[ project life ]

SO, unless you've been living under a rock {like I was for the past couple of years}, you've probably heard all about Project Life ~ Becky Higgins' answer to photo albums/scrapbooking/journalling for all of us who are pressed for time or simply lazy...

I've never been a scrapbooker and having lived here in Dubai and Ireland prior to that with limited access to fun supplies and goodies, I hadn't heard of this quite brilliant system for documenting life. Thanks to Pinterest {are you as addicted as I am?}, it opened my eyes to how wonderful it is to document all the things going on in everyday life and how easy it is to make a pretty album by just sliding everything into pocket pages.

Even though I have this blog, which has been an excellent place to make note of everything for the past almost 4 years, I thought it would still be nice to have something to flip through, especially to remember our years as expats.

Becky's system includes binders, photo pocket pages and pretty insert cards...

The preprinted cards can be used to write in some journalling notes or just pop in some of the patterned ones to fill in empty spots. It's designed for weekly documenting which I find to be too much, especially since I'm working my way backwards. 

I decided to create a spread for each month instead, sometimes only one page for a month depending on what I actually had going on. Thanks to iPhoto, my pics are all organized by date so that definitely makes things easier. It's a lot of work going back and sorting through pics, organizing and printing them out but I'm slowly making progress. I bought a couple of different pocket pages but didn't bother with her preprinted insert cards ~ Pinterest has tons of downloadable freebies and I created many of my own. It's turning into a hybrid of text added in Photoshop and handwritten notes and some pasting which is making it interesting. 

Here are some cute examples from Pinterest of completed pages...

As you can see, the options are endless ~ you can make things as simple or as layered as you'd like. I may share a couple of my completed pages once I get them done and my journalling notes added in {it may be a while}. So that's what's been eating up my time.

Have you embraced Project Life?

lisa

[ finally - my gallery wall! ]

I KNOW, I've been talking about putting up a gallery wall for what, about 2 years now? Seriously, this has been the longest project I've ever had kicking around. But I FINALLY got everything hung up!

I decided to stick to a beach/swimming theme and have had fun sourcing out some great pieces on our travels and online. I used mostly white IKEA frames to frame everything up which was the most time-consuming part. Originally I had planned to run this along our long dining room wall in the apartment but now that we've moved, I split it up into 2 groupings ~ one over the sofa and the other over the 2 slipcovered chairs.

First, I planned it out on the floor, moving pieces around until they seemed to fit together...

Thank goodness for these for our concrete walls {I should buy shares in 3M!}...

I measured the centre of the grouping and measured the area above the sofa to find a starting point. I decided that the bottom of the grouping would be about 6 inches above the sofa. Then I started from the  centre bottom and worked my way out from there...

I used a tiny level to keep everything straight and used the top and bottom edges to make aligning quick and easy, filling in as I went along...

Soon the first wall was done!

For the second grouping, I decided to incorporate my beach photo I had enlarged onto canvas a while back and fill in with other smaller pieces, including the wooden Malaysian sandals I bought on our trip to Langkawi a couple years ago...

I purchased one of the deep shadow box style frames from IKEA but discovered a slight problem...

The depth of the frame was not deep enough to fit the sandals behind the glass. Hmm... what to do? Well, I decided that I would simply remove the glass, paint the backing board and screw the sandals onto the board from behind. Time to get painting...

A few coats of paint later and I think it worked out just fine...

I followed the same routine to get the second grouping up above the chairs. I love that the sandals add a bit of an unexpected element to the grouping...

All in all, I'm really pleased with how my gallery has turned out. It took forever to get there but it's a great mix of both happy memories and fun finds.

Have you tackled a gallery wall in your home?

lisa

[ flashback ]

WHEN I stumbled upon this charming little corner, it brought back memories of childhood. Growing up, I had a bedspread just like that slipcover! And not only was it a bedspread, it became a picnic blanket in the backyard and a "tent" where I giggled inside with my girlfriends and our Barbies. ahh, good times!

lisa

[better homes and gardens]

[ may I take your order? ]

NO surprise that I love this kitchen ~ white, huge island, marble, farmhouse sink... pure yumminess. But the thing I really love about it is the built-in banquette...

My parents still live in the house they built when they got married. And in the kitchen, they have a built-in banquette similar to this. I loved it as a kid ~ I would hide underneath it, I would play "restaurant" and do up menus {of the few things I could make like toast, tea, cereal} and then take orders like a waitress. It's been the gathering spot in their kitchen forever.

I don't see these kinds of built-in banquettes very often ~ they're usually a bench against a window or wall, with a table and a few loose chairs on the opposite side. But having it built-in like a booth in a restaurant is so inviting. Knowing how much we've all loved it growing up, I'd love to have one in my next kitchen if space allowed. And seeing it in this gorgeous kitchen has me convinced.

Do you have banquette seating in your home?

lisa

[virginia kitchens]