Besides the convenience of crafting a cocktail on demand, I like having a bar cart because it adds extra storage in a stylish way. The trick is to keep your bar cart from getting messy. I see lots of pretty pictures and pins of fabulously styled bar carts. But I need mine to be practical as well as stylish. I use mine to store wine glasses, shot glasses, alcohol bottles and other odds and ends every day. My bar cart isn’t just for looking good in pictures. It adds extra storage space to my already bursting-at-the-seams kitchen. Here are my tips for styling your bar cart for the everyday. 1. Use a tray This simple wooden tray keeps my random assortment of shot glasses, wine glasses and mini liquor bottles looking organized. It corrals everything together, so items stay put. 2. Line up bottles Bar carts have to have some booze, right? Well, the trick to keeping all of those bottles from looking messy is to line them up in neat rows. So simple. But it makes a big difference. 3. Use containers Containers, such as mason jars and bowls, are great for storing smaller items on your bar cart....
5 Easy Christmas Decorations (Ones I Love!)
When decorating for the holidays, I like to keep it easy. I challenge myself to (mostly) decorate with only recycled items and items I already own. This year, I want to share my favorite items to decorate with for Christmas, and how I’ve used them in my home. 1. Decorating with fresh greenery The trimmings from my real Christmas tree make the perfect decorating accompaniments for the rest of the house. For example, I stick leftover boughs in vases and mason jars, and then place the “bouquets” throughout my house. This year, I used them to decorate my fake mantle (really just shelves above my couch.) They add greenery that lasts. You don’t have to water them or pay attention to them. Plus, they smell divine. 2. Draping a finger knit garland on the mantle Last year, I discovered the wonders of finger knitting while I was in bed with the flu for three days. Finger knitting is an easy peasy craft. And, it makes one long strand, like a garland. There are tons of tutorials out there that can show you how to finger knit far better than I can. Give it a try! It’s super easy. I made two strands...
5 Fun Storage Solutions for Your Desk
When I moved into my new house, I had a problem. The two bedroom home with no basement didn’t have room for an office. Before moving, I had said goodbye to my mid-century desk. So, at the new place, I didn’t need office space to hold a desk. What I needed was somewhere to put all of the books, office supplies, scrapbooking stuff, notebooks, stamps and other bits and pieces that had been living in my previous desk’s drawers. What my new house does have is a dining room. We’ll call it a dining room because I think that’s what it’s intended to be, but in all reality it’s an 11 ft. x 7 ft. opening with two doorways, one door and two windows. Not a lot of room to put furniture. Now, imagine a 7 ft. dining room table taking up most of that space. My boyfriend insisted on keeping his gigantic dining room table despite the fact that it’s way oversized for this house. (I’m actually fine with it—now!) I certainly wasn’t going to waste all that table space for “dining” when I needed desk space. So, I decided to turn the dining room—dining room table and...
Decorating with Fall Leaves
So, I might be a little cheap. I love buying a $4 bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe’s every once in a while, but during the in-between time I have another solution. I head to my backyard with a pair of green pruning shears and snip away. Fall is the best time to bring nature indoors. The reds, oranges and yellows only come once a year and I like to enjoy them outside—and inside. Here’s how I decorate with fall foliage. Stick a branch trimming from a tree with the leaves changing into a vase. You don’t need to add anything else to the display. All of those colorful leaves are just as good as any ol’ bouquet of spring flowers. Or, just sneak a few leafies randomly around the house. Here a couple of yellow leaves hang out in a potted plant in my kitchen. I love the look of this sparse branch with the pops of yellow. It worked well in the blue vase on my bar cart. Better hurry, those fall leaves won’t last long. Your trimmings will dry up within a day or two, but personally, I still like the crunchy look. Related articles: My Fireplace...
Welcome Home
I’ve been gone for a while. It wasn’t my usual procrastination or getting overly busy. I didn’t feel like blogging about home things because I didn’t really have a home. Within two weeks of moving into a new rental house in August, our house was broken into. My laptop, where I’d lovingly written every blog post on Red Leaf Style, and where I kept all of my photos, was stolen. Poof. Gone. For about a month I was in limbo. The place where I was living wasn’t my “home”. At least it wasn’t a place where I felt safe or happy. I was a little lost. This experience has reinforced more than ever that I’m a real homebody. I love home. I can’t wait to get home from work and make the space where I live comfy and inviting. I want to fill it with the smell of brewed coffee; I want to bake treats and cook dinner and sit on the floor with my doggie. I want to make a mess and start projects and decorate. Of course, decorate. I couldn’t do any of those things after our house was broken into. And I didn’t want to. But...
Old Dresser Redo
Taking something sad and outdated and transforming it into something beautiful? That’s my favorite. Especially with furniture. Take this dresser. I bought this sad number for $15 at a garage sale. It needed a lot of love. The drawers were fragile and starting to fall apart. (Thanks for fixing those, dad!) It was full of scratches and the stain was wearing off. But I loved the pretty scalloped detail at the bottom. Here’s the before. And now the after. This dresser just shows that it doesn’t take a lot of know-how to make a big transformation. I didn’t do anything crazy. I simply sanded the dresser and the drawers; gave it a couple of coats of Valspar paint in Crisp Linen; and perked it up with new aged bronze knobs. I love the classic look of the crisp white and near-black pulls. I’m really happy with it. What do you think? Related articles: Closet Makeover Reveal 5 Favorite Furniture Find–For Free! Wooden Chair Makeover: After...
Decorating Idea: What to Do With Seashells?
Who can resist gathering seashells any time they’re near an ocean? Just me? Maybe that’s just a thing people who don’t live near an ocean do, but chances are even you coastal dwellers have a few seashells in a drawer somewhere. Because really, what do you do with them? You could put them in a jar. Or a bowl. Those would be pretty, but how many jars or bowls of seashells can you have? Am I right? I faced this same conundrum a few weeks ago when I got back from a trip to Cambodia. During the days I spent in a couple of seaside towns in Cambodia, I gathered plenty of seashells. Because when am I going to go back to the Gulf of Thailand? Probably not any time soon. After unpacking and staring at my shell souvenirs, I was at a loss for what to do with them. Then, I came up with a brilliant solution. Use them to decorate plants! It may sound weird, but I like to set little objects in my houseplants to give them some flair. Usually I place a few pretty rocks on the topsoil. Maybe a small figurine if I’m feeling crazy. But seashells...