The Beginings of a Garden + A Summer Salad

I've had the urge to start a garden for a few years now, but have always felt intimidated and nervous about the process. Mostly since I have no earthly idea what I am doing. Because of this, I chose to start small with our first garden. 

Jake and I assembled two small raised beds that will house herbs (sage, dill, lavender, rosemary, parsley and basil) as well as a few different varieties of tomatoes. I incorporated pots and planters around the garden with strawberries, mint (since in my gardening research I learned that this guy tends not to play well with others) and different greens (mixed lettuce, spinach and arugula).

I used paint stirrers from the hardware store and leftover chalkboard and white acrylic paint to make free plant markers. I saw this idea floating around a year or so ago so I can't take credit for its genius.

What's been really cool about this process is that I've discovered how much I enjoy being in the garden. I love to play in the dirt, talk to my plants (this doesn't even make the top ten list of the most embarrassing things that I do on a daily basis), care for them and watch them slowly grow -- a lesson in patience. 

Cafe lights have been on my dream backyard wish list since we moved in over four years ago, but I was unsure about how to hang them since we don't have a pergola or structure to drape them from. Lucky for me, I found this tutorial on how to use PVC, electrical conduit and pipe straps to make poles that the lights could hang from. We purchased the clear cafe lights at Target in their outdoor section. I really love the warm glow that they give off at night. If you have the space, I highly recommend taking on this simple and inexpensive project!

Some warm weather salad inspiration: 

Arugula, grilled pineapple, blueberries, feta and raspberry vinaigrette

Really looking forward to incorporating some of the produce that we grow into our salads this summer!

Seize the Weekend Vol. 6

Seize the Weekend is a weekly feature on No Place Lyke Home. I've scoured the Internet in search of five crafts/recipes/projects that are easy to tackle in a weekend. My hope is to inspire others (and myself) to roll up our sleeves and get creative!

1. Make these lemon ricotta pancakes from Sugar & Charm. Something about spring makes me crave tart and fresh flavors.

2. Try out a few dos from A Beautiful Mess' 20 Hair Tutorials We Love post. There are some great looks for warmer weather. It must be on it's way soon, right?

3. Throw an egg decorating party to get ready for Easter. The always inspiring Design Sponge shares an inside look at their party including some unusual egg designs.

4. Learn something new in the kitchen. If there's a certain area of cooking that you would like to improve on, head over to Martha Stewart's Cooking 101. It's filled with tons of short, easy to follow videos on how to do everything from chiffonade herbs to properly fillet a fish.

5. Restyle a corner of your home to reflect your personal style. I touched a little bit on this last week with our record stand makeover. I think it's so important to live with what you love. Shelley over at The House of Smiths walks you through how to take on projects in an approachable manner. She's all about doing what you can now with what you have.

I took a page out of Shelley's book and recently restyled a pair of shelves in our family room. I love the family photos that were on the shelves and moved them elsewhere, but I wasn't happy with the overall look going on. They didn't really scream us.

I applied a fresh coat of spray paint, and grabbed some meaningful objects from around the house and voila.

With the addition of a horseshoe from the racetrack near the town that we met and grew up in, a vintage dog that looks like Penny, my great grandma's books and my grandma's doily these shelves now hold a lot of sentimental value.

It cost me all of $3 and I feel so happy each time I walk by them. All this to say, don't hold yourself back from making over a space for lack of funds. If you look around at what you already have, there are probably lots of things that can be easily restyled to suit your personal style.


Now here's a song to dance to. Happy weekend!

Budget Makeover: Record Stand

Something about spring makes me want to clean up, organize and make things over. I think it's more than the arrival of warm weather that's pushing me to change up our space.

We recently celebrated the three year anniversary of moving into our home. I was 22 and fresh out of college when we bought our house. In the past three years my design tastes have grown and evolved. I've spent a lot of time pouring over design magazines, watching home improvement shows and visiting design blogs. I've even been lucky enough to work a little bit in the interior design industry.

All this to say, I've been feeling like a lot of our home doesn't really reflect us.

We are on a super tight budget (I'm talking pennies, people) so I'm challenging myself to use what we already own combined with a little creativity and elbow grease. I'm hoping that a few mini budget makeovers throughout the house will freshen things up and make our space look more like us.

For our first mini makeover, I took on our record stand. It certainly had potential, but felt kind of dark and cluttered. While scouring the Internet for inspiration, I came across this beauty and felt inspired. 

