I could hardly believe it when the call came in on Monday evening. Our new windows were being delivered to the window installer on Tuesday morning, and they wanted to set up an appointment to deliver them to us and get started with the installation in the afternoon. Oh yes, there is a God!

The current windows are paper thin, drafty and many of them are cracked…and while I love the idea of keeping as many things in our house as we can original, our old windows are just not energy efficient in any way. When you walk by them, you feel the cold bearing down on you from the window. So they’re just going to have to go.

The fun part of this story was that when we first started ordering the windows, we were told it would take about 3 weeks to deliver them. Then once the order was placed, we were told they might arrive in 5-6 weeks, the day before we’re leaving for Florida. Um, not so cool. So Stefan sweet-talked the guy a bit and he put some pressure on the window manufacturer, and low and behold, here they are one week early! I honestly wasn’t going to believe it until I saw them…it’s just too good to be true.

Now with our lovely new windows, it’s time to pull out the sewing machine and finally hem the rest of our curtains that we bought around 3 years ago. Seriously, how sad is that? In our defense, for about a year we were talking about just leaving them all bunched on the floor looking fancy…but in our house with dogs, cats and kids coming and going, that look just doesn’t stay nice looking long.

We bought drapes at IKEA (called ALVINE SLINGA — don’t you just love those names?) and they were pre-cut in 1-meter wide panels (before bunching). The length of each panel is well over 2 meters long so that you can use them in many different sized windows, which is how we end up with a bundle of extra fabric at the bottom.

The curtains actually come with hemming tape so that you can iron the fabric together with the webbed tape and make a hem. But really, that stuff is laughable. Perhaps it would work on thin fabric if your drapes never, ever move — but with this thick, embroidered fabric they hold for a few days and then you’re back to square one.

Last year, Stefan pulled out the sewing machine and we pinned the drapes from the living room so he could hem them. It’s just a very simple hem, where we folded over about 1/2-inch of fabric, then folded it again with about an inch of play. Then a simple stitch on the sewing machine straight across to keep the hem in place. Don’t forget to watch out for the pins when you are sewing this, so you don’t run over one and break your needle.

That’s right, there are no gender roles in our house. And as it turns out, I’m not even allowed to touch sewing machines because there is a great fear that I will break them. I got the “bull in the china shop” syndrome from my dad when it comes to electronics — and by now I am just terrified to touch something that delicate and wonky.

But that also means I have to make sure to gather any other sewing projects we might have so we can get it all done at once. Because, you see, we have yet to find ourselves a permanent home for our lovely sewing machine and the other sewing goodies we have. So it sits on the floor next to a bookcase, gets pulled out once a year and that’s about it. That’s no way for a sewing machine to live, is it?

One day I hope that we will manage to have a nice place for all our sewing madness and a storage place for fabrics we’ve collected that doesn’t include piling it on a shelf and letting it slowly cascade down the front of it. But for now, I’m off to observe the window replacement chaos and make sure that the process goes as quickly, smoothly and cleanly as possible!

And don’t our drapes look lovely? We planned it so that we’d have about an inch extra once the drapes were hemmed, so they bunch up a bit on the floor. Simple, elegant and effective.

If you’ve ever had the privilege of visiting our home, you may notice that we have pure white walls…nearly everywhere. I say nearly because we did actually get brave and paint the walls in our guesthouse something other than white (namely a warm caramel color and something similar with a pinkish-hue in the bathroom out there). But after 5 years of owning this house, we have never gotten around to painting the walls in our house.

And believe me, it’s time.

With a big, grungy dog and a small child at home, plus the usual wear and tear to a house, it’s rather necessary to paint your walls every so often. In fact, the bottom part of our walls where the dog is always laying on her back with her feet on the walls, we need to paint at least once a year. We did do a bit of dog proofing to our walls a couple years ago, but even with that, things still get dirty.

Add to that the fact that it’s about to become a construction zone in our house in the next month or so which is going to mean plenty of dust and funk — and our walls will likely really want some new paint after that. We’re getting new windows all over the house, which will replace the original paper-thin single pane windows that the house was originally built with. Yes, I hate to let history go (although we’ll be saving at least one to hang as art and possible repurpose another couple for garden stuff) but they have zero insulation value which leaves the house extremely drafty in the winter — and about half of them are cracked or just starting to fall apart which is not good.

