A Designer At Home

Designing Beautiful Spaces. Inspiring Authentic Living. Spreading Good Vibes.

Vintage Eclectic Dining Room Decorating

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thrift score thursday12

Hello, hello! Today I want to chat a little bit about how I’ve begun decorating the table in our vintage eclectic dining room. You know I got the table and chairs just a few weeks ago in a bundle with a china cabinet. When my husband was in town he and the neighbor lugged the table into the house for me. The difference in weight of a particle board and solid wood table is a lot! There was some damage to one of the joints for the legs so I handled that and wiped it down. Then, the fun part, I had some fun decorating the top!

Naturally, I gravitated towards using my brass candlesticks and my favorite tapered candles of all time.

eclectic wooden table runner and decor

Also sprinkled in are a few Lepidolite stones and 2 brass thingys. I’m not sure what they are exactly. But they’re a pair and have a really pretty punched metal pattern. I just had to buy them when I saw them and I think they look pretty good here.

Honestly, the candles will make their way onto the mantle (coming soon!) soon. It’s not practical with my little guy having them this accessible, but I’m enjoying them while they’re here.

the look of fancy wood work without the power tools

And that’s about all I have to share today for my own finds. I’ve been spending my new found free time catching up on cleaning and some other chores that aren’t really blog material so the sharing is a minimal right now.

Here’s some of my favorites from the feed:

I always love a good unicorn sighting in the feed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFXgHDTwDkw/

Shut The Front Door! That wicked cool teak room divider was scored for less than $10. Be still my heart…

I really just want to “ooh” and “aah” this shot for days. LOVE that rug for one, but that chair was found at the thrift store! So cool, right?

I spy some baskets that even I don’t have! And I have a lot of baskets. They’re some of the easiest things to thrift for in these parts. Kinda starting to wonder where @greensprucedesigns lives now…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFeLawCRoBF/

The most unique brass piece I’ve ever seen. Yes. It is! I’m feeling especially attracted to him. Maybe it was all those years at the local kooky pet store with their friendly macaw.

And to wrap things up, here’s a beautifully boho bedroom I could spend my whole life in.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFVJV8ooWVJ/

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.

Thrift Score Thursday Cassie

Thrift Score Thursday Maggie

Why I Quit My Day Job

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A journey seeking happiness, self worth and self discovery. When blogging isn't paying the bills and I quit my day job anyways

Why I Quit My Day Job

(and no, blogging isn’t paying the bills)

I wanted to veer of my usual path today to take off my decorating and DIY hat and just be a real person. Blogging is so fast pasted and spending as much time as I do to grow this little platform in hopes I can express my creativity, helps others see potential in their spaces, and most of all to chase bigger dreams, I oftentimes let the person behind everything here drift into the shadows. It’s hard for me to put a spotlight on myself, but I feel like what I’m going through can help any of you regular readers fully understand why things may be changing soon.

For the past 8 years of my life, I’ve been a Certified Pharmacy Technician. I’d never really had a whole lot of interest in working as a medical professional (sort of except for those few years I wanted to be a geneticist). I had spent my entire middle and high school years glued to HGTV, painting and rearranging/styling my room. But I chose to go the route of CPhT because they were advertising it as good pay, high demand jobs. Unfortunately that’s not really the case for where I live. Long story short, I worked a retail job for 4 years I loathed, then worked another 4 years at the local Air Force Base.

I spent 3 and a half years working as a contractor on base for very good money. But the good money was in exchange for absolutely no job security. The first time I was left without income was the month before my son was born. Then there was a second time that left me without employment for 3 months (that ate up our entire savings). I was finally brought on as a Federal Employee June 26, 2015. It was after a lot of drama, like getting skipped for a position for someone who’d been there for s shorter period of time. Witnessing alarming aggressive behavior from multiple employees towards other employees. Basically, a lot of never resolved incidents that led me to be uncomfortable in my own work environment. I always felt like I was gasping for air- the anxiety was eating me alive.

After a pharmacist flipped out on me for an honest mistake, I was pulled into the office and reprimanded by the OIC. And ever since then, she’s made it more difficult for me to work there. The most recent experience was the final straw for me. I told my civilian supervisor that if he wasn’t fixing it, I would turn in my 2 weeks notice. And he told me that he’d accept that as my 2 weeks notice. He gave me a final out date and I’ve served out my punishment for speaking out against my unfair treatment but working the crappy sections of the pharmacy.

Everyone keeps asking me what I’m going to do next.

Self Discovery, Seeking Happiness, and My Plan

why i quit my day job without a backup plan

Honestly, I have no concrete plan for what I’m doing. I’m seeking happiness and I’m trusting the pull God has put on my heart for a long time.

I’ve had a few pharmacy opportunities pop up, but I feel it weighing so heavily on my heart that it’s my time to move on from the field. I’ve never been happy doing it. And I certainly don’t want to be doing it for the rest of my life.

