Welcome to Home Made Lovely, a special home tour series.

It is an honor to be part of the lovely series, Home Made Lovely! Thank you, Heather! Hi! I’m Clarita, wife to Ben, and mommy to Zoe, Olivia, and Hudson. I blog about our family and home and everyday beauty at Skies of Parchment, also known as The Cottage at 341 South.

The motivation for me to make my house a home is just that - to create a place of physical safety as well as a home for the hearts of my family. Long before I was married I dreamed that if God ever brought a husband into my life, I wanted to create a haven for him, a little bit of heaven on earth! I do not offer perfection, not by a long shot! :) But I want to create a home that when he enters at the end of the day, however stressful his work day may have been, whatever pressures he felt - all that can be laid aside in a happy sigh of “I’m HOME.” Heart-home, and house-home. And as children have entered our world, I want the same for them - to create an environment of love, a fun place, and a place of rest.

I want the external part of our home to just be a reflection of our heart-home. Because what use is a beautiful home is there is contention and friction? I want the beauty of our home to be real. As believers in Jesus and people that reflect His character, I want my children to grow with an appreciation for order and beauty, but without the pressure of perfectionism or chaos. And trust me, this is a daily challenge to find that balance! I love to have a new project to work on, to create new things for my home business My Faire Lady Designs, to find the perfect shade of paint for that Goodwill treasure - it’s all like grown-up playing for me. :) So there are many thrift finds in our home. We try to have a Pottery Barn/Anthropologie/Restoration Hardware style on a craigslist/yard sale/Goodwills/thrift store budget! :) I love a clean look, although I’m not a minimalist [as much as I wish I were]. I like a fresh uncluttered look but with a lot of detail. Show me the little goodies, please! My goal is to have a home that will bless, not just impress, as a friend once said. I want to create a home that inspires and blesses other women, not that creates feelings of discontentment. We don’t have a lot of expensive stuff; actually, we joke that if we were to be robbed, there would be nothing anyone would want but us! Each woman has her own unique tastes and likes, and I love to see individuality and uniqueness - not where someone feels pressure to decorate a particular way. So, I hope this encourages someone who is on a budget too, and you don’t feel that you have to have a million dollars to have a beautiful home! :) I did laugh as I took these pictures though, because it was kind of like clean-up-one-room, take-pictures, clean up another, take pictures. With three children, the house does not stay picture-perfect for long! Several years ago we bought a hundred-year old cottage in a small-town south; it was in terrible shape, and I thought it was a hopeless cause. My husband, however, not only has the great ability to see the potential in the midst of that I thought was impossible and depressing, but he also has his own business as a carpenter and is able to carry out his ideas! So after several months of very hard work, he completely transformed the 1500 square foot cottage! We’ve lived here for nearly three years, and we love working together to create a home! My husband creates the great bones, and I add the detail.

The kitchen is one of my favorite places in the house. It’s not large, but it’s full of natural light, and it’s efficient.

My husband made both the concrete and butcher block countertops himself for a fraction of the price of what it would have cost to buy it. The butcher block counter was made from old 2 x 4’s from the house, isn’t that precious?!

I found these vintage canisters at a junk store, and they became part of the family! :) I had to repaint the letters, and buy drawer pulls for the tops.

This beautiful girl [the sink] holds a tender spot in my heart. I named her Audrey and think she makes our kitchen! She was my birthday gift for several years! :) The pendant was a free light that we repainted.

I like the open shelves in part of the kitchen - guests never have to ask where a glass is, and it displays all the dishes we use on a daily basis as well as my thrifting-collection of milk glass.

The mantel is one of five in our little house! It is not functional, but it adds a warm cozy feeling to the room. The chandelier was a $7 auction find. I have three sisters, and they are a source of great inspiration to me! They are where this plate wall idea came from, inspired by Ruche. The little plates and saucers were given by my grandmother or were thrifted.

A friend gave me this darling old fan! It’s not only adorable, but in the heat of the summer I love to use it.

I like the big chalkboard on the refrigerator side. My idea was that the kids could doodle there while I was working in the kitchen - you know, those crazy nights when kids are hungry and supper isn’t quite ready? But who was I kidding - the doodling only happens when I am not cooking dinner. They LOVE to “help” me in the kitchen!

