{ Open Call For: Next Home Show Designer Contest }

Link up 

October 1 - December 1, 2012

at www.PaintedHomeDesigns.com

Winner will be featured at

The Philadelphia Home Show 2013!

We are searching for an up and coming Decorator, Designer, or DIYer to feature his/her UPCYCLING design flair at the 2013 Philadelphia Home Show. The winning designer will be given a space to design (top to bottom) at the show to be seen by over 50,000 home owners in the Philadelphia area!

Show us some examples of your creative design projects, which should feature OLD items that have been refurbished, upcycled, and re-purposed.

What we are looking for

1. Creativity
2. Innovation
3. Use of current design trends
4. Creative upcycled items incorporated into the design
5. Quality of design and items used in design
6. Quality of photos
7. Entrant follow all party rules

Rules and Policies

Rules of Eligibility

1. Entries must be relevant to the interior design upcycling theme. You may link up as many relavant projects as you like.
2. Projects/designs MUST be your own work.
3. All entries must be submitted by November 1, 2012.
4. You must include a linked party button in ALL linked project posts.
5. Appreciated: include the linked party button in your side bar.
6. Appreciated: Please subscribe to and/or follow The Painted Home.

Philadelphia Home Show Event Policies

1. Entries will be narrowed to (5) five finalists whom will them be interviewed to determine the winner.
2. Winner must commit to completing a room at the Phialdelphia Home Show 2013.
3. PHS room measures 12' x 20' and include 3 unfinished hardwalls.
4. Move-in/set up for the room will be January 29 - February 1, at the PA Convention Center; Show dates are February 2 - 10, 2013.
5. Winner must have his/her room finished by 4pm on Friday Feb. 1.
6. Decor for room includes flooring, wall covering, furniture, and decor items.
7. Complete move-in/set up instructions will be shared with the five finalists.
8. Winner can be onsite at the show to promote his/her designs, but is not required to be.

BUTTON REQUIRED IN EACH LINKED POST

Here is the button you should include in each of your linked posts.

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRIES BY LINKING UP BELOW

NOTE: Post must meet the rules above.

ADAC Opens its Doors

If you live in Atlanta and are exposed on any level to the world of design, then you most definitely have heard of ADAC.  Until now, ADAC was a place for designers to visit, but the general public wasn't allowed access.  As of tomorrow, October 1st, any and all will be welcomed inside the campus consisting of 550,000 square feet with 60 showrooms offering 1,200 of the industry’s finest product lines including furniture, fabric, rugs, lighting, accessories, floor and wall coverings, antiques, fine art and framing, kitchens, bath, tile and stone, and home theater product.  It is an exciting venture for ADAC and the entire design community.

To kick things off there will be two weeks of events open to the public as well as designers.  For a detailed calendar of events you can visit ADAC's website.  You can register for any of the events listed by going here.  On Wednesday, October 10th, I'll be speaking along with five lovely ladies, Shelly Hart of Design Indulgence, Erika Ward of BluLabel Bungalow, Claire Watkins of High Gloss Blue, and Helen Young of Whitehaven; moderated Wendy Shannon at With a Southern Twist.  We'll be dishing about what is in, what is out and what is hot in the world of blogging and design.  Please join us!  It's a really fun group and I'm sure you will be entertained.

Quiet Time

Only God can tell a questioning heart to stop asking and start living out the answers.

-From Heart of My Heart by Kristin Armstrong

{ Fall DIY's - Day 5 - Outdoor }

I am NO green thumb. So, I try to avoid as many living plants as possible.
Sometimes my mother plants real, live plants/flowers in my window boxes.
I am not ammused. But, I'm too lazy to take them out. And, I'm especially not a mum person.
They really aren't all that attractive, but they say "Fall".
So I go with it.

Here's what I did to zing up the typical "mums in a window box" type of thing.

It's amazing what a simple pinecone will do.

(And how competitive your children will become when you tell them there is a pinecone collecting contest happening.)

I highly recommend it.

Another spot I used some cheap and easy decorating was my front door.

Now, I'm not actually going to show you my front door, 'cause I haven't painted it yet. snort.

So, you'll have to settle for a peak at the general area of the front door.

And, if you think I've gotten around to painting the actual house yet, your funnier than my friend Lisa. 

And she's funny.

So just imagine a beautiful shade of mocha brown stucco behind all this hdge podge.

Here's what I've got...

 super cute grape crates, from? who knows where. Probably somebody's trash. Or my brother-in-law Pat, who makes his own wine. Yes, yummy.

yes, I believe they were Merlot grapes.

I also threw some pinecones in these window boxes.

With a few candles mixed in.

super cute, right?

gentle country living

This home, spotted in south east England, demonstrates the universal appeal of elegant and comfortable living.  A gentle mix of antique and contemporary pieces, an english touch with generous curtains and florals....

 

 

 

 

light pouring in through wide windows, comfortable seating ...

a large and bright kitchen, almost certainly the hub of family life

 

 

 

 

light is a feature here, breakfast at this table has to be good

 

 

 

and the same comfortable approach continues into the garden, with the space laid out in 'rooms', and plenty of scattered seating.

 

 

all photos thanks to Wealden Times

thought for the day

A friend gave me a lovely gift this week.  The note she attached to her present was written on a sheet of paper above this wonderful quote by Thorton Wilder.

