Cottage Blue Designs

New Year, New Blog!

2016-01-18T20:27:00.001-05:00

Please stop by and join me...

http://thechalkboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
:)
Megan

Spiced Up Home Office

2016-01-18T14:27:00.001-05:00

Hello friends,
How are you today? How are you honoring Martin Luther King Jr's birthday? My kiddios and I have the day off and due to the super low temperatures are headed to the warmth of the cheap movies theater. Peanuts, here we come!

Thanks for checking out my spiced up eat in kitchen recently. Today I wanted to share my spiced up home office with you. I cleaned out the attic and brought down some of my professional books (the rest of my books I'm donating to the local library). This forced me to rework the shelves and purchase the new turquoise and white striped baskets (compliments of Target). The globe is fairly new too from an antique store.

This room serves me as a home office and craft room:

I love looking at the large window when I'm working from home. By the way, most of the furniture in this room was purchased from Goodwill and painted (two small blue pieces), Ikea, or from my parents' 70s basement (tall white shelving). Most of the artwork I made.

I hope you are having a fantastic start to your week.
Happy decorating and living-
Megan

Spicing it up in the eat in kitchen!

2016-01-17T15:37:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year Friends!!!!
How were your holidays? Have you seen any of the white stuff where you live? We have seen two small little occasions of flurries. The kids really want a real snow. Of course, if you can believe it, the kids aren't even back at school yet so a snow day isn't really a snow day unless you get out of school, right? Due to their year round schedule they have one week left of holiday before they head back to school. Lucky dogs!

Thanks for joining me today. I wanted to share some decorating updates with you. Due to the holiday season and hosting family at our home, I wanted us to have more space for family dinners. I talked Mr. Cottage Blue into moving our fairly new dining room table (Ballard Designs) into the eat in kitchen where we eat all meals from the dining room (this table can fit 6-8 comfortably). Then I moved the eat in kitchen old table to the dining room and promptly sold it to a neighbor. (The dining room is no longer a dining room hence there's no table in there....it's purpose has now officially changed....I will share what it is now soon with you).

I also used the money from selling the old eat in kitchen table (it was four years old from World Market) to buy a small piece for the eat in kitchen to hold a lamp and storage for napkins/recipe books, etc.

You might notice that I replaced the brown graphic curtains we have in here a while ago with these Pottery Barn striped gray which now compliment the Pottery Barn striped tan in the adjacent family room.

See what you think....I also got a new camera for Christmas from Mr. Cottage Blue....thanks sweetheart....these changes are inspiring some upcoming changes in the kitchen....

I have lots of repurposing decorating I want to share with you soon. Maybe it's the winter weather that's inspiring me to spend weekends inside re-envisioning pieces and spicing it up. Stop by again soon.

Happy decorating and living! I hope you have a fantastic week where ever you are in the world,
Megan

Christmas Tour 2015

2015-12-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Friends!
I've missed sharing with you lately as I've been on entirely too many planes going here and there.

I'm so happy you stopped by for my Christmas Tour. Are you ready for the holidays? Traveling forces me to be ready because I only have so many days at home. As of today, all gifts have been bought and mailed. Christmas cards have been mailed and I'm having a ball opening the ones I receive in the mail. Cookies will be baked and decorated by my two rascals this weekend while listening to Christmas music.

This year I successfully talked Mr. Cottage Blue into 3, yes 3, trees. Miracles do happen! I should clarify that is 2 decent trees for inside the house and 1 pitiful little tree for our back deck that we purchased last year that I thought would be much fuller and larger (I have since learned the importance of reading the height and diameter dimensions on the box before buying!!!!!!)

Any-hoo, let's proceed.....

C'mon on in..... we have the front of our house decorated with white lights....

My absolute favorite area in our house to decorate for Christmas is our most used zone....our family room/eat in kitchen/everything zone..... starting last year I branched out in here and strayed away from the traditional red and green décor and went to blues, silvers, and white. Most of the ornaments on this tree I made or bought at the dollar store. See what you think....

Family Room:

Some of my handmade ornaments...

Some starfish left over from our wedding décor....

