Hide those Pesky Components

Hey.  I just wanted to give you a quick peek at one of the little tweaks/personal stamps we put on our home shortly after moving in.  Because my husband DID NOT consult me when choosing the location of our alarm components, I wound up with (begin sarcasm) an Oh So Lovely! (end sarcasm) alarm keypad right in the middle of the only expanse of valuable wall space in my entryway.  Therefore, I had to get a little creative…

So I decided to cover it with a frame.

(Please excuse the old photos.)

It was pretty easy.  I was able to do it myself, and I didn’t even measure out the exact placement of my frames, which I do not suggest as this might be obvious depending on the angle at which you look at the frames.  I was just so sick of staring at this thing and wanted it done ASAP!  That aside, I decided to put up 4 frames using an inexpensive ($3 maybe) pack of hinges from The Home Depot.  I just screwed them right into the plaster wall.

The pictures are actually just pages from a vintage French botanical book I found online (not 100% certain of the source but they may be from VintagePrintable.com).  I simply printed them off on a color printer and used them as a temporary solution.  Ideally, I’d like to fill the frames with prints from The Paris Print Shop (formerly Little Brown Pen) on Etsy, but I honestly cannot decide on which color grouping I like the most – pink, green, orange, yellow, decisions, decisions.

I’m actually still considering whether or not I should add to this gallery or just leave the 4 frames as they are.  I have gallery walls planned for other areas of my house but I really don’t want to be “that house” with a million gallery walls.  It’s just not my style, though it’s cool if that’s what you’re into, or if you invented “the gallery wall”, or… whatever.

So, that’s all I got for you today.

What do you think?  Should I add more frames to this wall?  What prints would you choose from The Paris Print Shop?


NOTE: I’m not sure how this would work for covering a thermostat, considering they may have gauges or sensors that need to be fully exposed in order to obtain the accurate room temperature.

Using Clear Contact Paper As Privacy Film

I always feel like.....somebody's watching me....




We live in a heavily populated suburb. This means I have the favorable amenities of city life, but I also have to deal with being able to reach out and touch my next door neighbors' windows from the comfort of my own home, should I feel so inclined. That is certainly not cool with me.

Since I can't exactly move my house or the neighbors', I've decided I can do the next best thing and opt for privacy film on the windows with the most exposure. Immediately after moving in, I did put privacy film on the windows of my front and side entry doors. I just found it really weird that anyone standing on my porch could get a full view to the interior of my house. Recently, we decided to do the same thing on the dining room windows. I hardly ever raise the blinds in there because I would be staring directly into the neighbor's dining room. And because those windows get the best sunlight (and I wanted to acquire a Fiddle Leaf Fig tree more on that later), I figured something drastic needed to be done. Enter privacy film....

Or, better yet, my more affordable option for privacy film.