Scrooge

Ok. I have a confession to make. My name is Jessica and I don't decorate my house for holidays.

Are you still there or have you already deleted me from your blog roll?
(Don't worry if you haven't yet you still may later in the post.)

For someone who has a home decor/DIY blog you'd think I would be all over trying to decorate my house come the holidays. But nope. I'll admit I put up my Christmas tree the first two years in this house, but it didn't even make it out of the basement last year.

(Here's our tree one year when I went for a red and gold theme. 

That was our living room back when we had ugly berber carpet and the red wall.)

I'm not exactly sure why I don't decorate. I'm not a bah humbug who hates holidays or holiday decor. Don't get me wrong, I love when houses are decorated especially for Christmas. When I grew up at my parents' house they had 5 (yes, five!) Christmas trees in their house. One in the living room, one in the dining room, pencil tree in the foyer, wire tree on the porch, and a table tree in the dining room. I remember my parents would start as early as Black Friday and leave their decorations up past New years. My mom even had the pencil tree up for so long one year she decorated it for Valentines Day. I still love going to their house for holidays because they really go all out. She really makes it feel like Christmas. I'll be sure to snap  some photos this year.


Because I've always had younger cousins, my mom is sure to make a lot of the decorations pretty kid-friendly, too. I'm sure Lucy is going to love going over there for the holidays. 

Jordan being the kid in this photo.

Sidenote: I know this is kid-friendly decoration abuse. This is what happens when you leave my dad and Jordan with letter magnets and a camera. Don't worry, we didn't let any of the kiddos see it. (I'm sure you all have deleted me from your reader by now...)


Back to my non-decorating issue.

Part of it is that I really don't own many decorations. I have a few hand-me-downs, but not much. I also have a few items that I've seen places like the Christmas Tree Shop after the holidays have passed for dirt cheap. I would much rather have decorations that I made myself, but I never seem to have the time to make them.

Maybe I'm somewhat afraid of the daunting task of taking out the decorations and actually putting them up. I remember my mom taking tubs and tubs full of decorations out of their attic and would spend all day wrapping up her "regular" decor pieces and replacing them with holiday decorations. She would take wrapping paper and wrap all the pictures hanging on the wall, along with the glass inserts in the coffee and side tables. The cabinets in the kitchen would serve as the base for an entire winter scene filled with houses that light up and a blanket of cotton stuffing made to look like snow. I remember it taking my dad over an hour just to set up the tree (we always had a fake tree) because he would perfectly space every branch. And my mom wrapping empty boxes to put under all trees except the one that stored the real presents.


I think another challenge for me is finding (or making) tasteful decoration pieces that match the decor of our house. 

The past year I took a "pregnancy pass" on decorating. (What was my excuse the first two years?) And this year I don't see myself going all out either. But come next year, Lucy will be almost 18 months and I will definitely need to step up my holiday decorating for her. I don't want her to think her mom is some holiday grump that doesn't decorate. I want her to get excited the way that I did when I was little and my parents busted out the tubs o' decor. So this year I am vowing this: once the holidays end I will take advantage of clearance sales and stock up on decorations while they are 75% off. I will also spend this year getting inspiration and using Pinterest to gather my ideas so that come the holidays next year I will be ready. (Follow me on Pinterest to see what I've pinned lately!) I will have tons of crafts planned so Lucy and I can make next years decorations. 


Wreaths for every occasion. Garland hung everywhere. Festive table settings.


I'm actually getting excited at the thought.


Is anyone still reading..?

Anthro Inspired Lamp Tutorial

A few days ago I showed you the Anthropologie inspired lamp I redid for our master bedroom (which if you remember, cost me $0.00 to replicate!) 

I actually found a blog where someone did a modified tutorial of this shade but switched up the colors and opted for ruffles. (Check it out here.) When I saw it, I knew immediately that I wanted to attempt this on my little Ikea lamp. I searched for more photos of the lamp on Anthropologie's website, but it must be an old product because I came up with nada. 

Here are the supplies I used:

- old lamp shade

- fabric (in color of your choice)

- scissors

- glue gun

- iron

- a free evening (this project probably took me an hour and a half)

Since I haven't learned how to use my sewing machine yet and wanted to do more of a replica than the modified tutorial I found, I was going to have to figure it out on my own. I also chose to match the colors used on the Anthropologie lampshade, but there are tons of other color combinations to try. Different shades of one color would be cool and if placed correctly could create an ombre effect.

I went to my fabric stash (which includes old clothes I plan to donate unless I come up with a project for the fabric) and found these almost perfect matches. The white fabric was a big piece leftover from our wedding photos. My mom had purchased it for me to sit on so I didn't get my dress dirty while sitting outside. The black and beige are both shirts, and the grey was an old pair of leggings I never wear anymore. 

I cut the fabric into long 1" wide strips. I chose to do 1 inch because I wanted my layers to be fairly thin, and I planned to fold each strip in half. I also planned to slightly overlap each layer, making the part that showed slightly less than half an inch. 

