New Looks from Old Stuff

Hey everyone!  Happy Monday of the first normal week of "2013!"  School starts here today, and I look forward to watching from my blogging spot as the children walk, skateboard, bike & scooter their way to school.  It's a chilly morning here in the Arizona desert, 37 degrees, so I'm glad I can watch from the cozy warmth inside my home!


I was happy to see that no one dropped me like a hot potato after I outlined my plan and guidelines for my "2013" blog in my post yesterday -- at least not yet!  So, today I will implement my plan with this week's home decor post.

I know I'm not the only one who had difficulty "re-dressing" my home after the Christmas blitz.  For me, that after-Christmas time is filled with mixed emotions -- kind of sad that Christmas is over, tired from all the Christmas activities, excited to start a new year, but extremely puzzled about what to do to make my home pretty for the next couple of months prior to Spring.  My decorating plan began with a determination to NOT buy anything new, but use what I had in different ways; and I'm happy to say that I accomplished that.  Today I'd like to share my inside entry and a couple of vignettes in my living room.

I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it "this is one of my very favorite places to decorate."  My old Singer, hiding under the skirt, is the perfect fit for this spot in my entry.  Details about the skirt can be found HERE.

It was really fun pulling things together to create an inviting and interesting vignette here.

My old dough bowl has new life with a bedding of burlap and filled with odds & ends of deco spheres & some homemade book pages tied with jute.  

Some greenery and a small bronze mercury glass tealite holder sitting on a little silver dish

balances out the vignette.

This is a cozy area of my living room.  My decorating plan is to have a more simple look, so I've tried very hard to leave some blank spaces in my vignettes this go-around.  Blank spaces give your eyes a chance to rest so you can enjoy the other items in the vignette.

I kept my old painted tri-fold fireplace screen as the backdrop here -- it feels perfect for this corner.  That would be my "Noodle Wreath" (you can see how I made it HERE) hanging in the background.  The large green bowl (that thing weighs a ton) filled with faux hydrangeas, and a decorative lantern with a battery-operated candle round out this vignette.  That little open area at the top of the armoire is always difficult to decorate because it's such a shallow space.  I decided to place a gifted bottle of wine in my Goodwill silver wine holder up there and call it good!

I also kept this vignette simple.  Anything on a tray works for me.  Here I used a black tray to hold an apothecary jar filled with wine corks, a faux Scentsy burner (from Walmart), & another battery-operated candle wrapped with some burlap ribbon.  The greenery hides the cord on the wax burner.

I told you I like anything on a tray!  Here I used an old silver tray to contain a couple of decorative pieces from Hobby Lobby last year (I bought 5 pieces that were marked down to 80% off --YAY!), and the wire cloche from a sale at Michael's a year or so ago.  Almost all of my candles are battery-operated & have timers, so they all go on around 5pm & turn off at 10pm -- I think that's so cool!

I will be sharing the details of the new look for my dining room next week.

I like pops of red this time of year, at least through Valentine's Day!

Okay, there you have it.  I do have more things to share, but will only be posting one decorative blog post per week.  If I come up with a good recipe or possibly an organizing trick, I'll add a post.  I truly appreciate all of you and love when you pop in for a visit.  I hope it's a great week for all of you!

                                                                   
I'm happily linking to these wonderful parties this week:

Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin for Decorating on a Budget

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Table Top Tuesdays

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

Karen at Sew Many Ways for Sew Darn Crafty