Let's Pretend ...

My last post was on November 14, 2012 entitled, "Let's Pretend it is Fall."  Well, let's pretend I didn't just take almost a year off from blogging. The truth is I did. Now I'm missing it.

seashells and japanese fishing floats on my great grandaddy's table. thank you Miss Shutterbug for the basket!
it is coastal casual, vintage, my signature color and one of the only pretty things completed in our New New house

Hunky Husband showing off his handy
work. He closed in the opening to a formal
living room (framing, drywall, build closet,
move electrical,texture walls, install doors,
 install molding, install ceiling fan & paint)
to create a 4th bedroom. CHA CHING!

While I was gone, Hunky Husband and I found a great deal on a foreclosure just two neighborhoods down from the rental house. We renovated in four weeks changing almost every surface in the place -- took down popcorn ceilings, painted every wall, laid hardwood in almost every room, and repainted the kitchen cabinets.  We also took a formal living room area (as if that would ever happen for our family) and turned it into a fourth bedroom.

I will have some before & afters to come, but right now there are lots of before & durings.


Through all the drywall dust and late nights, I discovered what a superhero HH really is.  He did all the work himself (I painted and did all the Girlie wrangling) and it turned out amazing.


It was telling that during this process, I was super excited about our vision for the NewNew house, but not interested at all so much about staging. I never once thought to take pictures of the depersonalization I did in our rental house. It did not even blip on my radar screen to build my portfolio with before and after pix of the Girlie bedrooms.

It never penetrated my NewNew house induced euphoria when the realty company sent 3 perspective couples to view the property ON OUR MOVING DAY. Yup, you read that right. Moving truck in the yard, they were touring around our cardboard boxes and trying to help them "imagine the space" and "appreciate the great elementary school."

when all the staging is done and the packing begins,
sometimes you just have to take the biggest box and make a girlie castle

So, maybe I should change this whole blog to talk about our NewNew House (another story for another day) and my girls and HH and our life. Except for the fact that without working on this blog at all for almost a year, it has gotten 700-900 page views per month. Without me begging my mom and everyone from high school to click on it, people have come looking for the information that I put here long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

It is more telling that during this major transformation of our new space, I really did clean and stage the rental house for potential next renters to see. My friends assured me that in a military town, close to the base, at a good price, at the beginning of the summer, blah, blah... our property would rent no matter what shape it was in. I just couldn't imaging letting it roll like that.

This is what I do, this is who I am...I am a stager!

there were lots of late nights on bare concrete floors

So, I think I will finish the last post in the series on the five most adorable things to undo in your house. Nine months in the making -- worse than waiting for the new season of Walking Dead.


I will share some of the insights I got from being a renter showing a house to perspective next renters.  I will try to get some clients to let me post before and after staging photos of their listed properties. I'm looking into taking a certification class for staging so that I can have a very official looking logo to go along with all my fabulousness.

white kitchen cabinet doors coming soon!

I will prolly talk a lot about my NewNew house and all the Pinteresting projects that finish off the place.  We are still in cardboard in two rooms, but getting ready for the big reveal. Que fast forward music from "Trading Spaces."  Bring in the cute, tall twins from Property Brothers to talk about all the improvements.

I will try to make sure that every post from now on is not nearly as populated with the word "I".  Most importantly, I'm going to keep trying to help you live in your show house now by getting a little more VisitReady every day.

just bec

Deciding to Stop Quitting

My family had a wonderful time on our Disney Vacation. I made lots of Pinterest inspired crafts and outfits to make the trip extra Princess-y. Maybe I will blog about a couple of them.



I used that as an excuse for not blogging.  In truth, I do get obsessed with whatever I am focused on at the time.





Therein lies the problem. When I first started blogging this January, I got sucked right in. Every day I was reading blogs, writing my own blog, planning blogs, doing projects for my blog, shopping for future blogs, posting on Facebook about my latest blog... well, you get the idea. It is easy to see why blog became a cuss word around my house pretty quickly.

via Pinterest

Maybe it is because I am a Capricorn or an overachiever or a total mixed bag of nuts, but I have never been good at balance.  My house was a wreck (except for the part I needed to photograph). My girlies were eating a lot of Ramen noodles for dinner. My laundry baskets were stacked to the bajesus! My Hunky Husband was super supportive, but silently hating this whole thing. My parents came to visit from another time zone and I had them babysit while I made a pillow. NOT COOL.  So, I let the pendulum swing all the way to never blogging.

While I was gone, my little site got 10,000 views. Happy Dance Time!  In blog world that isn't really amazing (Thrifty Decor Chic does 40 gazillion a day).  For a new baby blogger that is a big deal and I'm sad because I missed it -- there was no happy dance.  However, I don't want to miss all the girlie, friend, husband & family happy dance moments because I'm too busy checking my blogger stats.

So now, I take the next turn in the road -- to blog with balance. At least enough balance that it works for my family. We are all a little weirdo around here.

finding my new normal,
just bec

New Business

my new logo

Most of the time, bloggers talk about things they know. That is why you read. To learn things from them that you would not know without them. or laugh or cry or get inspired.

Except, in order to just talk to you about the things I know (or the things that make me cry, laugh & get inspired by) I have to go through a lot of things I do not know.

HTML. link parties. buttons. rss feed.

