All in the details…

May 30, 2012 6 Comments

Source

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. 

Filed Under: Inspiring, All in the details, Office Tagged With: , , , , ,

Chevron jewelry box

April 25, 2012 12 Comments

Hope your week is going well! I am feeling surprisingly chipper and excited about the weekend’s big event – With only three days until our wedding, there’s really nothing more that I can do. Projects are wrapped up, my planner is coming over this evening to check out all of the many DIY projects we’ve put together and now I can finally breathe knowing that I’ve done the absolute best I can.

I told John that the one time I will probably break down and cry during the big day is when I see our reception space filled with all of the things I’ve created with the help of my family and friends. I’m sure seeing everything finally pulled together, knowing that it was all thanks to dedicated creativity and effort on our part will be very emotional. (Not to say that our wedding ceremony won’t be FAR more emotional, but I have a feeling we will be so focused on saying the lines correctly that we won’t have time to cry. But I’m sure that could all change in the moment. We’ll see!)

Today, I am back to share a non-wedding-related project (I know, crazy – right?). After using Martha Stewart’s metallic craft paint on my frames, I decided that I couldn’t stop there. With a recent affinity for fashion and accessories, I decided to amp up my table-top jewelry display starting with this little wooden box that I use for my rings and stud earrings.

The piece came from a craft store and was originally raw, unfinished wood. After bringing it home I quickly took care of the plain wood situation by painting it a creamy pale green (although, based on today’s trends of color dipping, I probably would have painted it only partially green and left part of the raw wood showing, sort of like this  - Maybe next time). It turned out nicely but a couple of years later and I was ready for a little upgrade.

So, using Martha’s gold paint once again, I added a fun chevron pattern to my little green jewelry box.

To get the pattern right, I unrolled a long piece of masking tape and stuck it to the edge of my ruler. Then, using scissors, I cut a slit in the tape every inch – That way, I could remove the tape from the ruler and could carefully and accurately cut out multiple little pieces of tape in 1-inch lengths.

Then I simply smoothed the tape against the box, making a zigzag pattern by alternating the direction of the strips. I just kind of eye-balled it and used the width of the tape as a “ruler” of sorts for where to start the next one. I wasn’t going to worry about perfection with this project. It was at this point (twenty minutes into the project with only the amount of taping seen below complete) that I realized I would need to switch up my method or else I’d be there all night. So instead of using 1-inch lengths of tape, I removed what I had started and began again with 2-inch lengths. It still gave me the chevron pattern I wanted, but with a quicker completion time.

Just had to share my line of tape strips…Although tedious at times, you get a sort of system down and pretty soon I was barely paying attention, instead focusing on the Friends marathon on TV.

An hour and a half or so later, my little jewelry box was looking ziggy zaggy and ready for some gold paint.

Using a small foam paint brush, I lightly painted the box with one coat of the craft paint. I let it dry for about twenty minutes before putting on a second coat. If you want a solid finish with none of the undercoat showing through, you may want to put on a third coat. My particular box has always looked a little shabby chic, so the idea of a little undercoat showing through seemed fitting – I liked the idea of a washed look, so two coats did the trick for me.

Here is my newly styled jewelry box, sparkling it up in our master bathroom. I love how you can see the subtle sheen in the metallic finish towards the bottom of the box pictured below. It is just enough of a pattern to give it some much-needed personality, but not enough to make it scream in our soft green, peaceful space.

For a grand total of about $1, I’d say this was a DIY well done. What do you think?

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Our Influences, Simple Fixes, How-To, Bathroom Tagged With: , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Wooden hangers

April 23, 2012 16 Comments

I have really been into fashion lately…Not sure when my focus shifted from home style to clothing and accessories, but I can’t deny my love of a great outfit any longer. Now, I wake up every morning motivated to craft a colorful, cohesive ensemble down to the bracelet. It’s fun to mix and match patterns, colors and metals to make a balanced and sophisticated look – In fact, it’s really not much different than styling a shelf or arranging fabrics in a living space. The same principles still count here, just in clothes.

Obviously, a new love and longing for style means a little shopping was in order. I’ve bought a good amount of new clothes in the last month, but to keep myself on track I kept a list of must-have essentials with me and have kept to it like it was the law. So now I am rewarded with a closet of thought out pieces – Here’s my latest (and, as promised to my bank account, my LAST) big haul, this time from Target and T.J. Maxx.

