Lolalina — Inspiration, interiors, decorating, craft + diy, and thoughts on creativity and the sweet life

Best Yard Sale Tips + Free Printable Checklist

May 16, 2013

How do you feel about yard sales — love em? Hate em? I’ve thrown yard sales that have been total flops, so I know how awful they can be! But. There is a better way…a way to have a sale that is not only profitable, but (dare I say it) fun. I wrote an article about a month ago for Houzz on this subject, but since some of you probably didn’t see it (and it’s nearly yard sale season…) I thought it would be nice to share it here too, along with a few bonus tips that have occurred to me since my Houzz article went live. Oh, and at the end you will find a handy dandy little printable PDF checklist for your downloading pleasure, so you won’t forget a thing when it comes time to plan your sale.

For starters, try thinking about your yard sale as a party, with profits. Creative displays, fun music, comfy spots to sit and flip through those books you’re selling, easy party decor (like buntings & paper lanterns), a packing and bagging station for people to sort out their purchases, and even snacks and drinks, will combine to make your yard sale an event worth attending.

Plan your sale at least a month in advance to allow ample time to get organized, and consider inviting neighbors to participate, too. Block sales or even neighborhood sales draw the biggest crowds, and that means more traffic and more sales for you!

Think ahead about the kinds of items you have to sell, and what makes the most sense for displaying them. If you find yourself short on imagination, walk into a beautiful shop (like Anthropologie) and notice how their visual merchandising team has displayed the goods. Always group like with like — display vases in a cluster on a tray (and fill some with flowers!), plunk mismatched silverware in a jelly jar, tie up old dishtowels with pretty ribbon, and hang clothes from a wardrobe rack or in an old armoire. Keep everything up at an easy browsing level (i.e. on tables) not on blankets on the ground!

And for those of you with a crafty bent who really want to make some extra cash at your sale, why not consider sprucing up some old furniture or decor before selling it? Try painting just the legs of chairs or tables, line the interior of a chest with pretty paper, or swap out (or spray paint) the knobs to give your old junk a whole new look. It will be easier to sell once it’s spruced up, and will fetch a higher price.

Read more ideas for marketing your sale, making moolah, pricing items, and more on Houzz, and be sure to download the free checklist including all of my tips. xo Laura

Download here: Best-Ever Yard Sale Checklist

(images: Period Living via 79 Ideas)

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Bye Bye Google Reader

May 13, 2013

in News & Notes

Hello my lovelies! Happy Monday! If you are looking for a simple, mindless task to make you feel accomplished this morning, while also taking a break from work, why not take a moment to transfer your blog subscriptions from Google reader to a new feed reader? As you have probably heard by now, google reader’s RSS FEED will soon be no more, which means if you currently use Google reader to manage your blog subscriptions, you will soon be needing a new service! Thankfully, it turns out there are a number of other options out there, and I think my new favorite is Feedly. I especially appreciate the oh-so-much-slicker than Google format:

You can easily browse all of your feeds, take a closer look at a post, switch from a list format to a Pinterest-style format, and more. Plus, Feedly will automatically transfer all of your Google Reader feeds for you, so if you’ve already subscribed to Lolalina through Google, all you need to do is sign up for Feedly and the rest is cake.

You can also follow Lolalina on Blog Lovin, which many seem to like, or you can always get Lolalina delivered by email. Or…if you have found another way to keep up with your favorite blogs, please share! xo Laura

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5 Stunning Flower Arranging Ideas

May 10, 2013

in Nesting

Happy Friday, my dears! With Mother’s Day this weekend, I thought a dose of floral loveliness was in order. I’ve found myself more drawn to flowers over the past few years — I can’t think of much else that brings such instant happiness. Can you? Someday I would love to have a great big cutting garden filled with lush blooms, enough to fill vases for every room in the house. For now, I am blessed with abundant lilacs and lilies of the valley, in our backyard, and we just planted three old fashioned roses in the front…but you can never have too many flowers! Keep reading for five of the most stunning (and doable) arrangement ideas I have seen in a long time.

