April 22, 2019

Blush and Blue and a Look for Less

Hi friends!  I have been a little behind on my blogging as of late, but I am craving to get back into it.  The kids have been out of school and I have had less time on my hands.  I am sure you can relate!  Some of you may know, that I am a huge fan of designer Caitlin Wilson and her beautiful line of textiles and home decor.  Her Kismit rug below is one of my favorite items in my home.

Caitlin’s new line has a classic color combination: blush and blue.  I adore it.  Look at how polished and chic the spaces below look.

I was so inspired by the blush garden stools featured below I hoped online to look into them.  I thought they would make a fun addition to my breakfast nook that has blue wallpaper and some blush and blue artwork.  However, at about $300 each, my heart sank.

Aren’t they too cute?

Then, I happened on these blush garden stools in a slightly different style at Hobby Lobby of all places.  They were on sale for $59.00 each.  Definitely more within my budget.

 

I still haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but I think they are such a great look for less.

What about you?  Have you found any knock of decor or steal lately?

Until next time . . .

xo,

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Filed Under: Cheap Sources, Decor Steals, Decorating, Home Decor, Interior Design, Uncategorized //
February 3, 2019

8 Drop Dead Gorgeous Valentine’s Day Tablescapes

Hi Friends!  Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. So far this February has been filled with a broken wrist, sick kids, and sick me.  My broken wrist is my right hand and I am right handed so I can literally do nothing. It’s driving me to drink and I can’t even open up a bottle of wine!! Given our current state, I highly doubt a beautiful Valentine’s Day dinner will be taking place around our home. So, I will just have to live vicariously through these beautiful tablescapes created by people much more inspired and mobile than I.  Enjoy!

 

Pizzazzerie

Arin Solange

Style Me Pretty

Randi Garrett Design

Fashionable Hostess

So Much Better With Age

Source Unknown

Pizzazzerie

I think it is funny that all of the posts I found with these tablescapes were about hosting a Galentine’s party.  Such a funny trend.  What about you?  Do you have any fun Valentine’s Day plans?

Until next time . . .

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Filed Under: Decorating, Home Decor, Seasonal Decorating, Uncategorized //
December 7, 2018

2018 Holiday Home Tour

Hello friends both old and new.  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life has done it again and has a team of 30 bloggers ready to show you their homes decked out for the holidays. If you are heading over from Anita at Far Above Rubies – Welcome!  Isn’t Anita’s vintage bohemian style amazing?

If you are new here, I’m Jennifer – a Human Resources consultant by day and a design enthusiast and blogger in the wee hours of the night!  Our family recently purchased our dream home that we rented for 3 years, so are so excited to fix it up and make it our own one room at a time. Bye bye beige walls and hello color!

Let’s start the tour.  Come on in.  Here is a little sneak peak of the living room.

My favorite vignette this year is our tree.  In the past I have done a “Merry and Bright” jewel-toned theme, but last year, I bought all new ornaments at post-Christmas sales and went with a Parisian Blue theme.

Here she is with the lights on at night.  Such a cool effect!

I was lucky to snag some magnolia that I spray painted gold for the top of the tree.

 

I bit the bullet and ordered two luxurious trims from Frontgate and Balsam Hill.  I love the fringed look of the gold trim from Frontgate.

The ornaments are from Frontgate and these photos do not do them justice.  The are of such high quality and are so beautiful.

 

My other favorite space this year is our breakfast room.  That is because for the first time ever we have a second tree in there.  I hosted an event for our daughter’s school and live Christmas trees were donated and I was able to bring one home.  I went with a simple silver theme.  We are a little cramped in the space, but who cares, it is beautiful.

My daughter’s room has a simple pink, gray and white theme.

Adding a little garland around our bed made the bedroom feel a bit more dressed up for the holidays.

Last but not least, I decided to play up our zebra centerpiece and go with a zebra tablescape.

I found these fun zebra appetizer plates at H & M of all places!

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Up next is Jennifer at Dimples and Tangles.  I adore her colorful and fun style.  You are in for such a treat!

The entire line up is below.  You must check them all out!

