Decorating

DIY Large Photo Prints

September 15, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 31 Comments

DIY large photo prints

DIY large photo prints? Sort of. I suppose all in all, this isn’t so much of a Do It Yourself project as it is a Let Hobby Lobby Do It For You project. But, let’s not argue over semantics. I had to coordinate this project and it’s pretty cheap— so I’m calling it a DIY. As you know, I just finished decorating the teen room, so go see all about it! This little project is just icing on the cake. I’ll tell you all about my thoughts on creating a room for teen/tween, but trust me when I say that art is important. You want to create a room that is inspiring and expressive.

((Speaking of expressive, see that big poofy red tutu? All I’m gonna say right now is RED tour and Nashville. T-5 days. My girls have voted me mom of the year.))

Emme’s room has a few great artistic pieces, but to finish the space, we decided to have some oversized photos of her first love, ballet. We had them printed and then mounted to foam board, for the perfect personal touch.

largeprints2

I first saw Jenny do this a couple years ago and directed my sister to her blog when she wanted to do something similar for her daughter’s room. There were a few kinks in the mounting process with the thin photo paper wrinkling, so I searched around the internets for more ideas. What I really did was stalk Pinterest. It has replaced Google as my primary search engine. I found lots of easy tutorials, but I decided to check on pricing to have the print shop mount them for me, after reading that Staples can mount them fairly cheap. The big box store in my town, which shall not be named, was NOT very nice to me that day. I wasn’t sure if my favorite local print shop could do them, but I called and he was able to print them but not mount them. He said Hobby Lobby could do it for about $10-$15, with a high heat process where the photo looks like it is part of the foam board. So, after I had them printed, I took them to Hobby Lobby to have them mounted. They did it WHILE I waited! and just like that, I came home with these awesome oversized prints ready to hang. I’m giddy with how it turned out! They were about $15 each total, including the printing and mounting. Art made easy. And cheap. I embellished the top print with my DIY red emerson flower!

DIY large photo prints

Here are a few tips for creating your own oversized photo prints:

In order to do them this cheaply, you’ll need to print them on engineering paper in black and white. I price checked my printer and in order to do these in color, it would be about $25 per photo. I still think that’s reasonable, but black and white worked perfect for us in Emme’s room
Choose photos that would be enhanced by being printed in black and white. If you’re unsure, just use a free editing program like PicMonkey and convert the photo to black and white and see if you like it. I edited mine to black and white before I even printed them. I was very pleased with how they turned out!
Choose the largest size of the photo you can. I often have to resize photos for my blog, reducing them from say, 4200×2800 to 600×400. Keep them at the largest size for this project. The more detailed the photo is, the better. Your print shop will tell you if the photo size you send is too small to be printed in these sizes. I had my photos printed at 36×24.
Email the photo to your print shop (Office Max and Staples both do these, but use your local guy if you have one!) or take it to them on a jump drive.
After the photo is printed, take it to Hobby Lobby and ask them to mount it on foam board. They can do it while you wait and it looks SO professional. They use some heating method to adhere the photo onto the board and trim it to perfectly fit. With your 40% coupon, you can have this done for around $12, including the foam board and the process. You could buy the materials and do it slightly cheaper yourself, but then I would have to ask, why would you?! These are so amazing, I promise!
Hobby Lobby sells the sawhorse hangers that can be used to mount the board to the wall. You could also use 3M hooks or just 3M double sided tape. One of mine is just taped straight to the wall with the double sided tape because I’ve used 3M over and over without any issues before. To be super safe, though, just use the sawhorse thingamajigs and hang it right on the wall like a picture frame.

Here’s what those look like, FYI.

DIY large photo prints

Now, please excuse me while I make plans to print oversized photos of my girls, Julissa and Diana!

I’ve got some other great projects and some time tested recipes if you’re visiting from another blog. Or visit my about page, which features some of my most read posts. Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing this project with Richella at Imparting Grace and Leslie at Create It Thursdays.

