On Vacation

You may have noticed it's been a bit quiet around here! Just letting you know I'm taking a couple weeks off and helping my sister with her new studio. I've got plenty projects coming your way soon though, so check back after the first of the year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!


~Anneke

Tall Entryway Design Concept

The entry to our home has this super high

wall which often feels like it deserves more

attention than it's been getting.

The potential is amazing!

Since I've been implementing the design

for this entry room, which you

can see here, my mind has been

looking at this wall and thinking,

"What would work to make this "us"

and "functional", while making

the perfect impact?" :-)

Btw...I sold the bench. The hubby thought

it was just a few inches too long.

I don't mind though. :-)

I just build another one, right?

So...here is what I designed for this space.

I'm SO excited!!!

Ok, so let me give a little explanation....

I.love.chevron.

While I feel the trend will stick for awhile,

I'm not convinced on putting money into

more expensive items like a rugs, drapes, etc.

The perfect solution to me is to paint a chevron

pattern on this gargantuon wall.

It will be affordable and easy to change

down the road.

Next, I'd love to frame maps of places

that my husband and I specifically have

traveled to . I'm not one to put up a

piece of art "just because".

I really want it to be significant

or meaningful in some sort of way.

We always try to keep a global perspective

in life, and I feel this would make

a statement about things that matter

to our family.

I'd love to place a long, skinny black console

table in this space, with some greenery

and a nice tray of some kind to catch little "extras".

Incorporate some awesome Pottery Barn

double hooks, lamps, baskets,

and an entry rug to finish everything off

and you have yourself a complete look.

I can't wait to implement this next!

What do you think?

I'd love to know!

Hope your day is great!

~Anneke~

The New Studio

I was SO excited this weekend to take our kids to have Santa pictures at my sister's photography studio, and then go down the road to check out where she is going to be moving her studio to after the end of the month. I just had to share a few pictures with you today since my mind has been literally overflowing with the potential design options!

I'm LOVING these windows!!!!!

This space was a super old bank.

This is not the best pict. obviously, but this

vault door looks awesome. The entire place is twice

as big as the place she has been in!

Of course she makes a super duper Auntie always. ;-)

I've promised I'll try not to drive her nuts with

all of my design ideas, and I can't wait to see it come to life.

Be on the lookout over the next month!!!

I hope your day is GREAT!

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

A Week In The Life...

I haven't been able to work on much

this week via "RustiChic", so I thought

it might be fun to give you a little recap of

a week in the life of Anneke. :-)

Nevermind I'm a full time mom for just a sec -

oh wait, that's only 75% of my time!

Well...we had our first ever "triple time-out"

as I'm calling it.

It was so funny I had to get a pict.

Hahahaha...ahhhhhh....

This SO captures each of their little personalities! Lol! :-D

Some book time with daddy. Yes...the boy really can sleep anywhere.

This is what I call bribed compliance @ Lowe's. :-)

I could barely push the cart and ended up at the walk-in

clinic that afternoon. I mentioned that here.

We were getting wood to make this faux mantle for my

sister's photography studio and Santa picts.

After a few days sitting on my butt "resting", I couldn't stand it anymore.

Off to the garage I went.

I'll share some professional pictures

after I get some from Kayla! Yeah!!! 

I've been getting some personal online orders in the mail this week.

One was this lamp that I had in our Family Room Concept Board.

I LOVE IT!!! (I actually got 2 of them.)

Here's the new IKEA cover to our $150 sectional

I found from a very nice couple on Craigslist.

Ahhh....the white.

I needed some new furniture feet, but they didn't go in right,

so now......

My living room looks like this....

....and not this....

.....until the hubby gets off his firefighter shift tomorrow,

because I pretty much threw my hands up in the air

and said, "Forget it."

I wrestle enough with my two-year old -

I don't want to wrestle with my couch! Lol :-)

In the meantime, I leave you with a lovely

"What I Wore Today" picture.