And since we’ve got a rockin’ new look in our living room (corner leather sofas are über-comfortable, by the way, and perfect for napping on), and additional accent rugs all over the place (things inherited from a recent death in the family), we figured this was the culmination of elements we needed to make some drastic changes in wall color. And if we’re going to paint everything, we’re going to do it right!

Lucky for us, a friend has actually volunteered to help us. We didn’t have to beg or anything — in fact, she’s told us that she enjoys doing it so much, she’d actually be insulted if we didn’t call her to help. Those are definitely the kind of friends we really NEED around here! And trust me, we reward our helpers handsomely with food and drink!

There is so much to consider when you’re selecting a paint color, and I do think that if you’re going through this process, you should try out a tool like the Color Visualizer from Sherwin Williams. It is seriously cool and probably the best of the tools out there like it (and I think I tried nearly all of them). You can upload a photo of a room in your home, then select the space which you’d be painting, and go through the color charts to pick out the color you think would work best in the room. They even include coordinating colors for trim and accents.

Now it’s not foolproof and the lighting and hues you capture in the photo will reflect when you try out new colors, but you should be able to get a general idea before you end up buying about 30 sample cans of paint!

I don’t have a good prediction shot yet for the living room (and we’re not sure if we’ll do just one wall in there or what) but I’m thinking of going a bit crazy and Caribbean in the office, with something aqua or blue.

Maybe we’ll even paint the icky, dark ceiling something light and bright too. Add in my wall unit idea and then we’re talking– or perhaps I will go with the idea I had recently about putting in a corner desk by the door and more bookshelves in this corner so it would end up like a library room with a desk…

And in the entry, which is a high traffic and therefore highly dirty space, we’re thinking a nice light brown with some cream accents (but I so far only went for adding the wall color since the trim will be similar with a slightly darker hue).

Maybe after all this, we’ll even be inclined to hang up some photos!

Have you stuck with white or off-white walls in your home? Or did you spice things up with colors you love?

Because we’re taking on new web design and consulting contracts here in Germany, I decided it was finally time to do something good for my home office. It’s been a bit of a mess for a while. And although I have managed to mostly keep my desk clean (which really is not all that easy when you have a 2.5 year old sitting at the desk next to you drawing and throwing paper all over the place as soon as she decides her work is finish), there are still some things I would like to do in the office to make better use of the space. And also make it appear a little more friendly & stylish –but without investing in totally new furniture.

Now, before you start throwing ideas at me, I want to mention that the space is fairly small. I know that some people put incredible offices in their closets, but we don’t even have those over here! Another thing that really makes me laugh about this room is that it used to be the kitchen of this house — until we knocked a huge hole in the wall and created an entirely new kitchen and dining room. But it’s maybe 3 meters wide (about 9 feet) and 4.5 meters long (not quite 14 feet). I know it’s bigger than a broom closet — but it’s really not all that practical. Both of the narrow walls are occupied — one by the heater and a window and the other by the door. So basically you’ve got these long narrow channels to work with and once that space is filled (and it is) the only place you can go is up!

We tossed around the idea of renting an office somewhere nearby. And we’ve also talked about building out a space here on the farm somewhere — like our attic in the main house, or the really nice space above our storage rooms that used to be a hay loft. Or even the huge expanse above our wine cellar in our barn. But none of them is exactly perfect and it would be a significant expense. But of course if we build something out here on the farm, we know we’re also improving the value of the house in the long run and would have paid out that much rent in less than two years time versus the cost of the renovation. So it’s an interesting prospect to think long and hard about.

I’ve rarely mentioned this fact, but office supplies here in Germany are a wee bit different than office supplies in the UK or the US. The American reading this may recognize the filing cabinet in this photo — but I actually bought that while Stefan and I were still living in Miami and we moved it over here with us. You have no idea how glad I am that I did that — but I also now cannot get replacement hanging file folders or the inset folders. Which means I am doing a lot of re-using of all of those supplies! And it also encourages me to clean the file cabinet out periodically since I can only fit so much stuff in there.

