Show me the green stuff!

Today I trekked out through the back yard to snip some greenery. I think my favorite part of the holidays is definitely the simplicity of boughs of evergreen draped throughout the house. The scent it divine and the pop of color is so fun against all the white.

And speaking of green and white, my paper white bulbs have blossomed! They smell beeeeautiful and looked fabulous until today when they decided they preferred to grow on a sideways slant, even with some ribbon and a stake...

We are keeping the holiday decor to a minimum this year and I am sad to report that we won't be putting up a tree. (Take a peek at our tree from last year here)

But I am willing to fore go the tree at home since we are going to be in sunny Palm Springs for the holidays, although I know we will have one there. I am one of those people who really love snow around the holidays, even if it means I have to live with it for 4 more months afterwards, but I am looking forward to our holiday since we will be rendez-vous-ing with my bestie Rebecca and her whole family! I think there will be lots of treasure hunting and shopping in our future...

But even leaving for the holidays can't stop me from adding some holiday magic. I picked up this mirror at a thrift store recently and decided to go with a dramatic glossy paint. A little out of character but it feels just right in the dining room now.

You may recall that the dresser was formerly in our entry way but I am soooo over wiping it down and vaccuuming under it constantly as the stairs progress...

We are living amongst a pile of boxes as the hardwood has to acclimate itself to the humidity inside but we are happy to be in the home stretch. We are pretty confident in our floor installation skills after doing so many other rooms so it is exciting to be back in our comfort zone!

And don't forget to get your last minute entries in for the blog redesign!!

Cyber Monday

Hi Friends! I hope you had a fantabulous weekend. We are working on getting these stairs all finished up this week so we can focus on getting ready for Wren's big Birthday!! So that is where we have been when it goes silent here.

But I just wanted to pop in today and share the spirit of Cyber Monday will all the awesome small businesses out there. If you have been thinking of doing any advertising now is the time, and this rate will only be good until Wednesday evening at 8pm so drop me an email at inthefunlane@gmail.com before then to get set up!

Speaking of Cyber Monday, I haven't had much luck but let me know if you've been hauling in the deals and where to find them!!

I also want to congratulate Erin on her Ramsign win! If you can drop me an email in the next day or two I will put you in contact with the lovely folks at Ramsign to get your sign started.

And a HUGE thank you to all the folks who have emailed me over the last few days pointing out the little bugs with links and such that still need to be ironed out. I really appreciate it and we are on it.

Adios for now Amigos!!

Thanksgiving Giveaway!

A BIG Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends!!! We hope you are enjoying a stress free, family filled day (and lots of turkey!).

And if you are taking a little time out to stop by and say hello today we wanted to thank you with a giveaway!

My sister Torri officially launched her new design shoppe, Digital Confection Design, this week and in honor of her new site she wants to give one lucky reader a complete blog makeover!!


Torri offers various design services at affordable prices but for this giveaway she will be offering up the ultimate overhaul with her complete blog package.



Not sure what that means? Here is the description from Torri's site:

"The "complete blog layout" package has everything you could possibly need for your blog! Included in this package are a custom header with matching background, up to eight (non linking) sidebar headers, navigation bar, blog button with "grab box", and a custom post signature. This package also includes colour and customization of the layout and any content on the site. Customer will be shown a final screenshot of the design before any files are sent and installed. If customer is not satisfied with design they are permitted to make changes only at this point. Three emails with changes will be permitted. Blog installation included as well."

For those of us with little to no technical knowledge, basically everything above means a fancy new blog.

To Enter

Simply leave a comment on this post before Tuesday, November 30 at 8pm Pacific time.

For 2 additional entries (optional):

1. Become a follower on Torri's Blog (and leave a corresponding comment on this post)

2. Leave a comment on Torri's Blog Post about her new shoppe, telling her what colors you would want on your new blog layout! ( no need to leave another comment here)

Thanks Digital Confection Design and GOOD LUCK everyone!!!

Just in case Santa is reading...

A few things on my christmas list, all from Anthropologie, all under $50 with the exception of the stole. Assuming I'm on the nice list of course!

On second thought, skip the old utensil plant labels because I might try DIYing those in the near future...

Thanks Santa!

New Layout!

Does anything look different to you? We shuffled some things around, still have to update and move a few other things but slowly the dust is settling. I want to thank my sister for all her hard work, she is the mastermind behind our new look (there may be an extra special box under the tree for her this year...). She went to college to become a webdesigner but after graduating ended up getting into a totally different field and has now decided to pursue her true love of graphic and web design. And that's how her blog Digital Confections was born!

She will be unveiling her design website in the next few days and has a fun surprise for us on Thursday!

Thanks Torri, I love the fresh new look!

Mining Map and a Pediment Impediment

Has Jack Frost made an appearance in your neighborhood? It feels like he is sitting right on my doorstep today. It is a chilly -20 outside and while it is supposed to be warmer by the end of the week it sure feels like I should see penguins and polar bears playing in the yard!

When it is this cold there isn't much painting going on (at least in my studio) so I tend to focus homeward, making a few changes. Today I am breaking out the trusty old paint brush and do a few minor paint jobs, like painting the frame on this auction find.

