Sign Language Poster FREE PRINTABLE

I've always had a super hard time decorating my walls. The last couple years especially so, as I've worked to curb my tendency to over-buy home decor by waiting for something I really love that is a good fit for the space. But I also wait something that is affordable (thrift stores are my jam) and it often takes me quite a while to hit that sweet spot where beautiful meets affordable. Which, for me, sometimes results in empty walls for years at a time. I mean, we've lived here over five years and we still have several blank walls! BUT I was finally able to fill one empty space in our home library with this sweet sign language alphabet poster!

I spent ages trying to decide what I even wanted to hang in there - since it's our main homeschool space, I knew I wanted something that would be educational, but still beautiful. As I'm learning to better embrace my roll as the keeper of our home, I really want to create spaces that are beautiful, comfortable, and useful for my family! When I came across the idea of a sign language alphabet poster, I knew it could be just what I was looking for. 

Now I've seen sign language posters before, but none of them were, well, cute. In fact I found several free printable options on pinterest, but none of them had the cute factor I was looking for. And while I found a few beautiful posters with the more simple style I wanted, none of them fell into the budget I was looking for (the cheap-to-crazy-cheap range). So I decided to make my own! And I turned it into a printable so you can make one too!

DIY Floor Plan Art (and How to Find Unique Art That You Love!)

Pinterest is full of unique wall art ideas - everything from maps to hats, and even antique bike frames. You can turn almost anything into a piece of art. But here's the thing:

Art should be something you love.

I mean, those hats look pretty cool. And they're super trendy right now. But... do I love hats? No. I don't even wear hats. With the exception of one well-loved Magnolia hat that I only wear when my hair is too far gone. So a wall of hats probably doesn't deserve a place in my home. Guys, don't let the fickle winds of trendiness distract you from what your home should be. It should be yours. It should be a reflection of you and your family and the things you (really, truly) love.

If you feel stuck or confused when it comes to artwork in your home, the first thing you should do is make a list of the things you love (and the second thing is reading Cozy Minimalist Home to learn how to best display those things). Do you love running? Camping? Dogs? Tacos? Put those on the list! Those are the things that might deserve the honor of being on your walls. Did you notice that important word? Might? We only have so much wall space, guys. And we don't want to fill every inch. Let your master list serve as a starting point, but don't be afraid to weed out the things that don't make the cut for your walls (it doesn't mean they aren't still important to you!) and get a firm grasp on what really speaks into your life and your home.

So I don't love hats. But know what I do love? Here's my (shortened) list:

• My Family
• Plants
• Books
• Mountains
• Rocks
• Architecture

When you look around my home, those are the things you should see. Plus you'll surely see Star Wars posters and all manner construction paper creations because I'm not the only one who lives here, after all. This is a family deal and, like all things, it takes some balance.

- Pop Chart Lab poster of American Houses -

Today our home is looking a little more "lived in," but we were here almost two years without any artwork on the walls. No photos, no paintings, nothing permanently hung anywhere. I was paralyzed with indecision as I looked for "the perfect thing" for our walls. I searched through home decor stores and scoured pinterest and instagram for ideas. Nothing felt right - because none of it was right for my home. But through all that time I had a little pile of collected goodies that I loved. I hadn't hung them for a totally ridiculous reason - they didn't look like what I was seeing everywhere else, so I thought they couldn't be right. Guys, I'm here to tell you that art should be something you love. Did I say that already? I finally took the plunge and turned a few of my favorite pieces into a gallery wall in the dining room. Then I added a little treasure shelf for the boys' nature finds. And things started to change. Now I have a clear vision for my home and I can tell more easily which things deserve our space and which ones just don't.

This all brings us (at long-winded last) to the whole point of today's post. The artwork I made for our guest room. It's collection of watercolor houses framed with floor plans, and it makes my heart happy. It also tickles the toes of our resident map-lover, because it's basically a house map.

Now if you've made it this far and you're thinking "I don't even like architecture" just hold on a second. Do you love your own home? The family you've raised there and the memories you've made? You can make one of your own home and just leave it at that. I'm planning to do our home on a larger scale to hang above the bed (and I'd also love to draw our last house because memories).

DIY Constellation Wall Hanging

One of the best ways to make your house feel like home is to decorate with unique pieces you love. But what happens when you can't find that perfect piece you're searching for?

Well... guys... that's where a little DIY magic in order. You probably already know that, because you guys are amazing, but today I'm going to show you some of the easiest DIY magic ever that you can use to make your own sweet constellation wall hanging (or just about any other wall hanging you can come up with!)

When we were finishing up our gallery wall in the dining room, I knew I needed a large piece on the right end for balance. And I had a vision of this amazing constellation map that would fill the space perfectly. But, search as I might, nothing I turned up felt right. For one main reason: I wanted a fabric wall hanging. Something a little more casual. Something that didn't need to be framed and that would add a more texture to the grouping. Turns out those are... hard to come by.

But then out of the blue, completely by accident, I stumbled across the perfect thing. It was at a cute little home decor shop I love to visit when I go see my sister. And on this fateful day, they had a set of tea towels. With constellation maps. Bingo. I grabbed the set for $10, and with just a couple more supplies I made my own wall hanging!

DIY Forest Mural (great for a boy's room!)

I've spent most of my adult life in the no-murals-ever camp. I didn't want anything too themed because I knew I'd get tired of it and want to change it, so what's the point? But then... we started collecting all these little boys and one day I was like "THEY WOULD LOVE A CAMPING ROOM." Then it took me all of five minutes longer to come up with a forest wall mural and throw my mural-morals to the wind. And I totally l.o.v.e. it.

If you follow me on instagram, you've probably seen a few peeks of the surprise we put in the boys room for Christmas. Their camping theme room (or maybe more of a wilderness theme, there aren't actually any tents) is complete with a mountain peak climbing wall, monkey bars, and swings. A real winter adventure zone for all these little fellas! We'll be sharing the plans for all that soon, but today we're staring with how we painted the mural wall (which is easier than you might think).

Our first step was painting that wall. Their room is the same blue-ish gray that it was when we bought the house (we've barely touched the upstairs at all), and I knew it needed to be lighter for our forest wall to pop.

You can see the original color to the left of the door.

DIY Wooden Christmas Signs

We finally pulled our Christmas decorations out of the basement this week! Along with our old favorites, we added a few new Christmassy items this year. Some of my favorite pins on my Christmas board are of hand-lettered wooden signs. A few weeks ago when my sister was visiting we decided to bite the bullet and DIY a few Christmas signs of our own!

You only need a few things to make your own wooden signs, too!

• wood (whatever sizes you like, we chose scraps from my garage)
• paint (I used red and black for the backgrounds and white for the text)
• a pencil
• if you don't want to draw your signs freehand you could print text in your favorite fonts to use as a template

Step one was rummaging through my garage for leftover scraps of wood.We found a mix of plywood and boards in sizes that we could work with - mostly so we didn't have to get the saw out in this cold weather.

We brought all the boards inside and I gave them a quick coat of paint. I did one black, one red, and left one plain.