Here in Germany, everyone uses two-ring-binders to store all of their paperwork, and then they put them on bookshelves. It’s actually rather practical when you get down to it — but it does take some adjusting. And my shelves generally end up catching a bunch of other stuff too. So one of the goals will also be to simplify the amount of stuff on these shelves and make sure it’s relevant to this room — and maybe get some doors from IKEA to close these shelves off which will make everything look a lot more clean but still leave it very accessible. I’m also hoping to put a shelf to the left of the big printer so we have somewhere to set our binding machine, paper cutter and so on since they don’t fit on the thin Billy shelf very well.

Since we have no idea if we really need another office, or if we might just be able to build out one of the space here at an affordable price, I’m convinced that I can make our current office work spectacularly in the meantime by adding some new shelving on an otherwise bare wall above my desk — plus free up some space on the desk itself by adding a small shelf to put the monitors on top of. If we build it high enough, it will also allow us to put all our external drives under there, the router, our Internet box and so on.

I didn’t want to get too carried away with my sketch (and this is seriously the first time I have gone all out like this about redecorating our house); but I drew out a little plan of how the new shelves will appear. I not only intend to use these for storage and binders, but hopefully also a bit of deco stuff just to make it look a bit nicer. The bulletin board looking thing on the left by the first computer screen (our server) is just what it looks like — and I intend to build it out of some foam insulation boards (which we have here already) and a bit of fabric.

Anywho, that’s the general plan. It won’t look nearly this empty I’m sure, because there are a few computers we need to gut and get rid of…which could take us a while. And of course chairs which sit in front of the desk, and I hope to put some stuff that looks nice and is also functional on the shelf. So we definitely have some work cut out for us.

What do you consider to be the most essential part of an office? Plenty of storage space, the overall feeling, well lit, or something else?

Don’t forget: Today is the last day to enter the Made in Germany giveaway where over $1100 in prizes are up for grabs! Three winners will be chosen in the US and Europe! Low entries so far — especially in Europe

I almost didn’t decorate for Easter this year. Partially because we’re going to be spending the holiday with Stefan’s parents in Bavaria…and partially because I could not for the life of me find the box that I just knew was here somewhere, holding all my decorative Easter eggs hostage.

I’m the type of gal that likes to use the same stuff over and over again each year, usually in slightly different ways each time. I used to have these cool hand-painted eggs that were real eggshells that had been blown out. But they fell out of their box while I was moving them a few years ago and smashed all over the place…and that’s when I decided that breakable things were not my friend. So our eggs are plastic, but I’ve still managed to find some very cool ones.

For example, in our kitchen, I put up a couple of ivy garlands on our light above the dining table and then decorate that. I love decorating this lamp and fix it up at Christmas too.

These are my favorite eggs at the moment, I just love the colors and the speckles. And the little rabbits I picked up a couple weeks ago at dm while I was out buying completely unrelated stuff.

Something I really love about Easter in Germany is that a lot of people also decorate the trees outside of their homes too. You will find eggs hanging all over the place which I think looks so neat. Here’s a few in our white lilac tree. I only put them on the branches I could reach — which isn’t many since this tree is pretty huge now.

But our little Christmas tree that was found on the curb because someone was throwing it out has become an Easter tree right now. Mackenzie actually took ALL of these eggs off immediately after we put them on. But today she decided it was time for them to go back on…probably because she wanted to use her cart which was storing them all for something else.

And of course, it is crucial to have a good helper when decorating. It is in no way cold enough here to warrant that hat…but she wanted to wear it anyway. I’m really looking forward to watching her hunt for Easter eggs this year — last year she was just way too young to understand the concept. But now she’s a master at finding any and all eggs in the vicinity!

Looking for more decorating ideas for Easter?

• Create your own Easter bunny line-up art
• Make handkerchief bunting & join the Easter linkup on Centsational Girl
• Make super cute carrot treat boxes from paper
• Give tacky, inexpensive Easter decorations new life
• Make your own Easter egg caddy
• 30 Easter activities & crafts to do with kids
• Organize your own Easter Brunch with Egg Hunt for family and/or friends
• Get inspired by Martha’s treasure trove of Easter projects

More ideas from The Party Dress

Warning: I am about to show you just how big of a geek I really am…

Perhaps you’ are way more organized than us and you don’t hold on to stuff FOREVER. Maybe you don’t just have a drawer-full of old floppy disks lying around, which once held crucial information on them and were accepted by every computer in your house…but now only fit into the most dated and sluggish computers you own. Perhaps you don’t have a 2-year-old daughter who puts one of these under her feet and proclaims that it is a skate as she scoots around the kitchen floor with it. But in our house, all of these things are true.

