12 Green Decorating Projects: Reuse, Renew, Recycle

Happy Earth Day!! I thought it would be fun to share some easy projects for using what you already have to add a little pretty to your life / home.

1) How cute are these newspaper-wrapped gifts below? This is AMAZING because 1- you're cutting down on waste and 2- because you will never be running out to the store last-minute for gift wrap!! (image from here)

2) Save your Trader Joe's bags so you can give loved ones "brown paper packages tied up with strings!!" (Remember this brown paper bag package I did using Lindsay's pretty labels & ribbon below?)

3) I love painting over old brass candlesticks. (I know this is probably a sin to some people!!!) I get them for $1- $2 each at thrift stores or flea markets and use all shapes and sizes. This is great for parties!! (You can repaint them to suit your color scheme.)

When painted, they look like the candlesticks below. For a baby shower for a friend I bought 15 or so and painted them pale blue. (Spray paint works best but since I already had the pale blue paint and it was for a one-time party, I used regular latex paint. It does scratch but not if you're careful.) I'll post the photos later- they're in my laptop, which is dead right now. ;)

4) This works with light fixtures too and below is a photo of the living room in our old townhouse where we ripped the wiring out of an old brass chandelier, painted it white, and added candles & crystals. (I've actually painted it 3 or 4 times & repaint it whever I want a change... I like to drape with seashells in the late summer just before we go to the beach to get excited! ha) --and don't forget about your old bathroom light fixtures!!

5) Another thing I love to do (owing in part to my obession with white) is painting knick-knacks. For example, the little bird below, while pretty, might not suit your tastes..

But how about this guy? (below)

And this poor hippo is really not something I'd let in my house (sorry Hippo!!!)

But after a nice coat of paint, I'd be happy to invite him in!! (Did Darryl Savage get me in the mood for white hippos?!! ;)

6) Another easy project involving using what you already have is to make napkins & tablecloths out of the leftover fabric you've been meaning to do something with. (And of course, it's much earth-friendlier than using paper napkins!)

I'm sure you can probably figure it out but in case you're looking for more details/ dimensions, check out Apartment Therapy's directions here. And Remember the runner in the Spring Tablesetting below?

7) Fill up your empty spaghetti sauce & jam jars with ingredients for cookies & give them as gifts. Photo below from www.greenartbox.blogspot.com/ & check it out for some great kids' projects!

8) To get more organized & cut down on out-going trash, paint old shoeboxes in fun colors, add labels, and use them in your closets or on shelves. (image below from here) (You can also cover them in fabric or wrapping paper or wallpaper, but I tend to go for insanely-fast & easy with these types of projects.)

9) This might be going really far, but have you ever noticed how seriously pretty Restoration Hardware's cleaning supplies are??!

How about peeling off all the labels of your cleaners?

This way you can buy the huge ones at places like Costco and simply refill when necessary. (Saving money & space in landfills!) I like the brown bag labels in the image below (from here) or you can make your own pretty ones like Seleta did!

I also like to keep cleaning supplies under the sink in the kitchen & in every bathroom so I don't have to cart them around & because I really don' t like cleaning... They're right there so I can grab them before I change my mind!!

10) And here's something to do with your old tin cans: luminaries for all those summer nights!! (image from here) We're going to be on a tight budget in the new house & this will definitely be a cheap -ahem, I mean eco-friendly!!- way to make the back patio sparkle!! Check out simple directions here.

11) And remember these adorable little hanging jar lanterns (below)?? SO easy!!

12) Do you have mismatched, unused picture frames lying around? (I do & I know my mom & mother-in-law both do, so I'm going to pretend it's fairly normal ;) If so, then corral them all together & paint them all the same color to unify them. (I love how black looks below.) And then go ahead & put in the family photos, prints & posters you've been meaning to frame & hang them in a cool grouping. (image below from Country Living) {This might be happening in the new house}

Well, hope you enjoyed these ideas & are able to use 1 or 2!! I'd love to hear any ideas you might have on earth-friendly projects of your own!!!

xoxo,

lauren

Darry Savage: White Diamond

Reading the Spring Home & Design Issue of the Washington Post Magazine this morning, a featured designer & antiques dealer, Daryll Savage, more-than-caught my eye!! (Below, see all the aged white & moss?!! = perfection)

Darryl Savage's Annapolis waterfront home boasts an all-white color palette & a 100 foot deck along the back of the house over the river. Below, the view is amazing!!

