White refrigerators are so yesterday. Spruce up yours with a few colorful magnets.
Real plants are preferable to artificial. Especially if you water them and give them plenty of sunlight. I hear they like that.
(Hey, Heather! Remember how you said this plant was hard to kill? I'm managing pretty well, don't you think? Call me an "over achiever".)
Paint half your walls and leave the others for six months or so. Leaving half finished projects gives your home a certain "shabby chic" charm. I have something unfinished in every room.
My favorite is the sponge painting I started 7 years ago.
Now, this may seem a bit unorthodox. I know most professional decorators would tell you to hide toys in your living area from view. However, I find that the basket of toddler appropriate toys give a whimsical touch to the floor furnace during the summer months. And they are purely decorative since our toddler never touches them.
Choose artwork carefully. The right piece can make a room and say a lot about your personal style. This one reflects my sense of humor. Notice how the words "Healthful Cleanliness" and the dust and grime on the picture frame contrast each other. In the art world it's called "irony".
When it comes to light fixtures, less is more.
If you really want to open up a small bathroom, try removing the doors of the vanity. This gives the room a nice, light, airy feel. I removed the doors two years ago to paint them. This falls into the "shabby chic" category, too. It is also multi-purpose by serving as a place for your toddler to play.
Why pay thousands of dollars for someone else to rennovate your home? With these tips your home can have that cozy, lived-in look with no money and virtually no elbow grease...literally.
22 comments:
Oh ho ho ho! My Husband once painted a whole room except for the last stroke of the roller, and I thought that was strange. I never thought to call it shabby chic -- I love it!
That was funny. Reminds me of one of my sisters.
I found your blog from BST's blog ( I think it was his blog referring to supermom...), and you are terrific! Love your sense of humor... and it takes some kind of *don't know the word* to post pictures like this for all to see... I bow to your greatness!!! Thanks for making me smile.
How did you get the name of my decorator?! I thought she worked exclusively for me.
Love it.
Carrie J
are you telling me that I'm supposed to have light fixtures? My husband tells me not to worry about the dirt and dust because it gives a "protective coat" on the furniture!
You're hilarious! I'm so glad I found your page!
Gee, I thought I had the patent on the unfinished shabby chic decor. How did you get in my house?
I had to laugh at the sponge painting. We did that ourselves in our last house and well,it never got finished!
I just found your blog via another link and it is great!!! I love your humor. Terrific!
I love your ironic art. That rules.
Oh this really is a form of decor! And here I thought *I* was the only one! I LOVE IT!!!!!
too funny, found your site through'like merchant ships', gave me a laugh.-hey at least your paint actually got ONTO the walls at all, lol, i bought paint for my daughter's room and living room over a year ago and it hasn't seen the of day since!
You know you are a seasoned mom when the pull-ups no longer have a designated special trash can! Not that I can relate (ehm)
One tip that I try to pass on to as many as I can is that children can decorate too. The paint on the molding around my living room has been carefully peeled away giving it a certain flare not found in many suburban homes. The underlaying light blue paint is magnificient and I am so proud it now shows!
Too funny girl! Maybe you are due for your own HGTV show. That's one I would watch!
Of course I meant flair not flare although I would like to take a blow torch to part of it.
And to think we use the same decorator--one of my summer's goals is to finish the wallpaper project that I started in FEBRUARY. (The weekend we discovered the girls had lice...) I keep thinking next week, next week.
Girl, go to the store and buy some cream colored paint and cover that sponge painting. If you haven't finished it in 7 years, you ain't ever.
Oh, but I HAVE the paint to cover the very tacky, ugly sponge painting. I've had it since December :-)
My daughter, age 5, said it looked like a hotel. I'm not sure what hotels she's been staying in! :)
Love the decor...it is so....Chic! Yes, minimalistic chic...I think that it is! We have so many half finished "minimalistic chic" projects I have stopped counting!
Let's reflect upon the pictures we've seen of your house. Unfinished paint projects, bare light fixtures, broken cheesecakes, dust, mounds of laundry, cabinets without doors and birds in the grill. Sounds homey! Let's get together!
Aren't you a SAHM? Don't you have time to finish anything you start? What are you doing all day? Oh yeah, training the next generation to be responsible adults who submit to God's authority in all areas of their lives!
Keep up the good work! :-)
I love it! Ha ha. This is the first time I've looked at your site and it's definately getting bookmarked!
I love your home. I think you are onto something here.
Oh too too funny. Been lurking here about a week and had to post a comment to this one!
Love the panache you added in the writing and the chutzpah to show it all in photos!
I too have artistic arrangements of toddler toys arranged in piles in my home.
Think I am going to have to start cutting back the feed to those dust bunnies though- they are growing and multipling as fast as- ahem, bunnies!! :o)
You go girl!
Ha ha ha! Love it. Black refrigerators are also out of style, but an $.88 pack of plastic magnet numbers from Wal-Mart sure did dress it up for me!
Love it.
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