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Today’s “All in the details” features the office space of one my most admired bloggers – Danielle Moss of Breakfast at Toast and The Everygirl. If you haven’t become a daily reader of The Everygirl, you are selling yourself short. This fairly new blog is FULL of priceless advice, inspiration and resources for women of all ages aching for success. Whether you want to be a successful boutique owner or a world-renowned author, this site just might give you the kick in the pants you need to go for your goals. Definitely give it a shot…

But I digress.

Danielle’s office space is one of those spaces heaped in style, yet manages to make the most of a fairly small nook. Let’s take a closer look:

SHELF STYLING

When decorating empty wall space, you can often go one of two ways – Either the 2D variety (i.e. prints, paintings, drawings, etc.), or go 3D. Here, Danielle chooses to dress up the wall above her computer desk with a set of two thin shelves. The white color and non-obtrusive hanging hardware make them blend seamlessly with the wall, but offer a great landing place for whimsical, personal momentos such as a stack of books, an old camera and a sea urchin figurine. Brass highlights throughout make the collection cohesive without seeming forced.

THE FURNITURE

It seems that every girl ought to have herself a glossy white parsons desk. This beautiful, sleek piece of furniture is, again, non-obtrusive and allows the accessories and decor to really pop. Although a little short on storage (the main reason why I’m not craving one for my own home), the designer of this table managed to squeeze in a couple of long drawers, perfect for dainty office supplies. And the crisp white (I’m sensing a theme here) and chrome desk chair is feminine yet modern.

DESKTOP

Danielle makes the most of the lack of storage space by topping her desk with nick knacks that don’t scream “office” – Instead, she uses a white lacquer tray to coral her papers, a nondescript black box with white trim to hide the clutter (although with such a beautiful space, I can’t even imagine she owns any clutter) and pretty vases to hold fresh flowers and pens. Even her acrylic tape dispenser exudes style. Sure, you might end up spending a bit more upfront for these types of high-end office supplies, but if you want to capture a put-together look it might be time to ditch the Office Max black stapler and metal filing cabinet.

INSPIRATION BOARD

I love inspiration boards because they do double duty as both extra wall art and a place to organize what moves you. The simple cream painted frame of this board and canvas background don’t overpower and let the pinned pieces make the real statement. I love to imagine what made her decide to showcase the individual items – The note cards, the signed box top from Louboutin (although I’m sure that was an easy decision), the Henri Bendel shopping bag, the photos and “I <3 NY” pin. No two inspiration boards will ever be the same – compare it to mine, for example – and I adore that…

So what are your favorite details?

For all of my top inspirational spaces, click here. 

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We are taking some time off today to enjoy family, so I will see you back here again on Wednesday. Hope you enjoy a wonderful holiday – Never forget!

First, to find a replacement…After getting a soft and luxurious down comforter from our wedding gift registry, we decided to go with a duvet cover. It just so happened that we had scheduled a trip to Ikea right before jetting off to our honeymoon (there was one only minutes away from our airport), so I made sure to make a pit stop in their bedding section. There were so many to choose from, but we ended up going with Ransby, a subtle pattern of grey leaves and vines on a white background. For less than $30 for the set, it was too good (and pretty) a deal to pass up.

Soon after returning from our trip, I dressed the bed and stepped back hoping to be wowed. The pattern and cushy down comforter were perfect, but the rest of the space was a bit lacking. You see, after posting a number of pieces of furniture for sale, I managed to pass my existing nightstand off to a friend. I was happy to give it a new home, but sad to be left with nothing to set my book on.

As you can see to the right of the bed (my side), I was literally living out of a box. So I knew it was time to replace what I had sold.

The reason I got rid of the original table was because of its traditional style – It was a perfect piece for me several years ago when I embraced the fully eclectic look (i.e. college era hand-me-downs), but now that I am working on a forever home and have the means to be picky with the furniture we add, I wanted to go with something I knew both John and I would love. What might that be? I envisioned something from the 1970′s with spindly legs, one of those two-tiered pieces with a drawer.

So, with renewed motivation, we headed out to our favorite estate shop downtown, which tends to have about 30 of just this type of nightstand to choose from. Of course, there were slim pickin’s the one day we set out for our new-to-us nightstand, but we lucked out after uncovering the perfect one.