I taught myself how to crochet these sweet little white yarn snowflakes from watching this video on you tube a billion times....she makes it look so easy! But I was teaching myself how to crochet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSefNeFfuTI

Some other shots of our blue and white Winter Wonderland in our family room:

I LOVE my white winter wonderland creatures that come out to visit each Christmas....

The two tree pieces are new this year (thanks to 50% off at Michael's Craft Store):

Dug through the house to find all things slivery....

What Christmas IS all about...

In the eat in kitchen I added a new advent calendar on a tray that consists of 5 mason jars with bath salts from the bathroom in the jar with a candle each plus greenery from my yard....easy scheemezy.....

Here's a little bit of Christmas spirit in the entryway....

Framed past Christmas card of the kids...so fun remembering how small they once were....

Let's stop over in the dining room where red and gold are featured....burlap garland over the doorway with more handmade ornaments....

The only pictures I have of our kids with Santa...priceless...

Let's head upstairs where the traditional red and green décor gets some attention....

This is one of our favorite Christmas traditions that I know I've shared before....each night in December the kids get to open a 'present'. Each present is a Christmas book that has been hidden away in the attic since last Christmas and wrapped. The kids loved rediscovering their Christmas classics and I also retire a book each year and get a new book or two.

Christmas cards are starting to collect....I love receiving each and every one of them!

Some of our past Christmas cards...

Lastly, let's stop by our Bonus Room (think family room #2).....

This is the kids' tree plus it has all of our special ornaments from our many trips and adventures....

These are the kids' musical Christmas decorations that they love year after year...

Thanks for stopping by friends. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and the best that the new year has to offer-

Blessings,
Megan

Fall Flowers

2015-10-25T07:42:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends,
Thanks for stopping by today. I wanted to share with you inexpensive ways to decorate with fall flowers. Mine are all either from the grocery store, craft store (fake), or my yard. All budget friendly.

Here's an idea of how to use those beautiful fall flower bouquets we can get at the grocery store. Instead of putting all of them together in one vase, separate like colors in small different but cohesive vases for bigger impact. You can place them on a tray together with a pretty placemat or napkin underneath:

Grocery store mums:

Fake flowers or dried flowers from the craft store:

I don't know about you but flowers just make me smile.

Happy decorating & living,

Megan

Adding in the Halloween Layer

2015-10-24T08:50:00.005-04:00

Happy Fall Y'all!!!!

Thanks for stopping by today. I've been away in sunny warm Florida working with educators and students and am so happy to be home.

Today I wanted to share with y'all our cheesy Halloween decorations. Disclaimer: cheesiness ahead!!! In my defense, I do have a 9 and 7 year old who still love Halloween so our home reflects that interest. And well, maybe I like Halloween too.

Also, we happen to live in a neighborhood FULL of kids and FULL of parents who have a lot of Halloween spirit. It's really fun how much people decorate for the holidays here.

You might remember that I shared in early September how I decorate for early fall here:
http://cottagebluedesigns.blogspot.com/2015/09/early-autumn-decorating.html

Okay, hold onto your trick or treat bag...here comes our tacky Halloween décor:

By the way, I did make the Welcome sign (recycled from an old sign- the other side says JOY for Christmas) and I made both sets of pillows below (I painted on fabric for the B pillows)-

You can't see by these photos but we have orange lights on our front porch.

The back porch has purple and orange lights and I heard there's some fire pit action happening tonight:

On beautiful days like these here in North Carolina when I'm working from home, here's where you will find me:

Let's step inside for a minute and I'll share how the Halloween tackiness continues.....

Thanks for stopping by y'all. Stop back by soon, I have some Halloween flower arrangements I want to share with you.

Happy decorating & living -
Megan

Mr. Cottage Blue's Office

2015-10-06T18:36:00.000-04:00

Happy Fall Y'all!
I'm so excited to share Mr. Cottage Blue's home office with you as he is out of town on a business trip so I could go in there (tidy up) and take some pictures.

This room used to be our guest bedroom but Mr. Cottage Blue found that he wasn't really using his home office way upstairs away from all the action so he did all the work and swapped all of the furniture to make this switcheroo happen.

C'mon on in...

Let's go on inside his office.....

Mr. Cottage Blue is a computer and software genius! I recommend that everyone have one in the family to help out with all those tech problems.

