Cara: Pumpkin Mania

Along with redecorating the house there's always holidays that roll around that require special decorating. Here are some pumpkin inspired craft for fall. These are some of my supplies:
                        

Pumpkin Topiary

I used cheese pumpkins for this. I have recently discovered them and I just love their natural color and shape. They are just a nice change from the usual orange ones. I hear they make a mean pumpkin pie too. I love topiaries in general. When I saw these online I was inspired to make my own. For the topiary I used three gradual sized cheese pumpkins with the biggest on the bottom. I painted the bottom one with gold metallic craft paint thinned with a little water.

The middle one I used pearl white metallic craft paint. While the middle pumpkin was still wet I used a dry paint brush to wipe some paint off to let some of the real pumpkin color show through. The top one I mixed both colors together and did the same thing with the dry brush.

When the paint was dry I sprayed the bottoms of each with a clear spray to keep them from rotting too much. I would like to keep them until Thanksgiving.

WHen that was dry I stacked them on top of each other and secure them with a little hot glue here and there to make sure they don't start rolling over the house. This is the finished product. 

                                

I tied some pretty pumpkin wired ribbon on top. I like it. I am keeping it on my front foyer table hopefully through Thanksgiving.

Paper Bag Pumpkins

                                       

These are SO easy and cute! I made them for the first time years ago with my Brownie troop. You will need a regular paper lunch bag, orange and green spray paint, raffia and newspaper.

Spray the bottom 3/4 of the bag with orange spray paint all the way around. Then spray the top 1/4 of the bag with green spray paint all the way around. When it's all dry stuff it with newspaper up to the orange part. Tie it off with raffia at the "stem". Tadaa. Paper pumpkins! A bunch look cute in a basket, or you can just sit some on a shelf like I did! Cute and easy....love it!



Cara: Painting the foyer

We have been living in this house four years in February. We had the house painted inside that March. I love paint. I love color. I love playing around with color. So it's amazing that I waited this long to change it. I loved the color that I had it painted originally. (Benjamin Moore ~ Roasted Sesame Seed #2160-40 ) But not knowing that the southern exposure that is the front of my house combined with that color would make the foyer BRIGHT! Usually I would say bright is good. But it was too bright for me.

After a lot of hemming and hawing about what brown to use, I let hubby rush me in Lowes to pick out a different brown from the BM (Benjamin Moore) color I had originally selected. I was really there to buy paint to do the foyer table/mirror. So in haste I picked out a color. I still wonder how one is supposed to pick out paint in fluorescent lighting. We brought it home and YUCK! It was sooo dark. The foyer would have looked like a cave. (I ended up using it as the undercoat to the table/mirror, whereas when I painted the furniture with it, it looked way more like the brown I thought I was buying....grr to flourescent lighting)

Off to the local BM paint store I went, where I should have went in the first place. Yes it's more expensive than paint from Lowes. But BM is always the color I imagined it would be when it goes up on the wall. I don't have any vested interest in Benjamin Moore paint, I just know it has never done me wrong. There are other even more expensive brands of paint you can buy, when I find something I like I usually stick with it. Not to say that you couldn't get a good result with Behr's or Valspar...I just know what I like. Plus, I have my paint fans that I bought from BM that I am in LOVE with. It's a sickness. I love to look over the colors and imagine what I would paint with them and if someone wants me to help them pick out a color for their house....look out! I am all over that!!!!!!!!

I ended up choosing Penny (#2163-30 ) the same color I painted my family room four years ago. (It's really darn close to the color of a penny too) It's warm, inviting, exactly the feeling I want when you walk through my front door. Here's some before and after...

Stair case/foyer before in Roasted Sesame Seed...I still like the color but as you can see from the pictures the light really affects the color:

see how bright!

After painted it Penny:

Cara: "Client" #52908

I don't think an interior decorator should impose their tastes on their client. A decorator's job is to help them find what their style is, how to use it in their house to create a home. Sure suggestions need to be made. Sometimes I may steer someone away from say, "Kelly Green" on the walls. Even though Kelly Green has it's place, just maybe not in the bedroom, whereas something more of a Sage Green may be nice.


I also don't think someone should have to sell their first born to have someone come in and help them decorate. Everyone deserves a home that is inviting and well, nice. Perhaps not everyone's home is drop dead gorgeous. But when you walk in at the end of the day it should be home. A place to hang your hat, take off your shoes and breathe.


The following is a redecorating project I did last year for a friend. Her house was all white. White walls. white curtains etc. It's not that she didn't have a style. She thought she didn't. We all have a style, sometimes we just don't know how to find it. That's what I love to do, help people find what their style is. It's like a lightbulb goes off on top of their head! Most people don't want to know about why the fenestration of their home may effect the way the furniture needs to be placed in the room. They just want their furniture placed a better way then what they have now. They know what colors they like, just not how to incorporate them into their home. These are two of the rooms I did in the house:


Big Brother's Room Before:





He is a big lacrosse fan and his favorite color is blue. We painted the room a 2 shades of blue with a funky green stripe to make it look like a real boy's room. I took two old kiddie sizes lacrosse sticks and painted one the color of his favorite college team and the other his home team colors, and hung them on the wall. We kept the curtains and bedding so there's wasn't a ton of money spent to make some big changes.







Little Brother's Room before:
The Jedi was a big Star Wars fan although keeping that in mind we need to make the room a little more grown up. Again we kept the bedding and curtains. The walls were painted a pale gold color. Then by adding molding at the ceiling I created a border using a dark navy blue paint. The Wallies stars keep with the Star Wars theme but can they stay when and if the Jedi decides he's not that into Star Wars anymore.





The boys rooms are probably my favorite of the whole decorating project. Mostly I guess 'cause I love those guys but getting the "wow" from them when they saw their rooms was priceless.
~Cara

Welcome....

Alter Ego:
I love to decorate. I certainly missed the boat and should have pursued it years ago. Alas in my "old age" I dabble. I help friends who need decorating and design "help". I purchased my dream house four years ago and jumped right in with fixing, changing, painting and purchasing. Well as usual life sometimes gets in the way of our plans and for a while redoing has been low on the list of things that need to get my attention.

This blog will be devoted to all things decorating and design in nature. Come visit our other blog The Momentum of Motherhood where my buddy and I blog about the ups and downs of life as suburban moms.

My family is my life, decorating is my passion. I would love to be a real decorator when I grow up someday but for now this is it.
~Cara

Remix
Cara is the designer type and I am the crafty type. I love kid crafts. Coming up with something new for school. Crafting with my Brownie troop - helping the kids make something special to bring home. I am also all about the bottom line - so my crafts are generally wallet friendly.My design style is simple. I like clean lines, no clutter - nothing on the surfaces - a place for everything and everything in its place. Sometimes there aren't places for things so I am trying to figure out everyday storage solutions, reusing and repurposing. We moved into our dream home in September and I still have boxes! As I go along, I will share with you what we are doing in our house - or what crafts I am working on with the kids - its all about inspiration - and hopefully I can inspire you do to something too.

~Jenn

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