DIY Placemat Pillows

I have been making placemat pillows for years! They are less then $5 to make and super easy! I like placemat pillow because its a fun way to create seasonal pillows quick is inexpensively. And I bet no one else will have them!

How to create a placemat pillow:

Step 1: Placemat Selection
Choose placemats that clearly have two pieces of fabric used. This is the tricky part, many DO NOT.

Step 2: Rip Stitching 
choose any corner of the placemat and with sharp scissors (or stitch ripper) carefully create a 3 inch hole.

Step 3: Stuff It
I reused stuffing from old pillows and stuffed the placemat. Use as much or as little stuffing as you like to create your pillow. I noticed during this step that little hand loved to help!

Step 4: Stitch It
I used just a basic hand stitch to sew my placemat pillow back up but you are welcome to use a machine too!

After its all stitch up, it should look like a pillow! These placemats are from target, so cute!

Now and Before on Orleans

Our home was build in 1973 and was a model home for the builder. It was rented out for many years but has also had several owners. The home has a little over 1,300 square feet with a garage and partial basement. The neighborhood is quiet, friendly and full of many diverse families. The house had a kitchen renovation about 15 years ago and the current condition of the home is good. The house had many characteristic we wanted like, a large backyard, three bedrooms, fireplace, open kitchen, and great neighborhood. Although the home was seemingly perfect it still needed many important fixes like, a basement wall replacement, roof, water heater and flooring. But this is just the beginning of our story and interest in this house.

My husband and I learned at the beginning of that year {2012} our family was growing! A new little boy would be here in September! Around that same time our hearts become restless about renting. Interestingly enough our current lease was up in that May and no apartments we wanted were even available in the area. We explored homes and drove by this one. I had no interest when we drove by, but from one look at the photo of the home on-line in February, I told my husband this was our house! This home had been unwanted for over four years, yet it took almost 5 months of us fighting for it, loosing it twice and praying that we are living in it today! 

As an interior designer I didn’t want just any house as my first home, I wanted to take an uncared for house and turn it into a well loved home. This house gave us that opportunity to share in creating a beautiful home together. 

To this day getting this home is a God-sized blessing. It was on the market so long, but right when we were ready to buy it turned into a foreclosure. Every contractor and appraiser that has been in the home has commented on how rare of find this house was. Since it was a foreclosure, we were able to add to our mortgage to fix the house and it still be very affordable.  Also, we can’t even count the number of “accidents” that have fallen in our favor and all the resources that were freely given to us!

We thank God for this home and all servant hands that helped us flip this house in one summer in 2012!

This summer marks our 3 year anniversary into our first home and I can't belive how far its come! Here are some now and befores:

Freegan Interior Styling: Oh Yes, I'm making it a thing...

Freegans, if you'd ever heard the term are those who scavenge for food to help reduce and sustain resources. I on the other hand, would consider myself a freegan in the terms of interior design and styling. I  honestly enjoy the power of  reuse in all it's facets. I would NEVER build a house, its not sustainable, especially with all the old home that are already here.

Confession, although I own my own business as an interior designer and stylist, I only take on a few jobs a year. We are mainly a one income family, plus we are just starting our family and it's humble.... very humble. I love our life and our small home. We flipped it 3 years ago, and with our "freegan" mindset we have created a beautiful home with equity! We hope to build off the equity and flipped our next home. I have styled our home on "no budget, " not the fun no budget but the literally no budget for that! I have the eye, schooling and passion to see the potential. Things sometime just need to be cleaned or painted or just put together with the right stuff. We  used this to our advantage!

So, I wanted to to share with you my steals, deals and flipped decor. You won't believe how much stuff in my house was FREE, I was actually surprised too! Below is my freegan interior styling our own humble home.

#boycottperfection

As, you have seem in my recent post, I've started using Instagram. I've been enjoying taking photographs of my life, my designs and my kids. I don't have time to scrapbook or journal anymore but my Instagram has been that for me. Pretty quickly, I found some amazing women, that were doing the same. They have beautiful homes and totally awesome blogs. I clicked follow to many and with wide eyes have been oooooing over these women's lives and homes. I have been so inspired! Here are some pictures I've share of our home...