Mr. Cottage Blue on a pilgrimage through Spain, el Camino de Santiago:

Most of the furniture in his home office has been in our family for years and was purchased at Ikea including the blue futon which doubles as an additional guest room if our guest room upstairs is occupied.

Thanks for joining me friends. Hope you are well this fall.
Happy decorating and living,
Megan

Early Autumn Decorating

2015-09-21T13:05:00.001-04:00

Happy Fall Y'all-
I live in North Carolina now so I get to officially use the word 'y'all'.

Thanks for joining me today friends. I wanted to share you with you my early fall decorating.
I break down my September - January decorating like this:

1. September: early fall, woodland creatures, bring out some extra blankets, a few dried floral arrangements
2. early October: start adding in some gourds and pumpkin plus mums
3. mid October: can we say H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N!!! Yes!
4. November: put out simple Thanksgiving tree (made with branches from back yard) and some turkeys
5. Day after Thanksgiving: Alleluia! Christmas time!!!!!
6. Day after New Years: Winter Wonderland for the month of January

I have to admit I get a little giddy about this time of year. I don't do much seasonal decorating from January through September except for a touch of Valentine's Day, Easter, and some Fourth of July stuff.

Here's a little peek at our early fall decorating for September:

Newly made Welcome sign from old wood and black Sharpie pen-
The porch is just waiting for some pumpkins, gourds, and mums, I can tell.....

My newest favorite woodland creature friends (I've started collected winter wonderland furry friends too that make an appearance in December and January) thanks to Pier 1 and Target:

Pinecones from the yard and dried floral arrangements:

Again, happy fall y'all! Stop back by in a bit and I will share the addition of the pumpkins, gourds, and mums.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan

New Art for Master Bedroom

2015-09-09T20:58:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends,
Thanks for stopping by today. I have loved seeing all of my friends first day of school pictures on social media. My poor kids have already been in school for about 6 weeks. We have already received their interims meaning that this first quarter is more than half way over. This means fall break is almost here. I honestly love their fall break as there's lots to do here in the fall.

Okay, enough about that...on to the fun. I am excited to share some new artwork for our master bedroom with you. This is the kind of artwork that if I showed it to my dad (which I will when he visits this weekend) I can tell you exactly what he'll say. "That's artwork? That looks like a piece of junk." Yep, that's my gift....seeing the treasure in the trash.....See what you think....

What do you think? Trash? Treasure? It's made from old pallets painted blue and white with tiny starfish attached.

Source List:
Headboard-Pottery Barn
2 Bedside Tables- Antique Stores in Vienna and Leesburg, VA
Bench- Marshalls
Curtains- Pottery Barn
Dresser- Goodwill from my college days
Round Rattan Table- Goodwill
Sweet White Chair- $35 at Antique Store in Frederick, MD and recovered
Black Wicker Chair- Very special, in my mom's bedroom when she was a girl
White Bookshelf- Antique Store in Frederick, MD
Ottoman- $15 Antique Store in Vienna, VA and recovered
2 Shell Mirrors- I made them
2 Circle Rattan Mirrors- Marshalls
Artwork over bed- Market sign from Raleigh store, other two pieces I made
Two Shell Mirrors- Made by me
Pillows- Pottery Barn, two rectangle pom pom pillows I made

Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Taking Trash to Treasure

2015-08-29T16:45:00.000-04:00

Hi there friends,
How is your weekend coming along? We are watching Storm Erika and praying she falls apart (which it looks like she's doing for us and many others down south) as we want to steal away for another quick beach trip to squeak out the last of summer that we can.

Today's blog posting is about two recent examples of turning trash to treasure which is honestly one of my favorite decorating tricks. It's budget friendly, green, and hey, it's fun!

Here's a sneak peek.....

Here's the story.

This beauty was found by Mr. Cottage Blue in the trash at the beach. Can you imagine? Someone did not see the rustic chippy cuteness of this piece that we see. Well, my sweetie picked it up and brought it home. That's literally taking trash and turning it into our treasure. Every time I look at it, I think about the beach which makes me smile. I am loving it especially with the blue-green glass vase I found on clearance and the oyster shell mirror I made from oyster shells collected from a restaurant at the beach and bleached.

The next story:

Recently I was rooting around our attic looking for something when I spied this piece of trash in the corner....

