Backyard ART

If you happen to have a lot of trees in your backyard or maybe a friend who does,

you might like these design ideas for creating inexpensive and interesting art from wood.

Instructrions for creating the above "antlers" are courtesy

of my long-lost favorite magazine, Budget Living.

Another Tuesday Tip!

If you live in an older home, space and storage can be a big problem.

I love this idea of painting 2x4's and nailing them to the wall in a grid formation.

This adds wonderful depth to the room & wall PLUS provides some storage for smaller items.

This is also really useful if your walls are made of plaster.  Notice how the mirror is attached to part of the wooden wall grid?  (If you don't know what I'm talking about, plaster crumbles the moment you try to drill a hole or hang a nail making it impossible to hang ANYTHING on your wall.) 

I have also seen this idea used as a headboard.

The grid is built kind of in an arch shape so that the sides become the nightstands and the top of the arch becomes the headboard.  Books, artwork, clocks, etc. can decorate the space or just let the paint and grid design be the wall art! 

A simple, inexpensive idea that can be whipped up in an afternoon:)

Spring Sale Coupon

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

Spring time makes us want to open the windows and air out the house!  

Which inevitably leads to cleaning to get the musty winter smells out of everything.

I don't know about you but when Spring comes around,
and I start to clean out the house, I notice how much junk I have!!  

This season, tackle Spring Cleaning room by room.
Take this opportunity to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.

1.  Start by taking out as much of the extras in the room as possible.  

Knick knacks or whatever you have lying around.  

2.  Take out furniture that you don't LOVE.  

Why are you hanging onto something you don't really like?  Take it out!  

3.  Now, clean up the room and maybe rearrange some furniture in the process.  

This will allow you to clean the hard to reach spots PLUS give your room a little face lift.  

4.  Once the big pieces in the room are clean and where you want them, start bringing back the extras you took out.  Don't feel like you need to bring them all back into the room.  Only what you love and/or need.

5.  Whatever you didn't put back can either find a new home in another room or can be donated to a local charity.  

Tuesday Tip!

Save some space in your cabinets by displaying any fine china you have in the house.  

Even everyday plates can add a splash of color to the walls.

This is a great way to decorate your home AND enjoy beautiful possessions!

(Scroll to the bottom for a How-to)

Plate hangers are available at local stores like Michaels, Home Depot or look online at Amazon.

They are only a few dollars apiece and come in various sizes to hold any size plate.  

(If you are super thrifty, click here for a tutorial on how to make your own!)

If placement seems daunting to you, lay the plates on paper, trace the edges & cut out.  

You can arrange the cut outs on the wall and move them around until you get just the arrangement you want.

Hammer the nail right into the paper then tear off to hang the plates!!

Universal Ideas

There are all kinds of designers.

Landscape, advertising, architectural, fabric . . . you get the idea;)

While each designer has a very specific skill set that categorizes them as an expert in their field,

all of us follow a very simple and similar set of rules. 

Let's consider print advertising for a moment.

Here is an ad I got in the mail the other day.

There is balance with the images. 

Different sizing of the fonts to create emphasis.

The text is spaced appropriately for the space.

There is simplicity in the message.

The images are coordinating colors and the purple text is different to accent the message.

 

These were my thoughts but I thought I would look to an expert to confirm my ideas.

Peter J. Patsula, author of the Entrepreneur's Guidebook Series, has written a summary

of Basic Design Strategies which can be used for creating promotional materials.

 

Let's apply these rules to a beautiful room.

Here is the Presidential Master Bedroom of Jackie & John F. Kennedy.

We can find each design principle in this room.

 

Simplicity:  This room isn't too crowded with furniture or decoration.

Unity:  All of the colors used are similar and the pieces of furniture are complimentary.

Balance:  All of the furniture is evenly distributed on either side of the bed.

Contrast:  To keep the room from looking too uniform, the furniture on each side of the bed is different.  Additionally, the carpet to the left contrasts the wall-to-wall carpet to create a space within a space.

Proportion:  Since the ceilings in this room are so high, the headboard and the vanity mirror are very tall to keep the rest of the room in proportion.

Consistency:  This ties in with the Unity principle.  The colors and patterned fabric are used throughout the room creating a theme.

Proximity:  Furniture placement is placed appropriately to the size of the room and it's function.  The bed is prominently placed in the center as well as the seating area to the left (which happens to be in front of the fireplace.)  This makes the main functions of the room central and paths of movement to the outskirts. 

 



The simple rules outlined above can be applied to any type of creative endeavor.

Creative is the keyword here.  While the rules are simple sometimes the creativity is hard to find:)

Exercise your creative juices and try applying these design principles to your home!

If you end up with something you like, send me a picture:)

Not just for walking on!

Don't limit artwork to just the walls of your home. 
Think outside the box and add some inlay to your hardwood floors. 
Our friend Lee Henson created this beautiful design.

Wouldn't this be amazing on your foyer floor?!

If this isn't your cup of tea . .

Consider adding some interest to your floors by painting them.
Here are some ideas that I love:)