I'm not afraid of color, so I headed out for some vibrant orangey coral paint (Sassy Peach by Valspar, to be exact) and got to work. The end result:

I'm super happy with the way it turned out! If you'd like to make over your own wood furniture follow these steps:

 

1.) Bring the piece outside or into a well ventilated area.

2.) Lightly sand all over and then wipe down with a clean damp rag.

(make sure your surface is completely clean of dust before proceeding)

3.) Prime. Some people skip this step, but I think it makes all the difference. I used spray primer.

4.) Paint. I brushed the paint on, but you can roll or spray paint.

5.) To create the dip dyed effect on the legs I waited for the peach paint to dry and then used blue painter's tape to tape around each leg, I applied 3 coats of metallic acrylic paint below the tape on each leg and on the X base. 

6.) Peel off the tape and use a small brush to touch up any smudges or mistakes.

I'm hoping to keep this momentum going throughout our house. I'll be sure to share any future projects!

Do you have a place in your home that you've been dying to make over? 

Office Nook Makeover

As I've started to spend more time editing photos and working on my home computer, I've felt the need to makeover my upstairs office nook. It's a small little space, but it fits everything I need and is pretty cozy.

I chalkboard painted the main wall of the space, hung a shelf and added some of my favorite odds and ends from around the house. Do you ever shop inside of your own home? It's one of my favorite things to do. Whenever I hang a new shelf or just want to change things up - I take stuff from different rooms and pull things out of the garage and rearrange them. It's definitely a great way to freshen up a space on a budget.

Without further ado, my new workspace:

I'm still wanting to add a pop of color and some more storage solutions, but overall I'm really happy with the change.

No Place Lyke Home for the Holidays: Gift Wrap Guide

No Place Lyke Home for the Holidays will feature fresh holiday inspired ideas; from recipes, to gift wrap and festive decor - I'll be sharing my favorites this holiday season.
I've always been kind of awful at wrapping gifts. It may have sprung from when I was a child and would wrap random things around the house with toilet paper and give them to various family members as gifts.

Last year, I decided to take a stand. No more lumpy packages with enough tape to reinforce the Hoover Dam. I am a sucker for nice presentation, so learning how to wrap a pretty package was important to me.

I started with this video tutorial via Real Simple, which I found very helpful to get the basics down. Then I checked out this list of tips and tricks via my main woman, Martha Stewart. I ended up with the below monochromatic package using silver paper, silver twine and hand stamped gift tags.

This year, I'm hoping to be a little bit more adventurous. Below are some of my favorites from around the internet.

Think outside of the box for embellishments (tutorial here).

Let photos replace gift tags (via).



Give simple brown paper a little pizzazz (via).

Use black paper and chalk marker to give a chalkboard look (via).

Add lace (via).

Do you have any gift wrapping stories or ideas to throw my way?

DIY: Frameable Valentines

I love Valentine's day. Sure, it is commercialized (like most other holidays), but I think it is great to have a day all about telling the people you love that you love them. I know that we should do this every day, but some of us need a little reminder. The chocolates and flowers don't hurt either.

This year, I wanted to create valentines that were unique and from-the-heart. Inspired by art that I saw from sarahandbendrix on etsy, I decided to make my valentines as something that the recipients could frame and display.

I chose to incorporate the Beatles, "All you Need is Love" lyrics since it holds a special place in my heart. It was the first song that Jake and I heard as a married couple (the recessional song at our ceremony).

With the help of my niece, Addie, and some really awesome Martha Stewart Craft supplies, (her heart paper punch and customizable rubber stamps - found at Michaels) the task was fairly simple.

I used card stock, and cut it to fit a 4x6 frame. I played around with the hearts and liked the mismatched look best (I used scrapbook paper). Simply punch them out, fold them in half and use a glue stick to glue down only one side of the heart.

 

My favorite part was using the leftover hearts as confetti!

Are you a Valentine's Day person? Why or why not?

Seize the Weekend Vol. 4

Seize the Weekend is a weekly feature on No Place Lyke Home. I have scoured the internet looking for 5 crafts/recipes/projects that are easy to tackle in a weekend. My hope is to inspire you (and myself) to roll up our sleeves and get creative.

1.) Wow your man with some delicious game day food. I look at the Super Bowl as a way to celebrate the end of football season (aka the return of my husband). Whatever your reason for watching the big game this weekend, Martha Stewart has compiled a list of awesome chicken wing, dip, and chili recipes that are poi-fect for Super Bowl Sunday. Recipes here.

via 

 2.) Make upcycled coasters out of old magazines. I found this idea on Apartment Therapy. For step-by-step details click here.

