Pepper Design Blog

A Little of This & That... Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family

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Office Makeover: Wall Collage Part 1

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I’ve been jumping all over the place when it comes to finishing up this office. My corkboard project is taking muuuuch longer than anticipated and while I wait on the prime opportunity between work and Liv’s naps to nail gun that frame together, I’ve started experimenting with the wall collage for the guestroom portion of the office.

Wall collages! They’re awesome. It’s all about how many photos can I stuff on a wall creatively. Here’s some of the inspiration that I’m working with:

But this image really nails it on the head:

There’s something about that cluster of pictures that I’m especially drawn to. Love the neutral theme and the natural wood frames (kind of matches the theme of the office) and the organized chaos that the wall evokes.

But the wall collage isn’t all about slapping pictures up on the wall. I want each and every photo, painting and object to mean something to our family. Maybe a souvenir from a trip, an art project by one of Kevin’s amazingly crafty family members or a photo of a place that we love.

So while I hunt down the perfect pieces (I know they’re buried around here somewhere… I just need to hunt – aka ‘shop’ the house and garage) here are a few layouts that I think will look great on that dark brown wall in the guestroom:

Or maybe this one:

I’m a visual person. I need to see just how the artwork (or bookshelf, closet or anything else I’m organizing) will look before committing. Especially to lathe and plaster walls! These poor walls can only take so many misaligned holes. I’ve learned the hard way.

PS I’m just beginning to really use the magical tool of Pinterest… for more beautiful wall collage inspiration, check out my board here.

Images: Unabashadely Prep, Walking Around Where the Sidewalk Begins (found at a veiled aside), Pottery Barn, Decor Chick

Decorating for Fall: Yarn Pumpkins

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Here’s an easy fall craft to tackle in about an hour (perfect for a car trip or while you’re catching up on the latest episode of The Office).

I found two styrofoam pumpkins in the 50% off bin at Michaels and knew that they could be so much more. With a bit of orange yarn (also 50% off) and a few fabric leaves these guys were ready for display:

They’re living in the fruit and veggie bowl at the moment (next to some hand grown tomatoes, yum) but they’ll probably find a new home soon.

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Yarn Pumpkins

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Materials: styrofoam pumpkins (or balls that you shape into pumpkins), orange yarn, green or fabric felt, pins or glue for leaves

It’s as easy as…

{1.} Wrap the yarn around your pumpkin and tie a knot on the underside.

{2.} Continue to wrap the yarn around the pumpkin in large sections (this gives the wrapping a little uniformity – you could skip that part and just wrap like crazy though).

{3.} Cut felt or fabric pumpkin leaves and attach with a pin or glue

…and display!

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Super simple and crafty fall pumpkins ready to go.

Going Green: City Composting & the Worm Bin

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We try and keep things as sustainable as possible around here, so a while back we began to look at composting options.

Bonus of composting? Great garden soil and the perfect way to ‘recycle’ our kitchen scraps (to keep them out of plastic bags in landfills). Cons of composting? The smell. Phew. The bacteria and other microorganisms that team up with oxygen to create that ‘black gold’ soil can be nauseating, and since our yard is small we don’t really have the space for a big compost pile in the back.

The solution? A worm bin! Worms break down a majority of kitchen waste (things like coffee grounds, old bread and pastas, grains, fruit – not citrus, egg shells & veggie scraps) and create a soil that is just delicious to plants. Creating our worm bin out of a big plastic tub was easy, read all about how to do it here. We even bought our worms locally from a Craigslist worm farm (yep, those exist too).

Kind of a gross image, I know. We regularly load this guy up with anything that we can’t toss to our city chickens (who LOVE kitchen scraps and even gift us with eggs once a day for it). We keep the bin (which really isn’t too big) in an outdoor shed along the side of our house. The ideal temp is between 50-75 degrees F, so those that live where it’s cold or super hot might try the garage.

This is the indoor compost bin we keep right under our kitchen sink. It’s the perfect size (about a gallon) and the filter built into the lid ensures that zero smells escape. Twice a week or so it’s emptied into the worm bin.

And then after about two months of worm composting, you get ‘worm tea’. This black liquid can be drained out and poured around the base of garden plants (or mixed into the soil of potted plants) and will nourish, nourish, nourish. Very soon our garden started offering up gifts of its own.

It’s neat to see our food run full circle! Before you know it, we’ll be tossing the left over garden basil and tomato scraps from our next meal back into the worm bin. And there you have it, an easy solution to city composting.

More Going Green ideas can be found right here.

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