Decorating Cents

These bead garlands have been popping up all over the place.  I've seen them in so many vignettes around blogland and I knew I wanted some.  Thing is I never actually looked for them.  It was something I knew I could make.  Well fast forward a few months and that's exactly what I did. This was a super simple DIY.  I bought two sizes of wood beads from Michael's.  I bought the ones with holes already in them but they do carry more sizes that do not have holes.  I wasn't in the mood to drill my own holes.  I also bought some twine for stringing the beads. I laid out my beads how I knew I wanted to string them.  I put the larger beads in the center and placed the smaller beads along the ends for a graduated look. I strung my beads onto the twine and spaced them out slightly so my garland would have some give to it.  If not, the strand would be too stiff and not move much.  I knotted the ends, cut the excess twine and voila, I was done.  I kept mine

How many of you can relate to too many toys in the family room?  I sure can.  We have had the same brown, faux leather ottoman for several years.  It did the job of storing and hiding toys that the kids kept downstairs.  I didn't think there was any other way.  Ever since we moved, I thought it looked too small in our space.  It wasn't large enough for more than one person to actaully put their feet up and the cushion on top was no longer plush.  There came a point one day where I was tired of picking up toys that my kids had pulled out and left out.  I wanted something different. I really wanted a coffee table.  I begin looking and found several that I liked.  I was going for something with a wood and metal combo like below.  The more I thought about it, the more I was afraid of one of the kids hitting their head on the corner of it.   source   So I went back to the beginning and thought I could marry having a soft ottoman top with a coffee table look.  So I l