Have you ever wanted to live in a different era? Like the '80s or '70s? Do any of the older years inspire your style or music taste? Well, the '70s surely inspire Rose Van Rijn.
Hands up who's here for the real genuine 80s school dinners pink custard recipe! What was it with pink custard? Lusciously gorgeous in colour and texture
Twinkle was British girl's comic in the 1970s and 1980s. Every year an annual was produced.
Nostalgia has a place in everyone's hearts, but no one floods the internet with their sentiments about the past as much as '90s kids. However, since no age group spends online as much time as we do, cut us some slack, why don't you?
A lot can change in, say, 50 years. Just look at the car or communication industry. How we eat is no exception. And nothing shows it as vividly as the Facebook group Questionable Vintage Recipes.
We wish that these ads are fake, but they are 100% real and 100% offensive.
Powerful Photos Of Glasgow Slums 1969-72
A lot can change in, say, 50 years. Just look at the car or communication industry. How we eat is no exception. And nothing shows it as vividly as the Facebook group Questionable Vintage Recipes.
22 Awkward Photos That Are So Awkward They Might Be Considered Amazing - We share because we care. A resource for sharing the latest memes, jokes and real stuff about parenting, relationships, food, and recipes
Hey guys!!! So, I haven't blogged in nearly 4 months. It's crazy. I barely even know where to begin! There's so much to say and so much to share, so let's just jump right in and pick up where we left off. Our little Ava is now 5 months old and doing really great. We survived 4 months of colic/milk allergy/reflux and between that and a pretty difficult pregnancy, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of my sails. But, little by little, things are getting so much better and I'm slowly starting to feel like my old self again. Thank you guys so much for being patient with me and understanding that I needed some time off to focus on Ava. I'm so grateful for this precious girl, and I'm sure one day I'll look back and laugh about the past year. But, like, not yet. Ava on Halloween...finally giving us all sorts of sweet smiles. So, let's get down to business. In the final few months before I had Ava, I was able to share with you guys the finished basement renovation, our upstairs flooring redo, and the nursery. But I kinda ran out of time (duty called) before I could share the finished living room. So, a quick 5 months after I finished it, today I can finally show it to you. Many of you guys have been following my blog for awhile now and have already seen the before pictures of the upstairs living area, but I'll share them again, as it's always a nice reminder of how outdated our house was when we first moved in. So, here are the before pics. This is the living room in May of 2010 when we first moved in...wall to wall carpet, outdated light fixtures, dark wood trim, and windows so old that you could feel the wind in your hair when you stood next to them. This was what the entryway looked like. Outdated light fixture, parquet flooring and carpeted stairs, rickety old stair rail, and dark wood trim and door. This was what the dining room looked like. There was a wall between the kitchen and dining room that made the room almost too tiny to use. There was an old glass sliding door that barely opened, dark wood trim and wainscotting, outdated light fixtures, and a tile/carpet combo. This is what it looked standing in the dining room and looking into the living room. This house sat on the market for a really long time before we bought it, as it was obviously totally outdated. I was a little scared, as it was our first house and I had never renovated anything in my life. But, ultimately I decided to just go for it and I'm so glad I did. Renovating it took me almost 5 years to complete. Sometimes it was totally stressful, sometimes I wanted to quit, but ultimately it's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. And I learned a lot. Which is great because we won't live here forever, and the next time I renovate a house, I'll be much better equipped. So, that being said, here are the pics of what this upstairs area looks like today. Let's start with a little recap of the dining room and entryway and then we'll move into the living room. One of the things that made the biggest difference was knocking down the wall between the dining room and kitchen. We also built a new stair rail, painted all of the trim and wainscoting white, added new light fixtures, and installed white washed hardwood flooring. I painted our kitchen cabinets and updated the hardware when we first moved in the house, and although in an ideal world I would have been able to fully renovate the kitchen, I decided that I could really stretch our budget by just painting the cabinetry and working with what we already had. In the dining room, I added a bold rug that I found for $60 (I know it's not for everyone, and that's okay.). I found the dining room table at a salvage shop, and the white leather chairs with metallic legs I found on Overstock. The original post about the dining room with sources can be found here. Also, we've talked about my orchid sabotage many times, so...that's a fake orchid. I've got a child to raise. Here's a quick view from the landing at the top of the stairs. You can see where we also knocked down the wall and widened the old doorway into the hallway. Here's a look around the corner. You can see how we painted the old outdated wainscoting white. We also replaced the old sliding glass door in the dining room with nice french doors. In the entryway, we replaced the light fixture, and installed double doors on the coat closet. We