DIY White Lacquer Desk {and Tween Room progress}

August 23, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 70 Comments

DIY white lacquer desk I risked life and limb to bring this post to you. But I know how you like a good story. So, here goes.

Antique and thrift stores have ruined me forever. I almost NEVER see new furniture I love. Yet, nearly every time I go into a good antique store, the possibilities are brimming. I could recover that. I could change out the hardware on that. I could repaint that and bedazzle it with a bust of David. And on and on it goes. So, when Emme needed a desk for her new tween room, I knew just where we needed to go. There’s an antique store near us that looks like a bad, dusty version of the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter.

Unknown In other words, it makes me feel like I’ve died and gone to hoarder’s ~~purgatory~~ heaven. Except that it’s way scarier than what you imagine hoarder’s heaven would look like. When you walk in the door, it’s dimly lit, with piles dishes and pyrex teetering ever so precariously from every narrow isle. There’s figurines galore and enough salt and pepper shakers to season all the food in the free world. Don’t look upwards, lest you see the hundreds of sharp farm implements, which seem to be waiting to impale you at any moment. It smells like a stale, poorly ventilated Goodwill and my daughters have been known to dry heave whilst looking for hidden treasures with their mother. Life is hard and full of funny smells, is all I can tell you. The floor where the furniture is stacked slants at about a 30 degree angle, so stable shoe wear is highly recommended.

The ends of the isles are so full that you have to do a lot of backtracking to get to the next isle. That gives you plenty of chances to knock down a whole slew of scary looking baby dolls. What gives with the dolls, anyway? I’ve never been in the market for nekkid, scary looking dolls with matted hair. So you might be tempted to ask the obvious question.

Why do I love it so? Because there’s almost nothing you can think of, made in the last hundred years, that’s not in this building. This is not a shopping excursion. This is Operation Find That Desk— Without Being Crushed Under loads of Glassware Never to Be Found Again. This is not a project for the faint of heart. You gotta to bring your A game.

And I’ve never been short on hustle.

In case you think I exaggerate, I present the room stacked with gobs of furniture.

You see piles of odd furniture. I see endless opportunity.

I asked if there was an old desk. He took me right to this baby—an old sewing desk that had just the right bones for a good rehab job.

What do I look for in a piece of furniture? 1) It hadn’t been painted, so would be easy to sand and paint, 2) It was structurally sound with no broken parts, 3) It looked possible to dislodge it from it’s current dwelling place.

So, we went to Sonic for slushes while the kind man brought our desk into the light of day. I should have grabbed the typewriter, too, but I have enough things in my life that need attention right now.

I knew I wanted to paint it in high gloss white, so Nick and I sanded it and then began painting it with Valspar’s white lacquer paint.

Here are my tips for this type of painting project:

Sand it down well. I use this mouse sander, Black & Decker MS2000 Multi Sander with Smart Select and it works wonders and is VERY fast.
Lacquer paint is oil-based and I don’t like to clean brushes that have oil based paint on them. I don’t like paint thinner. SO. I use an old paint brush and just throw it away when I’m done. Lazy or brilliant. You decide.
High gloss paint is so beautiful when it’s dry but as you’re painting with it, you’ll fret and worry about brush marks,etc. Don’t worry. It will be smooth and shiny and beautiful when you’re done, almost no matter what you do.
I did two coats on this but it looked pretty darn awesome after one coat. I bought 1 quart of Valspar high gloss white paint and had plenty left for other projects.
I use Krylon 1000 Premium Metallic Spray Paint, Gold for all my gold spray paint jobs and it is fantastic. I spray painted the existing hardware and it turned out perfect.

DIY white lacquer desk

I hope to have this room finished in the next week or two. I’ve got a couple light fixtures to have installed and one certain disco ball and some pictures to hang. But we’re close.

