Quick Tip Tuesday #7 'Design Advice'

I'm so excited to start off my morning with a group of wonderful ladies @ a large MOPS group that some of my friends have attended in past few years. I seriously believe this will directly result in the preservation of my sanity! Oh yes.

Beyond that today, I have a quick and simple tip to keep in mind while contemplating and implementing intentional design into your home. Are you ready???

This is SO easy, but something people often don't think about. When you look at a space, you probably think of some basics like what kind of furniture, where to put it, what colors to incorporate, etc. An important aspect in pulling ALL of those pieces together is how they work together VERTICALLY. Let me explain...

You have a bed, nightstands, a mirror, rug, curtains, etc. It makes a HUGE difference in the look and feel of a room when you consider how the height of the headboard, the height and length of the curtains, the height and width of the nightstands, the horizontal or vertical direction of the mirror, etc. all work together in one cohesive design. Is there enough difference to break it up, but is it balanced enough to not even be "noticed"? Have I lost you yet??? I hope not!

Some examples:

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See the varying use of height with the different chairs,

table decor, and lighting placement?

                         

                eclectic dining room design by orange county interior designer Fluegge Interior Design, Inc.

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LOVE THIS!!! Everything cohesive, yet varied just enough.

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Isn't this space delightfully light and airy? Little pops of color.

Different heights and widths. LOVE.

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Aren't those pink chairs GREAT with that angled table?!

Varied heights - see the mantle decor, candles, wall art, lighting. It works.

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I pretty much LOVE this whole entire design...SO my style!

How FUN is that chalkboard, the table, hardware....everything?!!!

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See how the placement of the curtain rod, the clock, etc. is varied?

What do you think??? Take a look at one room in your space (just one!!!)

and see if it works in a varied and cohesive manner. If not, change it up a bit!

That's the fun part in design! :-)

Have a challenging space??? I know how that can be - trust me!

Send it my way for the chance to put it out to my readers for a fresh look.

~~~~~

Have a great day and stop by later to see who won the $75 Giveaway!

It may be you!!!

~Anneke~

Quick Tip Tuesday #6

For this week's quick tip, I wanted to share an article via Real Simple that I read recently about 5 Paint Tricks and Tips. Some of them were new for me....like the upside paint can. Have any of you heard of these and do them? I'd love to know how you find them to be helpful!


http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/home-improvement/painting/painting-tricks-time-savers-10000001057029/index.html


Also....I do a lot posting like this via my iPad, and find that I can't perform all of the tasks (like links!) that I'd like to - do you have any tricks for me? :-) Maybe the iPad2 doesn't have these technical kind of issues??? Just throwing that out there for you! :-)





Have a great Tuesday and be sure to visit tomorrow for the hutch reveal! YAY!!!


~Anneke

Quick Tip Tuesday #5

I can't believe I actually wrote this post, it didn't save, I lost it all, and now it.is.late = I.am.tired. So....
SUPER QUICK! :-)

When you would like to paint, stain, or glaze an item and have a small piece of hardware or whatnot that is difficult to remove or tape over, cover the area you do NOT want painted with petroleum jelly and it will wipe off as soon as your paint, stain, glaze, or whatever is dry.

EXAMPLE:

Just this week I used this technique on those tiny circles

 toward the outside of this French Writing Desk. It is where

the clips secure the front panel to the drawer box.

They were not comin' off!

Using petroleum jelly in this situation

definitely saved me some time and sanity.

Thank.You!

I hope this helps you whether it's furniture, decor, etc.

Let me know if you use this technique!

Here's to a great day!

~Anneke~

Quick Tip Tuesday #4

So you'll soon see a trend that I like Craigslist, and it just so happens it is the one thing I get the most questions about. You may have a different method of buying used, but most of these tips apply to all avenues of buying and selling.

Today's tip is:

SEARCH FOR THE LISTINGS WITH MISSPELLED WORDS

You may think I'm joking, but I was just talking to a friend about this just this weekend.  Craigslist doesn't spell check for you! And you can snag some AMAZING deals when ads are listed with incorrect spellings. WHY? Because nobody can find them. Sometimes I just want to help them out and say,

"Hey, you need to change 'this' word to 'that',

and then people could probably find your ad

and you can sell your item."

Ahem....the same goes for when listing your own products. In fact, occasionally I will put some misspelled key words at the bottom of my ad so that people who are actually LOOKING for items (and type in inccorect spellings) will find mine - sometimes. ;-)

Here are some very common misspellings:

(mind you, I often look for furniture, but the same goes for other categories)

*Chaise = Chez = Chase = Shaize = whatever else you can phonetically dream up.

Try it - you may be surprised.

*Separate = Seperate

*Jewelry = Jewlery

*System = Sistem (seriously)

*Beautiful = Beutiful = Beutifull = Butifull (yeah, I know)

*Vintage = Vintege = Vintige

*Piece = Peice (the whole "i" before "e" thing)

*Great = Grate

*Sleigh = Slay

*Pedestal = Pedastal

*Picnic = Picnick

*Anything ending in er, or, ar can be confused for the other

*Anything ending in ible or able (example: collectible vs. collectable)

If you are doing a search, just think outside the box for a minute and ask yourself whether or not someone else might spell a particular word differently. You may get no hits at all, but -

It might help you snag that great find and save you a ton of money!

(fyi-misspelled words and poor foreign grammar usually mean scam-

always use safety precautions)

I hope this has been helpful to you today!

Have you ever found some great used item using this search technique?

Remember to enter the current GIVEAWAY to Kayla J Photography

which ends Wednesday, September 14th @ 9pm PST!

~Anneke~



Quick Tip Tuesday #3 - Craigslist Selling

I've met A LOT of GREAT people through my interactions on craigslist - both buying and selling. Yet you hear of scary news stories about people who fall victim to predators who use craigslist as a means to get into people's homes.  This is constantly on my mind as people come to my house to purchase either a personal item or RustiChic piece.  There are MANY rules and steps I personally follow to ensure safety.

One of my more recent tactics that I am sharing with you today takes a little personal discernment...you'll see what I mean.  My husband and I have been incredibly blessed, and while we sell a lot of things, we also give away a lot of things and remember always - that they are just things.

It can take quite a bit of coordinating with other people on Craigslist to pick up an item you have for sale, so lately, we have gone the route of taking a relatively low cost item (for us under $80 - that's your personal descision), and just leaving it here (um, that's just A door, not MY door, btw) and putting the money under the door mat:

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This is what I've learned in practicing this rule:



1. You make no contact and increase safety - you either don't go to the door or you're not home.

2. I have yet to have someone not leave the money and steal the item (this may vary in your neighborhood) - someone actually paid me $7 MORE because they couldn't remember the asking price, $20 or $25. They said they left $22, but they actually left $27! Thanks!!!

3. You don't have to haggle in person - work out your price before pick-up.

4. You don't have to reaarange your life - leave a party early, have your child woken up, or dinner left on the table, because so and so picking up the thing is here a bit later or earlier than they were supposed to be. Can you tell I've utilized CL for awhile now?

5. On that note, it saves time.  Instead of, "What about this day, this time....???" and then waiting, waiting, waiting. It's "Perfect, I can just leave it on our front door step and you can leave the money under that mat. You can stop by anytime between _:__ and _:__. We'll be in and out all day. Give me a call if you have any trouble finding the address." And I almost always say "address"...not "house". Sometimes it's the little things.

5. We live up on a high hill with close neighbors, but not CLOSE neighbors. If you try this method, make sure you don't have a neighbor kid (or adult heaven forbid!) spying on these "transactions" and taking advantage of you.

6. Our attitude is "If they take without paying, they take it", and move on.  It's just stuff...we'll be ok. I'd feel sad for them and their bad choice, but again, so far we've met (and not met) GREAT people! :-)

I hope you find this helpful! Maybe it's something you'll try,

maybe not, but it's been a great time saver for our family,

and it helps increase revenue while decluttering our revamping our home.

