Home Decor

Think Spring – Faux Florals

January 23, 2018January 23, 2018by Elise GioveLeave a Comment

Here in Michigan we have about 6 months of cloudy darkness, aka… WINTER. & I’m starting to feel some spring fever. I decided to make a spring arrangement for my office to spruce this place up. I love the faux florals at hobby lobby, but you can also find really wonderful ones at your local home & garden stores. [shop local] I find really beautiful faux florals at a store called Warmbier Farms in Auburn, MI. Check out their website… HERE. If you’re ever in the area, its a MUST stop.

I found my vessels somewhere in my travels [sorry I can’t remember]

Today I’ll give you some tips on arrangements. You’ll want to follow a color story. I used coral & yellow for mine. Find things in this color story. You don’t want to get a blue here, and a orange there, and a red there. It will look more professional when you follow one or two colors.

You’ll also want to use the rule of ODDS. Whatever you choose to buy, you’ll want 3, 5, or 7 of. I typically buy 3 in the bigger flowers, and 5 in the filler flowers. And I will typically get 5 different ones with similar looks.

For this arrangement you’ll need:

Wire Cutters
Two Vessels
3 large flowers [ I used peonies ]
3 medium flowers [ I used riniculas ]
3 filler flowers [ use anything small & simple, not distracting from your large & med ]
5 filler pieces [ these are the small yellow buds ]
Florist Foam

Faux florals come in crazy long stems, so figure out how tall you’d like your arrangement to be, and cut the first stem to that length. You won’t want them all the same, but you will want them within two inches longer or shorter than each other. It’ll give a more cohesive appearance. Start putting your large flowers in first, then medium, and finally, filler. You can cut them, move the wires around so they fill certain areas, and adjust till you think it looks full and fabulous! Sometimes I figure out which sides of my arrangement will show, and puff those up with more, and less in the back. If my arrangement is going to sit on a table, and you’ll see it from all angles, turn your arrangement as you fill, so it looks evenly placed all around!

What color are you thinking for this spring? Coral, Yellow, Soft pink? Let me know! Tag #eliseinwonderland on instagram to show your work! Kisses.

signature

DIY, Home Decor

Wall Hanging – Filling Empty Space

October 30, 2017October 23, 2017by Elise GioveLeave a Comment

When we moved into our house we replaced carpet, put in a wood floor, demolition a whole wood paneled room & put up drywall & molding so our $ needed to go far when decorating. I had a vision when we bought our house, & since I’m a creative genius (I do have an art degree after all) I made it home.

After all this I didn’t have much wall art or things to hang because our apartment was small. So I got creative with what I was going to hang in our new house & fill walls that really needed a BIG something.

In our bedroom – above our dresser – we had a huge wall space. I wanted to keep this project affordable & about us. It was my husband & my first home together, & you can never have enough photos of great memories together – so I took that & ran with it.

I wanted this somewhat rustic something to hang pictures from a string. Essentially.
I found these three birch logs & they were THE perfect size, so I brought those suckers home and tied them together with twine. I had my dad hang them up on the wall so I could hang 5 ribbons. (odd numbers are more visually pleasing – so keep this in mind when you are doing, basically anything.) It should look something like this (below – excuse the mess). We put 2 nails in the wall about a foot from each end of the logs – tied twine around it, and hung the logs from a loop in the twine.

I went to hobby lobby on 50% off ribbon day & bought 3 spools of a neutral grey ribbon with a touch of ruffle on the sides. (below – This is basically the actual ribbon size in the image) (you’ll want to measure for how much ribbon you need length wise, but this particular ribbon I needed 3 spools) Next, I wrapped the ribbon around the hanging birch logs & let it hang almost to the dresser. (I cut it to length after I hung the pictures.)

I printed out a million of our favorite photos, and picked a few of the very best ones. I glued the favorites to black card stock & put a sticky pin back on each of them. I arranged & arranged until the colors looked nice (I didn’t put all the Christmas red ones on one side, or my husband’s favorite neon green Polo pictures all together.) I also arranged them so the vertical and horizontal ones fit nicely with the columns to the right & left of each other. Just play with the look, till you think its fab. (see image below)

Then you’ll pin the photos on the ribbon & enjoy your master piece. The greatest thing about using pin backs instead of gluing them on, is that you can change them always. If you’re feeling really ambitious you can change them for each season, do a black and white theme, do all of your Christmas photos together. Do one of all your pets. Get creative. In the end you should have something like this!

Supply list (purple items are optional. You can use scissors, but I cut straighter with an
X-acto & cutting mat.)