Darryl owns & runs DHS Designs' Antiques in Potomac, Maryland and the website has me drooling!!! With clients like as Charlotte Moss, it's no wonder!!

Below if a view of his living room, with photos taken a few years ago. I have to say, the photos featured in the Post Magazine were a little more to my taste... It's been restyled a bit and there's now a very cool huge white paper mache hippo in the living room. The all white-palette with hits of black perfectly showcases the views.

Darryl's motto with this house was "Bring on the bling."

The ancient statues at attention along the window are incredible!! Somehow, though, Darryl manages to make it all look fun instead of serious.

Darryl loves his neutral palette because he can inject any color he wants into the scheme at any time, as seen in the red coral branches below. (Sounds like someone I know?!! ;) ;)

I'd LOVE to dine here!! Or party here!!!

His bedroom, below features more black than the rest of the home. Check out his leather dresser to the back left!!! (Again, the Post's view of this room is better and you can check out all those photos here)

Here's another shot from a differet photo

And check out his 22-year old daughter's bedroom, below. The walls are done in glass beads, the floors are seamless white marble and the chandelier is pink crystal. Lucky girl!!

One of my favorite things to hear was that Darryl says his neighbors roll their eyes at him, always wondering what crazy thing he'll do next. Currently, huge Chinese statues are out front. Who knows what else he's got in store??

I can't wait to be able to have fun like that at our new place!!! :)

xoxo,

lauren

Beach Studios: Unkempt Beauty

I came across this beautiful & unruly Beach Studios location, called "Sperm Bank." (I felt indecent writing that in the title!! :) Anyway, above, is the very apt whale weather vane. I love this location for its wild, almost abandoned feeling. How beautiful is the photo below?!!

I love the massive vines overtaking the structure-- Is that wisteria?? It reminds me of something out of a fairytale... Stumbling upon a sleepy hidden cottage in the woods...

Below is the dining area insided the house. I LOVE the transoms & how real and undecorated this place feels.

Below, the blue is so pretty & it feels like someone really interesting lives here. I would just love to wander through this place & explore!!

How pretty is this shot, below? I love how the prints are placed anywhere they can fit, instead of perfectly displayed. Is that a library I see through the doorway on the left? Also, how funny is it that the plastic baby seat on the far right chair just sort of blends in & doens't look at all out of place on an antique chair?! (It's things like that that I really love--- the old fitting with the new & with "real life." It's like the grandparents live here or something & they keep the seats out for when the kids come to visit. ) It still manages to look beautiful to me.

Below, is one of the bedrooms. Very simple and seems like the perfect place for a vacation afternoon nap. I love the wall color with the curtains. Again, this room just feels a bit thrown together and its not anything about the decor I like specifically, but there's something about its feeling that I love.

And below, is one finaly shot of the property. I hope to have something this overgrown one day.

On a personal note concerning the flood, things are going really well here. We're halfway through packing for the new house & will probably get most of the important things covered by insurance. We will be sleeping at my grandparents' house starting Tuesday (they're going on a trip) and will have a great place to sleep!! My laptop is dead, but they were able to save all the memory & my photos so I'm thrilled!! And a camera that used to be broken now works after being soaked!! craziness. We're really really happy (and exhausted!!) about everything & are just so excited & counting down the days until we move into the treehouse!!