It is a 1911 mining map and I absolutely fell in love with the colors in it, they will look fabulous in our office. Sean has a love of maps so I threw up my paddle and brought it home for $10 (along with another engraving that I gave to my sister). It has been beautifully preserved, matted and framed but I am not too keen on the natural wood frame so I am goint to paint it a dark grey.

A little more exciting addition to the house is this old door pediment.
We want to paint it out, but we have those little butterflies about altering such a beautiful and perfect piece. Our first thought was to paint it a light grey and mount it over the door since the wall is so tall and bare up there.

But it also occurred to us that it might make a fun contrast to hang it above these simple, modern photos.

Wherever it ends up, we feel like it is one of those cool pieces that you don't see very often and will be a cool conversation piece. And every house needs a few of those!

Newspaper Ornaments

This holiday season I have dedicated one corner in the living room to be completely color free. Our Holiday colors are usually various shades of turquoise, blue and silver with little hits of pink and gold. But this one corner is my little holiday escape.

It all started when I saw these adorable ornaments at Anthropologie and decided I can probably make them for a fraction of the price.

While out treasure hunting I picked up this cute deer because it looked easy enough to wrap in paper (no sharp edges and a simple form). I also picked up an old box of ornaments for $1 to attempt in the event my deer bombed.
The book was in a 5/$1 pile and didn't appear to make good reading since the last pages were missing. I didn't want perfect scissor cuts so I turned to a trusted old trick for perfectly straight yet torn edges: a wet paint brush. Wet a small brush and draw your line, then tear in about 5 seconds for a perfectly ripped edge.

For a variety of looks I covered a few balls completely with the paper after soaking it briefly in 50/50 water-glue mix. Basically, I paper machiered the ornaments.

For other ones I opted to just do a ring about it

or a few rounds for a mix of old paper and shiny silver.

My little deer turned out perfectly and will be appearing in a future post!

For our ornaments, I wanted to display them seperately from the regular tree so I went out in the yard and clipped a branch off one of the lilac trees.

I shoved it into an urn I wasn't using and piled white pebbles around it to be sure it was steady and then we were ready to add our ornaments!

In the theme of our old book ornaments I switched the painting out for an old framed book plate.

A couple of stray chandelier crystals add a little extra sparkle and we were done!

Not too perfect, not too full, just the perfect amount of holiday dazzle for the minimalist in me!

And that's our quiet holiday corner. How about you? What are you colors for the season? Do you stick with the same colors every year?

Paper wreath, here I come!

Today I attended a particularly crappy auction (excuse my language). I sat through hours of booster cables, mismatched tools, and particularly ugly and worn clothing.

Just about ready to leave, the auctioneer caught my attention when he announced a lot of sheet music. I hadn't taken a close look before and had no idea what condition it was in as it was all in boxes, but I was the only bidder and took home 3 grocery bags full for $3.

Even if it wasn't all that old I would have been happy, as I have been crafting up a storm for the holidays with various book pages so I knew I would use them. (scraps from an upcoming ornament project I paired up with Pier 1 on!).

But my patience and poor luck with the rest of the auction were well worth it because low and behold my $3 pile of music turned out to be a gold mine of antique french sheet music.
The pages are beautiful and perfectly aged.

Just the right amount of wear and tear will make for some really fun wreaths and holiday projects.

Here are just a few examples I have been saving as inspiration. A paper wreath has been on my to-do list for quite some time and I am excited to give it a go.

Simple Joys Paperie

DesignGrenade

Living With Lindsey

Haru

Hope you are having a treasure filled weekend as well!

Houzz Interview

I am so excited to share that we have an interview over at Houzz today (click here)! An absolutely fabulous lady by the name of Becky stayed on me for close to 3 months to do this and I am so appreciative that she kept with it and had faith in us.

Pop over and let us know what you think!

Thanks Becky and Houzz!!!

New transformations

I don't know how, but I feel like I NEED to find about 5 extra hours in the day to keep up! We have been hard at work with the house and WhiteBerry seems to be turning into 2 full time jobs (to those of you who email asking if it is a viable part-time job, I cannot emphasis this enough that it is farrrrr from a part time job!!!). I was doing a pretty good job of keep the chaos minimized but since November started that has gone down the drain. But I seem to work best under crazy circumstances so no complaints here!

One of my favorite pieces from recent memory is this cabinet.

It is a cool size and much more practical for most of todays smaller homes.

If I didn't have a bunch of hooks on the wall in the laundry room I think I might have considered keeping it and using it for storage in there.

A popular item was this desk.
A purple crystal knob added some sparkle and it was a perfect piece for a home office.

I ALWAYS love these chunky coffee tables. In fact, they are probably the single most popular and in demand item that I come across.

Looking at the picture above, I think it actually isn't the correct before, but it was pretty darn close LOL. But some grey paint makes it both cottage-y and not too feminine for those of us whose guys are over the white slipcovers and ruffles.

But I always hold a soft spot for the intricate and beautiful details on French Provincial pieces. This coffee table weighed more than most dining room tables and was massive. Definitely the largest coffee table I can recall.

And that was my WhiteBerry week in photos!

How has your week been? I cannot belive it is already close to the weekend.... and that the holidays are nearly upon us! Already we have been working on some holiday decor ideas that will be unveiled in the near future. Can't wait to share!