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Room of the Week

May 9, 2013

in Nesting

Good morning my sweets! Beginning today, I will be sharing a special room (or sometimes entire home) that has caught my eye each week. I just know you are going to love the room this week — it is an amazing DIY kitchen makeover that literally made my jaw drop. If you have been eyeing your old cabinets and outdated floors, wishing you could do something about it (without spending a fortune) this will surely give you a major boost of inspiration…and maybe the motivation to get the job done! Stylist Megan Pflug helped editor Kerstin Czarra of One Kings Lane create this amazing budget makeover in Kerstin’s tiny New York kitchen.

Let’s begin with the photo above — this area was once just a plain ‘ole wall with beige paint and blah cabinets. Megan and Kerstin removed the doors from the upper cabinets and styled them beautifully with clear glasses and matching spice containers. A simple rectangular mirror, its frame painted to match the walls, was installed as an elegant-looking yet secretly cheap backsplash.

Let’s talk color, shall we? It’s Benjamin Moore Blue Ice 821. Gorgeous, yes? It would have been lovely on its own, but what really gives this room a luxurious feel is the addition of brushed-brass cabinet pulls — the combination feels decidedly ritzy. Great tip: use extra wide pulls on your drawers, and they can double as rods for hanging pretty kitchen towels!

Storage is so key in a small kitchen, and equally important is limiting your belongings to things you use daily and that look great. The fact is, in a big kitchen you can hide a lot of less than stellar looking gear behind closed doors, but you don’t have that luxury when every pan you own is on display 24/7. Kerstin and Megan did an excellent job sourcing attractive basics like striped kitchen towels, clear glass bowls, a Chemex coffee maker, wood cutting boards, and wire fruit basket. Every little thing counts!

They squeezed every drop of available storage out of this space by fitting a wall shelf on brackets into an unused corner, and installing a sleek magnetic knife rack underneath. Necessities are corralled on a neat square tray, and small appliances find a home on the rustic industrial-chic cart so they are not cluttering up the counters. Visit the One King’s Lane blog for the full makeover (including before photos).

What do you think? Are you itching to give your own kitchen a mini-makeover now? Do tell!

Photos: Lesley Unruh for One Kings Lane; first spotted on Little Green Notebook.

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Southern Living

May 2, 2013

in Decorating

I’ve been quite suddenly and inexplicably drawn to everything southern. How did this happen? I’m not totally sure, but I think it must have been something to do with the copy of Southern Living magazine I picked up a few months ago on a whim. With all of the magazines that have folded in recent years, I feel like I am still grasping to make up for the hole left by some of my old favorites. And I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised at the content and layout of Southern Living — it had me pining for a wide front porch and a tall glass of sweet tea by page two.

Each month after picking up that first issue I found myself hovering around the grocery store end caps and in bookstores, waiting to scoop up the fresh issue the moment it hit the stands. And then one day, while researching photos for a Houzz piece I was working on, I stumbled upon the photos of this farmhouse renovation by Peachtree City, Georgia, based architectural firm Historical Concepts. I was drooling over the photos when I noticed in the credits this home was actually used as Southern Living’s 2012 Idea House.

I’m not usually a huge fan of Idea Houses in general — they tend to be too big, too fake, and too overdecorated to actually provide much inspiration. But this one just had me aching to move in! Classic, fresh, welcoming, and you’ve got to love those porches…

As I did a bit more reading to see what I could learn about this home, I discovered that it was the first time Southern Living chose to renovate a historic home for their Idea House, rather than using a new build. Well, no wonder it looks and feels so different from the usual model-home-perfection of a magazine’s Idea Home! I didn’t catch this last year, so I’m glad I landed on it now.

I’m curious: Do you read Southern Living? Or is there another magazine you’ve been loving lately? And about style — is there any particular style you find yourself drawn to now more than in the past? After being on a Scandinavian kick for years, I am feeling the pull toward more color, and fresh American style. What about you?