Crystal Author
I’m a savor the seasons woman, (More on that subject in a future post.) I don’t like putting up my Christmas decor this early in November. But as a blogger, the rules are a bit different. Most bloggers are a bit like retail shops, they must get their “product” out early so that people like you and me have time to try new ideas, finish our holiday projects and get our homes decorated before the eggnog has to be served. So with that in mind, I’m offering just a small idea today. Getting started with neutral decor. If you are just beginning to decorate with neutrals, or just want a quick, easy and inexpensive idea, I have just the thing. Neutral candy canes. Yep. Neutral, go with anything. Not your Mama’s candy canes.
For several years, I’ve used all white candy canes at Christmas. I would order a case online from Spangler Candy. They lasted for a few years because I’m cheap and hey, they weren’t for eating and enjoying. NosireeBob. (Does anyone actually know nosiree Bob?) Well, they WERE for enjoying, visual enjoyment…… you could look at them and admire them. I didn’t unwrap them so they stayed nice for a few years. I must confess however, they do not last forever. After a couple (maybe 4 if the weather is good) of years they start getting…..sticky, drippy and gross. Not the kind of decor you want to share. I knew last Christmas it was time to replace mine. I still have a couple of unopened, factory sealed boxes which I’ll put out this year but it’s time to order more. Guess what?? Spangler isn’t making them anymore!!! Oh my stars! What? I even emailed them to plead my case. Nope. No go. I got a polite response stating; “we are aware crafters like the white canes…….” Crafters???? CRAFTERS???? How about decorators and designers? WE like them too. sigh. If you too, are outraged by the lack of white candy canes, here’s Spangler’s info:
Spangler Candy Co., 400 North Portland St. Bryan, Ohio, 43506
email: info@SpanglerCandy.com
If you’re really serious you can call them at (419) 636-4221
It’s too late for this year but perhaps they will relent and make them for 2017. Meanwhile, I’ve found a replacement for my neutral candy fetish. Hot Cocoa flavored candy canes!!! Oh yes, the wonder of it. Nice and neutral. Cream and Brown. Dreamy. And maybe they even taste good…… Dunno. Cause at my house they ain’t for eatin. Oh no, they are for DE′COR, fancy, right? So stick a few in a clear mason jar or any clear vessel and add some jingle bells and a bit of greenery. Use anywhere in the house……maybe not the bathroom, cause you know….. candy in the bathroom? um, maybe not. But definitely in the kitchen. And bonus! you can smack the fingers of unsuspecting guests or family members who still believe candy canes are for eating. Oh, by the way, they are available at Target. In the candy aisle where normal people browse to buy…you know….candy. To eat.
PS. The genius of this is that you can use any color candy canes you like. Want green? They have them. Turquoise? Ditto. Still believe in the classic red and white? Bingo. It’s YOUR Christmas, have it any way you want. Hot cocoa anyone??
CREATING a sanctuary isn’t difficult. But there is a simple “rule.” Incorporate your senses; Touch, Sight, Sound, Smell, and Taste. Bring things into your home that bring you pleasure in some way, whether it be the sound of music, the touch of smooth sheets, the taste of your favorite food, or a smell that brings back memories. Use things that you feel are beautiful. Surround yourself with things you love, things you treasure. All your senses are important. Today I’ll focus on the sense of smell.
There are many ways to use your sense of smell in your home. You can incorporate scented candles, use one of the many oil diffusers, or the scented wax cubes that are melted in decorative electric “burners.” I particularly like the Scentsy brand. The selection of scents is amazing and the scent lasts longer in my home than other brands I’ve used. There are burners styled to play nice with any design style, with table top burners and mini plug-ins that go directly into an electric socket. (Those take up little room and fade into the background if you don’t want to put one on a table or counter). I change out the scents I use for the seasons, or just on a whim. The wax cubes are reusable and last for a very long time. This isn’t a sponsored post. Just my experience.
You can also use Essential Oils, like Lavender or Eucalyptus, Peppermint, or any scent that strikes a chord within you. I use a few drops of my preferred oil mixed with water in a spray bottle to mist my sheets. Getting into bed at night on smooth sheets that smell good seems like a luxury.
Old fashioned scented sachets tucked into drawers create a feeling of being pampered. Opening a drawer to a delightful scent is a wonderful way to help create the sense you are home, safe and sound, in your own sanctuary. Make sure the scents you choose for your home play nice together. There’s nothing sanctuary like about competing odors, no matter how good they smell individually.
Use fresh flowers. Fresh roses, lilacs, gardenias and some lilies give off a delightful aroma. Pamper yourself and your home, place some vases of cut flowers around now and then.
Bringing in potted plants to help clean the air in your home is something else you can do. Especially during those months when our homes are closed up tight, winter, if you live “up north” and during the hottest months in the deep south. Peace Lily does well indoors, along with varieties of Philodendron and Pothos. Plants also add a touch of nature and provide texture in a room.
Smells bring back memories quickly. I can still visualize my elementary school classroom whenever I open a fresh box of crayons. The smell of cinnamon brings back mornings with my Grandmother baking cinnamon rolls. I still remember walking into my aunt’s home and how good it always smelled. It smelled like “her.” Lemon still reminds me of My Grams’ after one of her marathon, clean-everything-that-isn’t-moving days. um, I moved…. a lot. And quickly. I was afraid I’d go to school smelling like lemon if I didn’t move fast enough.
I never thought about my home having an odor (other than worrying if it smelled like dog), but apparently it does. My daughter-in-law told me that when she was testing new Scentsy smells last spring, my Granddaughter (youngest at the time), said; “Oh, this one smells like Grams’ house.” Um, did it smell bad? Weird? Have that “old person’s house odor? What??? I don’t smell anything when I walk in my home! YIKES. What do other people smell???? I guess it smells pretty good, at least according to my Granddaughter. She sat inhaling that scent for a good long time. I bought it. Turns out she thinks my house smells like “Satin Sheets.” Who knew???