One of the most affordable ways I’ve been able to feed my new need for fashion and style in my closet (beyond sticking to a list when shopping) is to work on making the most of what I already have. In the past month I have spent long periods of time in my closet getting rid of things I no longer fit into or that no longer fit into my style. Shout out to our local consignment shop though (Salvaged), I don’t donate clothes anymore – I bag them up and take them straight to consignment. So far, I’ve made over $100 – Pretty fabulous when I think about how I was just going to take everything to Goodwill for zero profit…

Another thing I decided to do was find ways to amp up the display in my closet, right on down to the hangers…After seeing these two Pinterest images of clothing hung on natural wood hangers and how it gave it a high-end boutique look, I knew I had to upgrade.

Source: The Everygirl

 

Source: barefoot contessa

My closet as it was, came dominated by plastic hangers. Now, I do think that plastic is a big upgrade from plain wire hangers, which tend to bend…But I could envision just how much better and more cohesive the space would look with matching wooden hangers.

Have you guys seen on Pinterest or heard this tip from a friend? Essentially, to make the most of your clothing, you turn all of the hangers backwards and then, as you wear something, you turn the hanger right-ways. That way at the end of the season, you’ll know what clothes you didn’t utilize by seeing their hangers still turned backwards – Time to get rid of them. I attempted this at one point (as you can see in the photo above and below), but eventually gave up. I have a pretty good handle on what piece make me feel good and what don’t. It was just about finding the motivation to actually get rid of things that I’d been holding onto for years.

My motivation? Upgrading the hangers. I eventually found my collection on Ebay for about $50 shipped for 80 wooden hangers (with pant bar in the middle). I knew that 80 wouldn’t be enough for the amount of clothes I had, but figured it would be that motivator for purging that I was looking for – Only the best and most important pieces would get hung back up in the closet, while the rest would get consigned.

First things to get lovingly hung on their new boutique hangers? The three pieces I bought for myself at T.J. Maxx. I could already get the sense that the new wooden hangers made them feel straight out of a fancy designer clothing store – In my own home, no less! Exciting news for a girl like me…

I spent about two hours in my closet that afternoon, making sure to choose wisely as to what stayed and what would be bagged up for consignment. With each new hanger put into place on the bar, the whole feel of the wardrobe started to shift from cheap to luxurious. It really is amazing how wooden hangers can do that to your clothes. As I purged and rehung, I started a new pile of plastic hangers – They eventually made their way into the box that the wooden hangers came in. SO MANY HANGERS!! I plan on donating them to a thrift store soon.

And now to show off the new look – Again, I just love how things look more high-end after the hanger upgrade. No more light “click click” of plastic hangers when I go to pick out an outfit. I’m loving the more substantial wooden ones.

Unfortunately, despite letting go of what felt like a TON of clothes and half of my wardrobe, I still ran out of wooden hangers. I just couldn’t muster the will to get rid of the last bit of dresses to make it even. I resolved to get some more hangers later on to remedy the mismatched situation.

UPDATE:  I went out to Target over the weekend for wooden hanger supplements hoping to buy no more than 10, but left with a value pack of 24 hangers for only $14. They don’t match the Ebay hangers perfectly, but they certainly do the trick, and I doubt anyone would notice the inconsistency other than me.

So what tricks do you all have up your sleeves (pun intended) for making the most of your closet space and wardrobe? How do you “dress things up”?

Filed Under: Simple Fixes, Product Search, Product Review, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Bedroom Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Golden corners

April 16, 2012 8 Comments

Welcome to a new week! I am feeling super motivated and energetic right now – Probably because of a productive weekend full of knocking off wedding projects and taking care of a few things around the house that have been neglected. It feels good to come home and know that my closet is organized, I have a few new pretty things to look at on the walls, the laundry has been done and the new window treatment hardware I bought ages ago has finally been installed.

::happy sigh:: Literally.

A big “Thank you!” to my amazing fiance for his patience and help in getting all of that accomplished with me! He’s such a good sport…We even managed to sneak in a Red Box movie last night – Anyone seen “Ides of March” yet? Pretty good flick.