Yes, it’s a bit worse for wear between the piece of flapping vinyl off the side and the layers of dust and cobwebs, but the lines were right, the shape was right and even the hardware was right. I adore the simple look of the round drawer pull – A circle of dark wood surrounding a thin metal pin. It even had a drawer! We were made for each other…

After a quick wipe down with furniture polish, it looked good as new. It really is in great shape considering how old it probably is. Other than the dislodged vinyl strip, there are no major dings or scratches and it is sturdy as can be. Oh and the price? Unfortunately, I headed to the check out counter just as the owner of the store (who is notorious for not backing down on price) came up to the register. I was hoping to spend $15 on this bad boy, but instead I was asked to pay $30. Not the BEST deal I’ve ever gotten, but I loved it and didn’t care. Besides, I made $30 on the sale of my old nightstand, so we can just call it even.

After situating it beside the bed (along with another piece of furniture to be discussed in a moment), the room finally started looking more complete. Luna the kitty also decided to grace us with her modeling abilities this morning…

The two tiers gives me plenty of room for my favorite antique lamp, our little family bell, a stack of books and a cup for water. Really, I could fit a whole lot more on the table, but for now I’m enjoying the uncluttered look. And no, I still haven’t fixed the broken vinyl yet…But it’s nothing a little wood glue can’t fix once I have a spare moment.

But about that OTHER new bed-side table…As you can see peeking around the bottom of the bed in the photo below, I also added a bench that my dad built. It used to live in the living room under the front window for the kitties (and sometimes the not-so-little dog) to people watch from, but since rearranging that room, it got displaced. I actually love it at the foot of the bed since it’s a great spot to stack excess pillows or slip on a pair of shoes in the morning.

Isn’t my dad so freaking talented? Such a beautiful, simple, classic piece of furniture…

Both new pieces add a ton of storage and fit our style perfectly. I’m so lucky that we were able to find just the right thing for our home. Have you guys snagged any great thrift store pieces lately?

P.S. You may have noticed a new blog header – Again, after a year with the original one I thought it was time for a change. I decided to go with something short, sweet, to-the-point and streamlined. Hope you like it! Who knows how long it will stick around. I tend to look at my blog design in the same way I do my house – I like change and I like to swap out and tweak things until it’s juuuuuuust right. Keeps life interesting…

Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend!

The point is, a few positive changes I could be making to my life have “come to me” recently in moments of quiet reflection and I am excited to put them into play. One such change (or really ADDITION) happens to deal with the blog and I’m unveiling it to the world today!

Welcome to the newest feature on DreamGreenDIY: All in the details.

After getting an exciting response from last week’s “My top 20 most inspiring spaces” post, I decided to continue focusing on those spaces (and then some). I’ll be breaking down the elements of each room that work and why. It’ll give all of us a chance to really analyze what makes good design good and maybe help us hone in on what we can do in our own spaces to take it up a notch.

I hope that you guys will be part of this new feature by commenting away with your own thoughts on what makes these details work.

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First up, we have this gorgeous mid-century mod space complete with vintage details, pops of color and a great mix of textures.

THE COUCH

This couch could very well be the thing that makes this room such an inspiration for me. The shape is a perfect blend of 1970′s mod with contemporary textiles and finishes. If you want your living space to feel modern, the quickest way to get the look is with a sofa devoid of curves. Sure, curvaceous seating can read as modern with a good balance of sharp accessories and art, but getting it “just so” takes time. The sleek look of this sofa is contemporary to a “T.” And we can’t talk about the couch without mentioning the color. Coral is one of the “it” colors this season, but it’s also a great take on a neutral – At least it CAN be, when done like this. It’s pale and soft so as not to punch you in the face when you lay eyes on it, but against white walls it still serves as a great pop of a focal point.

THE ART

This is another one of those things that can be a bit tricky to get right. A vintage art gallery wall (when done well) is a great way to give an eclectic feel to a room. The idea is to collect mismatched prints and paintings and stagger them on a wall, as though thrown together. It can tone down a potentially formal space and is a great way to put that pile of unhung art in your closet to good use.

TABLETOP BOOKS

You guys know I love decorating with books (as seen here and here and probably a dozen other places I’m forgetting at the moment). I think it’s safe to say that we all have books lying around our houses, so why not put them to good use? They add color, like in this case, but don’t end up crowding a surface since they still offer a landing pad for things like your coffee mug of favorite owl trinket. Here, the stack of books is topped with an equally functional box, great for stowing away a remote or pack of playing cards.

THE TEXTURES

This space is a great study in mixing textures. From the heather finish on the couch and high pile shag rug, to the woven throw and fur accent pillow…It just goes to show that there’s nothing scary about mixing texture – If you are afraid to go bold blending colors, try mixing up the textures (in a single color) instead. All rooms need a little dimension and you can easily create it with texture.

Feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments section and take a look at all of my inspiring spaces here.

So here’s the story (plus an incredible amount of photos to document the horrors – Hope you have a big cup of coffee handy!)…

After redoing our kitchen cabinets, I was dying for some kind of backsplash. I would have loved to tile, but the expense and the work deterred me from ordering anything. So instead, I scoured Pinterest for ideas. I came up inspiration like a solid accent paint color, decoupaging take-out menus beneath the cabinets and even adhering metal tile to the wall.

Source: BHG

Source: One Brooklyn Modern

Source: Casa de Valentina

But the one below was the one that stole my heart. It could have been because of the similarities to our own kitchen – cabinet/appliance arrangement, dark brown cabinets, long brushed nickel hardware – but it was also that gorgeous pastel backsplash.

In order to recreate the look of the shiny rows of thin tile without actually ordering any, I decided to use a combo of high gloss paint and extra-thin masking tape. My “faux tile” would theoretically give me the look with about half the work and a fraction of the expense.

Source: Unknown

So here is the room as it stood before leaping head first into the project – We are still loving our brown cabinets but really needed something between the cabinets and countertops to break up all of that brown and beige.

First I rolled on two thin coats of primer – The same can we used on the cabinets at the beginning of the year. In my head, I thought that the under-layer of white showing between my faux tiles would look like grout.

The nature of primer to be a little uneven in look would (again, in theory) mimic the uneven texture of mixed grout.

Time for the masking – This part ended up taking a looooooooong time, but my sister thankfully offered to help as she was visiting that weekend. It was all a matter of keeping the lines straight and also measuring equal distances between rows.

We decided to start the taping by going horizontally since it would take the most time versus the shorter strips that would go vertically. We started right under the cabinets and then measured a ruler’s-width down before starting a new line of tape.

Once we finished the entire length of the backsplash, we stepped back and took stock of things. Seeing the long green lines of tape actually really appealed to me – I began to second guess the vertical strips altogether. The look of the unhindered stripes read super “mod” to me and I actually favored the look. So out went the idea of vertical strips to create faux tiles and in came the idea of mod stripes. My thought was that I could always paint white lines over the top coat if I decided that I wanted the tile look afterall.

Time for the top coat…I bought a quart of pale, minty blue paint from Lowe’s in high gloss finish to really make it pop on the wall. Even though I was no longer trying to replicate the look of smooth glass tile, I didn’t mind the idea of a high gloss stripe, so we went with it.

Two coats later (at about 9:30 p.m.  at night – sorry for the awful lighting) and we were DONE. I already loved how the color was breaking up all of the brown surfaces. Before letting the paint dry, since I’ve heard the paint can come right off with it after it dries, I started removing the tape to reveal the undercoat of white.

This my friends is where things all went to hell.

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Oh man, it was so so hard for me to even snap these photos for you guys. At that point, I could hardly breathe from sobbing and the shock of it all. We had been working on this project pretty much all day, sucking up an entire Saturday. I think it was even harder to accept because I had dragged my sister into it as well.

To tell you the truth, I have no idea what happened. But as you can see, when I started peeling the tape back (slowly and gently, I might add) the primer and the wet top coat started coming off in strips with it. I suppose there are two possibilities: (#1) the primer SUCKS and didn’t stick to the wall correctly, or (#2) the masking tape I used was way to strong. Either way, after the initial gasp upon seeing the ruined paint job, it turned into a full on melt down as I continued to remove both the tape and my beautiful painted stripes.

Somehow, through my tears, I was able to remove the rest of the tape and repaint the entire backsplash. The only thing I could come up with was to go with a solid color paint job and call it done – At least for the moment.

In the end and after recovering from the hysteria of the failure, I actually really love the way it turned out. Sure, there’s nothing “tiled” or “striped” about it, but at least all of those brown surfaces have something cool and funky to bump up against. I adore the color.

There are still a few areas we need to damage control, such as the uneven edges at the ends, but I’m giving myself a little distance before working on it. I think I’ll pick up a couple pieces of decorative molding to cover the lines and be done with it. Thoughts?

Oh, and before I go, I wanted to show you a little detail – As you can see in the photos below, you can still make out the stripes left by the masking tape lines. Sort of makes for an interesting texture I guess. While I wish that those lines could have been white, it is what it is and I don’t HATE it.

The fresh mint color looks a bit retro sitting next to our brand new orange stand mixer (a gift from our wedding) – I am absolutely loving that color combo and might even try introducing a little more orange into the space just to keep it going.

