Hello Laundry Room...Nice to Meet You!

The laundry room and I have never really been friends. I'll be the first to admit it. We meet from time to time, mostly in passing. I bring the laundry room some dirty clothes, stock pile junk that has no other home, leave the recyclables by the back door....get in, get out and quickly shut the door. Yes, my friends, sad but true it had come to this...

Please keep in mind that I had already picked up a ton of stuff before I remembered to snap a few before pics. Picture, if you will, laundry on the floor, miscellaneous odds and ends scattered about...getting a good mental image? I've always loved the large baskets over the washer and dryer, until everything started spilling out of them. See the Halloween stuff? And the poor little red shelf...a junk collector for sure. And why is the monkey pirate nutcracker still out in June?

Well, I had finally had enough. I needed a space that was inspiring and made us happy. Even more, I needed the space to be a pretty room that just happened to have a washer and dryer in it since this room is right off of the kitchen and also the entryway to our future upstairs addition (strange, I know). So, here is the new laundry room...

We started out by painting it Du Jour. Yes, I know it's white, but I always pick my paint colors because of their names. I feel like it gives the room an identity before it even comes to life. I am really enjoying the new space. I'm not saying I enjoy doing laundry any more than I did before, but the space is really easy on the eyes now ;)

I wanted to fill it with lots of vintage, salvaged, thrifted and antique treasures. The goal was to use as much of what we already had for decor and maybe a few new pieces here and there.

More storage was key. I wanted a place to store cleaning supplies and chemicals, and completely fell head over heels in love when I found this piece at a local antique mall! It is the tiniest little antique metal cabinet with etched glass. It had already been redone in a glossy white paint, which was perfect!

Lots of storage for supplies in the lower cabinet, with plenty of room left on top for pretty dishes and glassware.

I put one of my favorite thrift store finds on top...a pretty vintage floral picture in a chippy white frame, along with an old clock, a buddha (I have one in every room, so serene), and a turquoise vase with flowers.

This key rack was a great find at a garage sale, and a great little organizer...

I covered one of the walls with art. The two large vintage syle ads were in the laundry room previously. I found the little bicycle print on clearance at Target. The embroidery hoop art was made with scraps of colorful fabric I already had. I found the vintage frame and tiny mirror at a local thrift store (the store is less than a mile a way and will be the death of me I am sure).

My favorite, however, is the silhouette of my daughter, made by a local artist. He looks at his subject and simply starts to cut. Absolutely amazing! He did a wonderful job! Such attention to each little curl on her head and her long eyelashes...

We replaced the wire shelf above the washer and dryer with white shelves from IKEA. It makes the space more modern and allows more storage space.

The biggest change is probably the lighting. The old light fixture put out a diffused glow and the space seemed darker. The chandelier puts out a lovely light with a lot of sparkle. Did I mention I love sparkle? When the light plays with the crystals it make the prettiest twinkles on the ceiling...

Thanks for letting me share our new space with you. Well, guess I'll do some laundry now. haha

Have a beautiful day!

Love,

Have you heard...

Have you heard? Eclectic Orchid is having a summer sale! Yeah! 20% off everything in the shop! Just type in the code "summerlove" in the coupon box during checkout to receive your discount. Hope everyone is having a lovely summer!

HAVE FUN!

One Fine Day

Well, it is anything but one fine day here! Intervals of rain with the sun making an appearance here and there. The kind of day where you have just enough rain to make everything a sloppy mess outside. Since it has been a stay-inside-kind-of-day, I decided to participate in the FPOE (Female Photographers of Etsy) Treasury Blitz. Very fun concept- show your fellow photographers a little love by featuring them in a treasury, take a peek and comment on all the lovely treasuries, and hopefully get some of these beautifully curated treasuries to Etsy's front page. My treasury offering is One Fine Day, here's a little screenshot:

Sunshine, fun, happiness, romance, travel, lace, flowers, turquoise and yellow....they make me smile!

On a side note- New necklaces, earrings, and headbands coming to the shop soon in gorgeous summer colors! Here's a peek:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Much Love!

