My Thoughts About the New Year!!

   

The excitement of the possibilities of the new year are wonderful to think about. I know we all set goals in our minds so I thought I would give you some things to think about.......

I think above all else we need to realize it is up to us!!!

Personally I think once you realize everything is a choice and you take ownership on how you CHOOSE to look at life it helps you move forward without the blame game. You will then, realize it is up to YOU how you approach your daily life.

Once you realize you have choices to make my prayer is that you realize that you are not alone in your choices or plans, but you have a heavenly father that loves and cherishes you and he has wonderful plans for you. 

He does not promise it will always be perfect or easy, but he does promise he will be there every step of the way and help get you THROUGH IT ALL!!

Choose the right people to associate with. Trust me they are out there!!

Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to be constantly busy. Stop glorifying busy.

Ah ha! We are back to CHOICES, see how this works?

While you are at it! Make a choice to add beauty to your life.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our goals and check list that we are not really living the life and experiencing all the opportunities God has given us.

Remember there is only ONE YOU to live your life.

Last but not least.....

 

 

5 Ways To Add New Life To Your Room

Taking down Christmas decorations is not nearly as fun as it was to put them up. The color, texture, and the lights are all gone, and the room seems dull  and lifeless compared to how it looked.

Try Something NEW!!!

This year when you take down you decor use this emptiness as an opportunity to give your room a new look.

Once the Christmas decor is down take out ALL accessories. Step back and take a look at your empty room.

Rearrange the Furniture:

Now think of how you can rearrange the furniture, or if you love your arrangement you are ready to do the next step.

There are plenty of websites that have programs where you can arrange your room on paper before you actually start to cozy up your room.

When rearranging keep in mind it is winter so it is nice to have a nice cozy conversation area.

You can go HERE or HERE to these sites to arrange your rooms.

Let There Be Light!:

The next step is to bring in lighting. Most rooms are lighting poor, and you will be amazed at how much better your room will look with the proper amount of lighting.

Here is a little formula to figure out how much lighting you will need......

find your square footage (example 12ft X 16ft = 192sq.ft)

Then multiply your square footage by 1.5 .

(192 sq.ft. X 1.5 =288 watts) so that means your room will need 288 watts of lighting sources.

An average room should have approx. 4-5 lamps.

Look around your home and maybe you can switch out lamps from other rooms to give your main living area a new look.

Bringing Life To Your Room:
The next element to add will give your room some life. Look around at your corners, do you have any dead corners? By dead, I mean, no light or life? If you do try a floor lamp or a plant. You can even use a floor plant with an uplight at it's base to bring life to that corner.

Add Personality To Your Room:
There is nothing like color and accessories to give your room personality. Personally I like to add color and pattern with my pillows and artwork.

Look around and see where you can bring in some new artwork, or a piece you have in another room.

Remember NOT every wall needs to have artwork on it. Choose the main focal wall and decide which piece of art  you want to highlight. This is the wall that you should place your favorite piece.

When hanging artwork make sure it is not hung too high. If hanging a grouping make sure they are not hung too far apart, you want them to be viewed as a unit.....

Here is a good illustration that gives you some measurements as guidelines....

via

These are good guidelines, however you need to use your own judgement when hanging your personal artwork for it to work in your own home.

ACCESSORIZE: 

This is the one area that is really subjective, and there are two camps, more is more, or less is more.

I fall into the less is more camp, but I also love for the owner's personality to shine through, so you will have to decide if you need less, or more to accomplish that in your room.

Look around your room, and see which areas you need to add color, or texture. Varied textures will give your room interest. 

Think if you need shine or rough textures in your room and add accordingly. 

For instance if you have all shiny objects, and/or metals you will need to add some rough textures such as woods, baskets, or fabrics.

When bringing back your accessories it is a good idea to bring in the largest pieces first and build from that point.

All of the above suggestions are only suggestions, but if you are wanting a new fresh look they are good guidelines to help you get started, and this is the perfect time of year to do it!

"Enjoy The Process!" Of:

Giving New Life To Your Room!

  

 

 

Our New Home's First Christmas Picture Album!

 

Our first Christmas in our new home is something I dreamed about and I can't believe it is HERE!!

I wanted to share with you how we chose to decorate our home this year. I chose a color scheme of black, white and green with just touches of red.

My wrapping papers set the mood this year. I used varied patterns that were combinations of black and white and green. Of course my signature black and white striped paper was at the base of it all.

  

We actually had to move our tree this past Monday because our plantation shutters were installed, so we moved the tree and dismantled the mantel.

So we got to do a Christmas do-over!! 

 We are beyond delighted with our shutters. My hand dandy hubby is going to add a top treatment to the shutters. That is on the list for January!

 We did something a bit different this year by adding a swag over the large opening into our great room.

  

I kept the mantle simple this year and I like the way it compliments the tree and doesn't take away the focus from the tree or the rest of the room.

 Since our TV resides next to the fireplace I also kept my decorations minimal under the TV.

 I am enjoying the simplicity of it all.

From our new home to your home we are wishing you JOY for this Christmas and the upcoming New Year!!