Farmhouse. Bungalow. Beach cottage. Mountain cabin. Urban loft. Tract home…Wait. What??? Tract home??? ( Cue the sound of cartoon brakes screeching.) When I used to think of my ideal home I often pictured a farmhouse, surrounded by rolling hills, or a beach cottage smack dab on the white sand. Even a darling bungalow in my city’s desirable, older neighborhood. Or the top floor of a high rise with stellar views of the city at night. I never pictured a tract home in the middle of the suburbs, surrounded by strip malls, endless rows of gas stations and drug stores. Yet that’s just what I live in. Although my husband argues that it isn’t quite a “tract home” since it was designed from two different plans from two different builders and isn’t like any other house in our neighborhood. Splitting hairs are we? Whatever.
For the sake of this blog, let’s just call it a tract home, or cookie cutter home if you prefer. Not that there’s anything wrong with a tract home. Far from it. It’s just that when it comes to blogs, many, if not most, offer names like, Farmhouse number (insert a number), Cottage on (insert woods, lake, mountain), Bungalow on (insert street name). No one ever says Tract Home on a Hill….or Beachside Tract Home. Although those are catchy titles. When I decided to blog, I tried a number of cute names, “Brown Dog Farm” led the pack for quite a while. Since it’s a play on my last name and I had a brown dog. Once. I don’t have a brown dog anymore, nor do I live on a farm. Hmmm, what to call a blog that’s about loving where you live, decorating on a budget and being content? Voila. My Suburban Sanctuary was born.
My home is located in the suburbs of Tampa, Florida, just outside the bedroom community of Brandon. It sits on a quiet street in a community of about 500 other homes, also situated on quiet streets. I am lucky that when we built this house we got to choose our lot. It’s large as suburban lots go, narrow, but long and we have no backyard neighbors. A must have for me at the time. This house is also a compromise between Mr B and me. I wanted to live in the country, he preferred closer to the city. He was commuting then, and needed to be within 30 minutes of the airport. This was the best of both worlds. Close enough to make the commute bearable, far enough away from the city that I could garden in private with no one peeking in my windows.
We’ve been in this home a number of years. While we’ve managed some updates, most of the house is still waiting for its spit shine. It still lacks character. It needs details. Now we have the time. Mr B retired last fall. I gave him the HONEY DO LIST that had been decades in the making. We are beginning to add character to this home, one room at a time, accompanied by the sound of some grumbling and low key groaning. um…..no not me, I’m singing Hallelujah!
My goal is simple. I want each and every room of my home to bring me pleasure as I walk in to it. I’ll be blogging along the way, with tips, tricks and ideas on turning this not-quite-tract-home into my personal sanctuary. Hope you stick around.
Does the world really need another blog?? Probably not, but it’s too late now, cause here I am. In all my glory. My first post on my first blog. CRIKEY! It’s exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. I have a new-found respect for bloggers. Who knew blogging would entail a crash course in things like; WordPress, platforms, hosting, and will somebody explain just what a widget is and why I need them?
It takes a certain amount of courage to post one’s thoughts and opinions and throw them out there for the world to see. (um, thanks to my granddaughter and 2 of my friends for being the “world” thus far). They’ve heard my opinions before though, so it will be interesting to learn if strangers think I have anything valid to say. I also realize I need to keep my thick skin in good repair because not everyone is going to love me (What?? Is this even possible?) and not everyone is going to agree with my opinions.
BUT I have Big Love. HUGE love. Love for decorating, especially with antique or vintage things and architectural salvage. For taking pictures. For rescuing fur babies, for music and reading and for “hunting history,” otherwise known as genealogy. I want to share that love with my friends, and my soon-to-be friends. So please join me as I decorate my home, redefine its look and feel, search out ancestors, listen to music and read books. Perhaps we will learn something new along the way. One thing is sure, I want to help you LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE and CREATE YOUR VERY OWN SANCTUARY, whether it’s in a house, apartment, condo, manufactured home, tiny house, house boat or even a travel trailer; whether it’s located in the Burbs, the Country or the City, everyone deserves to have a sanctuary. Let’s get busy creating one.
Even though it’s fall in Florida, the weather is mild and plenty of critters are out and about. One of the perks of living here is having butterflies almost year round. A few Monarchs overwinter and several varieties of swallowtail are active until the cold weather hits. Contrary to popular belief, Florida can get to freezing or below in the winter, altho not for very long.
Winter here is likely to mean morning temps of 40 degrees, warming to the 60’s by afternoon most of the time. The intermittent cold spells can wreak havoc on the garden, so I keep old sheets in the garage to cover fragile plants and protect them from any freezes. When you are acclimated to weather in the 90’s for months at a time, 60 degrees is COLD. And we really suffer when it hits freezing!
But I don’t have to worry about that just yet.
Today was another 80 degree day, a little humid, but still very pleasant. So I wandered around a bit, deadheading spent blooms and listening to the birds while I followed a Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly as it flitted from flower to flower, dining on some Pentas planted behind the pool. I sat on the patio step and watched Oscar and Lily wander around as well, sniffing out doggie delights in the grass, always on the alert for pesky squirrels. The raucous cry of Bluejays in the trees let me know the dogs were getting a bit too close for comfort and the cries of the red shoulder hawk as it circled the yard, looking for any unsuspecting critters to dine on, reminded me I was hungry as well. So I called in the dogs and headed inside to see what leftovers were hiding in the fridge.
Today was a good day.
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