Hey hey! Hope everyone is having a good week so far.  I’ve had a productive one so that’s good, yes? :)  And like I told you all earlier this week, I spent a lot of time at our nursery last week.  I was getting some new planters to put at our front door!

Well let me explain…I mentioned how I loooooove those beautiful container gardens right?  So what I did because I don’t have a green thumb is that I took my planters up to our local nursery and they did all the work for me.  Yes, I cheated. Why not have the professionals who know what they are doing, do it for me, and for free?  All I had to pay for was the plants.  It was a win win people.

And so here’s the porch with my new planters.

And you might be saying to yourself “where’s the pink flowers in the planter on the left?” Am I right?  I’m having issues with that particular flower and I don’t know why. I think I might have drowned them but I’m not sure so I’m having my mom come take a look and hopefully doctor it up.

But regardless they are still pretty. :)

That wreath on the door is a few years old and is actually the very first wreath I made.  I’d like to make another one but it’s not top priority right now.

All of the plants in the planters are shade plants, since we don’t get much sun in the front of the house.

The ones I know of that are in here are:

• New Guinea Impatiens (pink flowers as filler)
• Fern (used as the thriller in back of pot)
• Potato Vine (spiller on sides)
• Impatiens (filler)
• Iboza Vine (spiller in front)

The only one I do not know is the plant with the little purple-blue flowers on them. If anyone knows let me know!

So anyway, that’s about it!  Oh I did buy a new doormat at Target for $11 too.  The Welcome vinyl sign was done a few years ago as well, and I just had a local sign shop print it out for me and I stuck it on. But if you have a Silhouette you can make one yourself!

I’ll leave you with a few more pictures now.

Yes I need to trim our bushes too.  It’s not to the point where you get attacked when you walk up, but it’s getting there. I should spray paint our light fixture too because it’s really faded.  Goodness, the list never ends!  :)

Have you been doing any sprucing up to your outside areas?  I’m trying to get it all done before it gets too hot here!

xxoo,

Decorchick!

Our Summer Front Porch is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Goodness, I can’t believe it’s been 2 years already since I started this blog!!

The anniversary was actually yesterday and it just kind of snuck up on me so I don’t have any cool things planned or anything. But I did want to say THANK YOU to all of you.  I have the best supportive readers and it makes having this blog that much more fun.  Little did I know what this blog would turn into 2 years ago, but I can’t say enough how grateful I am.  I think about it every single day, and try to not take anything for granted.

It’s just funny how I was SO scared to even think about writing a blog over 2 years ago because I’m not a “writer.”  But I guess in my own way I am now, and now you can’t shut me up. :)

Thanks to God and my husband–this blog happened because of them.  And thanks to you all, this blog has grown into something that I cannot even fathom, but again, so grateful.  Here’s to many more years!

Just for fun I looked up what a few of my top posts were over these past 2 years, in case you want to check them out!  I’ll just give you the top 5 for now. (these don’t include any of my tabs on the navigation bar–just posts)

1. The Great Pantry Makeover
2. 10 Advent Calendar Tutorials
3. A Pretty Yarn Wreath
4. How to: Fake Wainscoting
5. How to: The Paneled Wall

Thanks again everyone, love y’all!

xxoo,

Decorchick!

It’s Been 2 Years Already?? is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Hi everyone, hope you had a nice weekend!  It’s getting hot isn’t it?!  Well, over the weekend I braved the heat and visited one of our local nurseries that I love (3 times to be exact), and I got some ideas for those beautiful container gardens you see everywhere, but might not know how to create.  I know that I don’t.  Or didn’t.

And the terms thrillers, fillers, and spillers was new to me. And in case you don’t know, the thriller would be the tall plant in the pot for height usually towards the back of the pot (or the center-depending on if your planter needs to look good in all directions), the filler would be the medium height plants/flowers, and the spiller would be what you plant toward the front of the pot near the edge so it overlaps and hangs off a bit.  So there ya go–a little bit of container garden 101 from a person who knows very little about gardening. :) But I like to try!

But ok, back to container gardens…

I was walking around just snapping photos with my phone because the ones they make at the nursery are so pretty.  I thought it would be fun to show you all some of my favorites in case you wanted to give it a shot yourself, or at least get some ideas.

I LOVE that last one!! Definitely my fav.

