A Designer At Home

Thrifted Bohemian Windchimes

June 2, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

thrift score thursday12

Hey there, hello! For today’s Thrift Score Thursday, I want to chat with you a little bit about windchimes. How they’re kinda expensive and it’s hard to find really boho ones. Really, all wind chimes are perfect for boho (and most are fab for feng shui), but I really love the styles and textiles of Asia, the Middle East and India (I’m terrible at geography, so I may be mis-mentioning those).

I’m working on bring better positive vibes in my house. I’ve always been interested in feng shui and I try to practice and implement things as necessary. So I did a bit of research on how I can use windchimes to help bring those positive vibes in. I came across Red Lotus Letter and found lots of helpful guidelines for doing that. If you kinda dig feng shui and/or are interested in how windchimes can be used, here’s the windchimes and feng shui article.

I don’t need to increase water or earth elements in my spaces because I live so close to the ocean and I use a lot of wood. So my material of choice was metal. I have one of them hanging on a south wall, which is meant to bring fame and recognition (blog famous? nahhhh…), it’s not necessarily where I need the extra boost in life but I am excited about the positive boost in the space we spend the most time in. Metal WIndchime for front yard positive vibes feng shui

Moroccan inspired lantern and indian elephant windchime for good feng shui

The other chime is hanging on our front porch to help shield the front door from negative energies and make entering the home a positive experience. Feng shui stuff is kinda cool 😉

And now that I’ve likely bored you to death with feng shui talk, let’s peruse the feed! (don’t forget to give me a follow while you’re there @adesignerathome)

My Features:

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Wanna Play? Here’s The Rules!

We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
Don’t feel like you need to save those finds for Thursdays! Yes, features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it!
Want to get featured? Add the #thriftscorethursdsay hashtag, Follow the hosts (@the_gathered_home, @primitiveandproper, @adesignerathome and @maggieoverbystudios) and tag a friend to play along, too!
Each week, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home, Maggie from Maggie Overby Studios and Myself (A Designer At Home) will pick a favorite thrift score or two to feature! So please note that by linking up with #thriftscorethursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.

All Instagramed out yet? I sure hope not! Because you’re not finished. Yup, you’ve got more thrift scores to look at. I know you’re not disappointed. Ha. Click on my beautiful cohost’s faces below to check out what they’ve scored and featured.

How To Remove Bushes

May 31, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

It’s been a week since I announced my participation and plans for a curb appeal themed challenge. My curb appeal sucks. And so I’m hoping to do my best to get the area looking as better as I can get it in a matter of a few weeks.

It’s been raining nearly nonstop since last Tuesday. What a bummer! We did manage to get the bushes removed. It’s strange how much bigger the house looks without them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a small house at 1,200 square feet, but it’s a strange illusion nonetheless.

Since there hasn’t been a whole lot else going on besides removing the bushes, I figured I ought to share exactly how we did it. We knocked out 6 bushes and 4 trees in less than an hour (we only removed half the stumps though, so there’s that additional time we still have to put in). There was a lot of sweat, so the rain shower we received just after was welcomed.

How To Remove Bushes:

These bushes were shockingly massive. It took taking them out and seeing how much yard they took up to see just how big they really were.

First, we used bypass loppers to expose the base of each bush. The branches were long do to make it easier to cut through the base of each bush, we used the loppers to cut off the lower branches so we could reach with the reciprocating saw.

Once the trunk was exposed we cut through it with a reciprocating saw (as I just mentioned). This just helped us cut down on the amount of branches we had to work around to get to the trunk.

Then using a digging shovel we worked our way around the base of each bush, occasionally pulling out the axe to cut through especially thick roots.

The rain was coming back over us so we only did the side we plan on doing the patio. But here’s the before and after!

In The Next Week:

What I hope to accomplish this next week is getting the patio set up. I’m not following traditional instructions for getting this put in because I’m lazy and our soil is tough with very thick grass.

The plan is to use these two products:

I’m also hoping to get a tree planted on the other side of the yard, a new mailbox installed, and I want to start working on a cute house number + planter project. Still lots to go! Pray this rain lets up for me, will ya?

Check in with the progress on the other’s blogger’s curb appeal projects here:

Paint Yourself a Smile

A Designer at Home

Seed Sorting: My Free System

May 30, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Even if you’re not an avid or successful gardener, a seed collection can pile up. Case in point- me! Whether I’m buying them myself or they’re being gifted to me, the pile seems to double on me at least once a year. Now that I’ve quit my job and have a bit more time on my hands, I want to start planting and actually using the seeds I’ve been hoarding.

But if you know a little about gardening, you know that every plant has an optimal planting time frame during the year. So a good chunk of my seeds aren’t meant to be planted right now and it’d just be a waste to do any planting work on them.

My seeds have been sitting on my kitchen countertop for a while now while I try to figure out what to do with them. I wanted them visible so I could actively try to come up with a solution. I didn’t want to spend much, if any, money on a solution because I’m working on making over our front yard and am still finishing up the dining room right now (and technically the bathroom, but there’s no more expenses for that, I just need to finish installing everything).

And then an idea sparked!

My Free Seed Sorting System

I used to get a lot of junk mail before I figured out how to stop receiving a lot of things. I always felt bad about the waste though and kept the return envelopes that came with a lot of things. I’ve got a pretty massive mile of them that are also waiting for their purpose.

