Tassels 101

I heart tassels.

I dress my lamps with tassels like this.And like this.
Just hang that ribbon on that switch. If the tassel hangs too low, adjust the ribbon.
I also use tassels to hold back a drape that is looking sad.
Tie a tassel on a nekkid looking plump candlestick,
and loop a tassel over any knob.
Hang tassels on other decorations.
Have a tassel you love? Use one of those fancy ornament holders to show it off.
Put a race car tassel on the frame holding the photo of a big racing fan.
Dress up your hefty armoire with a hefty tassel.
Hang a tassel over a mirror
or set a tassel on a display shelf.


Hang a tassel up in in your boy's room on a shelf with pegs.

author's note:

This is not the tassel that is normally there. I let them pick out their own topper and ribbon and baubles for me to make them their own tassel. Can I tell you that their tassel looks like something a 1970's clown from Vegas would want? It has florescent blue ribbon gaudy red ribbon and, the craziest fringe available to woman kind. They love it. I think my camera might break if I try to photograph it.

author's other note:

For your viewing pleasure I thought I would show you what the rest of the dresser looks like.

author's last note:

Sometimes I pretend I have a girl.

Use a double tassel on a rope to hold back your panels.

OK this time, really, it's my last note:

I know some of you want to have two pairs of these so you can hold back a pair of panels. I promise one day I will make these in pairs.

Why not hang a tassel on a cloche.
You can hang one on a medicine cabinet.Hang a pair of tassels on the corner of a chair and let them drape over the front onto the pillows.
If you have hardware on your kitchen cabinets, that's a great place for a rooster tassel.
How about hanging a tassel on your door knob? A surprising place to show off a tassel is on the inside knob of your front door.

someone please tell this author to shush:

Dear Builders, we the women do not want bright yellowy fake brassy gold door knobs. There is no way you will convince us that it costs more for a factory to make these exact door knobs in black.

Place a tassel on the back of a chair that angles away from a wall.Decorate anything you love with a tassel.Well, not anything.
Do not put a tassel here. There is no classying up a john.Also, do not do this with your tassel, again, tassels do not dress up Johns.
This is also not a good use of a tassel.

Tassels come in all shapes and sizes. Tiny tassels can fit in the palm of your hand and big tassels are huge and heavy and expensive and worth every penny.

Tassels, the prettiest things you'll never need.

If you can read the questions in my right sidebar I'm taking a vote on how many tassels you have. If you are in desperate need of more tassels visit my shop.

Tell me, what have I left out, where do you hang your tassels?

The $200 Master Bedroom

source

Want a room like this? Me too. Most of us tend to neglect the master bedroom. It's usually hidden away where the public won't see it. But you know, it should be your haven. If you are married, I know you long to have a pretty room for you and your man to escape to. But, what if you don't have the money to invest in all new furniture right now? What if you only have a mattress and a box spring? Can you still have a pretty bedroom?

Yes!

The Bed
Let's look at this room starting with the bed. What if you wrap your box spring in a crisp white sheet, put a bed skirt on it or wrap it in fabric? Yes, while it's on the floor. If you want to raise the bed off the floor a bit, you could attach 4 wooden feet into the bottom {found in the unfinished wood section at Lowes and Home Depot} this would lift it off the floor about as much as the bed above for about $10. I know you are all gonna ask me about these feet. Ask the worker at the store about where the furniture feet and legs are.

For the headboard, get you a door and paint it white if you want this look. There are no rules on what color to use. If you are renting and cannot paint your walls you might want some color on your headboard, try a wheat color or a spa blue or what about chocolate brown? Want a free door? Read this post to see how I've found doors before. I would just lean it up against the wall between the mattress and the wall. Hollow, flat doors should be less than $30 if you want to buy one new.
The Bedding
Now, the key to this look is bold color contrasted with the crisp white. If you paint your headboard a color you might want to consider crisp white bedding and a white down comforter. You don't have to go as modern as this, but try some color on the bed if your headboard is white. Maybe you have some bedding already. If not, start saving your pennies. Ask for a new comforter for Christmas. I like Target, TJMaxx and Marshalls for inexpensive yet, beautiful bedding. Get the good sheets. I would rather sleep on a mattress on the floor with great sheets than in a bed in a frame with sheets that feel like sandpaper.