3.) Wear red lipstick, as seen on Drew Barrymore (one of my girl crushes) below. I have yet to try this beauty classic and vowed to be more adventurous with my hair and make up in 2012. Check out this Glamour article on how to find the perfect red for your skin tone.

via

4.) Speaking of spicing up your beauty routine, try a braided headband. I found this look on Pinterest, and tried it out on myself (the instagram below is of my final product). This style was super easy to create, even for the hairstyle challenged. To learn how to create your own click here.

5.) Make art on the cheap using shoebox lids. I know, I couldn't get over how genius this idea was either! I found these on Pinterest originally posted on Spunky Junky. Click here for more details.

 Please forgive me for the delayed post today, damn you Blogger auto post scheduler! ;)

Hope that you all have an adventurous weekend!

Seize the Weekend Vol. 3

Seize the Weekend is a weekly feature on NoPlaceLykeHome. I have scoured the internet looking for 5 crafts/recipes/projects that are easy to tackle in a weekend. My hope is inspire you (and myself) to roll up our sleeves and get creative.

1.) Make art out of your favorite quote or sentimental song lyrics using an old painting. I found this from one of the most great-idea-filled blogs, A Beautiful Mess. For a tutorial on how to make your own, click here.

2.) Bake special cupcakes for someone you love (or for me). I think these coconut ones look especially enticing. Recipe via Martha Stewart found here.

3.) Get organized. Sorry to be a buzz kill, but your entire weekend can't be filled with glittered manicures and banana pancakes. Use these 10 tips from professional organizers to get your space under control. Originally posted on apartmenttherapy.com.

4.) Make this delicious looking spicy lemon chicken wrap for lunch. Originally found on Pinterest via thelondoner.me, recipe located here.

 5.) Step outside of your makeup comfort zone. Don a classic cat eye for date night or an evening out with friends. Our old friend, Lauren Conrad, shows you how - in a video found here.

   via

If you try anything listed above this weekend email me a photo at brhea.koneman@gmail.com. I hope that your weekend is simply fabulous!

Seize the Weekend Vol.2

Since last week's "Seize the Weekend" was so much fun to create, I am making it a weekly series. I have scoured the internet to find five diy projects/recipes/crafts that are easy to tackle in a weekend. Check 'em out below!

1.) Make storage pockets from gallery wrapped canvases. I have some old canvases in our garage that I might use to make mail storage for our mudroom. I found this project on craftzine.com. For a step-by-step tutorial click here.

2.) Cook a warm and comforting soup. Even though it is going to be in the 60s here this weekend, I'm hoping that this minestrone soup will make me feel like I am seeking refuge indoors from the elements. This soup is from Better Homes & Gardens. You can find the recipe here.

3.) Create handmade Valentines. Martha (we are on a first name basis) has a wonderful list of ideas here on how to make your own.

4.) Let's keep this fancy schmancy manicure trend going. I found this ombre inspired idea on Pinterest via makeupalley.com.

5.) Create a sunburst mirror using paint stirrers. This beauty comes from one of my absolute favorite blogs, Centsational Girl. For a tutorial on how to create your own mirror, click here.

If you take on any of these projects please email me a picture (brhea.koneman@gmail.com) I'd love to see what you make. I hope that you all have a lovely and creative weekend!

P.S. I'm linking up with one of my favorite blogs today, E Tells Tales :)

Seize the Weekend

Fridays are full of promise and anticipation. After all, the weekend is mere moments away. Two perfect little days for you to stake your claim on. Let's all procrastinate at work daydream together about what the upcoming weekend has in store for us. Below are five projects/recipes/crafts that are easy to tackle in a weekend. Hey, I've already done the legwork for you - so no excuses, seize the weekend.

1.) Make a decadent breakfast for someone special. I am sure your loved ones would appreciate this pile of deliciousness.

Banana nut french toast via my main woman, Martha Stewart. Recipe here.

2.) Learn how to make paper roses. These could even be used as Valentines (who doesn't love handmade?).

 For a detailed tutorial on how to make your own, head on over to Heart of Light.

3.) Get a jazzed up manicure like this one, via Emily Schuman of Cupcakes & Cashmere. 

4.) Make an unusual salad for lunch/dinner (linner?). After all, this girl seems to be really enjoying herself.

Tangled Thai Salad found on Pinterest recipe here.

5.) Update a boring bookshelf or built-in (say that five times fast) using contact paper or wallpaper.

Found on Pinterest originally posted on Apartment Therapy. How-to found here.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with just the right amount of productivity!