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Category Archives: lighting

The Hot Air Balloon mobile has lights

30 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, crafts, DIY, home decor, lighting, projects

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Tags

crafts, home decor, hot air balloon, mobile

The Hot Air Balloon mobile I made for my granddaughter needed a couple more touches.
I added small paper flowers around the basket.

Paper flowers were glued around the hot air balloon basket.


I think another set of mini lights will be good but the softness with just one set of lights is so pretty!

The string of mini lights in this paper balloon add a lovely soft glow.


Hot Air Balloon mobile with lights.


Hot Air Balloon mobile made from a Japanese paper ball, lit with mini lights.


There wasn’t much contrast in the colors of this mobile. But once I added the lights, my baby granddaughter won’t stop looking at it. :)

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A Warm Winter Game Weekend

16 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by Julia Monroe in family, home, home decor, lighting, party, Uncategorized, woodwork

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

family, family game night, game night, home decor, party

I’ve wanted to host a game night for a while but everyone’s schedules were really busy. So we freed up the whole weekend and let the gatherings happen when they could. What fun!

First of all, I wanted warmth and light. Right after Christmas is always so dreary. All the prettiness of Christmas is packed away and all that’s left is cold. So I did a little searching and gathered a bit of warmth from around the world.

First and most important, there had to be fur from Russia.
1-winter-game-weekend-fur-throws
I have a large fur throw in the living room but needed something smaller for the dining room chairs. I found the perfect fur at JoAnn fabrics and made two throws from 1.5 yards of fur to drape over the backs of the chairs.

I adore knits from Scandinavia and found a beautiful heavy knit, also at JoAnn Fabrics. 1.5 yards made two more comfy throws for the chairs. I also used another yard of fur and a lovely wool throw that a friend had given me.

On one chair is a pillow I made using Floral Wood Carving Stripe fabric from Spoonflower.  2 carved wood flower stripe fabric pillow.jpg Roostery sells premade pillows using the wood carving fabric too. The wood buttons were fun to carve while watching Gilmore Girls. :) 3-hand-carved-wood-buttons

On the table, more softness. “Go ahead and put your elbows on this table!” Oh the softness! 4 Winter Game Weekend soft table.jpg

I’ve never leaned on a table so soft that your elbows sink in, and there are no words to describe how comforting this is!!! If you want your guests to linger, you’ve GOT to try it!

To get it soft enough, I used these layers: Felt-backed plastic tablecloth, cotton table cloth, fluffy old blanket, chenille bedspread-turned into a tablecloth and a thick cotton throw. 5 Winter Game Weekend table throws and blankets.jpg

Our table belonged to my grandparents. Decades of love and laughter have taken place around this table. The only thing I’d change is if it were a trestle table with rounded corners and center pedestal so we could fit more people around it without bumping the table legs. My father made the family trestle table and I’ve always wanted one. This trestle table is beautiful! But really, all these tables are gorgeous here.

The first two nights I used the white bedspread/tablecloth as the top layer. The last night I put the maroon spread on top. You simply must try this! Make sure you use washable throws though, in case there are crumbs and spills. From now on, I’m going to be watching for thick, washable throws that can be layered on tables. I might even make one for my desk. Yes! … um… zzzz…. maybe too much comfort for a desk… ;)

For lighting, I wired old chandelier crystals and glass icicle ornaments to the light fixture. The crystals were salvaged from a family heirloom and I cherish them so much. 6 Winter Game Weekend icy chandelier.jpg They add a delightful sparkle and look quite wintery.

7 Winter Game Weekend chandelier with crystals.jpg Two corners of the dining room have lamps. The terrarium is still unfinished, tied together with cord but the plants are growing fine. They’re over a year old now. I finished all the carving but have yet to cut the wood base, glue it all together and line it with copper. The glass top of the terrarium is the old dining room light fixture that we removed when we bought this house.

8 light fixture and wood carved terrarium.jpg I also keep white mini lights on top of the china cabinet and dining room bookcase until winter is past. To me, mini lights don’t remind me of Christmas, they mean health and well-being. The more light in winter, the better!