The Walls
For the rest of the room--look above the bed. See all of those white frames? What makes those work? All the different sizes and different shapes in the same color! If you go for a white headboard, then get you all sorts of frames from the goodwill, dollar store, yard sales or your garage {we both know you have some frames somewhere that you can use} and spray paint them. Don't worry about hanging them just so. Look how great these look simply grouped together. They have leaves in these. You could do photos or vintage keys or buttons or fabric or scrapbook paper or anything that you have on hand. There is no wrong.

The Bedside
Lastly, you need you a table and a lamp. Yes, I said need. The table can be any kind of table. Paint it the same color as your headboard and frames. The lamp is so important too. First, overhead light is so harsh and I know you want to look pretty in your bedroom. Secondly, you can read and turn off the light without getting out of bed. Lazy woman's dream. I am always shocked at how many people do not use lamps. Don't even turn that overhead light on unless you lose a contact or something.

The Extra Item that I Love to Have In the Bedroom
I always try to have a chair in the bedroom as well. Shop the house, I bet you have one someplace. It can even be a wooden chair with a pillow on it. Get you some candles and you are finished.

The Breakdown
Door: Free
Legs: $15
Box spring extra sheet or skirt or just wrap some fabric around it: $20 or less
Table: $10 yard sale {I promise you can find tables for $10 I have 3 in my house}
Lamp: $15 {garden ridge, shop the house, Goodwill {do you know you can spray paint a lamp?}}
Bedding: $100 {I know some of you can get this for even less!}
Frames : $10 {use something you have to fill them}
Candles: $5
Paint: $25 {you can use the same color for everything!}

Grand total: $200

If you want to buy just the frame --you don't even have to have a box spring! Check this out!

Perfect vs. Good

wordle

How many things do you put off because you are afraid to fail? Afraid it won't be good enough? Afraid it won't be perfect? I am guilty of this in so many areas of my life. This article and this one both found deep in the archives of one of my favorite financial blogs, Get Rich Slowly, had me thinking about more than just saving money.

I know we all procrastinate for perfection in our homes as well. Why even clean the room when you don't like the furniture? Why paint the walls--what if the color turns out weird? What if it's wrong? Why even put out the effort if I cannot do it 100% correctly?

I was talking to my sister on the phone today and we were both feeling like we had too much stuff. For her it was toys for her children, for me it was lamps, frames and various tasteful tchotchkes. We both started feeling overwhelmed and then she said "the only way I'll ever be able to get through all these toys is if I have 2 days strait without my kids around." Don't we all feel like that? I feel like the only way to get rid of my stuff is to move and make sure I don't "need" it. It's too much work right now. But instead of giving up and waiting to move, why don't I just get rid of a little bit every week? I make a weekly trip to the thrift store, I could drop off stuff then.

Whether it's saving money, cleaning the house, brushing your teeth or decorating, these things done incorrectly are still worth doing even if they aren't done to perfection. Simple Mom addresses the idea of aiming for excellence not perfection. Love her.


What are you putting off because you can't do it the way you feel like you should?

Contact Me!

Y'all have been asking me about my email so much lately that I thought I should address it here. Get it? Email, address? I am funny, no?

Want to contact me?
I am so glad! You know, half the fun of having a blog is the comments and the emails I get from you! However, I been receiving an increasingly, surprisingly, wonderfully huge amount of emails {or is email already plural?} and the only way I could respond to them all is if I choose not to feed my children, see my husband and shower. It was a long, hard, sad and smelly day when I realized that I could no longer personally answer every email. For awhile I removed my email link from my blog just to save my sanity, and feelings of guilt but I don't think that's the best solution. I mean, what if Oprah needs to contact me?

So, feel free to send me an email, I promise I will read it and laugh or cry or carryout whatever appropriate reaction a respectable person should have. But I cannot promise to respond as much as I know I'm gonna want to. Unless you are Oprah, I will respond to Oprah.

