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Friday, June 24, 2022

New House Makeover: Front Hall

Home Tour

Recently I shared a tour of our new home that we purchased last fall.  Today I'm kicking off a series of room makeover posts, starting with the front hall:

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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here

(Here is the new home tour post)


Home Tour
Home Tour
Home Tour

Here are a few shots from when we moved in.  The floors were in good condition but needed cleaning and the walls needed repainting.  You'll notice the freezer - it had to live in the front hall until we did some electrical repairs in the garage.



Home Tour

This shot is as though you just walked in the front door.  I kept the doors and trim white and painted the walls a simple beige color.  Tile by tile, I hand scrubbed the build up from the vintage hardwood with a water/ dish soap mixture and then oiled them to restore their shine.  I really like Quick Shine Floor Luster, a little goes a long way and the smell isn't overpowering.



Home Tour
Home Tour

If you turn your head to the left you will see the small hallway leading to my faux food bakery closet.  The mirror was  an old thrifting find and the framed photo is a picture of us holding a 'sold' sign in front of the house.



Home Tour

Look to the right and you'll see my ice cream cabinet!  Full of faux food fun, everything in this case is ice cream themed.  Next week I'll post all about what's inside but for now you can click here to see how this cabinet looked when I found it at the thrift store.



Home Tour

Up top are a few faux plants, some outdoor decor and a milk glass lamp.  The deer skull is called Hans and the golden goat is named The G.O.A.T.  

My husband is an avid outdoorsman so we have his harvested deer skulls all over the place, and yes I name them all.  It's not everyday you find a home full of dead animals and fake food, but we make it work πŸ˜†πŸ˜†πŸ˜† 

I love using the small lamp at night - it makes the room all soft and glowy.

 

Home Tour
Home Tour

If you were coming into the front hall from the front room, it would look like this.

I want to put a rug down but I'm still debating between one large rug or the combination of one smaller rug in front of the closet with a doormat.  I think a large rug would be prettiest but I'm leaning towards having the doormat for cleanliness. We'll see!



Home Tour

To the left of the front door I put a mirror and an extra dining chair.  I like how the mirror bounces light around and the chair gives me another spot to decorate.  Since it's summer I have some faux potted hydrangea right now.  You can click here to see how I made them.



Home Tour

Another view of the thrifted mirror and small hallway.



Home Tour
Home Tour

In the corner between my ice cream cabinet and the French doors is a tiny decal on the trim to look like a mouse hole.  Made with my Cricut and sticker vinyl, I call these my 'house gnome' holes and have about 7 scattered throughout the home.  It's the little things that make me smile πŸ˜†


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And that wraps up the front hall tour.  
I hope you enjoyed this home makeover post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer















Friday, June 17, 2022

Faux Firework Bundles - 4th Of July Decor

Summer


It's getting to be that patriotic time of year and a lot of you are already decorating accordingly!
Here is an easy step by step tutorial how to make your own faux firework bundles:

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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here


Summer

For this project I used a combination of permanent and iron on vinyl and a handful of recycled cardboard tubes. 

My red, white and blue permanent vinyl sheets are Kassa brand and can be found  here.
The gold iron on (HTV) mesh is from Cricut, you can find it  here.

Note:  HTV stands for heat transfer vinyl and is intended to be applied to fabric using an iron or heat press.  Once adhered it is flexible and can be washed and worn many times.  But you don't have to stop with fabrics - lots of crafters apply HTV to other materials such as wood, canvas or in this case cardboard tubes 😁



Summer

I wanted three firework bundles, each made up of three individual fireworks.  I also wanted the three separate fireworks to be staggered in height, so using my recycled tubes I cut them accordingly.  

The white colored tubes are from the inserts of Cricut vinyl rolls, but you could always paint your brown tubes if desired.  The only reason it mattered for this project is because the gold mesh vinyl would allow the paper cardboard tube to show through and I preferred white.



Summer

Because the mesh vinyl was HTV, I needed to use heat in order to apply it to the tubes.  
My Easy Press Mini did the trick!



Summer

The red and blue permanent vinyl was easy to apply - it goes on just like a sticker!
You'll notice that I ended up not using any of the white vinyl, as I was going along I decided to bundle them with white ribbon and thought that white on white wouldn't be enough of a contrast.



Summer
Summer

Using hot glue I attached the bundles together.  If you look closely, you can see that in some spots I layered colors for added interest with the gold mesh.



Summer

Once my tubes were decorated with the vinyl and hot glued together, I cut a length of ribbon to stretch around the bundles.



Summer

A little more hot glue held the ribbon in place.



Summer

My last step was to add a bit of wadded up tissue paper into the tops of the tubes.



Summer

And there you have it, adorable faux firework bundles perfect for your holiday displays!












Friday, June 10, 2022

Thrifty Finds: Candy Jar Makeover

Fake Food Decor

Happy summer my friends!
Today I'm sharing a simple candy jar makeover project, check it out:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here



Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor

Here you can see the candy jar set as I found it.  Though old and in need of cleaning, the wood was sturdy and in great shape.  The hexagonal shaped jars are large and of heavy glass, and can be placed straight up or at an angle.  The best part?  This thrift store find was only $6!



