Decorating for Spring - Indoors

Bringing the Garden & Spring Inside

As we are working away outside, I see that this is exactly where we were last year, and most likely the year before. Trying to get some gardening done before the real heat hits, like 90's heat!
And this is about the same thing I wanted to do inside as well. 

The urn above is painted with Old White Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, Dry Brushed with Pure White, and Glazed with a Brown - Gray Paint Mix for a little aging. 

The large Moss Ball is a styrofoam ball from the craft store purchased with coupon of course,
and covered with Bright Green Reindeer Moss.

The moss is hot glued and adhered to the ball with metal florist picks. 

Come back soon for another look at some of 

The Decorated House Readers' Favorite Posts.
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Wondering how to bring a little Spring inside, but without buying anything new? There are so many ways! The entry table is dressed with a few old favorites, this lovely white painted urn with a large reindeer moss ball, a beautiful antique vellum book from the 1600's, and a mercury glass crown. The urn is a perfect contrast to the black marble top. I'm not sure that these 3 items have ever been used together before. New fresh spring look, nothing new purchased! Perfect.

I was spying the antique blue bottles that I used last year holding a single flower or two on the mantel. But at the moment we are spending days outside redoing planting beds. Trying to get more done before the temps hit the 90's. We made great progress but there is much more to do yet. The kitchen courtyard needed very little work. It is such a wonder micro-environment. It was time to add some seasonal flowers, but all the shrubs are now established and look wonderful.

See Y'All Soon~

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Decorating for Fall - Autumn with Vintage

No the Keno brothers from Antique Road Show are not looking for this little boot; this is a different kind of treasure. Family "treasure" might be a stretch, but this little copper plated boot - shoe was Sweet Hubby's so it  makes it a little family treasure. His mom kept long after he was grown, and gave it to him several years ago. Most of the time it has been on my desk being used to hold trinkets, paper clips and who knows what since then. At least it has been out and not stuffed in a closet. Since this Fall the decorating is copper and lime green, the search was on for copper. And this little "treasure" was perfect for holding a special pumpkin.

There is always a place in our Fall Decorating for this beautiful hand painted ceramic pumpkin. It has been a part of Fall for so many years, and it is always fun to bring it out.  The copper coffee pot also has been around here for at least 20 plus years. It has been hiding in the garage as I contemplated how much of the old copper stuff to give away. I actually forgot it was still here. Filled with late sumer flowers it adds a nice extra touch of copper. 

Sitting in the little round glass area of the copper shoe  is the smallest of the velvet pumpkins that I made. You can see how I made the pumpkins HERE.  If you are thinking that you would like to make some of these but you just can find any dried real pumpkins stems, then why not make your own? 

I had one pumpkin stem that was my favorite, but it was too large for this little velvet pumpkin, so I made a new stem for it. This one is made of air dry clay. I don't have the package so I'm not sure if it is paper clay. The air dry comes in different types, but I think this kind is the paper. It is very easy to use, and you can keep it from drying out by keeping a damp paper towel in a plastic bag with it.

 

I haven't used it in almost a year and it was not dried out at all inside the plastic bag. I laid a damp paper towel over it for a few minutes before I began sculpting with it, and if a spot seemed to dry I just dipped my fingers in a little water and applied it to that area. Very easy and fun to play with. 

~ See Y'All Soon ~

The Decorated House - Easter Mantel 2015

There was a time when there were a lot of bunnies around here. None of them were real rabbits; those do not come to play in my garden. Which is probably a good thing since I've heard they like to eat a lot of plants and flowers that you did not intend growing for them.

But when Easter and Spring come along each year, it seems that the my bunnies have multiplied even though  I haven't bought one in years. And I swear I gave a bunch away. None the less, this time of year, I'm usually surprised and delighted to see them and quite happy some have stayed around.

The mantel is dressed this year with an Art Print from my Shop, The Bunny Chandelier. Printed in gray, it looks really wonderful in that old gray painted frame that I used the chalk paint on. The altered - decorated peat pots and the paper and fabric covered eggs with the leaping bunnies are also being used again this year. Along with the vintage style bunnies, I've added a couple of hand made clay mushroom houses that I  have had for 30 years. They stay in a cupboard with glass doors so dust doesn't settle on all that intricately made elements.

The Bunny Chandelier is available in 8 x 10 in or 5 x 7 inch in my shop

by clicking on this word link.

The Decorated House Bunny Chandelier on Etsy
It is available in Tiffany Blue, Pink, Black and Gray.  

You can click on the picture link below for last Easter's decorations and

some directions on how to make you own pretty peat pots.

This little Easter bunny is my favorite. The plastic gray egg next to him is painted with Paris gray ASCP. From the closeup of the mushroom house you can see how fantastic details the artist gave to each of her magical creations. Perfect for welcoming the magic of Spring!

See Y'All Soon~