I folded each strip in half lengthwise and used my iron to press and seal the seam. 

The seam doesn't have to be a perfect one, just good enough so that the fabric doesn't open while you are working with it. Towards the end when I was running out of fabric and needed to cut some more I actually just folded the seams and semi-sealed them with my fingers because I was too lazy to reheat the iron. Worked just as well. Again, you just want it to be easy to work with.

Since I cut my strips fairly long, I ended up cutting some of them in half to get the desired width. I wanted each strip to be one third to one half the circumference of the shade so I would be able to fit 2-3 colors per line. Starting at the bottom, I used my hot glue gun and attached each strip to the lampshade. I made sure to attach the seam towards the top of the shade so the open end was facing the base.

When I glued the second row I slightly overlapped the fabric to leave a thinner strip on each layer. Sometimes I overlapped the ends of the strips in the same line, sometimes I just lined them up end to end. I didn't want the fabric to look too perfect so I mixed and matched the order of colors, sometimes even letting the same color touch and overlap. 

Once I finished the layers of fabric up to the top of the shade, I needed to make a clean edge on both sides. I chose to use the beige fabric and cut a strip that was about 2 inches wide and slightly longer than the entire circumference of the shade top and bottom (Note: the bottom strip will be longer since the shade widens slightly).

Folding over one side of the strip to create a clean seam, I pressed it with the iron to hold.

Using my glue gun, I attached the smooth edge to the top of the lamp slightly overlapping the last layer of fabric. The rough, 'ragged' edge of the 2" fabric strip wrapped over the edge of the shade towards the inside.

Once I had the fabric glued around the entire circumference of the shade, I cut off the excess so that my ends could meet, creating a smooth seam. I then used my glue gun and attached the other end to the inside of the lampshade. Since I made my strips fairly wide (2 inches), the fabric wrapped on the inside was long enough that you can't really see the seam where it meets the lampshade.

Once finished, my lamp looked like this:

Pretty each to do and can be made using supplies you already have lying around the house. (Assuming you have fabric, of course. Otherwise you can go my route and cut fabric from old clothes.)

Disclaimer: This blog wouldn't be 100% honest if I didn't let you in on a mistake I made. I was so happy and thrilled with the lamp, but when night came and I actually turned on the lamp, I saw that the embroidery from the original shade shows through the white fabric. So If you have a 'busy' lamp shade to start like I did, I would suggest wrapping a thin layer of solid fabric around the entire lampshade before attaching the fabric strips.

Stay tuned for my next Anthro inspired project where I plan to take our living room lamps and attempt a little something like this:

via

A New-Old Dining Room

Well, we did it! Like I mentioned last week, we did the big dining room furniture swap over the weekend. The set that we've had for the past 3 years is an old antique set that belongs to Jordan's parents. It came with a table, four chairs, a bench and a hutch.

In case you don't remember, here was our messy, junky dining room just last week with the old set of furniture (and a bunch of other crap we've  accumulated, like the white armoire from our guest room).

Apparently Jackson feels the need to sneak into every picture.

In case you were wondering, I reupholstered the chairs myself a few months back. 

See the tutorial here.

About two weeks ago Jordan's parents asked us if we'd be interested in taking the table and chair set that belonged to Jordan when he was living in the apartment at their house. I had actually completely forgotten about that table and chair set until they mentioned it the other day. We thought about it for a few days and agreed that we both would like to take the set and use it in the dining room in place of the old set we planned to replace anyway.

We scheduled the big swap for Sunday. We went to brunch with my family at my grandparents' house (a Sunday tradition we've been doing as long as I can remember) and left the little bug with my dad so we could run the errands. After three trips back and forth between our house, Jordan's parent's house and Goodwill, we finally have the 'new' furniture set.

How gorgeous does it look in the room? The room looks like a completely different dining room. Jordan and I can't decide if we love it because it looks great or just because it's something fresh in the room. Probably both. Either way we are so happy with the swap.

Note that one of the chairs is missing on the right. When Jordan's dad was getting the set ready to bring to our house he noticed that one of the chair legs was broken. He is going to try to get a replacement chair. Although I'm actually considering purchasing two chairs to put on the ends of the table. Maybe something like this Harry upholstered chair from Ikea:

I'm not too crazy about the finish of the legs. They would need to be stained darker to match the rest of the furniture.

Which, by the way, looks great with our floors. The original furniture set clashed slightly because of the contrast in wood finishes.

Here are a few other views of the dining room how it looks today.

Hi Lyla.

Except for the corner with the highchair, swing, car seat and dog food, we de-junked this room and completely cleared out anything that didn't need to be in the room. It looks so much bigger, cleaner and more formal. 

I'm in love.

Since we removed the hutch I now use the Ikea Lack shelf on the wall to hold our glassware that isn't being stored on the bar cart.

I made these LOVE letters using my faux zinc letter technique.

I found these great vintage glasses in my grandparents' basement a few years ago.

I picked up these treasures on the table during a trip to Anthropologie last week.