One part of my life that’s been hard is how I’ve missed out on so much of my son’s life so far. I saw the first 6 weeks of his life, but even then I was packing for our move and freaking out about having just lost my job (and my inability to product breast milk), these were incredibly stressful times. I wasn’t bonding and appreciating his existence. I want to do that before we’ve lost any chance of doing that. So today? I spend with him. And tomorrow? I’ll spend with him. The day after that? Maybe we’ll work something else out.

So is a “Stay At Home Mom” in my cards? Absolutely not. Even if I were to never work out of the home again, I’d be doing something. My passions for home are too strong to forget about. That’s why this blog exists, to share my passion with someone else out there.

Last year when I launched this blog and slowly ended my old blog, I told you all that this was the first stepping stone to becoming an Interior Designer. My plan was to start school Fall 2016 at the local community college for their Interior Design program. Is that still my plan? If we can make it work, definitely!

I got to see a little glimpse of what it’s like to be an Interior Designer in my area at the Coastal Virginia Home and Garden Show that I went to in February and it was something I’m still excited to be a part of.

So big projects may slow down. If you love those, they’re not gone forever. I’ll be catching up on the dining room and bathroom right now. Then I’ll be working on giving the bedrooms a facelift. In Between all of that I’ll be doing simple upgrades to the front and backyard. And eventually, once everything else is set, we’ll get around to doing some work in the kitchen and sunporch. Stick around for all of that, and maybe the occasional post like this one, by letting me into your inbox or following me on Facebook and Instagram. And if you’re ever curious about what inspires me, give my Pinterest a gander.

And if you’ve landed here wondering who the heck I am and where you’ve landed. Here’s a bit about me.

And here’s some posts I’d love for you to check out:

Thanks for being here! I hope you stick around 🙂

The Creative Circle No.65

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Welcome to The Creative Circle link party – a place to share and find decor and DIY inspiration for your home!

Excited to see all those ORC reveals along with all the other DIY going on.

You’ll find the the details of each featured project below, and be sure to link up for a chance to be featured next week on all of the other blogs!
Loving Gray Decor

Bloggers, show us what you’ve got! We are eager to share your DIY, decor and design projects! Our favorites will be showcased at next week’s party, via our social media platforms and pinned to numerous Pinterest group boards and to a special board for maximum exposure.

CreativeCircleLogo

And readers, you’ve come to the right place, because today the blog is going to filled with endless home inspiration from all over blogland! Please stick around and check out some of the links at the end of this post {and when you do, tell them we sent you}.

CreativeCircle-FollowYourHostesses

kathysbeenuptosno65

ORC Room Reveals to Watch For | One Room Challenge: Rental Kitchen Reveal

SLL Been up to's week 65

ORC Farmhouse Kitchen Reveal

WhatJensBeenUpTo65

Guest Bedroom Makeover | One Room Challenge Final Week

Been Up To's - May 11

Black and White and In-between | Meyer Lemon Cocktails

ADesignerAtHome CC No65

How we blend toy storage with our decor | Thrifted Wall Art

ThisWeeksFeaturedPicks1

The Creative Circle Features Week 65

We are so impressed by the DIY talent you show us each week! Here are four of our favorites from the last party…

best of gray 1

This gorgeous 3 tier Tray from Making it in the Mountains is so stunning and perfect for keeping organized. Stop by her page to see more about it!

best of gray 2

How cute is this mug holder?? Wait til you see how Marie from The Interior Frugalista created this from.

best of gray 3

Everything about this table setting is GORGEOUS! Neutral at its best! from white grey home

best of gray 4

This new accent color at little Brags home made such a difference in this space. See the before to get the comparison.

If you were featured this week, we have a nifty button to add to your blog (and we’ve made sure it’s no-follow so you don’t’ have to worry about negative SEO)!

Up to Date Interiors

 

 

We can’t wait to see what you’ve got for us this week!

Want to be featured? Please follow these rules:

Link up to 3 posts (not your homepage) of your favorite creative posts about DIY, Decor, and Design (no recipes/food related posts) from your blog.
To make ensure the integrity of the link party, we will delete posts that are not about these topics. All recipe, techy, beauty, fashion link ups will be deleted.
No repeats, giveaways, or Etsy shops please!

Pin any of the above features or posts from their original source.
(You must do this to be featured.)

Grab the Creative Circle button (or post link) and link back to the party.

Visit other links and tell them you stopped by!

**Thanks SO much for linking up with us! By sharing your link at this party, you give your hostesses permission to use one or two of your images as features in future posts, roundups, and/or across social media {with proper credit and links directly back to your post, of course}. By linking up you are also giving us permission to email you a weekly link party reminder.

Now let’s party!




Show quoted text
Hey guys, I’m not going to get my ORC post up tonight. If you have a chance, can you remove my third link from your posts?

