Packing up to move to New York required A LOT of downsizing. My husband was the merciless "editor-in-chief" of all my belongings that I would be taking. I painstakingly gave away shoes, clothes, furniture, home accessories, books, craft projects, you name it, I purged it. But there was one thing I was NOT going to purge. A thing I had to take to comfort and soothe the crafty side of my domestic goddess nature. And that thing was my glue gun. I was packin' the heat no matter what! This was my weapon of creation and I needed it with me. In no time I was gun slinging glue all over my NYC apartment. Ok ok ok, I'll stop with the gun references.

The plain white valance I had made while in LA was screaming, "Decorate me!" So I did with a lovely black braided cord. You can't see the pattern of the braid but it adds a really nice detail to my black and white kitchen. (I desperately need to find my camera that has been misplaced in our move!) My Libra-ness likes the matchy-ness.

Once the valance got an aesthetic lift, the lamp shade in my bedroom was feeling a bit plain jane. So across town I went to the best trimming store in the city, M&J Trimmings. It can be really overwhelming in there. So much to choose from, it's hard to decide. My Libra-ness struck again. But I finally made a decision after about 1 hour. Haha.

I chose two ribbons. One a silvery grey with a white stitching and one a smoky lavender. I eventually want to do my bedroom in these colors.

Since I am no Martha Stewart, remember I am a domestic goddess IN THE MAKING, I had a problem with the edges. The edges of the lamp had a slanted angle to them so I couldn't just wrap the ribbon directly around the shade. I matched up and measured the grey ribbon as best I could and to hid a bit of the flaws made a criss cross pattern with the smaller ribbon on all four corners. An organic fix it that turned out cute.

Before

After

A subtle difference that makes me happy.

And last but not least, the candles. I had 3 white pillar candles in my bathroom that just got lost in the white etagere. But a $1.50 worth of black satin ribbon took care of all that. It's so simple. I just glue gunned the ribbon on to the candles, took 2 fancy looking brooches I had in my jewelry box and stuck them into the front. It's not permanent so I can always take them out if needed.