This had been a linen covered hanging light from our previous house that we purchased from Pottery Barn. The linen ripped and the poor light was condemned to a life in the corner of the attic. Until, I stumbled upon it recently and starting thinking....

I have never liked the builder grade ceiling lights all throughout our house but it takes a lot of money to replace ALL those lights....why not make something?

I scoured Pinterest and found several wood bead chandelier inspiration pieces. Next, off to the local craft store went I on the hunt for some interesting beads. I was considering colored wooden beads. I landed on simple plain wood beads and plain tan cording. Then I was in creative craft heaven attempting to turn this trash into something resembling a treasure.

See what you think....

I'm happy with my trash treasure. I think this hallway has a lot of personality and needed a fun light fixture to work with it. Now, the hunt continues for some more interesting light fixtures.....stay tuned...

Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Spicing It Up Again

2015-08-17T19:26:00.002-04:00

Hi friends,
How are y'all doing? What's new in your world? Does it feel like your summer is winding down? Ready for fall to wind up?

Over here we are in our fourth, yes 4th week of school. I told my kids today that they're almost half way to their long fall break. Now, if it would just feel like fall....it's still super hot.

Did you happen to see that Money magazine named our small town #1? Here's the link...
http://time.com/money/3998655/best-places-to-live-2015-meet-apex/

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm excited to share with you our spiced up eat-in kitchen.

I did two things:
1. Moved our piano from our dining room to this room. I just finished an excellent book about change and supporting change called Switch, here's a link to it:
http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439853328&sr=8-2&keywords=switch

One of the things the authors of the book talk about is one way to influence change is to 'shape the path'. I will share with you that since we inherited my mom's piano last winter and the kids started taking piano lessons, I've been frustrated with their lack of practice. I already have to nag them about homework and nightly reading plus chores....I honestly don't want another thing to nag them about. But...on the other hand, I know how much I treasure the ability to play the piano, read music, and enjoy music. I see their interest in music and the piano and want to encourage this without being a nag. Welcome to being a parent, huh?

With our piano being in our front dining room, no one spends much time in there and thus it gets forgotten. Since it has wheels on it, it was pretty easy to wheel around the corner into the eat-in kitchen. Immediately, the kids started playing it more. My 'shaping their path' really worked. I also have put their piano books open on the ledge and they have stopped by and started playing. Shhhh! Don't tell them how manipulative their mom is!

2. The second thing I did was add new striped Pottery Barn curtains in here that I received as a birthday present. Our old curtains found a home in my husband's home office...right around the corner...I promise to share sometime soon (need to tidy it up first).

See what you think.....

Sorry these pictures are so dark. This room is very dark in the afternoon as the sun is setting.

I also want to share how open our dining room is now- not that the piano has moved out- more airy.

Thanks again for stopping by. Hope you are having an awesome week.

Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Fun Hallyway Find

2015-08-12T12:39:00.003-04:00

Hi friends,
Recently I was able to drive north to Northern Virginia to spend time with my pops for his birthday. I even dragged him to the musical The Book of Mormon. Poor guy! We celebrated our July birthdays together:

While in town I got pops to go with me as I visited my favorite antique/junk stores in the Leesburg area. Here's the Lucketts Store...I was in heaven checking out their stuff....

I practiced some unusual restrain on my part and only made two purchases. A can of blue chalk paint- project to be created and revealed soon and....a sweet pop of color vintage globe...

This hallway is an art gallery, a bench to sit and put your shoes and socks on, storage for games, balls, and puzzles....

I've also been cooking up a new decorating plan in the eat-in kitchen....stay tuned.....

Happy decorating & living.
Hope you're having a great week-
Megan

Bonus Room Reveal

2015-07-29T18:12:00.001-04:00

Hi Friends,
Thanks for stopping by the Cottage Blue Blog today. How's your week going? I got a new fit bit for my birthday last week so I've been obsessed with getting in my steps and trying to outdo my previous day's goals. Luckily, the dog and the kids have been doing a great job helping me.

I wanted to reveal our bonus room to you. Here where we live in the south you don't get a basement. You get a bonus room instead in some homes which is basically like a basement (except it's upstairs, not downstairs). Like a basement in some homes, the bonus room is really another family room plus it's where we keep the game system and the treadmill. Honestly, this room has received very little attention from us. It's kind of the dumping ground for our furniture.

