Whats Ur Home Story

Do you Goodwill?

April 17, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 9 Comments

Before we get into the post a reminder for those you who haven't entered the $50 Safeway gift card giveaway is open till the 28th! I discovered Goodwill, for that matter thrift stores a few years ago. Ever since they've become my go to place for knickknacks. In fact it was the first thought that crossed my mind when I wanted a wine glass to make my succulent planter the other day. Thrift stores can be tricky when it comes to inventory, many a times I've returned empty handed while at others I've found fabulous treasures especially when I'm on a strict self imposed "no extra spending" limit. This time too it was no different, how could it be? I was on another round of my "no extra spending" drive! And as expected there was no dearth of possibilities! See for yourself! This pheasant … [Read more...]

How to Prune Knockout Roses

April 15, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 9 Comments

Knockout roses though usually maintenance free need some pruning love once in a while to keep their shape. Actually there are two schools of thought when it comes to pruning knockout roses. One, a maintenance prune to clear out any dead wood and to keep the shape and two, rejuvenating i.e heavy pruning in Spring all the way to 6-8 inches off the ground. We planted a hedge of knockout roses on the side of our house 2 summers ago. Our house sits on a slight slope and the rose hedge acts as a buffer between the stark contrast of the stoop and the lawn. So I prefer them to be tall and bushy and resort to method #1. Here's the low down on the when and how. Timing Your best indicator is to prune when Forsythia is in bloom (which is right now for us). Tools Pruning Shears or … [Read more...]

Wine Glass Planter + $50 Safeway Giveaway

April 14, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 15 Comments

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and All You Magazine, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #lifeforless http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV. Happy Monday! It is Spring break for us, which only means that the kiddos are out of school for the week! Have you noticed that as they get older it is getting tougher to keep them entertained while limiting the time on "electronics"? :( My oldest is the family bookworm while the younger one is the outdoorsy type. But when we run out of reading material (mind you we have a huge library at home and visit our public library often) and when the other kids in the neighborhood are not around they are at a loss of what to do. I've found that the only way to keep the "I'm bored, what should I do?" … [Read more...]

Chinese Take Out Box Centerpiece

April 10, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 5 Comments

Chinese Take Out Box Vase, Spring centerpiece, Spring decor

Ok, I’ll give you a minute to take in how simple the idea is! And there you have it folks, that is our post for today! :) No really, this project is as simple as the picture and is the perfect party centerpiece for procrastinators like me. When it comes to party planning or for that matter anything, I love to plan every little bit of detail but when it comes to executing I’m the last minute queen. Have been working really hard on this and have made significant strides, like this post for example. I shot and edited the pictures for this post last week and kept only the actual writing to now. ;) Anyways if you are looking for a super quick and pretty centerpiece idea then look no further. A huge plus is that you can customize it to fit any season by using whatever plant that is … [Read more...]

How to Reuse Burlap Ribbon

April 8, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 2 Comments

By now most of us have either bought, DIY'd, or thought of DIY'ing the burlap ribbon wreath, right? You know the one I made in Fall and altered throughout the holiday season to fit Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas decor? No doubt the wreath is fabulous and versatile but what do you do with all that burlap ribbon when the look wears off on you? I used about 4 rolls of ribbon on that wreath and to let that go to waste would've been a shame. So like any self respecting DIY'er who also happens to be a thriftress, I got to unraveling the ribbon from the wire frame with the aid of a home made mask aka. a towel tied around my nose and mouth. After a few hours of frustration and a lot of burlap dust flying all over the house later what do I end with? A big heap of twisted curly burlap … [Read more...]

Perfect Kids Easter Craft – Watercolor Eggs

April 7, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 4 Comments

Hope y'all had a great weekend. The weather around here is finally feeling like Spring! And not wanting to waste even a single ounce of it I got to painting my family room chairs blue. Reveal coming soon....;) For today, remember the watercolor Easter eggs I showed you in the Spring Home Tour post? Time to see how I made them. Actually it was a team effort; my 8 yr old made the blue ombre one all by herself. These are super easy and a great way to get the kids involved. All you need are blown out eggs and watercolors. Only thing to keep in mind is that watercolors have chemicals and are not safe to use on eggs that you plan on consuming. Whatever color combinations or patterns you use you simply cannot go wrong with these. Here are more that we made; Tutorial Blue Ombre Egg - … [Read more...]