After a week that has found me slowing down to rest and reflect, I found the words very welcome.

May we all be conscious of our treasures this weekend.

Notepaper from Sugarboo Designs

Hmmm, I Think I Like You

This light caught my eye while looking for another fixture on West Elm today.  Thoughts?

time to re-invent yourself?

We all come to turning points in our lives, often provoked by a change of circumstances:  getting married;  a new career; a divorce; a change  of health; simply moving house ....  there are many situations that provide us with  an opportunity to re-invent ourselves.  

Some of you may know that I started writing this blog at a turning point in my life.  My youngest child left primary school and suddenly my role as a full-time hands-on mum became part-time.  It was a shock! 

I found myself at a loose end.  A friend introduced me to the world of blogging.  I quickly began to enjoy the writing and the interaction with readers, never for a moment suspecting all the other doors that the blog would open for me.

 

Because that is surely the beauty of a period of change.  We find ourselves being gently coaxed, or even outright shoved onto a path we hadn't planned to tread.  From there it is up to us how we react.   Keep looking forward, eager to discover new territory and new friends.  Or continually looking over our shoulder, regretting the familiar places we left behind and longing to get back.

photo by Jeanne from Collage of Life - thank you Jeanne!

 I've noticed that it is easy to see life in 'sections'.  To each part of our life belong particular pleasures, particular joys, particular duties.  The more we manage to live each stage of our path to the full, the less regrets we have when we move onto the next step.  

I'm not in a hurry to grow any older, nor to move on from this 'section' in my life,  but I do have a growing list of things I am looking forward to doing in about 20 years time.

 The bottom line is  we only have one life.  And only we can live it.  Family and friends may shape us but they can't live our life in our place.  And it's not because we re-invent ourselves that we leave them behind.  The more fulfilled we are, the better a person we can be for them.

So how do you feel?  Are you already at a crossroad?  Do you feel you are ready to reinvent yourself?    then I would humbly say "go for it!".    Change can feel scary or exciting, it's up to us.  One things is for sure, unless we walk that new path, we'll never know where it's going!

Thank you for reading me, hope your week is going well.

This and That........and Giveaway Winners

This has been a good week. Lots of things going on around here, but all good. Gorgeous fall weather has swept through Chicago and I'm loving every minute of it. Fall is definitely my favorite time of year, how about you?

This past weekend it was the perfect weather for us to go on our annual apple picking excursion. Our regular orchard wasn't open this season due to the unpredictable, crazy weather we had this last spring. But we decided to try a new one that turned out to be lots of fun.....

Gigi (Brett's mom) came along on our fun apple picking adventure.

Earlier this week, we made a giant apple pie from the apples we picked. I went back and forth about whether or not I wanted to do a crumble or crust on top, but I ended up doing a crust since our apples were almost falling off the top of the pie. This was only four of the apples we picked....they were huge! And the pie was delish!

Instagram Photo 

(follow me @thecottagemama)

We also brought out all the fall decorations so our house looks nice and cozy. The girls had so much fun sipping hot chocolate and helping me decorate. We made this vintage yo-yo garland together and I think it turned out really cute.

These pretties arrived in the mail this week from Riley Blake Designs for my next Design Team Project. This is from the line "The Sweetest Thing" and the small little flower print is the new knit fabric they are carrying. I've already washed it and it came out beautifully. I can't wait to start creating my next project!

There has been A LOT of sewing going on this week as I prepare for our first styled book shoot this weekend! I'm so excited to meet all of the little models and work with my book photographer. Fun, fun!

We have had quite a few giveaways in the last couple weeks, so it's probably about time that announce the winners. Sorry to keep you hanging. Here they are.........

Jo Totes Camera Bag:

Simply Color Charm Packs and Jelly Roll:

Modes4U Japanese Fat Quarter Bundle and Washi Tape:

Congratulations to our winners! Please email me at thecottagemama[at]gmail[dot]com with your contact information and we will get you your prizes as soon as possible! Don't worry if you didn't win, just keep trying. We have more giveaways coming up and you just never know when the random number generator might pick you!

So that's what has been going on around here. Some of those pictures are from Instagram and if you want to check out our daily life around here, you can follow me @thecottagemama. I hope you all had a great week and are finally getting a little taste of this beautiful fall weather.

Happy Weekend!

{Fall DIY's - Day 4 - Modge Podge & Pumpkins}

Today is day 4 of Fall DIY week, and it might be the simplest project yet.

It's the modge podge pumpkin.

If you haven't modge podge before, don't be intimidated. It's simple, sloppy, and can be be used in so many ways.

Today we are going to make vintage paper modge podge pumpkins. Say that 10x's fast.

Start with ripping some book pages into 1' strips.

Apply the modge podge liberally to one side of the pumpkin with the cheapest brush you own.

Overlap the pages and add modge podge over top of the paper too.

Let that half of the pumpkin dry before you start work on the other side.

Don't worry about crinkles and bubbles. It will only add to the homemade look. 

I used the modge podge jar to hold the pumpkin while it dried.

A little glitter would be fun too, but I'm out of that at the moment.

Gather a few pinecones from your yard and ta-da. Instant charm.

I think I'd like a little cluster of these cuties. So, I'll be make more today.

Happy Fall!