kitchen nook

My trusty assistant, Hazel, and I were over at Aunt Sarah & Uncle Greg's house yesterday, and we started chatting about their kitchen. They recently repainted their kitchen cabinets, updated the hardware, and added a great buffet that they painted a fun, bright color. I'm pushing them to add a small table and two chairs in there as well. I think it would create such a warm & welcoming breakfast area!

Bryn recently posted about these rattan beauties, on *major* sale at World Market...



I think the pair would look incredible with Ikea's knock-off of the Saarinen dining table...



I love the pairing of the modern table with more traditional chairs... Not to mention that this combo would give you a very high-end look on the cheap!







P.S. - I'm hoping to be back around these parts a little more often now! I received the sweetest email from a new reader, and it was just the encouragement I needed! Thank you for sticking around, friends!

baby girl nursery inspiration

My streak continues! This past weekend we headed to our friends' baby gender reveal party... And, once again, my guess was wrong... They will be welcoming a baby girl in July! I'm absolutely thrilled for them, and can't wait to add another little girl to our growing play group.

I actually pulled together these baby girl nursery ideas last week, but the days got away from me and I never posted it. So as part two of baby boy nursery inspiration, I'm back with two nursery ideas for baby girl W.

There are just so many options for little girls, and I was torn between this gray, lavender & white room with pops of coral pink:

1. White curtain panels with coral pink pom pom trim

2. Owl baby mobile for over the crib

3. Babyletto Mercer crib

4. Set of alphabet & number prints (with adorable owls for O's!)

5. Lilac & coral pink ikat fabric for crib skirt

6. Owl lamp

7. Stamped Scallop rug in gray

8. White & gold dipped leg side table or dresser

{DIY project inspiration here}

Background: Benjamin Moore misty lilac paint for walls

 

And this fun, bright pink & orange room with tons of DIY project ideas:

 

 

 1. White floating shelves
{DIY project inspiration here}

2. Pink ombre felt-wrapped letters for over the dresser

{DIY project inspiration here}

3. Jenny Lind crib

4. Pink & orange ikat fabric for crib skirt & roman shade

{even more budget-friendly chevron print here}

5. Off-white rocker/ glider, found on Craigslist

6. Pink chevron rug

{DIY project inspiration here & here}

7. Orange monogram throw pillow

{DIY monogram inspiration here}

8. Orange lamp

Background: Benjamin Moore Love & Happiness paint (in stripes) for walls

 

Which one gets your vote?

baby boy nursery inspiration

Dear friends of ours are expecting their first baby in July.  They find out this weekend whether their baby W will be a he or a she!  In the meantime, I couldn't resist pulling together a few nursery inspiration boards.

I have a feeling that they'll be welcoming a little bambino, so I'm starting off with a baby boy nursery board.  (Although in full disclosure, I've been wrong on my baby gender guesses about 90% of the time, including my own!)

Outside of the crib & rug, this entire board is thrifted or DIY... Proof that a chic nursery doesn't have to break the budget!

Here is baby boy W's vintage car inspired nursery...

1. Set of framed vintage car prints for over the crib

{found on Etsy for $75, but I scored a set of 6 prints without frames at a yard sale for $0.50!}

2. Baby Mod ParkLane crib

3. Navy buffalo check fabric for crib skirt & roman shade

{DIY projects from here & here} 

4. Peg board for over dresser to hold diapers, spraypainted a fun color

5. Area rug, found at Home Goods

6. Vintage car club throw pillow 

7. Benjamin Moore Sea Salt CSP-95 for the wall color

 8. Leather rocker/ glider, found on Craigslist



sofa fabric inspiration

My original plan for the 'new' sofa was an ivory or off-white fabric... Especially after reading Kirsten's design with kids in mind series, where so many said washable and bleach-able white is the way to go {and fur children and human children make roughly the same amount of mess, right?}

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Jeff wasn't so impressed by the concept, reasoning that our sweet puppy daughter's love of furniture and my OCD cleaning would have me washing the cushion covers every week.

Plan B was an outdoor fabric (also a suggestion from the kids in mind design series) in a light gray or bluish-gray...

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Then, of course, there is a very big small piece of me that wants to throw practicality out of the window, in favor of a beautiful home... With a colorful velvet upholstery...

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In my defense, Lauren at Pure Style Home has two little ones with velvet upholstery and says it has held up great!  {As a side note, she also mentions purchasing her LEE sofa on Craigslist for $300... That loud squeal you hear is my excitement over our deal!} 

So what do you think?  Washable white?  Outdoor fabric in gray?  Or a fun velvet?

dining rooms

My mother-in-law recently took down her dining room wallpaper, and it got me thinking about dining rooms I love.  I absolutely can't wait until we start looking for our next home (a long time in the future), and I know a formal dining room will be on my must-have list.