My first ever...Festive, right? ;-)

You may see jeans and sweatshirt, but I see

a dented candle because my monkey boy once

climbed on the counter and smashed the poor thing

to the ground. Love him to pieces still! :-)

And there you have it.

A smidge of a picture in the life of...

Have a GREAT weekend!

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

 

Family Room Design Concept

Well one advantage to being in physical recovery is that I am getting to spend more time actually getting the things spinning around in my head onto concept boards! Yeah! I've been spending a lot of time lately really evaulating our personal space, how we use it, storage solutions, colors, everything. For my husband's sake, and my own really, I don't want to feel like we are constantly re-designing our house. I think a little bit of this comes from the nature of finding deals on craigslist. For example, I bought a table to use at my sister's bridal shower this summer and then refinish and sell. Well, I liked it a lot, enough to keep it and sell what we already had (even for the same price we bought it two years ago! And we basically made $125 since the table we kept was less expensive). It's a score in my book, but I can't be constantly doing this to my family! lol :-)

So, I've been working on a concept board for our family room, which is really the kitchen, dining space, and living room all in one open concept. For a long time I've loved olive green, burgundy, tans, etc., and they feel very "down" to me lately when I see them in our space. Not necessarily anywhere, because other places where these colors are used I still love them. I think I'm just ready for something different. I keep praying this all doesn't look weird...every person's fear right? I look at the things I love and I see nautical beachy, industrial, glam chic, modern, bright pops of color against distressed weathered woods......um, excuse me - how do I pull this all together???

Well...here is what I have at the moment. I'd love your "kind" opinions.

What do you like, not like, what works, what seems funny?

Here is a reminder of what the space looks like.

I'm terribly indecisive at times when it comes to details. I know what I'd like to have where, but as to what kind, shape, size, color, texture...oh, that can take awhile. Every choice will make a difference, and in the end make all the difference. Oh boy - I'm starting to sound too serious here! lol :-)

How about some more reader opinions? I'm struggling over what kind of mirror look to go for. I know I'd like something unique (not a classic thick framed rectangular mirror - that's for a different place in the house).  Here are some ideas:

A.

source

B.

source

C.

source

D.

source

What do you think??? I'm currently working on implementing

my design for our Reading Room, while planning for this space.

I.can't.wait.

After months of renovating, I'm so glad we finally

sold our other house - it makes me feels a bit more

free to go ahead with more personal

projects like this!

Let me know what you think! :-)

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

 

 

Out on Injury

Remember when I said out entire family was sick for what seemed like forever??? Now it's been three weeks! Last Friday I went to the walk-in clinic after attempting to pick up some wood at Lowe's and was barely able to push the cart and completely unable to pick up the wood.

So I'm popping on here quick to let you know I'm on a bit of an injury leave. Coughing for so hard and so long has left me with a rib issue that requires anti-inflammatory meeds, muscle relaxers, ice, and yes...blowing up balloons! Lol :-) Oh yeah..no lifting. Like it hurts to lift the coffee pot, and that, my friends, is 10 times worse.

We'll see if I can manage some painting, but in the next week I'll try to follow drs. orders as best as I can. I'll admit the first day was easy. Ever since then...not so much.


Be back soon!


~Anneke

Our Advent Calendar

Now I've heard that Advent does not necessarily begin Dec. 1st - is this true??? I'm not sure, but Wednesday I decided I might as well whip out an Advent Calendar to begin none other than the next day, Dec. 1st! Great planning, huh? So the challenge was to create something that could be made with what I already had in the house. This.could.get.interesting. :-)

Seriously, I'm actually super excited about the end result! Ta - da!!!

This isn't really my "decorated" mantle, but it is a stand in until I "really"

decorate it and so the kiddos don't get into the calendar!

I found inspiration via searching on Pinterest for all of about 5 minutes,

then combined elements that I liked and knew I had

material for. So with that said...

Materials used:

Cork Board (trim painted in ASCP Old White)

Ron - Loc Muslin to cover cork (Spray Adhesive)

Thumb tacks - (yes...some are yellow, blue, whatever - they're hiding!)