Today, I am sharing one of the long-awaited craft projects that I completed over the weekend – It all started with this inspiration image, snagged from Pinterest:

Source: A Thoughtful Place

As subtle as it seems, I was instantly drawn to the idea of metallic gold corners on black frames. I am all about brass and warm-toned  metals at the moment, so I just knew I had to give it a shot. If you follow the link above, you’ll see that Courtney actually used metallic spray-painted masking tape to achieve the look of gold corners without the permanence of painting directly on the surface. A genius idea for those who aren’t sure they want to commit, but I was sure about the look and decided to go for it, all in.

This is the set of frames I chose to update:

They look nice on their own, but just “nice.” In my head, I imagined that new lux gold corners would really bring some added sophistication to the frames and the art itself.

Supplies:

  • Gold paint (I got Martha Stewart brand multi-surface craft paint)
  • Masking tape
  • Small foam paint brush
  • Sand paper

First, I taped off my corners. The glass (or in this case, plastic) inside my frames is glued to the inside, so I couldn’t simply remove it and just tape the frame. I had to tape both the edges of where my gold corners would end up and the plastic surface as well. To make my corners  even, I used a ruler and measured/placed them two inches in length from the outside edge.

After all of the taping was finished, I took some medium grit sandpaper and roughed up the taped-off corners. This step helped with giving the paint something to “grab” onto. I highly recommend this step – I thought maybe I could get away with not sanding and went ahead and painted three out of four corners on one of my frames, but ended up having to give them an extra coat of paint in the end. So sand, sand, sand for best results!

Time for the paint – I brushed on a thin coat of the metallic paint between the masking tape and then allowed for 30 to 45 minutes of dry time between. I had the TV on in the background for my multiple coats to keep me occupied. I didn’t end up counting, but I think it took about four or five layers of paint for the corners to look good and gold – It probably depends on the material of your frame (wood vs. metal vs. plastic). When you can’t see the color of your frame through the paint, you are good to go.

Here’s a quick photo progression of the first couple of coats:

From this close up below, you might be able to see some scratches from sanding the surface of the frame through the paint. Don’t worry if you can see this – After you get a few coats of paint on and it dries, the texture will even out to a smooth finish.

And now for the final reveal of the gold-on-black frame collection:

I think the new golden corners add so much interest, more than I could have even anticipated. The frames originally cost me about $10 apiece and the gold paint, only $1.99. For a total of about $11 each, this project really transformed the look of the collection – Of course, it’s just my opinion, but I think they look much more expensive now. So excited about the end result!

To try to convince you further, here’s a little side-by-side action of the frame before, and then after with newly-painted corners. I think the gold really pulls out the warm tones of the print too (speaking of, these photos came from Honeytree Etsy shop).

In fact, I love the collection so much more now, that I plan on beefing up the area. If you can’t tell, they are hung in our master bedroom – We recently received the shelf pointed out below as a generous wedding gift. I think I’d like to center the leaning shelf on the wall and then stack the prints, two each, on either side of the shelf. Of course, I’ll layer in all sorts of brass animals and bowls, etc. to carry that new gold tone throughout. Can’t wait to get that project styled and ready to share – Stay tuned.

Source: Crate and Barrel

Hope you all have a great beginning to your week…

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Simple Fixes, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Gifts, How-To, Bedroom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

In bloom

April 11, 2012 11 Comments

Now that the weather is holding steady at a comfortable temperature (well, except for this cold front which had me hurrying through a 50-something degree morning), it’s time for some outdoor projects around the house. I have been itching to whip our back deck into shape, but just haven’t budgeted enough for it. I’m also a little lacking when it comes to outdoor decor vision…But I’m not giving up yet.

Today, I wanted to rehash a very simple outdoor in-celebration-of-spring update that we recently made to the patch of grass and vegetation in front of our townhome. Meet our cheerful planter, Mr. Frog (boy am I creative at naming our inanimate objects, as also seen here).

His big gaping mouth is actually quite pretty when spilling over with blooms. Sort of reminds me of the cartoon fish in the “Kiss the Girl” segment of “The Little Mermaid” – You know, the ones that open their mouths to reveal a school of tiny singing and dancing fish inside? Well we don’t have any schools of theatrical fish for you, but we do have some lovely flowers to show off.

John and I picked up these two pots of pansies at the grocery store for under $10, planning to fill Mr. Frog’s wide-open jaws with them.

Time for the rest of the supplies:

  • Potting soil
  • Gardening gloves
  • Trowel

For some, properly filling a planter isn’t rocket science – But I actually had quite a time with it. So much so that my mother, who was coming over to help with wedding crafts at the time, had to take the project on for me as I stood over her shoulder trying to get the steps down mentally for the future. From what I could gather, this is what you need to do:

  1. Fill your planter with potting soil, and a lot of it – The more soil the better.
  2. Use your hands to shift some of the soil to the back and/or sides of the planter to make room for your flowers.
  3. Remove flowers from their temporary containers (if they came in plastic pots, just squeeze the sides a few times all the way around, tip over and they should come out intact).
  4. Nestle the flowers+roots into the space dug out of your potting soil and gently push down into the space. It’s okay to be kind of rough with the roots to make them fit since they’ll grow back to adjust to their new space.
  5. Fill in with more potting soil around the flowers and water according to the tag’s instructions.

After admiring Mr. Frog and his new blooms, we trekked out front to situate him amongst his live-in green neighbors. As you can see, our bushes are a little worse for wear – They seem awfully threadbare to me. We are just coming out of winter, but do you guys have any suggestions for weak-looking bushes? Are they worth keeping? We have landscapers come out and take care of our lawn and plants every few weeks, so I’m quietly hoping that they will do something about it…

On a happy note, isn’t Mr. Frog looking oh-so-happy with his new flowers greeting passers-by and visitors?

Any tips for sprucing up an outdoor space would be vastly appreciated. I think everyone has a certain aspect of their home that they just don’t know where to begin – This is mine. It’s possibly the only project list that I would happily outsource to a willing professional or friend. Help!

P.S. In an effort to purge some things from the house, I’ve decided to sell a few pieces of furniture. I wanted to throw out the offer to our locals (or willing near-locals who don’t mind traveling) first before Craig’s listing things or taking them to a consignement shop. Here is the short list in case anyone’s interested:

Two mid-century office chairs: $50 for the pair

Retro queen bed frame (mattress/box spring not included): $150

Grass cloth/wooden arm chair (pillow not included): $45

(If anyone is interested in the upholstered vanity bench, let me know – I might be persuaded to part with that too)

Solid wood nightstand with drawer and lower shelf, recently revamped: $50

If you are interested, email me at DreamGreenDIY@gmail.com (or if a friend of ours, just shoot me a text or Facebook message).

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Simple Fixes, How-To, Curb Appeal Tagged With: , , , , ,

Top three spring cleaning tips

March 21, 2012 8 Comments

With the new season happily underway, let’s chat about spring cleaning. I’ll readily admit that I winter, fall, quarter-fall, summer and mid-summer clean in addition to the requisite purge session in March/April. My OCD tenancies often get the very best of me and I clean and organize as I go.

But for you sane normal people who are able to stave off the harried need to clean 365 days a year, here are my top 3 tips for getting your home in ship shape after winter’s hibernation:

  • Piles: When starting any organization project, I pull everything out of a storage space and sort – One pile for trash, one for donate and one for somewhere else in the house. Anything that goes back as it was can be carefully situated in the now-empty space, free of distraction. And be liberal with your “donate pile” – Purging is tough but it is SO satisfying when your home isn’t weighed down by stuff.
  • Baskets: We have baskets on our entry-way table for holding things like car keys and gloves. We’ve got baskets by the television to hold playing cards and CDs, and baskets in the kitchen to corral coffee supplies. I’ve even screwed a basket to the wall in our bathroom as a towel holder! Not a fan of wicker? Check out Bed Bath & Beyond’s selection of decorative boxes instead.
 
  • Wipe down: Come spring, it’s probably safe to say that things could use a good swipe with a rag. I use a clean microfiber rag (Crate & Barrel has some great options) to wipe down mirrors, baseboards and shelves. There’s nothing like a spotless, dust-free baseboard, even if it is just for a couple of weeks out of the year…
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Now it’s your turn! What are your top 3 tips for spring-time cleaning?
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Filed Under: DIY Projects, Product Search, Product Review, How-To, Bathroom, Studio, Kitchen, Living Room, Bedroom Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Counter top styling

March 19, 2012 4 Comments

Time for another installment of “Pinspiration Monday” – This time we are talking about the kitchen counter and a couple of quick ways to dress up those every-day things that we need to have on hand that aren’t exactly the most stylish of kitchen accessories.

