A Broken Commandment

You know that commandment that says "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house?"  Well, I kind of broke it.


And by broke I mean that I smashed it to little bits.

You see, this weekend I visited my sister-in-law's house and oh my goodness is it ever beautiful (totally worth breaking a commandment for).  In fact, one of these days I'm going to do a full-on John and Sherry style house crashing tour but today you'll just have to settle for a sneak peek of some of my favorite elements.



Element #1 is the giant chalkboard in her kitchen:

(I had a hard time getting a good photo so I'm including two...)

My sister-in-law had the idea and my father-in-law helped her execute it.  He built a frame out of molding and attached it to the wall.  Then they filled in the center with magnetic chalkboard paint. The picture really doesn't capture the fabulousness of it.  It is huge and usually sports the artistic stylings of my three-year-old niece.  (Are you starting to feel a little envy?  I know, right?  A total commandment breaker.)  

Honestly, I would love to have one of my own.  Unfortunately, I have a weird thing about chalk dust.  (It's right up there with pumpkin guts in terms of giving me the heebie-jeebies which is a strange thing for a former teacher to admit....)   I do have a similar idea in mind though, and if I ever execute it I'll let you all know.  

Speaking of similar ideas, I wanted to show you another one of my sister-in-law's projects.  This one is in her dining room:

Again, she made a frame out of molding.  She then proceeded to wallpaper the middle.  The project isn't exactly complete; there will eventually be a console table and a mirror resting against the wallpaper.  I will definitely post a picture when the room is done.  I just know it's going to be fabulous.  

  

Here's a close-up so you can see the frame a little better:

Another room that I love is the kids' bathroom.  I wish there was a good way for me to capture the whole thing in one shot.  For now I'll just show you this:

It's only a tiny corner but this little built-in suggests just how charming and whimsical the whole room is.  Don't you love the striped paint and the punchy green color inside the niche?  I mean, who wouldn't want to be potty trained in there?

The last part of this mini-tour focuses on an adorable craft that I spied in my nephew's room.  It was made by his babysitter who also seems pretty awesome.  (Is there a commandment about coveting thy sister-in-law's babysitter?  Just call me a sinner...)  

She pinned the idea here.  (Original source and tutorial found here.) 

It's a hot air balloon mobile that hangs in the middle of the room.  The top is a painted embroidery hoop...

...and the balloon baskets are made of corks.  (How cute is that?!)

 

And if you're admiring the rest of the room, wondering about the pretty painting or the fun architecture, don't worry.  I really do plan on doing a full house tour some day.   

Until then you'll just have to covet this tiny bit.

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Linking:

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2013/01/sns-171-link-up-your-charming.html

Pinspired: Flower Petal Lantern

Early on in my relationship with Pinterest, I spied a craft that I just knew I had to try.

Yes, I did refer to it as a relationship.  Anything this passionate has to be a relationship.  

(Otherwise I'm just a hussy.)

So as I was saying, there was this craft--tissue paper lanterns, seen here and here--and I just knew I had to make one.  Lucky for me I already had a bunch of paper lanterns left over from my mother's wedding.

That would be the wedding I hosted here in my house.  

Remember all those sitcoms in the seventies where someone would get engaged and the next week there would be a wedding in the main character's living room?  

Well, just call me Maude.  Or Alice.  Or Rhoda.   

(I shudder to think how many of you will not get those references.)

So as I was saying, I already had the lantern:

And old faithful (a.k.a. my trusty glue gun):

The one item lacking was a package of tissue paper circles.  I found them on Amazon (I've attached a link under the "products" tab) but before I could order them something else caught my eye:  fabric flower petals.  They're really intended for flower girls but I immediately envisioned them attached to a lantern.

(There's also a link to these in "products.")  

So I got to work:

 First I put a dollop of glue on the top of a petal.

 Then I attached it to the top of the lantern.  (You know it's the top because it has that little metal hook.  If the metal part is flat, like in the image below, turn the lantern over.)

 Then I continued the gluing petals...

...each one slightly overlapping the one before it.

I continued in that fashion...

...until eventually the lantern was covered.

 (To borrow a quote from one of my favorite bloggers, it was easy-peasy!)

Mine now hangs from my daughter's ceiling right next to some store-bought tissue paper pom-poms.  

(And I have a feeling more will be joining them ;)

Do You Remember Your First?

One of the reasons I wanted to start a blog was because there are so many great blogs that I enjoy reading.  I'm sure I'll discuss many as time goes on.  Reading blogs is as much a part of my daily routine as checking email.

That's why it's funny to think that a decade ago, there were no blogs.  Oh, maybe there were.  I'm sure people had online diaries--in fact I know a few early adopters who did just that--but blogs are a part of our culture now in a way they weren't just a few short years ago.

The first blog I ever read was Dooce.com.  I know, I know... it's kind of a cliche.  Sort of like losing your v-card on prom night.  But at least I can say that I "knew" her when.  Okay, "know" might not be the most accurate word, but I was an early(ish) reader.  My babysitter introduced me to Dooce in 2004.  Dooce (aka Heather Armstrong) had just had her first daughter and I was pregnant with my second.  She was experiencing post-partum depression and I was experiencing what I refer to as pre-partum depression.   We were both English majors, both madly in love with our husbands, both living in our first houses.  Clearly we were destined to be BFFs.

Sadly, like many relationships, ours eventually faded.  I still check in on old Dooce from time to time but I no longer consider her my #1.  This is by no means an indictment of Dooce or her writing.  She is still wickedly funny, an excellent writer, an amazing photographer.  But Heather went and evolved on me.  She got all enlightened.  She had a baby without pain meds, ran a marathon  and started hanging out with Christy Turlington.  In short, we no longer have much in common.  Don't get me wrong, I do not begrudge her her enlightenment.  More power to her!  (Truly!)  I just can't relate anymore.

It's okay though because now I have lots of other imaginary internet friends.  (Shout out to John & Sherry at Young House Love!  Those guys and I are tight.)