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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Swing into Spring - It's a Party # 118

Welcome to this week's Swing into Spring party. 
 Last week's party was filled with tons of great ideas and inspiration.  
I look forward each week to seeing what you have been working on.  
Here are this week's features:

HOME DECOR:
Old Things New shared her latest project ... hand-painted wallpaper.   Gorgeous!
Better With Age shared how she created an office in her kitchen.  What a difference!

FURNITURE TRANSFORMATIONS:
Craftivity Designs  shared how she transformed an Ikea cabinet using chevron contact paper!

Art For Your Walls transformed a Craigslist dresser into this silver-leafed beauty.

CRAFTY CREATIONS:
 Pneumatic Addict Furniture created this gorgeous upholstered headboard.
 Please stop by for the full tutorial.
Crafty Journal shared how she created these super cute stamps out of recycled plastic lids and foam stickers.  What a great idea.

TASTY TREATS:
Live Laugh Rowe  shared her recipe for ricotta cheese cake.  Delicious!
Domestic Bliss Squared shared her recipe for gluten-free chocolate overload cupcakes.
Wow, these look amazing!

If you were featured, please grab an "I've Been Featured" button (you can now find my buttons by clicking on the buttons tab right under my header).  Now let's get started with this week's party.  I can't wait to see what you have been up to.  Link up anything you have been working on...home decor, sewing, crafts, organizing, baking, recipes etc.   I will keep this link open through Friday.




A few rules:
1.  Please become a follower (if you already follow me on Google, I would love for you to follow me on Linky Followers, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest as well).  

2.  Please grab my party button above and display it either on your sidebar or somewhere in your post.  This way word can spread about the party.  The more people at the party, the more fun we will have.

3.  Please enter the link to your actual post, not just a link to your main blog page.

4. Please visit others who have linked up.   Everyone works hard on their projects and blogs...let's show each other some love by visiting each other.  Let's have some fun and hopefully make a few new friends along the way.

Ok...Let's Party

-Judy

Five Easy Steps to Transforming Any Room in your Home

My niece is turning eight this weekend.  Her mom would like to update her bedroom and has asked for my help.  My niece has already developed a real style of her own.  She puts together the best outfits for herself...a combination of funky and eclectic and just totally cool.   The goal is to have her bedroom reflect her personality now and help her room "grow up" a bit.

The first step in any room transformation is to gather inspiration.  My favorite sources for inspiration are home decor magazines (I still love to hold a magazine and flip through the pages), Houzz, Pinterest, and HGTV Rate my Space.  

The second step is directly related to the first step...deciding on a color scheme.  In my case, the color scheme usually finds me.  What I mean is that while I look through my design sources, I am usually drawn to similar color schemes over and over again.  Sometimes it just starts with an inspiration piece, maybe a piece of jewelry that speaks to me, that transfers into a color scheme.  
The third step is to take inventory of what furniture works in the room and what will have to go or be replaced.  Any furniture staying in the room must be multi-functional.  The plan here is to replace her existing night stands with more functional nightstands.  I've been looking on Craigslist to find some makeover candidates.
In my niece's room the bed is going to be kept, but undergo a total makeover.  The plan is to upholster the headboard and footboard...currently covered with stickers.
Her current drapes will replace her closet doors, that are always falling off of the hinges. 

The fourth step is to create a mood board.  I use Olioboard to collect my ideas.  Here is one of the mood boards I have come up with for my niece's room.  The great thing about creating a mood board is it's an easy way to try out ideas without any commitment.  You can use items already uploaded into Olioboard, or you can upload your own photos.  
The fifth step, and really my favorite, is the execution of the room and putting it all together.
The plan is to have my niece's room come together fairly quickly over the next few weeks.  I can't wait to share with you her updated room.

Don't forget to stop back tonight for my Swing into Spring party.


The party opens at 8pm EST.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Firmoo Sunglasses Giveaway Winners


The winners of the six 
$20 Firmoo Sunglasses E Vouchers 
giveaway are:

Ashley
Jo
Kristen
Judy
Wendy
Denise


Congratulations!  I will be sending you all an email today.

-Judy

Friday, May 17, 2013

Chic Storage - Decorating Your Home With Baskets

Tackling clutter is an ongoing issue in most homes.  One of my favorite ways to corral the clutter is using baskets.  Here is some great inspiration on how to use baskets in your home decor:

I love the idea of a large basket next to a sofa to contain extra pillows and blankets.


Of course, a basket on a coffee table filled with magazines is always beautiful.
I love the basket on my coffee table in my family room.


Baskets not only hide all kinds of things, but they also add texture to any space.


I love to use baskets on bookshelves.
In this basement television area, the baskets hide games and toys.

Using baskets can help to create a spa-like atmosphere in any bath area.

Any home office can benefit from the use of baskets too.  
I love these hanging baskets in powder blue to organize this space.

Do you decorate with baskets?
Have a great weekend.
  
-Judy
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Thursday, May 16, 2013

DIY Kitchen Makeover for Spring/Summer


I'd like to welcome Anna Hicks who has written a post especially for DIYbyDesign.  Enjoy!

When spring and summer comes blooming in, there’s a need to not only clean things up, but also to redesign the house or specific parts of the house. This may include the lounge, kitchen and perhaps your bedroom.
Rooms do require a little bit of spicing up from time to time. What better time is there to give a makeover to your kitchen?
It doesn't have to be a major stripping down and doing over all the floors. You can even do something like a simple picture frame turned into a serving tray kind of project.

1.  Simplify Your Kitchen
There may be a lot of clutter about. For an ideal kitchen makeover, start with cleaning it out rather than redesigning it immediately. Give the kitchen a thorough cleaning out and minimize your storage items by considering what you really need and what isn’t a necessity to be kept around.
If you have too much of certain items that you don’t require, give them away. Re-organize your cabinets and drawers and do not overwhelm your storage so that there is space left for you to actually see the things in there.

2.  Switch Up the Lighting
An easy way to alter up the entire look and mood of the kitchen room is to switch up the lighting. As kitchens are increasingly becoming a place for people to entertain their guests as well, it might be a good idea to add accent lights.
Add a picture of a wall and light it up from behind, or you can go a step ahead and add lights that are purely decorative. If you are unsure on how to handle the lighting and interior, you can always learn through art courses at interior design schools and other similar resources.

3.  Make Your Kitchen Eco-Friendly
Rather than focusing on the aesthetics, you can now also focus on making your kitchen eco-friendly. You don't necessarily have to strip off all that is beautiful, but to just make it a loving place for earth. This change is taken as being expensive, but you don't have to jump into appliances that consume less energy all at once.
When adding more lights to make your kitchen more at home and welcoming, try to use lights that save energy rather than use excessive energy. With the going green so much in vogue, many companies have made a variety of eco-friendly appliances, which means that these products are no longer outrageously expensive.

4.  Add a Little Color
If everything else fails, you can always paint the kitchen with a new color. Pale yellow and bright orange are in for the spring. If, however, even painting the entire room seems like too much of an ordeal, you can always think of other ways to make the room more colorful.

Take the items you’ve set aside to give away in your cleanup of the kitchen. Paint them a bright color and add a little shelf to your kitchen; set them up for a purely decorative purpose. You will not only save yourself from the pain of parting from those items, but also add to your kitchen a little more ambience.
DIY projects for any room don’t necessarily have to involve major design changes to the room, but little crafts and similar additions to increase the aesthetics of the room and to give it a fresh outfit.

Thanks Anna!

-Judy

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