April's Color Palette

My girlfriend asked me to help her with her living room/dining room/kitchen. She had a color palette in mind but needed a bit of help with colors. I looove picking paint colors! She has warm honey toned wood furniture, and a tan couch. The tan in these two color palettes represents those tones. The background is a creamy white which is what she will use for her kitchen cabinets and the trim in the living room/dining room. I used a basic black as another accent - she doesn't have any black in the room right now but I think she should add a large black piece like a coffee table or gallery wall with black frames.  There should be something black in a room to anchor the eye (you may have heard me say that before - and it's true!).

Here is palette #1.  In this palette I chose a true gray, and aqua accents (pillows, etc). 

In this palette I chose a bluer gray.  It will go nicely with the sofa, but the aqua accents don't go as well with that shade of gray so I changed it out to a coral/peachy red. 



Once she chooses the color palette, I'll get down to the decorating details.  Stay tuned!

Addison's Nursery

My girlfriend just found out recently that she is pregnant with a GIRL! I'm so excited for her! I offered to help her with her nursery - this was her inspiration:

And this is what I came up with for her:

I'm still not quite finished - I could go on for days with the accents! But she wants to get her walls painted this week so here's a quick list of what I have come up with so far:

Wall Paint: Valspar's Aqua Glow
Rug: Urban Outfitters
Bedding: Target
Yellow Sheet: Babies R Us
Floor Lamp: Ikea
Accent Pillows: Tonic Living
Mobile: Etsy
Art: Etsy
Photographs: Etsy

I'm not sure if she's up for it, but I'd love to see a feature wall with this wallpaper:

I'll have more soon!



...Fancy

A New Project

My home office is up next. My husband and I have always neglected this room (as you can see in the "before" pictures) and it's time to get this disaster under control.

Before:

There are so many things wrong here, I don't even know where to start. Not only is it unorganized and cluttered, it's also decorated horribly. We bought the desk from Ikea when we were first married and it was very functional, but I want something a big more stylish. The paint is the same beige as the rest of our house (before we painted), and I can't stand it. There are absolutely no decorative accents in the room, and I was undecided on a color scheme for this room so I was putting it off. I have it now, and here are some inspiration photos:

Navy and Coral!! You like?

I'll be getting started this week by cleaning up the office, and buying the paint. Progress pics to come this weekend!

...Fancy

Big changes are coming!

I've had some crazy stuff going on the past month or so - Christmas is obviously a busy time, but in addition to that we've had some career changes in our family.  I haven't had much time to take pictures, or post much of anything!  But, my husband has been very busy around the house so I have lots to show you!

First, he painted the hallways medium grey (Cement by Ralph Lauren), and the doors have been painted high gloss black.  Here are a few before pictures:

And the after:

We still have to put the glass knobs on (they look like these, but are silver instead of brass):

And we will be getting new light fixtures but not sure which ones yet.

Next, he painted the bonus room a dark charcoal grey (the original color was the same as the hallways - sorry I don't have any before pics).  I'm pretty sure the color is Palais Royal by Ralph Lauren but am not positive.  It's very dark.  And I ADORE it!  I love how the red leather sofa pops!   I can't show you the rest of the room, though, because it's also my gym and our son's playroom and it's a complete disaster.

I am thinking of some art above the sofa like this:

Or, if my husband gets crafty, we could make something like this on 2 lengthwise canvases, and have them mounted one above the other...does that make sense?

Also, we have this poster (it's from the movie A Clockwork Orange, my husbands all time favourite) and we are going to put it on the wall beside the TV:

We are shopping for a new coffee table, blinds, and lighting.  We still have a long ways to go, but I love the look of it already.  It's like it was always meant to be this color!  Then again, I've always hated the camel color it was.

Of course, when you start making changes like this, you start to see other things you hate in your house.  I can't stand the carpets.  I'm not sure why I ever chose brown.  What was I thinking??  Those will be replaced eventually with hardwood, but that's not for a while.  It's a huge expense that we aren't prepared for right now.  I will also be painting the railings from that awful hideous yellow to white.  There are also other smaller things that I can change.  So stay tuned for more very exciting stuff, coming very soon!!


...Fancy

Jayden's Big Girl Room

My girlfriend Ginger is having a baby - Yay! - and so her little girl Jayden is moving to a big girl bed.  She also wants to redecorate her room and do something less babyish and more grown up.  She asked me to help, and when she said she wanted to copy what I did in Asher's room I was MORE than happy to put this board together for her.  She said she wants to go dark so I chose this color for paint on the lower half of the wall.

*For Asher's room, I used Ralph Lauren's "Approaching Storm" which is a very dark eggplant but I can't find a good sample of it so to give you an idea of the color, this sample will have to do...