Lucky for me, I was on yearbook staff in high school. It was a million years ago, but Summerville was a really big school and we had an awesome journalism program.  We had enough Mac computers and laser printers that it looked like we were landing the space shuttle.  In the early 90's, we were one of the first books to submit digital layouts. I wish I could go back and do it all over again with the fun toys efficient tools we have now.

That experience has helped me to embrace computers throughout my career in retail. Every time a new scheduling program would roll out, I would be tech support for the entire district. I could tell you some of the magic I worked on registers, but then I would have to kill you.

I've said all that to say this:

Thank you for coming back to read what I have to say about houses and decor even though the site looks a little different every time you come. I've been playing on Picnik.

Thank you for pinning my pillow, frame & art projects.  I'm finally getting a handle on the linky party madness.

thanx HoH for being my first feature

quick sew pillow

Thank you for "liking" my Facebook page. I've redone that stinkin cover 3 times and I'm still not quite happy with it.

Like my Facebook Page?

Thank you for sharing what you know in your blogs. 733-A Creative Blog showed me how to make my own QR code.  If you scan it with a smart phone, it takes you right to this site. I'm so geeky that it felt like my birthday!

thanx 733 for my own QR code

Thank you for hitting that RSS button. I had to sell my soul to Ivory Soap so she would make it work for me. I gave up wrastlin with it after an hour.


Thank you for giving this frazzled mom a place to come and share all the learning, laughing, crying, and inspiration. In between every post you see, I am learning more about this bloggy world so that I can get better at the sharing part.  Next I'm tackling MyDeco (for mood boards) and The Make Room (for floorplans).  Hope that helps me get this site a little more visit ready.

just bec


linking up just a little:

• hookin up with hoh @ house of hepworths
• flaunt it friday @ chic on a shoestring

We Bring Order to Chaos

My friends Manisha, Heather & Suzanne proved that cheerleaders are not dumb.  In high school, they cheered, but they were also in:  National Honor Society, Beta Club, Yearbook  Staff, Mu Alpha Theta, and about 50 other activities while making straight A's.  GO GREENWAVE!  I was not a cheerleader (believe me, nobody wanted to see me in one of those little skirts), but I often use "Cheerleader Honor Graduate" to describe my personality.

Everyone who ever worked with me in retail will tell you it is true.  I loved the numbers, stats and systems --geeky.  Once I pulled reports for the week, month, district, YTD or comp it always ended up translated into a brightly colored bulletin board --rah rah!  I love my lable maker -- order. Everything has to be color coded -- pretty.  Most of the major problems of my life have first been addressed with a trip to the post-it, highlighter, colored thumbtack area of Office Depot.

lists of lists was not helping keep linky land in order

Somehow, I thought blogging would be different.  With all the typing and clicking, I just assumed that the structure would be digital.  As I started trying to link up to all your wonderful linky parties, I realized that I would in fact need to impose some brightly colored order to my digital life.

little birdie secrets via pinterest

 


I had already used this Pinterest idea to make a picture frame as a dry erase board. However, there are a lot of parties on Monday and that day alone was taking up the whole frame. I also needed more detail than I could get with the fat dry erase marker. I also needed some of my info to stay put while part of it needed to be erased.

via pinterest

I found this Pinterest idea using an old window frame and paint chips.  I do love me some paint chips.

It lead me to my final board, using a poster frame.  I think the last time I bought one of these it was for a picture of Kirk Cameron.  Each day has its own color of mini post-it notes. On each post-it I can include the name of the site, the name of the party, the day & time they usually post the party. 

All that info stays pretty constant and I do not want to have to rewrite it every week.  So it goes under the plastic -- then I don't loose any of those little notes either.  It also prevents short people at my house from trying to rearrage them.

Then, on top of the plastic I can keep track of two different projects that I am posting all over linky land.  I list what number my project is posted in each party. 

The first week, when I was just sticking my big toe in the water, most of my posts were in the 400 - 500 range.  As I got better at tracking when parties were opened, my latest project is posting in the top 20 or so.  That does make a big difference in how much traffic I've been getting.

Like I said, there are a lot of parties on Monday, the rest of the week, I ended up with a huge empty space on my board.  It is the perfect place for my floating to do list (in purple).  As my ideas go from project, to photos, to writing, to linking, I can move them around on top of the plastic. 

You'll prolly use this idea for some other need, but at least 700 of you also keep track of when to Hook up with HoH. It works great for calendars.  Any time you have to keep some info and wipe away the rest, keep this idea in mind.  When you are checking out all those linky parties, keep an eye out for me. or drop by and  follow visit ready. or like me on facebook. or leave a comment.

i'll be your best friend,

just bec



i'm checking "my blogs" every five minutes while i write this, because two parties should be opening soon.

this one is linked up at:

one project at a time @ a bowl full of lemons  hookin up with hoh @ house of hepworths  100 ideas under $100 @ beyond the picket fence  thrifty thursdays @ tales from bloggeritaville  manic monday @ serendipity and spice  just something i whipped up @ the girl creative  mad skills party @ mad in crafts  show me what you got @ our delightful home  tuesday to do @ the blackberry vine  tuesday's treasures @ my uncommon slice of suburbia  tutorials & tips @ home stories a2z  wild wednesday @ chatty chics  wow me wednesday @ ginger snap crafts