Creating a magical look for Christmas...

I somehow managed to get my husband Todd on board to string up patio lights in our great room...I had a vision and although I had my doubts I figured it was worth a shot...we had three strings of lights from outside but we knew we needed one more...which was fine because we wanted more lights outside next summer...I found some through amazon I have added a link below...*this post does contain affiliate links...I am an avid amazon shopper so I thought this was a perfect fit for me....

There was some major controversy in the house when I proposed adding a tree above the cabinets....now I do not like to decorate above cabinets normally...but Christmas is the time to break the rules and to go over the top...and we love the look...I just need to add the Christmas tree sign I made...

 

This Christmas sack was a huge hit at our house tour last year...

                                                                     

check out our last years Holiday house tour I did just before we moved 

I have had these knit stockings for almost 20 years...look at these...I think I might need a few new ones...

                                                                   

I thought this Christmas pillow was such a nice touch...I found it at Winners recently but here are a few other options I found that are easily available...I have purchased pillow covers through amazon before...check if these are only covers before buying...I swear by Ikea feather inserts.

                                      

I had to take home this little church decor piece last year...I mean I live in a church right...

With the vaulted ceilings I just knew this would create such a magical effect...it will be perfect for the upcoming White Wood Winter Market on Dec 2nd and 3rd 2017 

The string lights are commercial style heavy duty outdoor lights...we re purposed our outdoor lights but we needed more so I ordered 48' more from amazon...these are the ones we ordered and we were very happy with them, they are the same quality as the ones I bought earlier and paid much more for.

                                                                                                                                     

We had to figure out how to hang these lights...so I dug out these wheels that were part of the windows previously...

I gave them a good soak in the crock pot in water dish soap and a couple splashes of vinegar...then I scrubbed them with a small wire brush and they looked like new.

I made this simple sign to add above the cabinets....now how do I get this up there....

I have always loved flocked trees and this year when I cooked up the crazy idea to put a tree above the kitchen cabinets I always envisioned a small flocked tree...I found a 5ft tree locally and decided to use just the top two sections and it worked perfectly...I used some of the extra branches to fill my table boxes...

I think that flocked trees are all the rage...they are so whimsical...and I think they need far less dressing to make them look stunning...I left mine simple and unadorned...

here are a few good options from amazon ...I have seen them done in groups of two and they look magical...I wish I had room for more.

                                

For this year I decided to try the galvanized bucket in place of the tree skirt...and I love it...it is the perfect farmhouse touch...I picked up mine at the local hardware store...see how I use it in the summer in this POST about our completed backyard project from our last house 

I made this tag garland by simple stringing together burlap tags I found and stamping them with 1-25 alternating black paint and rose gold paint...I used twine to string them...this was a fun and super simple diy project.

                                                                   

It feels good to be ready from Christmas now...thanks for stopping by...

Getting set for summer fun around the house

 hello again friends....I hope you are all doing well and enjoying some sun, we have been getting so much rain here...but everything is very green...so that's a plus I suppose.

I am longing to spend  a whole lot of time outdoors very soon...so we have been focusing on our outdoor spaces...I finally got around to getting some flowers for our pots to brighten up our front porch.

The weather had finally warmed enough for me to get rid of the big brown door colour that we didn't love. I had planned on painting our garage door a pale shade of grey but it turned out to look like fleshy peach so I ditched that idea and went straight for the safest choice...white... and I love it.

I wanted to add some colour to my White wood workshop, why not have a pop of colour on the side of our house facing the farm behind??? I started by framing the back window with farmhouse trim and adding a nice header then I flanked the window with the cutest barn door style shutters I painted the colour Perfect Landing by Behr...it is a soft greyish blue with a whole bunch of perwinkle...I figured why not have a little fun with the back of the garage since I don't have a barn or bunkie...

it is the most charming addition to our outdoor space, the barn style light from Home Hardware goes a long way to personalize this space and to add that farmhouse charm I was after.

Before

 I used steel gate hinges that I painted black as non functional hinges to accent the shutters.

 I built these shutter out of 1x4 pine in an overlay construction and used kreg joinery for the frame and of course I used my Ryobi airstrike brad nailer and impact driver

 One of the must haves for our outdoor spaces would be string lights...we have been known to use them year round on a timer at our last house...we will have to take these down here in the winter due to snow sliding off our metal roof...but for the warmer months these are so charming...

I picked up these Canvas montmarte heavy duty garden lights from Canadian tire...they are very nice lights and the package came with extra bulbs which is appreciated, these lights really require a support line to hang them from...I wasn't expecting this step but after installing the lights I can see why the support line is needed.

 I picked up a medium gague coated wire, some clamps and eye hooks to create the zigzag formation wire framework.We used zip ties to attach the string lights to the wire support.

It's truly magical...and a very simple project to tackle in a couple of hours.

One more small project I was able to complete was this simple yet pretty gate from scrap wood I had in the garage... a bit of white paint and some left over hardware and now Moe has a nice leash free perch to enjoy...

I used this easy to install method to attach the gate to the deck, I just simply nailed the support to the gate then to the deck leveled it and did not have to fumble to attach the hinges...who ever came up with this method was a genius.

It also makes for a great back drop...

I hope that you are all enjoying this time of year...I'm just happy to be spending a good amount of time outside without a parka on.

Outdoor lighting...how to create a lot of ambiance for little money

 Now that things have been warming up I have been spending a lot of my time outside, I love being outside.
We planted this large Japanese Lilac last summer during a heat wave thankfully it survived that and our extra harsh winter.
Planting a larger tree is more of an investment but you get so much more for your money and it adds to your property value.
We will add planting beds to the backyard space in time but since we just spent a good deal of money on our fence this year the beds and landscaping will have to wait.
I was inspired to concentrate on night time ambient lighting for this summer. I am in love with all the string lighting...it's magical.
I went to Target and picked up 8 boxes of frosted globe lighting, each strand is 9 feet long. I started closest to the house down the fence around the back and even up our garage...it is amazing at night.

 I also added some lanterns to the fence for candle light and always a few hanging baskets for some color.

 I found two little lanterns in the garage while I was cleaning out for a yard sale we had last weekend, what to do with two tiny lanterns? then I thought what if I hung them from my lilac tree...that would be nice... so that sent me on the hunt for more white lanterns.
I found these simple tin lanterns also at Target with the great punch out designs, they didn't have hangers so I just cut some aluminum wire and made some hangers for them.

 Why did I only buy two of these adorable lanterns???

 I took these photos very early this past Saturday while I set up for a yard sale we were having. I feel so much better having cleared out so much that was just sitting in boxes from our move. We were able to also raise money for the Relay for Life Charity for cancer research.
I have a little yard sale tip for you....several days before the yard sale set up a private invite to your yard sale on Facebook for the people in your area...allowing your friends to get the heads up and dibs on all the good stuff....I had a lot of requests for previews but I resisted the urge to do so , I figured it was more fair to leave it all for Saturday morning and it was a huge success, we raised a lot of money for Relay for Life all in the first 30 min. I even held off on putting up signs until the first hour was over.

So do you love the outdoors in the summer?
Do you have a lot of outdoor lighting?