DIY white lacquer desk

The irony of this whole long post on the story of the white lacquered desk is this—she hasn’t sat here one time to do her homework.

NOT. ONE. TIME.

I like to sit there, when I’m visiting the tween room. It’s a great place to sit, dear friends. It LOOKS like it would be a dandy place to study, too.

DIY white lacquer desk

But, inevitably, she and her sister choose the schoolroom, where we’ve spent so many hundreds of hours, learning and crafting and reading together. I’m doing better and I know it was the right thing to do for now, but giving up homeschooling was one of the hardest things I’ve done. I miss those girls like something awful.

I guess old habits are hard to break, not matter what age you are!

My question for you is this. If you ever come to Bean Station to visit me, will you make the trek to the Room of Requirement with me? I’ll buy you cherry limeade and we’ll dig for treasures together!

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A whole post, with sources, is coming for this room. Check out my Tween Room Pinterest Board for lots of tween room decorating ideas. Hopefully, we’ll be ready in a week or two!

Happy Weekending!

I’m linking this project at Sara’s awesome blog!

Summer House Tour

June 7, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 31 Comments

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

I haven’t seen Gatsby yet but it’s on my summer list. I read the book two years ago and loved it. You might enjoy this song, from the soundtrack. Summer is finally here and I couldn’t be happier. She settles over us, with all her glory, and smothers us with her warmth. Soon, we’ll beg her for mercy but for now, we welcome like an old friend.

We’ll start on the porch, with a photo that was taken while BHG was here shooting my house. Notice the haint blue on the porch ceiling. It’s a southern thing and apparently keep bugs and evil spirits away. At any rate, it’s pretty!

screenporchforbetterhomes My hydrangeas are in full bloom, which means I’m in love all over again. I forget how gorgeous they are so it’s the best kind of surprise. summerhousehydrangeas And I JUST got my kitchen garden in this week, in the nick of time. Better late than never. kitchengarden Come on in and see if you can find some signs of summer! This cluttered, colorful entry way makes me happy everyday. The eggs, the cowboy boots, the apron, and the beautiful bag from Jeanne! I love it all. summerhouse1 My living room has Nester written all over it. All I’m missing is a disco ball (which I’ve yet to find!). Oh, wait, never mind, she took everything out of her house for a month. I’m pretty sure I would wither up and die. But I admire her gusto. She gave me the mirrored garden stool and I chopped down half a tree and bought a glittered pillow in her honor. summerhouse The antlers you see missing from the living room have been moved to the tween room we’re working on. Follow the tween room pinterest board here. It’s a FUN project!! tweenroom5 The workroom—which shall no longer be the schoolroom, for reasons that make me wanna curl up in a ball and cry (more soon on that!)— is due for a good cleaning/rearranging. That’s on our summer list. updatedworkroom2-1

The other side of the workroom, with its latest edition, the cowhide rug.

summerhousetour

The sultry master bedroom with its dark walls, white bedding, and succulents.

summerhousetour5

The recently painted striped bathroom, with hydrangeas and a ‘Mama Tried’ trucker hat to summer things up. Our little girl from Nicaragua is also framed in gold, so we remember how precious the little ones are in His sight and to pray for her often. summerhouse2 The guest room has just been cleaned and fluffed so come on down and enjoy some southern hospitality!! guestroomsummer Summer is the perfect time to try my homemade pizza recipe! The honey garlic will bring you to your knees!!

honey garlic pizza

So, is it officially summer at your house? Are you finding ways to add some summer to your home? I’m planning and packing for my trip to Nicaragua. I’ve never been on friendly terms with closed toe shoes in the summer but I’m gonna need a pair for the trip. I would love your recommendations. And please don’t tell me I have to buy the S.A.S. brand. Also, Ruth and I have been brainstorming about our session at the Becoming Conference in Asheville this August. Rumor has it there’s still tickets, so hurry over and snag some so I can meet you!! Love y’all and happy Friday!! ***************************** Visit Gina’s blog for lots of summer home tours. I’ve so enjoyed her series this week!

