Summer Home Tour

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Roeshel

Have you been following Marty’s Summer Home Tour series starting at A Stroll Thru Life? What an honor to be invited. 30 bloggers’ homes all decked out for summer, all week long! Welcome friends!

We spend most pretty summer days on our patio and outdoor living areas which I’ve shared previously but let’s take another look, shall we?

Our grape arbor/gazebo is such a romantic, quiet and shaded spot, a secluded little outdoor getaway.

Unless it’s raining, our patio is where you can find us on nice days…dining, relaxing, talking about our day, reading or entertaining.

(That’s the grape arbor gazebo in the background and later this week I’ll share how our pallet garden shown below looks filled with blooms.) Update: here’s the flower pallet garden:

and this is the third year for our chandelier planter…

We haven’t de-winterized the barn patio area this year just yet, but we’re always have it completed before our 4th of July party…

I don’t go all out with summer decorating indoors, although after visiting these gorgeous homes, I’m inspired to crank it up a notch. Wow, right? But I do manage a few summer touches inside too…

the kitchen: a pretty runner on the dresser/island and a wooden bowl of lemons for fresh squeezed lemonade…

a peek of the dining room…

and a beach themed mantel in the family room…

a reading area for rainy days…

DIYShowOff Home Tour • DIYShowOff Project Gallery

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up is City Farmhouse leading the way tomorrow morning. Miss yesterday? See the schedule below to catch up! Enjoy the beautiful summer home tours, don’t forget to grab your drool bib. 😉

Visit everyone all week long! Here’s the line up:

Monday – June 8th

A Stroll Thru Life

Life On Virginia Street

Snazzy Little Thing s

21 Rosemary LaneThrifty and ChicClaire Brody Designs
Tuesday – June 9th
Thrifty Decor Chick
Our Southern Home
Making Home Base
Hymns & Verses
Bliss @ Home
DIY Showoff

Wednesday – June 10th
City Farmhouse
Driven By DecorNo Minimalist Here
SG Style
Decor To Adore
Desire EmpireThursday – June 11th
A Thoughtful Place
Monica Wants It
Rain On A Tin Roof
Charming In Charlotte
Remodelando la Casa
Dimples & Tangles

Friday – June 12th
Simple Details
Tidbits & Twine
Design Post Interiors
Designing On The Side
Peaceful Home Decor
Talk Of The House

DIYShowOff blog is all about inspiring others to create a beautiful home, to change your world one DIY project at a time. That starts by taking the steps to create a healthy chemical-free environment for you and your family. Embrace wellness and join an amazing community here!

Decorating Outdoor Living Spaces

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Roeshel

Summer is my favorite season of all – warm weather, long days and relaxing outdoors. We enjoy our patio, gazebo/grape arbor and barn patio area more than being indoors this time of the year. And I love decorating our outdoor living spaces just as much as I love decorating indoors.

Pops of color: Because I love to change things up every year, I find that keeping larger furniture pieces neutral works best since we tend to use them for 10 years or more at a time and to decorate with colorful accents.

Planting flowers breathes life and color into outdoor living areas. This year it’s shades of yellows, oranges, pinks and reds.

Colorful accent pillows are an invitation to get comfy and kick back with a frosty glass of lemonade. I like lots of pillows to soften things up.

Decorative accents:

Fun planters add a whimsical touch. (pallet, chandelier, tire)…

I recently spray painted a colander to add balance to the planters displayed in our magnolia tree …

Repurposed items add interest. (bird feeder, bundt pan, birdie garland)…

Furniture placement:

I love creating different cozy conversational areas like under the grape arbor for catching up with friends on this little bistro set…

swinging with the baby…

or positioning our canopied porch swing into a daybed position for curling up with a good book or a sweet pup…

al fresco dining near the kitchen door and grill…

areas to encourage conversation…

The flowers in my pallet garden have sprouted but aren’t visible yet.

For entertaining, we set up a buffet on the harvest table at our barn area with outdoor games in the yard near by. We add rental tables and chairs in the shade for large gatherings, a smaller comfortable area for more intimate parties. I haven’t tackled de-winterizing yet, but here’s now it usually looks all cleaned up…

To celebrate the start of summer we have an AWESOME Sensational Summer Outdoor Spaces Cash Giveaway for you! Enter to win $300 PayPal CASH!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit more outdoor spaces/outdoor living inspiration from these talented blog friends:

Setting for Four

Sand and Sisal

Domestically Speaking

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Cupcakes and Crinoline

Town and Country Living

And a link party too! Share your summer related blog posts, browse the links for more inspiration!
OH! And you’re going to need this for your outdoor living areas too! Chemical-free DIY outdoor spray. I just whipped up a batch for my mosquito-magnet hubby and love that I can use it on the dog too!

Love Your Home Challenge

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Roeshel

In 2007, we purchased a fixer upper farmhouse with the goal of creating our dream home and 8 years later, we’ve come a long way but it’s still far from being finished. Most times it’s finances that keep projects on the back burner. Sometimes things get a little out of hand and taking the time to care for our home becomes last priority. It happens. ::gasp:: I know. Lately, I’ve gone from seeing the potential and enjoying the journey to feeling like there’s never enough money, things are too cluttered and just feeling overwhelmed by it all.

This couldn’t have come at a better time. I was invited to complete a simple Love Your Home Challenge and recently had the opportunity to read through an inspiring new book by long time blog acquaintance, Melissa Michaels from the Inspired Room, called “Love the Home You Have”: Inspiration to embrace imperfections, a reminder to focus on the blessings and to embrace “home”, no matter what stage it’s in, no matter what life stage we’re in. It reminded me to look at the things I do enjoy about this home. Baking in the kitchen when it’s clean…

baby giggles on the bed in the sweet guest room/nursery…

the lighting and thrifted charm of our family room…

an organized open pantry…

But it’s so easy to get caught up in what’s not finished, what’s not perfect, to lose sight of creating a dream home right where we are. And I couldn’t help but put the book aside to tackle an area that I’ve been putting off. Something simple. The dreaded drop zone that used to be our dining room table…

Yikes!

“Love the Home you Have” is a simple reminder that one small step a day of taking care of the little things contributes to a happy home. Whether it’s simply wiping down the cabinets, decluttering, cleaning, rearranging furniture or clearing the dining room table. Something, anything – brings about a sense of accomplishment and contentment.

Love The Home You Have from The Inspired Room on Vimeo.

My mission: organizing the mess, putting things away, a little light cleaning, shopping the house for a fresh touch. The room still needs painted. I still look at the built-ins and cringe. I have a completely different vision in mind but for now I can focus on the things I do love when I walk through this room. I can enjoy the beautiful barn wood trestle table. I have a clear line of vision to the sliding door that gives me a thrill and I can plan the first step to turning the entire room into a room I’ll drool over…someday. But in the meantime – it’s clean. It’s de-cluttered. It’s no longer overwhelming. It makes me happy.

Need a little refresher course to remember to Love the Home you Have? Treat yourself by adding this easy, inspiring read to your collection of design books. Affiliate link:

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

What is it about your home that’s holding you back? Start with a small step, one small goal. Embrace your surroundings. Make it yours. Love what you have. What if you got up right now and took 15 minutes. Where would you start?