Home Bar Inspiration?

On tomorrow (Thursday) night's live Facebook broadcast we'll be sharing some of our cheap and easy ideas for home bar decor, a subject I adore because it invites all kinds of creativity. Many of our friends have home bars and I love seeing what they've done - they're all so fun, unique and different! I also love perusing my mid-century decorating books for ideas. I enjoy thinking about what must have been going through some of these designers' heads as they came up with these ideas. Some are fabulous, some are hideous, but I love them all! Let's explore some home bar ideas you'd probably never thought of...

You say you don't have room for a home bar? What about knocking a hole in a wall? Some may call it "foolish" or "destroying your resale value." I call it commitment!

If you're truly not up for major construction you can always grab a couple of closet shelves at the big box store and knock together a bar in the time it takes so mix a Martini:

Or can the idea of one bar altogether and create a series of little bars for each person. You don't have to fight for a barstool at this bar - just pull up a pillow and have a seat!

The electronics restorers out there will shudder to see this bar, but it does go to show you that a determined individual will make a bar out of pretty much anything.

"But I don't have money for a project of this scope!," you might think. This table gives lie to that idea. Find a box that's a little taller and you've got a bar for the price of a sheet of glass! You may have to wait a little longer - until your town's oversized trash day - to find that sofa, though.

I've shared this masterpiece before, but if cardboard isn't your thing you can always employ beer cans for your structure. It's both recycling and proof that you put away A LOT of beer!

See you tomorrow at 7:00 PM EDT on Facebook for more home bar hijinx!

Treehabilitation

If you've known us for at least one Christmas you know we have Christmas trees. MANY Christmas trees. I love Christmas and decorating for Christmas and I never met a Christmas tree I didn't want to adopt. I stopped counting at 40 trees. Our house is small, but I can always make room for another Christmas tree!

As we were unpacking the Christmas kitsch over the weekend I noticed some of our trees were looking a little sad. Prelit trees were burnt out, pink and white trees were taking on a decidedly brown tinge. It was depressing. Getting rid of them wasn't an option. It would feel like tossing out a member of the family. There are memories associated with those trees! I looked into flocking them, but it seemed it was either going to be very messy or very toxic, neither of which excites me much. Then I got the bright idea: what about spray paint? I wasn't looking to paint every needle on the tree. I just wanted to give them a nice facelift. Well, I'm pleased to report it worked great! I used Krylon CoverMaster Paint + Primer, then finished them off with Krylon Glitter Blast. I'm so pleased with the results! And think of the creative possibilities! You can't find a pink, purple and silver tree in any store? Create your own! The world is your fabulous Christmas tree oyster!

During:

After:

I have one left to decorate! Stay tuned!

Easy Project!

I'm so thrilled to have my cookbooks on display and easily accessible, but the heavy duty bookends we needed to keep them from falling over were so ugly. Now they're fabulous, thanks to this easy project! All you do is laminate postcards and stick to bookends with double-sided foam tape. That's it! Easy and easily removed, if you want your postcards later for another purpose!

Apple Wearing

The Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en costume shop has been open for business today and churned out this little number, which I'll be sporting in next week's episode, where we go crazy for apples! I make this dress for the show so often that I call it "the VLK pattern." I have about 40!

The VLK Dress: Apple Version