I could tell you my goals for the bonus room which we shouldn't focus on right?
1. Paint
2. Replace ceiling lights
3. Recover slipcover sectional (it has definitely seen much better days! the kids got to it with glitter!)

Honestly, I don't know when we will get to these goals as they are very very very low on the priority list.

My daughter was keeping me company while I was shooting these pictures. Our guest room (which I need to give some attention to and share with you someday soon) is right off of this bonus room which is nice as it gives our guest another space to hang out.

Source List:
-Ikea Navy Sectional- (10 years old, they don't make it anymore but there is a website where they sell fresh slipcovers for it...someday....)
-White Large Chair- Crate and Barrel (matches sofa from family room, was previously in our bedroom)
-Other Pieces of Furniture- Target or Ikea
-Red Roman Shades- in house when we moved in 4 years ago
-Blue and White Striped Curtains- I made them (painted blue stripes on cheap white curtains)
-Lamps- Ikea or Target
-Crab Painting- I just painted this using paint markers by covering an old picture that I was no longer liking
-Red and White Quilt- Comforter Store (originally part of our Christmas décor)
-READ sign- World Market
-Red Tray on table- Target
-Pillows- Ikea and Marshalls
-Red and Blue Club Chair- bought used maybe 20 years ago- I made a custom floral slipcover for it that doesn't work with our décor (it could really use another slipcover as it's very faded but still comfortable)
-Blue Sea Life Pictures in White Frames- I printed from my computer (was inspired by a magazine picture)
-Brown Ottoman- matches large chair in guest room from Mr. Cottage Blue's single days (I would love to get a white ottoman for this space....someday....)

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you all are well.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Master Bedroom Reveal

2015-07-28T16:10:00.000-04:00

Hi Friends,
I am excited to share our updated Master Bedroom with you today.
We updated it with my two favorite decorating techniques:
1. Move stuff around the house (or room in this case)
2. Make new stuff from old stuff

We moved the bed to a different wall. That is a big project that takes the help of Mr. Cottage Blue to help me. We have one heavy bed:

Also, I took two old canvas pictures that I wasn't digging anymore and created two new pictures on top of the old (the tan and white pictures are the new 'old' pictures):

The only new thing in the room is the tan coverlet. Mr. Cottage Blue is one grumpy camper if the house is too hot when he sleeps. This means he likes to keep a cool house at night. All of our old duvets, comforters, and quilts are too heavy for him. I purchased this tan light weight duvet cover (and did not put a duvet inside of it so it's truly light weight) from amazon.com and it was a steal! Mr. Cottage Blue is happy!

Birthday Flowers

2015-07-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

Hey Friends,
Thanks for joining me today. I celebrated my birthday this weekend. One of those birthdays that kinda drags out over the weekend...I love those! I hope you've had one of those recently. WE really must all have those kinds of birthdays. WE deserve it? Right? After all, we are celebrating that we are alive.

I had been travelling the last two weeks for work so I was super surprised to come home and find that my 9 year old daughter and Mr. Cottage Blue had decorated the house for me (with some very old birthday decorations that they found in the attic). They also bought a variety of flowers for me that they placed around the house. I forgot to go upstairs and take pictures of the flowers up there.

Here's how they surprised me:

How'd they do? A really good job, huh? I'm feeling so loved. Mr. Cottage Blue and I were supposed to have a date night this weekend, but after two weeks away we cancelled the babysitter and hung out with the kids (snuggling on the sofa and some fishing at a local lake). Mr. Cottage Blue cooked me as wonderful dinner of lobster, shrimp, garlic, asparagus, and an ice cream cake. Feeling very blessed.

Thanks for joining me today friends. Stop back by sometime this week and I'll share some of my birthday goodies with you. Maybe you can guess what type of birthday goodies are my favorite. I hope you're having an awesome weekend.

Happy decorating & living,

Megan

Hallway Kid Art

2015-07-18T19:37:00.001-04:00

Hi friends,
Thanks for stopping by. How is your summer going so far? I can't believe my kids only have one week left of summer vacation. One kid is going to a local camp next week and the other child is going away to Grandma Camp. Last week, they flip-flopped that scenario.