Do you have a design question?
Have a design question and want advice or a virtual consultation? I will be glad to assist you in exchange for your cold hard cash. Well, actually Paypal but cold hard cash sounds so much more dramatic. It's been so fun for me to help so many of you with your design dilemmas and I've been getting paid for this stuff in the real world for awhile now so, I figured I should offer help online as well. And ninety percent of what I do never even ends up on the blog. I will do something that any business person would tell me not to do. I am gonna tell you that you probably already know what to do in your house and you just want someone to give you permission to do it. So, YES--do THAT! See, now you don't even need me! But, if you still want some help, I've got packages available from $10 on up click here for more information.

Want a custom made tassel?
Oh, I am so thankful that you are interested in my wares! I am completely thrilled that they have sold so successfully! Right now I am not accepting any custom orders. I try my best to offer a variety of toppers and colors and am constantly limited by what I have available and what I can get my grubby hands on. Usually, what you see is what I have. If you have a specific question about an item in my etsy shop, feel free to convo me through etsy.

Searching for an old post?
Lastly, if you are looking for a specific post or some info from my archives, you should be able to to use the search button on the left hand side of the bar at the top of the blog. If you don't see it, move your cursor around up there and it should pop up. If you need to find posts about shutters {thanks for asking, Kelly!}, you can type in the word shutters and hit the search blog button. Or try Googling "nesting place" and then whatever it is you are looking for. So if you want to find out about shutters Google: "nesting place" shutters. I'm also in the process of reorganizing the blog so everything will be a little more accessible.

If you are Oprah...
I probably won't believe you so just send a bag of cash or some nice gift to my PO Box:

Nesting Place
PO Box 170
Huntersville, NC
28070

So, my email is: nestergirl@gmail.com.
I heart you all dearly! Thanks for reading!

Love,
The Nester

Infringement

Guess who finally got fresh fringe. It's always more fun to make something when you have new materials. And now I am knee deep in fringe and little strings that follow me all over the house.


I made this big bunny tassel the other day and I adore her so much that I cannot part with her. It's a sickness I tell you.


She's so exquisite and grand that she needed her own miniature tassels around her neck.

So, instead of an actual post with a fun project or some brilliant insight {there's a first time for everything} this is what I have. I'm completely swamped with fringe and stuff because I've been invited to do a show and for the first time in 2 years, I agreed! I'll tell you all about it soon but, if you live close, keep November 8th open--I'd love to meet you in Greensboro, NC! And if you live far away and for some reason don't want to spend your hard earned cash on a plane ticket, you can spend your hard earned cash in my etsy shop where I'm listing some useless, yet beautiful tassels today.

Shop

Click here to shop.

I love fabric and fringe and ribbon. Six years ago, I started making tassels by hand. What started out as a fun hobby has turned into an excuse to have my own craft room. Currently I have a line of tassels available through DaySpring, the Christian division of Hallmark.


What's a tassel you ask? Read this to find out what a tassel is and why you need one. Actually, you don't need one but, you will want one. They have so much personality and make great gifts for that woman who has everything!


From time to time I do have items available at my etsy shop. I usually announce it on the blog when I list new items.

Bird Watching

Oh my freaking heck, we've got us an quick and inexpensive way to slipcover a chair or sofa. It involves sewing but is worth it. Pink and Polka Dot calls it the laziest slipcover tutorial ever. She had me at "laziest".



Look at this brilliant creation by at Watch the Wind Blow By {scroll down past her wonderful award}.

And don't miss Melissa's 20 Little Things to Treasure in Autumn--I want it all--NOW! Especially the caramel apples.

How Not To Decorate.

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Use fake, bright green, dusty ivy over your kitchen cabs. You will for sure trick everyone and they will think that you can grow that stuff up there. They will comment on how on trend your kitchen is. The 1980's were good.

Hang one tiny picture high on the wall over your big sofa.

Hang a grouping of non related objects high on the wall over your big sofa.

Place all your furniture against the walls.

Buy a huge tv as big as a twin bed and put it in your main living room.

Cords, lots and lots of cords.

Leave dated paneling unpainted because your father in law tells you that painting it is a bad idea.

