I hope that you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! We spent it relaxing at home and at the pool. My three year old asked me at 7:15 this morning if we could go to the pool now, so it’s safe to say that she loves it and that we will be spending a lot of time there this summer. I also spent some time getting my 4th of July home decor put up. This is my first year decorating for the 4th of July. In fact, it’s my first year to decorate for any holiday other than Christmas. One reason for this apparent lack of holiday spirit is just because it was never high on the “to buy” list. I could never justify spending the money on holiday decor when there were other places that our money could go that were more important.
The second reason is because I thought that I didn’t really like most holiday decor. And that is still kind of true. There is a lot of tacky themed decorations out there. I don’t particularly like to decorate with red, and there are an awful lot of holidays with the color red as a major theme. I also don’t like to decorate with orange (usually), brown, green, or yellow. So that knocks out Valentine’s Day, St. Patricks Day, the 4th of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Christmas colors I put up with because it’s Christmas after all.
So, with a limited budget and a strong aversion to most themed holiday decor, I set out to DIY some decorations that I would enjoy and that would not break the bank. I should also tell you that there is another setback that I work against when decorating my home for the holidays. I have a lot of orange in my home. I know, I know, I just said that I don’t like to decorate with orange. But guess what my husband’s favorite color is? And guess who was trying to be a really good wife and incorporate colors that said husband likes? Yes. So I have orange in my house (that I’m slowly trying to get rid of) that make using red a little awkward. I don’t have any orange in my kitchen or dining room, so I decided that was a good a place as any to focus the red white and blue.
The 4th of July is usually a pretty laid back affair, which means that the decorations can be too. I didn’t feel the need to sprinkle the decorations throughout my house, and it doesn’t have to take a lot to make it feel just a little festive and like summer is really here. I started with a piece of fabric left over from an event that I helped decorate for. I wanted to accentuate the table and not cover it up completely, so a yard of fabric was the perfect amount for my really large farmhouse table. I got my fabric at Joann’s and asked them to cut 1 yard (36 in) and then I trimmed it myself to make it a perfect square. I left the edges raw for a casual feel, and pulled a few threads from each side create the fringe.
I also already owned the cake stand. In high school I collected blue and white dishes, and this piece is part of my collection. My mom and grandma’s would buy me pieces for my birthday and for Christmas, so when I decorate with my blue and whites I always think of them.
The deliciousness sitting on top of the cake stand is a recipe I found on the Jones Design Company blog, but the original recipe is from Pioneer Woman. And yes, they really are super easy to make and as good as they look.
Holidays are all about dessert in my opinion, and as soon as I read about these I knew I wanted to make them for the 4th of July. Todays post was just a nice practice run. 🙂
My table top has been completely empty for a few months, and I was ready for some new chargers to spruce it up a little. I had my eye on these from Pier 1, but on my way to get them I stopped at HomeGoods first and found 4 of them just waiting for me! Pretty excited about that score. I found the straws in the dollar bins at Target, and a straw just makes any drink more fun!
I added these cute lanterns and candles from Target, I think they will be fun to take outdoors for dinner on the patio too.
I wanted a few art pieces to decorate with as well, so I decided to make some myself. I’ve recently taken a class on using Adobe Illustrator and had fun putting my new found skills to work. I did a simple black and white print that could go in the room with all the orange.
You can see a hint of the orange I spoke of in this picture, but I’ll be back with an update on this room soon because my mantle doesn’t look like this anymore!
I had a lot of fun making this print to look like my favorite fireworks. Instead of going out and buying frames for the next two prints, I just popped them into clipboards. So easy to switch out new pieces and put just about anywhere!
And because it is the 4th of July, I had to do one that had some red in it.
You can find all the items I used (or similar ones) for my simple 4th of July home decor below!
- Charger 2. White napkins 3. Cake Stand 4. Lantern 5. Candles. 6. Blue and white straws 7. Gingham Fabric (not what I used, but has a protective finish great for tables!)
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