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Showing posts with label #MAYkeovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #MAYkeovers. Show all posts

5.21.2020

junk makeover: beachy wood signs

#MAYkeovers, art class, beach style, coastal style, color, color palettes, DIY, diy decorating, junk makeover, just for fun, painting, outdoors, spring, summer, tiki style, weekend makeover, backyard decor, home decor, colorful decor
many many many vacations have been cancelled or rescheduled this year,
by many many disappointed people. myself included.
there were no planned excursions to Hawai'i this year for us,
but because it is a place that my Mom and Dad loved, and now i love,
it has a special place in our hearts. even if we can't GET there.

here's my take on that: if you can't go to the islands, then bring the islands to YOU!
and that's exactly what my Mom and i have been working on in our backyard.

continue reading to see just one of the recent projects we've undertaken
to add some tropical charm to our 'staycation location'...

5.07.2020

painting books... again!

art, art class, color, crafting, DIY, garden, gift wrapping, books, painting, spring, trash to treasure, #MAYkeovers, painted flowers, flowers, gift giving, gift books, book covers
this post wasn't planned and i am not on a book-painting bender.
(just in case you are concerned about where my creativity is taking me these days!)
but when the muse strikes, i try to comply...

i'm sending this book to my little sister (it's ok, she doesn't read my blog ;) )
and while the content of the book is encouraging, uplifting, and faith-building,
i didn't like the look of the dust jacket cover. so i took it off.
the plain white cover and dark burgundy binding weren't pretty, either.
not the mood i was going for.

so i decided to send my sister flowers... painted flowers... painted ON the book! 

continue reading for more of this creative MAYkeover... 

5.04.2020

painted books?!

art, art class, #MAYkeovers, color, color palettes, creative spaces, creativity, diy decorating, DIY, books, junk makeover, painting, spring, thrifted, up-cycling, trash to treasure, my studio, makeover, spring decorating, colorful decor, roygbiv
oh, yeah, you read that post title right... PAINTED books!
now, before the book-loving librarians, historians, and antiquarians
start ranting at me - lemme' 'splain:

i bought these six large encyclopedias from a thrift store
for ten cents each. three years ago.
miscellaneous volumes circa 1950, with covers that were yellowed, aged, cracked leather.
perfect for the store display i was using them as props in!

but since then, they've languished in a box in the garage. just gettin' older.
my decision was to either recycle them - seriously, the library does NOT want them donated - 
or do something creative with them to make them useful again.

so i turned to my trusty friend, Paint.
turns out a MAYkeover was exactly what they needed! 

continue reading to see where they live now...

5.03.2018

decorating makeover tips

color palettes, decorating, decorating basics, DIY, diy decorating, fast cheap and easy, furniture, makeover, re-purposing, room makeovers, tutorial, beach style, boho style, color, weekend makeover, summer
i think you might be convinced that doing your own makeovers is hard. 
and expensive. and that perhaps it's just tooooooo much for you to try. 
really want to dispel those doubts, and show you how to get started -
because it's all about USING WHAT YOU ALREADY HAVE!


and you've made my room makeover posts some of the most popular here on homewardFOUND -
so let's revisit them and get some fresh inspiration!

continue reading for my 'how to' tips for your OWN free makeover...

10.15.2016

Garden House ReVisited

The photo above is what it looked like after my whirlwind two-day flurry of activity.

This is what it looked like BEFORE I got started:
See the entire transformation - that took place in one weekend - here.
It's always fun to see how spaces change over time...
Two days ago, my friend Todd shared this photo on social media:
He's decorating this tiny space for some fall picnics and enjoyment...
and yes, that's the same garden house!

You see, Todd built that garden house many years ago. 
He owns the house and the yard that it sits in.

I lived in that little bungalow for a few short months back in 2011,
after life collapsed and I had to leave my dream farmhouse & life on an island.

Todd allowed me to make over his little garden house, and I am forever grateful to him for that. 
Not only was a lot of fun and a creative gold mine -
giving me content for my blog here and many great photos - 
but it was a distraction from stressful situations at a time in my life when I really needed it. 
It gave me space and time to think. 

And now, he lives in that bungalow and enjoys that garden.
Seeing Todd out there decorating and loving that sweet little space just makes my heart happy. 
My screen door is still there, some of those tiny pots on the wall are mine, and those white shelf units were mine, too - 
though I used them in the laundry area of the house, not where they are now. 
But I LOVE them in this location!

I love that Todd was a generous friend who saw my sorrow,
and helped to turn it into a measure of joy by letting me create in this special space.
It is a gift I will never forget.

