Reinvent, Re-purpose, Re-style

Forget recycling, try upcycling! Give old items a new lease on life with a spark of inspiration and a little elbow grease… The rules for decor are being replaced by a more personal and practical approach as we take decorating into own hands. Literally.

You don’t need to have a ton of time or money to spend decorating your nest. It’s all about the unexpected, mixing fine antiques with your collection of Barbie dolls; leaving temporary party decorations up for years because they just somehow seem right; wedging antique columns into a suburban house, or planting grass in your shower.  Allow your home to be a true sanctuary where you allow yourself to dream.

Just because an item started it’s life as one thing doesn’t mean it can’t be reinvented, re-purposed, or re-styled. It’s so very important to be surrounded by objects dear to your heart;  whether you like bold colors or muted ones; modernism or traditional spaces; your abode is the perfect opportunity to take old , recycled, or unwanted pieces and make them your own!

 
Images via Google images

For the love of food

There is a natural and inherent beauty in the food we love and eat. And sometimes, in the midst of “watching what we eat,” we forget about the sustaining, pure and wonderful powers of food. The way a fresh peach feels in your hands or the sound of eggs cracking on the edge of a bowl.

We forget about food’s simple beauty, and about how food and its preparation connects us with loved ones, our heritage, different cultures, new friends and happy occasions. Family dinners at the end of a long day, the cake we are served on our birthday; food nourishes our bodies and our souls. Every beloved recipe is a gathering of interesting materials, a mixed medium art piece of sorts, that ends in a meal instead of a canvas.

It is no coincidence that our most cherished memories and precious traditions are deeply rooted around our most basic of  instincts, feeding ourselves and the ones we love.

Images via Dietlind Wolf

An Artful Approach

What defines vintage home decor is the intensity and depth the vintage pieces add to a room. Beloved pieces will make any room more appealing and interesting to the eye.  History and character is what your looking for; they do not necessarily have to “collectables” to be a great vintage find. Experiment with decor, there is always a true sense of appreciation for the old when you incorporate them with the new.

Bright idea! Personalize a rug with your own design, or a pretty stencil, using acrylic paint

Images via Country Living

Happy New Year!

It’s a new year and all of us at Stephanie’s are ready for a simpler, healthier and happier 2012! We’re getting started out on the right foot with some great ideas to get and keep your house more organized.

Cheers to resolutions we can actually keep!

Getting organized sounds simple but can be pretty overwhelming, especially for moms. There are a million reasons we avoid getting organized, but by far the biggest hurdle is the perception that “I don’t have enough time.” Our imaginations have a wonderful way of making problems — especially organization-related ones –much bigger than they actually are. It’s amazing what you can tackle in small windows of time by just taking baby steps,  and by allowing for a little imperfection. Set an egg timer for 10-20 minutes and just go to town on what you can!

Especially after the holidays, it seems like we can never escape the toys. Here are our top three tips to help prevent a complete toy takeover of your house:

1. Install a few hooks. The workhorses of the organizational world, hooks are inexpensive and make costume cleanup a cinch. Install a row of 3-5  at kid-height, in your playroom for your princesses and pirates. If you’ve got more costumes than those 5 hooks can hold, it’s time to donate a few. 

2. Set up a “toss” box and make time to fill it. Grab a cardboard box and put it in the middle of the kitchen table one night this week. Set an egg timer for 15 minutes and then have a “race” to see who can find, and put in the box, the most broken, unusable toys. The winner gets to stay up later than usual on Friday night and you get to dump the waste without guilt that night.

3. Make a “too little for me” bin. A lot of parents make the mistake of trying to cull their children’s toys without soliciting any input, because they fear their children won’t be able to part with their toys. But there’s one Jedi-mind-trick that really works. Put a cardboard box in your main playroom and title it: too little for me. Then go through toys with your children while they are playing and have them put “babyish” toys in that bin for you to give away, take to a consignment shop, or save if you’ve got another little one on the way.

Organization tips via Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch and Coolmompicks.com

Images via homedit.com

Merry Christmas!

Every country seems to have a different way of celebrating Christmas. Each one has special traditional Christmas food, special Christmas traditions and customs and different ways of giving gifts. Much of what we today consider holiday perennials have been around for nearly two centuries. The Christmas tree — the king of all traditions — is the most obvious, the centerpiece of many a home; and the tradition we love the most.

Legend says the original Saint Nicholas, who traveled around bringing gifts and cheer to those in need, came upon a small village one year and heard of a family in need. An impoverished widower, devastated by the passing of his wife, could not afford to provide a dowry for his three daughters. St. Nick knew the man was too prideful to accept money, so he simply dropped some gold coins down the chimney, which landed in the girl’s stockings, hung by the fireplace to dry. (Or so the tale goes.) Thus the modern tradition was born, though present-day stockings are commonly stuffed with tiny gifts and candy, not gold.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Stephanie’s Little Luxuries! may your holidays be merry and bright!

Images via Google images