Monday, Dec. 3  

 

   A Stroll Thru Life,  Cuckoo4Design,  Nesting With Grace, Southern Hospitality, Life On Virginia Street,   Pink Peppermint Design 

Tuesday, Dec. 4

 

 Setting For Four, ZDesign At Home, Inspiration For Moms, House By Hoff  

Starfish Cottage  

 

Wednesday, Dec. 5

 

 Hymns & Verses,  Our Southern Home,  Seeking Lavender Lane, Thrifty &Chic,

 Remodelando La Casa,  Simple Stylings 

Thursday, Dec. 6

 

Clean & Scentsible, Haneens Haven, LifeLoveLarson,11Magnolia Lane, Monica Wants It,

 Rain On A Tin Roof  

 

Friday, Dec. 7

 

  Decor To Adore, Far Above Rubies, Decorating Delirium, Dimples & Tangles,

  Our FifthHouse,  Follow The Yellow Brick Home, Duke Manor Farm 

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Filed Under: Decorating, Home Decor, Seasonal Decorating, Uncategorized //
November 19, 2018

Favorite Interior Design Books

Hi Friends!  Sorry I have been absent lately.  The hecticness of life has just taken over.  I am hoping to post a bit more frequently in the coming months.  I have a holiday home tour I am working on behind the scenes, so stay tuned for a holiday home tour!  I the meantime, I thought I would post a roundup of my favorite interior design books.  These make wonderful coffee table books or gifts for the design lover in your life.

First up is new book published this  year by blogger turned interior designer Paloma Contreras.  She is seriously my design girl crush.  She demonstrates that it is possible to quit your day job and pursue your passion.  Paloma used to be a high school Spanish teacher!  Her new book Dream, Design , Live is chalk full of inspiration and practical advice.

Who does not love black and white as a classic combination?

The king of blue and white Mark D. Sikes.

This book is just so lovely and also gives very interesting detail on Aerin and her relationship with Estee

Interior designer and blogger Erin Gates first book is a must have.

This beautiful and elegant book is on my coffee table right now!

This book is photographed in vignettes all over Pinterest.

The first book by the editors of Domino magazine is part eye candy and part practical advice.  It is a must read.

These are a few of my favorites.  Any you have on your list?  Luckily, new design books come out all the time.  Hello Amazon wish list.

Have a great week and safe travels if you are traveling for Thanksgiving.

xo,

 

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Filed Under: Decorating, Designers, Gifts, Home Decor, Interior Design, Uncategorized //
September 24, 2018

Gwyneth Paltrow’s New Collection for CB2

Hi friends.  Happy Monday.  I was just looking at the CB2 catalog over the weekend and apparently now Gwyneth, the actress, singer, lifestyle guru can add decorator to her repertoire.  Her popular lifestyle brand Goop now has a collection for CB2.

It had me at peacock.  I love peacocks!

The lines are a bit modern for me and some of the designs a bit impractical for living with kids, but it is all unique and feminine.  Here are a few of my favorites.

The line of accessories is very beautiful and curated.


What do you think?  Perfectly chic or too modern?  Or do you love it just because Gwyneth can do no wrong??

Until next time . . .

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Filed Under: Decorating, Designers, Home Decor, Interior Design, New Collections, Shopping, Uncategorized //
September 14, 2018

2018 Fall Home Tour

Hello friends both old and new.  Marty at A Stroll Thru Life has done it again and has a team of 30 bloggers ready to show you their homes decked out for Fall. If you are heading over from Alicia at Thrifty & Chic– Welcome!  Doesn’t Alicia have the most amazing DIY ideas?

If you are new here, I’m Jennifer – a Human Resources consultant by day and a design enthusiast and blogger in the wee hours of the night!  Our family recently purchased our dream home that we rented for 3 years, so are so excited to fix it up and make it our own one room at a time. Bye bye beige walls and hello color!  You will see what I mean when you tour my daughter’s new room!

I don’t normally do too much fall decorating.  Maybe it is because my birthday is in October and growing up I disliked orange and brown, and those were always the featured colors for my special month.  There are also some elements of my tour that are not per se fall, but I am so excited I wanted to show them to you anyway!  First off, we remodeled our kitchen and I am in love.  Second, I made over my daughter’s room.  I hope you enjoy and find inspiration in them even if they are not screaming fall.

So, let’s start the tour.  Starting first with our porch.  I was tickled pink when Trader Joe’s had pumpkins last week.  It is still soo hot here in Northern California, I was not sure if I could track down any real pumpkins.  This is about as fall as I get with our outdoor decor.  My girls are dying to have a graveyard and corpses for Halloween but it is sooo not me.