They will serve as my inspiration for the rest of the room. The glass candlesticks were a gift from my aunt last Christmas. And boy are they heavy! The white plates were $3.99 Marshalls gems that were temporarily being used outside as planter bases.

Large latte bowls

Mini latte bowls

Fleur-De-Lys Juice Glasses

Next up for the dining room is finding a rug for under the table. I also need to find a piece of furniture to use as a side table under the shelf. I'm thinking an old refinished dresser would make the perfect height while providing enough storage to hold our china, etc. For the rug, I'm thinking of getting a bright color like a purple or green, but knowing my indecisiveness and how often I change my mind, I might just settle on something neutral. Finally, I need to figure out what to do in the corner where the hutch was. There is a ton of wall space just begging me to add some DIY wall art.

For now I'm just going to enjoy our 'new' old set. 

I may eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in there now!

Anthropologie Inspired Lamp Redo

While finishing up the last few weeks of my maternity leave, I vowed to keep my projects under budget (more like $0.00 budget) since the funds are running low until I get back to work. So last week inspired by my own Anthropologie themed post, I did a re-do on an old Ikea lamp I had lying in the basement. The best part is that this project cost me a whopping $0.00! I used all items I already had lying around the house.

For quite some time I've been wanting to replace this lamp on the side table in our master bedroom. 

This lamp was an old $5.00 Goodwill find spruced up with some twine and the trusty ol' glue gun. It did the trick for a while, but I wanted something less short-and-fat and more long-and-lean. Plus I was over the yellow tones of the twine I used. I had this old Ikea lamp from back when I first moved in.

I haven't been able to let myself donate this lamp for some reason. I guess I knew somewhere down the road I would have a plan for it.

I turned to my good friend Google after my Anthro post motivated to find some more look for less goodies. I began searching "Anthropologie DIY," "Anthropologie inspired decor," etc. I came across this image:

Completely inspired and little bit challenged by my self imposed budget, I decided to give it a try the next day. A few hours of DIY-ing (and spending $0.00 in supplies remember.) I had this:

Pretty close match, huh?

I love it and the silhouette is exactly what I was looking for to fill that spot. 

Later this week I'll show you the tutorial I made and how easy it was to go from a spare lamp to my Anthro inspired redo. I also have another FREE upgrade that we did over the weekend in our dining room. Remember I told you about the furniture swap? We did it and it looks amazing! Pictures tomorrow.

One Week

One week from today I will be preparing to go back to work after 12 amazing weeks of maternity leave with my Lucy James. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading it. As much as I enjoy my job and love the people I work with, I'm just not ready. I've spent every day (all day in fact except for two days when we had weddings to attend) with her and the thought of spending 10 hours away from her for 5 days a week completely depresses me. (Seriously, I'm trying not to cry as I type this.) As silly as it sounds I feel like I'm never going to see her except for the weekends. She's been sleeping so great that she sleeps until 8am now. Meaning she will be snoozing when I get up and get ready for work, and I won't get to see my girl who is always so happy and sweet in the morning. Granted I'll get to see her when I get home at 5:30, but I know the nights will fly. So I'm vowing to myself to make the best of those hours. Enjoy nursing her, laugh with her while she gets her bath, read as many books to her as we have time for, catch up on missed tummy time, and snuggle her until she falls asleep. 

There are so many things I'm going to miss. I'm going to miss pulling her into bed with me after feeding her first thing in the morning and snuggling her as we both fall back to sleep for another hour. I'm going to miss how she talks to "her" bugs on her activity mat while I make myself breakfast, and "her" turtles on her swing while I make myself lunch. I'm going to miss being able to nurse her all day and how sweet she is when she falls asleep on my chest with a full belly. I'm going to miss the way I catch her just looking at me and smiling when I'm answering an email or doing something where my attention isn't 100% on her for that moment. She doesn't get mad or fussy, she just watches me and smiles. Most of all I'm afraid I'm really going to miss something. Something big, like the first time she pushes herself up, or when she discovers her hands and feet. Or the first time she can sit up on her own, or grabs something intentionally, or eventually the first time she crawls. 

I know going back to work is part of the gig of being a working mom. And it's something that I need to do right now in order to take care of her and give her everything I feel she needs and more. We are really fortunate to be able to avoid daycare. My mom and Jordan's mom are each taking care of her one day a week, and Jordan is writing his schedule to be home the other days while I am at work. It will be a sacrifice for us all meaning that he will be working more nights and weekends than we are used to. But it's more than worth it to make sure Lucy is taken care of the way we want her to be when I go back to work.

I just hope she doesn't think that I left her when I go away for 10 hours every day. And I hope that she knows I'll always come back home to her at the end of the day. As long as she is happy and it doesn't affect her, I'm willing to make the sacrifice of being the blubbering mommy when I leave for work everyday. I just hope my coworkers are ready to deal with me for the first few weeks.

Regardless, nothing will make it ok for be to be away from this silly face all day. 

Ok, this is starting to get more depressing than I intended.

I need to end this now before I start crying here on the couch and Jordan thinks I'm crazy.