HELP! My fireplace needs desperate love.

By fireplace, I mean the "fake" fireplace opening created by new mantle.

After hosting my last Christmas party of the holiday season yesterday, it is time to take down the Christmas decorations.  This left me with the feeling that now is the time to tackle the opening of my "fake" fireplace. I have always longed for a mantle to decorate.  This fall, my friend, an architect who was remolding an historical home, called me and asked if I would like a mantle. Well absolutely!

Here is what I have... The mantle and "fake" fireplace. 

I would like a creative, unexpected way to fill the opening that creates some type of illusion.  That is where Pinterest comes in. Of course, Pinterest saves the day. I have collected several concepts and am now evaluating the alternatives. This is where I need your help.  Which do you like best? 

The Luggage Display

image via Mrs. DIY and the Tennis Guy

The Candle Collection 

image via Cupcakes and Cashmere

The Log Fill 

image via Funky Bear Decor

The Screen Solution 

image via Sadie and Stella

I initially thought I would paint the opening black or drop black printed fabric down.  Instead, I am considering putting a large chalkboard inside such as this...

image via Bohemian-Children

After filling the space with a giant chalkboard, I considered painting the black fireplace screen that my mom Santa brought me to a bold color like shown in the "screen solution" photo above.


That is far as I am in the thought process. Any suggestions?  I know much help is needed!

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My Top Girl Room Projects

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on Pretty Rooms for Little Girls.  To follow up, I thought I would share some project ideas to enhance a little girl's room.  

Ribbon Accents for Curtain Decor

Hanging Storage

Spray Painted Trinkets 

Framed Name

DIY Spray Painted and Embellished Chandelier

Hair Bow Holder Tutorial

Have any DIY projects perfect for a little girl's room?  Let me know by leaving a comment below. I would  love to hear from you.

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Filling my craving for style, DIY and yummy goodness all in one spot: PINTERST.com

If you a regular reader of Simply Sarah Style, you know that this is a lifestyle blog. Unlike other bloggers who focus on one topic such as daily outfits, DIY projects or recipes, I blog about it all.  Anything that inspires me is fair game.  Simply Sarah Style has truly become a catalog of the ideas I come across while surfing the web or projects or parties I have crafted. Blogging was the perfect way for me to keep track of fabulous findings.  

THE PURPOSE OF PINTEREST.COM

Now I have a new addiction: Pinterest.com.  This website basically serves my need to preserve ideas and record accomplished projects. I do have to admit... I was a little late getting on the Pinterest bandwagon.  I had heard about this website for quite awhile before I decided to fully explore it after hearing reviews from a colleague and a friend.  Since joining about a month ago, I can't stop "pinning."

WHAT PINTEREST IS LIKE

Pinterest.com provides you with an electronic space to preserve photos that are accompanied with links to the website the photos came from.  Whether it is a project idea you like, a shirt you would like to buy, a painting you love or a recipe you would like to make, you can choose to "pin" the graphic to one of your electronic boards.  You create what I think of as "bulletin boards" based on your personal interests.  For example, I have boards on the following topics:

• Wedding and Event Inspiration
• Holidays
• Food
• Gift Ideas
• My Style 
• For the Home
• Photography
• Household Tips 
• Etc....

HOW PINTEREST WORKS

To explain how "pinning" on Pinterest works, I ask you to think of your Facebook account. When you first log in, you see a "news feed" of information from people you are following (similar to "friends").  This news feed outlines photos of items people that you follow have recently "pinned."  By scrolling through this live feed, you can decide what items you would like to pin to your personal boards. When you like an item and choose to click on the "pin" button, you will get a box that pops up listing  your boards for selection like this: 

You can also find items to pin by typing key words into the search box. For example, I recently typed in "thank you gift" to get some ideas.  In return, 209,496 photos of items with "thank you gift" in the caption showed up. 

Pinterest also allows you to install a pinning button into your browser bar.  By clicking on this button, you can pin any photo that appears on a webpage to one of your boards without even leaving the webpage to log into Pinterest.  What an amazing feature!  This allows for saved time and further sharing of great ideas. Here is what the screen looks like click on the button in your browser bar to "pin" a graphic from an outside site:

The Pinterest website also allows you to share boards with your friends.  For example, my friend, Lindsey, provided me access to her "Brooklyn" board in order to allow me to pin  great little girl ideas.