For now, here are a few of my favorites...

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Which do you prefer for a dining room... dark saturated walls or light and neutral?

gallery wall

Lately, I've been considering switching up the art in our living room.  I love the look of a gallery wall around the television... And we have a lot of smaller framed pieces that I think would work together if I kept the frames to gold and black.

Here is a little of my current inspiration...

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What do you think?  Would it add an eclectic feel?  Or would it just look cluttered?

wall swing arm lamps

It only took a few days, and I'm already over it... The purple couch that is.  As all of you suggested, this bad boy is a slipcover or sell situation.  And I'm currently doing both.  It's listed on Craigslist, but for the meantime, it's slipcovered.  Although Jenny's post on slipcovering has me wondering if I would be able to DIY something more custom?

In the meantime, I'm considering adding a few wall-mounted swing arm lamps to the room... Behind the sofa to be exact.

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I also love the space-saving solution this provides, since our sunroom doesn't have tons of room for side tables with lamps.  I have my eye on this one, and especially love the pleated shade!

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Now if I could just get all of my furniture painting projects out of the sunroom, we'd be almost ready to share some 'after' pictures...

the purple couch returns

One of our to-do list items for this weekend was to move the purple sofa out of the back bedroom.  This sofa has been shuffled around our house, listed on Craigslist and been the topic of much design discussion.

Bottom line:  I'm going back to my previous thought to include it in our sunroom.  Jeff & I set a goal to have the back bedroom cleaned out by this winter, as part of our overall goal to declutter the house.  And this room has plenty to declutter... The purple couch, campaign dresser, bookshelf, tv stand, dual recliner... basically everything but a bed.

Whether the sofa stays in the sunroom or gets listed on Craigslist for the third fourth time is to be decided. While we decide, I'm absolutely loving this inspiration for a purple & coral color palette...

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If I go this route, I'm thinking a bright coral for the back of our bookshelf....

{Emily Clark}

{Little Green Notebook}

And some pretty pillows in a coral ikat pattern, like one of these...

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For now (learning from my past mistakes), I'm just going to live awhile with the purple sofa. Do you want it for your house? What do you think?  Purple sofa for the sunroom or Craigslist?

*Update: Vote in our poll on what you think we should do with our purple sofa!

dresser as a tv console?

Once I get an idea in my head, there is usually no turning back (much to Jeff's disappointment).  Lately I've been obsessed with using a pretty dresser as a tv console.

Because let's face it, there is not much attractive about a tv stand.

But using a beautiful dresser?  Much better...

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I also love that the dresser would add valuable storage for toys and other odd & ends once we have some wee whittakers in the picture.  But for now, I think I'm already sold... And making plans to paint our $25 campaign dresser this weekend for it's upgrade to the living room!

What do you think? Would you use a dresser for your tv console? Or do you like the dedicated space for equipment in a tv stand?

a pinterest problem

I keep finding these incredible images on Pinterest that make me want to do things like order all new pillows for my living room...

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... And so I did.

master bedroom, round 3

If you follow me on Pinterest, you may have noticed a theme recently.  I've been pinning away bedroom inspiration.  You can see how our bedroom got to it's current state here & here.

But, as is usual around here, I like to make changes every year or so (sorry Jeff!)  I feel like with every tweak the house takes another big step towards our style.  And since I've cycled through the living room, new sunroom, and guest bath already...

Well, you get the picture.  So here are some of my absolute favorite inspiration images:

{via Lonny}

{via Lonny}

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Notice a pattern?  I love neutral bedding, monogrammed pillows, and a burst of color or pattern in the headboard or even throw pillows.

Can't wait to get started with a fresh coat of paint in the bedroom.  For those of you keeping score, that will make 4 out of 7 rooms in our house to be repainted in two years.  Now to find a weekend when the hubs won't notice... 

Considering...

A few months ago, I picked up this campaign dresser for $25 at our local Goodwill.  Not bad for a full-size dresser and considering that a refinished campaign dresser was recently listed on our local Craigslist for $300!

It's in need of some love, so I planned to give it a coat of paint and call it a day.  Similar to these...

{images via Lonny}

{source unknown}

But I've done painted furniture before (best instructions I've found for painting coming soon!)  And for some reason, I'm feeling a little over the painted campaign dresser.  So I'm considering going a different way...

{via Bryn}

{via Mr. Goodwill Hunting}

Surprisingly, I'm leaning towards staining the dresser a dark shade.  I wonder how difficult it would be to sand down and restain the dresser myself... Has anyone tried this before?  Any tips to share?