Now I’m always trying to look at old things we don’t use anymore in new ways. Which I guess is partially why we end up with things just hanging around in our barn and all over the house. But, I firmly believe that you should try to reuse items before you just trash them; especially since I have experienced many moments over the last year when I realized I could have done something really cool with stuff I tossed…and now in order to do that project, I have to go buy something new. Not cool. So yeah, I fully support holding on to things just a little while until you discover a new use for them. And if you haven’t done that task within 6 months, then donate it, sell it, whatever…just get it outta there!

I was not all that surprised that there are people showing off their abilities to give old floppy disks a new life online…but I was really impressed with some of these ideas and know that just about all of us are capable of doing everything on this list…well except maybe the last one!

1. A mini-notebook

   The geek in your life is going to love this little protected notebook that is not only made with recycled materials, but is just plain cool. Seriously, how easy does that look? Drill holes, cut paper to size and punch holes, close it up with tip ties and you’re good to go. Perfect for your purse or pocket. Learn how to make it yourself or pick one up on Etsy for $5. (there are many people making these, just search for floppy disk notebook).

2. Floppy Disk Jewelry

   Now before everyone wants to start sending me their floppy disk jewelry that they made, please let me ask you to refrain from doing so. Yeah, I’m glad these people had a creative idea…but would I wear this? Probably not. Although a belt like this could be pretty cool..or maybe the bracelet. That I might actually wear!
   

3. Floppy Disk Trash Can
   

   Looking to spruce up your office and keep it clean? What could be better than a trash can made from floppy disks? It really can’t be that hard.

   

4. Floppy Disk Pen Holder

   Everyone and their dog seems to be making these little pen pots, but if you check out GeekGear on Etsy, you will not only find then pen pots but also some cool clocks made from old Nintendo games, hard drives and so on.  Or, if you want to do it yourself, which I imagine would take less than an hour, you can try these instructions, or these.
   

5. The Super Cool Floppy Disk Bag

   I am seriously in love with this idea. Need a new laptop bag or just something to carry your stuff around in? You’re not  going to run into too many other people that have one of these!  Make your own floppy disk bag, or try Install Disk 2 …or buy one online — but let me warn you, they’re not cheap!
   

6. Floppy Disk Laptop Stand

   Alright, this idea is a bit more out there and I’m not really saying I would want a floppy disk laptop stand at home, but I admire the creativity and it might give you an idea for another floppy disk project.
   

7. Floppy Disk Wall Clock

   Now this wall clock, although also kinda out there, is still pretty cool. And it would look awesome in a geek’s office or receptionist area. Obviously it can look even cooler if you use disks with labels or go with different colors, but you could even had the labels yourself as you build it for your own personal design effect.
   

8. Floppy Disk Percussion Instrument

   I have a feeling Stefan is going to want to try building this floppy disk kokiriko when he sees it because there is also a Bavarian instrument like this that he’s been wanting. Now the sound is just a bit different because it’s usually made of wood, but seriously…how cool would you be if you got up with your band and played this?! Ok, yeah, not too cool. But I would still think you’re pretty awesome!
   

9. Floppy Disk Art

   Now I know this website is for a floppy disk artist, but I’m telling you that you CAN do this yourself. So many cool ideas in the gallery. And if you’re inclined to let your disks become art, you can also donate your disks here.
   

10. Floppy Disk Sculpture

    Now this floppy disk sculpture, on the other hand, not quite so easy to make yourself. But absolutely cool.

So there you have it…10 ways to reuse your old floppies. Have you found other great projects to reuse floppy disks? Would you ever consider doing some of these instead of just tossing out your floppies? How about just sending them in for recycling instead?

