by using what you already have!
Last week, my brother and his wife & daughters headed out of town on vacation.
I house-sat and pet-sat for them. Oh, and I also gave their house a total makeover!
[Hello, I am Deb. And I am a Decorato-holic.
After 35+ years as a retail display stylist, I should be!]
This project is a perfect example of my HOMEWARDfound decorating philosophy:
Re-think what you already have on hand to make your home look terrific!
And even as I was decorating their home,
I was thinking about sharing the process with you in this WEEK LONG SERIES...
Let's start OUTDOORS, shall we?
[Hello, I am Deb. And I am a Decorato-holic.
After 35+ years as a retail display stylist, I should be!]
This project is a perfect example of my HOMEWARDfound decorating philosophy:
Re-think what you already have on hand to make your home look terrific!
And even as I was decorating their home,
I was thinking about sharing the process with you in this WEEK LONG SERIES...
Let's start OUTDOORS, shall we?
Here's the front deck,
which is the first thing you see when you enter the yard.
[I have no 'before' photos of this deck, because I was in HYPERdecorator mode and FORGOT -but I can tell you that there was just a firepit, and four chairs with four pillows sitting here.]
The 'found' items that I added here are the umbrella and the table.
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The beach umbrella was shoved in the garage, so I just hauled it out and set it up.
[there are two tan umbrellas over on a nearby patio, and this perfectly echoes them]
The wood table was on the side of the house. Unused. Beige. And kinda' dirty.
So I painted the table with the white exterior trim paint on the house (can was in the garage).
The succulent plants in 3 pots had been placed at the front edge of the deck,
where you literally walked past them without seeing them.
By moving the two small pots onto the table, and the large pot next to the chair,
the plants add softness and life to this exterior 'room' and bring it to life.
The pillows were already here, and they work perfectly to connect the color scheme to the home's interior.
Next Up: the patio.
It sits closer to the house, located in the front and side yard.
continue reading to see what else I did!
Freshening up this patio area - used daily - was simple:
I gathered up all of the plastic & resin picnic ware from various places in the kitchen,
along with some jars of seashells party decor from the garage,
and a tablecloth that had been hiding in a drawer.
Then I stuffed some candles into some clear glass wine bottles (recycled!) for mood lighting.
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After I took these photos, I put all of the picnic ware into the white enamel tub,
and sat it on top of the fridge in the kitchen.
Now it will be a SNAP for the family to grab that tub and haul everything they need out here
when they want to have lunch or dinner on the patio!
It took me only about an hour to do everything shown above,
...and I didn't spend a single cent!
The 'found' items that I added here are the umbrella and the table.
The beach umbrella was shoved in the garage, so I just hauled it out and set it up.
[there are two tan umbrellas over on a nearby patio, and this perfectly echoes them]
The wood table was on the side of the house. Unused. Beige. And kinda' dirty.
So I painted the table with the white exterior trim paint on the house (can was in the garage).
The succulent plants in 3 pots had been placed at the front edge of the deck,
where you literally walked past them without seeing them.
By moving the two small pots onto the table, and the large pot next to the chair,
the plants add softness and life to this exterior 'room' and bring it to life.
The pillows were already here, and they work perfectly to connect the color scheme to the home's interior.
Next Up: the patio.
It sits closer to the house, located in the front and side yard.
continue reading to see what else I did!
I gathered up all of the plastic & resin picnic ware from various places in the kitchen,
along with some jars of seashells party decor from the garage,
and a tablecloth that had been hiding in a drawer.
Then I stuffed some candles into some clear glass wine bottles (recycled!) for mood lighting.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
After I took these photos, I put all of the picnic ware into the white enamel tub,
and sat it on top of the fridge in the kitchen.
Now it will be a SNAP for the family to grab that tub and haul everything they need out here
when they want to have lunch or dinner on the patio!
It took me only about an hour to do everything shown above,
...and I didn't spend a single cent!
See Part 2 of this Makeover HERE
shared online:
Many Thanks to sweet Janet Coon
for featuring this post on her lovely design blog, ShabbyFuFu!
Best of the Weekend Party at
Little Miss Celebration
A Little Claireification
and
CookingWithCurls
Fox Hollow Cottage
Any chance you could come house sit for me in South Carolina? You have wonderful ideas and a very lucky family!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Gretchen, I have had several similar offers from friends... now all I have to do is figure out the logistics and costs, and maybe I can actually do it! ;) I'll keep you posted!
DeleteEverything looks beautiful Deb! What you said about buying things we love and then not knowing what to do with them? That is sooooo me!!
ReplyDeleteWish you were here...I have a plethora of things you could work with!
You can house sit for me anytime!
Holly, I have several people up in the PNW who want me to come up and decorate for them... I am trying to figure out if it's something I can do! I'll keep you in the loop - if I have several clients booked for the same week, it could help keep the costs reasonable. SO we'll see!
DeleteI am a constant "home" shopper. My palette is primary colors and everything seems to work in every room, even our garden room so furniture is moved all about all the time.
ReplyDeleteI am also a believer in using what we have and not putting it away for a "special" occasion. LIFE is a special occasion. If it breaks, oh, well. It was meant to be used.
I LOVE what I have seen so far so I will be back to see the rest of your project. How fun!
Thank you so much for your enthusiasm! I could not agree more with your philosophy - Life IS a special occasion, and we should celebrate every day and surround ourselves with things we love!
DeleteHow fun to have you as a house sitter! I'd love to come home after you've been here:)
ReplyDeleteI think playing with other peoples things would be fun!
xo
Leann
It really IS fun!
DeleteI always amazed my Holiday decor clients when I hauled out the silver and china and crystal that was boxed up and in their buffets... I'd arrange it on TOP of the buffet and then load it all up with ornaments and flowers and greens. "I never even remember I HAVE that stuff, let alone think of things like THAT to do with it!" was something I heard often. It's the same with 'everyday decor' - we gotta' use what we have! :)
That is so fun. What did they say when they got home? C'mon-we need the rest of the story-xo Diana
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Diana, that's coming in a future post! ;)
DeleteIf you would like to house-sit and pet-sit for me in Iowa I will provide all of the food! :) What an amazing transformation. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Best of the Weekend. Have a fabulous week!
ReplyDelete