Designing my Future Porch
Share .. am dreaming of sitting on my future porch when it will be sunny again. While dreaming, I’ve accumulated lots of fabulous porch design ideas. Today, I will share my top 5 porch designs with you. Features of the Dream Porch 1. Great place to eat and live, like a luxury outdoor [...]
Recycled Plastic Bottles to Awesome Vertical Vegetable Garden
Share We all must learn to grow vegetables. Whether we live in a small apartment without a balcony, a unit with just a small patio, or a luxury house with lots of land. Don’t you think? Growing veggies is easy & fun, once you know how, particularly with the ingenious plastic bottle vertical gardening system [...]
How to Make a Topiary
Share Lets make a topiary. I will show you how. It is winter and not much creative gardening going on besides making winter veggies and protecting whatever you planted from frost. It is however a time that in Italy, the olive farmers clip their olive trees again, and loads of free branches are to be [...]
Italian Farmhouse Kitchen Table (Pinterest Fave)
Share Not fair that Pinterest followers were getting my best design ideas, instead of my loyal blog readers. Being Chinese New Year, I’m changing it now, and during the coming year, I’ll add a Daily Pinterest Favorite to my blog. I’ll feature a mix of interior design styles, home decorating DIY projects, knititng, crochet, paper [...]
Succulent Wreaths
Share Now that all your holiday decoration is gone, does the front door look a bit barren? Not for long, because here’s an idea for you that you wished you’d tried before: year-round colorful succulent wreaths that need next-to-no-attention to good looking. Best of all, the plants on these wreaths are alive! Like a [...]
French Country Lamp
Share : I spotted this darling French country kitchen lighting and just have to share it. Vintage funnel + bit of wire-cover fabric + 3 string ties made a plain light bulb into an exquisite shabby chic kitchen lamp. You can do it. It’s a winner. [...]
Contemporary Hexagon Pillows :: Free Sewing Pattern
Share : this hexagon designer pillow pattern reads like a nature mosaic. Something soulful about handmade pillows that have such attention to painstaking detail. It’s an exquisite sewing pattern and it’s free. By centering 6 identical petals, the master seamstress team at Sew4Home has orchestrated yet another winning design. They share the sewing [...]
Martin Luther King Craft: Dream Quilt
Share Martin Luther King Day coming up again on Monday January 16. To me, Martin Luther King Jr. stands for following your heart, your soul desire, your dream, your conviction and for courage doing so. Therefore, every year, I like to orchestrate a creative project in his honor. This dream quilt pattern featured today is [...]
Handmade Ruffle Rugs
Share : easy rug-making technique that even kids can do. This handmade DIY ruffle rug offers a great way to blow new life into the mountain of unused or outgrown t-shirts in your family’s (and your neighbors’) closets. Fabulous and colorful, they would make hip and fun floor mats for bedrooms and bathrooms. With colors [...]
Felt Ruffle Rosette Pillow Pattern
Share Tired of snow, rain or otherwise gloomy winter weather? Cheer up. This happy orange pillow tutorial will bring you into a good mood again. Dazzling ruffles are fast to produce on this easy-as-pie pillow. The tutorial :: Felt Rosette Pillow Step-by-step Instructions 1. cut circles 2. fold them twice and [...]
New Year Umbria Jazz Festival
Share Happy New Year from Italy!!! We were partying here on the first day of the New Year. Umbria Jazz Festival is held every year around this time in the gorgeous Italian city of Orvieto. As this year, New Year’s day fell on a Sunday we enjoyed the happy opportunity to actually go see [...]
Wall Design Stencil Cutting Machine
Share A few days ago a reader, Shannu, commented on my Inspiring Stencil Projects that he/she wants stencil cutting machine for wall design purpose. Features of stencil cutters is really good point to cover, so I thought to answer it here on the blog instead of in a personal email. Not all stencil cutting machines [...]
Christmas Stocking as Holiday Pillow
Share Just a quick tip to repurpose your excess Christmas stockings that you might have been gifted over the years as holiday pillows. Aren’t they fun? How to Make Your Own Christmas Stocking Pillow No sewing machine required, just fill them up, and close them with a few stitches (or if you’re really [...]
Christmas Tree Alternatives
Share Pin It It’s perfect if you don’t yet have a Christmas tree. There’s something far better: an adorable Christmas tree alternative that you can make on a dime, and that’ll be loved by Mother Nature and your kids alike. Materials for Alternative Christmas Trees There’s no limit to the materials you could use [...]
Sew a Wild Scrappy Pillow
Share : a unique quilting pattern. Quilting may sound kind of tame, however, with Alisa Burke, quilting changes tack and sails the winds of adventure! Look what she did…. Step-by-step Fabric Painting, Sewing & Quilting Instructions 1. Hand stamp & hand print your own fabric. That is: make your own stamps with [...]