I was just doing some browsing last night for speaker stands and living room deco ideas since we love the new layout but our walls are still really bare…and I realized that flat screens really revolutionized the way a living room is laid out and the amount of space a tv stand takes up. We just did our living room makeover not too long ago, and our old TV stand is at least 4 feet deep and 6 feet wide. That is a major piece of furniture to work around. Not to mention an enormous TV standing on top of it. And when we finally admitted to ourselves that we only harming ourselves by not using our new flat screen in the living room instead of as a piece of art in our bedroom, we realized we could be a lot happier with less in our living room.

Anyway, I’m just sorta rambling but I was pretty amazed to find out that you can actually get flat screen TV stands with electric FIREPLACES in them now. Maybe I’m just silly for not knowing this before but wow. Now since we have an ancient electric fireplace in our living room, this is not actually something we’re considering. But I was amazed.

Of course my first thought when I saw this was, “Wouldn’t the TV get hot up there?” But if it’s well constructed, it shouldn’t. We have candles and other random things on the top of our fireplace and have absolutely no trouble with it at all. Thankfully we also don’t have to run it very often since we replaced the radiator in the living room with a newer, more efficient one. But boy were our electric bills harsh a few winters ago when we actually needed that thing on to keep the living room warm!

About a week before Christmas, I saw this incredible idea over on Today’s Nest for a fantastically cool Christmas wreath made from PVC pipes.

Sam made it sound so simple that we thought, “Hey, let’s make two of those before Christmas arrives! One HUGE one for our barn doors and one for Stefan’s parents, the people who are impossible to buy for because they have everything.”

What we totally underestimated was the amount of work that would actually go into making just one of these wreaths. The quick 10-step tutorial that Sam provided made it look like this project would only take a few hours of work…and it ended up taking about 40. We barely managed to get it painted before Christmas Eve. But somehow amidst all the pre-Christmas mania, we pulled it off.

Needless to say we didn’t get to make our own gigantic wreath yet…but we’re going to use 2011 to put our own wreath together slowly once we’ve gotten over the shock of our express job. But I have to say that this wreath is totally awesome and looks incredible when it’s done. And if you’ve got a bunch of PVC pipes laying around already (like we had), it’s also quite inexpensive. Even when you have to buy everything new, you’d never be able to get a wreath this size for less than a few hundred bucks if you bought it somewhere. And you wouldn’t have the satisfaction of knowing you built that awesome Christmas wreath yourself!

What you Need to Get Started

The following will build a wreath about 4 feet across. You might need more or less smaller-sized pipes depending on how large you want your finished wreath to be and depending on what you use in the middle to get started.

• 1 large 6-inch wide PVC pipe
• 2 4-inch wide PVC pipes
• 4 2-inch PVC pipes
• 6 1-inch PVC pipes
• Mixing bowl, plate or other round object to act as the center space (We used a bowl about 12 inches in diameter)
• Table saw, box saw, hacksaw, Dremel with PVC cutting disk or some other cutting device
• Sandpaper – a large grain and a smaller grain
• A box cutter
• PVC cement or other glue (we used Fix All which is in the caulking area)
• Grounding spray paint
• White or colored spray paint
• Clear coat

Building a PVC Wreath

The key to making this look good is a bit of chaos. Our first step was to cut a bunch of pipes in various sizes in 5-inch sections. We started with the larger sections and then added the smaller pieces as we cut them, laying everything out on the floor as we finished cutting each complete pipe into sections.

We cut a section of poster board into a 5-inch strip and used it as a guide to mark the sections. We found it easiest to get straight cuts by marking all the way around the pipe. We marked several sections at a time and then made cuts.

Sam recommends cutting the pipes into sections with a table saw or box saw. Unfortunately for us, it was close to freezing in our barn and we didn’t have the right blade for the table saw to prevent the tubes from shattering or the dangerous kick back, so we tried this out first with a hack saw. It worked pretty well on the smaller pipes but it took forever and our arms started to fall off after a couple of pipes had been cut.

No project can ever be complete without multiple trips to the home improvement store, so when we decided the ancient hacksaw we were using was just going to take forever to get the job done, we went out and bought a new hacksaw with a few extra blades. And also picked up a PVC cutting disk for our Dremel. That turned out to be the fastest, most efficient way for us to get the job done. In fact, it went so quickly that I could barely get the pipes marked for cutting by the time Stefan was ready to start cutting on a new pipe.