Window Shopping – Vintage Hip Decor

April 3, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 4 Comments

The other day while I went in search of chalk paint for the family room chairs I managed to sneak in some window shopping at On A Whim Boutique and The Old Lucketts Store. If you are in the area definitely make a trip to these stores and many others in the area. You will surely find one of a kind pieces for you home. I'm on a self imposed spending moratorium, if not would have gotten at least one of these bamboo cafe chairs as my desk/craft room chair. Wish I had seen these when I was looking for chairs for our breakfast table! At $20 a piece would have bought them all in a heart beat (there were 4 I think). Right next to them was this industrial sofa table made from old doors and pipes. I think I might end up DIY'ing something like this to go against the blank wall in our family … [Read more...]

Family Room Chairs Update

April 1, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 10 Comments

To recap, after much searching I found two adorable cane chairs on Craigslist around this time last year. While I took my own sweet time trying to decide on what I wanted to do with them, they gathered dust in my already messy garage. More design prodding followed and eventually last November I decided on the fabric. Now, exactly a year after I got them, the musty Kermit frog green velvet is off. Unlike my previous chair makeover this time around the dismantling and un-stapling process was way easier 'coz we had the right tool, the Swingline Heavy Duty Staple Remover*. A quick sanding with a 220 grit sandpaper later; The original plan was to use Annie Sloan Chalk paint and I had my heart set on Napoleanic blue. But at the store the sample looked like this. :( The left side … [Read more...]

Craigslist Treasures

March 31, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 4 Comments

One thing I've missed when I cut down the number of weekly posts from 5 to 3 is my series posts, especially my two favorites, the Scouting Craigslist and the Same Look 4 Less. Like most women in the world I too can spend every minute of every day shopping or even window shopping. Just looking at things with the intention of buying (note I said intention only without specifying any time frame; could be next week, month, or even many years down the line) is enough to give me a sense of happiness. Those posts not only gave me the simple pleasure of window shopping for deals or things that I could DIY to look like a high end decorative piece but also the joy of sharing my findings with y'all. I mean who doesn't love a good deal? So when I was browsing through our local Craigslist and found … [Read more...]

DIY Laundry Room Sign

March 27, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 4 Comments

Today let's take a break from the Spring Home Tour shindig and switch gears to the laundry room makeover. After the initial jolt of enthusiasm to get the ceiling and light fixture ready in time for the East Coast Creative contest, things have cooled down a bit. Frankly the rest of the room is moving at snail's pace as I'm getting pulled into a million other directions on the personal front. The plan is to get going on it over the weekend and have the reveal for you next week. Till then here's a small update from the room, a DIY laundry room sign that I made from a thrift store frame. Wondering why I have a "Lost and Found" sign in my laundry room? Believe it or not we keep losing things in the washer/ dryer! Of course everyone loses socks but around here we specialize in DS games, … [Read more...]

Sharpie Doodle Easter Eggs

March 25, 2014 By Vidya Sukumaran 21 Comments

Before I get into the details of how I made these super easy Sharpie Doodle Easter eggs, need to tell you the back story on how I've displayed them in my home. The earliest memories I have of the snake plant is seeing it in my Achamma's (paternal grandmother) backyard. Every time we cooked eggs, my Achamma would crack the shell open gently so she could retain most of it intact, would then proceed to rinse the shell, head outside, and place it over the tall snake plant leaves! As my cousins and I grew older Achamma would delegate the task to us; we would patiently stand in line all excited waiting for our chance to decorate the snake plant with the egg shells! It took some amount of patience to balance the shell over the pointy leaves. If you do it fast you end up risking an egg shell … [Read more...]