Home Decor Interview:

Debra from "Bungalow"

1. Hi Debra, thank you so much for doing this interview with us. Please tell everyone a bit about yourself and your lovely blog, “Bungalow.”

Thank you for inviting me to join up with so many talented decor bloggers, it's quite an honor.

I was truly blessed to be able to retire early from the Hershey Company where I worked for about 30 years. My job was on the production floor not behind a desk. It was hard work and I don't miss it at all.

I've been blogging for about three years. Honestly, my interest in blogging wanes. Sometimes I'm into it and at other times I struggle just to get 2 posts a week! I have nothing but admiration for the really successful blogs because it takes tons of dedication and hard work. I started blogging as an outlet for stress, a place where I could write about dealing with Alzheimer's and to showcase some projects. I blog about thrifting and thrifty decorating. Spray paint is my BFF and I hope I may have inspired others to think outside the box when it comes to decorating. I post a few recipes and tips and a little about a woman's daily life.

The original name of my blog was the bunnys bungalow but I've shortened it to Bungalow, thinking it sounded more sophisticated....Lol. Hopefully soon my blog will get a makeover and possibly move to Wordpress.


2. Before we go further, we want to make mention of your mother, who unfortunately is suffering from Alzheimer’s. I saw my grandmother live through the exact same pain you describe in your blog, and it’s terrible and all we can do is try to cope the best we can. We wish you the best of luck as you care for her and spend time by her side. What words of advice would you have for someone who may be going through something similar, be it their parents, grandparents, or spouse?

Talk to them if you can at the beginning stages while they can still communicate their wants and needs. Find out how they want their finances handled, what kind of living arrangements they will be comfortable with. Ask questions, even the ones that are hard to ask. Get to know them a little better. Just talk and be sure to tell them you love them. Get your ducks in a row as far as legalities like power of attorney, wills and advance directives. It's important.


3. Like many of the bloggers we’ve interviewed, you are very much interested in renovating “trash” into treasures. They all say the same thing: it’s the thrill of the chase, the challenge of the makeover, and the satisfaction of the end result. However, where do you suggest someone learn these kinds of skills? Is it something you are born with, or is it a learned skill that anyone can do?

First, I think you have to have the desire, it does take some effort to find that perfect piece to turn into a treasure.  Some people are genuinely not interested in searching , for that person buying new is the answer. But I do feel that there is some talent in the ability to see past the trash part. Natural ability to see something in a new way I call the trash to treasure eye.

For example, an old chippy door, is it just an ugly old thing that need stripped and repainted? No way! Hang it on the wall and enjoy it as it is, paint it with chalkboard paint and showcase a favorite quote or verse or use it as a family message center. Add some hooks and it could be a hall tree in a foyer or add legs and it's a coffee table. If it's a screen door, hang it from the ceiling to use a pot rack.. That's how my mind works and it gets me in trouble sometimes with too many projects! But I do believe that anyone with the desire can do it. Study blogs and magazines to get inspiration, make a list of things you'd like to find then get out there and put on your trash to treasure glasses. Don't get disappointed if you don't find anything at first, you will, just keep on trying.

Never think you can't transform something. I've flown by the seat of my pants many times and have never messed up so bad it had to be trashed. Just go for it and learn as you go.


4. You’re not only a thrift store junkie, but you work at one too! Please tell us a bit about your job and if you enjoy it. And how has it been working all the extra hours ever since your co-worker suffered an accident?

I do enjoy working there, but after an 8 hour day my feet hurt! I am an "incharge person". I do deposits and oversee the clothing store which also sells household items like dishes, linens and knickknacks. I handle problems that may arise at checkout, restock the store, do displays and the window display, which you know I love to do. There are tons of items to pick from when putting together a display, that's the fun part.

My coworker was in a head on collision and was recently readmitted to the ICU with pneumonia so I am working some extra hours to help out. She is slowly getting better and we all miss her. Since this is a Christian Ministries store, lots of prayers are going up for her too.


5. You and I have almost the exact same bed, and it looks beautiful. Here in California, people are afraid to put anything above the bed because it could crash onto us during an earthquake. But you recently have a new addition above your bed; although it’s not really “new.” Please explain your mental process for re-using and recycling. Do you create a mental vision of what it should look like, and then look for stuff in the house that you already have? Or is it the opposite (that is, you see something around the house and imagine what else it could be used for)?

Well in the case of the art above the bed I couldn't find anything that I liked, so I just redid what I had to create the look I was going for.
FIrst I decide what I want, which sometimes is the hardest part, then I'll try to create it with what I have. That means looking through things I already own to see if I can come up with some possibilities, if not I'll shop yardsales and thrift shops. Usually what you're looking for will turn up eventually. So to answer your question, I create a mental vision first. I'm a very visual person.


6. A lot of people with smaller homes have a never-ending thirst for new decor, whether it’s recycling an old item or fixing up an antique from a yard sale. But in smaller homes, it’s easy to run out of space for new items pretty quickly. Does this happen to you, and if so, how do you work around it? Do you scale back your bargain hunting, or do you often sell old items to make room for new ones?

At almost 2000 square feet, I'm happy with the size of our ranch home, plus there's 500 more square feet in the finished basement and lots of storage down there too. The size of our home is deceptive because there's more house behind the garage which is not visible from the street. If my kitchen was a little bigger I'd say it was the perfect size and now I have a huge patio to decorate which has been fun.

I wouldn't say I run out of space, more space means more space to clean and I can think of many more things I'd rather do. I guess I do scale back on bargain hunting by not buying many larger pieces and sometimes I give things away and we have a yearly yard sale.


7. Debra, thanks again for sharing your time with us. I know these are difficult times for you, so please hang in there. For this last question, can you please tell us a bit about a project you are currently working on, or one that you are thinking of working on sometime later this year? We all have things in the back of our heads that we’re looking forward to decorating in the future. What’s yours?

Currently I'm working on a project with frames and am about finished decorating the patio. I'm thinking of lightening the walls in the den and kitchen and adding more greens and aquas along with the reds and I'd love to do board and batten in the smaller guest room.. Slowly I'm getting rid of some of the Tuscan accents and moving toward a more organic feel with shells, nests, and natural fibers like jute and burlap.

I always have a head full of projects!

We want to send Debbie our full support and tell her how much we enjoy her work.  We appreciate the time she took to answer our questions, and we hope you'll all check out her blog, "Bungalow."  Thanks Debbie!