Leave your dated brick fireplace unpainted because your mother in law tells you that painting it is a bad idea.

Use only the overhead ceiling fan light for your lighting in a room. Do not use any lamps.

Let your drapes hang more than a quarter inch off the ground. Better yet, let them stop right at the window sill.

Buy the matching loveseat and sofa. You will never regret it. Don't opt for the sofa and a few chairs in a different pattern or fabric that are more versatile. You can always buy new furniture when you move and your new house won't fit a loveseat and sofa.

Buy the matching set.

Buy the smallest chandelier you can find.

Hang that small chandelier higher than 60 inches from the ground when it's over a table.

Keep the blinds closed all day even when you are home.

Never paint your walls.

Try to follow a list of rules that people try to force on you when decorating your home especially any set of rules listed on a blog.

Put off any and all projects until they can be done to perfection.

E-idiot

Another shameless plug for myself. Not only that, a plea for your help as well.

I've got some cutie patootie size 6 boys clothes up for auction on ebay. Feel free to bid. However, when I try to search for my auction--I cannot find it! I can only see it in my ebay. What have I done? I don't know why I even try to sell on ebay, I'm sure I will get a call from them asking me to never try to sell again. Do you think they call? Maybe I'll get a telegram or better yet, a candy gram.


Oh, and I've got my favorite boys coat of all time listed as well--can't find it either. Farewell sweet boys clothes--then again, maybe I'll get to keep them.

Curiously Spooky

The Curious Sofa is completely decked out for Halloween. Although we aren't big Halloweeners at our house, I'm about ready to buy a plane ticket just so I can visit this shop and be inspired by all the creative geniuses who think this stuff up!

My Favorite Poopies

The Good. {Click on the photos for the link to the owners}






The Bad.
The Just Plain Weird.


I loved all of your faux-liedge! Thanks to Southern Fam for introducing me to that word. How mad am I that I didn't think of that! Oh and don't you think everything looks better in an urn? You could put real POOPIE in an urn and it would look good!

I am still amazed that I was somehow able to convince over 100 civilized women to write the word Poopie on their blog and be excited about it!! YeeHaww! We are all insane! I'm not sure if this effort has done much good--as one reader put it:

"She's on some kind of campaign against tacky looking artificial flowers. (See, the problem with that is the people who actually have the tacky looking flowers...they don't know it. They think plastic looks good. And real.)"

Well, at least it was fun!

What to do with all of that fake ivy you are now too embarrassed to keep? Martha has a great idea {who are we fooling--I'm sure Martha doesn't even know about this idea because her many writers do it} of what to do with all of your dusty old ivy. Spray paint it black for Halloween! Someone did this on their blog too and had a great photo--if you are reading this make yourself known with a link in the comments please!

One more thing.....

Earlier this week Kim asked me if I would let you all know about the online auctions she was having to raise money for NieNie. {click on the button above and then to to "about Nie" if you haven't already heard their story}. Kim is the queen of creative connections and gave lots of us our big break in blogland. She's got about 40 more items to action off so fly on over and check out the loot!

P.O.O.P.I.E Party!

Are you a P.O.O.P.I.E participating in today's Mr. Linky? Quick, copy this button/photo and plaster it to your blog post! Super big thanks to my sweet friend Deanna {Domestic Chicky} for offering to do this --she's got all sorts of goodies at her design blog from headers to mommy cards {I've ordered those from her and love them!} And she is talented--I told her to make this button horribly rediculous so blame me for it's offensive nature. Of course, I feel the need to mention my own dear, dear blog designer, Darcy as well because she is working feverishly on an exciting project for me! Love to both of you! I'd also like to thank the academy....

new and improved

Welcome P.O.O.P.I.E.s!!

For those of you who are new, POOPIE stands for: People Opposing Objectionable Pretend plants In the Environment. You can read all about it here. We take ourselves very seriously on this controversy of utmost importance. How and when to use pretend plants and stuff.

weird and confusing

Here is a great example. It's my old wreath that just wasn't quite right. I got lots of great advice as to how to make it POOPIE approved and thanks to you all, it looks great! See that top photo? That's the finished wreath.