Overall, I LOVE Pinterest. It is addicting and a wonderful tool for organizing your ideas visually.  In closing,  here are a few interesting Halloween ideas I've found using Pinterest. 

SAMPLES OF HALLOWEEN IDEAS I FOUND ON PINTEREST

Decorating a pumpkin with "puffy" paint

Front Porch Halloween Decor

Halloween Candy Skewers

Pumpkin Drink Tub - How inventive!  

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

If you are already on Pinterest and love posts on style, DIY project, party planning and recipes, follow me by clicking here.  If you haven't joined Pinterest yet, I'm going to apologize in advance for starting an addiction, but please feel free to jump on Pinterest bandwagon and follow me too.

Happy pinning!

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Flip Flops & Summertime

Raise your hand if flip flops are a staple for your summertime experience? Yes, most of us own numerous pairs of flip flops, not to mention numerous pairs of Old Navy ($2.50 a pair) flip flops. 

I came across this flip flop tutorial on Lady Crafter 14 today and thought I would give it a spin. I started with a plain pair of flips flops currently residing in my closet and some material I had left over from another project.  

A little while later, I have these beauties! 

This tutorial was so easy and quick. I think they will make fabulous presents this summer.

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Let's kick off summer!

Hello, my friends!

I know I've been MIA. It has been a busy life lately. For that, I apologize. I promise to find more time to blog.

Well let's catch up, shall we?

As you know, my sister just got married last weekend.  It was a beautiful wedding held on her husband's family horse farm.  You can view pictures here. Now that her festivities are over, it is time to move on to the wedding festivities of my friends, Nicole and Julia, both getting married this fall. In addition to weddings, my life has also been filled with numerous baby showers and birthday celebrations. It's a good life though.  No complaints... Just this full schedule does not leave much blogging time. 

While it has been rainy in Kentucky most days this spring, today is full of gorgeous sunshine and 80 degree temperatures. It makes me so excited for summer.  In turn, I thought I would share this wreath tutorial with you.  Sarah, from This Crazy, Blessed Life, posted a tutorial on this adorable wreath she created for her sister-in-law. I feel in love! It is totally "Simply Sarah Sarah" so I thought I would share it with you.

To create this, you will need the following materials:

Wreath Form
Fabric to cover wreath
Fabric Strips to make Rosettes
Piece of Cardboard
Hot Glue Gun

Click here for the full tutorial from This Crazy Blessed Life.

Enjoy the final product!

I think this would be a wonderful wedding gift for all the newly married couples in my life!  This makes me want to head to Hobby Lobby today to purchase supplies.

I hope your day is also full of sunshine and warm temperatures.  Happy Saturday!

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$4 Art

Below you will find pictures of my patio door.  First of all, I hate (and I mean absolutely despise) the ugly white blinds that cover my patio door.  I have tried to come up with an affordable option to cover this, but have gotten nowhere. What makes this design delimina difficult is that I have two windows close to the patio door.  I couldn't imagine putting drapes in front of the patio door when they already line my windows. I considered using just roman shades on the windows and then doing a curtain window treatment over the patio doors, but haven't made the leap of faith yet. Have suggestions? They are definitely welcomed! Please comment below.

In the meantime, I thought I could at least jazz up the wall space above the door.  Initially, I cut a vinyl quote on my Cricut for the wall. Not too impressive. At the time, I only owned one font cartridge for my Cricut and this was it.

I got bored with the quote so I decided to paint some burlap to make art for this space.  I used leaf stencils I already owned to paint brown leaves on the burlap I already owned.  Then I framed the burlap pieces with four dollar store frames. You could really do any pattern or any color and it would look great.

Tada!  Cheap art!

You may have noticed that the last frame is slightly thicker. I accidently picked up the wrong one.  This calls for another trip back to the dollar store.

Easy as pie.  Hope you enjoyed the quick, cheap way to instant art for your home.

Happy day readers!

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