Creating a Wedding Wall

Yesterday I mentioned re-creating a wedding wall. So what is a wedding wall? This was something we had in a previous house. When she was younger our daughter could hardly wait for the day she would be married and go up on the wedding wall. It took us a while to get to it. After we moved, we put up couple of photos on whatever hooks happened to be already in the house but that was it. However, we always intended to put the wedding wall back together. Now, finally after a lot of time, fiddling and patience, it is … Continue reading

Clutter Control Freak Part 2

On to more clutterbusting! I can’t tell you how excited I am to help get rid of your clutter. I feel lighter and more in control already. I realize I may have a problem but I’m ok with it! The first place I look to get rid of things is the local thrift store. Here in Utah we have one run by the church and they do a lot of good things with the proceeds. That is my go to way to get rid of clothes and household items. Freecycle is another great place, the best part is you don’t … Continue reading

A Relaxed Home

Have you ever walked into an exhibition house at a display village? They are often tastefully decorated but are impersonal. They have a certain bland sameness. The reason is they are decorated by decorating firms without any idea of a personality. When a visitor walked into our home recently she said, ‘what a lovely home.’ The reason I believe, is not because of the floor plan of the house but because our house simply reflects our personalities and interests. Several things are evident from when you first walk in the door. One is that we love books. Two is that … Continue reading

Decorating with Photographs

Taking photographs can be a great hobby. Photos can also be a great personal and relatively inexpensive way to decorate your home. Some people might want a collage of family photos and they can look quite effective having a display and it makes a house very personal and like a home. Another idea might to take photos of your area or a particular feature that appeals to you like rivers or bridges, sand dunes or buildings. Recently I entered a competition for photographs to go on a calendar of the area. It’s not that I’m an expert photographer by any … Continue reading

In Decorating Don’t Assume

As a collector of owls of all sorts, pottery, wood, glass, ceramics etc my owls were taking over the coffee tables in the lounge room. That’s three tables. And the result was that they all looked cluttered. Originally, Mick was going to make a rookery for them. But then we saw the CD towers advertised. They were inexpensive and in a cherry color that fitted in with the rest of the furniture in that room, so we went and bought one. The tower is about 6 foot 6 inches high, 7 inches deep and 15 inches wide. It makes a … Continue reading

More Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas

Last week we looked at some inexpensive home decorating ideas. Here are some more. Use your photographs as a decoration. One way is to make a collage of photos from your family’s life. I used to have one large wall in our family room dedicated to photos of our family. Eventually it spread to two walls. You could track our family, and the various homes we’d lived in and pets we’d had, through that wall. I bought simple inexpensive frames and then rather than only put half a dozen or so photos in the allotted spots. I took the sectioned … Continue reading

Inexpensive Home Decorating Ideas

Decorating your home is a very individual thing. When money is tight decorating becomes more of a challenge but far from impossible. Some of the things we have tried in past times were using photographs and pictures from calendars. Framing them in inexpensive frames and grouping them together as a display. Gift wrapping paper can also be used the same way. Select papers that complement each in design and color. Frame them and then arrange in a diamond pattern or some other interesting combination one wall. Stencils are another inexpensive way of brightening up a home and relatively inexpensive and … Continue reading

10 Tips When You’re Moving House

You know you’re moving, you’ve decided to put your house up for sale and followed some of the suggested guidelines on the previous blog, now what? Here are more guidelines to make it easier. 1. Decide whether you are going to use a real estate agent or try and sell privately. I admit we’ve only ever sold using an agent. Friends have sold privately and to me it sounded like a lot of hassle. I also see houses put up for sale privately that often then have to be out in an agent’s hands. 2. Make sure you factor all … Continue reading

What’s Wrong with Young Marriages?

You often hear meaning people say that some couples are too young to get married. There is a theory and some evidence to suggest that young marriages don’t work. Yet years ago, many people were married much younger than they are today. Once 18 wasn’t considered young to get married. In fact you will find many of those who have been married fifty years or more would have been married around this age or certainly before 21. Do the math. You’d have to be married fairly young or live a long time to rack up that many years. In the … Continue reading

Giving in to Social Trends?

Has the church given into to the trends of society? The Church of England recently announced a plan for a double ceremony or as some dubbed it a ‘hatch and match’ ceremony, where the couple the can be married and then have their child baptized or themselves too if they like on the same day as part of the same ceremony. The situation that has brought this about is that while the church believes that the best place for sex is within marriage relationship, the reality shows that around 44 percent of women are not married when they give birth. … Continue reading