I made it fall-y while still using all the stuff that I adore. Lots of feathers, white pumpkins and of course I had to use a nest just to make you fall nest haters mad!

I like the nest in there. And you said it couldn't be done!

Ok, your turn, all you POOPIES out there join in the fun and link to your wonderful or horrible pretend plants, pumpkins, fruits, or whatever it is you need to share! Party on, POOPERS!

Is your link gone? If you linked to just your blog and not to your actual POOPIE post I had to delete your link! People will be visiting for days and maybe weeks and if you don't link to the post then they won't be able to see your wonderful/horrible fakes! Please relink! Love you!

POOPIES Unite!

Sheesh! Who learned y'all so well in how to do a great looking fake wreath? It's like you've all been trained by a professional P.O.O.P.I.E. or something. Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses--I read them all and laughed and cried and immediately took down the wreath that looked like spring, summer and fall threw up on it.

My wreath got a makeover and I am now happier-- I'll show it to you tomorrow when we have a spur of the moment Mr. Linky party so all of us P.O.O.P.I.E.S can share our good, bad and ugly fake plants and flowers.

As usual, there are really no rules. Just make sure you link to the actual post about your fakes and I would be forever grateful if you linked back to this post so other people know what you are doing and why you are using the word poopie so freely. If I had it together I would have a cute little button for you to add to your blog for this. I just cannot imagine what a button P.O.O.P.I.E would look like.

Maybe you need advice from all of these wise and talented birds or maybe you have a thing or two to teach us! I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

The Fall Wreath

Remember how I told you that I was gonna make a wreath because y'all all got me all {June will love that} worked up and excited about it? Remember that? Well, I made it. Actually, I just added fall stuff to what I already had.

I hate it. I'm sorry. It's just not right. What is it? Is it too bright? Too green? Too weird? Not enough browns and natural colors and natural stuff? Help me. I don't like this wreath. I do like a wreath overflowing with stuff and huge and coming out at you so don't be telling me that's the problem because it's not. At least, that's not why I'm not quite happy with it.

Tell me what to do, I'll work on it and get back to you.

Oh, and in the comments a few of you P.O.O.P.I.E.S. said you you wanted a Mr. Linky to link to your good/bad/ugly fake plants and stuff. Do you really want that? If so I'll hook it right up and we can do it on Wednesday!

Bird Watching

{photo stolen from Holly Mathis Interiors}

One inspiring blog that I am new to is the Happy Homebody --she has a clever idea for an old birdcage. Love it!

Shannon showed us a clever way to display pumpkins {real or fake ones!}

Now that I have moved away, my sister is getting to know all of my old friends. Jen has a contagious personality and I so wish I would have hung out with her a little more before I moved away.

And a dear blogging friend who I wish that I knew in real life so she could redo my house, Holly Mathis {Shabby Mama} has made her apothecary jars so very proud! Add Shabby to the list of people I want to be when I grow up.

One more! Leave it to Kimba to make something real fancy like for her front door out of a pile of junk.

Fake Take 3

Well, if you read the comments from the last few posts it seems that people either love fake plants and such or hate them. There is also a large group of us in betweeners. We are P.O.O.P.I.E.S yes, but we find lots of fakes that are not objectionable. I have no set rules for you to follow when using fake or if you are a fancy person "faux" plants so because this is my blog and I can ramble on and on and on about the same exact thing for days at a time, I'll just tell you what I look for and how I add to pretend stuff to make it tolerable.

Feathers. I gotta have em. Long ones, short ones even pheathers. I bought these probably at Hobby Lobby or Garden Ridge.


Since we have lots of geese round here my boys find big fat long goose feathers all the time. Most people don't want to touch them for sanitary purposes. Not me and my boys. We stole this one out of my sister's yard. Is it bad to touch a feather? I don't let them put it in their mouth or anything.


If you didn't like the idea of the real feather you certainly won't approve of this. Yes. It's a real, live nest. Aware of my addiction to all things bird, my boys ran in the house last spring holding this beautiful, fragile freshly made home. I don't even think the poor bird was finished with it. I figured after they boy handled it no self respecting bird would live in the nest so I keep it in a glass apothecary jar. It's such a sweet treasure. And the eggs are plastic. I do know where to draw that line.


