Recycling a holiday favorite

Recycling isn't just good for the environment, it's also good for unique and sentimental home decor projects. This ones traditionally a holiday hobby but with the right adjustments, it can be cute and trendy year round. Enter the snowflake. More importantly, enter its upgrade.

With the right patterns and display method, some scissors and an open mind, your snowflakes will go way beyond a craft for your kids. Here are some basic instructions for those of you who haven't had your hand at a snowflake since grade school. The choice of paper is up to you, but I typically opt for off-white or tan coffee filters to enhance the "recycled" look.

Snowflakes were gently spritzed with water from a spray bottle 

and flattened between some books overnight.

These can be displayed in a shadow box or just hung in a collage style on top of a bright colored wall. The possibilities are endless and the choice is yours!

Knowing your space

Before I go into more specific posts about room layouts or DIY home decor projects, I'll start with one of the most important steps to rearranging: knowing your space. Coming from a twenty-something college student who shares a room with a sixteen year old teen, my space is limited. So, understanding how much space you actually have to work with is key. This will help visualize what is actually do-able and what isn't.

Step 1: Clean-out
All it takes is the need and desire for change. Once I've confirmed that, I usually start combing through all the junk and proceed to throw out anything I no longer use to make some extra space. This particularly applies to my closet. Anyone else hoard their clothes? Here's one persons remedy.

Step 2: Draw-out
Time to get visual. I can get really indecisive when it comes to rearranging so I like to draw and re-draws my future layouts on a mini whiteboard.

Step 3: Priorities
Sometimes I hit a wall and find myself uninspired for hours. But I realized that most of that comes from a lack of priorities. Try starting out with one simple goal: to rearrange a practical room that makes the most sense for your lifestyle. The placement of your bed, the distance of your bed from your book case, the mirror by your closet. As long as your room is functional and makes sense, the personalizing and styling will come naturally.

So, now that we have some logistics down, be sure to stay tuned for some inspiration!