Independence Day Decorating

I have been itching to rearrange my living room for a few weeks now. Just needed to get the energy to do it and the vibe for what I wanted to do. Today I cleaned the mantle area and realized I have a lot of red in that area. I've been wanting to make a little bunting for the mantle, because it's just not that pretty and it's hard to do much with it, since it's an ugly gas fireplace and mantle is only six inches deep -- can't fit anything very substantial on there.

So I did a little rearranging and got the idea to whip up a little blue bunting to go with all the red. I was happy to find the ribbon in my supply and I took one piece of blue paper and cut the little flags and then using the same blue paper, which happened to be white on the back side, I freehanded a pile of rustic stars with scissors and glued it all together. It probably took about 20 minutes to whip up.

That got me motivated and I took down the big poppies painting that has been hanging over my mantels for six or seven years and took a big rectangle blackboard I made a few years ago and switched the screws so that I could hang it horizontally. It's over the fireplace now. But I haven't yet decided what I'm going to scrawl on it. It needs to be something a little meaningful but not trying too hard -- you know what I mean. I have some ideas rumbling around in my head.

Now I have to go back and clean up the rest of my mess. I've rearranged the bookshelf, removed all the baskets & little things arranged on top. It was curated at one point but it's just too much. I went super simple, a sculpture of three wood fish. Ahh, I can breathe better already!

The Bug's playspace has been edited -- I swear that toybox is a living, growing entity. No sooner to I clean it out than it's overflowing again. I emptied out two storage ottomans filled with saved magazines to put kid stuff in, hopefully that will keep that area a little cleaner.

I also washed the curtains and sheers this afternoon. I hand washed the white sheers and the water was black. So disgusting. Living in the armpit of two major freeways makes keeping things clean nearly impossible. There is black soot around the windows all the time. Now I also need to redo the curtains rods which need to be adjusted. I had a really hard time getting them up by myself the first time and could be better.

More to come! Photos soon.