While visiting my daughter in Tokyo, I learned about Japanese tables that were warmed underneath. What a great concept! To mimic the comfort of a kotatsu, I put an electric blanket under the table to tuck our stocking feet into. 9 Winter Game Weekend electric blanket floor.jpg

On the table I put a beautiful leaf plate from Arhaus. It was perfect for holding cookies – German Springerli and Viennese Chocolate Hazelnut Crescents.10 Winter Game Weekend Springerli Chocolate Hazelnut Crescents.jpg

One of my sons made me a gorgeous chalkboard tray for Christmas. He did a beautiful job on it! It was jolly fun writing on the tray, playing tic tac to and keeping score. 11 Winter Game Weekend Arhaus leaf bowl.jpg

We warmed our hands on cups of rich cocoa, Swiss chocolate of course. 12 Winter Game Weekend Chalkboard Tray.jpg

Friday night was just the girls. We played Old Maid, the very cards that I used in my childhood in the 60’s. So much fun!! 13 Winter Game Weekend playing Old Maid.jpg It had been so many years since I played with those cards. There was Fifi and her poodle, Greenthumb Gert, whose plantings were being nibbled up by rabbits as fast as she planted them, and Milkman Mo with his begging cats. Love the humor in these old cards, which probably would be deemed totally “politically incorrect” now-adays. 14 Winter Game Weekend vintage Old Maid cards.jpg

Saturday night, children and adults together played Clue. We did our best using  English accents and Oh the mystery and laughter!

15-winter-game-weekend-clueMiss Peacock, how can you be capable of such a deed! Mr Plum’s strategy was quite scientific. And Colonel Mustard actually held the pistol and knife. This view of the chandelier is only possible if you’re a game piece lying in the billiard room. haha 16-winter-game-weekend-professor-plum-looks-up

One of my favorite warming strategies was loading fireplace videos on tablets and displaying them in the bottom of the china cabinet. Fire where there is never any fire!  17-winter-game-weekend-china-cabinet-fireplace I sure wish some company would create a mini fake fire device that could play a simple, looping fire video like this and fit in a small space like a china cabinet. I would buy several in a heartbeat. Fire amongst the plants in the living room? Yes! Fire on my nightstand as I go to sleep? Yes! The last time we had a fake fire was when we made a fireplace in the oven. There’s something comforting about flame, even if it’s fake.

Sunday night’s beer and poker game ended up being postponed because the flu visited. Alas. But even as I write this, I’m feeling quite toasty. The throws are still on the chairs and I feel the warmth radiating against my back. My laptop is set up on this table and my arms are leaning in on the softness as I type. A Winter Game Weekend after Christmas has definitely become a tradition in our home.

18-winter-game-weekend-all-the-best-of-the-worlds-warmth

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There, in the sun

06 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, color, family, lighting, photography, sparkling, sunlight

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

color, family, hair, photography, portrait, sunlight

“Don’t move!” I told her.

The sun shines through the west window for a short time each late afternoon, hitting a narrow sliver of wall half way between the dining room and living room. Sometimes I move the dining room chair and sit in that small sliver, if only for a short time and let the sun soak into my face, eyes closed.

She was walking from the living room to the dining room and paused just a moment and I happen to look over at that moment and I told her Don’t move because I wanted to capture the sun on her blue hair.  One moment more either way and I would have missed it.

How many moments like that have we missed because we’re too busy walking or talking or cleaning or doing?  The sun follows the same path every day. It isn’t the sun that changes, it is I. I don’t want to miss what the sun lights.

She stopped briefly in the sun, just long enough for me to capture the frame.

She stopped briefly in the sun, just long enough for me to capture the frame.

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Angel Curtain Treatment

12 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, Christmas, DIY, holiday, home decor, lighting, sunlight, tutorial, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

angel, Angel Window Treatment, Christmas, Christmas window, curtain treatment, curtains, DIY, home decor, tutorial, window treatment

All I wanted was a little more light in the dining room so I gathered up the curtain in one hand and pulled it up and discovered … an Angel Curtain Treatment!

Angel Curtain Treatment

Angel Curtain Treatment

[Please excuse my unwashed window. We’ve pared back on a lot of things since my surgery. ;) ]

Normally, the sheer curtain just hangs over a tension rod stuck in the window frame. I don’t hang the curtain full length as normal, using the rod through the curtain sleeve, but rather just drape the floor-length panel over the tension rod so the pretty embroidered bottom edge hangs about halfway up the window as seen in this fall photo.
I also like the double thickness of the sheer when I hang the curtain like that.
1 b Fall arrangement 2014

To make the angel curtain treatment, all you need are two S hooks with lengths of ribbon tied on and whatever decoration you want to use for the top of the “angel head.” That’s it! One end of the ribbon is shorter than the other when tied, as you can see here.
2 Angel Curtain Treatment

