Twig Christmas Tree

I love this Christmas tree! I can never justisfy buying a real one for our place, considering it's just the two of us, and we are usually celebrating somewhere else. I am a sucker for the holidays though and love to get into the Christmas spirit, which often means driving my husband bananas by listening to Christmas music on December 1st. Let's see what he thinks of me making a twig tree like this one from The Art of Doing Stuff. :D

Alternative Christmas Tree

If you don't have the space or money for the usual Christmas tree, or are simply looking for something different, check out In The Loop by CB2 for some unique ideas!

I'm In Love With This Fruit Bowl

 I didn't know that it was possible to have a love affair with a fruit bowl. After months of looking and looking on Etsy, and all over the internet for the perfect white fruit bowl (we eat a lot of fruit!), I found this one, just moments after entering the scary Saturday-afternoon big-box home-improvement doors of IKEA. It now resides nicely, full of fruit, on our dining room table. (Bowl pictured above in polished stainless steel and white).

Chevron: So What Do You Really Think?

Here are a few nice chevron patterned items in a color scheme I'm digging lately. Has this pattern grown on you like it has on me? What do you think of the modern boldness of this pattern? Would you wear it or use it to decorate your house? Share your thoughts!

Pictures from Top left:

Crosstown purse from Virginia Clara

Chair from Urban Outfitters

Pillow from Modernality2

DIY Chevron Desk Makeover from Sunset

Wallpaper: It's Not Just for Old Ladies

I never thought I'd being excited about wallpaper, but whatdaya know! There are some great surface designers out there whose work is making it into wallpaper these days. This one called Woodpile, by Roddy&Ginger, is cozy yet modern enough to convince me that wallpaper could be a very good thing. Image found via my new favorite blog, Print & Pattern. Thank you for sharing such great design!

Home Office Upgrades

The picture of my ideal home office is slowing evolving. No peacock blue chairs or giant yellow and grey artwork. In fact, the only items I have from "take 1" are the desk, the baskets, and the "Live What You Love Poster". I'm going for clean and crisp with pops of color. So what better way to start than with white? At least I convinced myself of that last weekend when I ordered these latest additions:

The 24" BenQ LCD monitor pictured above from BenQ.com

The genuine leather desk chair pictured above from Amazon.com

And finally, this Logitech wireless mouse also from Amazon. Now I just need a wireless keyboard to match :D

Stay tuned for stage 2 of the office home makeover and the final results!

DIY: Not So Boring Magnet Board

Ok, this is not rocket science, but it is a cheap an easy way to turn a run of the mill magnet board into a functional piece of art for as low as 16 bucks. Get yourself a metal magnet board (Ikea has them in several fun colors) and then find a vinyl sticker that speaks to you (Etsy has a TON of them) and voila! you have a magnet board that can hold lots of useful notes and look good while doing it!

Below are mock-ups of the two I made (stickers not necessarily to scale) for my home office using vinyl stickers from Byrdie Graphics ($3) and Vinyl Fruit ($17, but I could not resist the kleptomaniac sasquatch!).

Home Office, Take One

Ok, so I'm super excited about moving because it's going to mean lots more space. So much so, that we're getting a ping pong table (yeauh!) and that I will have a room all to myself! Wowser! A room all to myself that I get to decorate from scratch? Where do I start? How about grey, yellow, and a few splashes of peacock blue? And the prices of all these inspirational pieces are pretty reasonable with the exception of the chair. Well maybe $400 isn't unreasonable for a comfy leather chair, though it's hard to justify when I have a perfectly good desk chair already. A perfectly good old boring black desk chair.

Clockwise from top left:
Lamp from Target
Chair from Pier 1 (I could get so much more work done while sitting in this $400 chair)
Art Print from Etsy Seller Pretty Much Art (hoping she can make me a BIG version)
Baskets from Pier 1 (Have them, check)
Candle from Pier 1
Bicycle Painting from http://www.bicyclepaintings.com/ (hoping she can make me a yellow one)
Rug From Ikea
Desk from ? Doesn't matter, already have one
Letterpress poster from Etsy seller Hijirik
Amy Butler Fabrics (just in case I have random items that I need to cover in fabric)

Make Velvet Pumpkins

Hello readers! I had a great trip to France and Switzerland, but boy is it good to be home (nothing like a good night sleep in your own bed).

Now that it's officially fall, even if it's not feeling like it at close to 100 degrees in San Diego, it's time for some fun fall projects. I came across this fun velvet pumpkin pattern from Nancy Deliz on Etsy. Enjoy!