Family rules canvas: J.C. Penney

The Dining Room is a simple room, but it functions as the place where we eat, the craft area, the painting spot, the sewing table, and many other projects!

The mantel holds my collection of thrifted white and silver pitchers, along with a collection of paintbrushes for whimsy.

I found Paul Bunyan’s fork at a yard sale!! :) It stand beside an old door which was left in the house when we moved in.

The Living Room and dining room are open and adjoining, after my husband tore out walls to open up the small rooms. The high ceilings and open floor plan are wonderful, even though the rooms themselves are not very large. You may notice there is no TV in sight ~from the time we were first married we’ve chosen not to have a television so that our time can be spent with each other. For us, it’s been a great decision!

We redid the brick for the fireplace and my husband made the mantel. This is one of the two functional fireplaces, and we love to use it in the winter - when the south brings a brief cold spell! In the summer I stick in an old galvanized tub with rolled-up magazines.

The silhouette pillows I made of my daughters, and I try to update the ‘gallery wall’ pictures every few weeks. Just kidding. It’s actually been once every three years! :) I like architectural detail and surprise. The pillar was a find at an auction, and the ‘Keep Calm’ print is from etsy. The large family picture is an engineering print size printed at Staples for $3.49! and mounted on foam board. We wrapped the board so it has the appearance of a wrapped canvas. I collected the urns at goodwills and thrift stores, and fill them with greenery from the yard. I love fresh greens!

The slipcovers are from uglysofa.com - I love them! I also like sewing little projects and often change out the pillows or panels with a new fabric or burlap coffee sack I found. Very occasionally I splurge and buy a pillow - such as the black and white bike pillow and white ruffle pillow, both from Target.

The Kiddos’ Room is one of the most challenging rooms in the house; not only are all the three children in it at once, but there are two genders in there! We have high hopes of finished the attic in the near future and adding more bedroom, but until then, I try to make this a place that is organized and efficient AND cozy with all three! This room is a work in progress. :)

The mantel features Beatrix Potter art that was gifted or found at yard sales and goodwills, and the kids and I made the pinwheels.

I found the lovely old quilt at a goodwill, and made the tissue paper balls over the bed.

And I feel like I’m being redundant, saying everything is thrifted or goodwill or an antique shop - but it’s true! :) The toddler bed was a treasure found at an antique shop! The blue floral pillow I made, the darling whale pillow was gifted from a friend!

The dresser was left at a rental house, and we painted and distressed it ~ it works perfectly as a changing table!

The trunks hold toys and dress-up clothes.

The Music Room is a walk-through room, and it holds our desk and baby grand piano. The desk was a yard sale find which we painted, and I bought the map off ebay for less than twenty dollars. We used the short map pins to mark the places we’ve visited - I thought we had traveled, but in the wide expanse of the world, I realized we really haven’t seen much of the world!

I sketched a tree on the wall with a pencil, then filled it in with pages of sheet music to create a music tree. It was a fun project, but I hope I don’t ever grow tired of it because it is rather permanent! I collected the bird cages at thrift stores and spray painted them.

The books turned backward on the mantel create a uniform look, even though there are piles of them. :) The vintage binoculars belonged to my late grandfather.

The Wall of Words include some of my favorite hand-scripted quotes, and a few pictures and miscellaneous surprises. The Shakespeare quote came from a yard sale.

The Master Bedroom is a favorite room of mine. After tearing out old paneling we found real wood walls underneath but it had to be painted. So first we painted it a chocolate brown, then went over it with a cream color. After that we took an electric hand sander and sanded the entire walls. The result is more of a rustic white-wash finish, which fits the cottage well! The bedroom suite was the only furniture in the house that we bought new. And now, we wish it was old! :) I like to see the bed when I walk in a bedroom, so we put it across the corner and framed it with sheer panels. I made a banner of pictures of the two of us and a few notes that my husband has written to me ~ “his banner over me is love.” ♥

Tearing out another wall revealed the backside of a brick fireplace, which was too pretty to remain covered. So we sand-blasted the paint off of it, then framed our wedding invitation and a vintage-style reproduction of our names and wedding date to place beside it.

Thanks again, Heather, for the honor and fun of being part of Home Made Lovely!

I’ve been looking for a fun bag for summertime and finally found it. At Wal-Mart, of all places.  I am seriously not a fan of that place, but every once in a while they do really good by me.

When I happened upon the wallet and phone case at Target I knew it was meant to be, so I snatched them up to finish out the scene.  I know its ridiculous to be this excited over some accessories, but I don’t care.  Oh how I love polka dots, stripes and flowers all mixed up together.  And that gold handwriting font just puts it over the edge for me.

Also, there’s only 3 more days ‘til summer vacation!!!  I’m totally not counting though.

Hello there! Yet another Heather here, I’m from Lark & Lola {my crafty/business blog} as well as Last Day Ago {my family blog}. I was somewhat stunned but also so flattered to be asked to participate in Heather’s lovely blog series, Home Made Lovely. I’m a new fan of her blog and I love it, especially since I get my kicks peeking into other people’s homes. Today you get to peek into mine!

My little family of four {soon to be five} lives in urban Denver, in a little ranch house with a white picket fence. We used to have a home almost twice this size in the suburbs, but we’ve learned to make small spaces work because we love the city. It’s also great being less than 10 minutes from my husband’s work. We’ve lived in this little white house for about 4 years now, but it might surprise you to know that we rent! It’s a challenge when renting, to make a home feel like it’s your home. We can’t change the flooring or architecture, but when we moved in our wonderful landlords said, “Paint away!” and so we’ve made ourselves quite at home, as you’ll see…

Many people I know wish to travel the world, and while a short trip to Paris might be nice, I’m actually very much a homebody myself. I think this is what drives me to put so much effort into trying to fill my house with pretty things, because I love being home more than anywhere else. I want my family to feel surrounded in loveliness, and I want home to be a beautiful place to be.

When we first moved into this home, with it’s large porch, I was frustrated that I couldn’t afford tons of big flowering hanging planters. So I made do with what I had at the time, and it turns out it’s been my favorite way of decorating our porch for years now: simple vintage blue Ball jars, hung and filled with flowers.

This is our living room. Most of our furniture has come from either thrift stores {like our couch and coffee table}, grandparents {like my slipcovered chairs}, or IKEA.

The built in shelving has caused me trouble ever since day 1. I redecorate it often, right now it’s holding some of my milkglass collection.

The TV and stereo is about as much black as I can handle in my house. My husband works in the audio/visual industry, so I can’t kick them out all together! {Well, that, and if it the TV were gone, how would I watch Mad Men?}

I love the white wash look of some shabby chic homes, but it’s hard for me not to bring in pops of color all over. I love color, as you’ll see. I’ve never been too concerned with “matchy matchy” color schemes. I just bring in what I like, purge what I don’t like, and somehow it all just comes together.

Sorting books by color can be fun though. I have a thing for buying pretty and old books at thrift stores.

Looking at this wall of our house makes me laugh, it’s a good example of how I don’t pay much attention to matching color, but it also gives a good look at my personal color palette. Apparently I like blues & greens. Mermaid colors!

This is my little secretary desk, where I’m typing up this post! I recently painted the chair a very pale green, though I’ve had it for years.

This is another area that is constantly redecorated, the top of the piano. Right now it’s pretty simple looking. I almost always have a candle burning in my home, all the day long.

I love throwing fun parties, and this door was a prop for my daughter’s ice cream themed party. After the party I brought it inside and turned it into a coat rack. I had plans to redo the chalk paint but for now I like it as it is.

This is supposed to hold our mail, but I really use it to hold only pretty mail and cards. {Why can’t they make bills prettier?}

This is a little idea for those with small homes, since we don’t have a foyer or a mud room or even a coat closet, I painted my grandmother’s old “rabbit hutch” and now it’s a “shoe hutch”. First thing we do when we get home is kick off our shoes and stuff them in the shoe hutch.



The clipboards are unfinished crafts of mine {from back when Lark & Lola did flea market craft shows} and I keep grandma’s old letters nearby because her handwriting was so pretty and no one sends snail mail any more. They make me happy when I look at them.

My great grandmother painted this and so I’m proud to have it hanging in my home. The best treasures at home are things that have been passed down within the family, I think.

The Honey Land picture is actually a cover from a book of antique sheet music. My husband and I are beekeepers, so I loved this as soon as I saw it and decided to frame it.

My girl bust wears a necklace and sits under a cloche, and I often move photos from my old photo collection around the house. I especially love old antique photos of children and babies, even if they never look happy.