Well, even though summer doesn't officially start for another month, I thought it would be fun to kick off the season with a summer sale! Come on over to Eclectic Orchid and pick up some great new accessories for summer! Flower pins, necklaces, earrings, jewelry, headbands- something for everyone! Just type in the code summer15 at checkout and receive 15% off your entire purchase (excludes shipping, can not be combined with any other offers, not applicable to custom orders)! Happy shopping!

A Day on the Farm- Engagement Photos with Aerin & Ben

Well, when you think of a farm you may not think of balloons, but I can assure you that on this particular day on the farm there were indeed balloons. I'll get back to that later! When my cousin Aerin called me last week to see if I wouldn't mind taking some engagement pictures of her and husband-to-be Ben, I was of course so excited! Where did they want to take pictures you ask? On the farm belonging to Ben's family. Okay, now I was ecstatic! Thomson Farm (aka Blue Lake Farm) encompasses over 1200 acres of land, which meant so many idyllic settings for dreamy, romantic pictures. It also meant a day of riding on four wheelers through green pastures, forests and fields of wildflowers (and also the occasional cow patty, but let's just focus on the pretty things, okay?). I mean, just look at this place...

Did I mention they raise beef cattle? I was a bit worried about a stampede but was assured I would remain trample free...

Some of the land borders the Broad River. So pretty!

So, here is a little sampling of the photo shoot. While I am no means a professional portrait photographer, it was so much fun to capture these special moments and I am pretty happy with the results! Have a look...

Ben is a volunteer at the local fire department...

Remember the balloons? They have a lot of old farm buildings spread throughout the property and I thought the brightness of the balloons against the old wood would be fun. Besides, balloons put a smile on anyone's face. Pure colorful happiness...

Hay bales anyone?

Aerin is a romantic at heart and a big fan of Pride & Prejudice. I think we captured a bit of that in this picture...

One of my favorites in a beautiful field of tall yellow wildflowers...

Aerin wore my For Whom the Heart Exists necklace for the shoot. I hand stamped it with a "B". Thought it was fitting for the occasion... You can see this necklace and more romantic styles over at Eclectic Orchid.

Thanks so much to Aerin and Ben for letting me capture this special time in your lives. It was so much fun and I am truly honored! Lots of love to you guys and best wishes for the future!

Also thanks to the Thomson family for allowing me to photograph some of their beautiful land. Truly a magical place!

Have a wonderful day all!

Much Love!

Good Morning Copycats

This morning I headed over to one of my favorite blogs, Violet Bella's World, and found this great little flyer. Her post this morning is interactive and she encourages everyone who agrees with this sentiment to repost on their own blog. In Laura's words, " Lets spread the word in a fun and creative way that its not so cool to be a copycat." Couldn't have said it better myself! So, head on over to Violet Bella's World and help show those copycats that we won't let them get us down!

Neglected and Sad

It's true, I've neglected you, made you sad, poor little blog! Life has gotten so busy and you have been tossed aside like a dirty dish rag. I'll try to do better sweet friend!

Lots of new lovelies are slowly making their way into the shop for the spring! Here are a few...

Head on over to Eclectic Orchid to see more of the new spring collection!

And I'll soon be introducing my Ring Around the Rosey custom fabric flower necklaces in gorgeous, vibrant colors. Below is a sneak peak at a spring photo shoot by local photographer Lindsay Hess who was kind enough to use my new necklace (shown here in teal blue). How gorgeous is this photo? See more of this lovely photo shoot over at Lindsay's Facebook page!

Last, but not at all least, I am one of the sponsors over at Violet Bella's World blog for the month of April! It is a gorgeous blog with dreamy images, inspiring reads, and lots of heart. Take the time to visit if you haven't already- it's totally worth it, I promise! Have a look around her Etsy shop, Violet Bella, as well. Oh my- its lovely!

This weekend is supposed to be a beauty so I am hoping to get my fill of nature- sprucing up the flower beds and planting a vegetable garden. Hope your weekend is wonderful as well!

Lots of Love~