Living room itch.

Lately I have been having an itch to redo a room in our house. The room in my radar? The living room. Nothing is particularly wrong with the room, it's comfortable, but maybe a bit blah. With unlimited budget we would put in hardwood floors, but for now the carpet stays.

The room needs a little "oomph"! Right now there are paint chips about the room, I am trying to look at different colors at different times of the day. This is the first room people see if they come to our home, so it needs to feel welcoming.

I have even been dreaming of a big, comfy, ottoman for the middle of the room. In fact, I saw a couch set that came with one and was very tempted to go all out and REALLY redo the space. Darn that little budget!

Gratefully, the couches are holding up really well and still have many years of life left in them. The metal and glass tables are great at making the space look larger than it really is too. Really it will all just be about the paint, and maybe some art rearrangement. This itch must be scratched!

Homebody

While I often daydream of traveling to many far away places, I am at my core, a homebody. There is nothing quiet as lovely as being at home. And not just at home, as in being in our house and garden, but there are some truly wonderful things right outside my doorstep! Who needs to travel very far when there are unique and wonderful things to do in your own hometown?

Lately I have been thinking a lot about home, not just the physical dwelling, but the outer area where the home is. Community, natural wonders, small businesses and those things that can only be found where you live.

In my home state we have some very unique features, including a land locked Great Salt Lake, which as it's name suggests is a salt water lake and a nice sized fresh water lake as well. My home state is full of natural wonders. For example, even though I adore visiting zoos and aquariums to see things we don't have here, we even have a fish, the June Sucker, that is found no where else in the world but Utah Lake! It's endangered right now, but people are working to help remedy that.

In our garden planning for spring, I want to learn more about native plants and their uses, and grow more of them. Or rather, let them grow naturally without my interference, as I can already see some that do VERY well (usually known by the name of "weed").

What is unique to your hometown? Are you a homebody, or are you more of a wanderer?

Do you live with a hoarder?

Have you ever watched the show Hoarders? Scary, isn't it? Sad too. This post is not meant to make light of those who have serious hoarding issues. My paternal grandfather was a hoarder, so I know the enormity of the issue, especially for those who have to clean up the mess. Turns out my husband's paternal grandfather was also a hoarder. It makes me wonder if it was something generational, maybe something also to do with the area they grew up in? Whatever the cause, it's a sad problem.

So of course in my home I have always been careful to not have too much, but always to have what is just right. It's the way I grew up, being taught from my parents to always let go of the things you are no longer using and no longer love. Send them along to charity so they can be used and loved by someone who really needs it. It's a great way to look at things, and I am glad that I learned to live that way.

In my 30 in 30 challenge I'm finding it to be hard to find enough to fill a bag! There are still areas to be tackled though, and I am sure I will reach my goal, but I am happy to say that for the most part we live a fairly clutter free lifestyle. If you want to read an excellent book on the subject pick up It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh. He is excellent at showing why it's important to let go, and gives wonderful tips on how to do it.

Hopefully none of you live with an actual hoarder, but what do you do if your partner keeps a lot more stuff than what you think is good? What about keeping more than your home can actually hold (it amazes me how many people pay money each month for storage units for things they probably never even think twice about)? Are you the one in your home that holds onto things? Or are you the one that is more prone to let things go?

Green Village in Bali

My friend sent me the most amazing link this morning. Homes made of bamboo! Homes with the most gorgeous views that anyone could ever want. And these homes? They are in Bali.

 

Visit the website and be prepared to see some truly beautiful designs. I for one am inspired by the entire concept of Green Village, a planned community that is making use of bamboo and all that it has to offer as a building material.

Of course, I had to wonder about bugs, and privacy issues (with all those gorgeous open walls, it could be a bit too open for some tastes). However, it's probably worth the trade offs to have those views!

The Simple House

Home. It means so many things to so many people, and yet at the heart of it all, it is a place to spend time with those you love. It's a place to spend time doing the things you most enjoy. It's the launching pad for all your adventures.