I had a little time on my hands tonight as my wonderful soul matey is off making the switcheroo with the kids so as I'm working to prepare for next week's business trip I took a few minutes off to do my favorite kind of decorating. It's called "Moving Stuff Around the House".

First, here's our summer wish list we made a few short weeks ago:

All we have left to do from our list is buy Back-to-School supplies which we will tackle next weekend.

I wanted to share with you how we spiced up our first floor entryway hallway with stuff already in our house.

We made a display of our kids' artwork from the last couple of years using black frames already found in our home.

See what you think....

After clicking a few shots, I decided to steal a runner rug from another spot in the house and an additional pillow. See what you think now:

I also 'borrowed' a white Ikea storage piece from another room in the house to serve as a bench for putting on shoes and it also serves the purpose of holding games (checkers, Jinga pieces, dominoes) and puzzles.

The kids' have a fantastic art teacher at school. We plan to swap out their art work with new pieces as we feel inspired.

I see this new space as serving a couple of goals:
* Games and puzzles are organized
* Our kids have a spot to put on their socks and shoes (that are located in the closet on the opposite wall)

This is my favorite kind of decorating because it only took moments to execute and I didn't spend any money at all.

One goal I do have for this hallway that does involve spending money is swapping out the builder grade two ceiling mounted lights with more interesting lights.

I hope you are enjoying your summer whether you're smack dab in the middle of it or nearing the end of it like we are.

Happy Summer & Decorating,
Megan

Summer Decorating is Here

2015-06-24T13:47:00.001-04:00

Hi Friends,
Thanks for joining me today. I wanted to share some easy, cheap, budget-friendly summer decorating ideas with you.

For us...summer is all about escaping the heat so when we come inside from the pool or the beach...it's all about relaxing and staying cool....

We need....spots to read....spots to nap.....spots to play....spots to relax.....spots to nap (did I already say that? it's so easy to nap after summer sun and heat).

Come on in.....the 4th of July decorating stays up from June through July...

The entryway keeps the patriotic theme going....

The dining room is updated for summer with glass collections of shells...cheap and fun....with black and white beach photos on the gallery wall hung in a variety of white wood and metal frames...

Across the hall, my home office is set up with fresh crayons, sharpened colored pencils, markers, and more for the kids to be able to do some crafts.

Let's go into the family room where the white cotton slipcovers have been freshly washed for summer and the three floating shelves have been rearranged (I stole black and white photos framed in black frames from our bonus room upstairs to spice it up down here).

Now we are ready to cool off, curl up on the couches, and watch a favorite movie.

This new pillow was made by sewing two cotton green striped napkins together. I was summer lazy and didn't even finish up the bottom portion (shhhhh! our little secret). Cotton napkins make lovely summer pillows.

Let's head into the eat in kitchen and see what the kids have added to the chalkboard as fun summertime activities. Notice the four pillows in the eat in kitchen that I also made from inexpensive cotton napkins from Target and World Market in my favorite shades of green and blue. 5 minutes of sewing equals crispy new summer pillows.

I am feeling a nap coming on, let's head outside to my favorite place for a summer siesta. Now is the perfect time to find outdoor furniture, rugs, pillows, and accessories on sale.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you're staying cool where ever you are. Stop by again soon and I'll take you upstairs to see how we've been spicing it up by creating new artwork over old artwork.

Happy summer-
Megan

A Birthday Party for a Nine Year Old Girl

2015-05-17T22:17:00.004-04:00

Hi friends,
Thanks for joining me. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know one almost nine year old girl in my house who did. Her 'Disco Dancing Karaoke Singing Birthday Party' was a success- I could tell by the grin on her face.

My daughter, Bryce, and I had a lot of fun playing her ninth birthday party together.

Here's what she wanted on the birthday agenda:
1. A few great girlfriends
2. Dancing
3. Singing to Karaoke Machine with Microphones
4. Dressing Up in Make-Shift Photo Booth
5. Ice Cream Cones on the Porch
6. Open Gifts
7. Give out Goody Gift Bags

Here's what spontaneously got added:
1. Jump roping in the driveway (one friend gave her an awesome huge jump rope)
2. Putting on a play for me

Here's a couple of pictures to share.