In the dining room, I went with rustic elements.  Eucalyptus just screams fall to me and I had these fun antlers to play into the rustic/glam vibe.

To the living room I just added some soft florals and added some new pillows.  I was so happy to find these pastel pumpkin pillows at HomeGoods. Orange and brown just do not go with the softer tones in my home.

To me nothing says fall like soup!  Our breakfast nook is where all of our cozy meals take place.  I adore these little lionhead soup bowls I found at Target.  I think they are a Williams-Sonoma knock-off.  I also used our vintage soup tureen to hold our fall-hued flowers.

Now here come the not so fall, but new spaces.  First  up is our kitchen.  We recently did a refresh by redoing the counter tops, backs plash, sink and appliances.

I will have a full post on it soon, but we went with Quartz counter tops that look alot like marble and beveled subway tile.  I am also giddy to report that I now have a deep farmhouse sink.  I was always sooo jealous of all of those Instagram photos of beautiful sinks with flowers haphazardly arranged (aka totally styled) in them.  Bam!  Take that social media.  I am now a flower in the sink kinda gal 🙂

 

Another one of my favorite features is doing one section of the back splash in this herringbone pattern.  Our floors are hardwood in a herringbone pattern, so I didn’t want to go crazy up top, but I didn’t want it to look boring either.  I think this small vignette is a compromise.

A few white pumpkins bring in a touch of fall.

Fall flowers were a bit sparse in our stores, so I went with the bounty of the season to display on our counter tops.

I also made over my daughter’s room and bit the bullet by wallpapering it in a wallpaper I have loved for years.  It is bold and bright and totally me!

So that’s it.  I hope you found some inspiration for fall and for seasons to come. Up next is Kristy at Starfish Cottage.  Her chic coastal style is not to be missed.  You can also find the full line up below.

Monday, Sept. 10th   

 A Stroll Thru Life  | Nesting With Grace  | Pink Peppermint Design  

Southern Hospitality | Decor To Adore | Cuckoo4Design 

Tuesday, Sept. 11

  ZDesign At Home  | Duke ManorFarm  | Setting For Four      

Simple Stylings  | Seeking Lavender Lane | Life On Virginia Street 

                                                                                          Wed. Sept 12

Our FifthHouse | Our Southern Home | Clean & Scentsible 

House By Hoff |  Follow The Yellow Brick Home 

 Remodelando La Casa 

Thurs. Sept 13

Inspiration For Moms | Life Love Larson |  Monica Wants It

Haneens Haven | My Sweet Savannah |  11 Magnolia Lane  

Friday, Sept. 14

Thrifty & Chic | Decorating Delirium  

 Starfish Cottage | Thistlewood Farm 

                                      Hymns & Verses | Far Above Rubies 

Until next time  . . .

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Filed Under: Decorating, Home Decor, Home Tours, Interior Design, Our Home, Seasonal Decorating, Uncategorized //
September 9, 2018

Sneak Peek of Charlotte’s Bedroom Makeover

Hi friends!!  I have an exciting preview to show you of Charlotte’s bedroom makeover.  I posted here about what I had dreamed up.  Only thing holding me up was the wallpaper which was quite expensive, once you included installation.  I can DIY a lot of things, but everything I had read said NOT to DIY wallpaper!

Well guys, I bit the bullet and did it.  Here are some quick preview photos.  I still have a ton of details to put into place like new curtains and curtain hardware, a new area rug and I need to hang the art.  In fact, as I look at these photos, the curtains and curtain rods drive me CRAZY!!  I have brass and acrylic rods on the way that I bought on sale Labor Day weekend at Ballard Designs.

Since the pattern on the wallpaper was pretty busy, I tried to keep the other elements in the room simple.  I got her new crisp, white sheets from California Design Den.  They are a classic percale sheet made with organic cotton.  I have washed them several times and they truly get softer with each wash.

My motto is everything is always better monogrammed, so this euro Matouk pillow case was monogrammed in the same pink hue as the wallpaper.

Here is some of the art I have chosen that still needs to be hung.

I wrote here about making over this vintage cane chair.  I am pretty sure I will never attempt to re-cane anything again!  The end result was beautiful, though.

I found this vintage pagoda lamp on Ebay which pairs perfectly with the wallpaper.

Here is one of the art pieces, which will probably be propped up on the wall for the next year.