So I grabbed 12 of those old envelopes, labelled them with each of the months, and sorted the seeds based on what the package recommended for my zone.

I now have a small section in a cabinet of my kitchen with each month’s envelopes. At the start of each month I’ll just pull out the corresponding envelope and pick which seeds I want to plant and execute that over the course of that month.

Recycling is an awesome system and I love finding creative ways of doing it in my own home. I know this idea is probably way elementary compared to some more extensive systems you’ll likely find. But given I didn’t spend a single dime, I thought this idea could help someone else out, too!

So remember, save those return envelopes from your junk mail, you never know when they’ll come in handy for seed sorting or something else!

Spring Utilities 2015-2016 comparison

May 28, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

How To Decorate Around A TV With Thrift Store Decor

May 26, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

Hey there and welcome to today’s Thrift Score Thursday aka How I decorated around my TV with thrifted finds. It’s basically the same story whenever I decorate anything. I see a challenge in the space, I shop at the thrift store until I find things that fit. I keep shopping until I find even more good stuff. And then I find an arrangement with decent texture, sort of symmetry, and complimentary colors for the space.

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The formula I used for the spaces beside my TV is:

Larger picture/art + Oval Basket with cross detail + Smaller picture/art + Round Basket + Sconce

I definitely try to urge everyone to embrace the basket. It’s quite possibly the most useful thing in the entire world. Just kidding, it’s not really that serious. But they do look so good in every space.

I think I’ve managed to share everything except for the round baskets up until this point. In case you’ve missed it, here’s what’s on the wall from left to right.

Custom Frame Family Portrait (minted), Aztec turquoise wall clock (Etsy), Oval basket with diamond woven detail, Newish round basket, Sconce with cactus candle, TV, Sconce with cactus candle, Oval basket with cross woven detail, Bubba’s 1st Birthday picture (in frame that came with the hubby), Round basket and Kilim print.

Now let’s dive into some fun. Here are my picks from the #thriftscorethursday feed on Instagram:

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Wanna Play? Here’s The Rules!

We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
Don’t feel like you need to save those finds for Thursdays! Yes, features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it!
Want to get featured? Add the #thriftscorethursdsay hashtag, Follow the hosts (@the_gathered_home, @primitiveandproper, @adesignerathome and @maggieoverbystudios) and tag a friend to play along, too!
Each week, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home, Maggie from Maggie Overby Studios and Myself (A Designer At Home) will pick a favorite thrift score or two to feature! So please note that by linking up with #thriftscorethursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.

We have ourselves an awesome guest host today! Yay! Visit Bonnie to check out her thrift score and what she chose as features by clicking on her face below:

Curb Appeal Challenge Week1

May 24, 2016 by CORINNA HENDERSON

3 week curb appeal project a 1950's brick ranch front yard makeover. The plans a pergola, a patio, new plants and lots of paint

Story of my life: I enter a challenge, don’t finish on time, take a break then jump into a challenge for a different space before the previous one is complete. Oops.

Today is the first day of a fun challenge my friend Deb of Seeking Lavender Lane brought together a group of us to work on upgrading our curb appeal. Mine is bad. So this is a really good opportunity for me to shift focus on my home’s first impression. If you’re like me, you like to work on spaces you actually use first, but I don’t want to wait until we’re trying to sell this house to make it pretty.

Here’s what I’m starting with: *warning: things are about to get real*

1950's built brick home before a curb appeal makeover project

brick range in need of curb appeal attention

Desperate side yard in need of yard maintenance

Just.. don’t ask. Things were crazy this past year and this whole area was priority 1,000.

So anyways, I gravitate towards a cottage bungalow vibe when I look at homes online or when I’m driving about. But I’m also all about that boho. So that’s the style I’m after. If I were to get everything I want done to this front yard done, this would be the list:

~~Replace roof.~~ completed just a couple weeks ago
Edge Lawn.
Pull the bushes out. Replace the bushes in front of the living room (far left) and the far right window with a garden bed full of banana leaf plants, azalea bushes, gardenia bushes, beachy grasses and hostas.
The middle window’s awning gets removed, a pergola put over this space to provide shade for a patio in between the porch and the garden bed in front of far right window.
On this patio put a small seating area and proper storage for the garden hose and front yard toys.
A solution for drying shoes.
The other awnings stay but get a good cleaning and a new paint job. In the good ol’ 4 season state that Virginia is, we get hot summers these awnings help protect the temperature in our house from and they help protect the windows from high winds and rain that come with our hurricane season.
Paint the brick a cream/tan color.
Paint the porch, porch railings and front door.
A second tree will be planted in the right side of the yard to help provide shade for the bedrooms.
Remove the pseudo lattice and repurpose wood to make planter box.
Repaint the house numbers and hang them.
Replace and hang mailbox.
Replace chain link fence with wood fencing.
Fence in front yard with a white powder coated iron fence.

Most of that won’t get done but those are my goal. Beautiful front yards take some time to grow into their look. Follow along these next 3 weeks to see how much of this gets done and to see how my friends below transform their spaces:

Simple Nature Decor

Seeking Lavender Lane

The Deans List

Mom Home Guide

Curly Crafty Mom

My Life From Home

Lehman Lane

Knock It Off Kim

Paint Yourself a Smile

Our House now a Home