Living. Lovely. (Late) ~ A Spot for Beauty (or Function)

(It's never too late to live. lovely. but my challenge fell through the cracks last week. We're back up and running, though.)

Did you reclaim a spot in your home for beauty or function

this past week or two?

I'd love to hear what you did (and see pictures!) if you care to share. Be sure to scroll down for next week's living. lovely. challenge, as well.

Oh, and if you have any ideas for living. lovely. challenges, I'd love to hear them!

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I have several spots around my house that have become mini disasters. The thing about mini disasters is that they seem to infect the neighboring spots and spread like wild-fire.

I could have chosen any number of places to reclaim, but my porch was really bugging me. Fallen leaves from our willow, toys and shoes strewn about, sidewalk chalk decorating the tables, stray blue 'moon sand' (I hate that stuff) in the cracks of our door mat, and a million other things that set a bad tone when arriving home. Definitely not a porch that said 'Welcome!' to friends and guests, either.

I 'let' the boys get in on the action. I filled a pot with warm soapy water and had them scrub to their hearts' content. Recess, right? I tried to include a before photo, but forgot until I had some of the toys and junk put away.

We put away the toys, swept, scrubbed the porch floor and railings, hosed off the front door mat, cleaned off the tables, and added some fall decor we had just picked up at the local produce stand. I even grabbed a bundle of corn stalks from our tiny garden, tied them together with copper ribbon, and propped them up by the front door. Ahhh! I'm inspired to get to a few other spots this week....

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Next week's living. lovely. challenge:

Send someone a hand-written letter... Snail mail.