decor – Francois et Moi

Home for Christmas 2019

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 20:11:25 +0000

Come over and tour our home for Christmas! See how our hygge practices influence decor choices + how we allocate our decorating budget. We’re well into December, and it’s high time I show you around the joint! As you may know from previous Holidays, Hygge is a big part of our decorating process. With the weather turning colder and days getting shorter, I think it’s important to surround ourselves with simple pleasures that bring us joy. Read more on our winter hygge practices here. We limit ourselves to one tote for Christmas decorations which holds stockings, ornaments, lights, and some nostalgic pieces like our wooden ‘welcome’ star in the kitchen, our angel advent chimes, and dala horses. Then all other decorations are either fresh (tree, garland, sprigs, oranges, amaryllis bulbs, etc) or handmade from paper. Our MO is to basically keep our everyday decor out in the house and accentuate with fresh decor elements. This strategy helps us keep clutter to a minimum, reins in and helps us be intentional with our decorating budget, and helps us feel cozy and hygge-ified. (Apparently I’m making up words now.) With that said, I’m going to keep the chatter to a minimum and […]

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Asymmetrical Garland DIY

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 21:31:32 +0000

Asymmetrical garland: an unexpected take on traditional Holiday fireplace mantel decor. Hear my thought process and how to create the look at your house.My college roommate and longtime friend, Shawnna of thatsmeinthemiddle.com has a beautiful 1920’s home in Minneapolis complete with original casement windows and a substantial white brick fireplace—all those amazing details my 1936 depression-era house missed out on. Jk. I love my house, but man I also love fireplaces! Anywho, we’ve been talking about doing some kind of house tour at her place for over a year now. And recently over a coffee play date, I finally invited myself over to style her mantel for Christmas. You see, being that we are sans fireplace at the Francois abode, I’ve been deprived of getting to decorate one each year, and that’s gone on long enough! Shawnna was graciously up for it, and so the night before I headed over there, I ran to Bachman’s, Michaels, and Target and rounded up a combination of real and permanent greenery to create a robust garland. I was going to buy a premade fresh garland, and zsush it up with additional faux greens, but the fresh garlands were crazy expensive to the […]

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DIY du Jour: Beaded Blanket Holder

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:00:45 +0000

Arguably, it’s that time of year when blankets get the ol’ heave-ho into storage, but I do like to keep a few at close reach in warmer months for after dark on the patio and such. This small-space blanket holder is made of wood and clay beads and is great for storing + displaying blankets without taking up much, if any, floor space. If you’ve ever strung beads into a necklace or bracelet as a kid, then you’ve got more than enough experience to tackle this little project. Originally, I was going to have the entire string be wood beads, but I didn’t have enough so I made some oversized beads out of clay and baked them solid. Then I strung an array of clay and wooden beads in a (more or less) random pattern onto heavy cording and tied the two ends together forming a giant loop of beads. From there, I hung the loop asymmetrically on two nails on the wall, and draped my blankets. If you’re interested in my FULL TUTORIAL, come check it out over at Sugar & Cloth! (I’m a monthly contributor over there!) Looking for a larger blanket storage project. Check out our DIY […]

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A Perfectly Plaid Holiday Table

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 16:10:52 +0000

After an insanely fun media console styling session last month, Tasha from Tchotchkes Interior Design and I have teamed up again to bring a little nostalgic yuletide inspiration to Holiday gatherings this season. This time we’ve brought Retro Wanderlust (the shop in the Minneapolis area for all things vintage home) along for the ride and challenged ourselves to think beyond the quintessential red and green palette and instead focus on less ‘in-yo-face’ festive cues like greenery, Holiday motifs, cozy textures, and candlelight to bring home the warm, merry appeal. Below we’re talking through how we arrived at this look, so you can recreate for your own gathering! The intent was to create visual interest by layering textures and materials. Let’s take it from the top, shall we? We started with a beautiful woven plaid fabric as the jumping off point for the entire scheme. The cognac, frosty blue, and black tones offered a non-traditional, yet nostalgic take on Holiday entertaining. Once the color palette was nailed down, greenery was the next natural step. See what I did there? (wink. wink.) We separated bunches of spruce, pine and cedar into smaller branch clusters and intertwined them with one another. There’s no wire […]

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How-To: The Nordic Style Christmas Tree Basket

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 12:00:58 +0000

As I was naming this blog post yesterday, it occurred to me just how simplistic and all around ‘common-sense-esque’ it sounded. How hard can it be to put your real Christmas tree in a basket? The truth is I’ve been trying to figure out how to use a basket (in lieu of a tree skirt) for my real Christmas tree for the last few years, and I finally figured out a set up that works. So here we are! You see with real trees the stands are often 20″-24″ at their widest point, making it difficult to disguise in a basket without the basket being MASSIVE. I recently came across a 16″ diameter plastic tree stand that holds a 6′ tree. Our tree this year is a real Fraser Fir, known for its more “open” Nordic feel. The top of the tree thins to a single branch with a few small off shoots. Technically, the tree is a 7-footer, but considering the sparseness at the top of the tree, I decided to give it a whirl with the 6′ tree stand. And SPOILER alert…it works great! The 16″ tree stand diameter makes the basket so much more doable. Here I’m […]

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Francois Renovates: The Nursery Before

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 20:09:23 +0000

As you guys know, we have a little girl on the way arriving next month, and after adding a Murphy bed to our office to accommodate guests, we’re ready to tackle the ol’ beige guest room, and turn it into a nursery! The “Before” of the room is pretty innocuous, but it’s also pretty boring. Just like the entire rest of the house, this room was painted beige too. I’m not kidding, from the kitchen to the bath to the living room to the bedrooms. EVERY room was painted the same color beige. Above is a picture of the room from the For Sale listing and you can see even the hallway was beige. No real complaints here though, beige is easier to cover up than say deep royal purple! Before we could even think about pretty finishes, we had to address the looming ice damage issue that had been making us nervous since we bought this place. The home is 90 years old, and sits at the Northwest corner, so it had decades of ice damage from before heat tape was invented. We knew the dams were no longer a reoccurring issue because nothing was wet, moldy or smelly […]

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4 DIY Favorites of Christmas Past

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 17:20:29 +0000

Making things for my home is probably one of my favorite things to do and especially so around the Holidays, as the projects are often created along with or for loved ones. And there just seems to be an added element of tradition, nostalgia, and memory-making that goes along with each handcrafted piece. Here are four of my DIY favorites from over the years: Swedish Candle Wreath Sea Salt Bourbon Soft Caramels Ribbon Candy Place Cards Dala Horse Ornaments & Gift Toppers Into this Post? Please Share! 4 Festive DIYs for the HolidaysClick To Tweet And don’t forget to pin for later! Follow

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DIY Wall Vase

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 16:28:06 +0000

I have probably the simplest DIY on the planet for you today! In fact, you might even consider it more of a styling trick–it’s that simple. Lately, I’ve been borderline obsessed with hanging vases of flowers on my walls, and it all started with this wall vase version a few years ago where I’d adhered a picture hanger to a vase with heavy duty adhesive and hung it on the wall like a picture. It was such a simple way to add fresh botanicals to vertical surfces. Fast forward to two weeks ago where I needed something organic to pair with my DIY key holder, so on a whim I pulled out a Command strip and quickly hung a vase of eucalyptus on the wall. I only had black strips at the time, but I still think it still worked out. (Check out the last photo in this post for a look.) I love how it turned out, so I left the vase on the wall for as long as the eucalyptus would allow. I even made another for my blog room when Mr. Francois came home with tulips last week! The obvious great thing about using removable hanger strips […]

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How Learning to Sew Helped Me Find My Creative Voice