replaced the carpet on the stairs with hardwood treads and painted white risers, and we also built a new stairrail. I painted the existing front door Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (favorite!), and added a little silver coat hook from HomeGoods. One of the deer heads broke off after I brought it home. And now this little coat hook reminds me of Jesse tinkering in the garage for an hour, determined to fix it for me. I think there was some ametuer welding going on in the garage, but I was too pregnant to waddle out there and watch. And now, let's move on to the finished living room. I don't expect this room to blow anyone's mind. But, it's come such a long way, and it's where we spend most of our time, so it definitely deserves at least a little time on the blog. We replaced the light fixtures, added some inexpensive tufted couches and a giant comfy ottoman, the rug is from awhile back, and then I thrifted the TV console. Here's a pic of the TV console I found at the thrift store. It's obviously nothing special, but it was the right size and $20, so...sold! I painted it (using the only furniture paint I ever use anymore) and changed out the hardware. It has a super glossy lacquer finish and looks really great up close. I'll eventually mount the TV on the wall, too. Here's a closeup of the hardware. Some little polished nickel pulls from Home Depot. I haven't decided on what kinda curtains I want to hang yet, so for now the windows are just bare. It took us 5 years to finally replace those old windows, so I don't mind looking at the new ones in the meantime. I added some Etsy pillows to the sofas. Here's a view of the living room looking back into the dining room, one of my favorite views. We built the mantel and made the stacked log insert for the fireplace (both were done awhile ago) and then I freshened up the mantle with some things I had around the house. The little framed floral art is a print I found on Etsy. And then, I made some art of my own...some black and white abstract art for above the sofa. I had Jesse build me a basic wooden frame. And I spray painted it with this Krylon Foil Metallic silver spray paint (affiliate link). It's good, ya'll. I think I'll be using it as my go-to silver spray paint from now on. It made my little frame look like actual metal or like it was silver leafed. Either way, good stuff. For the painting itself, I just used some Sherwin Williams Simply White paint (the same color that's on the walls), mixed it with a little gray, and then sketched out a doodle and filled it in with some Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze (the same black paint I used on the front door). It's probably not gonna end up at a museum, but it took me an hour and only cost me a few bucks, so homemade art for the win. And that, you guys, is the finished upstairs living area! I'm sure it will continue to evolve and change, but it feels great to at least have it furnished and not under construction. We lived in the basement throughout most of my pregnancy, so it's nice to no longer be a cave dweller. And I'll leave you with this picture of how the living room looks in real life, filled with baby stuff. Because it would be ridiculous to pretend like my house always looks like the above pictures....it took me at least twenty minutes to clean out all the baby apparatus before I could take some blog pics. Let's be honest. :) As for the blog, a lot of you have asked what my plans are. I plan to slowly get back into the swing of things, as time allows, and as quickly as my brain starts functioning like normal again. Thank you guys for all of your sweet comments and messages. I appreciate it so much. I know I'll eventually find my groove again, but right now I'm still doing a lot of this. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 'Til next time! Follow my blog with Subscribe to LiveLoveDIY with email! Enter your email address:
Let's be honest, you still want that Glitter N' Gold Jem doll.
Get ready to feel the nostalgia!
While the 1970s were hardly the Golden Age of television, it did have a fair share of quality shows! Between the intrigue, comedy, mystery, love, polyester, and feathered haircuts…these shows had it all! So which one are you? Tune in and take the quiz to find out!
If you're feeling like we've reached peak Full House excitement, we definitely have, but the show was so darn great, it's totally deserving of it. There's so many things to love about the original show, and even though fashion seems like it wouldn't…
There’s no denial that when you think about what the '70s are known for, the era’s colorful culture is the one thing that pops to mind first. Everything from the fashion, to music, to movies is so beautifully vivid and bold, one can’t help but admire it.
Simpler times.
We would never let our kids do these things today—and yet we all survived the '80s ... right?
Space hopper, orange vinyl ball with handles, made in Great Britain between 1970 and 1979.
There are some eras that are so fun and unique they end up outliving the decade that they're named after. The 70s is definitely one of them.
There are treasures to be found at second hand book sales, you never know what out-of-print gems you might unearth. Take for example, this 1986 book of knitting patterns called “Wit Knits”… The contents of the book has been scanned and given its own Tumblr site by George Hostler who “found this knitting pattern book in…
The Brady Bunch, American television situation comedy that aired for five seasons (1969–74) on ABC and became an enduring pop culture phenomenon. Though the show about a blended family with three sons and three daughters was largely ignored by audiences during its network run, it became wildly popular in reruns.