I made two S hooks from an old hanger, making sure they would fit over the tension curtain rod. I like using the inner stiffening layer from men’s ties as ribbon. (You can see what else I used the tie pieces for here.) In this tutorial, I will call the wool tie interlining pieces “ribbons” for clarity.
3 Angel Curtain Treatment

The curtain is very light and airy and you can see how long it is here. I’m not sure this treatment would work as easily with a heavier curtain. Also, the top of the curtain will actually be the bottom of the angel’s dress. So the back of the curtain’s hemmed sleeve must look good.
4 Angel Curtain Treatment

To begin making the angel, the S hooks with ribbons were hung near the center of the rod.
5 Angel Curtain Treatment

The two shorter ends of the ribbons were tied loosely across the middle, wrapped several times to make the ends hang at the sides of the “angel head.” I didn’t have to tie any knots because the rough tie fabric held position easily when wrapped around several times. But if your ribbon is slick, like satin, you will have to pin it together to make it stay.
6 Angel Curtain Treatment

Here I’m lightly gathering the curtain in one hand, a little above the embroidered edge. I adjusted the curtain length over the rod and made sure the embroidered edge was arranged with pretty folds as I gathered it together.
8 Angel Curtain Treatment

Once the curtain was gathered together in my hand, I raised it up.
9 Angel Curtain Treatment

Again, I adjusted the folds to adjust the bottom of the curtain.
10 Angel Curtain Treatment

Once the curtain was held up, I looped the long left ribbon under and around the bundle of gathered curtain.
11 Angel Curtain Treatment
12 Angel Curtain Treatment

The two long long lengths of ribbon tie were tied together under the gathered bundle.
13 Angel Curtain Treatment

I fine tuned the embroidered curtain edge, pulling it down a bit to make it longer.
14 Angel Curtain Treatment

Here you can see the curtain sleeve from the top of the curtain now hanging at the bottom of the angel’s dress.
15 Angel Curtain Treatment

To finish the angel, I simply tucked a small halo of gold star holiday wire and a Christmas package decoration on top of the ribbon tie.
16 Angel Curtain Treatment
17 Angel Curtain Treatment

The finished Angel Curtain Treatment

18 Angel Curtain Treatment

An angel spreads her wings of sheer batiste. She disappears at night when I let the curtain down and the window sill lights shimmer through like stars.

To make this window treatment took less than 5 minutes. Seriously, it took longer to rummage through my old ribbon box to find the package decoration! To take it down, simply untie the ribbon from behind the curtain and remove the S hooks. Super simple.

And Thank You, Brenda, for your husband’s ties. This project finished up the linings I had from the first batch of ties. Your bag of ties will be plenty for new projects!

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Decorating for Christmas

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, Christmas, lighting

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christmas lights, December night, rain

Christmas rain

I took this photo several years ago. We’re putting the outdoor lights up this weekend, a most happy event.

Christmas lights are pretty even in rain.

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White Kitchen – remodel Before & After

25 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in home, home decor, lighting, sparkling, sunlight, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cabinet hardware, home, kitchen before and after, kitchen cabinets, kitchen remodel, remodel, white kitchen

We’ve lived in this house for over 13 years. From day one, I just accepted the house the way it was. We didn’t do any painting and even hung pictures on nails the previous owners left.

I’ve lived in various places over the years. We rented a 700 square foot home for 15 years. And that’s WITH a family of 8! My husband and I lived in a tent in various State Parks with our six kids for 7 long weeks when we were homeless. We lived in a single tiny motel room with six kids for 7 weeks… Seven!… and during that time a hurricane wiped out half our belongings that were in storage. So when we bought this house, our first home, I was completely in heaven. Every single inch of this glorious house was perfect just the way it was and didn’t need any change at all.

That was until my collapsing spine kept me home-bound more and more and I became acutely aware of how dark our house was inside. I craved light. I craved light even more than I wanted to escape the unceasing pain. So I decided to paint the kitchen, hoping to brighten the space just for crafts and photography. I gathered paint chips and left them taped to the wall for a whole year because I was paralyzed at the thought of making a mistake in color. We couldn’t afford to make a mistake so I had to pick the perfect paint the first time.

The first gallon we bought from the local home improvement store turned out to be very poor quality. It was the best the store had, at over $50 a gallon, but it didn’t cover well and pooled easily and made drips, even with great care. So after all that deliberation over color, I threw out all the paint chips and off we went to a real paint store. I settled on Benjamin Moore’s Bavarian Cream for the dining room and kitchen walls, with a semi-gloss Simply White, which is almost paper white, for the cabinets and trim. The paint went on thick and perfect and was absolutely worth the expense. I won’t paint with anything else from now on, even if I have to delay painting in order to save up for it.

