No mantel? No problem.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." but what if you don't have a mantel, or any fireplace at all? 
Then it's time to get creative...

At our house we don't have a fireplace, so we hang our stockings up the stair rail. It's a pretty solution, and it extends the Christmas decorating out into the front entry hall. There are so many creative solutions. I'd love to know if you've found a fun, new spot to hang those stockings with care. Here are some of my favorites from Pinterest.

 Under a windowsill

 

On a piano 

 On a ladder. I love this one!

 

On a bookshelf 

 On the end of the bed

 

 On the back of your dining chairs 

 Or don't hang stockings at all.

Leave Santa your boots!

Happy Front Door Through the Seasons

 Last Spring, I painted my front door a robin's egg blue, and it breathed new life into the front porch. It was bright, cheery, crisp, and just perfect with the yellow forsythia and daffodils that were starting to bloom. I was curious, though, about how it would work through the Fall and Winter. To my eyes, It has worked beautifully! The bright blue door looks great with the Autumn oranges and the Christmas reds. And the color still makes me happy when I see it.

My first press

I'm very excited today. A local newspaper did a little story about the teacher's lounge that the PTA and I did a few weeks back. It's the first time any of my work has ever been recognized in that way. Thanks to the PTA for contacting the newspaper, the Woodland teachers for posing for pictures and for all the nice things they said, and to the Johnson City News & Neighbor for writing and running the story. What a fun thing to see first thing in the morning.
If you'd like to see more, the full article can be found here [Johnson City News & Neighbor Online] and my own story and pictures from this project can be found here [A Gift for School Teachers] .

Powder Room Predicament

As a residential contractor and a designer, my husband and I have seen a lot of really interesting things done to houses over the years. Our own little fixer-upper is no exception. Welcome to our powder room predicament. 

Our original powder room was in a 38" x 40" closet. What's that you say? "That's too small to be a powder room"? Why, yes, it is too small! Nevertheless, there was a toilet and a sink in there. Now, here's the best part- there was no way to actually use the facilities without leaving the door open. I'll leave the details of that scenario up to your imagination. Obviously, this was a problem that needed to be fixed.

So, we got busy rethinking our main living level. We had a basement access under our front hall stairs, but it was rickety and dangerous to use. It is not a finished basement, and there is an outside access, so we decided to enclose that space for a new powder room.

Pretty scary stuff. Would you want to go down there?

 

The dimensions in the new powder room are small, but much more user-friendly. Finished, it came to 31" x 70". We used every trick we had to maximize the tiny room. The frameless, oval mirror is very flat, and barely projects off the wall. We combed the internet, and ordered the tiniest, wall-mounted, corner sink we could find. We even added an extra foot beyond the back of the toilet where we installed a shelf. 

That little extra bit of space gives our powder room a larger feel, some nice architectural interest, and a place to store extra soaps, towels, and TP. It's was a very small detail with a big impact. Best of all, the door closes completely, so no more T.M.I. (whew!)
 

Chalkboard Messages

This was a project that I made for a teacher's lounge, but it turned out to be so pretty, I think I'll make a couple for my own kitchen. It took a little time, but it was really not difficult, and very inexpensive. 

The "silver" trays came from the dollar store. There were three pretty shapes to choose from. They are all nice, but the straighter edges of the rectangle were much easier to work with. 

Using painter's blue tape, I taped off the decorative edges. Creating the curved lines with painter's tape was the tricky part. Be as exact as you can, but if the edges aren't smooth, you can smooth them out a little after you paint with Goof Off solvent. 

With the edges covered,  spray the centers with Chalkboard spray paint. (I bought mine from Sherwin Williams.) Spray 2 or 3 thin, smooth coats- not one heavy coat. After the paint is completely dry, you can remove the tape. (Here is where the solvent comes in handy to smooth any jagged lines that may have occured.) 

You need to completely cover all of the painted area with chalk, then erase it. At that point your message board is ready to use. 

It would be pretty displayed on your counter on a plate display stand, but I wanted to hang these. Since they are plastic, you can just punch holes in them with a hammer and a good-sized nail. 