The first is a “pretty” way to corral the usual won’t-ft-in-the-cabinet-because-they’re-too-tall suspects – For us that includes a coffee French press, an assortment of bottled vinegar and oil, a jar of napkins and my owl measuring cups (although that last one isn’t an eye-sore at all – You know me and my hoot obsession…). To remedy the situation, I took a cue from this pin:

Source: Better Homes and Gardens

The idea is to put all of the random pieces inside a simple wicker basket. Having a special spot for these seemingly-unrelated pieces would allegedly bring a sense of order to the counter top. SPOILER ALERT: It worked.

Here’s a quick peek at those kitchen essentials in question (oh, and please ignore the open upper cabinet doors – I did some paint touchups and they were drying):

They aren’t the most unsightly pieces in the world (again, isn’t that little owl just adorable?? – Thanks to my bff, Beth, for that sweet addition to your kitchen!), but I’m the kind of homemaker that likes “a place for everything and everything in its place.” For whatever reason, putting it all inside a basket would alleviate my stress just a touch and that’s good enough reason for me. Anyone else out there just as crazy and agree??

First, I needed a basket.

When I went out-of-town two weekends ago to visit friends and my sister for my bachelorette party, I ended up getting my first chance to check out a Hobby Lobby. I had a blast curling around each and every aisle looking for fun things to decorate and/or organize the house. One thing I came home with was this pretty rectangular basket – At only $5.99, I couldn’t say “no.” I thought the angled weave was a tad unique and modern – At least as far as baskets go…

Taking yet another cue from my Pinterest image, I tucked a patterned linen napkin inside the basket, a gift from John’s mom at my bridal shower last month.

Here is the newly arranged basket, full of our favorite kitchen accessories! I really do feel like they look a bit better grouped together in an orderly way – I know…My OCD is clearly out of control in this moment…

The next Pinterest counter-related project I worked on was pretty easy and not mind-blowingly creative, but I love it nonetheless. I wanted to join the bandwagon of folks who keep their dry pasta in pretty glass jars on the counter. It looks good, keeps noodles fresh and empties out a little extra room in the pantry – All good enough reasons for me to give it a shot.

Source: beach bungalow 8

 Source: Better Homes and Gardens

These three glass jars below, complete with brushed nickel metal screw tops, also came from my maiden adventure to Hobby Lobby. I walked out with one tall jar for only $4.99 and two medium, shorter jars for $4.79 apiece. Definitely didn’t break the bank on this project.

Here’s a quick look at our pantry, one I’m embarrassed to show you since it’s not very organized. Hopefully someday soon I can tackle it, armed with Tupperware and my label maker. But that’s another day…As you can see, we have a pretty good collection of pastas going (to the right of the photo).

Once I got all of it onto the counter, I was able to take stock – We’ve got an assortment of long pastas (is there a technical term for this?) such as spaghetti, fettuccine and angel hair, and then we’ve got the bite-size options like rotini and penne. We are trying to weed out our plain pastas to make way for whole wheat options (read up on our new dietary goals in this post from last week), and you’ll even see some gluten-free options from that phase of our eating habits.

The penne and rotini got their own jars (to be revealed in full in a moment), and the tall jar was saved for the long pastas. Now to decide who to put in there…So many varieties to choose from!

In the end, I decided to dump all of the boxes except for the gluten-free option into the jar. With the exception of the rice, gluten-free pasta, the rest were too similar to segregate. Our pasta dishes might look a little wonky until we run out of our multi-shaped supply, but I’m happy to get rid of all of those boxes. The jar had more than enough room to fit the four boxes-worth.

Here they are all filled up:

And they are now happily gracing the corner of our counter top. I love the balanced symmetry and there’s something really organic and natural about seeing plain dry pasta outside of those brightly colored and labeled boxes. I feel like Giada would approve.

All together now!!

All in a good day’s work…

What have you guys been organizing lately?

Filed Under: Our Influences, Simple Fixes, Product Search, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Yummmm, Kitchen Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

My brand spankin’ new chair

February 24, 2012 10 Comments

You probably know better than anyone that I am all about the thriftiest purchases. It’s rare that I hit up a big box store for the things we need in our home. Instead, I comb local thrift and estate stores until I find just the right piece to compliment our style. For instance, I am currently on the hunt for a brass and glass bar cart and an authentic midcentury chair, both for the living room. It might take more time, but the sense of satisfaction I get when I stumble upon it amongst piles of dusty second-hand furniture is priceless.

