Strings of white lights get packed away usually with the holiday decorations...but sometimes it is fun to keep a few around for extra ambient lighting in your home...
A friend took a few sets of white lights, added some cupcake liners and created instant mini-lanterns in her kid's playroom...
Such a simple concept and yet so effective...Just pierce the light bulb into the middle of the liner and then just pinch the edges of the liner around to form a flower...
You can use different color cupcake liners depending on the room...The ones I used here were just a natural color...I like how the mini cover softens the light even more...
I could see doing this with sheets of parchment paper too - and you could create any shape or size you want...
Note, as a parent, I also did test it out for myself to see if the paper heated up once it was wrapped around the bulb. It stayed cool to the touch...So that was great...
These certainly could look great in your playroom or kid's room, but why not the dining room or a spring themed look for the mantle?
Last week, I posted about some of my favorite films that are listed in my book..."Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" is one of those films...
It is a story of a New York executive that wants to move his family out of a cramped city apartment to build their dream house in the Connecticut countryside...
It's a great classic film from the 1940s...but I love the process they go through to renovate and build their dream house...All of the ups and downs shall we say....Worth watching if you are in the midst of renovating...
I also like the traditional, classic, American style of the house they end up creating...The house shown above is the way it looked in the film...The house set was actually built on location in the Malibu Mountains...The image below is the same house in the 1980s where it was and still is being used as a state park office...(I'd love to see this place next time I'm in LA)...
I came across these old house plans below that were created probably around the same time as the film coming out...maybe inspired by the film? Again, great American classic style...but note the price $12,500!
Below is a great scene from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House that captures the creative process that people go through in trying to create their home...or, at least, get their goals for the vision communicated...
Also check out one of my favorite blogs that talks about this movie house and others too....BLANDINGS
Many people will ask me - knowing that I love to paint when I have time - who is your favorite artist?
Though I have many artists that I love for various reasons and because of their various styles - I would have to say that 19th Century painter John Singer Sargent is my all-time favorite...
I think it was his use of natural light and making oil paintings truly look like photographs or that you were looking at the real person or place that he created in his many works...
He was very well known in his time for being a society portrait artist...painting the images of wealthy patrons...but his landscape paintings are also very beautiful...
I think this is why lighting is always something that I look for in my design work, art work and photography...It's all about the mood it can create...
John Singer Sargent would probably be one of the top ten people I would want to meet - if you could meet anyone in history...
With spring weather arriving - you might start wanting to open up windows again...or, at least, clearing windows to let more natural light into your rooms again...
Here is a quick change idea...If you have drapes or other curtains on rods with rod brackets that are screwed into the wall - simply remove the drape panels and the long rods...keeping the rod brackets (or holders) screwed into place...
Use the brackets as holders for an instant way to hang some decorative cards or even family photos...As in the case of this kid's space...fun postcards are hung up...
Simply string and knot some natural garden twine from one bracket to another...Use clothespins to hang whatever you want to display...
The idea is to be able to keep the brackets in place without having to remove them and then have to repair and paint that wall area again...
This way, you have a temporary visual solution that allows the drapes and rods to return in the fall when you want to start hibernating again...
Start letting the light in...The winter is almost behind us!