Ribbon

Envelopes

Cardboard

Glue (or tape)

Printed my own numbers

Cut everything

Glued and Glittered the border on the numbers

(odds gold, evens red)

Cute little star punch ($ store???)

Jute twine

Paper for Writing Daily Activities in the Envelopes

Is that all??? I kind of can't believe I had all that!

Cut, knot, cut, knot, repeat for 25 times total! ;-)

I made a little bow "star" for the top of the "tree"

I rolled the edges and secured the fabric with Spray Adhesive.

I made Christmas day extra glittery ~ with a pretty angel tack! :-)

(I've had that thing since I don't know how little I was!)

This did take a bit of time, but was suuuuper easy.

The kids even helped a little bit here and there as they were interested!

I have to admit, I love this because our family is so, well,

sporadic shall we say, that I am planning to fill the

envelope each night after the kids are in bed. Then the hubby

and I can decide, "Hey, tomorrow let's say we're

going to The Nutcracker!" Well...that wouldn't be

completely sporadic, but we still don't have tickets because

we still don't know what day we're going - you following?!!! lol

Soooo......

Our first activity was "Bake Cookies With Mom". :-)

Nice and simple, huh? And honestly never done at our house.

There was definitely a lot of excited jumping up and down by the kids!

And Snickerdoodles and milk were our pre-dinner "snack".  ;-)

Happy Advent Calendar Making!

~Anneke~

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!

Fresh Christmas Greens by Diane Pfeifle

I've been feeling super spoiled the past day. Super, super, duper spoiled actually. Seriously. I love, love, LOVE fresh greens for Christmas. Last year I bought a 25ft. fresh garland from Costco and made wreaths and a garland for our door. I LOVED them! But they took.for.EVER! And what a mess. Wowza. :-)

Today I have the pleasure to share how you can have fresh, beautiful holiday greens for your home, whether shipped or decorated by the wonderfully sweet Diane Pfeifle of Hoh River, WA.

I contacted Diane through a Craigslist ad for her wreaths because they looked like just what I was looking for at a great price. Through various correspondence, Diane agreed to come and decorate our home with fresh greens in exchange for a review. Let me tell you right off the bat, she is fantastic and I truly love what she did in our home.

First of all, one thing in particular I love is that she has a direct

collaboration with local logging sources, and collects

leftover greens from downed trees that would

otherwise just be burned.

How great is that?!

When Diane arrived at our home, I gave her free

reign to do whatever she wanted. We decided to decorate

our banister and three large windows with wreaths.

(This is valued at $60)

She really took the time to make sure everything

looked just right and added beautiful details

to each piece she decorated.

I already am in love with the scent filling our house!

All of the three wreaths in our dining room windows

are a little bit different, but coordinate perfectly with

each other. Diane had everything from wire,

to ribbon, and filler pieces ready to go.

I love these little birdies...I told my girls

there is one for each of them. ;-)

She made and added many of these bows

right then and there to the wreaths.

Here is another detail picture.

And all three of the wreaths in the windows.

I love seeing them in our space. I'm used to spending SO

much time making everything I decorate with, so

it's still a bit strange to walk around the corner and

see everything done and decorated!

Thank you Diane!

If you are interested in Diane's garlands and wreaths,

following are details on her services and contact information.

Available Greens:

Noble

Douglas Fir

Red Cedar

Port Orford "Yellow" Cedar

Pine

Yew

Diane's pieces are available to:

Ship

Sell from her home

Personal In-Home Decoration w/ Free Estimate

A Few Prices:

Wreaths ~

$15-$50

Cedar or Noble/Cedar Mixed Garland by the ft. ~

$2.60/ft.

$4.00/ft. installed

Contact Diane:

woodseawoman@comcast.net

or

(206) 491-6542

via call or text

Her schedule is filling up quick, so if you

are interested, don't hesitate!

She was in and out at my place in

less than an hour!!!

Thanks again Diane!

~Happy 1st of December~

Anneke :-)

You can now follow me via Pinterest and Twitter!