Do you want to catch up with recents things going on at StoneGable and The Tanglewood House? And get lots of decorating tips too? Great you will find all this and more in today's post.
I thought it would be fun to catch you up on things going on here at The Tanglewood House and give you some decorating ideas and inspiration! So today I’m sharing May’s random musings and decorating ideas.
The top story around our house is about the duck…
THE DUCK
In the landscaped beds between our garage and the sidewalk, a mallard duck has laid her eggs! She chose a very nice spot to build a nest and lay 8 eggs. She is pretty much the same color as the hydrangea branches and the leaves. She sits so still and quietly on her nest that no one coming to our house notices her. They walk right by our little mother-to-be!
I tried to take a picture of her sitting on her nest and spooked her so she flew away, but not too far. I stayed long enough to snap a picture with my phone and tell her I was her friend and would not hurt her babies.
Bobby and I marveled that she sat through some pretty bad, rainy weather lately. But I guess she did not mind. After all, she is a duck!
Her babies should hatch soon. Their gestation is 28 days. That is a long time to sit on a nest! When the babies hatch I’m sure they will make their way to one of the three ponds on the golf course.
I’ll update you and hopefully get some pics of the fuzzy little ducklings.
Summer Arrangements
I’m so happy summer is almost here! Bobby and I have been visiting Amish greenhouses to gather summer annuals and herbs for our pots, urns, and containers.
Even if you have the most palatial gardens it’s nice to plant some outdoor pots near your front door or back door so you can easily snip a few flowers and herbs to bring inside!
I love to arrange flowers to put in my foyer or by my coffee maker or on our dining room table.
My office, where I work all day, sits opposite the foyer so I can look out through the french doors and see the flowers on the foyer table.
It’s important to have items you love in your home where you can see them.
The arrangement above was a bit of serendipity! I had the peonies in another arrangement and they were almost spent. Then my friend Donna came for dinner and brought me the gorgeous rhododendron. And our late-blooming lilacs are just starting to bloom. So I put the three flowers together and voila!
Have you ever thought about planting a flowering perennial plant in a container inside? The purple flowering plant above is a perennial. I potted it in a wooden planter and it lasted for several weeks indoors. I just kept deadheading the spent flowers so the plant always looked nice. But eventually, it started to look stressed so I planted it outside. And now I have this beautiful purple flowering verbena in our garden. Economical, pretty, and smart! Win, win, win!
Changing Decor… Again
Do you make changes in your decor regularly? I think making even the smallest changes in our decor can breathe new life into a room and inspire you!
I changed a few things in the foyer… again! I was rooting around the basement and found the lamp and the plates and the zebra rug!
I held on to the zebra rug when we moved from StoneGable not quite knowing what I would do with it. So just for fun I brought it up and put it in the foyer. I know when it was at StoneGable many of you loved it and many of you really did not!
But here’s the thing, we really have to put what we love in our homes and not worry about how others may feel about how we decorate! We need to live with what we love.
You can see all the changes our foyer has gone through here, The Evolution Of A Foyer. I’ve not updated it with the zebra rug pictures but I will over the weekend.
You can see The Evolution Of A Living Room here. And The Evolution Of A Dining Room here.
Should We Layer Rugs?
Let’s chat about layering rugs for a minute. I think layering rugs is tricky business. Most wall-to-wall carpeting is not a good foundation for layered rugs. Most rugs with any pile are not the best for layering.
If you have a very flat base rug, like a sisal, and another very flat rug to put on top of it they will probably work well together. They aren’t too thick and can lay flat without lifting up when they are walked on. But most of the time you want to stay away from layering rugs.
And layering a rug under a coffee table is another no-no! It breaks up the lines of the furniture! Trust me on this. We really don’t need two rugs under a coffee table.
Home Improvements
Is anyone having trouble finding folks to do home projects in your area? We sure are! We have a few home projects we are trying to get scheduled. We are still living with our ugly stairs and guest bathroom. I’m hoping by the fall these projects will be done.
Another project I want to do so badly is to put hardwood in the foyer. Not a fan of the tile! Bobby is not convinced. We usually agree on almost everything, but ripping up the tile is a bit of a hard sell. We are good at negotiating so we will see what happens. I’ll keep you updated!