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Thrifted Wall Art

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thrift score thursday12

For this week’s Thrift Score Thursday, I’m taking a trip down memory lane. Because sometimes I do a lot of thrifting at once and I forget to share the finds with you sweet friends.

The first is a set of sconces. The look like wood with a really cool woven detail, but they’re plastic. I picked them up and put them down multiple times before I finally took them to the register. I have a thing for sconces and excuses to pull out more cacti candles.

plastic woven wood look wall sconce pair thrifted

And this wall was still looking pretty lonely. I can’t remember if I ever shared that piece of art. Beautiful wood frame and a print of a kilim rug. How perfect, right? But the wall was looking barren nonetheless, so I went back to the thrift store with that in mind.

barren wall plus a love for thrifted decor means a mission to fill it slowly by searching through every second hand shop in town

And I found this really unique woven fan. The sticker stated that it was made in the Philippines. It doesn’t appear to be very old but the loops and curves really won me over with their pretty look.

woven fan wall decoration made in phillipines

I still have some more work to do on this side. I’m not sold on keeping the trunk of toys in this spot. So I’m leaving it alone while I work on the bathroom and dining room. Just in case the right furniture piece pops up that’ll fill the space out more nicely, you know?

Score any good wall art recently? Be sure to tag it with #thriftscorethursday. You know I wanna see!

Features:

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.

Thrift Score Thursday Brynne color

Thrift Score Thursday Cassie

Thrift Score Thursday Maggie

How we blend toy storage with our decor

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How To Keep Toys Organized While Keeping Style In Mind

A Boho Momma’s tiny home living room and playroom combo

For anyone who has been curious about the latest toy storage to enter our living room, today I can finally share the details with you! We don’t have a dedicated space for toys. Nope, no toy room, no play room in this house. With a 3 (almost 4!) year old, it’s definitely something we’re had to ensure we accommodate into our other living spaces. Most our his play happens in the living room and creative items are in the dining room.

On the Remodelaholic blog, I’m sharing the tutorial for this wood wrapped cube shelving unit. Cube organizing units are phenomenal storage pieces, but they look like storage pieces and I’m not a fan of how they look in their plain form. So I looked at the furniture I have, the furniture I like, and I came up with this solution.

wood wrapped ikea kallax cube storage unit - storage made to look like mid century furniture (DIY tutorial)

It’s been an awesome way to sort out legos from train sets from plastic animals from blocks. For the things he has a larger collection of, I utilize bigger baskets.

all the favorite toys are hidden in cute baskets

Sure, they’re not perfectly hidden. But in a space where there’s practically never toys about, it’s the perfect blend of our real life and our aesthetic.

My kid is a huge fan of garbage trucks. He watches the Youtube videos over and over. So naturally he’s acquired a collection of larger trash trucks, too. For that? I found this awesome ornate hardware wicker trunk that holds those and a few of the Green Toys trucks he has, too.

ornate brass details wicker trunk boho

And finally, we utilize heavy duty end tables with cabinet space for things like puzzles and board games. I’ve found really neat ones on Offer Up and local thrift stores.

I’m a fan of wood with brass details for the look of my living room, but also the large cabinet space. I have 2 dedicated to lesser used toy storage and 1 that I use in my pseudo “office” aka the white chair in my living room.

thrifted craigslist side table perfect toy storage with pretty brass details

And that’s all the ways I store toys in my living room. And where you can find the tutorial for the cube organizer I created. If you’re having to pull double (or more!) duty in your living spaces, furniture with storage capacity, cute baskets and adapting classic storage pieces to suit your style are a great way to go!

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How To Keep Toys Organized While Keeping Style In Mind - A Boho Momma's tiny home living room and playroom combo

Cute Little Boho Containers

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thrift score thursday12

YOU GUYS! There’s more than 10,000 entries for the thrift score thursday tag on Instagram– that’s incredible! What an incredible community, you all seriously rock so hard.

If you’re keeping up with the other things happening here on the blog, you’ll know I finally found a dining room table- yayyyy! But since I don’t want to beat a dead horse to death, you can pop in on this post to check out the story, details and a little snippet of what it looks like.

I’ve also recently scored some cute containers. Maybe for jewelry? I’m not sure what they’re for but they’ve got a really cool gypsy vibe about them and I love the whimsical detail to them. I figure I’ll leave them out on tables as a conversation piece.

hand decorated gypsy bohemian containers

unicorn goat palm sized container trinket holder

And now for the best part, my favorites from the feed!

There’s nothing I don’t like about this shot, but that cabinet steals the show. What a unique and fabulous piece!

Incredible lighting in front of chic art, isn’t that every home decor junkie’s favorite combo? At first glance the light is really cool, but then you look closer and see the staggered lights- love.

And these goodies from an auction. Obviously a theme going on here, but it’s all such good stuff!

 

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,@adesignerathomeand@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.

Thrift Score Thursday Brynne color

Thrift Score Thursday Cassie

Thrift Score Thursday Maggie