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Five Home Decorating Lessons We Can Learn From Disney

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Last weekend, I was lucky enough to take my son to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. I say lucky enough, because even though I was hot and tired, seeing the look on his face while we are there and then hearing the excitement in his voice while he recants his experiences to his grandparents is one of the most magical things on Earth.

Most people enjoy visiting the Magic Kingdom to ride the iconic rides, reminisce about family vacations, and share a little bit of the magic of The Mouse with their children. While preparing for our trip, I realized that the park offers us even more. It never dawned on me until now that we could actually take tips from the Disney masters and apply them to decorating our own homes.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the five lessons I learned on my visit.

1. Pay attention to detail – One of the most amazing things about Disney World is the Imagineers’ attention to detail. Everywhere you turn, the smallest details make the biggest statements. The unexpected details, such as this pictorial carved into the columns in Cinderella’s Castle, are one of the elements that make Disney World so magical. They really make the park come alive.

In your own home, the details matter, too. When I talk about attention to detail in decorating, I don’t necessarily mean more details; I just mean the right details. You can have all sorts of knick knacks all over your home, but two or three of the right accessories in the right places may be all you need instead. Spend time looking for the details that enhance your home and get rid of those that distract from it.

2. Have patience – If you come out of a visit to the Magic Kingdom with only one lesson, it will be the lesson of patience. Even though the folks at Disney wrote the book on quickly moving massive amounts of people from place to place, you are still going to do your fair share of waiting…and waiting…and waiting.

When decorating your home, you must also have patience. It took the folks at Disney four years to construct the Magic Kingdom, so don’t expect your home to be decorated to perfection in a few hours. Learn how to set a tablescape, step back and admire it, live with it for a week or so, and rearrange until you get it right. If you painted that end table black and don’t swoon over it every time you walk into the room, get out the primer and paint and try it in white, yellow, or even red. Have patience when trying to create the perfect room, and the magic will eventually reveal itself.

3. Hide your unsightly necessities – I knew that Disney did a great job with hiding items that didn’t need to be seen by the general public, but I didn’t realize how just good they are at this process until I started trying to take photographs of their hidden necessities. I finally spotted an outdoor electrical outlet camouflaged along the Jungle Cruise route.

Just like Disney, you should also try to hide your unsightly necessities. No, I don’t think you should literally camouflage your electrical outlets, but do think about the placement of your kitchen garbage can, your toilet plunger, and your TV/DVD/VCR/Wii cords. The Nester even came up with a clever way to hide that ugly thermostat on your wall. You don’t realize how distracting these types of items are to your decor until the eyesores are cleverly hidden.

4. Keep it tidy – I have always been amazed at how clean the Disney parks stay with the thousands of visitors that walk through their gates each day. Of course, they have an army of “cast members” who do little more than pick up stray water bottles and polish the brass. The crew really blends into the surroundings and you hardly notice their work unless you are actually looking for them.

Even though you don’t have our own army of “cast members” at home, you can work to keep it tidy. Spend a few minutes every day dusting surfaces and clearing away clutter. If you and your guests see little more than piles of papers and an inch of dust on every end table, it will be hard to enjoy the beautiful decor you have created. You don’t have to be a perfect housekeeper, but 15 minutes of daily work goes a long way. Need help getting started? Maybe my chore chart can help!

5. Amaze yourself – There’s nothing quite as special as seeing the look of amazement on a child’s face as he stands in between two of his favorite friends. The magic of Disney has the power to amaze us all, even if we think we are too cynical and too old to enjoy the experience.

You have the power to amaze yourself. Tackle those projects that you are afraid you won’t be able to complete. Strive to make your bedroom look just like that magazine page you have tucked away in your “wish” files. Paint those cabinets black, even if it scares you. Do something that you don’t think you can do, just to amaze yourself.

Think about your last trip to a Disney park. What other lessons could we learn from the Most Magical Place on Earth?

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Don’t forget that today is the last day to enter the Greengirl Designs/Paper Prayers Giveaway! Entries close at 11:59 pm tonight and the winner will be announced on Tuesday. Good luck!

