We all love cutsie looking parties, right?    So I’m beginning to think about simple ways to spice up your July 4th party decor.

Some people will go all out decorating for the 4th and some will not do much at all.  Regardless of which you prefer, here is an easy DIY craft for making a cute water bottle for your guest.

The post It’s all in the details, even with a water bottle! appeared first on Recreate and Decorate.

This year we will be celebrating the 4th of July in North Carolina with my family.  We will have a day of festivities and then the annual July 4th firework show in town that night.  I decided that I wanted to be a bit more sparkly this year so when I saw these flip flops from Pinkwhen,  I knew they would be a great DIY craft to sport my red, white, and blue.

How cute are they!  She did a great job!

This past weekend my niece was here and we decided to bedazzle our flip flops.  I couldn’t talk Teri into any red, white, or blue ones.

But here are the cute ones Teri made.

And here are my patriotic ones.

How did we make them?

I bought the flip flops at Walmart for 98 cents each and bought all of my bling at Michael’s.

• Start with adding ribbon to the rubber strap on top of the flip flop, wrapping it around and hot glueing the ribbon onto the rubber strap at random spots

~when you first begin, hot glue the end of the ribbon under the edge of the strap and then start wrapping. 

Wrap the ribbon around the strap and hot glue the end of the ribbon under the the strap just like the beginning.

*See my hand model’s pretty nails?  My gal pal and neighbor came over just at the right time!  And she had a fresh manicure!!

• Next, hot glue ribbon across the top

• add ric rac for added color

• hot glue your sparkles onto the ribbon in the design of your choice.

Now how cute is that for some July 4th bling?

Now check this out!

How awesome is that picture.   I know, my photography skills are improving!!

Have I ever told you how proud I am to be a military wife?

What are your plans for this 4th of July?

Will you be sporting any red, white, and blue?

linking to Make it pretty, create with joy, six sisters stuff, a little clairefication, pinkwhen,

create with joy, the dedicated house, on sutton place, DIY showoff

The post Show some sparkle this July 4th! appeared first on Recreate and Decorate.

Sorry if you are just now hearing about it, you must not have been around much this weekend!

I think this is probably the best home improvement project that we have completed so far.  They have totally changed the look of my house.

My house went from having these cheap, dented metal doors 

to these beautiful, refined glass doors

Here  they are side by side.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

We bought them from the Glass Door Store of Tampa and had them installed over Memorial Day weekend.

David taped off the glass and stained them himself.

 You can see that they came unfinished.  He used Minwax Gel Stain, Hickory color and Minwax Helsman Spar Urethane, clear satin on this DIY project.
Mr. Honey Do will be writing up a tutorial soon.

Here is what The Glass Door Store says about their glass doors.

Our fiberglass entry doors with exclusive Hydroshield Technology™ feature fiberglass reinforced door skins, full-length composite stiles, and composite top & bottom rails to prevent water infiltration on all six sides.

FULL LENGTH COMPOSITE TOP AND BOTTOM RAILS
Additional non-porous protection keeps water from seeping into the door and helps prevent the build up of mold or mildew.

FIBERGLASS REINFORCED SKIN
Fiberglass is unmarred by the wear and tear of everyday use and is unaffected by moisture and humidity. Our doors will not rot, splinter or warp like wood, and won’t dent or delaminate like steel.

FULL LENGTH COMPOSITE STILES
All Plastpro fiberglass entry doors feature full length composite stiles to prevent water infiltration into the door and ensures our door will never warp, rot, or rust.

PF Frame

While other companies may use a few inches of composite material finger jointed to wood at the bottom of their frames, Plastpro is proud to offer 100% full-length composite frames.

CLOSED CELLULAR STRUCTURE

Ensures doorframe and molding will not absorb moisture and resists splitting, rotting and insect damage.

RIGID POLY-FIBER FORMULATION
Plastpro’s unique poly-fiber formulation provides durability, support and reliable strength.

TWICE THE SCREW-HOLDING POWER
Our unique formulation looks and feels like wood, but is stronger and more durable.

EASILY MACHINED
Machine, paint, or stain just like wood frames but without the wood hassles.

These doors are classy, refined,

sophisticated.  Whichever you prefer, they all mean snazzy.

We can’t get over the amount of light that these glass doors allow inside.

We are just in love!

 What a great way to add curb appeal!

I finally feel like we are on top of all the upgrades.

I mean, our kitchen home improvement project is one of our DIY projects that made a huge transformation too.

But the doors just did it for me!

Now I am ready to tackle the floors and add crown molding.

It has taken us almost 2 years to get this far.  But remember David was deployed to Afganistan for some of that time, so we got behind a little.

Updating a home is a work in progress.  I love taking my time, that way I am sure to get what I want.

We finally changed out our outdoor lights this weekend too!

We had these ugly, outdated things before.

These home improvement updates just added more value to our home!

CHA-CHING!!!

oh and notice my potted flowers .

What do you think about my new glass doors?

What home improvement projects have you been working on?