Wallpaper
When we made over the bedrooms and the hall and the bathrooms at StoneGable we hung lots of wallpaper! But taking it off the walls was a nightmare! So I swore I would NEVER, EVER, NEVER hang wallpaper in my home again! Well, never say never my friend!
We papered our power room and now I’m actually thinking about papering the kitchen. I love the idea of a very light leaf design with lots of white space. Or a pencil drawing.
I’ve ordered samples and Bobby is onboard! What makes this go-round of wallpaper different is three little words… peel and stick!
This is my favorite sample so far. It’s a large-ish print.
Have any of you used peel and stick wallpaper? Bobby is a really good wallpaper and peel and stick was a bit of a learning curve, but he found his peel and stick groove.
What are your thoughts on peel and stick wallpaper?
Displaying Family Pictures
I have so many wonderful pictures of my grandchildren! I often get asked why I don’t have them displayed in any of the images on the blog. Easy answer, our children asked us not to show images of the kids. Very smart parent, right?
I do like to display current pictures of them but not in the areas I take pictures most frequently. I have pictures on our nightstands and a lot of pictures in my office.
Since I like a clean look, most of the kiddos’ pictures are in white frames. And I’m planning on a gallery wall, in my office.
One great tip for displaying photos of loved ones is to put them in frames of the same color. Or create a color palette for the frames. This makes a very pretty and cohesive grouping.
Have you ever thought of framing meaningful cards you get? I’ve done that for years. This is a card my daughter, Jacqueline, gave me for Mother’s Day a few years ago.
I keep it on my desk to remind me that even though my daughter is grown I can still be a good example of a godly, strong woman to her.
Behind this card are a few other cards I put in this frame that are special to me.
I’m So Excited About This Diy
I’m so excited about the newest home decor DIY I am working on. I recently saw decorative books bundled together in the same color palettes. You can see them here and here. I think they would make a fabulous addition to any home decor. Who wouldn’t love a bunch of books that work together and work with their decor?
The ones that caught my eye were neutral and another was blue. Five books in different shades of the same color and with different covers that looked so pretty together. So I thought, “I can do that “.
So I’m busy painting and covering books to make a pretty decorative bundle. Look for a post soon.
Garden Stools
Garden stools have made a huge comeback lately. They are classics but they are getting a lot of extra attention!
The garden stool, in the foyer now, has been in our living room and bedroom here at the Tanglewood House.
I found this stool on clearance. And no wonder, it was originally bright school bus yellow! So I spray painted it a gunmetal gray years and years ago! If you don’t like the color of a piece of decor in your home PAINT IT!
Color Palette And A Salad
- Loving our new round table in the dining room. I’m learning how to create round centerpieces for it.
- We are waiting anxiously for the new sofa for the sunroom. Working on a mini makeover.
- Our whole family will be together for Memorial Day! If you live anywhere close to Lancaster County make sure you check out the Strasburg Memorial Day parade. It’s a real slice of the best of America!
- Our hydrangea bushes are starting to bud. I have been known to cut a few buds to put in small vases. They are so pretty!
- I am not a naturally neat person. I wish I was. But I like to be organized. So it is an effort, even to this day, to keep things tidy! Especially, what I call hot spots. And you can tell how busy I am by how my desk looks. Right now it’s a bit out of control! YIKES! Maybe that is oversharing!
- I stash my bathing suit and things I need to go to the pool in a big pretty straw tote and hang it next to our door. No one is the wiser. I can grab it and go and while it is hanging by the door in the foyer it’s very decorative too.
- This weekend I’m working on our guest rooms. Cleaning and organizing and probably moving furniture and accent decor around. Do you get your guest rooms ready for summer guests? What is your best tip?
- I’m thinking about replacing the big four-poster bed in one of the guest rooms with twin spindle beds.
- And the biggest debate at the Pratt house is whether to blow out the wall in the loft and create a bunkroom for the grandkids above the garage. Not sure we would make the $$$ back in resale though. But it would be such a fun place for the “babies”.
