This is something I've never heard before in all my time researching home decorating! Great stuff. 57" is now my new standard.And for the record, I read Apartment Therapy almost daily. It is full of wonderful inspiration!
http://vimeo.com/16721085
One crazy newlywed gal in the Nashville area, taking life a day at a time, setting up home on a budget, finding beauty in the ordinary, seeking joy in the small things, and following Christ as best I can.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Monday, November 08, 2010
How to Throw an Open House Party for Dirt Cheap!
I know I haven't blogged a lot. Heck, I've hardly blogged at all. There is good reason (there always is, right?), and that reason is I have been, sometimes literally, neck deep in sorting through the last bits of our boxes from the move in time to throw a bash.
It was our first official party in our home. Friends and family made the trek out to Bellevue to meet the new digs and say hi to the attention hog of a pup. On top of everything else, Daniel's birthday was the next day. I got him a lab coat and goggles that he wore the remainder of the evening (gift success!) and surprised him even more by topping that by taking him out with a bunch of friends to play laser tag in downtown Nashville.
Sure, the picture frames weren't, well, filled with pictures. And the stack of papers (the last bastion of unsorted-ness) was shoved into a plastic tote and stashed out of sight in a closet. And we were left with half a birthday cake and a ton of brownies to consume ... but I loved having everyone over and planning it out. I didn't like the 2am night-before bake-a-thon so much. But that's another story.
Bottom line: my husband enjoyed his sort-of-surprise party, and I enjoyed planning it. I enjoyed making do with breakfast foods and leftovers while he was on a business trip the week before so I could spend our grocery budget on yummy edibles. I enjoyed coming up with the look and theme and scoring some 50% flowers at the grocery store the morning of and making $6.99 of carnations, daisies, roses, etc. spread across a multitude of mason jars. Which, I should proudly point out, were re-used for the THIRD time since I got them for our romantic dinner last year that ended up with us being engaged only an hour or two later. (The second time was at our wedding.)
I love a good deal.
Even better yet was some of the art I did manage to set up pre-party. Namely, a pencil imitation of a Master that my grandfather made in the 80's, alongside a trio of art mannequins we already owned. Unity through repetition. See? I did learn something in college! Or the $1 clearance kitty dish mat (i.e. Modern Art) that I measured out and cut to fit an un-fittable frame! Or the dirt-cheap ready-to-be-thrown-out map of Nashville that just happened to have my bathroom colors on it and was trimmed and framed in one of my Craigslist-find frames!
I'll have to post some pictures. It's all very exciting.
And so is the direction I'm going with what I hope will be a new blog. Yes, you read that right. A new blog. After five years of Ruby Red ... I'm thinking of moving on, and this post is a hint what direction I will be heading. I'm so excited!
It was our first official party in our home. Friends and family made the trek out to Bellevue to meet the new digs and say hi to the attention hog of a pup. On top of everything else, Daniel's birthday was the next day. I got him a lab coat and goggles that he wore the remainder of the evening (gift success!) and surprised him even more by topping that by taking him out with a bunch of friends to play laser tag in downtown Nashville.
Sure, the picture frames weren't, well, filled with pictures. And the stack of papers (the last bastion of unsorted-ness) was shoved into a plastic tote and stashed out of sight in a closet. And we were left with half a birthday cake and a ton of brownies to consume ... but I loved having everyone over and planning it out. I didn't like the 2am night-before bake-a-thon so much. But that's another story.
Bottom line: my husband enjoyed his sort-of-surprise party, and I enjoyed planning it. I enjoyed making do with breakfast foods and leftovers while he was on a business trip the week before so I could spend our grocery budget on yummy edibles. I enjoyed coming up with the look and theme and scoring some 50% flowers at the grocery store the morning of and making $6.99 of carnations, daisies, roses, etc. spread across a multitude of mason jars. Which, I should proudly point out, were re-used for the THIRD time since I got them for our romantic dinner last year that ended up with us being engaged only an hour or two later. (The second time was at our wedding.)
I love a good deal.
Even better yet was some of the art I did manage to set up pre-party. Namely, a pencil imitation of a Master that my grandfather made in the 80's, alongside a trio of art mannequins we already owned. Unity through repetition. See? I did learn something in college! Or the $1 clearance kitty dish mat (i.e. Modern Art) that I measured out and cut to fit an un-fittable frame! Or the dirt-cheap ready-to-be-thrown-out map of Nashville that just happened to have my bathroom colors on it and was trimmed and framed in one of my Craigslist-find frames!
I'll have to post some pictures. It's all very exciting.
And so is the direction I'm going with what I hope will be a new blog. Yes, you read that right. A new blog. After five years of Ruby Red ... I'm thinking of moving on, and this post is a hint what direction I will be heading. I'm so excited!
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