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 20:24:53 +0000

I’ve never been super into sewing. To be honest, I was always a little intimidated by it because my Mom, Sandi of Seams Sew Cool, is a REALLY good sewer (check her out!). She runs a crazy successful sewing school in Duluth, MN teaching kids to sew, and she’s the type of person who can just look at something and know how to sew it. She even made my wedding dress! She was always an encouraging teacher, and though I explored creativity in lots of different ways throughout my childhood, I could never quite catch the sewing bug. Things started to change though when I went off to design school and started living on my own. I was interning at a fabric showroom, and would take home all the discontinued fabrics that they would otherwise throw out. I ended up with stacks and stacks of 28″ x 28″ fabric pieces, and decided to turn them into pillows for my apartment because, well, they were free (which was a big factor back then). Plus I could design them to be the exact color, shape and size I wanted. My mom, excited her daughter was finally taking an interest in sewing, set […]

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Throw Pillows: A Guide to Sizing & Inserts

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 17:40:54 +0000

It’s no secret I love throw pillows. I think most interior enthusiasts do! They can be the pièce de résistance that makes a room feel finished, as well as easily switched out to change the whole feeling of the space. As a former interior designer + several years experience running an industry fabric showroom under my belt I’m quite familiar with pillow talk. If you’re thinking about purchasing or DIY-ing pillows for the change of seasons, you may want to check out the guidelines below to make sure they look their best! Types of Inserts: Feather & Down – Down fills are typically best as they’re all around loftier, and can be fluffed overtime to maintain their shape and volume. Tip: The more down content there is in the feather/down ratio, the better! Synthetic Spun Polyester – Think craft store inserts. Synthetic fiberfill is generally a lesser quality insert as they flatten, lose their shape, and become lumpy overtime. I almost never use them, except for in these tufted pillows! In this case, the synthetic insert stayed in place and proportional in the pillow better than down would have. Down Alternative – Though down alternative is technically still polyester fill, […]

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Francois Renovates: Bed & Bath

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 15:26:46 +0000

This post is part of an ongoing series, Francois Renovates. Find the other posts in this series Here, Here, Here, Here & Here. Good Monday Morning! Today I’ve got the bed & bath areas of our home to share. The bulk of our updates took place in the Kitchen, Living Room & Dining Rooms, & the Upstairs Apartment, so not a ton of work has been done in these areas, shy of setting them up functionally. But, I think it’s fun seeing how other people live (because I’m nosy!), so I’m sharing the bed & bath areas of the home in case you’re anything like me! Next on my to-do list is to paint (or maybe wallpaper?!) our bedroom. It’s the same color as when we purchased the place, so I’m not sure of the color name, but I call it builder beige. While it’s innocuous, this room faces North, so I’d like to brighten the walls up in here a bit. I think Ken is enjoying the fact that it’s one of the only rooms in the house that’s not white. I, of course, feel the opposite. When in doubt, paint it white I say! The Bed […]

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Swedish Candle Wreath DIY

francoisetmoiblog@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:23:41 +0000

I’m 50% Swedish + a mixture of Norwegian, Finnish and English in that order for the other 50%. So I always have my eye out for new Scandinavian decor and traditions we can include in our Holiday celebrations. This year I made a candle wreath to hang in the window, inspired by the Santa Lucia Crown, which gives off a warm glow a midst our short Minnesotan winter days. The brass hoop adds modern styling, and the eucalyptus smells ridiculously good! Find the brass ring here, candle clips here, and the mini candles here!To make the wreath, you’ll simply wire eucalyptus sprigs to the brass hoop with floral wire, clip on the candle, and add a leather hanger. Skip over to Homedit for the entire tutorial!Note: While the candle holder is quite stable once it’s clipped over the eucalyptus and hoop, the candle is much more of a decorative component to the wreath’s overall Nordic design. If you do light the candle, watch it carefully. If left unattended it could be a dangerous fire hazard. Follow

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