READER TIPS: DIGITAL PHOTO ORGANIZATION AND STORAGE IDEAS

Recently I had a project that I needed a couple of specific older original photos for, and for the life of me I couldn't locate them!  I'll be the first to admit that organizing and storing my digital photos is not a strength for me, so I spent a good amount of time searching for those that I needed.  As you can imagine, I take a LOT of photos!  I've done a better job in the past few years of labeling and storing my blog photos in organized folders on my computer, but I have files and files of photos from before then that need to be dealt with and honestly I wasn't sure of the best way to go about it.  So, I asked my friends on Instagram to share their best digital photo organization and storage tips and I'm sharing those with all of you today! ...

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FIVE FRIDAY FAVORITES

For me these days seem to drag on at times, today the same as yesterday, but boy it seems like Friday came quickly this week!     It helps so much when the weather is beautiful as well.   And, the peonies in my yard are blooming... what could be better??  I've been working on a paint project this week that you've seen if you follow me on Instagram.  I'm waiting on a few finishing touches and will be ready to share it here soon!  Also, another round of the One Room Challenge starts next week and I'm thinking of jumping in and participating.  I need a bit of accountability and a deadline to get a certain project rolling and finished.  I've been a little unmotivated to blog lately but feel that I'm getting past that hump and have several things that I just need to sit down and write up to share with you... some small makeovers, a little travel, a few tutorials and possibly some food and fashion.   However, I'd always like to hear......

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10 WAYS TO USE A CORDIAL GLASS

Last week was big, thank you so much for all of the love on my son's room refresh and the kids' bathroom makeover reveal !  It's fun to share the big things like that, but today let's talk about pretty little things!  You all have seen several of the things that I collect- blue and white, busts, lamps, pillows- ha!  I now have something new to add to the list that I'm always keeping an eye out for... blue Opaline glasses .  I recently scored a set of 10 cordial glasses, they're the teeniest tiniest cutest little things!  They're about the size of a shot glass and while we don't drink alcohol, I came up with 10 other ways to use a cordial glass.  These don't just apply to my specific cordial glasses, what tiny little pretty containers do you have around your house that would work for some of these ideas? ...

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14 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE "IT'S A COLORFUL LIFE" SPRING HOME TOUR GROUP

I love perusing virtual home tours.  Even if the home isn't quite my style or colors I prefer, there's always an idea here or there that I can glean to apply in my own home.  Our "It's a Colorful Life" Spring Tour just happened to be packed full of homes that love color and pattern like I do, so the ideas and inspiration were extra plentiful!  Today I thought I'd share one takeaway from each of the homes in our tour that I thought was a great idea and might be something you could do in your own home. Let me know in the comments if there was a particular idea that you picked up from one of the tours and want to implement in your home, maybe even something different than one I highlight!   (You can  see my tour here  if you missed it.) ...

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A FEW THINGS...

I'm knee deep (more like neck deep!) in a variety of projects but I wanted to pop in and give you a little peek of what's coming.  I often share bits and pieces on my Instagram stories of what I'm working on, but I realize that many of you might not see those so I thought I'd share here, too. First up, I told you a few weeks ago that I had plans for the shelves in the living room .  That project stretched out for about 2 weeks working off and on when I decided to hand paint a pattern on it.  It got a bit tedious and I had flashbacks of painting the Powder Bath walls , but I'm so happy with how it turned out!  Here's a little peek.  As many of you suggested I decided to paint the mantel white and although I was worried about it being too stark against the brick, it's not and I love it! ...

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STYLING TIPS FOR SPRING TOUR

Today I'm so happy to have been invited by  Randi of  Randi Garrett Designs  and Jennifer of  Decor Gold Designs  to share five Styling Tips for Spring with you.  Now that the calendar has hit March 1, it feels like it's truly time to get things spruced up for Spring around here!  If you're taking the tour and stopping by from  Citrine Living , Welcome! ...

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MY FIVE FAVORITE WAYS TO ORGANIZE ROOM BY ROOM

Welcome to a new year of My Five Favorites today! Before we dive in to today's topic, I wanted to thank you all so much for all of your kind words on our Better Homes and Gardens magazine feature.   I'm glad you found it interesting to see a bit of what goes on behind the scenes of a magazine photo shoot! My partners and I sure do enjoy putting this series together for you each month, and it seems that you all are enjoying it as well.  Pam from  Simple Details , Lisa from  Shine Your Light,  Kris from  Driven by Decor  and I are all so excited to share some of our favorite ways to organize with you today.  And, for a little twist, we're sharing one organizing idea from 5 different rooms in our homes.  Read on for simple organizing tips from my Laundry Room, Master Bath, Closet, Office/Craft Room, and Storage Closet. ...

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TIPS FOR VIEWING INSTAGRAM STORIES (AND A WINTER GARDENING IDEA)

I recently had lunch with some friends and at some point the conversation turned towards Instagram.  As we talked about Instagram stories, it became evident that they weren't aware of a few tricks I knew to make viewing stories a bit easier and more enjoyable.  I thought for sure everyone knew these things, but since my smart friends didn't, I thought others might enjoy these tips too.  I shared them on my Instagram stories a while back, but those expire so quickly I decided to share them here for everyone who might not have caught that round of stories. (Before I continue, did you notice things look a little different around here???  I'm so excited to have a new blog design, and if you missed it I posted all about the new features and how to navigate things last week in this post.  Take a look if you missed it!) If you're Instagram savvy and already know all of these tips, fantastic!  Scroll down to the bottom of the post for a winter gardening tip......

