Above is a photograph of our windows in progress during last summer as you can see the sun, warmth and green outside which is entirely lacking in the beginning of March. It took me a long time to finally come up with a privacy solution for our living room as it had to fulfill the following criteria:

• Fit the architecture of the windows
• Clean and minimal style
• Easy to clean
• Provide privacy and at the same time allow the natural light to pour in
• Be affordable (Custom shades are ridiculously expensive! A simple shade from Home Depot or the Shade Store will cost me $150 and up, each.)
• Easy to make and/or install myself.

Yes, that’s frosted window film you see there and it’s not just for bathrooms.

I don’t have a great overall image of the finished windows but this is a close up of what it looked like after Thundersnow Chicago 2011.

I can’t believe it! -This is the third winter in our little Chicago bungalow! Today marks the first day of December and Hanukkah. To celebrate we will be lighting the Menorah tonight. I am super excited. I even pulled out my winter boots, tromped outside in the snow and collected a few branches to make a simple Xmas Tree.

Above are a few jingle bells hung on our front door.

Since then, we’ve been given so many beautiful children’s books and I want to display them in a way where the covers would be appreciated (versus the spines). And since we’re doing up the baby room now, I thought this would be the perfect solution.

UPDATE: I hung a mini version of the open face book shelves shown above. You can see a sneak peak of the baby room right here.

• The 2 shelves are Ikea Ribba Picture Ledges for $14.99 each
• Crib is Ikea Sniglar Crib for $79.99
• Black + white fabric is from Ikea for $3.99/yard on clearance
• Horse is from Plan Toys and was given as a gift by Jen
• Books + basket of books were all gifts by friends and family

From top row, left to right:

• Marimekko fabric panel stash. -Perfect for the wall above the crib.
• Beaded cord paired with a simple white paper lantern
• Square crib sheet / Lotta Jansdotter fabric to make a nursing pillow
• Moby wrap blanket in forest
• Chevron crib sheet by Dwellstudio
• Hable Construction storage bushel in charcol
• Napkins that would make a great tabbie blanket
• Play toys stacking cone

A sneak peak of our Fica Xmas Tree, decorated with ornaments from my husband’s childhood. My parents had this tree since I was little and gave it to me a few years ago. I love it.

Plaid blanket tree skirt + an early bird present.

More holiday decoration ideas brewing here.

…because,

Geisha cat will destroy all plant matter in the house within a matter of seconds
+
I like to see plants eye to eye.

Secretly I’ve always wanted a Beware of Dog sign and now my dream has come true.

And a few more photos here and here.

Above is a piece of art of my own that I am going to call White Sheep because it’s made from the wool of one sheep whose wool I obtained from a farmer. The raw sheered wool was so beautiful as is but smelled like barn, was too oily to work with and contained plant matter. -So I had the wool cleaned, then spun it in a organic way and pieced it back together to form a “clean” sheep.

Also, I can’t wait to see it framed in few weeks.

I love this photo by Carl Kleiner.