The Dressing Room - Low Country Remix

You've probably figured out by now that we've relocated to sunny South Carolina! We're tucked into the barrier islands that make up the Charleston area, a small pocket of the state that happens to be a subtropical climate, otherwise known as paradise. We're currently in the middle of an extra long summer! Here's a little about the big move..

Trevor and I love to road trip, so it's no surprise that for our first wedding anniversary we celebrated by going somewhere we'd never been before. We arrived in the middle of the night on a Friday Charleston. Having completely forgotten that it was holiday weekend, we had nowhere to stay, all hotels within a reasonable distance were booked solid. So we slept in our car in a Wal Mart parking lot. Honestly, this is kind of the epitome of our relationship. "Going on a date" to us has always meant going on some wild and crazy adventure, not so much dinner and a movie. Anyways, we stayed in Charleston for two nights, fell madly in love, rented a home on our way out and went right back to Virginia where we quickly packed up everything important and sold the rest. We made the move two weeks later. It may sound quick, but there was much thought that went into the big move. Finding a new home was something we'd long discussed and prayed about. Living in the DC area is quite pricey and with a budding small business to care for, we needed to find somewhere that offered comfort and of course, a cheaper cost of living. We'd always planned on Colorado, but it seemed that the road of happy destiny was unequivocally leading us to the low country. Admittedly, the beach helped make the decision easy!

So here we are, living easy in the low country. Having visited only once and briefly at that, we decided to start by renting, while we got the lay of the land. We're in a beautiful four bedroom home, with about a quarter acre of land. It's the first time we've ever lived in a completely detached house. It's a rambler, no stairs and a pretty open layout. The pictures above are of my new dressing room! Naturally, the first room to feel "finished." If you've been following along, you've gathered by now, there's not a single white wall in the entire house. My dressing room is the most neutral color in the house, it's a sort of light blue/grey. Which luckily provides a good backdrop for lot's of SoulMakes wall hangings!

We left a good majority of our furniture behind. So I've had the great pleasure of thrifting around town and I must say, this is some of the best thrifting I've seen in all of the 24 states I've visited. Well kept vintage finds at really good prices, I'm in heaven! There's rattan and mid-century modern everywhere, my two favorites! Oh and don't forget, shell chandeliers a'plenty. As per usual, my little dressing room has provided much inspiration! It's my place to arrange and rearrange, which I find a good habit to help open up my creative channels. It leaves blank spaces on the walls or floor, begging the question, "what should go here?" Which almost always leads to new SoulMakes creations! Naturally, this room has already been rearranged a dozen times since these photos were taken ;)

Much of what you see pictured above can be found in the shop

Stop by and see what's new in the House and Home section!

Love,
MacK Mars

Retro Revival

It's a retro revival this fall. Like most of the country, perhaps even the world, we've become increasingly enamoured with the mid-century modern look. Clean lines, simple designs and punchy colors. Our latest collection of wall hangings and home decor is reminiscent of the days when hair was long, love was free and music transported people to a magical place. Imagine, California Dreamin' spinning on the record player, you glance out the window and notice the leaves outside are beginning to change and fall to the ground. The bright autumn sun streams into your cozy little space, lighting up your soul and bouncing off a collection of colorful crystals. Candles lit all over, little plants linger around the room, remnants of the season past, living in tall, towering amethyst planters and agate geodes. This is the place. The Sugar Magnolia wall hanging, hovers overhead, vibrant agates catching glints of sun rays. There's fringe falling here and there from beautiful wall decor. All this, creating the perfect atmosphere of a calm and quiet autumn settling in.

Stop by the shop and check out our latest house and home pieces to get your little love shack ready for the coming season!

Love,

SoulMakes

DIY Flower Garland

With spring slowly settling in, I'm incorporating some of the changing season's elements around our home. You may or may not have noticed, I'm pretty obsessed with flowers in general. This little DIY flower garland is super easy and super adorable!

Here's what you'll need

- Fresh flowers (nothing super delicate or large, I used Carnations & Daisies mostly)

- String (go with something thicker, like embroidery floss, not thread!)

- Small needle

- Scissors

Step One

Trim the flower heads off of their stems

Step Two

Thread you needle into the base of the flower head and all the way though the flower

Step Three

Add more flowers until you're satisfied with the length. You can leave a lot of space in between each flower, or a little or none at all. Whatever you think looks best!

Step Four

The best part! Decorate your home with it!

These garlands look perfect strung up in a window! But there's no shortage of ways to decorate with them. You could string a few over a bed for a nice "head board" look. I totally want to try making one necklace style and wearing it around town like a lei. Hang them across the top of a door way or you could even make a short one to hang from a door knob. I also hung some vertically, in front a window to create a sort of floral curtain (pictured below). For those I used a bead at the end to prevent nay flowers from falling off.

The nice thing is, these garlands will still look beautiful even after the flowers have dried (pictured below)!

Photography & Concept: MacK Mars

All decor pictured: SoulMakes

Now it's your turn, have fun! If you try this DIY, we'd love to see your results on instagram, hashtag #SoulMakes to show us!

Love,

MacK Mars