It's kinda fun to use what you have to decorate.
It challenges your creativity while saving you money.
I love a little DIY interior design, don't you?
And I've tucked a couple classic interior design tips into this post a little way down.
Watch for them! : )
I have a fun sconce that I just love in my foyer.
It came from the Willow House/Southern Living at Home collection.
It is just the right size, not too big, not too small. It's beautiful scrolled iron with two glass votive holders, which are removable if you want to just display the iron scroll piece.
The votives and iron holders can be removed if you want to display just the iron structure.
Several of the sconces can be put together to create difference designs.
This medallion is formed with 4 Filigree Sconces.
Can you see them?
It's kinda like an optical illusion
or one of those pictures where you have to squint to see the other picture.
This arrangement was created by the Willow House Design Team for one of the Product Showcases at a Willow House Convention.
They always did a fantastic job!
The votive holders can hold votive candles obviously, but I like to use them as little vases.
I have used little blooms from the florist or grocery store, but this time I used little blooms from by yard, in the spirit of using what I had to decorate.
Here is the rose bush hedge at our back deck in early summer.
The hedge exploded in pink blooms!
The past couple of summers the Japanese beetles have ravaged the bushes,
but, fingers crossed, the beetles are gone!
I don't know what kind of bushes these are. They were here when we bought the house seven years ago. Does anyone recognize it?
I assume they are rose bushes because there are TONS of thorns!
And the flower buds look like rose buds.
You can see a couple of buds in the next picture.
So I snipped a few blooms and headed inside.
These roses have lots of thorns!
Note to self : consider gloves next time.
Here's the Classic Interior Design Tip: Always include something living in your room designs, such a flowers, plants, fruits or vegetables (and an occasional child or pet works too).
It adds life to the room because it tells you someone actually lives there to place and care for the living thing in the room!
Try it and see if you agree.
From outside to inside with fresh water, sparkling glass, and scrolled iron at no cost.
Here's another Classic Design Tip: Adding a glass piece to a room adds sparkle and light. It is especially effective in a room with lots of fabric and wood. The smooth surface adds interest and a break from all the flat, soft look of fabric such as upholstered pieces. Try it and see if you agree. : )
Our foyer has lots of doors and therefore not much wall space and it has been a challenge to decorate and place furniture like a table/console and a bench. I'll post about that in the future.
Here you can see the sconce on a little slice of a wall separating the living room from the family room. Do you think that wall needs to come down to make one open great room?
Sometimes I like the solitude of the living room and the coziness of our smallish family room.
Well, I'll think about that another day.
I've also used blooms and sprigs from other bushes in our yard.
And I love to use boxwood sprigs, again from our landscaping.
No cost - use what you have. Love!
These aren't boxwood sprigs, but leafy sprigs from on of our other bushes.
I like the green and dark iron together.
And I did not repaint the wall between the times these two photos were taken.
It's just the difference in light of one taken in the spring and one in the summer.
And maybe the time of day?
It's such a small detail on a small wall, but it makes me smile when I walk by and that's worth a lot!
