DIY Holiday Decor: Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

Despite a hectic Thanksgiving holiday weekend that involved my husband having knee surgery and the care-taking that followed, I somehow managed to find time to decorate for Christmas. I put up the tree and brought out all the usual indoor decor (although some of it remained in the storage tubs because I'm running out of places to put things upstairs... yet another reason why I can't wait until the basement is finished). But I digress...

For the past four years of living in our house, we've never been much for decorating the outside for Christmas. No lights on the roof, no lighted Santa or reindeer in the yard. Just a wreath on the door (because that's easy and I'm lazy).

But a few months ago, I was totally inspired by this pin for a tomato cage Christmas tree... the seed had been planted (pun intended).

[ original source ]

Just turn a tomato cage upside down instead of staking it into the ground, and you have an instant Christmas tree structure. Genius! 

Master Bedroom Makeover Part I: Curtain Call

Ok, so it's a little backwards to have the "curtain call" as Part I, but before I do the final reveal, I have to share this project first.

If you've been a regular reader around here over the past few years (just let me flatter myself by thinking that), you might recall that most of our temporary paper shades outlasted their "temporary" status by about, oh, 3 or 4 years. Window treatments have evolved very slowly in this house.

Our master bedroom hasn't been the first priority among all the other home improvements, but I finally moved it up to the top of the list last month. Even though other people don't see our bedroom on a daily basis, I was sick of these tragic paper shades that had long since overstayed their welcome.

I know...cringe. Part of the reason it took so long to finally get rid of them is that I wasn't sure how to cover the windows. Blinds? Roman shades? Curtains? Sure, I could have just gone out and bought something pre-made (which would have been easiest) but my cheap budget-conscious side won out. Also, these windows weren't really a standard size (of course).

World Map Wall Decor: $50 DIY Project

My absence on here the past couple of months doesn’t mean I’ve been totally unproductive. It’s been quite the busy summer, actually! I’ve been giving our bedroom a mini-makeover (more on that later), but I’m also quite pleased with my latest project.

I was first drawn to this idea when I saw it on Pinterest (here and here). The idea of vintage-y map wall art just seemed so cool – especially since we traveled to Europe earlier this year, which makes me feel more worldly and cultured. Like, now it’s legit to have a world map on my wall or something.

I didn’t really know where to find such a map, so I started with good ol' Amazon, where I ended up finding several options and sizes. There were quite a few 24x36” sizes, but since I had a large wall in mind for this project, I chose the giant 55x39” size. The map is actually more of a poster and obviously not true vintage, but it looks vintage and the colors work perfectly with the rest of the decor in our house. Including shipping & handling, the poster was about $18.

You can imagine my excitement when the poster tube showed up on our front porch a few days later in great condition (despite some reviews I’d read to the contrary). It was definitely gigantic!

Update & Teaser... Yes, I'm still here!

Helloooo.... anyone still out there? Probably not.

But just in case anyone is still reading this, I apologize for my absence lately. It's been a busy summer and I just haven't had much time for fun projects or blogging.

That's not to say we haven't been getting anything done around the house, though. Things are still progressing along, slowly but surely, in the basement finishing. We just had some plumbing work done, and have only two short walls to finish up for the framework. Then, we'll work on the electrical. Eventually I'll post some pictures of the progress.

I also have another DIY decor project up my sleeve, which I'll be able to get started on as soon as I receive a package in the mail... I'm sure you're dying to know what it is, but you'll just have to wait a little longer!

For now, I'll leave you with a recent picture of our dogs -- apparently bored out of their skulls -- lying on the basement floor while we were building some framework.

Patriotic Fruit Pizzas

When was the last time you had a fruit pizza? No matter what your answer to that question is, it's probably been too long! A 4th of July pool party this week gave me the perfect excuse to make these delightful mini fruit pizzas, which were a big hit. There's just something about this fun dessert that makes you feel like a kid again--especially when it's bite-size.

I got the inspiration from this recipe, except I substituted the Cool Whip frosting with this recipe for creamy fruit dip (thank you, Pinterest). The result was definitely worth turning on the oven on a 100-degree day.

Fabulous Fabric Lamp Revamp

This little garage sale treasure has been sitting on a night stand in our guest room for a couple of years now. I think I bought it for a whopping $2. I like the base just fine, but the ugly shade has been begging for a facelift.

During a recent trip to Hancock Fabrics, I spotted some clearance fabric with a fabulous print in the remnants bin. It was $4 for two yards, so I snatched it up.

I wasn’t quite sure of the best way to cover the shade, so I basically just rolled it up in the fabric and cut along the top and bottom outline, leaving about 1” extra.

Simple Spray Paint Makeovers

The power of spray paint never ceases to amaze me. Case in point: three mini-makeovers from the past week.

Exhibit A – Spruced Up Sticks
My neighbor’s yard is often littered with twigs from her trees. One of those trees in particular—I’m not sure what kind it is--has some very unique, wavy branches. I never really thought much of this until recently when I realized I could use these branches as decor. With this vision in mind, I began the search for a large floor vase and found one at Gordman’s for $30.

Then, I picked out a few of the best-looking twigs from our neighbor’s yard and spray painted them silver. Easy peasy!