So there it is.  It is big and bold and no one will ever want to buy our home should we sell it.  But I don’t care.  I love it and that is what creating a home that is uniquely “you” is all about.  I secretly have to admit that I now want to switch rooms with my 9 year old.  Have you decorated recently with wallpaper?  If so, did you go bold or for a more neutral pattern?

Until next time . . .

 

 

 

California Design Den provided the sheets for my review.  All opinions, as always are my own.

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Filed Under: Decorating, Home Decor, Home Tours, Interior Design, Our Home, The Money Pit, Uncategorized //
August 1, 2018

Storage Solutions: Skirted Tables

Hi friends!  We are on vacation this week, but I am trying to get in some extra posts on the blog since I have a little extra time to do what I love!

As some of you may know, for my day job, I work as a Human Resources Consultant.  My job is wonderful and flexible, and I get to work from home.  The one problem, however, is that I do not have a home office.  So, all of my files, my printer, etc. are in my bedroom.  NOT the ideal setting for where the majority of relaxation is supposed to take place.

I have done a ton of searching for the perfect small desk that would fit in our bedroom.  The only problem is that the desks that would fit, did not have much storage.  So, I have been exploring the idea of just using a round table with a custom tablecloth similar to those below.

I primarily work at our breakfast nook table, so it would primarily be used  for storage, not for a  work space.  I am thinking I could store my printer and files underneath it??

Or, I could also do a skirted console table like these.  Although I might be pretty hard pressed to fit a printer under a table this size.

Do any of you work from home?  How do you keep that work/home balance?  What are your best storage solutions?

Until next time . . .

 

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July 30, 2018

Nursery Crushes

In the world of design, there is nothing more fun or sweet that designing a nursery.  I know that personally for me, it was the most fun and special room I ever got to work on.  Alas, there will be no more babies in our family nor nurseries to design.  That apparently does not stop images of designer nurseries from popping up in my Pinterest feed.  So needless to say that nurseries are on the brain over here.

Here are some of my favorites.  I tend to find that those using wallpaper are the most chic and striking.

Wallpapering a ceiling has such an impact.  This would be darling for a baby boy.

This nursery from the San Francisco Decorators Showcase almost broke the internet.  The lattice, the matching wallpaper and curtains, and the brass and lucite crib are just pure perfection.

The symmetry of this feminine nursery is so elegant and calming.

This room demonstrates pattern play at its best.  The fabric and curtains are not a pairing I would immediately be drawn to, but I definitely works.

I have a major crush on all things Chinoserie and this dreaming nursery is no exception.  I am doing a similar wallpaper with a bit more color in my daughter’s bedroom.

There are no words to describe this nursery.  The curtains, the wallpaper, the crib, the art, oh my!

What was your  favorite part of designing or decorating a nursery?  Was it hard to convert it to a big girl or big boy room?  I am hoping to add an e-design feature to the blog soon.  If so, I would love to see some nursery inquiries.

Until  next time.

xo,

 

 

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July 2, 2018

Designer Spotlight: Mary McDonald

Hi friends.  I hope you are all having a wonderful summer.  Things have been a little crazy over here trying to keep the kids busy and working.  I am sure the struggle is real for a lot of you out there.

Well, as I was online “stress” shopping the other day, I came across the most beautiful lamp at Bellacor.   It was one of their “Open Box” sales.  I posted here about my new obsession with finding Open Box deals.  In summary, Open Box deals are where someone purchases a products, opens the box and then returns it.  Then the retailer resells it again at a significantly reduced cost.  It is a great way to get the look for less and I have been very successful finding needles in the haystack on sites such as Bellacor.

The lamp I purchased was from a line Mary McDonald did for Robert Abbey.  Isn’t it just gorgeous??  I got an amazing deal on it.

Here is the lamp styled in an office.

 

I was so in love with the lamp, I wanted to know more about its designer, Mary McDonald.  Here are some amazing rooms from her portfolio.  Her style is so chic and glamorous.

There is a peek at the lamp in a different color in the next two phots.

Have you found any new inspiring designer portfolios lately?  Please share with us in the comments.   I swear my idea of a perfect Sunday would be breakfast in bed followed by perusing designer portfolios.  Alas, my Saturday and Sunday mornings are usually filled with carting kids to sporting events!

Until next time . . .

xo,

 

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Filed Under: Designers, Home Decor, Interior Design, The Money Pit, Uncategorized //
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