As I mentioned before, we were laying the pipes out in wreath formation as we cut them so we’d have some idea of how many we’d need and what sizes to cut next. We put down our center bowl and placed the two smaller-sized pipes around the bowl, creating the inner wreath first. Then we just created a pattern of sorts as we kept adding pipe sections.

Once we finally had the shape and size that we wanted, we had to start sanding everything. Just about any cutting method you use is going to leave some jagged edges. And the finished wreath will actually be a bit smaller than you think once you can actually place the pipes right next to each other without all the frayed edges hanging over the sides.

Start with a coarse sand paper first and start getting the really rough stuff off. We placed a piece of sand paper in one palm, grabbed the pipe in the other and first sanded the top, then outside and inside. This knocks most of the really rough plastic bits off but we also used a box cutter on the really tough pieces or where there were uneven sections. Then we used the finer grain sandpaper to smooth things out nicely. It doesn’t really matter if you make some scratches on the pipes. With grounding paint, a lot of that is covered up. Plus you only see a small portion of that once everything is assembled.

Once we had about one-quarter of the wreath sanded, we started gluing things together. As I said, we were pressed for time so we wanted to give the glue as much time as possible to set. We first glued the entire inner ring together, then moved outwards from there. At times we had to do a bit of rearranging as we went but for the most part, we glued the wreath together exactly as we had it laid out.

The pipes actually only connect to each other at a few points, so we used a Sharpie to mark the tops of the pipes where they would connect to pipes that were already glued in place. This prevented us from accidentally gluing the wrong pieces in place, we could see what we’d already done because of the black dashes and we could make sure that the structure of the wreath was sound.

Here in Germany the PVC pipes are gray and perhaps just a bit thicker than in the US. And they don’t usually glue them together. So PVC cement was not an option for us. These pipes are primarily used for drainage and just stuck together with couplings. Plumbing pipes are all copper. So we found a caulk-like glue called Fix All which supposedly can bond any two things together. You apply it with a caulk gun just like silicone and it bonded together fairly quickly. Just one line of glue was needed along each section where the pipes were touching.

Once we finally had everything sanded and glued, Stefan painted everything. He actually used a spray gun on an air compressor because the cost of spray paint alone was close to €100. It was actually the first project he’s used the spray gun on and it was a bit difficult to get inside some of the pipes, but I’m sure that would also be a problem with spray cans.

We were a bit stumped about how to hang this, because Sam at Today’s Nest didn’t actually mention how he mounted his so beautifully. But we decided to drill a couple of holes into two of the side pipes (use a tiny drill bit and then one large enough to accommodate the zip tie to prevent cracking the pipe) and use a zip tie to anchor the bow in place.

We used a wide outdoor ribbon and tied a knot in it, then pulled the zip tie tight just above the knot.

After that, all you need to do is add some colored Christmas balls and other decorations to the wreath. The gold balls in the middle ring are actually big bells. We glued them all into place so nothing would fall out but if you’re displaying this inside, I’m sure you can just place the balls inside.

And that’s it! What do you think?

We really loved how this turned out and the look of surprise on the faces of my in-laws was priceless. They clearly thought it was pretty awesome too. Despite it being pretty involved, it wasn’t a difficult project and we actually considered putting wreaths like this up for sale on Etsy. Needless to say it wouldn’t be cheap, but I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who would much rather buy this than go to all the trouble.

Find more great DIY projects:

Firs off, let me just thank everyone who entered for such an amazing response! This was by far the biggest giveaway that NOH has ever put on. And many thanks to Mackenzie Frames again for sponsoring these two gorgeous frames!

If you didn’t win, be sure to hop over to their Etsy shop and put in an order! Not only are their frames beautiful to look at, but they’re also really well priced! Plus, you can still save 15% on every order until January 3rd because The Mackenzie’s have been gracious enough to extend their exclusive NOH coupon! Just enter NOHCOMPETITION when you checkout to save!!

So, without further ado….

(drum roll please)

The US winner is…

entry #179 — G Bailey

The Rest of the World winner is…

entry #77 — Earn Cash Online aka Ana Diaz

I will be contacting both of you via email shortly and you will have 72 hours to respond. If for some reason they do not contact me, a new winner will be selected!

Thank you very much for your interest and for any entries you may have submitted. This contest is now closed!