My dining room is one area I’ve been working on lately, it seems our home is never “done”. Does everyone feel this way? A few months ago we found a yellow retro dinette table at an antique mall, we loved it and took it home. I’m okay mixing retro and shabby chic, so the dining room has turned into quite the hodge podge of a room.

The cane back chairs were grandma’s and I just recently painted and recovered them in oilcloth so they’d work with the retro table.

As long as it’s pretty and appeals to me, anything goes in this house!

My Pyrex collection {part of it} is also showcased in the dining room. I’ve been collecting for two years now…it’s gotten a tad bit out of control.

I love this old sand toy, the little acrobat inside flips and turns when you turn the box over clockwise a few times. I like to tuck little curiosities like this around the house.

From the dining room we move right into our little kitchen…

Oh! Look at that, more Pyrex. {There may or may not be some more in the basement and cupboards. Shh!}

I find these fun ceramic animal heads at thrift stores all the time {cows, geese, ducks, sheep, etc.} so I thought these little geese would be perfect for holding our aprons.

Our kitchen is a small hallway kitchen, but I’ve had some good fun decorating this part of our home. Good thing, since I spend a lot of time in this room.

We painted the kitchen yellow, I like it bright and cheery, and I like to bring all sorts of color into it where I can.

I keep the little coffee & tea tray at the ready, while my great-grandmother’s glass cake stand holds my recipes and things up out of the way.

Next to the stove I keep some kitchen towels, and the like. The “Eat It” sign is a page from an old children’s book.

The IKEA cabinet fits perfectly in our small kitchen, but holds a lot. I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

It holds some of these things for me. As well as a mess in the lower part.

It was exciting to find one of these old kitchen stool/chairs at a flea market last summer, and in pink! My daughters love to stand on it and watch me cook, and that makes me happy.

I keep some old Fire King mugs at the ready.

Moving on to one of our two {very small} bathrooms…

When we were looking for homes in Denver, this one had me at “clawfoot tub”.

I use the small IKEA trolly to keep some bathroom neccesseties. I’m also trying to hunt down more vintage towels, because I love the way they look.

Yep. It’s the deep, wonderful clawfoot tub that makes me love this house. I use it as often as I can for bubble baths.

This bright yellow room used to be my very own craft room! When baby #2 came along a couple years ago, however, we had to turn it into a nursery. Soon we will move our girls in together and this will be baby #3’s room.

I love doily garlands. Violet loves Dumbo.

My kid’s rooms are the only places I seem to do color schemes in my house.

This vintage cart was thrifted and painted pink by yours truly. It serves many purposes at our house, but right now it’s making a nice little table in Violet’s room.

And we recently made the switch from crib to toddler bed! That’s been…interesting.

My older daughter, Eisley, has a bright pinkish purple room.

We’ve kept much of the decor from that ice cream birthday party and used it to decorate her room.



I love all things girly. Love doll houses. Love dresses. Love it all!

{#3 is a boy, in case you were wondering.}

The ABC garland was a pack of flashcards I strung up, I think they’re cuter this way. Also less messy.

Her little roll top desk is a favorite find of mine, as well as the retro play kitchen.

Finally, we’ve arrived at the master bedroom! It’s hard to tell, the walls are gray like the living room. I love gray walls, but our house doesn’t get enough light, so I went with a light gray which is hard to pick up in photos.

I’m in love with the yellow chenille bedspread I thrifted a few months back.

The bright colors of vintage suitcases cannot be ignored, I’ve actually travelled with these!

I had been on the lookout for a vanity for a long time, when last summer I came across this one at a yard sale for only fifteen bucks. I snatched it up, took it home, and showed it some love. It’s been a lovely part of our bedroom ever since. I’ve decorated around it with silhouettes.

I’ll be honest, some days I don’t make the bed until almost dinner time, but when the bed is made, everything in this room is right. I love this room.

Hopefully my vintage jewelry box collection never gets as large as my Pyrex collection…

So that’s our cozy little home! Thanks so much for stopping by and having a peek.
And a huge thank you to the talented Heather for hosting my home tour on her Home Made Lovely series—I’m so thrilled to be part of it and to be able to share our home here!


Cheers,
Heather @ Lark & Lola and Last Day Ago