How about these beauties? They are supposedly driftwood. Real? I guess.


Look how pretty they are in this $1.99 apothecary jar I found at the goodwill.


Every time we go to the park we come home with treasure. My boys love to pick up rocks, sticks, seed pods, pine cones, nuts, cattails {I'm not even gonna say it} moss, acorns, reeds, bamboo, nuts, and vines.


I keep all my glass jars together and right now they are housing all the stuff my boys have found. I also buy shells at the beach and add that to what they find. Sometimes, I throw in stuff that's not natural like glass door knobs and old finials and marbles or a fake pumpkin.


Here's a moss ball I made last spring. You just hot glue moss to a styrofoam ball. It was bright green but has faded in the sun and ready for fall.


So, here's that arrangement thing I keep showing you. I think it works well for me even though it's got fake stuff. Here are some ideas that I try to keep in mind:

*use a container that you love
*mix natural items with fake
*keep natural hues and don't try to make a bright colored arrangement
*use interesting items that you are drawn to

For this one I got two containers and stuffed them both with florist foam, hot glued on moss and stacked the two tins. I didn't attach them. Then I sat a nest, pumpkin, shells and stuffed in cattails and feathers. Nothing is glued in so I can change it up and put a big pine cone in for Christmas.

I'll be adding to my wreath over the weekend to make it Fall-y. Do you have your fall wreath up yet?

Fakin It Take 2

I'm starting a new club. It's called People Opposing Objectionable Pretend plants In the Environment. P.O.O.P.I.E. for short. I think I'll have t shirts made.

This is what I object to. Pretend ivy over the kitchen cabinets. Or, pretend ivy anywhere for that matter. Ladies, fake plants have come a long way since the ivy. If you are still using it, please reconsider. It looks bad. Your friends are too nice to tell you to take it down and move into the 21st century. My apologies.


I am in no way against all fake plants. Although, in a perfect world I would like for all plants to be real. I'm pretty sure that all the plants in heaven will be real.


I have fakes in my house. I am picky about what I buy and how I use them. I like them to look realistic even though I know I'm not fooling anyone. Since I'm renting and my walls are white I think a little green adds some much needed life and dimension.


Do not use these. They scream fake. If you must use pretend flowers at least buy something that looks real.


These pretend hydrangeas look like the real dried out thing. I still don't use them unless it's in a wreath. Personally, I don't like pretend flowers unless they are unbelievably wonderful. I usually just buy pretend greens and stuff.


The fern on the top is shiny, bright green. The back looks white and is a dead giveaway that this is not remotely real. The bottom fern is imperfect, has muted greenish yellows and looks the same from the other side. Much better choice.


The leaf of the left is plastic-y and waxy and burns my eyes. The dried stem on the right was alive at one point and has a wonderful texture it makes a great filler.


I use these "berries" at Christmastime. They are not real but have enough variation in color and perfectness to be believable. It seems the trick is to buy imperfect greenery and fake stuff. I look for greenery that has a brownish, yellowish tint. These seem to look more realistic. Even though I don't use fake flowers inside, I have seen them used beautifully. But beware, most people cannot do them right.

I did find a great place for the ivy though.

Faking it

If I had a personal butler and maid I would direct them to place fresh flowers mixed with exotic fruits and branches and such in every room of my house 7 days a week.


Did you catch that show a few weeks ago on HGTV telling the world our top 25 design/decorating mistakes? If not, Rhoda sums it up here. I agree with some of them but like all rules, sometimes they are fun to break and prove the rulemaker wrong.


The very first rule listed was that it was wrong to use fake plants and or flowers. Ideally, this would be great if none of us used pretend plants. But, in reality it's just not feasible for those of us who want pretty wreaths and centerpieces that we don't have to replace weekly and keep a part time job in order to fund.


This week we'll talk about the best way to use fake plants and how to incorporate them in our homes without the HGTV police coming to arrest us.


How do you feel about fakes?