3-DIY-book-giveaway

I love being able to peruse real bound books! Browsing through blogs and online is fine, but there is no substitute for the printed word in a book.

Lucky for you, I’ve reviewed three new home, garden and design books that I think you’ll love!

The first is Decorating for Real Life by Wendy Hyde (blogger at The Shabby Nest)

decorating-for-real-life-page

Blogger Wendy Hyde began writing her blog, The Shabby Nest in 2008. She has taken her online world of decorating and design knowledge and has created a book full of magazine worthy homes. The photos may seem unachievable at first, but she breaks each room down to help you get the same look in your own home. She holds your hand and points out what makes the room work design-wise. This 208 page hardcover book is full with color photos of almost every room in a typical family home. At the end, Wendy printed several pages of grid paper and typical furniture items to help you design your own room layout.

PostBreakblueThe second book is Cultivating Garden Style by Rochelle Greayer

cultivating-garden-style-page

Rochelle takes us into a diverse world of beautiful and inspiring gardens. Her book is filled with ideas and tips to create landscaping that reflects your style, your home or your dreams. This hardcover book has over 300 pages filled with twenty three unique garden styles and step-by-step DIY projects to complete your outdoor space. Whether you like modern, Asian, Cottage or any other style, you’re sure to find inspiration in Cultivating Garden Style.

PostBreakblue

Last but certainly not least is DIY Wood Pallet Projects: 35 Rustic Modern Upcycling Ideas to Personalize Your Space by Karah Bunde (blogger at The Space Between Blog)

DIY-Wood_pallet_projects-page

Karah takes her popular blog theme of upcycling and decorating using shipping pallets from the online world and into the pages of this book. She created 35 new projects using shipping pallets and gives you the step-by-step tutorial to complete each one. In the beginning of the book she discussed everything you need to know about the safety of wood pallets and how to harvest the wood from them. The rest is full of tutorials using pallet wood that will definitely be easy on your wallet.

PostBreakblue

PHGFancySign

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

Can we be honest for a minute? This year when Jen Woodhouse from The House of Wood asked me if I wanted to participate in a holiday tablescape blog tour I nearly replied, “No way!”

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

Not because I was too busy…

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

… and not because I didn’t want to.

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

The truth is, I’ve never created a tablescape before. Yup, it’s true. Go ahead and google “Pretty Handy Girl tablescape,” I’ll wait.

Holiday Tablescape | Pretty Handy Girl

Did you see my Pinterest board filled with tablescapes pop up in the search results? Yup, I had to create one for inspiration.

Pinterest board of Tablescapes

The other reason I was cringing at the idea of a tablescape is because I don’t own chargers. Well, I own lots of chargers for my battery powered cordless tools. (Bah da dun. Sorry bad joke.) How can you create a tablescape without chargers?! Read more

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2014

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2014

Welcome to my Holiday Home Tour 2014! If you are just arriving here from The DIY Showoff, welcome! If you came here first, be sure to catch up on the other tour participants by following the links at the end of my post. A special thanks to Chris from Just a Girl for putting together this fabulous tour.

I’m thrilled to be able to open my door and let you in to see all the decorating I’ve been working on. I admit to you that my home doesn’t normally look this clean. And there may be a pile of papers or shoes behind a door, so watch your step.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

I love to update fake pine wreaths every year by tucking new elements inside. This year I used some tree picks from Lowe’s. You can see my old Presto Chango Christmas wreath if you want some more quick ways to dress up a cheap wreath.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

The front door wreaths benefited from a few sprigs of cut holly from the yard.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

Adding some ornaments to my little red wagon planter will take the place of plants until the spring.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

Come on inside the foyer, I know it’s a little cold outside.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

The kids’ advent calendars are filled and await their eager hands each morning. The colorful little houses look right at home on my IKEA hacked cabinet.

Pretty Handy Girl's Holiday Home Tour 2015

This year I wanted to add a lit garland onto the stair railing! If you look closely you might see a white cord taped around the baseboard leading into the office. I refuse to be dissuaded by the lack of a nearby outlet. Read more

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

This year I might have taken the tree decorating a bit far. I couldn’t stop at just decorating the tree. No, I had to decorate up the walls around the tree and onto the ceiling. The tree is literally surrounded by a multitude of shimmery vinyl stars!

