Thought for a Thursday~

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others"'

~Martha Graham


Coming tomorrow for Frugal Friday...how to turn a Christmas wreath into an Autumn beauty.

Have a lovely Thursday~

Let the Halloween crafting commence!

**I'm answering your questions about painting ceilings to my FAQ post -- you can find it on the right sidebar from now on!**

Can you even believe tomorrow is October 1st?? I can't. I wanted fall to get here so badly, and here it is -- temps in the 60's, a trip to the pumpkin patch scheduled for this weekend, planning Christmas decorations...errr, um, Halloween decorations. Uh huh.

I can't get enough of the fun Halloween scrapbook papers and sparkly stickers I see everywhere. I grab them up more often than I should, with the plan to make something with all of 'em. Adorable.

Tonight I did a quick project that turned out pretty cauuute and wanted to share it with you in honor of the start of the bewitching month. ;) I started with a scrap piece of wood from the garage and some fun paper. I used my spray adhesive to glue the paper to the wood, then cut around it with the x-acto knife:

I cut out some solid paper with my $1.99 scalloped scissors from Hob Lob and glued it on too:

(Sorry for the awful picture!) Ha! You can see the shadow of my hands taking the picture! Looks like a ghost. :)

Then the fun starts...I used a circle puncher to make a "moon," then added some of my cutey sparkly bats:

Then added some foam letters:

And used my new Martha Stewart glitter/glue to glam them up:

Can I tell you something? I'm not loving the Martha glitter. I thought I would love it -- I should because I spent a pretty penny on it! It just doesn't hold as well as my regular, cheapy glitter. I'm actually going to have to go over these again because the glitter just didn't stay on. Bummer!!

I added a few more foamy/sticker stuff and hung it with an orange ribbon:

For now it hangs in the laundry room, but I added felt pads to the back and may just hang it from a door knob somewhere.

It is so dang cute I just can't even stand it. :) More to come!

Vote for Lorie! And join the linky party!

See this pretty little thing?

One of our sistas from our blogging community, Lorie from Be Different, Act Normal is trying to win it.

Do you know how close she is?
She's running neck to neck with only ONE other site!

How can she win?
She needs the most comments on her post! So in celebration of a friend needing a helping hand, I'm holding us a little




<center><a href="http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com/2009/09/laundry-room-linky-party-for-lori.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Funky Junk's Laundry Party" src="<a href="http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b243/signmakergirl/?action=view¤t=laundrybutton.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b243/signmakergirl/laundrybutton.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>"/></a></center>

At the end of this post, you'll see a place to vote for Lorie, and please do it quickly. Deadline is Oct 2!! (you can vote more than once too! Anonymous voters will be disqualified)

Then add your own laundry link to join the party! If you don't have a laundry room worthy of pics, feel free to post a fav laundry themed gaget you enjoy. Or another laundry themed pic from the net. But if nothing else,  please just vote for Lorie and just spread the word.

So, let's get this party started already! Here's mine...

You may have already seen my laundry room bookshelf idea. In celebration for Lorie, I've taken a few more pics. The room is so not ready for a final reveal, so don't worry if yours isn't either!

Here's the only storage I have so far. A $20 bookshelf scooped up from a garage sale. And I love it!

No shelf is complete without something pretty to gaze at of course!

And let's not forget about pretty storage. If it's going to show, may as well make it fun to look at. Baskets give such an earthy natural texture and are never out of style.

Meet the dynamic duo! These are Sears Elite H5T's, about 2 years old now. And I adore them! And the deep cranberry colour, just so fun to look at. I smile everytime I see them. Yeah, it's true laundry love, what can I say... and I want Lori to dream of something similar soon!

Such a sorry pic... but what laundry room wouldn't be complete without a lamp? The basket on the left is a catch all for whatever I find in pockets. The pad on the right is so laundry baskets don't scratch the top of the machine. I have a plan of action for the tops and along the back, but it's not ready yet.

The detail on this thrift store $8 lamp is really gorgeous! It's metal too. And nope, I did not paint it. I love the blackish brown it is.

And my newest pride and joy? The antique ironing board I found about a week ago! I hate to cover up the wood because it's just so woodsy unique! You know... my thing with wood...

Now, your turn! First, right click/new window on the link below to vote for Lorie

RIGHT HERE.

Next, link up those cute laundry room posts of yours! Please be sure to visit other links and leave comments!

Linking rules:


1. Before linking up, please click on your post TITLE. Copy and paste that title ulr from the address window into the McLinky url area. The address should not show just your home page address, but rather, should have an extention that specifies your title within it. This will enable your links to travel back to the right post. I'll be deleting any links that are simply home pages, so please try again if you see yours missing.

