Author: Staci

Staci blogs about travel at TheVoyageer.com.

Free Pillow!

Last night a new decorative pillow made its debut in our house–it only took a year!

Here’s the story: we went to the Kansas City river market in, like, April of 2010 (or some absurdly distant time like that) and bought this 15 lb bag of basmati rice from an African grocery shop. It took us this long to finish the bag.

DIY steps:

  1. Use 15 lbs of rice
  2. Remove plastic bag from inside burlap one
  3. Cut off handles from the top of the bag
  4. Insert one sad, faded, depressed looking pillow from my freshman year of college
  5. Sip top closed
  6. Enjoy new decorative item!

The Mantel

Having a fireplace mantel is a very intimidating prospect to me. It is the first thing one sees when walking through the front door, and it needs to have a “wow” factor. Unfortunately, since painting everything white in the living room and dining room (which I still think was the right thing to do) the eye is just met with a big, white, geometric monolith.

Right now I have it dressed up pretty fall-y. The large picture frame was in the hallway but I think it’s a good scale to lean up on the mantel. What do you think? the good news is that after Thanksgiving I can get creative with Christmas decorations. This buys me several months to come up with my mantel “master plan!”

Here is a blog post with a mantel roundup that I am using for inspiration…

My decision is that the mantel needs RED. Since the curtains are green and red the west side of the room really needs some major pops of color. I’m thinking about a red pom-pom garland (not joking, trust me it will look great) or finding some TALL candlesticks and spraypainting them. I’m talking like a foot or more tall, since with the arched celining I’m dealing with a LOT of white space. Also, I am pondering getting creative with bricks. What could be more fireplace-y than bricks, am I right?

Only time will tell. I feel like I’m saying that a lot lately.

Caution: Graphic Content

Haha, just kidding . Don’t need to shield your children’s eyes, I am just talking about using bold pattern in the home.

I noticed that most of the things in my house that make me smile are graphically very striking and bold. A few examples:

Pillows from Urban Outfitters, Wal-Mart, Target, IKEA. I had a major crush on those yellow Dwell Studio for Target pillows for AGES (since I saw them on younghouselove.com) and they FINALLY went on clearance so I snatched the last two at our local Target!!

Diamond Jute rug from World Market

Chair covers I DIY’d with fabric from JoAnn’s

Duvet cover from IKEA

Towels from the Better Homes and Gardens line (I’m still in denial that I got them at Wal-Mart)

Vine curtains from IKEA (Noticing an IKEA trend?)

More to come, naturally, as tastes change and evolve. What’s on-trend today may look tired and old soon (although I’ve had the green IKEA pillows for a long time). I am trying hard to learn to be bold and creative when layering patterns. Unfortunately I can’t go pillow-crazy because Doug says it looks girly. Soon, hopefully I can do some outdoor pillows (we have dreams of an outdoor couch/lounge) and maybe go a little more crazy out there!!