Because it is a space where we spend so much time, I like to keep things as simple and easy as possible. I have never believed in spaces that don't get used. Formal living room? Not in our house! As a believer in simple living, I have learned a lot through making our house our home. Here are a few tips I feel are helpful for creating a simple home:

• Reduce your possessions to those things that you truly love and use. It's so much easier to organize when you don't have a ton of things. Let go of the things that are cluttering your space.
• Organize well the things that you decide to keep. Give a designated spot to everything. For example, keeping garden tools in one area of the garage, or keeping crafting supplies all together in one closet.
• Always evaluate before you bring in anything new. Make sure you really have space for it, can really make good use of it, and that it's not just an impulse buy.
• Choose easy to clean materials and keep cleaning supplies handy. Wipe up messes right away.
• Take advantage of natural light, and other aspects of your home that are built in. Find ways to maximize what you have to work with.
• Live in your home the way you really live in your home! Don't be afraid to use spaces in ways they might not have been intended for. Each home should be as unique as the people who are living in it.

What do you do to keep things simple in your home?

Mood lighting.

Lighting is so important for setting the mood of a room. With the weather being gray and snowy recently, the mood around here has been more of the snuggling in variety. This photo from our Home as Art group really speaks to the power that lighting can have in creating a mood.



Looks like a perfect place to relax with a book and warm drink. I also really love the cactus plants and how the light plays off of them.

And of course to show a different side of light, here is a great example of how light can create a bright and cheery mood as well. Imagine eating your morning meal at this table! Surely you would be off to a great start.



Do you use lighting to create moods in your home?

Refresh Your Nest

Target is having a HUGE Earth Month celebration right now! The major prize being a $50,000 home make over with Target’s style expert for home, LEED accredited designer Sabrina Soto. You can enter by visiting Target.com/Eco.

“From how we build our stores to the way we interact with our guests, environmental sustainability at Target is integrated throughout our business,” said Shawn Gensch, vice president, Marketing. “As part of Target’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, our Earth Month activities are designed to remind our guests of the many ways we can all make small changes, which together make a big difference.”

Earth Month celebrations at Target will include:

• A giveaway of one million reusable bags, made from 100% recyclable Tyvek material, at Target stores nationwide on April 17 (while supplies last).
• An online boutique at Target.com/Eco where guests can purchase sustainable products, receive sustainable decorating tips from Sabrina Soto, download coupons to use at their local Target store and enter for a chance to win the home makeover sweepstakes with Sabrina Soto.

The sweepstakes also will offer hundreds of other prizes, including:

• Eco vacations, including air transportation and hotel accommodations;
• A chance to design your own line of environmentally friendly cleaning products;
• $5,000 worth of energy-smart lighting and/or appliances; and
• Giveaways of top Earth Month products

And, something I didn't know before, but which I am excited about is that Target always offers a 5-cent discount for guests off their total purchase per reusable bag. Did you know that?! Sounds like it's time to get out those stylish bags you have been meaning to use!

Target didn't compensate me for sharing this information with you, I just really love shopping there and was excited about this giveaway and wanted to share it with you so you could enter too! Who wouldn't love a chance to have a home makeover?!

Inspiration Tuesday: Textures and Colors

Inspiration Tuesday; where I share an image from my Home As Art Flickr group. An image that inspires me to make my home more beautiful.



So much to love about this photo. The textures and colors are especially pretty, and of course I adore the elephant on the side of the box as well. Can't you just see this as a great starting point to an entire room?

A fresh start.

Much like spring, sometimes losing can actually be winning. A chance to start fresh, try new things, and move forward. After all, life is all about NOW. There is no other moment except for NOW!

I am so excited about spring. It's trying it's best to show up here in the mountains, and while we do have snow in the forecast, I have crocus blooming all over my yard.



Seed and garden catalogs have been arriving almost daily. There are many things that I want to buy, including "red, white, and blue" potatoes, and a type of corn that claims to be great for growing in small spaces. Oh the possibilities!

What is the weather like where you are?