Anthropologie’s Kitchen Decor (Santa Monica)
Share Pin It I love wandering through Anthropologie. Do you? The creative input of a visit is like flipping through 17 lifestyle magazines and half a dozen groovy design books, all at the same time. Yes, I was lucky to spend quite a bit of time in the Anthropologie shop in Santa Monica, LA [...]
Felt Christmas Decorations
Share Pin It Lovely things from fabric are to be made by hand for the Christmas trees. In Pasadena, CA, I came across darling felted trees, birds made from fabric scraps, woolen balls adorned with hand-embroidered icicles, wreaths made out of scrap fabric balls, and other such unique treasures. Be inspired by my collection…. [...]
Bathroom Design Inspiration
Share I’ve been looking through bathroom designs for inspiration for our new to-be-built Italian country farm house. I find it all a bit daunting to get my mind around that I get to design every element of that house from scratch, so I need your help. I’d love you to comment on which bathroom you [...]
Rustic Garden Bench: Stone or Wood?
Share : The Cyber Monday Deals in yesterday’s article LAST ALL WEEK. Do check ‘m out. Today’s article is a DIY garden bench project. I enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving dinner with a lovely family in a gorgeous home in Long Beach, LA, California. The indoor space was tastefully decorated in a timeless contemporary design style. [...]
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Amy Butler Quilt Pattern
Share Pin It Know how to make a yo-yo? Good. Let’s go crazy making yo-yo’s and create a fabulously & frivolously fun quilt with them. Here’s your free pattern. Yo-yo Quilt Pattern This Amy Butler quilt pattern uses the happy & cheery Amy Butler fabrics. The Amy Butler Quilt Just looking at [...]
Halloween Ghost: Awesome!
Share Pin It Truly spooky!! Just when I publish this article on DIY Halloween ghosts, I come across an even better Halloween host diy. Take a look at this amazingly realistic garden ghost, made out of chicken-wire. Wow. It’s almost poetic, so beautiful and … realistic !!!! Would you believe: all you really need [...]
Handmade Rugs
Share Most visitors to this blog have found our feature of this eco-green towel-recycling DIY bathroom mat. I’ve noticed however, that not everyone has good ‘bathroom mat treatment’ habits, so I thought to share a few tips with you today, to begin with, and then I’ll give you an overview of the various rugs I’ve [...]
Rug from Recycled Sweater
Share I have this thing for recycling cable sweaters. I’m sure you all seen this recycled wool sweater lamp, which I just adore. It just looks so warm and cosy. Now, here’s a DIY tutorial to make yourself a matching rug for that chair near the window. Direct recycling aka very-eco-green designer Diane Durkes pulled [...]
Fall Landscaping Ideas
Share Remember the ‘Beach in a Pot’- container gardening idea we included in our ‘How to Create a Beach Cottage’-series ? Now, I want to show you three different autumn gardens in a pot. Beautiful landscaping ideas by Sunset, for your garden, patio and balcony. These Fall landscapes in pots are neither Halloween nor [...]
Craft Storage Tips
Share Hiding your creative tools where you need them is not always so easy. As I do art, craft and decorating projects in almost any room of the house, I decided to go around and create creative storage zones in every room. Creative Living Room Storage Knitting and crochet I most definitely do most [...]
Back-to-School Notice Boards, Schedulers, Organizers & Desk Accessories
Share I haven’t gone back to school for a ‘000 years. However, every Fall I still enjoy that feeling of a fresh start. Lovely. One of my best memories is how I used to get very nice new book wrapping paper, calendar and others kids desk accessories and stationary. We would making matching schedulers and [...]
Back-to-School College, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Decorating
Share This article on ‘College, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Decorating Projects & Ideas’ finishes the ‘Back-to-school Ideas’- week, however, during September we’ll add a few more individual back-to-school ideas, as they pop up in our minds. College Room, Teenage & Kid Bedroom Ideas Child Bedroom Furniture Stencil Plan This article contains free templates [...]
French Bird, Dog & Bunny Pillows
Share This is a re-post of my prior French pillows article. Readers wrote that the article link hadn’t been working for them, so I’m showing the French Pillows ideas (w link to pillow sewing tutorial) again for you. BTW. If you have enjoyed this 2 weeks worth of showcasing contemporary French interior design, decorating and [...]
Funky Coat Hangers
Share These coat hangers caught my eye at Paris’ main Flee market. \While I personally have been designing crochet coat hangers, I was enamored by the thought of having these colorful wooden, felted and bead bejeweled coat hangers to cheer up my wardrobe. Which ones are your favorite? I love the [...]
Paris Antiques
Share Pin It A picture tells a thousand words, so without any further ado then, let me show off some of the glorious antique pieces I found in some of Paris’s best art and antique shops.
