the picket fence projects: November 2014

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

DIY door decor

Two things I love:

1. nap time

2. DIY projects

Getting a DIY project during nap time?

Well that's pretty much the best ever.

So was the case the other day. Charlie was taking a snooze and I found myself looking at this last DIY project I had hanging on our kitchen door and felt ready for a change.

So, I dug around above our garage (a very scary place-- think Hoarders: Buried Alive) and found this burlap bag (can't remember where it came from) and this glittery "S" (I bought mine last year at Michaels but you can find a similar one here). As for the holly, I just snipped some branches from a bush in our yard and the herringbone ribbon was leftover from some decorating I posted about here.

The project was super easy to do.

I started by stuffing the burlap bag with some paper towel to make it a little fuller.

Then, I added the holly...

tied the whole thing up with the ribbon...

and added the "S".

Here's the final product hung up on our kitchen door:

I think it's a nice change and I just might skip the traditional pine wreath all together and just keep this thing up.

Thanks for dropping by!

- Caitlin

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Seasonally simple

Even though it's not Thanksgiving yet, I'm guilty of jumping the gun and starting decorating for the holidays.

This year, Chris requested that it not look like "Christmas threw up" in the house (ha!) because last year we went a little overboard with the holiday decorating. So, I'm taking a more tamed approach and keeping it simple this season.

This past week, I started by adding some simple holiday greens in the dining room and kitchen.

I love poinsettias especially white ones (surprise surprise, right?) and have these ones in a metal garage sale find:

I also love boxwood and have put these mini wreaths (that I bought from this site that I've posted about before here) around some candle votive holders:

The boxwood wreaths came in a set of three and I've hung the largest one on a tray on our hutch:

The black and white herringbone ribbon came from this Etsy shop.

In the kitchen, I've kept the alcove behind the kitchen sink simple with two larger poinsettias in these wicker and glass hurricanes that were previously on our mantel.

Here's some more of the herringbone ribbon:

I'll share more of our holiday decorating soon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
- Caitlin

Friday, November 21, 2014

One room challenged

Have you heard about the ORC (one room challenge) series where bloggers have 6 weeks to decorate a room?

I seriously admire those that are able to get a room together under such a tight time line!

I, unfortunately, am not so ORC savvy.

Decorating a room is definitely a slow process for me that I can't rush (it took months and months to put together Charlie's nursery and our bedroom after-all).

The current room that I am challenging myself to decorate is our family room.

I posted about our plans for this room here and I'm currently at week 8 or so.

While it is nowhere near finished, we have definitely made some progress.

Here's what it was looking like before:

And here is where we are today:

We have the bulk of the furniture in (couch, coffee table, armchair) and the ceiling, trim, and walls have been painted (wall color is Benjamin Moore's pale oak).

Obviously there is still lots to do (purchase a rug, find side tables and lamps, find and hang artwork, add accessories and pillows, give the room some color and personality) but it'll get there.

In the meantime, I'm just enjoying the freshly painted walls (it is amazing what paint can do) and a cozy couch to sit on in front of the fire.

Have a great weekend!

- Caitlin

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

A little winter foyer fun

Holy cold!

The weather could not be more opposite of the sunny warm temperatures we were enjoying just a couple of weeks ago at my sister's wedding in Florida.

Anyway, I'm trying to embrace the arctic chill by adding some winter decor around the house.

This past weekend I focused on the foyer.

I'll probably change things around 10 more times (because that's what I do) until I'm satisfied with how it looks but here's where I left off:

The mini Christmas trees are fake (just $3 a piece from Target) as I'm waiting for Trader Joe's to put out their real ones.

The vintage snow shoes were a garage sale find I picked up last winter:

I used these boots last winter in the foyer (read about it here) and pulled them out again this year:

This picture below reminds me that I still want to makeover the inside of our front door (new paint and hardware). Maybe something like Jackson's front door?