We have one of the best nurseries around I think (Enchanted Forest). It’s really like a little tucked away paradise and is just so fun to go to and walk around.  They have sweet dogs and cats just roaming around, a nice pond, and also roosters and chickens but they are in the coop. :)  My daughter LOVES to go there. Plus they always have activities for adults and kiddos and the staff that works there are just so nice.  And NO, this is not a sponsored post or anything.  The people at the nursery have no clue who I am. Well they know who I am, but they don’t know I have a blog or anything or that I was going to talk about them!

I’m still working a little on our front porch, but I might just have a few new container garden pots to show you soon! ;)

Do you love container gardens as much as me, or have you planted some before?  I’m kind of addicted and want them everywhere!

Oh, p.s.-I just joined Instagram finally and loooooooove it. My user name there is decorchick1.  Or you can try this link and see if you can follow from there. :)

xxoo,

Decorchick!

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Beautiful Container Garden Ideas is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Nope, no pretty project to share today.  Hate to burst your bubbles.  This is going to be one of those “deep” posts maybe, and speaking from my heart about blog stuff.  I haven’t had a deep post in a long time, maybe ever?  And I’m sure I’ll get off track and talk about a bunch of random things so forgive me.

Anyway, whenever you read blogs, don’t you like to really “know” the person who is writing the blog?  Don’t you want to know more about their lives and families etc?  Some bloggers are very private, and some have no problem sharing their names and information about their family.  Me?  I do like to share pictures of my family because that’s just me.  I’m an open book and I want all of y’all to know more about me, my family, and where I come from.

But what’s the problem with that you ask? Whenever I do that, those posts get the least amount of comments and interest from you all.  It’s kind of heartbreaking to open up myself like that to the internet world and not get the same response as a room reveal or new craft would receive.  Yea I know this is a home decor blog–I get that.  But it’s not like I post about myself or family stuff every week.  It’s usually just on special occasions/holidays.  And for the most part I do stay strictly in the home niche.  But when bloggers stray from that every now and then, I happen to really enjoy it.  And I assumed you would too?

And yes you all know I’m pregnant.  And not much longer to go actually!  And I thought that you all would be interested in a few pregnancy updates as well, but again to my disbelief, those few posts that I have done seem to get the least attention from y’all as well.

If I’m being totally honest here, I think I conditioned everyone when I started this blog that I’d have a pretty project every day.  I had a lot of projects to share in the beginning because we were still decorating our house and a LOT needed to be done.  And there is still stuff to do, but not pressing stuff, and it’s stuff that costs money.  There’s only so many times you can spray paint an old frame ya know? Yes this blog is a business for me too, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend all the pennies I earn on buying something new for our house just so I have content to publish.  I buy stuff for our home because I love it and because we are the ones living with it.  You get what I’m saying here?  Did I lose you?

Writing a blog takes a tremendous amount of time and effort, and also blood, sweat and tears.  You’d probably be floored if I told you how many hours a week/day a blogger works on their blog, doing projects, editing pictures, social media interaction, responding to comments and emails etc.  It’s a LOT.  I’m not complaining at all because I have the best job in the world and a very supportive husband, but you have to realize a new project can’t be busted out daily unless I want to totally neglect my family, and that I do not want to do.

I don’t want you to think that just because a personal post doesn’t get 100 comments or more like some projects do, that I have a pity party.  That’s not what I’m saying at all.  Comments mean your readers are interacting with you because they like what you have to say.  Maybe my family and pregnancy posts just don’t float your boat because you don’t feel connected to what I’m writing about?  Yes, no, maybe so?  Do you not like the personal stuff?  Do you only visit my blog to see pretty pictures and projects? Aren’t you going to want to see pictures of the new baby when he/she arrives?  Well I have news because you are going to see them regardless. :)

A quote that I came up with:  “Bloggers are real people too–not just people with pretty homes.” I think that about sums up what I’m trying to say with this forever long post. :)

So, give it to me.  Do you only care about the projects?  Do you only visit blogs to be inspired by projects and see pretty home things?  Do you get annoyed when you visit a home decor blog in general, not just mine, and it isn’t home related?  (and I’m not talking about sponsored posts or giveaways–that’s a different post in its entirety).  There’s no right or wrong answer here either.  And I know this is a pinning world these days and not a commenting world like it once was.  Just trying to figure out what it is about the personal posts vs. project posts.

And ps–NO, this post does not mean the projects are stopping or anything like that. I actually am working on a few very cool behind the scene things right now and can’t wait to share with y’all.  Plus, if I get it together I may even be able to show you all my laundry room next week!  And even if y’all tell me you hate seeing the personal posts, I’ll ultimately do what I feel is right anyway because well, it is my blog (said in a non-arrogant way). But I’d still like to know your thoughts. :)

“And she bared her soul, took a deep breath and hit publish.”

xxoo,

Decorchick!

