Colorful Closets

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Simple Joys...those glimpses of life that we should take time embrace, the reminders that it's the small and simple things that make life beautiful.

The closets of our home are full of color. . . . .
even when there are no clothes hanging in them. For nearly half of my mother's life she has been making these
yarn covered hangers. (A tutorial can be found HERE)

She has literally made hundreds of them for family and to give as gifts.
I remember taking a trip with a college friend when I was in my late teens. My mom put a bundle of these homemade hangers into my suitcase for me to give as a hostess gift for my friend's relative whose home we stayed. I was proud as well as a little embarrassed (the mixed emotions of a teenager) to present the made-by-hand gift.These colorful hangers have been a part of my life for most of my life. They remind me of my mother's creative and hardworking hands, and of her giving spirit.

They are a simple joy.
Do you have a made-by-hand simple joy?

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100 Years and Beautiful

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Look at this a beautiful old home.It is so charming, with most of it's original architectural details.I was hired to decorate it's porches and make them warm, inviting and cozy.Over the next few days I'll share some of the projects, as well as the "after" photos.

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No More Big and Boring

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My adorable client had a wall in her home that was her nemesis. Her home is filled with beautiful architectural details, but this wall was big and boring. She loved the look of board and batten and wondered if it would be appropriate for this wall.Directly across from the wall is a beautiful wall of windows.
I wanted to repeat the details of the window wall onto the opposite wall. I sketched out a drawing and her talented husband used it as inspiration.They started by painting out the lower portion of the wall.He framed out the sides and top.Added the vertical boards to the lower portion. Topped with a horizontal band. Then finished off the top portion with vertical boards.Big and Boring is now Bold and Beautiful!

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A Lot Of Happenings Goin' On Here

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Did you notice a few changes here at Joys of Home?

I've been working with the wonderful
Jenn from Munchkin Land Designs.

She is awesome!!!! I cannot begin to tell you how patient and talented, and patient and creative, and did I mention patient, she is! I am such a detail oriented person and she was so willing and helpful and PATIENT while we worked on the new design. If your blog home is in need of a makeover I highly recommend that you contact Jenn! Just go to her website and check out her design gallery. I'm sure that you'll like what you see and I know that you'll love working with her as much as I have!

I also am pleased to tell you that Melissa from
320* Sycamore has asked me to do a guest post today. All this week, in celebrating Mother's day and motherhood, Melissa has asked marvelous women bloggers to post about some things they've learned about being a mom. I am honored that Melissa gave me this opportunity and humbled to be among the other incredible women that are guest posting. If you don't already know Melissa, go give her a visit, I know you'll enjoy her! And if you're visiting here from Melissa's blog, Welcome! I hope you feel right at home!

Speaking of home, I've been busy here at Joys of Home with several projects. Some are for clients and some are for my own home. I'm excited to show off a few in the coming days and weeks.

Here's a sneak peek of what I am working on now--- I'll show off the finished project tomorrow!

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An Idea to Steal

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Are you an idea gatherer like I am? Are you always tearing sheets of ideas from magazines and catalogs, and printing them off the internet? Do your ideas begin to resemble piles of clutter? Or do you have the time to put those piles into little manilla folders and file them away? And then is the saying true, "Out of sight, out of mind" and you forget all about your gathered ideas?
My daughter's friend Jana shared how she managed to keep her gathered ideas neat and handy.
She buys an inexpensive binder and clear protective sheets. She labels the binder and fills the sheets with all of the ideas and inspiration she's gathered.In her December folder she includes a gift list so she can remember about the gifts she's bought and stored throughout the year, (an idea I like because I'm always remembering those gifts when it's too late).She even takes photos of cute gifts she's seen or been given so that she can refer to them for inspiration.Along with the sheets of inspiration for decorating, she inserts easy and cute gift ideas. She includes Christmas stories to read to her children. And family games to play. And activities to do.And the best thing is, it's all contained in a pretty binder so she can easily pull it out each year to be inspired by all of her gathered ideas.

It's an idea worth stealing!

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My Friend

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Have you met my friend Jen from Sanctuary Art?

We've never met, but I consider her my friend because we have so much in common. We both like to take old furniture, paint it, and personalize it to our home. I'm always so inspired by her creativity, and her humor.

She interviewed me for her blog.
I was so honored that she picked me for her series on Women Who Create.

Please go visit her and while you're there you can read a few tids bits about me.

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A Follow-Up

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Remember the basement apartment master bedroom I had the pure pleasure of redesigning? The cute couple sent me some new photos showing their newly purchased duvet cover and the once empty frames now filled with photos. Of course, since they're real photographers their photos are much nicer than the ones I showed. So I thought I would share them with you.
This lamp was our inspiration for the room. And those vases were thrift store finds, as was most of the furniture and accessories.

The large furniture pieces were painted white and the thrifted chair was spray painted apple green.

Isn't this duvet beautiful? It's the perfect finishing touch!

Along with the chandelier decal. Gorgeous!

A few close-ups to show the distressing I did on their newly painted furniture.

These photos are proof that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have
the room of your dreams.

By the way,
Kathy at
Creative Home Expressions
posted her interview of me.
Go there to read
5 things you didn't know about me.
THANKS SO MUCH KATHY!!!

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