Thank you all so much for your sweet words (I can't tell you enough how much they mean to me) & I won't be able to blog/ read as much as usual until I get a computer/ and things get a bit more settled, but I'll be thinking of you & wondering what I'm missing!! If anyone writes any posts or reads any posts that you think I'll just totally LOVE, could you please shoot me an email?!! thanks so much

xoxo,

lauren

Industial Chic Before & After: The Basement

Well, we really changed things up in our basement last night & I wanted to share with you. First are the before photos, which I was actually pretty happy with. This first one (below) was taken at Christmas time:


And here is my office before. (below) I was really in the mood for something a little more "industrial chic" since it's just everywhere right now, so I think you'll be really surprised at the changes!!


And below is what it looks like now, "after." With the exposed pipes & electrical in the ceiling it really gives the cool vintage-warehouse feel we were going for. Much less cottage, much more modern. ;) ;)



The wood laminate floors were torn up to expose ORIGINAL CEMENT FLOORING!!!



So really what happened, was my parent's washing machine kirked out in the middle of the night. (We are living in my parents' basement for 2 more weeks until we close on our house) The washing machine is a stackable on the floor above us. Well, sometime in the mioddle of the night it decided to just start pumping us with water. And I mean water.
My husband & I slept through it until we heard my mom running down the stairs yelling at us to wake up at 4 AM. I got out of bed & went into the main area & it was literally like a RAIN STORM. The ceiling was falling down on us & thank God Christian (our toddler) was okay in his bedroom (Some ceiling fell down in there but not over the crib.)


I'm usually really amazing in crisis situations but this time, once Christian was upstairs & I went back down stairs to try to save stuff, I was just so overwhelmed. I didn't know what to save!! laptops, printer, phones, all electronics were DONE... I immediately grabbed a sentimental photo & ran it to our room where it was dry. and oh hahaha the next thing I saved were my Style Files. ( But how sad is it that all of the pages I'd clipped out to go into the files for like the past 8 months (I'm so behind) got soaked.?! ) Then it was my chairs. Then I sort of wandered a bit just shaking my head (My SOAKING wet head.) in ANKLE DEEP water.


SO... a lot of our furniture is ruined and so much work was lost, but we're all safe & sound. It's been a crazy day but I just have to thank God that my little guy is safe & sound. As much as I love my pretty things (and you know I do!!!) it really is just stuff and can be replaced. (Maybe I'm overtired & delusional right now & will cry or be angry later?!!) But I don't think so. We'll be sleeping in the kitchen for two more weeks & then we're moving to our new house so we got a jump strart on our decluttering & packing.


My laptop's dead (this is my mom's computer) so I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging/ reading but it's tough to stay away for you all for long!!

xoxo, (from a slap happy & silly)
lauren

Pure Style: Dining Room Before and After

I just recently completed a dining room for a client & thought you'd like to see pics. (Who doesn't like before & afters & instant gratification?!! ;)

It's not styled & I just snapped some photos really quickly, but I thought I'd share with you what we've got so far. Here are the before photos:

This photo doesn't do this rug justice. It really is pretty & we moved it to a more prominent spot in a stairway.


Below is the dining room before. Our goal was to update it & lighten up the space and make it feel more grand in a comfortable way.



So here it is now:


We purchased new oatmeal-colored linen slipcovers with adorable box pleats for parsons chairs she already owned and purchased a few more for around the whole table.



Below is a sneak peak at the living room, which we're finishing up right now:

Here's the chandelier that I really think makes the space. It's totally my client's style & its overscale size was needed to dilineate the dining room & from the living area & to keep it from getting lost in the open-plan living room/ dining room.

Here's a closeup of the hutch. An old friend made it for her!!!! WOW, It's just beautiful & you wouldn't believe the craftsmanship!!

How pretty is this little porcelain basket of hers?

I loaded the hutch with all of her whiteware for a light look for the spring & summer & when she feels like it she can switch it out with other colors:

Here's a close-up of the sconces. Love those beads!!

And finally, one last picture of the room: You can really see how a few small details- lighting, seating and accessories- can have such a huge impact!!

hope you enjoyed!!

xoxo,

lauren