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Who Is That Blogger Anyway? is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Hey everyone I hope you had a great weekend, and for all you mamas out there, hope you had a happy Mother’s Day too!  I got a few things accomplished and that was nice, and one of them included taking down the Spring/Easter mantel and creating a new summer mantel.  And I loooooove how it came out!

I wanted to go with a beachy look this year with shades of aqua and the good news is that I already had everything. Except the driftwood which I picked up in Alabama. Oh, and I did buy the rope ball at Target for $5.

I love it up here!  You can also spy my aqua painted mason jar up there too.  That rope net thing around it was something I kept a long time ago and some decorative balls came in it, I think.

I already had the old antique window and used it for my Fall mantel last year as a backdrop, but this time I just turned it on its side, and made a simple shell wreath to hang on it.

I just wove some pretty ribbon in and out of the wreath form and glued on some seashells.  Really couldn’t have been any easier and I love how it turned out.

I love the driftwood and the natural element it brings.

Now here’s just a few more pretty shots. :)

And that’s a wrap!  I really am thrilled with how it came out.  You can see last year’s summer mantel here.  I loved it a lot too! :)

What do you think?  Are you ready for summer? Or at least ready for the beach?  I am! :)

xxoo,

Decorchick!

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The Beachy Summer Mantel is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Hey everyone thanks so much for your insight the other day about our living room rugs and Rugs USA.  I’ve been checking them out and found quite a few that I really like!  Wanna see?

Option A.

For some reason I just really love this navy rug.  But I think it might be too dark for our living room?  And not sure how it would go with our black and white ottoman.  But I looooooove it.

Option B.

I like this one a lot too and it’s pretty similar to what we already have.  It also comes in lots of different colors.

Option C.

They have lots of chevron rugs available, and I like how this one doesn’t have perfect stripes.  I know chevron will die soon, but I wouldn’t buy something in this pattern to be trendy. I buy because I like. And this one I like!  And this one seems a little more on the herringbone-ish side anyway. :)

Those are the first 3 options, and the only bad thing about them is that they are ALL wool!  I said I was going to get away from wool because of the shedding. But they are just so pretty I can’t help it.

Here’s the last option, and this is the only synthetic one I’ve found so far.

Option D.

I like this one a lot too!  And all of the rugs I listed have really good coupons out too.

It’s pretty obvious I wanted to stay with the blue shades and a geometric type pattern just because I like our current ones so much. But I’m not opposed to other colors/patterns too.

So which one do you like best? Option A, B, C, or D? And should I risk getting another wool rug?  Help!

xxoo,

Decorchick!

Let’s Go Rug Shopping! is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Well, sadly, I need to start looking for a new rug for the living room.  It breaks my heart actually because I LOVE the look of this rug, but it is still shedding!!!  It’s been over a year people.

Yes, those beautiful rugs! They really make the room I think.

And if you’re new here you can read about the rugs in this post and this post, and yes, I bought 2 of the same rug and put them together to make 1 big area rug.  No limits y’all.

But unfortunately, little fibers get everywhere on the wood floors and makes the floor look dirty when it’s not, so these rugs would best work on carpet where you can’t see them. :)  Also, after the kids romp around on it for a day or so, little fuzz balls form on the rugs and it’s just annoying.  I just can’t believe it is STILL shedding after all this time.  Really makes me want to cry because they look so pretty in here.

So now I’m in the market for just a synthetic rug…not a wool rug like these are because they are just going to shed like mad.  But I want it to be soft and cushiony.

Now what’s your favorite place to shop for rugs that don’t cost a fortune?  These were from Overstock, but I need some different resources.  Anyone have good luck with RugsUSA.com?  Let me know then we can go rug shopping together!  Online of course. :)

xxoo,

Decorchick!

The Rug Has Got To Go is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend!  I haven’t shared any prego photos in a while, so that’s what I’m doing today.  I’m feeling great, some days totally exhausted though and can’t wait for nap time, and others I want to start all kinds of new projects. But most days naps win.  :)  I wish I was sleeping better though but my nonstop bladder and vivid crazy dreams are to blame.

Anywho, I took my daughter to Alabama last week to visit family and had a great time. I’m officially 31 weeks now, but in these pics I was 30 weeks.

And yes I’m mean and had to crop this picture so it was just me.  But here’s the original photo so you can see my beautiful pregnant cousin too.