So while I would still whole-heartedly call this a failure because it’s anything BUT what I had envisioned, we still managed to give the backsplash area a little pop. If you check out the “Before” and “After” photos below, you can see what a difference that mint color made.

Glad to finally get that off my chest after weeks of holding it in…

So spill the beans – What do you guys think? Have any idea what might have happened? I’m dying to solve the mystery…

In honor of the eye candy I’ve saved up over the past year as an obsessed a faithful member of Pinterest, I am sharing with you all today my top 20 inspiring spaces. In no particular order, I invite you to feast your eyes on the looks, rooms and interiors that get my heart pumping and my planning mind working in overtime. I’d love to hear your take on my style and how you might characterize it (ala Emily Henderson – “Tuscan Modern,” “Southern Romance Meets Scottish Country Charm,” “Modern Urban Beach,” etc.).

Prepare to drool.

Source: decor8

Source: Mint

Source: Breakfast at Toast

Source: Kireei

Source:  Glitter Guide

Source: we <3 it

Source: BHG

Source: Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Source: Design Sponge

Source: HGTV

Source: M Street

Source: Yellow Brick Home

Source: The Marion House Book

Source: Style by Emily Henderson

Source: The Borrowed Abode

Source: Decorology

Source: Flickr

Source: The Inspired Room

Source: Unknown

Source: Style by Emily Henderson

If I were to give myself a style diagnostic based on those images, I think I’d call my style “Mid-century Eclectic.” What do you think?

For more on spaces that inspire me, click here for my full “Inspirational Spaces/Colors” board on Pinterest.  And feel free to share links to your own inspirational spaces (your own or someone elses) in the comments section. Let’s share our room daydreams…

The first kick in the pants came when I saw these curvy, colorful wooden candlesticks. I really love color, but I actually hoped (in my head) to find a pair of plain raw wood pieces to adorn our table. I love the shapely lines but think our kitchen is pretty good on pops of color (what with our plate wall and newly painted cabinets).

Source: Casa Sugar

Source: Photobucket

As luck would have it, I found these two beauties at a local estate store for only $2. They fit my curvy criteria and were the raw wood I had been hoping for. I thought they looked quite lovely against the chocolate brown wall and, although their shape is fun and eye-catching, they don’t necessarily steal the show from the plate art.

But we weren’t done yet…You see, I also was inspired by the Pinterest images below of painted wood. The idea is to paint pops of saturated color on top of wood, but still leave the grain a bit of room to shine.

Source: Swoon

Source: Unknown…

So I decided to paint the candlesticks, but only partially. Where to begin though? Do I start halfway up the candlesticks and paint little colorful rings and leave it at that? Or maybe paint an entire half of the candlesticks? In the end, John suggested stripes on the flat base and I was sold.

For the colors, I went with the two trendy colors of the season – Mint and pale coral. I also decided to incorporate more of my metallic gold craft paint (as seen here and here). As you can see below, the gold is pretty subtle, but that allows the mint and coral to really shine.

I tried eyeballing my lines at first with a steady hand, but eventually caved and broke out the masking tape to ensure nice and straight edges.

While I adore the colors and the idea of stripes on the candlesticks, I did run into one painful issue…You may have already noticed, but my stripes look pretty wonky and fat towards the actual “stick” portion of my thrifted candle holders. When you see the stripes head-on, the part that runs into the elevated stick ends up giving the optical illusion of a curve when the lines are actually straight.

Here they are all finished on the table top – You can easily see that annoying optical illusion of bulbous stripes towards the center.

Although those lines look anything but straight, when seen from above, they really are pretty spot on.

Not sure just how much that optical illusion is going to bug me…I may lightly sand down the edges of the paint so that the ridges won’t show and just paint up the stick about halfway with new color to cover it up. I’d love your thoughts and opinions on whether I should keep it as is or experiment and tweak just a little bit more until just right.

Help!

Until we feel brave enough to do some permanent rearranging with the outlet placements, our current television/cable outlet situation in the living room was giving me a massive headache.

I had managed to hide the mess of cables behind the record shelf, but those outlet plates were still screaming for attention.

My temporary solution for the issue was to stack books in front of them – About 100 pounds of books, to be exact. I took a leisurely stroll through the house one afternoon, rounding up all of the biggest and heaviest art books that I owned. I had a bunch and they stacked up nicely (literally and figuratively), but there was still something about it that didn’t look quite right.