Make-shift Photo Booth:

Dancing and Singing:

The girls had ice cream cones decorated like microphones on the porch ( I didn't get any pictures because I was busy making ice cream cones):

My girl and her girlfriends had a great time.
Thanks for joining me.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan

A Disco Dancing Karaoke Party

2015-05-14T07:24:00.000-04:00

Dear friends,
Thanks so much for joining me...so sorry my blog postings have been so few and far between.....you know how it goes...LIFE happens.

Well, it's time for another birthday (or 2) over here at The Brew Crew household. Our sweet active dancing sassy girl is turning 9 years old next week. She and I have been searching pinterest and making lists of plans for weeks and the day of the party is almost here. We can hardly wait. I don't know who is more excited...her or me!

She decided she wanted a dance party with karaoke singing and make-shift photo booth. All pretty easy to set up and inexpensive to pull off.

By the way, my daughter shares her birthday with Mr. Brew Crew as well.

Here's our decorating for the party...I will try to share some actual photos from the party this weekend later next week.

Hope you all have awesome weekends....

The Photo Booth-

The dance floor is ready for some serious dancing-

The DJ Karaoke Station is all set-

The goody bags are packed-

Some other decorations-

Rings that flash and glittery necklaces to share-

Someone is super excited-

Oh to be 9 again! I'm feeling about as giddy as a 9 year old myself! May we all find some child-like joy this weekend.

Happy decorating & living,

Megan

Springtime is here

2015-04-09T16:41:00.004-04:00

Hi Friends,
Happy Spring! How does spring look where you are? One fun fact about where we live in North Carolina: a thick green film of pollen from the many pine trees coats everything and I mean EVERYTHING!!!! I have never in my whole life seen pollen like this! It's almost like you don't want to go outside because every surface is coated with it. On a walk yesterday I even saw 'pollen clouds' literally clouds of the green gross stuff being blown from pine trees. Yuck!

Here are some spring time pictures from inside (where I even find the gross green stuff on surfaces). Okay, enough complaining, it should be gone soon enough.

Happy decorating,
Megan

Brayden's Magical 7th Birthday Party

2015-03-23T11:57:00.001-04:00

Hi Friends,
Thanks for joining me today. So sorry that I haven't posted anything since Christmas. Needless to say, there's been a lot going on in the Brew Crew household the last couple of months and decorating fell to the very bottom of the priority list. But, I'm happy to be back with you briefly to share with you some pictures from my son's recent birthday party at our house.

This story kinda starts out as a sad story. This was really my son's first birthday party in a way. We did attempt to have a birthday party at a local sports place (it did happen) 2 years ago for his 5th birthday but unfortunately due to bad timing (Spring break!) only a few friends were in town to join him (he did still have a lot of fun though). Also, last year, he chose to go to Great Wolf Lodge for his birthday. Our family's birthday tradition is, you may choose to go somewhere fun (that costs a bit of money) or you can choose to have a birthday party (also costs $). So, this year, my son said he'd like a party at home. When I asked him what he wanted, he said he really just wanted his friends in his backyard running around and playing with him. I must admit, I thought to myself: a group of wild boys running around the backyard for hours? Lord, help me!! But after a while I warmed up to the idea and began planning. I saw how fascinated my son was with my magician's kit that he received as a gift for Christmas and did a search for local magicians. Voila! Idea hatched! Bring on the Pinterest! What did I do before Pinterest? Here we go......

Happy Magical 7th Birthday Brayden

Pinterest decorating ideas inspired 4th of July decorations:

Pinterest inspired food treats: Bunnies popping out of magician's hats and magic fruit wands

By the way, the timing of the party worked out beautifully so my boy had a good 25 minutes left at the end of the party to run around the backyard with his friends (and they had balloon guns and swords thanks to the magician and were on a sugar high from tons of candy also from said magician). My son and his friends had a blast!