Ten Fantastic Fillers for Apothecary Jars

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I really love apothecary jars. There is something so innocent – so refreshing – about an empty vessel just begging for a beautiful display. When I find apothecary jars at thrift stores for $3 or $4 each, I snap them up like crazy. You’ve probably seen me grab one in Goodwill and give a Tiger Woods fist pump because I’m so excited with my new score.

Because I know you love them as much as I do, I want to give you a little encouragement and a little push towards filling them with unique displays. People, it’s time to start thinking beyond pasta and pears, cotton balls and cotton swabs when it comes to filling your apothecary jars. Using your jars to showcase unique finds will give your vignettes much more personality than filling them with the lemons you bought for 5/$1 at the grocery store.

I’ve put together a list of 10 fantastic apothecary jar fillers that will hopefully guide you in the right direction to update those displays.

1. Vintage Spectacles – Just imagine the scenes that have been viewed through these lenses. Antique glasses are available at thrift stores, antique malls, estate sales, and even yard sales. Add two or three pairs to a simple jar, and you’ll have a display that everyone will want to “see.”

2. Soap – For an apothecary display in a bathroom, nothing beats a collection of beautiful soaps. Choose natural-colored soaps in the same hue, instead of in a color that matches your room. Find wonderful guest soaps at discount home stores, or use drugstore bargains, such as Aveeno or Ivory. Better yet, purchase monogrammed soaps to add a personal element to the display.

3. Vintage Photos – One of my favorite apothecary jar fillers is vintage photos. I have always loved the boxes of photographs I see in antique stores, and I decided that I wanted to replicate those displays myself. For my jar, pictured below, I found a selection of vintage photos online, printed them on cardstock paper, cut them out, and then tore the edges and creased the image until it looked appropriately worn.

Don’t you think they actually look like real photos? Because I knew that you’d love this idea, too, I assembled the photos into a .pdf file for you to use in your own displays. Find that document HERE. Am I the nicest person ever or what?

4. Vintage Hairbrushes and Combs – Along the same lines as the antique photographs, I would love a display featuring vintage hairbrushes and combs. You can find some really beautiful dressing sets in antique stores or online. Keep in mind that a child’s size set would probably fit into your jar easier than an adult’s size (unless you had a very tall jar).

5. Sea Shells and Starfish – A universal favorite apothecary jar filler is sea shells and starfish. Keep your shells in the same color scheme and only fill the jar halfway so that you don’t end up with too much of a good thing. Break the mindset that shells and starfish only belong in the bathroom. What’s with that anyway? Do we think shells can only be displayed where there’s water? Does the ocean remind us of the toilet? Weird, huh?

6. Knobs – Some of the most interesting (and cheap!) items to add to an apothecary jar are vintage knobs and drawer pulls. Find them for $0.25 a piece at places like the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store or yard sales. Your collection will be eclectic but will have a fantastic quality because the pieces are all variations of the same theme.

7. Rocks – Using natural elements in the home is very important, and nothing could be more natural than my son’s rock collection. Adding his treasures to an apothecary jar meant that I had a natural (and FREE) filler, and it is extra special to him because he got to use them to “decorate with Mama.”

8. Silver Cups – A few sterling silver baby cups displayed in a large apothecary jar would make such a sweet display. Stack them randomly on top of each other to create a tower. I’ve seen several of these little cups at Goodwill lately, so start hitting your thrift store in search for a few. They don’t even need to be in great shape – the more dings and scratches, the more personality they have.

9. Blown Eggs and Found Nests – What’s not to love about real birds’ eggs and nests displayed in a beautiful apothecary jar? In one of my jars, I used Spanish Moss in the bottom as a “nest” and then added 5 or 6 blown quail eggs on the top.

Check out these gorgeous egg displays – quail eggs on reindeer moss and Robin’s eggs on a found nest. I love them!

10. Indoor plants– Apothecary jars take on a whole new life when used as terrariums for indoor plants. Add plants purchased at home improvement stores or a local nursery.

You could even grow your own grass. Did you see Kimba’s wonderful wheat grass project?

A Soft Place to Land

Are you ready to find something unique and interesting to put in your apothecary jars? Little makes a jar more interesting than filling it with something completely unexpected. Tell me what you are going to add to yours!

Enjoy your beautiful life! Head over to The I
nspired Room to see how others are making their lives beautiful, one simple way at a time.