Hope and Honeysuckle

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .


BHG.com



There is something so exciting about the start of a new year, isn't there?  Failures, disappointments and missed goals are all "so last year", and we get the chance to start new!

BHG Decorating Magazine Spring/Summer 2010  Photo Werner Straube

Of course, the possibility of starting new is actually ours every new minute that we're alive (we don't always remember that), but the new year is just so much more defined. A clean slate - a fresh start. Hope...



DIY HEADBOARD from Style at Home

I have this saying on a plaque that sits on one of my bookshelves. I intentionally put it in a spot where I would see it every day. It's just a little reminder to look ahead, pursue my dreams, to not give up, to keep a positive attitude.

I have to say that, like many of you, I am so hopeful for this year to come. I'm extremely curious to find what it will bring, so excited realizing it's possibilities. Excited knowing that while I am ultimately not in control of life, I can control my attitude, my focus, and my motivation, all which will directly affect this year's outcomes.



Modern Thread Etsy Shop

My hope for this year is...

1. to make it our best year ever.
2. To take the lessons we've learned in the past year and apply them.
3. To set goals and achieve them, and yet not get so wrapped around achieving goals that we forget to savor every sweet little minute of life. Every ordinary and not-so-ordinary moment of every day.
4. To keep in the forefront of our minds the things that are truly important to us and let their priority be equivalent to the amount of time and thought we give to them.

Calico Corners Designer Annie Selkie

I really do think this is going to be a good year, don't you?

BHG.com


So what does Honeysuckle have to do with any of this? :-)


Atlanta Homes Magazine Photo Jeff Herr



Another thing that is fresh and new each year is Pantone's Color of the Year. 

This year they've chosen Honeysuckle, which they describe as a "a dynamic reddish pink that is encouraging and uplifting.. Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor... a captivating, stimulating color that gets the adrenaline going".



Thibaut

Now that's a lot of credit and responsibility to give to a color, but I have to confess looking at it puts a smile on my face and brightens my day just a tish. :-) And I chose it for this hopeful start of the new year just for that reason.

Kishani Perara via So Haute Style



Bright, fresh, cheerful... (can a color be hopeful?)

Designer Steven Gambrel via myhomesideas.com Photo Tria Giovan

I don't plan on buying new honeysuckle furniture (even though it looks awesome in this room)...

Traditional Home

Or repainting my walls pink...

SF Gate

but a pop of it here and there,



DIY Felt Suzani Pillow from Design Sponge



might just be the perfect thing to brighten a cold, snowy Minnesota winter day.

Amanda Nisbet

  Of course, I could always just come back and look at this post... :-)

BHG Magazine January 2009

As I said in my Happy New Years post, I really do hope this is your best year ever! What are you most excited about for the coming year? (oh. and what's your opinon of honeysuckle?)

Happy Saturday

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Southern Living Photo Laurey W. Glenn

Hi! Hope you're all having a super start to your weekend. We are having another winter storm here (and it's not even officially winter yet) . Sort of makes me feel like being like this little guy in the photo above today. Some warm flannel jammies, a good book, roaring fire, a little snack, a cute puppy... It would be a great way to spend the day, no? :-)

What are you up to this weekend?

PK Out and About - Linda Thiltgen Designs

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

When I was out and about this weekend, I ended up at  Stonecrop.  Much to my surprise and delight, I ran into artist Linda Thiltgen.  I knew she was a Minnesota artist who followed my blog, but had never met her.  What a positive, genuine, nice person she is!  We were able to chit chat a little bit about creating, blogging, etc. and it was really fun to meet her.

While I was there I snapped a few photos of some of her creations.  (To learn more about her designs, check out her website.)

I love that everything she does has an inspirational message. These reminders were a perfect way to start out my week!

Hope yours is starting out to be an awesome one...

IMPORTANT NOTE:   I've only heard from one of the giveaway winners.  I'll wait until Wednesday night, 12/1/2010, and then I'll need to choose new winners to replace the ones that I haven't heard from yet. :-(

Happy Friday! Keeping my focus...

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Country Living  Photo Erika McConnell

Can you believe next Thursday is Thanksgiving already?

I have to admit, I was getting a little overwhelmed realizing how close it was and thinking about what I wanted to get done prior... you know. Probably what everyone feels at least one or two times before you get company for the holidays.

But then I found this cute card that was hand made and given to me by my nieces and nephew, on my husband's side of the family, a few years ago. We played games more that year than we had in previous years and we had so much fun. We laughed. a LOT...

Looking at this note still brings both a smile and a tear (I'm emotional, what can I say?).

It reminded me that decorating, cooking/baking, shopping and all of that can be fun (and, at times, stressful), and I won't quit posting about it because that's what we do on this blog.  But many times I can't even remember from one year to the next what my decorations were or what food I made.  What I do remember is the time spent and memories created with family and friends (no, this photo isn't my family :-)). 

Country Living

Speaking of games, I couldn't resist sharing these Chocolate Domino Cookies from Country Living. How cute are they? I wonder if you could make scrabble cookies? :-)

How about you? What special things have you done in the past or will you do this year to create special memories?

Country Living Photo Jeremy Samuelson

Hope you all have an awesome, stress-free weekend...

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

It's here...

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Come join the linky party!

DIY Leaf and Fern Projects

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

A couple of fun projects for your weekend (like no one has anything else to do! :-))

I ran across these DIY leaf candes at Canadian House and Home and thought they were so pretty! You can learn how to make your own here

I also like they way they used book pages in this fern artwork. Larger print would make more of a graphic statement. Tutorial here.


Oh. and a LITTLE late to the party, but guess who's finally on facebook!
Room Remix

Create Your Badge

Happy Weekend, everyone!

Decorating Indecision

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

West Elm

I've really been wanting to lighten and just generally change the look in my home for a while, but so far I'm not really getting much accomplished. Why? I don't trust myself. Plain and simple. Not that I don't trust myself to decorate, I am just exposed to and in love with so many different things that I just don't trust myself to settle for any one thing. I can find something that inspires me, get excited, literally build a complete scheme around it and the next day go "hmmm... not sure I love that the MOST of anything I could do", and then I'm back to square one.

Add to that the fact that I can't decide if I just want to add small touches to what I already have to just spruce it up a bit, or go with a more major redo. Not as in painting my cherry cabinets or anything like that - that's just not going to happen - but more like slipcovering or reupholstering some of my furniture, etc. If I did, they would pretty much have to be DIY projects because I'm certainly not going to pay to have everything reupholstered! (and just as an aside to those of you who still have stained wood cabinets and even LIKE them (gasp!), it's really fine. Enamel cabinets seem to be the trend right now and I love them and there are times when I wish I had them, but sometimes you just can't, won't, don't want to and that's perfectly okay! As you know, trends constantly change and one of these days we'll be right in the groove :-)).

It was fairly easy when I was decorating for other people because I was limited by their personal taste, color preferences, etc. When it's me? Not so much. Anyone else have this problem or am I more unique than I think I am?

Grateful for the ordinary frustrations...

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

houseandhome.com Photo Andrew Grinton

I typically don't get too personal on this blog and try to stick with it's intended purpose, so I hope you'll put up with me today while I stray a bit.

Yesterday was an extremely frustrating day for me. We had a phone line issue and completely lost internet service. I had prescheduled my post, so that wasn't a problem, but rather than completing the list of tasks that I had scheduled for Monday morning (all requiring the internet), I spent the time waiting for the repair man (who appeared 1/2 hour after the 4-hour window they had given us for when he would appear). By the time he fixed the problem, my day was behind and I had to leave to do other things. Absolutely none of those went according to plan either. Everything I did was 2 steps forward and 14 steps back. I told my husband when I got home last night that it felt like I was trying to run in quicksand! I was motivated, engaged, ready to get things done, but just could not get it all to come together.

Today started out much the same. Even though I finally had an internet connection, my computer just decided it didn't want to work right. Period. And the work schedule that I had laid out for today had to be changed to accomodate other things. Good things, but other things. Not what I had planned. I like to accomplish things. I like it when things go according to plan. I was frustrated. Irritated. Crabby...

houseandhome.com

But we had a CONVERSATION, my husband and I. Brief. To the point. But perspective changing. We took a moment to remind ourselves (or more accurately he reminded me) of things that we and others around us have experienced this year. A reminder that some are still going through those things. Big things. Anxiety-inducing, sometimes life-threatening, definitely life-changing things. Moments and days that cause you to pause and re-evaluate your life and priorities. Things that make you wish that your problems were as simple as just having a computer problem or not having a schedule go according to plan. The type of life events that, once you're through them, you vow that you'll never take the little things for granted again. You're thankful just to experience ordinary days, minor frustrations and all. And then. Life continues on and, while you don't necessarily forget, the feeling fades.

House Beautiful photo: Lisa Romerein

So. I've been reminded once again. Reminded to be thankful. Grateful. Glad that, even if it sometimes feels like I'm running in quicksand, at least I can run. To appreciate every moment: the good, the bad, the fulfilling, the frustrating, the funny, the not-so-funny, the spectacular, and the just plain old "ordinary" moments of life.

Hope you're having an awesomely ordinary day. My plan is to be back tomorrow with a decorating post. If the plan doesn't work out? No worries... :-)

Happy Friday!

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Country Living photo credit: Laura Moss

Don't forget, the GIVEAWAY ends today! I'll announce the winner on Saturday or Sunday.

Hope you all have a wonderful, restful weekend...

Thinking Spring

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

Phoebe Howard

It's been "warm" (relatively speaking) here this week and it's supposed to be in the mid 40's the rest of the week. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me! Of course I need to temper that with the fact that we've had some major snow storms here in March, so I'm pretty sure winter's not over yet. But for today, I'm thrilled...

Also wanted to say hi and welcome to my new folowers and subscribers! So happy to have you on board! We'll get back to some decorating in the next post (maybe even another Pattern Inspiration post? I told you my series were sporadic... :-) )

How's your day going?

Beautiful? Snow Design

Well now, isn't that pretty? Hmmm... Maybe for DECEMBER!

This photo is of the table top on my patio this morning after we received SNOW overnight. Very unusual for October, even in Minnesota.

And, yes, I am looking for sympathy. :-)

The GIVEAWAY ends this Sunday, October 11th. Don't forget to register!

HomeGoods (Chance to win $5,000 shopping spree!)

All images in this post are from HomeGoods

I went shopping yesterday at one of my favorite stores, HomeGoods. There are a couple of things that make this store high on my list of favorites. First are the reasonable prices (you may remember this post where I talked about the HomeGoods folding screen that I purchased for $90, which I have since seen at a couple of places for hundreds more!)

The second thing that I love about this store is that the inventory is constantly turning so you never know what you might stumble upon. Even though I didn't find the specific item I needed for the project I'm working on, it didn't matter because I was just loving looking at all of the new things that they had gotten in since the last time I was there. So many things I would have loved to have designed a room around!

I guess I should have actually said that there are THREE things I love about HomeGoods because I love the fact that they are currently offering a chance to win a Gift Card in their daily giveaway and a $5,000 HomeGoods shopping spree in their weekly drawing! You can do this by participating in their HomeGoods StyleScope. This is a quick online quiz to help you analyze your style. I took it and, while I normally don't put a lot of stock in these quizzes, I would say a good portion of the description was accurate (I would not describe my style* as dramatic modern, however). Here's how they describe my style:

(*Editors Note: One of the issues I had initially in taking this test was choosing a room, because I didn't feel that any of the rooms exactly encompassed my style (if my friends are reading this they're laughing right now because that is so "me"!). Also I was torn between all of the styles that I love (one of the hazards of being a decorator) and the way that I currently live. I took the test again and chose a room that more closely reflects how we live, which led to a different choice in accessories. My style was then defined as Earthy Casual. My husband is Earthy Casual all the way and I would say many aspects of that style also define me. A combination of Earthy Casual and Dramatic Modern? :-))

DRAMATIC MODERN:
You keep up with culture, style, and trends, but have a classical appreciation for beautiful forms and well-made, functional objects. You are inspired by good design and quality craftsmanship, but have a sense of the theatrical and the fun. You liven things up and infuse personality into your rooms. You like how something ornate mixes with modern, or how daring flourishes, like bold color or a wild pattern, can inject some humor and contrast to the serious, straight lines of modern pieces. You are a style leader, and your friends look to you for advice. You are not afraid of glamour. Because you embrace color, art, and elegance, your home makes a happy impact.

You value serenity. While there are probably a lot of interesting things in your home, they are joined by your taste or a certain palette that keeps them in harmony. You appreciate the beauty in simple forms. Whether fancy or plain, you appreciate things that are well made and function as well as they look. You also have a strong respect for the environment and craftsmanship. You care about how things are made, and how they are used.

Click below to go to the site and take the quiz for yourself! I would be interested to know what your style is. Also, don't forget to enter for the free gift card and shopping spree!

To see what others are hooked on, check out Julia's Hooked on Fridays...

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there and, of course, to my Dad! Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you...

The Porch & Atelier

I thought you might be interested in this Garden Day event at The Porch & Atelier in Buffalo. Check it out on Teresa's blog.

Don't forget to enter our Morgan Dane GIVEAWAY!

Remix It Online Week starts on Monday, June 22nd!