 Bromeliad. Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2021. We’ve all been there…You take down all the festive holiday and winter decor and you’re left looking at a cold empty chasm whose soul left the building! This year I tried—in vain—to decorate and make things look nice, but I needed more. I needed my space to feel alive. I needed something organic and living (besides my cats) in my “living” room. I don’t know why I never bothered to get a lot of houseplants before. I like plants. I like poking at them and watching them grow. I do have a few of them already—they have become sad and neglected, but still alive (well, mostly!). Sure I kill a few here and there, but overall we have a symbiotic relationship. This year—of all years—I decided I had to make a major change. This year I wanted to buy some beautiful houseplants and become a proud plant mom. (Yeah, that sounds weird even to me!)
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 My finished redesigned dining room. Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2021. For too many years, my family has been living paycheck to paycheck. My husband and I were busy raising children and dealing with mundane day-to-day “stuff”. The years flew by and we “collected” furniture that was cheap, hand-me-down, and functional. Nothing was precious because we had three growing boys—and I’m the only female in a house full of males. (Seriously—even the cats are male!) I always meant to “pretty the place up”, but it just never happened, either due to time constraints or because the money just was not there for extra niceties. Recently, however, our situation has changed somewhat. Our three boys are grown (our youngest is in high school) and we are a smidgen better off financially. I don’t know why, but miniature worlds fascinate me. I think it was preordained that I would one day design a fairy house. I mean, why wouldn’t I?! And so it was a couple of years ago I came up with a hair brained scheme to design two distinctly different fairy houses, with the main goal to use them in indoor fairy gardens or as part of a vignette. The design concept for one of these miniature houses was inspired by images of old English and Irish cottages, with their rough hewn walls and thatched roofs. The second fairy cottage (pictured below) developed out of childhood memories of enchanting illustrations in fairy tales. The vision behind these designs was to create miniature houses for use with faux florals and seasonal decor that can be refreshed as needed and illuminated with either LED candles or fairy light strands, creating a magical little focal point on a table. Since Spring has certainly sprung, it is now time for my home—and my fairy gardens—to transform into something more suitable for the season! This year I wanted to give my indoor fairy gardens an updated look, and that means new florals and freshly painted bases.  Fairy Cottage indoor fairy garden by Di's Studio Designs. Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2021. Wow! Here we are on the cusp of February…Where has the month of January gone? It seems to have disappeared in a wisp of smoke—thankfully!
I had lofty ideas about jumping head-first into 2021. I was going to take on the world and get shit done! How naive I was! In my defense, quite a lot happened in January. Some circumstances were unavoidable and physically constrained my time, while other issues hampered my mental capacity to think, let alone “get shit done”. But I am nothing if not determined.  DIY decorative lighted branch box by Di's Studio Designs. Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2020. As part of my “nature-inspired” vision, I thought I’d try a little experiment—a little DIY project using gorgeous tree branches from the magnolia tree in my backyard. While researching for another blog article, I came across some beautiful images on Pinterest using live tree branches and lights, and I just had to try out one of my ideas! If you’ve never thought about bringing fresh elements into the home to provide an organic touch to a space, I encourage you to give it a whirl! It can be a quick, inexpensive way to spruce up a table, counter, or mantlepiece.
 Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2020. If you spend enough time in your home (like many have been lately, with current events), the decor starts to feel a little stale, doesn’t it? My solution to this problem is to liven up the space by lighting it up in the warm glow of LED and fairy lights. These two simple decor items can be a cheap, quick, and creative way to enhance the feel of the space—and it doesn’t cost much at all. The wide variety of LED and fairy lights on the market provides many options for brightening your decor. So today’s blog is simply about sharing a little LED inspo for your interior decor.
So, let’s start with fairy strands…  Fall Foliage Decorative Lantern by Di's Studio Designs. Di’s Studio Designs has added something new to the line of handcrafted decorative candleholders—wooden lanterns!
