Welcome to My Handmade Home: A Tour of My Colorful and Whimsical Abode
As I stand before you today, I'm excited to give you a tour of my handmade home in Austin, Texas. My name is Jennifer Perkins, and I'm a creative content designer known for my holiday decor. You'll notice that my aesthetic can be described with three words: colorful, kitschy, and crafty. These words perfectly capture the essence of my home, which is filled with all sorts of unique and eclectic pieces.
The first living area you see when entering my house is a true reflection of my personality. Besides the obvious Halloween decorations, you'll notice that every room in the house has been thoughtfully decorated to showcase my favorite items. My green couch, which I found on Craigslist, is a staple of our home. The two colorful chairs, which were recovered from an unknown past, add a pop of color and whimsy to the space. As you look around, you'll notice that every item has been carefully curated to create a sense of warmth and hospitality.
One of my favorite features of this room is the "craft cabinet." It's a plain, giant piece of white furniture that might seem out of place in a crazy house like mine. However, when you open it up, you'll discover a treasure trove of craft supplies, including scrapbook paper, rickrack, paint galore, and even vintage crisper drawers from old refrigerators! Yes, you read that right – one person's trash is another person's pompom shelf. I love the idea of repurposing items in creative ways, and this cabinet is a perfect example of that.
As you make your way through my home, you'll notice that every room has its own unique character and style. In the kitchen, you'll find a bar that holds all sorts of interesting items, including Halloween donuts, giant ears, and even old horror movies on Super 8 film. The shadow box in front of me is filled with dental molds, which might seem unusual to some, but trust me – they're fascinating! And behind me, I have portraits done of my family every year, which is a special tradition for me.
One of the things that sets me apart from others is my love of art. I believe that if you look at a piece of art closely enough, you can't tell if the person who created it was sane or insane! I adore art that challenges our perceptions and makes us question what's real and what's not. My sister, Hope Perkins, is an incredible artist who creates custom portraits of people every year. Her work is truly unique and special, and I feel so lucky to have her as my sister.
As you continue your tour of my home, you'll notice that every room has its own little surprises and quirks. In the dining room, you'll find vintage storage lunchboxes filled with all sorts of interesting items. And in the living room, there's a shadow box filled with glittery witch hands – yes, you read that right! It's just one of many whimsical touches that make my home so special.
For me, Halloween is not about being scary; it's about having fun and embracing the whimsical and fantastical. I want my home to feel like a dream world where anything is possible. And that's exactly what I've created – a space that's full of wonder and magic, where creativity and imagination know no bounds.
So, if you liked this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel! I'm thrilled to have such an amazing community of fans who appreciate my unique style and sense of humor. And remember – as I always say, "You are who you are, right? And so it's just like, I can't do it any other way than a way that's going to match me and my house – we've always been like that."
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enThe witch-- I don't know--had a little too much brewand did a nosedive intothe top of the tree.Hey, y'all.I'm Jennifer Perkins.And welcome to my handmadehome in Austin, Texas.There are three wordsthat pretty muchdescribe my entire aesthetic,which are colorful,kitschy, and crafty.I am a creativecontent designer.I am really knownfor my holiday decor.As you can see, Halloweenand Christmas are my jam.But I swear, sometimesmy house looks normaland there's nota Christmas tree.The house we hadlived in previously,I had painted literallyevery wall in every room.There was the red room, and theblue room, and the yellow room.So when I moved here, Iwas like, you know what?I just want white walls so Ican add color on color on color.So this is the first livingarea that you see whenyou first walk into my house.So besides, like, the obviousHalloween decorations, allof these things arein here year round,my green couch from Craigslist.And then the tworeally colorful chairs,they were my parents' in the'70s, but I had them recovered.I have a mirror in the frontroom that I literally only keepbecause it, like, displaysall the masks so beautifullyand the gateway drug for me whenit comes to Halloween hoarding.And they're not really scary.And you can get somewith, like, crazy hair.I mean, what's not to love?They're so tacky.I collect outsiderart and tramp art.So this is usuallyfull of, you know,things I don't want mykids getting a hold of,my nicer collectibles.And then here are two ofthose paper mache pumpkins.Back in the oldendays, like, pumpkinsweren't those plasticones that we get now.You know, they were paper mache.Three I have are extrasentimental to mebecause they were my parents'.This one actually hasa bird's nest in it.Down here