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Sunshine Blogger Award
I’ve had the honor of being nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award—not once but twice in the last couple months. My first nomination for this peer-recognition award came from Gia at giaknows.com. Gia is a passionate Christian and raw vegan minimalist who invites others to walk with her towards better health through the powerhouse of info she provides on her blog. Check it out and follow her social media profiles: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. My second nomination came from a fellow faith blogger, Stephen De La Vega. Stephen faithfully and fearlessly blogs about his pursuit of God. He shines a love of Biblical understanding and invites us to…
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Magic Fireplace
Hello friends. I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Did Santa make his way down your chimney this year? What if you don’t have a chimney? That’s the question my kids (and thousands of others) ask every year. Controversial subject of Santa vs. no Santa aside, how do you make your kiddos feel better when you don’t have an actual chimney for Old Saint Nick to shimmy down? A few years ago, my kids helped me make a ‘magical’ fireplace out of cardboard (which we taped to our wall on Christmas Eve). We’ve since upgraded to…you guessed it…another faux fireplace. We all have a bit of fun pretending it transforms…
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Gorgeous Faux Wood Beam
Beams add so much character. And for a small-dollar project, they are a huge payoff. When I first walked into a model home to view the floorplan we were building, I cringed to see a dry-walled support beam splitting the dining room and living room. It was only a momentary case of the shudders though. Our home backs up to a beautiful 4.5 acres of wooded hills. And what is a home in the woods without a bit of natural architecture inside? So I started planning a faux beam. Because beams are expensive! Even the faux beams (made of styrofoam) would run over $400 to do that length of ceiling.…
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Faux Fireplace that Fools Everyone – Part 2
Eight months is a long time for 2 families, a dog, and an ornery cat to share a house. So while I waited (impatiently…but that’s a different post) for our home to be built, I loved having a good reason to sneak out back to the garage for some peace and quiet. You can imagine there was a bit of work to do on this mantle (considering it was ripped from its home where it faithfully presided over fires since Lincoln’s time). If you didn’t read the last post on my mantle’s history, read it here. I’ll admit, I lost quite a bit of time, staring at its beat-up frame,…
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Faux Fireplace that Fools Everyone – Part 1
Hello friends. ♡ This post has been a long time in the making and I’m so excited about it! Everyone who sees my fireplace asks whether it’s gas or wood. Everyone thinks it’s real! Gas or Wood Fireplace When we met with our builder in December of 2015 (2 years ago!) to pick out our options, we knew a real fireplace was out of the budget. That was heartbreaking. But I had 8 months, living with my parents, while our home was being built to mull this over. How could I build a faux fireplace that gave me the feel of the real thing? Faux Fireplace Let’s face it. If you don’t…