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Ditto/DIY::Painted Tray Vignette

May 6, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 40 Comments

Welcome to our first {ditto} DIY challenge!

Once a month, beginning today, nine very different bloggers are attempting to recreate in our own homes a project or design element inspired by a haute couture design selected by Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design. (For more details on what {ditto}DIY is all about, check out this post!}

Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Karin @ Trophy Mom Diaries
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room

Remember that beginning next month (on Monday, June 3rd) we are inviting you ALL to join the {ditto} DIY challenge! Be sure to visit Darlene to catch a peek of NEXT month’s {ditto} DIY challenge so that you ALL can join the fun! (Hint: We’ll be going for the GOLD!)

In case you’ve forgotten, this was our first inspiration photograph:

{A chic painted tray and vanity vignette, from the home of nina bergsten, photography by marcus lawett.}

The {ditto} DIY Challenge:

Create your own painted tray and vanity vignette.

Here is my first {ditto}DIY project:

DIY painted tray vignette via lifeingrace

Oh, how I love this little collection of color!

So, here’s how this vignette came together for me.

I’ve been wanting to add a tray to the striped bathroom for awhile. This room may have knocked the workroom out of favorite room status but I was thinking that it needed a tray of some kind to corral a pretty collection of things. Then, it dawned on me that maybe I just love this room so much because David is in here? I’ve been suspecting that I’m partial to any room where David is located because I’ve really missed him in the kitchen. What? You find that odd? You think I’m off my rocker? That’s not news, good people. That’s a well-established fact. But still. Humor me. Wouldn’t you be just a little attached to David, once you got over the shock that a large bust of a Biblical character was privy to your bathroom situations?

Long story even more painful? I want a David in every room.

There, I said it.

striped bath DIY

The good news is? At this point, I have two Davids. (Myquillin sent me one right after the fire because she gets me and because friends don’t let friends live in a world where busts of David do not exist.) So, I moved big David back to the kitchen and spray painted little David hot pink. I don’t know why. I just did it and it set off a firestorm of creative sparks in my head—which eventually led to little David joining Aphrodite in the bathroom. Match made in heaven, if you ask me.

I wanted a tray with a mirrored or reflective surface so that the glory of this unlikely pair could really shine. I didn’t have a tray (that I wanted to paint) so I bought a cheap black lacquer tray at TJ Maxx and used the antique looking glass spray paint to add some glam to the surface. (The paint is pricey but I used my Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon and got it for about $7.)

Bye-bye butterflies.

Hello, mirrored beauty. And to be fair, this “looking-glass” spray paint really looks more metallic than mirror-ish but I like the effect and it glams up an otherwise okay tray.

DIY painted tray vignette via lifeingrace

Do you have any idea how much this simple little project makes me happy? You don’t, do you? Listen. It’s the kind of happy that keeps on giving every. single. time. you have to potty. It makes a trip to the bathroom more like a field trip to a cool museum. Or to the carnival, only without cotton candy and deep fried oreos.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the smallest, most insignificant spaces are a great place for high design. As soon as you get tired of working on it, you’re done.

Speaking of design, I’m working on something brand new for the room over the garage. Follow along on my Pinterest boards, but don’t tell Darlene, because this project may or may not involve some changes in the girls’ room. {It seems almost blasphemous.}

Also, head over to her place to see the inspiration photo for next month, where you are invited and encouraged to play along with the fun and intriguing challenge of using gilding in a project.

DIY painted tray vignette via lifeingrace

On Monday, June 3rd, we are inviting you ALL to join the {ditto} DIY challenge! Be sure to check out everyone else’s projects and to visit Darlene’s site for a peek at next month’s challenge along with some expert design tips on incorporating painted tray vignettes into your home.

