A Beautiful Cottage Home

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

This year's Christmas Reality

My Smith Clan

I have to say Christmas this year didn't turn out the way I had envisioned in my mind.

I planned on having home made Christmas pajamas for all six of us this year....didn't get very far. Too many sewing machine issues :)

I didn't host a Christmas tour of my home....
because I barely got around to putting up the tree and a few lights around the house...sigh

We had frozen pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve.......there goes a nice "traditional" dinner :)
I didn't even get around to making a nice dinner for Christmas Day.....but that's okay.

My kids spent WAY to many hours in their comfortable PURCHASED pajamas......and we played with every toy ten million times....watched movies.....and visited family.

I am starting to realize that the best things in life are SIMPLE....

One of my main goals for 2011 is to SIMPLIFY life.
This is very hard for me since I have so many interests.....but I know in the end it will be worth it!

Here are my goals so that I have someone to answer to and I have someone to check in to :)

Take more time to pamper myself.
Smile more....because a bad attitude melts away quickly if I can just smile.
Never have more than two projects going at once :) I NEED HELP ON THIS ONE!
Delegate ALL sewing responsibilities for my business!!
Do what I love!....blog more, create more, laugh more, spend more time with my kids and husband because they are what matters.
Serve others without a second glance.
Dare to dream and do what we want to do!
ALWAYS have a prayer in my heart......everything falls into place when we truly trust who is really in charge :)

What are your goals for 2011?

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Top Ten Color Trends for Spring 2011

Peter Som

As a self proclaimed fashion designer one of my jobs is to find out what the colors and trends for the new year are going to be.

If you are not familiar with Pantone Colors, it is a color forecasting company that does important research to predict and create the top colors for the year.
These colors apply to fashion as well has home decor.

Marc Jacobs

Honeysuckle
Color of the Year!

I can definitely see this in a girls room, but not my family room.
Here are the other color trends for interior design for 2011.

Courtesy of Trendland.net.

Going from left to right they are:
Honeysuckle
Regatta
Coral Rose
Beeswax
Peapod
Blue Curacao
Russet
Silver Peony
Lavender
Silver Cloud

If you are thinking of re-doing a room keep these up-to-date colors in mind!
I am celebrating by changing the color of my blog :)
Have a Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Kitchen Wall Sneak Peak

I love this look!

I have been dying to get going on the kitchen re-do!
I was trying to wait until after Christmas to start the chaos of redoing a kitchen, and trying to LIVE normally.

If you are new here and don't know how small my kitchen is, then you should know that it is a very LONG AND NARROW kitchen with very little cabinet or counter space.

On the other hand....that factor alone might motivate me to hurry up and get this project done!
....There are always scads of half-done projects waiting for me :)

Here is a picture of the kitchen wall right now.......

I will add a better photo once my camera is charged. This is from photo booth on my mac....not a very wide scope of things.

It looks just like this on both sides of the window.
This area was used as our eating area, but didn't allow all of us to sit together around the table.

Pretty boring. I am patching holes in the wall from some shelves that I had up at one point. This is more of a walk way from the front eating area to the family room so I wanted some interest, but not much sticking out. Better pictures to come!

Here is what I want it to look more like.
I ADORE board and batten!

http://www.thenester.com/2010/05/board-and-batten.html

Here is a post from the nester when she did her board and batten on her wall. It instantly transforms a plain looking wall into something with character and dimension....the best part....it is one of the least expensive updates you can do to a home!
http://www.thenester.com/2010/05/board-and-batten.html

Here are some more of my favorites!

http://tancamjenksfam.blogspot.com/2010/03/recap-of-redo.html

http://fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com/2009/02/everything-room-revealfinally-done.html

This is genius for the entryway!
http://www.frugalhomedesigns.com/2010/01/board-and-batten-entrywaycoat-rack.html

Have you ever done board and batten? Any ideas for making it easier?

Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Free Printable Christmas Tags

Looking for a cute way to dress up your gift giving?

One day when my kids no longer live at home I will have beautiful, fragile gifts under the tree...lol

I found out about some FABULOUS AND FREE Christmas tags that can be printed right off your own computer! All you need is some cardstock and a printer!
Decorchick made a beautiful post with pictures of her own version of the tags here.

http://www.decorchick.com/christmas/dressing-up-your-gifts-free-printable-tags-alert/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Decorchick+%28Decorchick%21%29

Here is the direct link if you would like to print your own tags...
http://jonesdesigncompany.com/stationery/gift-tags/

Here are some other links for printable goodies!

http://www.mintprintables.com/gift-tags/christmas/
http://holidays.momsnetwork.com/introgifttags.shtml
http://www.freeprintablegifttags.net/category/christmas
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2009/12/free-printable-christmas-tags/

These are just a few that I googled.

I still need to wrap my gifts and show you my tags this week!!

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Winter Time Inspires Me.....

AmeliaKayPhotography Found on Etsy.com

The winter time inspires me with beachy looking images!

Even when I should be obsessed with Christmas right now.

........What's funny is that I've only been to the beach TWO times in my entire life!

SeaLilyStudio Found on Etsy.com

I've been thinking of decorating my home in a more beachy theme lately. I already have the aqua and turquoise down. I want to add more white, wood tones, and starfish to my home.

House of Turquoise

I am trying to get my walls neutral so that on a whim I can decorate whatever mood I am in.
....Just throw in some accessories and you have a whole new room!

http://theletteredcottage.net/our-summer-mantel

I've never been very fond of the cold or winter time. Maybe this is my minds way of making it through the winter!

Anyone else really not fond of the winter time?

I am even thinking of a nautical inspired design for my swimwear collection.
Hmmmm....