DIY: Leaf Casting

I've never even heard of leaf castings before, but will definitely have to try it when I have a house of my own. ConcreteGardenLeaves shows and tells you step-by-step how to make them. Images from Ellis Hallow and Garden Muse.

Pressed Tropical Plant Leaves

This week is all about tropical plants! Deccorustic offers faux pressed leaves, though I bet if you grow your own like I do (well my husband does :) you could make the real thing. A unique decorating idea.

Flower Lollipops?

So first of all, I've realized my multi tasking skills need improvement. I almost completely forgot to take pictures at the party on Saturday! Anywhooo, here's a couple of so-so shots of some of my decorations. What are they, you ask? They are BIG Flower Brooches mounted on extra long candy sticks stuck in a vase. Kind of like giant flower lollipops.  These will double as booth decor at the Queen Bee Market this Saturday. And hopefully they will help me win the prize for Best Booth!!!

My Favorite Color

Peacock Blue, Teal, whatever you call it, I am diggin' it these days and happy to see it in the catalogs!

(photos from CrateandBarrel.com)

Your Best Small Outdoor Space Winner

And the winner of the Small Outdoor Space Contest is....

Mary!

Mary's small outdoor space combines nature and shabby chic with her fresh vines, potted succulents, vintage metal chair, and creative arrangement of drift wood. Even the mini in the driveway fits our contest theme! Thanks Mary! Your prize will ship out shortly.

Balcony or Patio Decorating Ideas

Since I'm not getting quite the response I had hoped for my Small Outdoor Space Contest, I'm linking to a few sites to help inspire you!:

Okay, so maybe you don't have the view, but you can have the balcony! Photo and decorating tips from IndiWO.

And HGTV offers more ideas including adding privacy with bamboo fencing.

On a side note, I found this cute little grill at Freshome, perfectly sized for your small outdoor space!

Have a great weekend!

Make Roman Shades out of Mini Blinds

Speaking of jazzing up your window coverings, I thought I'd share this Tutorial on how to convert mini blinds into Roman shades from Little Green Notebook I found via Curbly. Very Clever!

Craft S'il Vous Plait

My French Mother-in-Law recently exposed me to some great French crafting & decorating resources including the online women's magazine Journal des Femmes. Now my French isn't that great, but fortunately with all the great step-by-step photos, I can easily follow the Journal de Femmes' tutorials. One of my favorites is "Relooker un Store Bamboo" or Makeover a Bamboo Shade:





Incroyable! Get the step-by-step tutorial (in French) here. Need translating? Post a comment or send me an email! Merci beaucoup Danielle!

A Simply Fun Stuff Design Contest: Your Best Small Outdoor Space

Now that it's summer time, I'm seeing a lot of articles on outdoor spaces and outdoor dining rooms. But in all these posts, no one ever includes apartment or condo balconies & patios, the most challenging of outdoor spaces. We apartment dwellers know how creative we have to get to make these tiny door spaces into something great. What have you done with your tiny outdoor space? Share & win the two paper lanterns shown below!





Contest Rules & Guidelines:

To enter, email me at sarah.simplyfunstuff[at]gmail.com with a picture or two of your best baclony or patio space along with a brief description of what you did to make it great. Multiple entries accepted. Space must be an apartment or condo balcony or patio. Winner will be selected based on their creative use of a small space and decorating style. Contest closes Auguest 27th at 5pm PST. Winner will be announced on August 28th and will receive two paper lanterns as shown in the picture above. By entering this contest, you certify that any photos submitted are your property and are not copyright protected material belonging to any other person or entity. By submitting pictures for the contest, you also grant SimplyFunStuff.blogspot.com the right to use and share them indefinitely.

Weathered by the Sea

When my mom told me about the driftwood she recently collected at the beach, first I was jealous (we don't seem to have any driftwood in San Diego) and second, started to look for projects she could make with it.

I love this driftwood coat rack from Sunset Magazine I found via Design Sponge:

And oh what a score to find a piece of driftwood large enough for a shelf like this from Design Sponge!:

Looking for more ocean inspired designs? Check out my latest Etsy Favorites to the right of this blog.

Create Your Own Indoor Plant Arrangements

I am still on oxygen high from yesterday's post so I decided to look for more indoor plant life possibilities:

Looking for something different than a plant pot? Check out this kickball planter from Instructables via Curbly:

A great New Use for Old Stuff!

I love this beach garden from Sunset Magazine via Craftzine. Depending on what plants you use, you could bring a little piece of the beach indoors: