Creative Juices Decor

What do you think of these plates??!!!  Are you sighing like I am??  They are Mikasa plates from the Poppies Collection. They had JUST come in at Costco and didn’t even have a display set out yet so I  took it upon myself to start the display set and undid a box (OK, only part of a box, and when one of the Costco workers came around the corner, I pretended I hadn’t touched anything and was looking at a different item a few feet away.  He just looked at the dissembled box, shook his head and continued to nicely lay it all out so wacked out people like me could see what prettiness lies under the box!)  I justified my purchase by the fact that the night before, my spastic wonderful dog came up to do his normal “licking of the plates” routine in the dishwasher while I did the dishes and his collar caught on part of the dishwasher and the noise FREAKED him out so he literally JUMPED up and down (while still attached to the dishwasher rack) while I just stoo...

I just found out that one of my favorite rustic homes I did just went on the market.  I would say the style was pretty much North Idaho meets Italy :-) I had SO MUCH fun working for this client and as you can tell with these photos, I got a lot of inspiration from her house for my own…..just not millionaire style!  ha! This is on the market right now for a little over 5 million.  Yep, I’m going to have to wait till about 50 of my ships to come in for that one!  Enjoy the photos.  It got voted HOUSE OF THE WEEK from the Wall Street Journal's real estate section.  (That is a really big deal.....it showcases homes from all over the world.) Exterior of her home, all made from real rock, not the “out of the box” stuff.  It overlooks Lake Coeur d’ Alene  the 7th most beautiful lake in the world according to National Geographic. Gorgeous dining room with doors that completely fold open to the deck and the lake. This bat...

 Here are the final photos of the dining room.  :-) The café shutters came at the recommendation of the window lady who came out to give me a bid on the blinds.  I had never thought of doing shutters but when she left, I looked up all kinds of shutter photos on the internet and instantly fell in love!  What do you think?    You can open them, close them, and adjust the louver slats.  For the corner vignette, I put a small up light behind the tree so at night it lights up and really gives some nice ambiance.  The café shutters closed…… I just loved this shot of the lilies with the clay walls  in the background.  I wish you guys could come visit so you could see how the clay affects a room!  There you have it!  The final decorated dining room photos

I have to say, if you have not read about the wax paper method of hanging a picture gallery you must go over and read it.  It is just fantastic! Just to show you how much fun you can have with a gallery wall full of photos here are a few shots and the upstairs hallway. Before: After: One thing that is so great about the method is you can place the wax paper on the wall and move it around .  I had to deal with a very LOUSILY placed thermostat (bummer I didn’t catch that while they were putting it in) and so I was able to move the paper around until I got that thermostat placed in-between the frames.  It was so easy and we all know I love easy.  If you give it a shot, let me know.  Maybe you’ll even have some more tips we can learn from.  Anything to get those frames off the floor and onto the walls – right? If you want to see the full version of how to do this wax paper wall hanging technique, you can see my downstairs arrangement ...

Here is the final fully decorated living room.  You already saw the fireplace but I realized you haven’t seen any of the furniture! I am still debating whether or not to put up some light tapestry drapes. (just on the bottom half)  I can see it in my head and I think I like it, but I don’t want things to get too cluttered. For some reason the sofas look purple, they aren’t   Just a deep brown.  I got both the sofas and the coffee table off Craigslist for a great price!  The faux fur pillows and blanket were from Wayfair.com I’m sure you all know by now that music is very important in my family so we made room for the upright piano on this half wall.  Of course, it would be a dream to have a grand piano but an upright will be just fine This is the view from the kitchen looking out.  To the left is the dining room.  It is a very open floor plan, makes entertaining pretty easy.  (although, entertaining isn’t my stron...

I have collected SO MUCH junk beautiful things from the thrift store, yes, I have topped off my cabinets FULL of thrift store treasures for pennies.  The funny thing is I have so much collected things left over that I am not using that I told myself I am BANNED from any more thrift store shopping.  My own home 2016 - too many things going on!   My own home 2026 - SIMPLIFIED and IMPORTANT: no cabbagey greenery. (Just olive twigs, simplistic greenery)  .   Be sure to check out the   Pottery Barn Knockoff clock tutoria l pictured above :-)  Any affiliate link I may make a small commission but it doesn't cost you any extra. (-:  Shop my Affiliate Look!  Small Clock Large Clock Wicker Basket Dark Vase Light Vase Candlestick   Small Art Olive Twigs Decorative Books Here are a few tips when it comes to decorating tops of cabinets or even tops of decorative tables. 1 .) Do lots of layering, especial...

4 Reasons To Take A Vacation Your home may be the loveliest place on earth, especially if you have done a lot of work to it, but that doesn’t mean you should leave it every now and then . In fact, taking a vacation is a good idea for many reasons, and if you have a beautiful home to come back to afterwards then that is a definite bonus. If you’re wondering if you should take a vacation, here are some of the benefits. Reduced Stress Everyone is busy and everyone feels stress to at least some degree. Depending on what our lives are like – as well as our personalities – the best way to combat this stress before it gets too out of control and makes us unwell is to get away from it all and go on vacation. Not only will stepping way allow you to get a new and better perspective on anything that might have been troubling you, but it will also allow your stress levels to lower and you’ll feel a lot happier in general. Your Health Will Improve Chronic stress is bad for you b...

Alright, I know I am a little obsessive compulsive, I just can’t seem to stop!  I just spent 15 HOURS in 2 days doing my youngest daughters room in PINK American Clay . I had promised her from the first day we started the house, her room could be pink.  She is my little princess child, everything needs to be pink.  She had hoped that the entire house exterior would be painted pink.  (And our car, and the sky, and the dog…..you get the picture!) So, since all you lovely readers helped me win the last American Clay contest I spent my winnings on buying Porcelina Clay and tried out one of their new colors Coral Springs (actually, I lighted up the color and used one bag of Sugarloaf and 1/4 of a bag of Baton Rouge) Here is the BEFORE shot: (All walls done in Shaker Beige by Benjamin Moore) And the AFTER!: Can you see all the texture?  The look/feel of it is so amazing in person, I wish you could all come over to my ho...