DIY painted tray vignette via lifeingrace

Sources for my favorite room in the house:

Paint colors—Sherwin Williams Sea Salt and Urban Bronze

Antique Federal Mirror—Antique store, Abingdon, VA

Bust of Aphrodite—Pottery Barn

Anthropologie-esqu spoon flower vase—gift from Shannon (tutorial included!)

Floral Art Print—Lulie Wallace (almost all my artwork comes from One King’s Lane)

Whitman: Poems (Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets)

Fruits & Passion Fruits & Passion Cucina Purifying Hand Wash – Coriander and Olive Oil

Planter—Ross
BERGAMOT TOBACCO DIFFUSER ~~ Archipelago Botanicals Aromatherapy Home Fragrance Signature Series All Natural Premium Scented Oil Diffuser W/ Deluxe Gift Box

(best scent in the free world and lasts FOREVER)

Keats: Poems (Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets)

My question for you is this. What do you keep in your bathroom for reading material? Inquiring busts of David want to know.

Living With a Multipurpose Room:: Workroom, pros and cons and a Giveaway

April 29, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 65 Comments

multifunctional workroom/office/schoolroom/laundry
I’ve been focusing on “Home” this month and let me remind you that if you’ve been doing any home projects—organizing, redecorating, cooking, gardening, etc—that you’d like to share, please link up tomorrow for “Home. On Purpose”. This is a year long series where we live our lives with purpose, focusing on a different area each month. (Just a little hint, May is all about Women, which goes perfectly with the series I’m working on about feminism. I’m hoping to release a new installment of the series each week.)

One of the most asked questions about our new rebuild is how I’m liking the workroom. Does a multifunctional room really work as well as it sounds it would?

The concept of a multifunctional room like this is fairly new so I didn’t know anyone personally who had one. I collaborated with Darlene to turn this fairly small space into a powerhouse of a room. It functions as an office/homeschool room/laundry room/art room/coffee-drinking room/study room/bill-paying room/library. This room works harder than any room in our house, though it may, in fact, be the smallest in size. The room is roughly 12×16 and I’ll let you peek at a sketch of the floor plan, sketched by Darlene. EdieW Workroom floor plan

Here’s what I said about the room, after living with it for two weeks:

The multitasking type of room has long been a dream of mine. A room that’s like me—–that reads and does laundry and blogs and dabbles in paints and maps and printing and child-rearing and bird watching. We’ve only lived here two weeks but I can’t even count the hours we’ve already spent in here. My girls’ new favorite pastime is to watch nail art videos and make their art come true whilst listening to me read “Gulliver’s Travels.” It’s the first room we use in the morning and the last room we leave in the evening. It never looks this clean. There’s usually books and nail polish and writing projects strewn about. We clean the green table off 27 times a day, only to make room for more art.

Up until about a month ago, I would have had absolutely nothing negative to say about this room. It has functioned exactly like I thought it would. We have lived hard in here—we’ve learned how to translate Latin, dabbled in mixed media art and watercolors, read Homer and Shakespeare and Virgil, painted our nails hundreds of colors and folded 867 loads of laundry. We’ve knitted and crocheted and danced and sang and laughed, until it seemed like my heart might burst. But, this season of having girls at home is a season. And as my girls began to talk seriously about wanting to go to *real* school, I began to mourn the loss of all the things that this room has come to stand for. And I began to wonder if creating a room like this was a mistake in the long run. Maybe we would have been better served by a traditional dining room. Maybe I should have been more practical. Maybe the perfect, multifunctional room is only so in theory. But at this point, if I had it to do over, I wouldn’t change a thing.

If we didn’t homeschool, does this room still fit within our lifestyle? (Homeschool post forthcoming someday but my heart can only take so much;) Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see to know for sure but I can tell you this— I wouldn’t trade anything for the time I’ve spent in this room with my girls. If they do traipse off the real school next year, I hope to be using the big green table as a workspace for reading and writing and bird watching.