I’ve wanted to create lanterns for quite a while, but so many other projects and priorities cropped up that I just had to file the idea in the back of my mind to try later. The idea came to me a few years ago when I made an Asian-themed wood decor table tray. I just fixated on the lanterns and thought…“That could be a stand-alone design!”. Bio…what?! Merriam-Webster defines biophilia as “a hypothetical human tendency to interact or be closely associated with other forms of life in nature : a desire or tendency to commune with nature”.  Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2019. Can you feel summer in the air? It’s hot enough! Today, I thought I’d share a little project from a previous summer that I like to call Tropical Paradise.  Isn’t there something strangely satisfying about creating miniature little worlds? Who doesn’t love tapping into that world of childhood wonder, imagining a world of mystery beyond our reach? If you’ve been following my blog, you will remember the indoor fairy gardens I created last year. (If you missed it, you can read about it here.) That fun—albeit challenging—project resulted in two beautiful displays that now grace my living and dining rooms.  Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2019. Who is in the mood for strawberries?!  Image from Pixabay. Thrift shops are heaven on earth for creative people like myself. I constantly find new and exciting pieces of unique, vintage glassware and dishware. On one such trip a few years back, I found a couple of slightly rusted metal dessert cups, simple votive glasses with vertical ridges, and some beautiful glass dessert plates with an elegant vine design.
Hello, summer! I don’t know about you, but warm weather always inspires me to be creative. I do love my thrift shops (as some of you may know already)! In particular, I love finding used and vintage glassware and dishes to turn into creative decor.  Faux florals, miniature birds, and repurposed thrift store finds…Three of my favorite things! The weather is warm, and the sun is shining brightly today—the perfect day to reflect on a couple of previous “make me happy” projects.   Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2020. I’ve had an outdoor herb garden with mint, sage, and chives for several years. And boy, are they flourishing this year! Lavender and rosemary were also planted, but neither ever came up. Finding an empty spot in my garden, I decided to pop in some carrots. Time will tell whether they will grow!
 Photo by Diane M. Lilly, 2019 Last summer, my husband and I went to Longwood Gardens in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Honestly, I don’t know why we don’t go there more often, because it is less than an hour from where we live! Hmmm…I think I am just now hatching a plan to visit again this summer—provided this coronavirus doesn’t keep us away.
I’m sitting on a secluded beach…Colonies of seagrass are swaying and rustling behind me in the ocean breeze. Golden grey sand fills the spaces between my toes. The deserted rocky beach is littered with weathered pieces of driftwood, seashells lying about haphazardly, and small pebbles worn smooth by the relentless actions of the tide. The ocean--its rolling waves reaching out to greet me--stretches out endlessly before me, only stopping when it meets the horizon with its watercolors of peach, pink, and yellow morphing one into another as the morning sun wakes from its slumber. That’s not where I am at the moment—just in case you were wondering—but that’s where I’d like to be! If I can’t be there in person, maybe I can be there in spirit—through a little design magic. This vision of perfection inspired me to create a design concept of an interior that mirrors the colors and ambiance of such a sweet spot of solitude.  Non-product images from Pixabay.  The Tree of Life…There are not too many symbolic icons that stretch so far back into the mists of time and mean so much to so many cultures. It’s a symbol that represents anything from the afterlife, the bond between heaven and earth, the connection to the earth, and the cycles of life (birth, life, death, and renewal). The trees were sacred to the Celts, and different trees held special meanings to the people of the time.
So, of course, I had to create an art piece with the Tree of Life! How do you define Bohemian? As it turns out, this is quite a versatile style! Bohemian means lots of plants, rattan, wicker, and texture. Boho can be fun and vivid or neutral and calming. But at the heart of it, Boho is about celebrating natural elements, bringing nature's textures indoors.  Non-product images from Pixabay. So far, this year has been sad and distressing, but despite all of it, I have somehow found the space in my head to be inspired to create new art pieces. Three art pieces are a work-in-progress, and a fourth “idea” for an art piece in the brainstorming phase. In addition, there are preliminary plans for new candleholder design projects to keep me busy during the summer. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Not to be cryptic, but plans are in the works as we speak to unveil new design options, so stay tuned for that!
I like to draw—particularly Celtic-inspired knotwork and designs—and in the past few years, I’ve discovered an outlet for these drawings through wood burning. As it turns out, wood burning is not much different from drawing with pencils—except you can’t just use an eraser to fix a mistake! But I love the challenge and the beautiful pieces of finished artwork. I’ve decided recently to try my hand at some customized wood-burned designs. Last year, I collaborated with my husband, who does comic illustration. Our joint project was to create a graduation gift for our son, who loves Batman. My husband drew out the basic sketch, and then I took that sketch and “translated” it onto a blank wood plaque.  |
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