Black Card stock
Glue Stick
Sticky pin backs
Scissors to cut ribbon
Cutting mat to cut black card stock around pictures
X-acto knife
Ruler (to hold against picture while cutting black card stock on mat)
Ribbon color of your choice – (you’ll want it at least an inch thick.)
Twine to tie the wood together – & Tie to your wall hanging hooks
WOOD – birch logs, log from your backyard (mine were about an inch in diameter)
Hammer
Nails – or those screw on one end/loop on the other end work well.
Amazing photos of you & the fam

Let me know how it goes. Idk if I’m that great of a teacher over the internet – I’m a visual person, so if I think of something I can usually create it, if you need more directions or help, please comment and let me know! I want you to be successful!

Home Decor

Crystal Clear

October 27, 2017October 23, 2017by Elise GioveLeave a Comment

I’m a lover of vintage things, so I’m always cleaning things up & making them crystal clear again. When we moved into our house, the previous owner was a cigar lover, & my (now home office) – living room – & entryway were, VERY yellow. We scrubbed the walls, & painted the ceiling. no problem. Yellow —> white. BRIGHT white. Wonders of a fresh coat of paint & some old fashioned elbow grease.

Some things however, needed a scrub down & a “professional” cleaning. Mainly, our light fixtures. Our entryway had this cute little light fixture I wanted to keep, but the crystals were so yellow and dirty that I didn’t know if it was salvageable. IT WAS. I found this little magic gem that I can’t wait to share with you, from Home Depot. (or probably any other home supply store) It’s called TSP. & you can find it —-> here.

I actually found that I prefer the liquid version more, but this stuff is NOT FOR KIDS. & you should probably wear gloves, & it has to be diluted. SO, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. but you can buy it on Amazon —-> here.

Here’s a little BEFORE & a little AFTER. Amazing right? Looks like new! I just diluted the TSP & dipped each crystal in the diluted mix, rinsed with water, laid to dry, & hung them back up. it’s not my #1 choice of light fixture, but it kinda goes with the shabby chic vibe of my house. Anyway. You can use TSP to clean walls, old crystals, yellowed wall paper & probably a million other things, but I used it when we moved into our house & it was the best cleaning product I’ve ever purchased. You’re Welcome.

signature

Home Decor

BOO-tiful Table Arrangements

October 4, 2017January 31, 2018by Elise GioveLeave a Comment

Table arrangements can make or break the room. Can you imagine a table without a runner? Going to a wedding without a centerpiece? Arrangements can be the center focus of your event. I love black and white. Neutral. There’s just something chic about it, almost always. Which is funny, because my mom tried to dress me in loads of black & white attire as a child, but I wouldn’t wear it… Now its my go-to. How things change.

You can find black and white table runners in all sorts of places – Amazon & Easy shops would be where I’d first look. What can’t you find on Amazon? Right? I knew what I wanted & had my mom whip this Kate Spade inspire baby up. Washable & reversible. Handy, really. Antlers are all the rage right now & at first I wasn’t too keen on the idea of putting dead animal on my table, but I really liked the way it pulled it together. Vintage stores will sometimes have them – or you can phone your favorite hunter and have them saw a pair off for you on their latest hunt. (sorry)

Now you’ll need a vessel. This wooden one is from TJ Maxx, but you can always check Target and get a serving tray to use in a pinch!

Grab some flowers and FLORIST FOAM from Hobby Lobby — here I used peonies, hydrangeas, & white pumpkins. You won’t be able to do any sort of arrangement without florist foam. It comes in blocks and circles and you can cut it, break it, and most importantly – shove stems of artificial flowers into it. Start with a few peonies and start putting hydrangeas in for filler, when you have a nice blank spot – throw in a pumpkin… just keep playing until you have filled your vessel. You don’t have to use leaves, but I had them so I threw them in there.

& there you have it. A Neutral, all fall appropriate table arrangement. Good Luck!

signature

Home Decor

Happy October Witches!

October 3, 2017October 23, 2017by Elise Giove4 Comments

halloween bookshelf2 copy

Halloween for me starts in late August. I want to soak up as much of the holidays as possible! I love to decorate my home. My FIRST home. My husband and I lived in an apartment for 2 years, & here we are.. just passing the anniversary of our one year here. Thats not why you stopped in though. Halloween. Witches, Crows, Fall colors, Pumpkin Beers, Carmel Apple Cider – I personally cannot get enough. (Hence why I start so early)

Halloween decor can be found anywhere & everywhere, starting right after the kids go back to school. (which is when you find the BEST stuff) I haunt Home Goods, Target, TJ Maxx, & all sorts of little fun shops I have up here in Michigan. You can make anything work if you just arrange them right. Use books for height – Don’t have a purple spell book like mine? Hit up your local used bookstore and find a nice thick bound book with fun gold lettering! You can find glittery pumpkins & fun pumpkins almost anywhere! If that “perfect” one isn’t out there – opt to paint & glitter a real pumpkin, or hit up your local orchard & snag yourself a lil cutie from the patch.