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MY FIVE FAVORITE TIPS TO TAME THE HOLIDAY CRAZY (WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS)

Welcome to My Five Favorites today!  Pam from  Simple Details , Lisa from  Shine Your Light,  Kris from  Driven by Decor  and I are all so excited to share our best holiday prep tips with you.  I know I need all of the help I can get to tame the holiday crazy, and I suspect you might too. ...

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FALL INTO THE HOLIDAYS- EVALUATE YOUR BEDDING

Hi friends, welcome back to the second part of our Fall Into The Holidays series!  With the encouragement of our organizer Lisa from  Shine Your Light , each week we're sharing simple ideas to get 4 rooms in your home holiday ready now, before the hustle and bustle of the season sets in.  Last week we shared  kitchen related projects,  and today we're working on ways to get our bedrooms in shape for the holidays. ...

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MY FIVE FAVORITE HOME GADGETS

Welcome to My Five Favorites today!  Pam from  Simple Details , Lisa from  Shine Your Light,  Kris from  Driven by Decor  and I are all so excited to share with you today.  This time, we're telling you all about our favorite, most useful gadgets in our home. We're so happy to welcome Sarah from  Thrifty Decor Chick  as our guest host today.  Sarah has been blogging for a LONG time and I've followed her since I started reading blogs.  She can take a space in her home that was already perfectly lovely and completely transform it to be exceptional!  Exhibit 1, her gorgeous Kitchen , and exhibit 2, this to die for Craft Room ! ...

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HOW TO FIX PULLS OR SNAGS IN YOUR FURNITURE UPHOLSTERY FABRIC

Sometimes I have tips that I consider sharing with you, but I wonder if they would really be all that useful to anyone.  Ways that I've solved a problem, but I ask myself, "Does everyone already know this??"  So for today, I have a solution to share with you, and even if it's a lightbulb moment to a just few people, I'll consider that a success! If you didn't know, we have 2 kitties who just turned 5 on Valentine's Day.  (You can read all about them in  this guest post  I did at Cuckoo 4 Design.) ...

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HOW TO ARRANGE FLOWERS LIKE A PRO (TIPS FOR MAKING GORGEOUS ARRANGEMENTS)

In my last post about Restore House, I mentioned a retreat that I attended last month.  Other than hearing from the Parkers about their passion of restoring houses and running their store and event center, we also spent some time learning from darling sisters who run their own florist shop, called The Wild Mother. ...

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CREATING AN OUTDOOR MOBILE SUMMER HANG OUT PLAY AREA

(How's that for a mouthful of adjectives for a title?  I wasn't sure what to call this space!) We entertain pretty often in our home.  We have a fairly open layout for housing everyone, an extra play/bonus room, and a big new patio (full reveal coming next week!).  Even with all of those options, more times than not, everyone ends up hanging around in the garage and on the driveway, centered around the ping pong table and basketball goal. Our garage is definitely not company worthy, but family looks past the craigslist and garage sale hoard to watch the rivalry play out.  As we begin summer, I'm anticipating the kids having friends over often, too, who will be utilizing that space as well.  So, rather than pulling out the camping chairs as usual, I wanted to create a good sitting area for everyone to gather. However, since all the action takes place around the driveway, I couldn't outfit it with lots of furniture that would permanently stay there.  ......

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THE SECRET TO PRETTY PILLOWS {AND A MONEY SAVING TIP}

Today I have a super quick tip for you to boost your home's style and the money in your wallet!  I'm going to start by assuming that you all know the key to beautiful, plump pillows is to use a down insert .  Polyfil pillows just get crushed and flattened over time, with no chance of fluffing them back up.  We all know that, right?  (If you're allergic to down filling, I'm so sorry!  The down alternative pillows are probably your next best option over polyfil stuffing.) Here's where my tip of the day comes in...  down inserts can be expensive.  Recently I was just about to head to the local fabric store that sells them and plunk down almost $20 for a 24x24 down insert that I needed.  Just in the nick of time, I ducked into Homegoods and happened to spot this beauty on the clearance rack. Well, not so much a beauty to me, it's not quite my style.  But, it was a perfectly plump 24" down pillow marked down to $7.00!  I couldn't......

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TIPS ON STYLING FOR A PHOTO SHOOT (OR JUST MAKING THINGS LOOK A LITTLE MORE PULLED TOGETHER)

Yesterday kicked off another round of the One Room Challenge  in which 20 designers transform a room in just 6 weeks, and others wanting to participate are linking up their rooms today.  Although I'm not participating this Fall, I can sympathize with those who are since I've been there myself, and I have butterflies in my tummy for them!  Lots of work in a short amount of time, but the end result is always worth it.   Thinking back on my own experience making over my Master Bedroom last Spring, I remembered that I had some tips I wanted to share with you then, yet neglected to do so.  I recently spilled my Top 5 Styling Tips , which were for very general decorating, but these are a little more specific (and random).  Some of them apply more for those of you who photograph interiors often, but others are just basic styling tips where special attention has been paid to the details. My #1 tip for photographing spaces where artwork will be highly visible ......

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DIY LIGHT BLOCKING BAMBOO SHADE

When completing my bedroom this past spring, we removed the wood blinds from the windows and replaced them with bamboo shades, along with drapery panels made with blackout lining for a cozy (dark) night's sleep.  I also ordered a shade for the door that leads to the patio.   Since the blinds on the windows would be covered at night by the closed curtains, I didn't consider purchasing the ones with a privacy liner included.  And, because the price is quite a bit higher and I wanted to make sure they matched the others perfectly, I didn't think I needed a shade with a liner for the door, either.  Wrong!  Pretty in the daytime, no help at all as soon as the sun becomes to come up. My side of the bed is directly across from the door, which just so happens to face East.  So, like it or not, every morning we were awakened at the crack of dawn as soon as the sky began to get light outside.   And, not to mention, there was no privacy at night time......

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