2. On your blog, please link back to this page somehow so you can bring your readers back to the party. One easy way is to simply grab the laundry button made for you. Here's how...
- copy the scroll address, go back to your post, select Edit HTML, paste it in your post, go back to Compose to check it or continue writing your post, click publish. Yes, it is just that easy.

Whoohoo! Let's do it! Show Lori some major laundry room spirit by linking up AND voting! Good luck Lorie!

Moving On To The Surrounding Areas...

Thanks for all your opinions about which light fixture you would select! I was on the verge of ordering the Riveria Iron Lantern when I read Lauren's feedback on the orange light the fixture casts. After emailing her she has offered to send a photo of this exact lantern hanging outside her front door, so hopefully I'll have a better idea if this is the one or not. Thanks Lauren!

At the rate the table and lighting choices are being made I suspect I'll be working a bit longer from the spot I'm writing this, the kitchen nook table! Oh well...

In the meantime I am moving on to the areas surrounding the future work space. When you enter the home this room is on the left with the dining room and stairwell behind it. My husband's office is to the right and the hallway to the back of the house runs directly from the entry. These spaces all need to work together, so first: the entry. It is a small space with no characteristics making it worth noticing. It needed color, and paint is cheap and easy!

For color inspiration I had been looking at the San Francisco print hung in the entry and a piece called Village by Judy Paul hanging above a console a few feet away. Both images have gorgeous grays and blues paired with oranges, suggesting to me that a grayish blue paint would work well here with the orange accents already present in the space. (The Freud Chaise Lounge and the Skylar Floor Lamp with its oversized orange shade).



I picked Sherwin-Williams 6205 Comfort Gray, love the color and the name!


Before the space just faded away.


Now the entry looks fresh with this simple pop of color, lightening and modernizing the heavy craftsman trim. With my eye now being drawn to the entry I see it needs a more interesting light fixture to work with the one to be hung in the living room...I tell you this whole process of working on your home is one big slippery slope! One thing always leads to another.



Next, more details to help all the areas in the open space work together. Accessories, pillows and more. Little projects to occupy me while I continue to contemplate the bigger decisions!

Small But Sweet

Before I left my daughter to go back home to the real world, she requested that I decorate her apartment for fall.Occasionally someone will leave me a comment, after I've shared holiday photos of my home, saying things like, "I wish I could decorate for the holidays but my home is too small." Or, "I can't afford to decorate." Or "I have no place to store decorations." Hopefully these photos will inspire those who live in smaller homes.My daughter keeps holiday decorations in plastic containers tucked under their bed. Most of the decorations were purchased at the dollar store, thrift store, or discount store. And as far as room to display, that's easy!
Place a few on top of furniture.Clear a spot on a table or chest.Tuck them into a bookshelf.Replace candles for decorations.Hang 'em on a coat rack.

How to make a "green" tote~

I believe in trying to go "green". I'll admit, I'm not 100% good at it, but I do try. So when I saw this idea in a magazine ages ago (sorry, I don't remember what magazine it was) I decided that I had to give it a try.


Here's how to make a great "green" tote out of an old wool sweater. (you can left click on the very ugly photo above - I took it when it was getting dark and I realized I didn't have a "before" photo to share - to enlarge it if you want to be able to read what I typed in the boxes. )

EDITED TO ADD: I've had a couple of readers that mentioned they think the article was from Country Living.

1. First find yourself a wool sweater. I haven't worn the sweater that I used for my tote in probably 10 years, but I still liked it and always knew I'd find something to do with it.

2. Wash the sweater in hot water and then dry on a high heat setting. This will cause the sweater to shrink and will felt the wool.

3. Then cut the sweater as shown on the photo above.





4. Fold the sweater so the side seams are now in the front and back. (The felting will cause the seams to be much less obvious)





5. Turn the cut sweater inside out and sew the bottom closed.





6. Fold the cut edges over and hem.

VOILA! A recycled wool tote that will look great all through the fall and winter.

Linking to DIY day at A Soft Place to Land.

Have a great day~

The fifth wall. (And another dining room reveal!)

OK peeps. I've been wanting to talk about this topic for awhile. It's something very few do, but it makes a HUGE impact in a room. (In my little bitty opinion.)

The decorating element I love to add to a room is one most people never think of doing -- painting your ceiling. Not another coat of white -- a color. EGADS! Yes, I said it! Color on your ceiling! Ahhh, I've gone and lost my mind, right?

