It's New To Me

It seems that I rarely buy retail anymore. You know what I mean? I get more of a thrill revamping something second hand or what I already have. that buying at regular retail stores....well it's just boring! :) I love that challenge of re-inventing!

If you've been following along, you know that spray paint is my BFF! But ever so often, I come across an accessory that I don't have to paint, which is great too, because then I don't have paint on my hands for the next three days because I don't wear gloves.

I found a beautiful vase at the Beaver's Dam Antiques and did not have to alter it a bit! I did a new little vignette on the coffee table in honor of it. It's my way of welcoming it to the ever growing family of vases. Also, we finally got a sea grass rug! It was a birthday present from Justin, boy, does that man know me like a book! Not only does it look great, it smells great too!

So I went from this: Bare Floor To This:
Justin and I love the new rug, however, the kids complain about it, and the dog thinks it a big back scratcher, but we are getting use to it! :)



Painted glass votive, spray painted small vase and plate, very simple. Love my manzanita branches. The star fish I love too, this is the natural color. Most commonly found bleached white. I love the grey!





Especially next to the green!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are inspired!!

Visit Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life

Faux Much Fun!

It is an on going battle...to faux, or not to faux.

I say, why not? As realistic as some of the faux flowers, or permanent botanical, as I like to say, are these days, it's worth it. It's worth the zero to low maintenance alone!

Creating a realistic arrangement is easy when you select the right components. The trick is to look with a designers eye, use things that are natural to help pull off the parts that are not....

I love using grasses, twiggy twigs, rocks, shells, bamboo, moss....and that's what I selected, along with some nice looking white orchids. I decided to use a beautiful clam shell for a container

Also, I found this fantastic pear shaped terrarium and had to have it! (Tuesday Morning) I decided to create a realistic looking terrarium

Hot glue {slightly used} Styrofoam into your container of choice :)

Cover with moss. This is actually faux too.

Now I can't begin to teach floral design from a computer screen, but , begin with your orchids in the middle, I just used two, and work out from that.
Using rocks, lotus pod, etc...helps give it a natural, realistic look. The reindeer moss is preserved and dyed, I love the bold green!
I used the same elements in the pear too. Rocks, moss twigs, lotus pod, and a sprig of maiden hair fern. It looks pretty convincing!

So sweet!

I am happy with how they turned out! I have been doing this for many years...but if you're a beginner, or just want to create your own arrangement, study how the flowers naturally grow. I used 2 bamboo stick to 'hold up' the orchids, just as if they were real...


Faux is not so bad!

It's faux much fun!

Sorry, that was cheesy!

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions, leave it for me in the comments and I will respond to you there. Also, if you want to see even more photos of Faux Much Fun {and more}, visit my Flickr photostream. Check it out on my side bar!

Thanks to all of you for the wonderful response about the Etsy article! It has been so exciting! I am hoping to get together a giveaway, since reaching 500 followers...I was hoping to have it together before I reached this wonderful milestone, but it snuck up on me! Stay tuned!
I hope you are inspired!





Marty @ A Stroll Thru Life

Springtime Mantle

You may remember that I left you with a "reflection" of my spring~a~fied mantle...well today's the day you get to see! I'm excited! I have not really used yellow in the living room before, but it's so springy and vibrant, and so reflective of what is blooming right now, I just had to try! I didn't have a lot of yellow on hand, but I have been really tickled with how it looks!

White is really a staple in what I decorate with, but all I had for yellow were some lemons, tulips, and those cute little Peep bunny containers!

Have you seen these cute little bunny treat containers, so cute! OK, so they aren't the most tre chic accessory you can use, but they are fun to look at! :)

Last week, I photographed some daffodils, I printed them out here at home and framed them in a nice large frame. I really do love photography as art!

OK, now it's pulling together!

I leaned the frame on the mantle, overlapping the series of snapshots of the boys that I keep up all the time. The paper dogwoods (on branches) look really great in a tall white vase, if you haven't made these yet, you really must! I really love them!

I made extra blossoms and just laid them around on the mantle, a small bird nest too!

The white and yellow tulips are in a pretty glass apothecary jar, I just took the lid off. I love my wicker covered bottles, they add a lot of texture

On the far left you can see my Pottery Barn inspired ball finials, they do add a nice garden feel, and help counter-balance all the lines of the frames. I always try to use a nice balance of 'circles' and 'squares', makes it very pleasing to the eye.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you're inspired!

What colors are you incorporating in your home for spring?

Vist Marty!



The Nesting Place