I am really pleased to introduce you to Mackenzie Frames, a wonderful husband and wife team from the UK who have been making absolutely gorgeous handmade frames together for over 17 years.

You may have seen me mention that we are in serious need of a bunch of frames here in our home…because we want to finally start putting up some of the photos we’ve taken over the last few years, and give a bit more of a personal feel to our home. So when Denise and I bumped into each other on Twitter, I couldn’t have been more thrilled!

Meet the Mackenzie’s

Martin, originally from Manchester in the north of England, studied Geology at Aberdeen University, did a lot of snow and ice climbing in Scotland, had a few jobs including teaching eight-year olds in Kennington, London, and finally woke up to the fact that he’d be happier working for himself. He’s been making picture and photo frames ever since, with absolutely no regrets.

He met Denise in 1993 at Covent Garden Craft Market in central London. She was selling her own hand-knitted skirts and cardigans and he was selling his photo frames. The pair hit it off instantly, and soon after moved to France with their then 10-week old daughter.

When Denise decided to end her own knitwear design work and join forces with Martin, the framing really took off. Denise has a B.A.Hons in Fine Arts from Liverpool. Her passion is Abstract Expressionism and she likes nothing better than to have a 4 x 6 ft canvas to attack — so her artist’s eye is a perfect compliment to his more analytic approach to frame making.

And when they’re not in the workshop, they’re working on their large old stone house – a sort of never ending project. (Boy, do I know that story!) They’re about half way through, have done a lot of the work themselves out of necessity and they’ve learned a lot in the process — and especially what to do and what NOT to do!

The difference is in the details.

Mackenzie Frames uses high quality moldings that are beautiful and more unusual than the typical mass-produced frames you find on the shelves of most stores.  The wood stock is Ayous (Obeche) which is plantation grown and environmentally friendly – its straight grain and stable nature make it ideal for creating frames.

Further, they take great care in the cutting and assembly of each frame, and all the corners are well glued before underpinning. (Factory frames are often simply pinned without glue).

Each frame is then finished and polished, and the reverse side is hand covered by The Mackenzie’s with a textured black ‘paper-with-structure’ for a neat, good-looking finish. The MDF board back and strut are covered in the same way. Where a mat (or mount) is included, Conservation Matboard Museum Quality is used. The picture glass is 2mm float. All this attention to detail creates for you a deluxe quality frame that you will be proud to display in your house or office, or present as a gift to your friends and family.

Expect more great things to come in 2011

Mackenzie Frames is building a website and a new blog! And since Denise spent 5 years at art school, she’s finally going to put more of her talents to work. Hand painted frames will be added to the Mackenzie Frames collection and will be customized to use as chalk boards, notice boards and, of course, empty frames for you to display your loved ones, art or even mirrors in.

You might even be able to get your hands on some ‘Hand Painted’ decorative items such as key holders to hang on the wall or even waste paper bins. Most of their new decor ideas are a result of Denise never finding things that she likes (or that are within the budget)…and we all know how difficult it is to make these things ourselves when you’re just not as artistically inclined as The Mackenzie’s!

Oh and did I mention that they also make incredible custom frames? So if you don’t find exactly what you are looking for in their Etsy shop, or you need something special for a specific photo or piece of art, don’t hesitate to contact them.

Buy now and save!

Denise and Martin are offering a 15% discount off of their entire stock of beautiful frames to all NOH readers until this contest ends! Just visit their Etsy store, select your favorite frames to purchase and enter the code NOHCOMPETITION and

Enter now and win!

Mackenzie Frames is offering two of their beautiful handcrafted frames to two lucky winners across the globe!

Prize #1 is a frame with an old antique appearance for a 4×6 image. Its distressed gold patina finish bathes the frame in a soft warm sheen, and the 3-inch wide molding with its flat inner edge and outer wing give the frame a very solid deep appearance.

Prize #2 is a handsome wooden frame for a 4×6 image. There is an aura of antiquity in this classic photo frame, aubergine in color with creamy-gold edges. The outside edge is a distressed red.

Main entry (required)

Visit the Mackenzie Frames Etsy site and tell me which frame you love the most from their current collection. (I’m personally totally in love with their ornate gold and silver frames…I wonder if they’ll let me come raid their workshop!)

