Monday, September 20, 2010

T's and 3's make it personal

I love to decorate my living room with T's and 3's. The T's are for our last name Thompson and the 3's represents the number of members in my family. My husband teases me and tells me that it's because I like terminator so much that I wanted to decorate it with T3 after the last movie, Terminator 3. NOT!!!! I never even saw it. LOL!!!


I think that it makes our space personal and monograms and numbers are everywhere right now.

This is a picture of our mantle and all of the T's and 3's.
This is my mantle decorated with a mix of T's and 3's and other things that I love. I love the eclectic look of the mantel. It makes me smile with all the mixes of textures and colors.



This T and 3 are paper mache letters that I got at Hobby lobby and spray painted them chocolate brown. I think that they were only like 1.99 each.


I love the Giant T made from paper mache. I got it at one of my favorite stores at Easton Town Center in Columbus Ohio. It is called Nest. Very cool store and it is the one of the only family owned stores in Easton.
You can see that I have been in the dollar bin too at Michaels. I had to pick up a T ball.


I LOVE 3 sign!!!!! I wanted this the first time that I saw it at Anthropologie but the original price kept me from getting it. I went back a few months later and it was on clerance for 14.50!!! It was meant for me to get it because it was the only number left. I just recently got the letter print stamps on a camping trip to Ohio. We went to an antiqe mall and I got all the t's that they had. The little 3 ball is from Pier 1.


This little shelf is above my couch. I have a small collection of vintage cameras that I display there along with a few more t's.


I added a vinyl T on this candle holder. I cut it out with my cricut to dress up the glass and make it personal.


Have a great day!!!!



Andrea








Make it personal

Even though I'm not doing a ton of decorating right now because of the move, I always try to find a way to make my space very personal. Here are just a few things I've put up so far. My husband and I have separate closets and I've adorned the doors with oversized wooden letters. No need to drill into your door, because the 3M Command picture hanging strips are one of the best inventions ever! I also added a zinc D that I purchased at my favorite store, Anthropologie a while back and added it to my bar area in the kitchen. I love how the zinc looks with the galvanized metal tiered stand. Andrea has an awesome #3 metal sign from Anthropologie on her mantle that I hope she posts real soon. I just love it! It represents her family of 3 and it looks great!
As much as I L♥VE my Anthropologie bedding, they just didn't have any decorative pillows that looked quite right with it. So I had my very talented friend make these yummy burlap pillows for our bed. Go check out her other awesome goodies HERE. And tell her Tia sent ya! She has done a lot of custom stuff for me and I've always been so pleased.


So I was in Michael's the other day waiting in line when I spotted these ceramic balls in the dollar bin. They only had 4 left. When I looked at them, they had a T (for Tia), B (for my husband Brian and boys Bryson, Brett, and Blake), P (for my girls Piper and Paige), and a D (for our last name). I thought it was meant to be and they soon became mine! Still not quite sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but I thought they were so cute since I'm doing a lot of black, cream, and gray in this house. And just another way to add a personal touch to the home!!
So thanks for stopping by and stay tuned.....more to come!!
xoxo,
tia

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Hi y'all! I'm back! Well, kind of :)
Been busy on the road visiting family and friends and oh yea, moving our family of 7 to our new home in Virginia just 1 week ago. So here it is, folks....our new American farmhouse.....minus the farm. My hubby did an amazing job finding the perfect house for us. It was being built for a family who also had 5 children and not sure what happened but it became ours. We were thrilled because not a lot of people build houses to fit a family of 7 and when this became available in the short time frame we had, we just knew it was meant to be. I can't wait to put my spin on it. I'm definitely going to need some help in the back from you all. It has a huge screened in porch attached to the guest suite and then another big attached deck to that. I have no idea what to do with it so I'd love to hear any ideas.
With 361 boxes to unpack....and no, that is not a typo.....361 boxes to be exact, I haven't had a lot of time for decorating but I couldn't wait to get my kids' painted silhouettes hung up by the front staircase. They are some of my most treasured pieces. My cousin, KiKi did an amazing job on them. They are going to look even more fabulous once the yummy gray paint goes on the walls.

Here is one side of the entry way. The neutral color is fine for now but I can't wait to get that gray on the walls!

I love how the vintage watch face collection and my vintage # 5's look in this old wooden bowl by the front door. I can't seem to find my other watch faces, though. In fact, there is a lot that I can't find but there is also a lot of things I hadn't seen since we left Dallas several years ago! These movers are great but I sometimes don't understand their reasoning behind their packing. My best piece of advice for all of you getting ready to move.....set aside your toolbox before the movers pack it away.



And here is a vintage metal chandelier that I can't wait to hang up in the guest suite! My mom has the other one and I never did anything with mine in the other houses because the wiring was messed up. But when I was back home last week, my cousin, Jared, who is an electrician fixed her right up for me. I am grateful for his talent. Now, let's see if I can get my hubby to install it soon. I can't wait to see it hanging up in there and casting it's glow!



My fellow artist friend who I had the pleasure of meeting while we lived in Chicago paints these gorgeous art tiles. Her work is beyond amazing and I just love her style. I finally bought these from her before we moved and couldn't wait to find the perfect spot in the new house to hang it. We put it in our breakfast room and I just love it there.






I just love how they have a very aged and grungy feel with a bit of that Anthropologie flair that I love so much.






She sells the poles in all different lengths and then has different knobs from which you can choose. I went with the creamy vintage looking ones. The tiles are hung from big aged metal rings. So unique!! I have some of her Christmas tiles so I can change out the fleur de lis and crown during the holiday.



So with all that said, looks like I'm back to the drawing board with decorating and I just have one thing to say about it.........I'm lovin' it! There is so much to do in this house and I cannot wait to keep going. So thank you for letting me share this journey with you all. I'd love to have feedback on decorating ideas or other inspiration from you all, so send it my way!

Giddy up!!
tia