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

What do you think? Overkill? Or do you like the emphasis those stars place around the tree. If you like it, here is a link where you can purchase your own set of stars from Leen the Graphics Queen (affiliate link.)

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

My idea started when I was gazing at my favorite tree topper I bought at Target a few years ago. At night when the light is turned on, it casts a multitude of lit stars all over the ceiling and walls. I was thinking how sad it is that you can’t see all those stars in the day. I wanted a more permanent way to keep the stars on the wall and ceiling 24/7! That’s when I called my friend Leen the Graphics Queen on a whim. That girl is the sweetest thing. She put up with my crazy idea and promptly shipped me several sheets of stars in different colors to create my vision. Proof that she’s truly a wonderful friend, she sent me both a set of gold and silver stars for me to choose from. As you probably guessed, I used the gold stars.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

Now, behold our blue, white and gold Christmas tree! The gold is the prefect touch of warmth against the cool white and blue color palette.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

The feather boas and icicles were from Michael’s last year. The larger aqua blue embroidered ornament balls and silver tree skirt are from Lowe’s (yeah—I know—Lowe’s the Home Improvement store!) The rest of the ornaments I’ve had for a while.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

At night when the tree is lit, you can see that I wrapped the tree with several strands of white and blue mini-lights.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

The British horse bridal medallions were a gift from a dear friend a few years ago. They have made the rounds in my home decor, but this year I added them to the Christmas tree.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

What do you think? Do you like my idea of surrounding our tree with its own constellation of stars?

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

You don’t have to use them on the ceiling. You can use them to decorate your desk, your door, holiday gifts, your refrigerator, your kids (okay maybe not them) or anywhere you want to decorate for the holidays! Best of all, when you are ready to remove them they peel off and leave no damage behind.

Starry Night Christmas Tree | Pretty Handy Girl

Happy Decorating!

PHGFancySign

Disclosure:

Some affiliate links appear in this post, if you click on them I earn a small percentage from the purchase. You are not charged any more.

Here’s the scoop, I wasn’t paid for this post. Leen is a good friend of mine and I love her graphic vinyl. I approached her about using her graphic stars. Yes, she sent them to me for free, but she’s a sweetheart like that. Leen and her husband run a small shop near the coast of North Carolina. They are the type of business that you want to support around the holidays and the rest of the year. I’d tell you more about how wonderful they are and how they are raising four wonderful children, but then it would sound like I’m gushing. So, hey, just know that I wasn’t paid and I want to see Leen succeed ;-)! 

 

Pin for later!

tablescapes-button

What do you get when you combine 12 DIYers with a Christmas Tablescape tour? You get bloggers that are so talented that they not only decorate their table, but they can also build their own table!

Jen from House of Wood asked me to if I wanted to join the 12 Days of Christmas Tablescapes. I have to admit that I’ve never created a tablescape before, so this was a bit outside my comfort zone. But, I’m always up for a challenge. Check in each day to see how these woodworking, DIY Rockstar bloggers pull out all the stops, saws and décor to decorate! And definitely check in on Friday to see if I nail it or fail it!

The Lineup:
Mon, 12/8 – Rogue Engineer
Tue, 12/9 – Her Toolbelt
Wed, 12/10 – So Much Better With Age
Thu, 12/11 – Pneumatic Addict Furniture
Fri, 12/12 – Pretty Handy Girl
Mon, 12/15 – All Things G & D
Tue, 12/16 – brittanyMAKES
Wed, 12/17 – House of Wood
Thu, 12/18 – Sawdust Girl
Fri, 12/19 – My Altered State
Mon, 12/22 – That’s My Letter
Tue, 12/23 – Ana-White.com

Jamison & Jamie are starting the tour with this knockout nature inspired dining room:

rogue-engineer-tablescape

Be sure to click over to the Rogue Engineer to see the entire room! It’s breath-taking.

PHGFancySign