Thanks again for joining me. Sadly I don't have a picture of myself being levitated on the magician's table to share with you. Good times!
Happy decorating & living,
Megan

Winter Wonderland Themed Tree

2014-11-21T13:59:00.000-05:00

Hey friends,
Thanks for joining me today. I'm so excited to share my first themed Christmas tree with you ever. I talked my husband into two trees this year for the first time. In our family room, where we spend the majority of our time as it's right off of our kitchen, is our 'Winter Wonderland Tree'. This is the room where we hang out, read, watch tv, and play games. I figured at forty something, if I wanted to have a themed tree, I could have a themed tree. The tree is the same tree we've had for years and most of the ornaments are old or handmade by me (maybe you recognize a camp craft that I put a spin on). I scrounged around the house and porch for all of the turquoise blue, silver, and white items I could find. I let my fall woodland creatures stay out too for the winter wonderland theme adding a white snow owl to the mix.

Take a peek and see what you think:

Thanks so much for stopping by. We haven't decorated the rest of the house yet which will be in the traditional red and green. Stop back by later next month and I'll share pictures with you.

Merry Christmas season-
Megan

Two trees? Craziness!

2014-11-16T18:47:00.002-05:00

Dear Friends,
Hello! Happy Fall Y'all! How are you? Now that I'm back working full time as an educational consultant traveling across our beautiful country I don't get the opportunity to check in with you as often as I'd like. I wanted to share that soon I'll share a Christmas update. We're going with 2 Christmas trees over here at the Brew Crew household and I can't wait to share. It's our first year of 2 trees. My husband tells me that I cannot decorate until after Thanksgiving and I know he's right. I would be sick of the Christmas decorations before Christmas was actually here if I decorated today so please stay tuned....

Hope you all are well. Let's all count our blessings today. Here's our Thanksgiving 'What are you thankful for tree':

Have a blessed Thanksgiving y'all-
Megan

Happy Fall Y'All!

2014-09-20T09:43:00.006-04:00

Happy Almost Fall Friends!
What are your favorite aspects of fall?

How about....changing leaves painting a glorious landscape of colors.....hot chocolate with marshmellows....chai tea...fires in the outdoor fireplace...snuggling up on the sofa with warm fuzzy blankets....pumpkins pumpkins pumpkins....fall festivals (we are going to our first one of the season today!)....windows open with cool air seeping in....the sound of honking geese flying overhead for destinations known only to them....fall boots....fall sweaters (well, not yet here in North Carolina).....mums- yellow, orange, russet.....candy carmel apples....Aunt Linda's buffalo chicken dip with Lays chips-yum!

I asked my husband what his favorite thing about fall was...he said...wearing shorts with sweaters....the changing colors of the seasons- more vibrant reds, oranges, even greens...

I asked my kids what they like about fall....they said....H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N!!!!!

What about you? What do you love about fall?

I wanted to share a few fall updates to our home...mostly through plants, some gourds (too early to buy the outside pumpkins- they would rot before Halloween outside if we bought them now), a few woodland creatures, and signs of fall.

Enjoy....

Woodland creatures popping up around the house visiting us.....

Fall flowers....

Gourds and pumpkins inside the house...

Welcome fall....come on in....

I need to grab my book now and a cup of tea and say good-bye friends....

Enjoy fall y'all!!!

Happy decorating & living,

Megan

Adirondacks in the family room? Craziness!

2014-08-30T18:42:00.001-04:00

Hi friends,
Caution: I went picture crazy on this blog!

How are you? Happy Labor Day weekend! Can you believe that September is around the corner? What are you up to this weekend? We are having a quiet Brew Crew weekend around home. Nothing big planned....hanging out with the neighborhood friends, church, pool, etc. Brayden and I had a 'mommy & son date' today and went roller blading together. Bryce and I have a 'mommy & daughter date' planned for Monday...right now she says she wants to build a fort with me in the bonus room and watch a movie together in the fort. Good times!

I wanted to share with y'all how I spiced up our family room. We had a group of friends (about 13 of us) over recently for a lasagna dinner so I needed to add additional seating to our family room for chatting time. We actually spread out eating in our dining room (first time for company), eat in kitchen, and at our bar in the kitchen. It worked out beautifully! Friends brought salad, apps, bread, and dessert.

To add additional seating to our family room, I was kinda crazy and brought in our blue wooden Adirondacks chairs from our deck. I know! What was I thinking? Now, honestly, I am kinda loving the blue fun chairs in this room. They're actually really comfortable. I think they really work with the new Pottery Barn horizontally striped curtains we recently added to this room. See what you think:

Bye Y'all! I hope you have an amazing weekend!
Happy decorating & living,
Megan