6.05.2016

spirit of aloha

#MAYkeovers, decorating, DIY, entertaining, outdoors, re-purposing, room makeovers, summer, thrifted, tiki style, vintage, weekend makeover, tropical style, diy decorating, coastal style, blog series
yes, you CAN live in a tropical paradise - right where you are!
i've always said that if you truly love a place,
you shouldn't have to wait to visit it just once a year.
simply use the palette and elements from that place to decorate your home - 
so you can enjoy it every day!

oh, how my parents loved their annual vacation on the island of Kauai, Hawai'i.
they loved being surrounded by amazing examples of tropical beauty, 
tiki decor and Polynesian architecture - by the sights, sounds, and smells of the islands. 
from the elegance of five-star resorts to historic buildings to primitive jungles,
Hawai'ian culture embodies adventure, nature, the sea, the sky, and the sand 
like no where else on earth.
(and it was the ONLY place on earth my Mom could get my Dad to stop working!)
#MAYkeovers, decorating, DIY, entertaining, outdoors, re-purposing, room makeovers, summer, thrifted, tiki style, vintage, weekend makeover, tropical style, diy decorating, coastal style
each year after their visit, they would return home relaxed, 
extolling the beautiful spirit of Aloha that surrounded them there.

so a few years ago, i did a makeover to bring that spirit into their home...

while they were visiting the islands, i re-decorated their home 
with all of the (many) Hawai'ian elements that they collected on their annual trips.
Mom had tucked things away in cabinets, pulling them out to use for her famous parties...
i decided to just turn their home into something that resembled one of
the resort properties on Kauai instead,
so that they would be surrounded with reminders of the place they loved every day.
 and they LOVED it!

i did this makeover during their trip in June, 2013. they went again in June of 2014 - 
completely unaware that it would be their last trip there together.
my Dad was diagnosed with cancer on their return that year,
and he was gone eight short months later.
i am so glad i brought the islands to their home when i did, 
because Dad's last days and hours were spent in a room filled with 
the beautiful music of the islands and soft breezes blowing in from the patio.
we were able to give him the feeling of being in Hawai'i...
and now he's in an even more beautiful place.
#MAYkeovers, decorating, DIY, entertaining, outdoors, re-purposing, room makeovers, summer, thrifted, tiki style, vintage, weekend makeover, tropical style, diy decorating, coastal style, blog series
see my tropical thrifty weekend makeover of their home
in this four-part series:


...and make sure you check out ALL of the 'tiki style' posts here on the blog
for many more tropical decor ideas!

3.10.2016

Out with the Old....


Everyone knows the golden rule of selling a house...
no, it's not 'location, location, location'.
It's 'neutralize, neutralize, neutralize'!

A construction crew came last week to remove the trellis wall treatments
and to paint over the mural in the downstairs powder room.

Years ago (90? 91?) I painted a mural of a vineyard scene in it,
and Mom had Dad install white trellising to the other walls and ceiling
then hung silk grapevines and grape clusters from it.
Her family room and patio had a 'wine country' theme, and this room played off of that.

In 2013, I redecorated the house to reflect my parent's love of Hawaii
(while they were vacationing in Hawaii!)
and painted a new beach scene on the powder room wall.

(you can see that project in my Thrifty Weekend Makeover series!)

When the contractor finished, it was beige. Just...... beige.
 But it's a small room and it needs to 'look bigger' (???) to prospective buyers
....so this is what we do. We 'neutralize'.
We remove every vestige of our personalities from the house 
so that prospective buyers can 'picture themselves living here' -
as opposed to them seeing exactly how WE have lived here.
This is what real estate agents tell clients now: Erase yourself from the property.

Meanwhile the encroaching stacks of empty folded boxes are dwindling
and the stacks of packed boxes is growing in every single room.
Surfaces are empty, spaces are starting to echo,
and it really looks like we are moving at last.
.

It's gonna' get harder.
Not just the physical work of lifting and hauling,
or the emotional work of sorting and purging,
but the emotional impact of finding hidden memories
in rooms once so filled with life.

As excited as Mom and I are about this move, the new house, 
the new opportunities and a bright shiny next chapter that this move brings,
there's a lot of history here in these rooms.
History that is happy and joyful, and history that is sad and heartbreaking.
Our family's happiness and sorrow soaks the atmosphere,
and as the rooms empty out, 
those memories echo in our hearts.

I can't look at the staircase without seeing generations of our family -
my parents, my siblings, our children, my children's children -
posed on it, year after year, for photos...
And that's just one memory.

HOME means so many things...

fortunately we carry home with us in our memories no matter where we go.

5.29.2014

#MAYkeovers Round-Up

As of May, 2014, there's this #MAYkeovers hashtag 'thing' going on all over social media, 
and I thought I'd just jump into the pool with everyone else! I hope you enjoy these...

Here are the links to ALL of my  
Low/No-Cost Makeover / #MAYkeover Projects:
FREE Weekend Makeover 
Thrifty Weekend Makeover
Weekend Garden House Makeover

shared online:


Practically Functional | Creativity Unleashed