Blogversary GiveAway!

On November 14th, I will celebrate ONE YEAR of my Forever Decorating! blog website. I went from one follower to 897, over 430,953 page-views and 249 posts. I am so amazed at those numbers. And, it has been the sweetest year of gaining personal friendships with YOU.

To celebrate, I am giving away this tray that I handpainted with the word EAT, a rose teacup and an assortment of teas and

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Simple Snapshots ...

Just a few snaps of a Fall afternoon taken last week ... I love the sun streaming into the sitting room:

Love how it highlights random leaves and branches ...

and how it bounces the reflections of the mirrors onto the walls:

Wait until you see the sun reflecting off of the Christmas tree ornaments which are in here now ... yippee!

Have a great day,
everyone,

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Buyer's Remorse To Buyer's Rejoice!

Have you ever bought something and had buyer's remorse when you had time to think more clearly? This happened to me about a month ago.


I found two beautiful framed prints of topiarys. They were large and the frames were ornate. I paid too much for them to call them a DEAL, but overall the frames alone were worth the price.


One of the two prints

When I had time to step back and review my

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Charan Sachar

Charan Sachar is one of the talented people I met serendipitously on Facebook and so glad I discovered this talented potter.

Charan, who now lives in Seattle, has lived in India for a significant part of his life where his mother ran a boutique designing clothes for brides and bridesmaids. The colors, fabrics, embroidery and designs he came across then has had a strong impact on his work now.

He uses a combination of techniques such as wheel throwing, extrusions, slab constructions and alterations to create his forms. Each piece is then further decorated free hand with underglazes and slip to give it the textured feel of embroidered fabric. Some pieces go through multiple firings to give it more depth of color and texture.

Platter for Crackers ~ Serving tray

Oktoberfest Beer Stein ~ Big Coffee Mug

His work also reflects his love for Bollywood movies and his fascination with life in India. He strives to give life to clay, decorating it with Indian influences keeping functionality and uniqueness in mind.

Love the detailing in his work!

Dancing Divas~ Inspired by Bollywood.

Charan says,'Pottery has given me the much needed respite from the monotony of everyday life. Working with clay and giving it form feels as satisfying as organizing and bringing peace to all the chaos that is there around me.

My goal is to continue to work with this medium to create art work which is cherished for life.'

We wish him all the very best in his endeavor:-)

You can check out his Facebook page or buy his stunning work at his Etsy store Creative with Clay

(images by Charan Sachar)

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This and That at a Clients Home

I found this dark brown vinyl Laundry room art on Etsy. Then, I found the cute tan vinyl clothes pins from a different seller.  I ordered the two and combined them for wall art in my clients laundry room.

In her mud room, she wanted some art on the walls. This is the before picture of the built-ins in this room. Ignore the  stuff on the floor, I was bringing supplies in and she had baby stuff in

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Fall Dry Bar

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a few short weeks away ?!  I can't ... where has this year gone ?!

I thought I'd share part of our breakfast area today.  Some of you may remember that I painted our dry bar this past summer ... it went from this:

To THIS (I painted one coat of Annie Sloane's Old White chalk paint, followed by two coats of Chateaux Grey).  I then distressed it a bit and waxed (clear).  I also removed the center, glass doors to allow for more of a display area.  Here it is dressed for Fall:

My white ceramic roo from Home Goods (last year), nestled on raffia and a glass cake stand:

I filled a cream soup tureen with a few Fall picks ... you can see the *Menu* chalkboard peeking through in the back that I created out of black poster board and chalkpaint markers:

Another one of the beautiful, handcrafted velvet pumpkins that I won in a giveaway hosted by a sweet blogging buddy, Lela:

Up above, the shelves have a few little pieces of Fall, too.  I recently bought the stainless "Give Us this Day our Daily Bread" piece from GoodWill for only $2!

Simplicity:

And, you may have spied my new rooster prints that I found at Kirkland's earlier this Spring ... perfect for Fall!



Admittedly, though, I have to laugh because this area no longer looks as it does in the above pictures ... it has already been transformed for Christmas!  And, I look forward to sharing it all with you soon!

In the meantime, come on over and play at these fabulous parties:

Dittle Dattle/Amaze Me Monday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia/Tuesday's Treasures

Coastal Charm/Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

As always, thanks for stopping by!

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pinning my interests...

...something that has been keeping me completely occupied these days!

Pinterest is a visual board style photo-sharing platform, where users can categorize their inspirations under various topics.

The best part is with just the 'Pin-It' button on your browser you can pin all your inspirations to your Pinterest page, while you surf the internet.

Here are screenshots of some of my boards.

A board for 'My Style' on interior design...

An inner page with my recent pin...

You can follow me archanasr on Pinterest as well! Let's share and get inspired!

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