It is by far the one addition that I think makes a HUGE difference in the way a room feels, and it costs $20 for a gallon of paint.

The owner of the decorating firm I worked with turned me onto this, and I was SUCH a nonbeliever at first. I was hooked after our first painted ceiling though. I mean, head over heels in love, hooked. There are some "rules" that you may want to follow that I don't, and I'll tell you those in a bit. Also, there are some myths about painting a ceiling I'll address too.

I had the ceiling in our family room/kitchen combo painted the same color as the walls and absolutely love it:

Reason number one I love painted ceilings -- if you have crown molding, it will make them absolutely pop off the walls when your ceilings are painted. When you have crown and a white ceiling, at least the upper half of it washes away, and for all that work and money, you should SEE it. ;)

I am chomping at the bit to get the crown installed in these rooms, because I know it will look ahhhhmazing against the Sisal colored walls and ceiling. ;)

In our chocolate colored powder room, I painted the ceiling the same color as the walls, and look how the molding pops!:

I added a thin coat of my glaze over the paint, just to give it a little bit of fun. (I think you can do whatever the heck you want and get dramatic in three rooms -- laundry rooms, powder rooms and dining rooms.)

In our son's bathroom I did the same blue as the ceiling in his room:

I didn't go the same color as the walls in these rooms because I wanted to tie in the blue that was used throughout, I wanted it to give the look of a sky, and it was just plain cute:

We don't have overhead lighting in our den (pounds head on table for that), so it's the darkest room in our house. I went with the same color of the walls to keep the cozy feeling we had going:

And I. love. it. (I'm going to install crown in here too, forgive my horrible cutting in...)

There is a common thought that painted ceilings make the room darker -- this is only true if the room is small, has low ceilings has little lighting. If I did a dark color on the ceiling in our master bathroom, with tall walls and tons of natural light, I can promise you it would not be darker in there. Swear. Bet you one meeellion bucks.

Another thought is that it make the room seem smaller. Even a small room like our den didn't shrink -- I swear it got bigger. When you remove the white ceiling, the eye just keeps going...it doesn't stop. I make the room seem more expanse and taller...YES, taller. When the ceiling is white, it stops your eye and shows exact height of your ceilings.

My first attempt at a painted ceiling was years ago. I wanted to give the illusion (there I go with illuuuuusions again!) of a tray ceiling in our dining room, so I put up molding, and took a color out of the light fixture for the inside of the molding:

I added a glaze to the top to make it glitter just a bit, and at first we loved it. It has stayed like this for years, but with the recent dining room redo, it just wasn't working anymore. I had the ceiling painted a couple weeks ago (I splurged and called my "guy" I use for ceilings when I'm feeling lazy) and had him leave the color on the inside, thinking it would look cool: Ummmm, it didn't. It looked like baby puke.

So in about an hour and a half, I finished it up and continued the chocolate brown:

And I adore it. (Oh yeah, I'm waiting on a special little somethin' for that empty area to the right of the table...patiently...waiting...)

The light, I have always loved...

But now I'm craving something more traditional...is that wrong? I spent a pretty penny on this light. I can't believe I'm considering this. Yikes. I have a spot where I may be able to put it, but I'm not sure what I'll do. Thoughts?

There are general guidelines "they" say to use when painting a ceiling. The first is, if your ceilings are eight feet or lower, go half and half with the color -- like half white, half wall color. Or at least take the wall color lighter a few shades. Also, if you are painting ceilings in small rooms, the general thought is to go lighter.

If your ceilings are nine foot and taller, you can go the same color as the walls. If they are VERY tall, I'm talking like 15-20 feet -- you can darker than the walls. This is for instances when you want to make such a tall space cozier and not as cavernous feeling. And it works!

My rules are...do whatever the heck you want! I almost always do the same exact color that's on the walls, no matter the size of the room or ceiling height. You can do a different color, you can go lighter, darker, whateva. I highly recommend flat paint though. Any other finish will be too shiny. If you want some shiny, use a glaze like I did to glam it up...but do it sparingly.

Painted ceilings are not for everyone. And you will be sceered, verrrry screered the first time you do it. (Heck, the fifth time you do it!) But I have yet to regret one of them in our home.

Next up...I'll show you my cheap-o hutch redo!

P.S. I believe I said "ceiling" 267 times. 268.

P.S.S. I am finishing up answering your questions on my Q and A post tonight! That was FUN!

And Speaking Of Fluttering Hearts...

09/29/1999

Happy Anniversary To Us

Ten years
two kids
one dog and a house

Life Is (mostly) Grand I Tell You...