That being said, I have completely gone against my own grain. Instead of waiting for the perfect find, I was so drawn to a brand new piece, that I went for it. Nearly $400 later, our sunny teal living room was united with the perfect arm-chair.

I first caught sight of my latest furniture infatuation via Pinterest (of course). After seeing a pin featuring this gorgeous cream and yellow upholstered chair, I was hooked. I immediately followed along to the original link and was even further obsessed. The chair was featured in the home tour of Jess Constable, Jess LC. Do yourself a favor and click both of those links – Her space is lovely, full of affordable accessories and do-it-yourself projects, and her blog is a new daily read for me. I was incredibly inspired, so much so that I went ahead and bought my own version of her yellow statement chair, originating from none other than Target.com (P.S. It’s now close to $50 cheaper then when I bought it, so step on it if you’re interested…). I knew the warm yellow would be a perfect complement to our stencil wall, plus the midcentury vibe of the wooden legs and button detail in the cushions would perfectly match our home’s style.

Click went my mouse after a few moments of hesitant anxiety over the cost – In the end I’m so glad that I did. Several weeks later, we found a rather large package at our front door – On Valentine’s Day, no less! I actually wasn’t around for the assembly of this piece – My sweet and thoughtful fiance put it together for me as a V-Day gift. Since I wasn’t around, I couldn’t document the assembly, but John took some progress photos of the process to keep you guys in-the-know.

Here she is all done!

And here are the photos I took once I got home and had a chance to style the room.

I’m positive at this point that the lot of you have noticed the issue…Where’s Waldo? Or, in this case, where’s the bright yellow patterned chair against the bright yellow patterned wall?? As much as I wanted the new chair to sit against the feature wall and be the first thing you see when you walk in the front door, there was no way it could stay there with all the camouflaged blending going on.

I had two options:

  1. Repaint my beloved stencil wall with a neutral color and keep the chair front and center where I wanted her.
  2. Leave my beloved stencil wall as is and put the chair in a less conspicuous corner of the room.
In the end, I just couldn’t touch my stencil wall – I love it way too much to get rid of it. So instead, I switched the location of my mod office chairs with the new upholstered chair. Unfortunately, I wasn’t digging the look of both office chairs against the stencil wall, so one got the boot (any interested locals want a VERY comfortable leather office chair?? Hit me up). Here’s what we were left with in the end – Although not ideal, I am so in love with the extra pattern, color and softness the chair brings the living room.
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(See the displaced office chair in the left-hand edge of the photo below?)

The room is really starting to feel finished…Just a few more tweeks to go before we can focus on finishing the rest of the house.

  • New accessory pillows to match the mod vibe that has emerged since we bought them (I am crushing on these from Etsy)
  • Something to cover those awful exposed wires by the record shelf (seen 7 photos up)
  • Addition of the thrift store items I mentioned at the beginning of this post
  • I’d really like a larger rug – Contemplating a neutral, inexpensive rug with a wider square footage layered underneath our shag rug to create a visual illusion

So what do you think?

P.S. It’s my mommy’s birthday today!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! Can’t wait to celebrate tonight :)

Filed Under: DIY Projects, The Big Reveal, Our Influences, Product Search, Inspiring, Living Room Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Easiest tabletop styling ever

February 22, 2012 2 Comments

Want to see the absolute, easiest-in-the-world styling tip ever? More than likely, you already have the supplies in-house, making this project (if you can even call it that since it’s so easy) cost-free. If you have a lamp and a collection of big hardback books, then you are ready to turn what might be a slightly “blah” surface into an interesting and colorful vignette.

Here is my lamp before – It sat alongside one of my thrift store clocks on top of a wooden shelf that holds our collection of records. The bright base of the lamp gives the surface a little bit of punch and character, but it definitely needed something more…

To remedy the issue, I took three oversized hardback books that I already owned and stacked them beneath the lamp and clock. I did my best to track down the most colorful books I had and lucked out with a collection of three that featured bold fonts and coordinating colors.

You might notice that the books are home-related resources, all of which I would highly recommend if you don’t already have them on your bookshelf.

First, we have The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking, a book that I have read from cover to cover. It’s full of helpful tips on how to keep your home beautiful, organized and environmentally friendly, all while looking hip and stylish along the way. I learned how to make my own drain de-clogger to avoid pouring harsh chemicals down the sink and bathtub, I learned the basics of canning and I even snagged a few DIY how-to’s along the way.