Plum Royale by Benjamin Moore:

For the top half of the wall, I did 12" stripes all the way around the room.  For Jayden's room I chose these two colors:

Snow White by Benjamin Moore:

And Silvery Moon by Benjamin Moore (which looks a bit more blue than it actually is)

Then, she has some furniture that she is willing to paint.  She has a skinny 6 drawer dresser and a nightstand so I think since she wants to go dark, a charcoal grey would look nice, with clear glass knobs:

I don't have a picture of the dresser, but this is what I envision it to look like:

These are the knobs I chose are from Anthropologie, and are $6 each. 

Aaaaand here's the rest!!  Shopping list is below:

Quilt is from Target, $66
Sheets are in a pale lavender, from Target (currently sold out on line, but price is approximately $35 for the set)
Pillow is from Etsy, $18
Curtains are from Urban Outfitters, $39 per panel (but if you're crafty, you could make these yourself for much cheaper)
Tie Backs are from Urban Outfitters, $20 each (not a necessary item, but a nice detail)
Crazy Rug is from Urban Outfitters, $29 (also in grey, which would look great too)
Lamp base is from Ikea, $20.  The shade can be any cheap plain white shade - but I'd like her to paint it the same grey of the dresser
Ottoman is from Urban Outfitters, $89 and a bit of a splurge, but SO FUN!!
Mobile is from Etsy, $88, also a huge splurge but I'm thinking this is something you could totally make yourself...

Now for the Art:

I discovered this link on Pinterest for FREE PRINTABLES!  They are super cute retro alphabet cards and you could print (make sure you use cardstock) all of them in 4x6 and display them on a ribbon, or you could just do 3 of them in 8x10 and put them in simple frames from Ikea.

Free Alphabet Printables

The Carnival photos are from Honeytree on Etsy.  I love the dreamy look of these pictures, and I think they add a bright fun kid-like look to an otherwise grown up room. 


In addition to all this, I'm making her a rag quilt.  I have an Etsy store where I sell them (if you're interested) so I will name this one "The Jayden".  Here is a sample of the fabric I will use for it:

 

 

This is Forest Life in grey and orchid by Michael Miller.  I'm so excited to get working on her quilt, and can't wait to see the finished room!

...Fancy

The finished "toilette"

Several weeks ago I posted about redoing our lower half bathroom and laundry room. I finished the laundry room in record time, but procrastinated on the bathroom because I had other more pressing matters to attend to (we are leaving for Europe in 4 days so I've been busy planning the trip, and busy setting up my new Etsy shop - stay tuned for more info on that!).

Here is a "before" refresher:

 Well, I started feeling the pressure of completing the bathroom when I decided to have our son's 2nd Birthday Party at our house.  I had to get my ass moving if I wanted it done in time!  It took me 2 days to paint.  That's a new record in my house!  Here is the finished paint job:

 

I L.O.V.E. it.  The only thing I don't like now is the artwork and the hand towels.  I was going to get plain white ones from Pottery Barn but I really think the bathroom needs a pop of color.  So, I begged a friend to get me these ones:

Missoni hand towels from Target.  But, they are sold out.  Shocking, I know!  So back to the drawing board.  I really want something fresh and sassy.  Maybe these in Aqua?

I've always loved these Anthropologie towels, but I'm not sure the pattern and color goes with the "Hollywood Glam" look that I'm going for.

The painting in our old bathroom (the poppies) was one we purchased while on vacation in Florence, Italy in 2007.  I love it, but not for this room.  I'm not sure where I'll put it now, but my tastes have definitely changed in the past 4 years.  I'm thinking something like this for above the toilet (this painting is from Cocoa and Hearts. It's sold out, but they are all so gorgeous, any of them would do!!):

 

And if Jen Ramos from Cocoa and Hearts never puts any new pieces on sale again, I'll settle for this one from lulu and drew ;)

 And lastly, I would like a black and white photograph with wide white matting, and a silver frame opposite the toilet.  Something like this:

I'm not sure how my husband would feel about a photo of Kate Middleton in our bathroom though.  He might think I've lost my mind but I think she's so gorgeous, she'd be suitable to put anywhere.  

Lastly, I need a garbage can and nothing but this one will do.  I'm on a mission to find it:

Now on to the next project - the office!!

...Fancy

Thanks to Pinterest...

I have added 5 more projects to my "To Do" list, have a ton of ideas for the rest of the house redo, spent $200 on a new aqua leather bag, and have rekindled my love for goth/steampunk and boudoir photography.  It's dangerous, that Pinterest.

Here are a few of my favourite things that I've pinned:

I'd better get to work...

...Fancy