I wanted the holes to be the same on each plate so I carefully measured and marked where I wanted them to be. They were 2 inches apart and 1 inch down from the painted edge. 

Placing the plates on an old board (to give the nail somewhere to go) I hammered the holes. 

I threaded a pretty ribbon through one hole from the front to the back, around a peanut butter jar so that the hanging part of the ribbon would be the same length on all of them, then through the other hole from back to front. At that point I tied a nice bow on the front and it was ready to hang. 

This turned out really well, and looks so much more expensive than it is. I'd love to hear if you have tried this bit of craftiness and how it worked for you.

A Gift for School Teachers

Ask me at any given time what my favorite project has been, and my answer will most likely be, "the one I'm currently working on." I have a feeling, though, that this one will stay at the top for a good long while.

The PTA at my daughter's school asked me to makeover the teacher's lounge. This was a dream project from the start! I was going to get to do what I love most for people I appreciate so much. The room was pretty much a blank slate, and they gave me the freedom to do just about whatever I wanted in there. (That never happens!) The only real restriction placed on this project was the budget. I am ALWAYS up for that challenge, but the bargain hunting for this room was an all-time personal best!

The PTA not only gave me complete freedom on this project, they came in to paint the concrete block walls and the kitchen cabinets. This was no easy job! Several moms & dads worked hard all day long and still had these big smiles. Of course, it could have been the paint fumes making them hysterical.... Nah, they are just that awesome!   

What a difference a weekend and some paint can make!

So, here's where we started...

 And here's the end result...

 

We divided the room into different areas that could serve different needs. A big need here was for seating. The sofa and chairs can be a place to relax or hold a small meeting. The two side tables and ottoman tray can also be used for eating lunch or having coffee.

Eating space was another big consideration. The bar height table and chairs were already in the room when we started. We relocated the set to the back wall and gave it warmth and a sense of place with pretty salt and pepper shakers, a few plants, and place mats. 

To remind the teachers everyday how much we appreciate them, we hung silver trays painted with chalk board paint on the walls with thank you notes written on them. For the how-to's of this project, check out my Crafty page.

As much as we want our teachers to have a place to relax and recharge, sometimes a quiet work place is also necessary. We sanded and painted this old dresser to make a nice writing desk for just those occasions. We painted the insides of the drawers primary colors for a little unexpected fun.

...And the memo board. Sometimes it is necessary to post information flyers, but who says the memo board can't look gorgeous in the mean time? This one got upholstered in a pretty, nubby fabric and trimmed with silver nail heads. It adds warm color and soft texture to the concrete block wall behind the sofa, gives the wall a focal point, and can (if it HAS to) hold many, many flyers.

Teachers at Woodland Elementary, your PTA loves you, and so do I. Enjoy!

New Cottage Bath

This 1910 Victorian farmhouse had no existing bath upstairs. We created a beautiful full bath from a spare bedroom. As a bedroom this space felt small. As a bath it feels bright, open and spacious. There was even extra room to add a walk-in closet.

Homemaker goes Commercial

I recently got the chance to do some design consulting and color selection for the commercial office space of Wise Property Solutions. I loved the work and I love how it turned out. Let's hope for more jobs like this in the Homemaker future!

Color Boost

  
This is just a small demonstration on what color can do. A weekend + primer + paint = a sizable energy boost in this break room kitchenette.

Pretty in Pink

  
  *Sigh* This was the first room in our total house remodel that I finished. It was a small corner bedroom that was perfect for my (at the time) four year old daughter. Her only requirement was that it be pink, so that's where we started. I so loved this room. It started out as our most unpleasant space (among many!). It was painted a dingy blue-gray with olive green carpet. The only window faces north which added to the bleakness. The former home-owners used this room for out-of-season clothes storage. We weren't even sure if it was big enough to be a bedroom.

We started by tearing out the old closet. It had been built over a raised section in the floor that allowed for headroom on the stairs below. In it's place, we built a platform for her bed. We relocated the closet to the opposite end of the room. The result was a cozy corner to snuggle up in and a bed that I never have to vacuum under. The reason for writing about this room in the past-tense is because this room in this form no longer exists. Very shortly after it was completed, we found out that we were expecting our third child- a boy. This space is his room now, and is undergoing some gender-specific changes. Butterflies mobile- out. Sun and Planets mobile- in.