Here’s my advice if you’re considering a multifunctional room.

1. She will be a busy room.

A multifunctional room can be a little like having 27 browsers open on your computer at the same time. The laundry’s going, someone’s painting, someone’s trying to find a book, someone’s using the table as a ballet barre. She’s the perfect companion to female industry and productivity but she probably wouldn’t work well as an work office if you needed long stretches of quiet time to get work done, or at least not at my house.

2. She can get cluttered fast.

There are paints and pencils and books and paint brushes and protractors and wide-ruled paper and the list goes on to infinity. Keeping the supplies at bay can be daunting. AND? Our workroom has two glass doors, so leaving her a mess is not an option. Unless it is. But I don’t like that option.

3. She stands as an icon of female strength and grace.

I love how the beauty of this room is undaunted by how hard she works. She’s the perfect woman. She invites you in, inspires you to create, beckons you to new frontiers of learning, and never seems to tire of your endless projects.

She’s everything to everyone all the time.

If you’d like a full tour of the room and a huge list of sources, visit the workroom page.

multifunctional workroom/office/schoolroom/laundry

Wanna know something else cool? There are a few images of my house (I think one of the workroom?) that made it into Kelly Edward’s Design Book. You can purchase her collection of gorgeous designs by clicking on the icon. (I’m not ashamed to say I bought one.) Or leave a comment on this post before midnight tonight and I’ll give a copy away.

So, did I leave anything out you’ve been wondering about? Would you like having a room like this or would it drive you crazy?

And don’t forget to link up tomorrow with your home projects!

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p.s. Can I express my heartfelt gratitude for your care and love for me after this weekend’s post? I don’t know what to say, except that I’m so blessed to be taking this journey with you.

Love you and thank you. Maybe the lump in my throat won’t be permanent 🙂

Affectionately yours,

edie

Living with Marble Countertops, a cautionary tale

April 23, 2013 by Edie Wadsworth 296 Comments

living with marble countertops

This post has been a long time coming. So many of you have asked me if I love the marble, after living with it for awhile.

It’s complicated, okay. Real things always are.

And let me say that EVERYBODY warned me against marble. I didn’t think the counter top guy was gonna sell it to me. He gave me every horror story. He repeatedly asked me if I was sure I wanted marble. So, I took to the internets and did some research. It was SO confusing. I found a host of entirely conflicting views. Honed? Polished? Straight edge? Beveled edge? Calcutta Gold? Carrera? Water spots? Wine spots? I gave up. The research was exhausting.

I decided that I LOVED the look of marble so much that I wasn’t gonna listen to the naysayers.

Here’s what I did. I went to several local counter top shops (as in Knoxville—not Bean Station) and looked at all the marble that was currently in stock. It took several trips before I settled on the one I wanted. I bought all my countertops from Smoky Mountain Tops, in Knoxville. I was sure, going into it, that I wanted Carrera. I attribute that to all the Cottage Living magazines I had scoured for years and years AND all my friends with marble had Carrera. I fell in love with two big slabs of Calcutta Gold. I loved the gold-ish veining and decided that I would use two slabs as far as they would go in my house. I had all the edges beveled and all the finishes were polished. To offset the cost of the marble, I bought all remnants for my other countertops. I got amazing deals on remnant granite and it balanced out the cost of the marble. Big counter top companies will usually have a huge yard of remnants so make sure and ask to see them.

I knew I wanted mostly marble in the kitchen and marble for the island.

living with marble countertops

I have all marble in the kitchen, excluding one piece that has a walnut top.

living with marble countertops

I also have marble in my master bath and on the dressing vanity in the girl’s room. We used EVERY single inch of that marble.

masterbath6

living with marble countertops

Every single day that I walk into my kitchen, I LOVE seeing this marble. I don’t tire of it. The Wisteria helps, no doubt.

living with marble countertops

Every. single. time. I love it.