This contest is open to residents worldwide! If you are not in the US, please note where you are in the world in your entries!!

Additional Entries

(please leave a comment below for each additional entry *after* you’ve answered the main entry question)

• Follow me on Twitter
• Follow Mackenzie Frames on Twitter
• “Like” this giveaway on Facebook (you must first “like” NOH on Facebook, then click “Like” on the post about this giveaway)
• “Like” Mackenzie Frames on Facebook
• Follow NOH on Google follow (right side of blog — please leave your username on GFC in your comment)
• Subscribe to (and confirm your subscription to) one or both of the NOH newsletters (right side of blog)
• Retweet this giveaway (please use @txblond @mackenzieframes in your tweet) – You can retweet this daily until the contest ends, but please remember to leave a comment each day. For example, “I just entered to #WIN a gorgeous frame from @MackenzieFrames @txblond ! http://bit.ly/gAJmQX Enter until 12/9. #Giveaway open #worldwide!”

If you already follow, “like”, subscribe, etc. you can still count these as extra entries…you do not need to subscribe again or refollow. Just leave your comment for each entry below.

If you have questions about any of this, please just drop me an email (tiffany at noordinaryhomestead.com) or leave a comment below.

**Why all the extra ways to enter? By growing the following of NOH, you are helping me to let other companies know you are out there reading and participating. Acknowledging your presence helps me to secure more partnerships for the future so you have even more chances to win incredible prizes!

The contest will be open until midnight EST, Thursday, December 9th, 2010.

Winner Selection

Two winners will be chosen via Random.org, one in the US and one in the rest of the world. The first number drawn that corresponds to a US entry will be the US winner.

Then another number will be created by Random.org and the first one which belongs to an entrant in the rest of the world will be the ROW winner.

If you have not clearly indicated in at least one of your entries that are you outside the US, I will assume you are in the US and select another winner from the rest of the world.

Once the winner is announced, you will be contacted via email and have 72 hours to respond. If you do not response, another winner will be drawn. Winners will be asked what their first choice is from the two frames above and we will attempt to match you to the frame you desire.

Several years ago, we bought ourselves a few art prints on canvas that we never thought about framing because we loved them just like they were. As it turns out, that was a very good thing for us this year, because we decided to take a new adventure into Christmas decorations and Christmas up our walls a bit. I read a great idea somewhere about taking old Christmas photos, putting them on scrapbooking paper or gift wrap and replacing your everyday photos with these shots. You know, those shots of you screaming your head off as you sit on Santa’s lap or you with a bow on your head. Since we still don’t have any of our family photos up on the wall here yet (yeah, still on my to do list, though), we decided to just go big and cover the larger canvases we have on the wall.

You could also do this with a blank canvas…or just gift wrap your entire frame. It’s a great excuse to haunt stores after Christmas so you can pick up some cute gift wrapping paper. And if you’re really careful, you might even be able to use the paper again for wrapping presents next year, or the same frames.

We started with very simple canvases and laid out the paper and then the print. Because no one is going to see the back, you only need to fold the paper over the edges of the canvas and tape the gift wrap down.

Once you’ve got the first edge done, just fold the paper like you would fold the ends of a gift box (tuck one section in, then fold the edges) so you get nice clean, tight seams.

I taped everything to the stretching bars in the canvases versus the actual canvas itself. I don’t know if the tape would damage the canvas, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

Once we had the art covered with paper, I just grabbed some really thin organza ribbon and tied up the “package,” then rehung it.

From a distance, it looks even better since it blends nicely with our other decorations already.

For the other piece of art in our kitchen, we chose a printed gift wrap with all sorts of words for Merry Christmas on it. I think it turned our really well, even though we had to use two pieces of paper to cover it. But unless you’re right next to it, you can barely tell. For some reason, this one reminds me of something you’d see displayed in a department store.

We’re really pleased with the way they turned out, and I’m clearly going to need to start collecting discount Christmas ribbon and gift paper…plus learn how to tie one of those huge, fluffy bows.

What do you think? Now I’m starting to wonder what else I might be able to drape a bit of Christmas spirit over in our home. Do you every just change standard things up a little with the seasons?

Linked to Doberman’s by the Sea Bavarian Christmas Party and Homemaker Mondays.