Design and space planning by Homemaker Interior Design.
Construction by Ross Remodeling 

A Room with a View

Remodeling encounters the unexpected on a regular basis, but here is an issue that I never even imagined. When re-doing our bathroom (more than a year ago at this writing) my husband removed an old toilet. He took it to the curb to be hauled off and never to be seen again- or so we thought. Our back-door neighbor looked at what we deemed to be trash and instead saw treasure. He rescued our discarded commode and gave it a new home stashed behind his storage building. Yes, my friends, every time I look out through the back fence I see our old toilet still caught in limbo between the possibility of it's next tour of...ummm..."duty", or it’s ultimate destination on the trash heap. 

Entry Hall

"Oh sure! It's great! We can just....fix it up!"

Boy, did we have on some rose-colored glasses when we bought our house. Most (sane) people would have run away from a front entry hall that looked like this: 

But not us! We could see the potential. We could see that it was going to be lovely. What we did not see was how very lonnnnnng the road to lovely was going to be. At this writing, we have been slogging through the trenches of remodeling for about 6 years. Yes, it has been tough. No, we are not finished. BUT, (Hello, silver lining) today our front hall looks a lot more welcoming.

Happy Front Door

Changing your front door color can make a big difference! I recently painted this one from a rusty red (which I liked) to a Robin's egg blue (which I LOVE). It lightens the whole look of the house, and makes for a much friendlier front door. It's amazing how much impact one can of paint can have on the look of a house!

I also have to mention that I made those lovely throw pillows with my very own sewing-challenged hands. They were dish towels in a past life. But I sewed up three sides and filled them with stuffing and now they're my pretty porch pillows.

Update: Click here to see how the blue door looks through the Fall and Winter. 

SSSSSooo Easy Halloween Wreath

I love-love-love Halloween, but I can't handle the typical gory decorations. I made this creepy wreath in a day and I love the way it turned out. My snake-phobic husband hates it which means it must look great. Thank you to Martha Stewart for the idea and instructions.

You'll need toy rubber snakes, a grape vine wreath form, black spray paint (I used glossy for extra Eewww!) and floral wire. Spray paint all the snakes and the wreath front and back before attaching them. I put tape over the snake's tongues so they stayed red. Once everything is dry, attach the snakes in the most wriggly way to the wreath with the floral wire. (You will need wire cutters) Finish by spray painting the whole thing again to hide the wire and any spots you may have missed. Remove the tape from the tongues and you're done. I'd love to know if you tried this and how it turned out.

Halloween Costumes 1-2-3

I may have mentioned that I LOVE HALLOWEEN. I love the challenge of finding and making costumes and this year was so much fun for me. My oldest decided that she wanted to be a witch and that set the tone for the other two. We went for classic Halloween costumes across the board. I have a witch, a ghost and a little skeleton.

 

















My witch has some fancy flair (of course). Her hat was embellished with a bright chartreuse boa. To her lacy, witchy shirt (a Goodwill find) we added big charteuse spiral buttons. I made her no-sew skirt from black tulle and her cape was a half-slip that we tied with a satin bow. I think she looks fabulous, and her happy smile tells me she thinks so too.

My two-year-old was more challenging. She is a ghost, but again, we have flair! We are not talking about holes cut in an old sheet here. She is (in her words) a "princess ghost". I am very proud of this costume because #1- all of it was bought from our church yard sale and #2 because it doesn't show how sewing-challenged I actually am. (Fabric-Tac glue is my best friend.) 

Her dress was a crinoline slip. Her cape was a sheer curtain with ruffle trim tied with an ivory satin bow. Her hood and the sleeves of her dress were the ruffle tie-backs for the sheer curtain. I would never use these curtains as window treatments, but they make one terrific "Princess Ghost"! 

 

I lucked out with my 11-month-old son's costume. I scored some adorable skeleton jammies at the church sale. He's cute. He's comfortable. And I'm DONE. Trick or Treat!