So, here are my very personal thoughts on living with marble.

1. Marble is BEAUTIFUL!

I would say that hardly any other surface is as stunning as a big slab of marble. It is stately and feminine, all at the same time. It’s the perfect surface, in my humble estimation. And even more awesome with two cutie little girls playing on top of it.

living with marble countertops

2. Marble is a Beautiful Natural Stone

Marble is like you. It goes through good times and hard times. It wears its feelings on its sleeve. It scars and sometimes doesn’t heal. This character trait of marble makes me love it even more. I can mark the memories in my kitchen by the staining pattern in my marble. I love the texture and feel of it. I love how it’s always cold to the touch. I love rolling out pastry dough right on it. I love laying over on it when I’m tired. I love it, in all its imperfections. I wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe I’d have it covering every surface in my house.

I honestly don’t think it matters whether it’s honed or polished. Mine is polished and already has the same ‘patina’ as my friends who have honed marble. Marble is marble and it will look flawless for exactly 3 seconds after it’s installed. It’s soft and porous and it WILL most certainly never be perfect.

3. Marble is a Beautiful Natural Stone that Stains Like Crazy

Almost everything that has ever touched my marble has stained it. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it’s almost true. It’s FULL of water stains. And last year, when we made homemade salsa, there’s a huge patterned stain (looks just like a water stain) from where the tomatoes were all sitting. I don’t think I would personally call it a downside but some of you would HATE having marble, for this reason. You can try to be as johnny-on-the-spot with wiping up water stains (I tried it for less than 24 hours) but IT WILL STAIN. Over and over again. Mostly water spots.

Here are some pics of my imperfect marble.

(the salsa-making stains)

(the various and sundry water stains)

(an etched in stain, probably from some kind of acid)

So, how do you know if marble is for you?

In general, if you love beauty over function, are laid back in personality, and have a strong aesthetic sensibility, you will likely LOVE having marble, like I do.

Here’s a link to how I clean my marble, for those of you who are bound to ask.

I personally would advocate taking a Myers-Briggs personality test before being able to purchase marble. The following are my very unscientific observations.

I would say that you are allowed to have marble if you’re an:

— ISFP (artist)

—the ESFP (performer)

ESFPs have a very well-developed appreciation for aesthetic beauty, and an excellent sense of space and function. If they have the means, they’re likely to have to have many beautiful possessions, and an artfully furnished home. In general, they take great pleasure in objects of aesthetic beauty. They’re likely to have a strong appreciation for the finer things in life, such as good food and good wine.

—the ENSP (inspirer)

but you can’t have marble is you’re:

—ISTJ (duty fulfiller)

ISTJs usually have a great sense of space and function, and artistic appreciation. Their homes are likely to be tastefully furnished and immaculately maintained. They are acutely aware of their senses, and want to be in surroundings which fit their need for structure, order, and beauty.

—ESFJ (the caregiver)

ESFJs at their best are warm, sympathetic, helpful, cooperative, tactful, down-to-earth, practical, thorough, consistent, organized, enthusiastic, and energetic. They enjoy tradition and security, and will seek stable lives that are rich in contact with friends and family.

—ESTJ (the guardian)

—INTJ (the scientist)

I’m on the fence about whether these should have marble:

—ISFJ (nurturer)

—ENFJ (the giver)

I don’t think I even covered all the types, but I’m weary. Tell me what you think! What type of personality are you? Should you have marble? OR not?

I’m half inspirer/half performer. Marble is perfect for me! or ENFP/ESFP

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This post is generously sponsored by my YL. I am into natural choices for my family, and this is the main way I help boost our immune systems and alleviate lots of minor aches, pains, and injuries. Read more about how we are using them everyday! My Young Living essential oils are also my newest business venture, and the oils are so well loved that they sponsor my blog!!! Thank you, friends! Enroll by clicking here.