Fake Food Decor

A simple repainting was all it took to freshen this piece right up.

Like the faux flower pots in the background?  Here is how you can make them yourself!



Fake Food Decor

Here is the candy jar rack completed and placed in my bakery closet.  I filled the jars with faux berry cupcakes and made 'lid's using cloth and ribbon.  I ended up putting the jars in the completely upright position so the cupcakes are more visible.  I love how it turned out!

You can read about making faux cupcakes here, and here is a post where I detail how to make the jar coverings.  For a tour of my bakery closet you can click  here, or here for a doughnut wall decor tutotial.


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I hope you enjoyed this makeover post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer





Friday, June 3, 2022

Faux Food Storage & Display: My Bakery

Fake Food Decor

If you've been visiting this blog for awhile, you'll know that one of my favorite crafting hobbies is to make fake bake decor.  Some things I make to keep out all year round (like cakes and cookies) while others are seasonal or holiday themed.  Since I only bring them out occasionally, I needed a place to store my collection, hence my 'bakery' was born 😍

Read on to see how I decorated it as well as how I organize my off season storage:


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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here



Fake Food Decor

Last week I shared this post with photos from our new house.  You may remember me mentioning that right off of the front hall is a large storage closet that I use for my fake bake storage.

Open the door and....



Fake Food Decor

...it's packed!

First I want to show you how it looks and then I'll talk about my organization and finally the decorating.
The photo above is right as you open the door.  So far I have painted the walls/ ceiling and I'm planning on redoing the floor this summer.



Fake Food Decor

Still standing in the doorway and turning your head slightly to the right you can see the middle. 

The cabinet was a thrift store find that I talk more about  here.



Fake Food Decor

And turning your head further to the right, you can see the rest of the storage.

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Here is how that storage is broken down:



Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor

Directly across from the door I have my summer fruit themed collections.



Fake Food Decor

The wall to the far right contains Easter, spring, winter, Valentine's birthday, Christmas and Halloween.  You can't see the fall storage here, but it's down below.



Fake Food Decor

Across from the display cabint is the rest of my summer; 4th of July, honey, beach/ seashell and s'mores themes.

Right now these containers are all clear with white lids and pink labels.  I'm thinking of lining the bins with white tissue paper so that the overall look is cleaner.  I use a lot of recycled grocery bags to cushion my items and it can look a bit cluttered through the clear sides.  I'm also going to order a few more of the plastic shelves for my Christmas section so that I can stack it easier.

You can find the storage shelves  here.




Fake Food Decor
My Bakery Sign

This used to be a framed chalkboard that I picked up at the thrift store.  I repainted it white and gold and then used my Cricut to make the signage.



Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor
Doughnut Decor

Around the top of the room I hung a series of doughnuts that I made from baking pans. You can click here to see a step by step tutorial.



Fake Food Decor
Display Cabinet

 Since I wanted this room to be more than just storage, I added a cabinet where I display my 'baking in progress' decor items.



Fake Food Decor

The candy jar storage rack is a thrift store makeover that I'll share in the future.  Some of the vintage Tupperware were my grandmothers, others I have picked up at garage sales or while thrifting.



Fake Food Decor

These are salt dough rolls that I colored with a bit of acrylic paint mixed with water.  Just brush on and let dry.



Fake Food Decor

My sugar and brown sugar are just Dollar Tree sand in jars that I also picked up while there.  Again I used my Cricut to make the labels.

(You can click here to check out Dollar Tree's online selection)



Fake Food Decor

Here is a post where I shared how to make the kitchen baking props (kneaded dough, and chocolate cake batter), and here is where you can see how to make the faux milk.  This post will talk about salt dough cookies.  The pink and chocolate cake printable is one that I made myself.  You can find it here in my Etsy shop - just download and print!

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Some close-ups:




Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor

If you took a look at the baking prop post, you'll notice that when I made the kneaded dough it was nice and round.  I didn't realize that it wasn't completely dry when I put it in storage (before moving) and it ended up getting squished.  Oops!



Fake Food Decor

Below the shelving display area are drawers for storage.

I was lucky and found the vintage Pillsbury Doughboy in a bag of food toys at a garage sale for only a couple of dollars, but here is the exact same one on Ebay if you are interested.  If you want a lesser price, try searching "Pillsbury Doughboy" toy to find similar styles.



Fake Food Decor

Vintage Fisher Price cake toys in the left small drawer😍



Fake Food Decor

And an assortment of salt dough cookies are in the right side.  I like to swap out the cookies on my tiny try per the season so I have circles, gingerbread men, hearts, pumpkins, snowflakes and carrots.



Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor
Fake Food Decor

The larger drawers at the bottom contain the rest of my vintage Fisher Price/ Little Tykes food toy collection.  I like to keep these low so that my niece can easily reach them when she visits πŸ˜‰

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And there you have it, my very own 'bakery' closet!  
I hope you enjoyed the tour, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer