Showing posts with label Living Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Living Room. Show all posts

DIY Weathered Wood Jar Sconces

Yesterday as Mia (our pup) and I took a walk across our property, I glanced at the small stash of scrap wood I set aside for projects.  A few short hours later, these were casting a warm glow above our fireplace ...





Materials:

6 boards 30" long
4 boards 7" long
4 hooks (for hanging mason jars)
1" brad nails
1-1/2" wood screws
8 wood shims (as spacers)
2 D-ring hangers with screws
2 picture hangers with screws
4 jars
Wire
Jute string
Salt
Candles

 Tools Used:

 Ryobi Cordless Mitre Saw
Ryobi Cordless Drill
Ryobi Cordless Brad Nailer
Ryobi Cordless Screwdriver 

What can I say? .. We like Ryobi! 

The weather was gorgeous - sunny and slightly cool - a perfect day for an outdoor project.  



I began by cutting all the boards to length.  Thanks to the cordless mitre saw, this part of the process was quick and easy. 





I laid the boards out to determine spacing and our driveway made a great work surface.





The thickest ends of the wood shims served as spacers.






To help find the correct placement of the shorter 7" horizontal boards,  I placed jars along the sconces and found I liked them best with 11-1/2" spacing between the 7" horizontal boards.





Using the brad nailer, I tacked the 7" horizontal boards to the long vertical boards. This secured them, allowing me to flip the sconce over to install 1-1/2" screws thru the underside with the drill.

But before putting in any screws, I made pilot holes, to prevent the dry and weathered wood from splitting.






At this point I installed D-ring hangers on the back of each sconce.





 
Flipping the sconce back over to the front, I then attached a hook to the center of each horizontal board.






That completed the sconce assembly.

Now for the jars!

You don't really have to rush out to buy brand new canning jars (unless you want to).  Any clear jar from pasta sauce, pickles, salsa, etc. work just as well.  


Wire wrapped tightly around each jar ring formed a loop for hanging.

A length of thick jute string wrapped around the top of the jar and tied in a double knot adds a rustic touch.

Each jar contains a votive candle resting on a layer of regular table salt. Epsom salt, sand or pebbles can also be used if you like.






Battery operated votives or tea lights are a nice alternative to regular candles and the jars can also be used as vases.  Be sure to check out Pinterest for lots of cute variations.


With the sconces built, I enlisted my sweet hubby to hang them above the fireplace.  He used these picture hangers to ensure they stayed securely on the wall - they're a little more heavy duty than was actually necessary, but we already had them on hand:



Picture Hanger
Picture Hanger

 
Nothing beats the fun of brainstorming a project and having it completed all in one day - that doesn't happen all that often (at least in my world).  





Thanks to all the materials we already had on hand, the total cost for this project was only $6.84 for the 4 hooks.  Yay!
Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!


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2016 Christmas Decor

It's starting to look and feel a lot like Christmas ... the presents are wrapped, the mantel is aglow, and our home is an explosion of glittery gold, bold red and deep green.




This year's mantel is decked out in three layers of garlands ... a base of vertically strung pinecones, and a lighted spruce garland, topped off with a gilded cascading garland.  Instructions for the DIY pinecone garland are HERE.



Above the mantel, a traditional spruce wreath with gold and red ball ornaments is surrounded by a gold open picture frame and a symmetrical arrangement of glittery cutout gold stars and red trees, red felt cone trees, and copper lanterns filled with gold wrapped candles.

A splash of red also warms the hearth area - this darling wood step stool painted with shiny red enamel was built by hubby's grandfather many years ago and is the perfect perch for the vintage red truck and tree.  Surprisingly, our gold painted Thanksgiving pumpkin appears to be alive and well to shine on through Christmas.



On our coffee table, a large clear glass cloche filled with red glass ball ornaments is resting on a gold framed mirror tray.  In reality, it's not a tray at all - it's a wall mirror found at Target.  Nice when items can do double duty.  

Accompanying the cloche is a little red lighted vehicle with Christmas tree.  It was originally green and received a festive makeover with red paint.  Read more about that HERE.



The two slipper chairs in the living room are adorned with red rosette pillows, and my thrifty find of the season ... a dark grey plush throw with super large fluffy pom poms.  I was thrilled to find it at Tuesday Morning for only $14.99!!!  If you're searching for these, they also had them in ivory and a light tan.



In a break from tradition, this year's large living room tree is decorated all in gold, with burlap garland and gold raffia.  It rests in a burlap filled galvanized container.  To see how we set up the tree container, click HERE.



The topper is a gold star with white lights, and glittery gold cascading sprays.  The sprays were found at Lowe's and the star topper at Target.  Tree ornaments were all items we had on hand.


Instructions for making the burlap and book page stocking ornaments can be found HERE.




The foyer decor (adjacent to the large tree) is simple and consists of a lighted tabletop urn centerpiece on the foyer table, and a simple  door wreath.

Our gift wrapping color theme this year is a combination of metallic gold, white and black.  I created and cut the gift tags from black card stock using my Silhouette Cameo, and shiny gold paper fills cutout tree openings in the tags. 




Names were written on the tags with a metallic gold Sharpie (from Lowe's).



In the dining room, a new addition this season is the hot beverage bar on the small antique chest.  The chest is just the right size for all the goodies needed to enjoy a hot cup of coffee, tea, spiced cider or cocoa.  In addition to the Keurig and K-cups, add-ins are ready to go - chocolate chips, marshmallows, flavored coffee creamer, sprinkles, candy cane stirrers and cinnamon.




The dining room table centerpiece is another large glass cloche, filled with red and gold glass ornaments and surrounded by gold and red beaded garland.  This cloche is displayed on a farmhouse style carved round wood tray with metal handles.  The tray was from Decor Steals and came in a set of two.    



A counter height bar separates our kitchen from our dining room and it's a great place for two lighted 4' counter trees in urns.  They're decorated with the handmade cinnamon ornaments from last year (instructions found HERE and HERE). 



 Next to each lighted counter tree are small gold metal ornament stands loaded with red and gold ornaments and "skirted" with red berry candle rings.  The gold metal stands were Goodwill finds this summer.



If you're still with me, have you noticed that pillows move around a lot in our home?  :)

In the kitchen, we continue the explosion of festive red.  Our kitchen is typically very neutral and at Christmas the red really makes it come alive.  



 The light fixture above the island is dressed up a bit with green garland and red and gold tinsel wreaths.  A similar wreath is also centered on the garland at the kitchen sink window.  

 Our framed Christmas countdown is in full swing on the kitchen counter, along with a mug of hot cinnamon flavored candy canes in a holiday mug perched on a white and gold dotted cupcake pedestal.  A trio of glittery gold cone trees add a little sparkle to the top of the fridge.

 The trio of cracked glass lighted orbs on the counter remain year-round because we enjoy them so much.

A white ceramic soup tureen is great for displaying Christmas crackers/poppers (which do you call them?) until Christmas day and a chubby little Santa is keeping them company.



Wrapping up this holiday tour, our master bedroom has a touch of glitz in the form of tinsel trees and matching gold wreath.


How is your holiday decor coming along?  Are you just beginning to decorate, shop for gifts and plan your menu?  Or, have you finished and are now breathing a sigh of relief?

Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Christmas Tree Skirt or Container?

The last couple years, I've gradually replaced all of our traditional fabric Christmas tree skirts with various containers and have found several advantages to doing so.


In our home filled with furbabies, pet hair is a constant.  And having a feline with a fondness for curling up under the tree, I was never able to keep our tree skirts fur free.  

Once we had gifts under the tree, removing the skirt to clean it, run a lint roller over it, or straighten it became quite a chore.  And seriously, how do you launder most store bought tree skirts without damaging them?  Some even state that dry cleaning and laundering are not recommended - spot clean only.  

My quest to find low maintenance options was on and that's when I decided to just "contain" our trees.

Containers are not only basically maintenance free, they are super easy to clean around - just vacuum or mop around the container - no fabric to get caught in your vacuum's rollers and no wet fabric from mopping too close to the skirt.

An added fun element is that practically any container can be used - just use your imagination!

The tree in our living room is contained in a large galvanized bucket.  You can buy a brand new, shiny galvanized bucket at home decor stores, but the most cost effective source is a feed store or tractor supply store. 

Ours came from our storage building and we'd used it for years for mixing concrete for setting fence posts.  It's weathered with rust and has holes in the bottom ... there's not a shiny spot on it.  Perfect!


To convert it to a Christmas tree container, we simply placed two pieces of 4"x4" square posts in the bottom of the bucket to elevate the tree stand.  

If you don't have square posts, use anything you have on hand that is sturdy and provides a flat base on which to place the tree stand - such as bricks, pavers or stacked flat boards.  Or, you can place the tree stand directly in the bottom of the bucket if you choose not to elevate it. 


(Yes, I labeled them - so we wouldn't accidentally use them for other projects! LOL)

We found that a round tree stand provided the best base and bought it at Home Depot.  You can find it HERE.



A few yards of burlap fabric tucked in and around the tree base hides the square posts and the tree base.

Other containers we're using include a square planter and a lampshade that I spray painted gold.  Will share those with you soon when I have the trees set up.

If we had heirloom tree skirts or those that had sentimental value, I would probably continue to use them and put up with the fuzzy mess, but as we didn't, these containers are the perfect solution for our home.  

 Do you skirt or contain your Christmas trees?  If you contain them, what type of containers do you use? 




Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!

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Area Rug Inspiration

A new living room area rug is providing me with a fresh and fun combination of neutral colors to work with ... one that combines gray AND tan.




 (Note:  I was not compensated in any way for this post - 
the opinions expressed are my own and reflect personal experience.)

With a transitional design, the background is warm smoky gray, and the pattern is soft tan, creamy white, and deep charcoal.

The interior walls throughout our home are Sherwin Williams Softer Tan and this rug's subtle use of tan in the design ties our basic color palette in with gray --- a color I've not yet used in decor. 


Sherwin Williams Softer Tan

I like that I don't have to choose between gray and tan, and can have both!




It comes in other size options as well, including a runner.



Home Depot - Anniston Brindle Area Rug



However, actually choosing an area rug posed a bit of a challenge thanks to these three loveable and furry family members:

 
(L to R)  Baby, Mia and Shelby



While there are many beautiful area rugs available in unlimited textures, materials, patterns and colors, our rug has to be invincible.  

 It has to endure paw traffic, has to camouflage multicolored pet hair, withstand daily vacuuming and ... accomplish all this while continuing to look fresh, clean and inviting!  Oh, and before I forget ... it has to also be super budget-friendly.

 Yes, we do expect a lot from a simple area rug.  :)

 In addition to the daily pet parade and pet hair, there is an even bigger challenge.  One of the beasts in the photo above (I won't mention names, but here's a hint ... it's not the one on the left nor the one on the right!) can't resist the temptation of super fuzzy rugs and likes to pull fibers out when no one is watching.

Fortunately, this trio doesn't have accidents on our rugs (knock on wood) and they don't scratch or dig in them.  See .. they do have some redeeming qualities! 

With this list of seemingly impossible criteria in hand, the search was on for an 8' x 10' area rug that would somehow meet most of our requirements and yet be visually appealing.     

It was so much fun to browse through all the awesome area rugs at Home Goods, Tuesday Morning, At Home, Home Depot, Target and Lowe's.

The beauties below were immediately eliminated as contenders but I'll share them with you in the event you can use them in your more "civilized" home.  


Lowe's

Lowe's


Tuesday Morning

In my desperation, I even considered an indoor/outdoor patio rug, but it was woven and the one on display actually had several pulled loops which gave me a realistic view of how it might hold up with our pack.

 
Lowe's


Then I spotted the Anniston Brindle area rug, part of the Home Decorators Collection at Home Depot.  

I was immediately drawn to the contrast between the warm smoky gray background and the light, fresh pattern.  The online specifications describe the light area as "yellow," but in our home it reads a soft tan.  

 Unlike the chenille, shag and natural fiber rugs of my dreams, it is 100% polyester but is a practical low pile and paw-friendly with no loops.

We've had it for a few weeks and I'm still thrilled with the pattern and color palette. 

 


More importantly, I'm happy to report no attempted fiber removal efforts have occurred. :)

I'm really thankful that at this time I didn't give in to a super plush or natural woven looped version that would have been exhaustingly impractical for us ... standing guard constantly to protect an area rug from a mischievous set of teeth wouldn't have been my idea of fun! 




Do you have furry family members that pose decorating challenges?  Have you tried a color scheme that combines gray and tan?  




Your comments are greatly appreciated and I look forward to your thoughts and ideas!  I try to respond to comments via email as soon as I can. If your email address isn't available, I will comment here. Thanks so much for visiting!  

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