Next, there’s Sania Pell’s The Homemade Home. This is one of those books that I like to flip through and gaze longingly at the photography. There are tons of fun DIY projects to try out and beautiful spaces styled with nothing but flea market finds and heirloom pieces. If you buy this book for nothing but the photography, you won’t be let down. Speaking of, I highly recommend subscribing to Sania’s blog for the same reason.

And lastly, we all know of Grace Bonney’s Design Sponge at Home - I got my copy for Christmas and love digging deep into the tutorials, soaking up ideas from the featured spaces and just all around getting inspired. A must-have for any home maven on a mission. The bright colors and patterns of the cover and spine don’t hurt either.

So there you have it! The easiest styling tip I could ever impart to you. But what may be easy does not in the least lack in punch, personality and pizzazz (alliteration intended).

Have a great day!

Filed Under: Simple Fixes, Living Room Tagged With: , , , ,

Pinspiration Monday: Felt floral wreath

February 20, 2012 6 Comments

I’ve been wanting to do this project forever…A sweet little wreath with felt flowers and materials that will stand the test of time, season after season. What’s not to love?

Source: Armelle the Blog

I’ve also been faced with a tiny problem – Our front door looks into the onslaught of the afternoon sun, so all of the seasonal wreaths I’ve crafted in the past with hot glue melt to pieces (literally) in the heat. The goal was to create a new wreath without using any kind of hot glue. Luckily, I was able to avoid it with the help of a staple gun for this project.

Supplies:

  • hay wreath form (with plastic wrap still on)
  • fabric to wrap it with
  • several different colors of felt
  • staple gun and staples
  • scissors
  • pen

So the first thing I did was lay out my wreath – The reason I left the plastic on was to keep all of that hay in place. I didn’t want any of it sneaking through the fabric wrapping in the end. Instead of a hay wreath, you could try a green foam one, but I liked the natural quality (and sweet, farm-like scent) of the hay.

Next I pulled some leftover fabric (from this project) and cut it into a long strip. Then I cut the long strip in half, making two thin ones about three inches thick.

Then I just started wrapping! Every now and then I would put a staple through the fabric into the wreath form, but I wrapped it tightly enough, that a multitude of staples weren’t entirely necessary. Oh and don’t worry about the staples showing – I just stapled a layer and then covered it with the next wrap of my fabric.

The last wrap got a slew of visible staples, but I made sure they were on the back side of the wreath so that nobody would see. After trimming the excess fabric, I was done.

Sure, there are a bunch of little “furries” left from the ragged edge of the fabric, but I don’t mind them – I feel like it gives it an organic feel. I could always snip them off if I decide against that look in the future though…

Next, I made my little bouquet of felt flowers. I picked up three colors I think went nicely together – A hot pink, gray-ish blue and mustard yellow.

Starting with the yellow, I used a pen to draw a tiny flower shape and then cut it out. After that, I placed the small cut out on a clean section of the yellow felt and traced a slightly larger flower. I repeated the steps until I had three progressively larger flower shapes so that, when stacked, it looked like a full bloom.

Tada!

Using the templates I made, I traced as many as I could fit on the felt and then got to cutting. After repeating the same steps for all three colors of felt, I was left with three flowers of each color.

Almost finished!

After laying them on my wrapped wreath in a little cluster on the side, I used my staple gun to make sure everything stayed in place – One staple into the center of each flower. I used the staple gun because, again, I was hoping to avoid a hot glue gun. But if you don’t need to worry about that, then by all means break it out! I actually don’t mind the look of the staples, but I might eventually pick up a pack of decorative floral arrangement pins (like the ones with pretty pearls on the end) to push into the center of my felt flowers.

Here’s the finished wreath with stapled flowers – I love how the edges of the petals sort of peek up with the staple pressed into the middle.

Here it is hanging proudly on our front door to greet visitors:

And if you’re wondering about cost, this project was cheap, cheap cheap! Only a little over $10.

I suppose it’s a little funny to make a floral wreath in the winter season (especially since we actually got five inches of snow last night – FINALLY), but flowers make me smile, no matter what the season. That’s good enough reason for me to break the norm.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Filed Under: DIY Projects, Inspiring, Weekly Pinspiration, Seasonal/Holiday, How-To, Curb Appeal Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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