I still don’t know how West Elm makes their stacks of art books look so unintentional and home-y…

Not only was the look a bit off, but you could still catch a glimpse of the outlets behind the spines, making the purpose of the arrangement painfully obvious. So I redistributed the stack back into the bookshelves throughout the house and started back at square one. My dream was to find some kind of vintage laundry basket, something tall but relatively thin, to put in front of the outlets. Something like that would serve double duty, covering the nasty imperfection and also acting as throw blanket storage.

As a back up, I also kept my eye out for things like large vessels or a vintage speaker with a woven front ala the ’60s or ’70s – I figured both could work in the event that my laundry basket idea (a) took too long to come to fruition, or (2) failed completely.

Fast forward about a month and a half and a miracle occurred. A family friend (who also happens to have been our fabulous wedding planner) hosted a yard sale at her house – As an event planner, and this being only a few weeks before our wedding, I decided we’d go check out what she was offering in case any of it could be useful at our event. Not only did we find tons of fun stuff for the reception, but we also stumbled upon the perfect solution for my “ugly outlet situation.”

Is that hamper not exactly what I had described in my vision??? In fact, I think it’s even better than perfect – I couldn’t have hoped for a vintage style laundry basket with more style and character. Check out that neat cross weave in the wicker and the buckled belt closure! And just as I’d longed for, it has a great big opening for blankets galore!!

I try to limit my use of exclamation points on this blog, but this find definitely deserves a few…It’s one of those times when patience and waiting for just the right piece really does pay off.

Cbeck out the new yard-saled hamper below taking care of our ugly outlet situation in style. You may also notice a furniture shift…I decided to switch things up in the living room, turning the sofa at an angle and pulling our new yellow chair out into the open edge of the space. I think it opens the room to more flow and certainly better conversation. Seems far more welcoming to me.

Here’s the photo of it again before rearranging, so that you don’t need to scroll back up to the top for reference/comparison.

…And now again with the new arrangement:

So what do you think? Do you guys have any other creative solutions for hiding ugly cords and outlets? I could still use all the help I can get…

Have a great weekend!

Source: A Subtle Revelry 

The magical solution? Instead of wasting hours and hours on cutting, hemming, sewing and stringing a dozen little triangles of fabric to a line, I was inspired to simplify into paper triangles. Eliminating the need to sew was the biggest time-saver and it gave me the motivation I needed to knock this last little project off of my mental to-do list. (I do apologize for the quality of the photos in this post…I started the project late in the afternoon of a rainy day, so there was little natural light to speak of)

Supplies:

• Scrapbooking paper
• Twine
• Hot glue gun and glue stick refills
• Wooden clothespins
• A pen
• Ruler
• Scissors

First of all, I needed a template – A thick paper triangle to use as my guide for all of the little triangle “flags” I would cut out. I didn’t have any thick cardstock on hand, but I did have the back of my scrapbook paper book, which just so happened to be made of thick cardboard.

To make my flag template, I used the ruler as a straightedge and just eye-balled it. The top of the flag was shorter than the two sides. It’s not exactly perfect, but I didn’t really need it to be – You all know by now that organic is A-OK by my standards.

Then it was just a matter of cutting out my flags. I used this scrapbooking paper scrap that I had on hand as a guinea pig of sorts, just to see if the project would actually work. I  flipped the scrapbook paper over, used the pen to draw around the template and then cut it out. To my glee, it worked like a charm.

Now to cut out a dozen or so more…I wanted the bunting line to be as colorful as possible, so I didn’t bother trying to find pages that necessarily matched. I wanted vibrancy, pattern and texture – I think I managed to achieve that with my selection. Goodness gracious, I LOVE scrapbooking paper!

Fast forward twenty-five minutes or so, and we were all done with the flag portion of the project.

Next, I needed to attach them to some kind of a string. To continue the organic, garden-y feel of the piece, I used plain natural twine. To attach the paper flags, I flipped the flags over, ran a thin line of hot glue at the top and gently settled the twine into the gooey adhesive.

Using the ruler to measure out approximately an inch, I grabbed my next paper flag and ran another line of hot glue at the top and attached that to the twine – And so on and so forth…

Flipping the string over and seeing all of the pretty colors and patterns work with one another down the line, I started to get really giddy…

But I wasn’t done yet. To finish off the bunting, I took a cue from my Pinspiration image and clipped a wooden clothespin to the center of each paper flag – It obviously serves more of a decorative purpose since the hot glue is what actually holds the flag to the line, but again, it’s that little styling that gives it the casual look I was going for.

Sorry to make you guys wait for the actual “After” photo of the line decorating the reception venue, but I’ll be sure to update you once we get the wedding photos back from our (AMAZING) photographer. Stay tuned!