is a collection of--they're callednoisemakers-- like this.You can make noise with them.They used to give themout to trick or treaters.I, personally,would be very angryif someone gaveone of my childrenone of these annoying toys.I'm just going to putthat on the record.I have always wanted avintage aluminum tree.And this is, like, really myfirst Halloween to have one.I got them at a flea market.I think it looks pretty awesome.Like, not everything in myhouse is from the thrift store.Like, it is perfectly fineto have brand new things.So the trick isfinding a way to, like,marry those two beautifully.This is the formalliving room, as it were.In August, I had thisvision of, like, Iam going to go pink Halloween.Over here are allthese different,like, vintage cameras.On surface level, like,cameras don't scream creepy,but, you know, with enough ofthem and a tree it's kind of,like, got a voyeuristic,creepy weirdness to it.You may not knowit looking at it,but to me I know there's, like,little sentimental touches.This one was my grandma's.It still has the little K on it.And you know, ofcourse, the treetopper is the Polaroid camera.I love to decorate,like, the treesdifferently, but usethem as a way to displaythe vintage Halloween masks.As far as Christmastrees go, I have a lot.At any given time, I could have,like, I say 100 Christmas treesup during the holidays,but they're not all, like,nine foot tall trees.Like, some of themare, like, the wee--you know, if we're literallycounting all the trees.These are pictures that I found,like, at the thrift store.I have no idea whothese children are.They are not family members.I mean, they arenow, like a skeleton,give that littledude some fangs.Kind of want to always haveeverything set up a little bitlike a seek and find, whereit's just like every timeyou look it's like, oh, oh,I didn't see that, you know.This is my kitchen, kindof a little breakfast nook.A gauzy spider weband some honeycombspiders work magicon any light fixture.Down here, I just put outsome, like, Halloween plates.These are just vintageblack glassware.I actually had a friendcall me and was like,Jennifer, quick, getto this thrift store.There's chairs you need.My kids were like, mommy,can we please go home?And was like, no.No, we can't.I'm so glad I made them suffer.So I got this bar, which I love.I've never serveda drink here, butit's a good piece of furniture.It holds all kinds of stuff likeHalloween donuts or giant ears.A shadow box, oldhorror movies on,like, Super 8,some dental molds--why wouldn't you collectstrange people's teeth?These guys, they're new.And I think they're actually,like, little luminaries.Like, you put a light inthere because this is paper.But, you know, instead, thisyear I put some plants in thereand these, like, glittery,like, witch hand.Behind me, I have portraitsdone of my family every year.That's kind of myMother's Day gift.Rather than, like, takingmy kids to the photo place,doing one of those, I was like,let's get these portraits made.Every year, I choosea different artist.Now these are a coupleof my favorites.They're done by mysister, Hope Perkins.And she does all kinds ofcustom portraits of people.I don't know whyshe decided to makemy daughter a flamencodancer and my son a matador,but I wasn't angry about it.I like it.I love art that if youlook at it, you're like,I can't tell if, like, a child,a crazy person, or a geniusdid this.Like, if I'm, like,questioning, like, I don't know,one of the three.That's why I love my kids' art.I'm like, oh, it's so good.These are, like, a favorite,like, still in the package--tooth black, youknow, just in case youwant to black out your tooth.But I also do, you know,regular, non-holiday craftsas well.I know you're probably thinkingto yourself, like, what are youdoing with that plain, giantpiece of white furniturein this crazy house?Well, I'll just showyou what it does.You open it up.It's like a clown carof craft supplies.And what's behinddoor number one?Scrapbook paper, and anassortment of rickrack,paint galore.Don't think for one second thatthis is all my craft supplies,because you know it's not.I do love a pompom.Because if you messup on somethingyou can just glue a pompomon it, and it's good as new.Another thing are thesevintage crisper drawers,as in, like, from a fridge.One person's trash is anotherperson's pompom shelf,kind of like the wholerest of the house.Like, I wanted to throw insome, like, vintage storage,lunchboxes, likeold, tin, lunchboxes.But they also, you know,work great as storage.They made more obnoxiousrickrack and pompom fringe,like, back in the '50s and '60s.And the more obnoxious thecraft supply, the better for me.With Halloween, I neverwant it to be scary.I always want it to be fun.I always want itto be whimsical.And that's really how I wantmy house to be all the time.Even to me, sometimes I'll belike, well, I phoned it in.But, you know, to anyoneelse it's just like, no,you went overkillis what you did.Like, my version of overkillis a little differentthan everybody else's.You are who you are, right?And so it's justlike, I can't do itany other way than a way that'sgoing to match me and my,like-- it's always been a lot.Me and the house,like, from the get-gohas always been like that.If you guys liked this video,be sure to give it a thumbsup, and subscribeto \"HGTV Handmade\"so you can see more handmadehome tours just like this one.\n"