Here she was 25 1/2 weeks.  And skinny.  And it’s not fair.  Even if I ate carrots every single day and that’s all I ate, I still would not be a skinny pregnant person.  That’s just the way God made me so in the meantime I eat way more than just carrots every day. :)

Oh hey, look who it is!

Yep, that’s Myra from My Blessed Life, my blogging BFF (who also is pregnant and due just 1 1/2 weeks behind me!).  We were able to hang out a few days while I was there and it was SO good to see her and let our kids play together.  Keep in mind we never have hung out in person before, but we talk to each other just about every day. But it was just like we did hang out every day when we saw each other.  Love her bunches.

The third trimester has been interesting to say the least.  I haven’t been emotional or had raging hormones this entire time, up until now.  And some days it isn’t pretty if I’m being honest.  My poor husband.  That’s all I can say.  But at least while in Alabama my Grandma did have this treat waiting for me when we got there.

Yep, the famous caramel cake.  It is seriously the best thing ever.  I ate a piece every night with a glass of milk.  And I’m sure that will be apparent at my next doctor’s appointment this week.

Speaking of Grandma, here’s the pretty lady herself with me and her great-granddaughter.

Love them!

So that’s it. Just 9 more weeks to go!! I think I’m in denial about it too. I still haven’t caved and found out the sex of the baby, but I did have a weird dream the other night that it was a boy.  But a very pretty boy with bright blue eyes, and that’s all I kept saying is that “he’s so pretty.” Haha. Weird pregnancy dreams for sure.

xxoo,

Decorchick!

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Pregnant Fest {30 Week Baby Belly Pics} is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

Well Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and I wanted to throw out a few ideas for you all in case you haven’t decided on anything yet.  And homemade gifts are always great and meaningful, and what better place to get all of your supplies from than Michaels?!

You can’t go wrong with a homemade card, and did you know May is national scrapbooking month?

Gosh I love orange and aqua I could just eat em up.

You could also buy a stencil kit from Michaels and make your mom something special too.

They have tons of different stencils to choose from, but a few simple projects that come to mind would be to make some monogrammed coasters, an apron, or even do some stenciling/glass etching on a pretty vase filled with flowers.  Lots of possibilities.

Michaels also has a great custom frame shop and you could frame your favorite picture or whatever is meaningful to your mother.

And lastly, one of my personal favorites would be to make her a chalkboard for the kitchen. Every mom needs a chalkboard!!

They are so simple to make and it’s one of my favorite crafts I’ve made before and use it all the time.  You can buy the chalkboard paint at Michaels too.  All you need to do is find an old picture frame, spray the glass with the chalkboard paint and voila!  So, so simple. Here are a few chalkboards that I’ve made for our home and as gifts if you want to check them out.

So what do you think? Are you inspired to make something for Mother’s Day this year?   I am, and now I’m off to shop at Michaels! :)

xxoo,

Decorchick!

Mother’s Day Ideas is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time

*This giveaway is now closed and winner announced at bottom of post*

Hey everyone, hope you’re having a great week so far!  Today I’m happy to share with y’all a great company, Wallpaper for Windows who specializes in decorative window films and tints.  Ever wanted the look of stained glass and etched glass but don’t want to pay the high price tag for it?  Wallpaper for Windows is the solution!

I love their leaded glass designs…

I love how you can get the designs in privacy or see thru too.  I like having the privacy glass in the front of our house near the front door, but by the back door I’d do a see thru design.

They also have a new collection called the Cambridge Collection which focuses on the stained glass look.

So pretty!

Wallpaper for Windows also offers several other designs and options too, and I happen to love these too.

If we didn’t already have privacy film on our front sidelights I would definitely get these.

And they offer etched glass looks as well.

So many options to dress up your windows, glass doors, shower enclosures and more. Installation is super easy too and you can view the instructions here.

And the kind folks at Wallpaper for Windows are offering one of you a $75 gift certificate to their shop! Woohoo!!

To enter the giveaway to win a $75 credit to Wallpaper for Windows, please do the following:

1. Leave a comment and tell us what you would use their product on in your home;
2. Bonus entry: Like Wallpaper for Windows on Facebook;
3. Bonus entry: Facebook or tweet about the giveaway and include a link back to this post.

And that’s it! Please leave separate comments for each thing you do.  Giveaway will be open until Thursday, May 10, 2012 and winner will be chosen via Random.org.

*The winner is #46, and that is Kathy w. An email has been sent to you!*

Good luck!

xxoo,

Decorchick!

Wallpaper For Windows {Giveaway!} is a post from: Decorchick! Changing her world, one project at a time