Which has made the greatest transformation to you?

The post How glass doors changed my house! appeared first on Recreate and Decorate.

(Well minus hardwood floors and crown molding, which falls into home improvement instead of decor.)

My dining room is open to my  living room so I need a chandelier that will coordinate with it.

My home decorating ideas for these 2 rooms combine contemporary home accessories with traditional style.

Remember when I showed you my funky kitchen lighting that we just hung over our island?

It has that added WOW factor that my kitchen was lacking.

So now I am needing something added to this room for a little pizazz.

The dining room is just a little blah compared to my living room.

So I have found 2 different designs that I am considering.

I love this fancy, sparkling beauty from Overstock.com, but David says it’s just too sparkly!

Then there is this modern, sophisticated chic chandelier from Lamps Plus that’s more of David’s style.

* tip dining room tables should be twelve-inches wider than the hanging chandelier and  at least four-feet of distance from the table to the walls. If you have an eight-foot ceiling, the bottom of your chandelier should hang thirty to thirty-four inches over the table.  Allow three inches of height for each addition foot of ceiling height.

 

Check out the pictures where I added them above the table for a better look.

I just think the sparkling beauty is what I am going for.

But maybe it’s too fancy?

However that’s what decorating is all about ~right!

Mixing different interior design styles is what keeps it interesting and unique.

So which do you prefer?

Lighting design #1

 

Or lighting design #2?

The post let’s talk lighting design for my dining room! appeared first on Recreate and Decorate.

This is one of the craft projects that we have done together.  I love to let my girls do crafts that can be used for decorating their bedrooms.  They love having their handmade DIY projects displayed.

We took a plain bulletin board, painted it, added gift wrapping paper, and hung it on her bedroom wall to be the perfect backsplash for all of her special momentos that have been lying on the floor.

We have done this craft many times.

In fact, we just keep repainting the edges to match whatever room color she has at the time.

This craft for kids is simple and has 5 steps to follow.

• First, paint the frame

She used a small sample of indoor latex paint.  However any craft paint will work.

• cut gift wrapping paper to fit the bulletin board    ~ fabric or scrapbook paper can be used

Just have fun, mix and match colors and patterns to coordinate.

• secure the 4 corners of the wrapping paper in place

 Gabby used thumb tacks, however double sided tape could be used for younger children.

• attach special momentos

• hang on the wall

 We have decorated bulletin boards for the entire family to use in our kitchen or back door area and attached a calendar, grocery list, to do list, reminders, dry cleaner receipts, and any thing else that needs to catch my attention.

What a cute craft for kids to make.

What crafts are your kids working on this summer?

a cultivated nest

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Let me first remind you that she is a tween and we lived in Hawaii, my girls adapted to the lifestyle very quickly

And never got over it.   They still love Hawaii and everything about it.

It still influences our lives today.  Including their bedroom style.  

I must confess, I did something that was probably the hardest thing I have had to do, when it comes to decorating my home.

I had to give up  control!

 And let Gabby make all of the decisions for her bedroom.

For decorating moms like me, that is very hard.

I helped her put it together, but I had to follow her directions.  Yes she actually told me what to do.

Adding all things beach related was a must do for a surfing bedroom.

Including home made surfer girl art work.

And of course all surfing rooms must have paper lanterns!

Potterybarn teen has this great paisley paper lantern that she agreed to. 

She picked out this duvet cover from Potterybarn Teen also.Gabby had to have this endless summer poster.  I tried to talk her into letting me frame it so it would have somewhat of a custom look to it, but she said no.

She and her dad decided to hang her surf board from the ceiling.

Remember I have very high ceilings so this was perfect for that large space.

GO GATORS!

what? don’t every surfer chic show some team spirit?

However I may have to get her a larger Gator poster or something!

Looking at the pictures makes me want to go in there  and add to it, just a little.  ;-)

I wonder if I could talk her into large hibiscus decals to randomly place on the walls?  Something to balance out that large wall space!!

I know, I have large wall issues.   And when they are under decorated and out of proportion to the room, it drives me crazy!

She made sure to decorate the wall space over her closet.

She even added our Hawaii plate.

I think she did a very good job.   She stayed true to herself and kept it authentic.

My surfing girl’s bedroom ideas are pretty awesome.

Even if she did poo poo on all of my ideas to make it look a little more ‘tailored” or refined and chose to make a lot of her wall art.

Oops!!  sorry about that glare!

Surfing rooms reflect a laidback lifestyle, not mom’s polished decorating ideas, I guess.

I want my girls to have a bedroom that reflects who they are and their style.  I think it is important to let go and let them do it, their way.

You can read all about Gabby.  Her decorating style perfectly compliments her personality.   It is only fitting that she choose vibrant colors!

I will share Hayley’s bedroom soon.  Both of my girls bedroom ideas were pretty awesome.

How do you like my little surfer girl’s bedroom ideas?

Do you give your children full control when decorating their bedrooms?  Or do you just decorate it the way you want it?

thededicatedhouse

everydayhome

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