07.03
2012

A Few Fourth of July Touches

I have to say I don’t think I have ever done any decorating for the Fourth of July. Partly, because I am a neutral girl so deep reds, and navy’s just don’t really get me excited, and partly because I don’t think we’ve been home on the Fourth of July in quite a few years. I know the last three years we have been in New Hampshire and I can’t really remember past that – haha! Seeing how we were going to be here this year, though, I thought it would be fun to just add a few temporary touches out on our porch. I knew it would probably drive me crazy in the house but out here I thought I could handle these deep colors at least temporarily.

The first project we did was go get a piece of wood at Lowe’s that we had cut to be two feet tall and three feet wide. We painted it white and then taped off some stripes and painted them a deep red (I just mixed some black paint in with a generic red craft paint). Then I painted the blue square with a navy (which I again mixed some black in to darken a bright blue craft paint). The stars were a bit more interesting. I first just kind of guessed and freehanded them. Not a good idea! I didn’t really think it through and although I got thirteen stars on in a circle, it wasn’t a very good looking circle. It lasted about an hour and then drove me so crazy I painted over them so I could start fresh. The second time I made myself a little stencil, which worked MUCH better! Then once I was done I sanded everything down and then watered down some brown paint and washed it over the whole piece to age it a bit. It took a few hours but only cost about $10, which wasn’t too bad.

Then I added our 1776 pillow covers (which are now HALF OFF) and used some cotton blue ticking stripe to make some new pillow covers.

I used the leftover ticking stripe fabric to make napkins and then printed out God Bless America and added that on top of each plate. (You can get our FREE download of this by clicking here).

Underneath the God Bless American printout you can see we added a silhouette of George Washington onto each plate. Although, all in all, I wasn’t thrilled with the overall look, I did like how this turned out.

I also added a George Washington silhouette onto some navy pillows and placed them on the two side chairs. I was kind of annoyed that I wasted my time on them, though, because I wasn’t that happy with how they turned out.
Then I added our navy 1776 pillow cover (which is also now HALF OFF) and a smaller ticking stripe pillow to Lillie and Lola’s little bench.

Here’s a little God Bless America on a chalkboard behind the little round table between the two chairs.

And another George Washington silhouette.

 

I also printed God Bless America (click here to download it for FREE) on a 8.5 by 11 piece of cardstock and added it to an easel on the little coffee table out there. 

All in all it was an inexpensive way to add festive touches (I just purchased the wood for the flag and one yard of ticking stripe, I had all the other supplies) but I have to say I will be happy to turn it back to what it looked like last week.

 I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday!
P.S. Along with our 1776 pillows covers being on sale, our 1776 wall art is HALF OFF too!
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29 thoughts on “A Few Fourth of July Touches”

  3. Jennifer,

    You just put this all together just like that, huh? AMAZING. You are so clever and talented!!

    Your projects are fabulous!

    I too am a neutral everywhere allergic-to-colour kind of designer, and only do/did holiday colours outdoors or as tablescapes.

    Someone's recent blog post asked where we have a Indep. Day decor in our house and I wrote and laughed and said the only thing I have inside is an American flag on my dollhouse. I have colour there too – it doesn't do much to make me crazy with colour and it is a fun change to decorate it up in colours I could never live with surrounding me.

    Anyway, happy 4th of July to you as well. Are you going to see fireworks or have you already?

    1. Thanks, Michele! You are always so sweet! I am not sure yet if we are going to see fireworks tonight. I know Lillie really wants to, but Lola has a double ear infection so unless we get her some earplugs I am not sure.

  4. As I adore color, I love the things you have done here. Isn't it funny how we are all different. ( my house probably makes you feel crazy!) I bought a wooden flag like this from Pottery Barn several years ago and paid over $100 for it. Yours looks just as good! It all looks precious – love the George silhouette. Happy fourth!

    1. Haha – no, your house doesn't! I love your home! I love color in other people's spaces. I just can't handle too much of it in my own. In fact, if I were designing something for someone else I would love to use more colors. I hope you guys have a great fourth too!

  5. Error Message from google. Can not find your Dearlillie.com site. Error 404. When you click on the link from your blog to shop. Error. Google: error. Type it in the search bar: error. I just wanted to give your heads up Jenni. Hopefully fixed soon. I would love to purchase more of your gorgeous pillows! All your touches turned out beautiful. I adore the flag!! And thank you for the free download.
    Have a fun filled 4th of July!! Enjoy!

  6. 404. That’s an error.

    The requested URL /product/1776-laurel-18×18-pillow-cover-in-blue-and-white was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

  11. Ridiculously gorgeous. Love the sunflowers. Great, great use of primary colors. For what holiday will you decorate next?

    1. Thank you! I will probably start doing some autumn decorating in early September and then a tiny bit of Halloween decorating in October.

  12. Your flag turned out so good, Jennifer! I'm not really into decorating for the Fourth either. Putting out some red, white and blue food (like berries) is about as close as I get 🙂

  13. Oh my, it all looks so beautiful!! I love the George Washington silhouette, perfect!!~
    I'm the same way, I usually don't decorate either, because I'm a neutral girl too. But I really like the simple things you did to celebrate the 4th.
    Hope you have a lovely 4th of July.
    Sincerely,
    Melinda

  14. I love it. I'm going to print off the lyrics and use them. Thanks! I bought last winter at an antique sale, several silhouettes. Three of them were George and Martha Washington and also Benjamin Franklin. I have them on my mantle this week.

  15. I have to say I am sooooo loving everything with George's silhouette on it. The plates! the pillows…I don't know why you don't like them …because they are FABULOUS!!!!!!

  16. I love it! But I love July 4th decor. 😉 Is the blue ticking fabric a heavy weight decorator fabric, or is it more like cotton? I need some blue ticking to make a dust ruffle for my bed, but I'm having trouble finding it in a cotton weight. Any suggestions?!

    1. Thanks Rosalie! I am pretty sure this was a cotton. It's relatively lightweight although I wouldn't say super lightweight. I found it quite easy to work with and would think it would work well for a bedskirt. I got it at Joann's. I hope that helps a little!

      Have a fabulous rest of the weekend!

  17. I love the silhouettes of George, too – I had started to put something similar together one night, but couldn't seem to come by a silhouette that I liked much, and never got back to it. This convinces me I need to do it next year! Love it all!

  18. Will you share the name of the paint color you used for the background of the Est. 1776 wall art?

  19. Hey! Happy fourth! I just wanted you to know that your rooms have GREAT photography and beautiful home decor. You light up the space!

  21. I realize the odds are slim because it's 4 years later, but is there any way I can get some of those pillows? I'm really picky about my decor and I've been searching everywhere for some 1776/Americana pillows that I loved. I'm in love with these!

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