To be honest, I absolutely adore very dark woods and would have loved staining the out-dated cabinets dark or painting the walls turquoise. But this remodel wasn’t about choosing color, it was ALL about lightening my space. So I made the big sacrifice of giving up colors I loved just to make my work area brighter.

The kitchen BEFORE.

Kitchen BEFORE the remodel. Notice how dark the space is.

Kitchen BEFORE the remodel. Notice how dark the space is.

Notice the sunshine in the foreground. That’s from the two new windows we put in the windowless dining room. I’ll post about the windows soon. But look at this LIGHT! It was worth the incredible physical effort it took to get this remodel done.
The difference is like moving to a new house!
The kitchen AFTER.

Kitchen AFTER the remodel. Oh how gloriously bright!

Kitchen AFTER the remodel. Oh how gloriously bright!

Kitchen Redo Corner shelf 1 before
Kitchen Redo Corner shelf 2 after
We brushed the paint in the grooves of the raised panels and outer edges of the cabinet doors to make a glossy surface but used a roller on the raised sections to create a non-glaring surface. I love the final texture!

Raised panel cabinet doors, smoothly brushed in the grooves and rolled on the raised panels.

Raised panel cabinet doors, smoothly brushed in the grooves and rolled on the raised panels.

I couldn’t decide which knobs to use. There are so many awesome ones to choose from and it was almost stressful having to decide on just one pattern. Also, I couldn’t find any handles to match the existing old holes in the doors. So I decided to use every knob I liked! I even used knobs on the lower cabinet doors in place of handles. I absolutely adore this look! It adds color and interest to an otherwise boring white kitchen.

Kitchen cabinets before, with shiny brass knobs.

Kitchen cabinets before, with shiny brass knobs.

Kitchen cabinets After, with all different knobs.

Kitchen cabinets After, with all different knobs.

Mismatched knobs used in place of cabinet handles.

Mismatched knobs used in place of cabinet handles.

I used two knobs of similar color in place of each handle.
Kitchen Redo Knobs 2 After c
Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After h
Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After g

Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After e
There are two of the original brass handles on the doors. I sanded the shiny surface to make the handles looked like brushed steel, which better matched the new knobs.
Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After d

Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After f

Kitchen Redo knobs 2 After i

See that sunshine? That sunshine is all new from the new dining room windows. There was never any sunshine at any time of day in this area of the kitchen.  The sunshine is THE best part of the entire remodel!

I LOVE my bright new kitchen, with it’s beautiful fresh white surfaces, sunshine and funky, colorful knobs!

I’ll post photos of the dining room as soon as I find suitable “before” photos. I usually avoided photographing the dining room because it was so cluttered and dark so those photos are scarce.

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Glorious SUN!

05 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in All Sparkled Up, home decor, lighting, photography, sparkling, sunlight

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

adding windows, dining room, gratitude, home remodel, remodel, renovation, sun, sunlight, windows

That had to be all caps because it’s remarkable. Ever since moving into this house 13 years ago, our dining room didn’t have sun in it. Until now. We are nearly done with the remodel so last night we moved the dining room table out of the living room and back into the dining room. And this afternoon… Afternoon, mind you!!! … I sat at the table to plan an impromptu Wine & Cheese tasting party. IN. THE. SUN. Honestly, I had trouble concentrating on my notes because of the sun. Glorious sun!
There are no windows on the west side of our house and the roof has a big overhang so our home gets very little direct sun in it. The solution was two arch windows extending as high as possible in the west wall. I’ll make a blog post with more details soon.
Just look at this!

First sitting at the table in the sun!

First sitting at the table in the sun!


To anyone else, that photo would be completely unremarkable. But I’m an artist, photographer and lover of sunshine. To not have sun is like Michelangelo having no paint. There are no accessories or furniture in the world as glorious as sun. I can’t believe I actually get to live here!

I hope I never get to the point of taking something so basic for granted. I basked in sun today.

