instigators of this love (more on them and how lucky we were to work with them in another post some day).  And ever since then, I can't get enough.

I've come across a few walnut cutting boards in the last year and they go nicely on my wish list, but for $200+ a pop, theres no way to justify that spend when I have an entire house to furnish (someday) and about 5 perfectly functional cutting boards already.

So the last time I was in St. Louis visiting family, I got the urge to get creative.  A walnut cutting board couldn't be that hard to make/mess up, right?!  So my mom and I went to the local wood shop and picked out this piece of walnut for about $40!  We, or should I say my mom and step-dad, made the cutting board and a planter box out of the slab.

It makes a great backdrop for photos ;), and a pretty serving board for cheese etc.  I don't actually cut on it because I don't want to scratch it.

PS, my mom "heavily sanded" the wood and we used a mixture of walnut oil and beeswax to oil the boards and planter.

DIY: A multi-purpose lego table with pull-out drawers

It's beyond freezing outside!  So what to do for the next few days when school is cancelled and nothing's open?  Play with all the toys we got overt the holidays of course.  Except that many of the new toys have lost their luster already, but not the legos. That's why they're one of my favorite toys!  The possibilities are endless, Sam plays independently with them, and when that fails, I actually enjoy playing too.  Oliver is even getting into them (all Duplo for now).  Before Christmas I searched and searched for a table like this with no luck.  They all had shelves below so you couldn't sit or didn't have pull-out drawers.  Sooo, my mom and step-father, DIYers, built this great little multipurpose lego table for around $50.  Here's a rough DYI instructional. Note: this may not be for someone who doesn't know her way around some woodworking tools.

Supplies:

• Maple for the table: Roughly 8' of 1"x3" for the legs & roughly 13' of 1"x4" for the sides and support base
• Wood for the drawer slides: see pictures as it's a little complicated but if you're familiar with this sort of thing, the pics will explain
• Ikea plastic drawers: 4
• Lego building base plate: Two 12"x32" or whatever your desired size but a different size will change the dimensions of your table.  They got these at Galt Baby
• Kreg jig: The DIYers claim this makes putting the table together much easier

Table Dimensions:

Table sides: 32"x25.5"
Legs: 22"
Table top: 24"x36"  They used the eco friendly MDF topped with a layer of white board topped with lego building base plates.  This way I can remove the lego base plates and use the white board top for coloring, eating, trains etc.

I hope you're inspired (or you can inspire someone who can do this sort of thing).  Thanks Dede and Papa T!

The tracks for the drawers were the hardest part according to my mom.  It took a little thought and they upcycled a few pieces of wood from an old piece of furniture.

2014 Design Trends:

Oversized Photographs

There's something magical about oversized photographs to add depth and drama to a space.  I love the idea for an entire wall in Sam's room.

1, 2, 3, 4 


The link to the snow leopard above (4) includes a DIY tutorial.  Choose any photo that's special to you.   A few inspirations:

1, 2