However, there is a flip-side. Perfection isn't relateable. I was doing the inevitable, comparing. I was feeling like my life wasn't that pretty in pictures, my skills as a designer are lame and why on earth can't I get an followers and then saying to myself,  "see I totally don't have the gift to inspire,boo." Those feelings really made me evaluate my heart and that  I truly spend too much time worrying about the condition of my house. I value being authentic yet I put up fronts that my home is tidy, always. So, I'm boycotting perfection today and not sharing my picture worthy house (or myself for that matter) but sharing a video of my everyday house (and my everyday self) with you.

Party on Instagram

I have started a new season in my life! We just had our second bundle of joy! My life has changed, much more staying in. With that being said, I can admit I am not much of a homebody. I love our home. It's our first, we fixed it up, its small and not as old as I'd like, but it's OURS. Actually is quite perfect. My hubby is an accountant and we live in Ohio, meaning it's cold and I'm mostly alone for now so home is where I need to be. My go go go mentality makes it hard to rest at home. Not like the 'lay in bed" kinda rest, but  the resting in God presences kinda rest. The peace kinda rest. The rest that is needed everyday to make life full of joy and not so mundane.

My home is my purpose now.

Caring for my babies, my husband and caring for my home is my purpose. However, the creator in me wants a challenge --the want to make something beautiful. That's why I love interior design so much, it an expression of my core self, to create and see the beautiful. So, I've created a personal challenge. I am going to have an experiment on Instagram and what I am calling my "party on Instagram." I am challenging myself to stay in my home more and to document the beauty of it on Instagram. A photo can truly capture an ordinary moment, but that moment being still can have the ability to make you breath deep. I want to have more of those moments at home. I want to still a corner in my house that I found to be extra beautiful that day. I want to display a project that took heart or share my newly rearrange bedroom with excitement. And I want to show my family enjoying our home --the home I care for just as deeply as I care for it's dwellers.

Follow my journey! You don't have to have the app either, just create an account online.

http://www.online-instagram.com/user/prayplaypaint/1717920539

Don't let his face fool you, he is pumped too!

Hickman Project

I met April Hickman at the city park. She happened to be just as pregnant as I was. As I got to know her, she sought me out to help her with her new home. She had a few rooms that she wanted to finish before her second baby arrived. Her new home was in the country set on a few beautiful acres of land.

Inside the home had a country primitive theme that April wanted to keep as we thought about her design plan. The first room on the list was her master bedroom. This grand room already had beautiful furniture, however the space wasn't well organized and needed a little spice! Below is the before photos of April's master bedroom.

As her and I chatted about the design theme for the master bedroom, I found she really enjoys warm hues; reds, browns, and golds. We picked out a beautiful bed quilt with those warm colors first and themed the room around that. Below is the simple idea board I created for April.

We went through all of the ideas I had for her master bedroom. First, a warm two tone cappuccino color on the walls. She loved the color! Second,  her master had a beautiful tray ceiling, I suggested we create floor to ceiling window treatments to highlight the height of the space even more. I also wanted to create the illusion that they had a wall of windows by extending the width of the curtain rail and layering the draps. Lastly, I told her I wanted to change around the layout of her furniture to maximize the space and function. Once, the design ideas were approved, we went to work!

 I easily found everything I was looking for shopping and I couldn't wait to to put it all together. Also, as I was staging April's bedroom, she let me pick through a basement pile of decor that haven't had a home yet. Once the design was reveal to the Hickman, they couldn't believe all their stuff I was able to use. That evening the Hickman's had a beautiful master to enjoy!

Homemade Tent Project!

I have a toddler. His best friends are the ones with tents. I am not a fan of cheesy looking kids toys, accessories etc, as decor in my home. Nothing screams beautiful family room like mountains of obnoxious colorful kids toys. I am really not this annoying about toys but I really wanted to have a kids tent that could sit out, be cute and not feel like I was at the circus! I found this family's blog who made these awesome homemade tents. I used their template and made my little guy a homemade tent for just  $18!

The tent is a hit! Photo finish on the inside and now our new favorite book reading spot!