~~~~~~

I'm hoping to finish up and post

the Drexel Heritage Vanity and a Round Dining Table

by the end of the week.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed,

but I'm pretty preoocupied with kindergarten starting

and Annabelle's 6th birthday! Yeah!!!

Best of luck "Craigslisting"!

~Anneke~



Quick Tip Tuesday #2 PAINT!

Paint is by far one of the easiest and most affordable do-it-yourself methods to drastically change the way a room looks and feels.  The problem is...you may end up picking a color that doesn't convey the look and feel you want. What to do???  Ironically...my quick tip is -

TAKE YOUR TIME!

PLEASE!!!

Now I understand that sometimes we need to make quick decisions regarding these things, but unless you have more experience and design "eye", a quick decision in the realm of paint should usually stick to neutral territory in order to avoid a panic attack. :-)

Even in the building of our own home, we had to make a quick desicion on our interior paint. We stuck to neutral and although it bugs me that it's not what I had in mind and shows a pink undertone in certain lighting - it's tolerable. :-)

When selecting paint for your home, gather MANY swatches of paint, put them on the wall (or walls) of a room and observe how they look at different times of the day. Lighting is the largest factor in how a color will look in your home....shadows, sheen, how it looks from an adjoining room, and how it works with the accesories of the room. These are all factors to consider - I have a great example from the little house we stayed in the night before my sister's wedding.

Not the best pict. obviously, but the deep teal jewel toned wall was just enough punch of color to make this room feel pulled together and chic.  I can't wait to share some more pictures from this house!


Lastly, here is a great article I found on diynetwork.com on How To Select The Right Paint And Color For Your Home! It has great tips and goes into more depth on sheens, color theory, focal points, etc.

Bottom line....paint can be your best friend or worst enemy.

If in doubt..ask for some help!

I'm personally dying to try stenciling in the girl's room!

Up tomorrow - Pom-Pom Ball Tutorial

Happy Painting!

~Anneke~

Quick Tip Tuesday!

Welcome to quick tip Tuesday! This is a new installation I am incorporating every Tuesday to give you some kind of quick little tip each week that just might make a BIG difference in your day to day life.  At this point anything is fair game, because let's face it - I'm a real person, and so are you! :-) Kind of like these gals...

Which one are you?! Hehe.  :-D

There are SO many things in my life that some kind, beautiful soul told me about. Things that make my world go round and I am forever grateful!  Some tips you'll already know, others may not apply, but hopefully most of them will benefit you and possibly your family.

Just thinking about one thing that I am SUPER thankful to know about - I'm wondering if you'd ever guess what popped into my head first thing....

Quick Tip#1:

Swiffer Dusters make the world go round

I think that's kind of funny that Swiffer came to mind first! Haha!!

Well, many years ago I was talking with a good friend (you know who you are), and I was complaining to her - yes...complaining - that my hubby actually expected me to dust the leaves on the plants. What?! Who does that?!!! Seriously? I was young and had a lot to learn (as still do), so she kindly listened, then very gently said, "Well....sometimes you really do need to do that. I know a great product called Swiffer...."

Um, hello! My life was forever changed, and my home is better for it. What good is great furniture and decor if it's all dusty anyway? :-)

Please, PLEASE - let me know if there are any particular areas that you would love to get some quick tips about!

Happy Tuesday!

~Anneke~