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Today and One Year Ago Today

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in home decor, Inspirational, lighting, Scoliosis, sunlight, time, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

arch windows, inspirational, one year ago, one year ago today, painting, renovation, Scoliosis, scoliosis surgery, sunlight, surgery

One year ago today I had scoliosis surgery. I had an 18″ incision and two titanium rods inserted the entire length of my spine.
Today I put masking tape around the trim of the new windows.
Painting trim-2
One year ago, my back was fused from T1 to pelvis. I could barely move.
Today I stretched high as I worked.
Painting trim-1
One year ago the bolts in almost every vertebrae and four in my pelvis made me unable to move without assistance.
Today I gathered supplies and worked on the major renovation.
Painting trim-3
One year ago, my hands shook as I pressed the morphine button.
Today I firmly held the paintbrush and stroked the smooth white paint over the trim.
Painting trim-4
One year ago, the nurse kept telling me to open my eyes. I had trouble staying awake and the pain seemed less severe when my eyes were shut.
Today the afternoon sun streamed through the wall that had never had a window before.
Painting trim-5
One year ago, I could barely handle the next minute. Recovery seemed impossible. I couldn’t sit up. I felt shattered but glad the surgery was over.
Today I sat at my computer editing photos. Today I mopped the floor. Today I washed dishes and dusted and painted.
Painting trim-6
If things seem dark today, don’t despair. Amazing things can happen in a year.

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Marble window sills

18 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in home decor, lighting, projects

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

construction, DIY, home, marble, marble window sill, marble window sills, windows

I’m so glad I insisted on marble window sills for the new dining room windows! They look amazing. I had my heart set on marble but we had to go cheap. So we bought two door sills for $10 each. And then came the sawing. We didn’t have the necessary equipment or blades to saw marble. But I don’t give up easy. So I walked into the workshop and eyed up the straightest blade I could find.
He didn’t believe it could be done but I picked up that old rusty saw and asked God to bless that blade. And then I sat down and began.
window sill 1 cutting 7814
Here I am later. Wow, great progress, huh?

Still sawing...

Still sawing…


How about even later?
Window sill 3 cutting 7819
It took three full hours of constant sawing to make that single vertical cut! I used my right hand. Then my left hand. Then my left hand held my right hand… Just short of involving my feet, I completed the cut.
Dedicated? Determined. Obsessed? Maybe a little insane?
After 3 entire hours of non-stop cutting I had to rest a day. But my husband said I inspired him so he turned on the tv and made the other 7 cuts. Where there is a will, there is always a way!
Our beautiful, hand-cut, marble window sills.

Our beautiful, hand-cut, marble window sills.


To install, we used a strong construction adhesive, Loctite Power Grab.
Squeezing out the heavy-duty construction adhesive to place the sills.

Squeezing out the heavy-duty construction adhesive to place the sills.


and then pressed the sill in place.
Window sill 6 install 7844
Window sill 7 install 7848
Isn’t this beautiful?
The marble sill pressed in place.

The marble sill pressed in place.


A completely unexpected effect – seeing reflection of the sky above in the sills! Wow, I would have chosen marble if I had known that would happen. But this was completely serendipitous. When the sun hits the sill, it casts light on the ceiling too, just one more way we have introduced light to the formerly dark room. I love how the trees can be seen in the marble too.
Window sill 9 finished  8610

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Light where you are

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by Julia Monroe in home decor, Inspirational, lighting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chandelier, flower bouquet, inspirational, lighting, windows

The windows are in and the walls are primed. What an amazing transformation it is to put a window in a wall that had none, a wall facing the west.

The walls are primed. One of the new windows is covered with plastic but it still lets in spectacular light.

The walls are primed. One of the new windows is covered with plastic but it still lets in spectacular light.

The project isn’t even finished yet but there was a pause so I gathered a small bouquet of honeysuckle, thyme, butterfly bush and ivy and placed it in the window. It was a holy moment. I used to sit in that corner at my computer. But even next to the sliding glass door, there was never enough light. And now look at this!!!

First bouquet in the new window, even before it's done.

First bouquet in the new window, even before it’s done.

Now my computer is in an even more dark space. I’ve decided to not block the new window with my computer so I’ll probably be on my computer less. But just to make my new office space cheerier, this is how I light where I am.

Chandelier ornaments and a bracelet hang from an artificial tree to light my new office space.

Chandelier ornaments and a bracelet hang from an artificial tree to light my new office space.

Where are you? Are you in a dark place? Don’t keep saying you’ll be happy when you finally get to some other place. People who are happy inside are light on the inside, no matter where they are. It is a choice.
I remember when we were homeless I carefully gathered a little bouquet of flowers and placed it on a picnic table. My dining room then was under a canopy of trees in the day and a chandelier of stars at night. There is NO place on earth where you can’t find light.

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