Tuesday, June 2, 2009

I've Got the Blues...

Nothing much to say besides here is more of the blue that I love. Some inspiration for you other blue lovers out there...



This was pulled from my favorites file, and unfortunately is one of those before I learned how to tag photos so I remembered where I found them. If you know I'd love to post it!


This is another one from House Beautiful. I love the mirror and wall color. You can never go wrong with blue and white.



This is another that I'm not sure of the origin of, but I love the bright fresh blue, tons of white, and of course a dose of a bright green.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Before and Afters..... Family Room

There are a number of projects that went into finishing our family room. But one of the larger projects was the transformation of the chair you see below. Coming from a small rental home to this, we didn't have a lot of furniture. One of our offices was auctioning off some furniture so we got a good price on it and the shape matched well, but the color as you can see left something to be desired...


We looked into slipcovers, but the husband hated the loose look of them. I tried to find one with the right shape that would fit more snugly but the only one I found cost more than it would have been to buy a new chair. So with one new sewing machine and two pillows under my belt I thought how hard could it be? A week's worth of sewing and more than a few imperfections later we now have a nice navy chair:



For the price, I'm pretty happy with the result. And it no longer sticks out like a sore thumb. :)

Thursday, May 21, 2009

My Walls Are Glowing

As I mentioned in the last post we've had a little paint mishap with our office.  Needless to say we need a little help. I'm trying to branch out from my love of blue, but I'm sincerely considering repainting and somehow incorporating a navy accent wall. Maybe some pops of red accents in the room with it. For now I guess I'll just have to deal with the glowing green.



Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Scatterbrained

I must admit I'm a bit disappointed that I haven't been better about keeping up with posting. For now I'm going to blame it on my excitement about my upcoming trip (one more day to go!). But in a sad attempt to make up for it I'm throwing out a bunch of my inspiration files for your reading pleasure.

The first photo is the style I most aspire to.  I would love for my whole house to look like this. Maybe this is why I always gravitate towards blue whenever I decorate a room.  I've been trying my best to put splashes of it into my family room.


House Beautiful (I think)

This next photo is the inspiration for our master bathroom. Since we just built we won't be doing the amazing tile work below. But maybe painting grey stripes with one of those translucent metallic paints might come a bit closer.


Don't remember where this one if from. If you know let me know so I can post it.

I seem to be on a roll with inspiration photos for specific rooms of the house. So I'm going to go with it and give you another one, this time for the kitchen eating area.

Courtesy of Bandelle Blog

Just swap out the walls for a lighter grey color since I'm not about to repaint. And swap the natural table for a dark color wood and something square, but the same turned legs. I'll have to put a casual twist on it since it isn't the formal dining area. One of these days I'll put together a slightly tweaked moodboard

I'm keeping my eyes out for more inspiration. We've got a few more rooms to go. And an office in desperate need of help. Just envision your room glowing neon green at night. Blech.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Another Dose of Etsy

Just a few more pretties from my Etsy favorites:



Cute dress from Lirola's store


Another short one:


Love this 3/4 sleeve cowlneck, and it's eco friendly.


Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Long Overdue


When I started this I meant to post at least 2-3 times a week, but I guess I've been a little distracted lately.  We recently purchased this:

Sole F80

In a pitiful last minute push to get some of last summer's clothes to fit more comfortably before my trip to California, it seems I have neglected to blog.  So far I've been running 5 out of 7 days every week, which is good for me. We'll see if I can maintain it.

Though I must admit I'd been dying to post updated photos of the house which at the time was not nearly clean enough to be photo worthy. This weekend I was finally able to knock out some cleaning, and here are a few of the current progress of our family room:


I am still looking for a few more pieces of art and I'm not satisfied with the state of the accessories, so should someone stumble upon this I would love some feedback or suggestions.


Please forgive the feet on the brown chair, we have plans to swap these out for something in a darker wood. It may be a while though.  The side table is meant for the guest room but until I find something for the family room it must stay.


The wires drive me crazy, but I've overloaded the husband on projects lately so for now they stay.  Any lamp suggestions however would be greatly appreicated, this thing is hideous but functional.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

My First or Second Addiction

I can't say for sure if my sweet tooth beats out my design obsession for my number one addiction, but if you'd ask my husband he'd probably say it does. I'm only getting this second post in because he's late getting home from work. They poor boy gets so jealous of my computer and all the time it sucks away from me. But if you look at these photos you'll see why:



How could you not love this sofa from Elle Decor. (I have a thing for blue if you haven't noticed.)



And what about this mirror which I'm in love with. And those letters too! (Southern Living)



I wish I had the guts to paint my chairs like this! (Martha Stewart)

More Etsy Love

While reading some of my favorite blogs I was reminded of some of the amazing clothing you can find on Etsy.  And this girl in particular has had me wishing I was getting married all over again so I could pick bridesmaid dresses. Or at least that I were a bridesmaid in a wedding where I could pick my own. I just need an excuse to spend a little bit on a dress.



Amanda Archer




more Amanda Archer


Lets be honest I could really use an excuse for two or three dresses because there is more than just one shop that I am in love with. Check out these beauties:


English Lace Mini-Dress from Claire La Faye




more Claire La Faye





Apparently I'm into ruffles these days.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

It's people like these...

Who are the reason I cannot finish a room in my house. Every time I get a design in my head or a room started I see one of their amazing rooms and completely want to change my direction. The latest stunner is Suzie's master bedroom. If you haven't seen it check it out on Decorpad. Here's a peak at a few of my favorites:



Suzie's Master




Joi's Master




Freckles Chic's Master

Aren't they all amazing?! It's incredible they aren't all professional designers.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Weekend Finds

Had a pretty good weekend shopping. Found both of the shirts below for a combined total of $18, and the white shoes were $4 after a gift certificate. I've been trying to come up with a few outfit ideas, this is all I have so far...

Fun with TTV

I've always loved all the photographs I see on etsy.com that look like they were taken with an old camera. And being the nerdy engineer I am I knew there must be a way to fake it with photoshop.  My first attempt is still a little sharp and clean for an "old" photograph but I'm loving the black around the edges.



This one's from an old trip to California. I'm looking forward to going back, maybe I can come up with some more interesting subjects. In the meantime the hubs takes much better photos than I do. Here's one of his that I played around with...



Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Etsy Obsession

My latest Etsy obsession is Jacqleen Bleu's photography. I love how dreamy all her photos feel.

Title: Upon Entering Wonderland

If only I could convince my husband that pink wasn't just a girly color.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tuesday Inspiration

Some of my favorite inspiration photos for our house. Love the colors in all of these rooms. Hopefully I can pull off something half as polished as this:

Love all the blue in this room from House Beautiful

This combination of green and blue is my favorite.  Makes me wish I had a white kitchen. From Simply Seleta

A serene bedroom from Martha Stewart.

Another great blue bedroom from HGTV's Green Home.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Here Goes Nothing!

Ever since we started building our house I’ve wanted to start a blog to document our progress. We’ve now been living here for about 7 months and I’m just now getting around to it. I must say it probably would never have happened had my husband not pushed me to do it.

I can’t blame him, there’s only so much decorating talk one man can take.  So this is my attempt at an outlet. Since the construction is all over I guess we’ll get things started with a mini house tour. Let’s call this the “before”.

Our House

The Backyard

The Foyer

The Hallway

The Family Room

Family Room / Kitchen

The Kitchen

The Kitchen