My Design High aka Paint Color Plan

OhMyGoodness.  What a fabulous paint color consult appointment I had with Sunny Goode.  Is there such thing as a design high?  If so, I am completely buzzed.

I really soul-searched before our meeting and I asked her to help me with paint colors on the neutral yet warm side of the spectrum.  As I poured over images of my favorite rooms and spaces, I realized that I am drawn to rooms with bold color and “punch” used in the art, fabrics, and accessories, with the paint used in a supporting role.    Plus, that approach complements my ADD short attention span and tendency to constantly move and shift furniture, pieces of art, mirrors, pillows and accessories.

Sunny was wonderfully sweet, creative, funny, professional and full of amazing ideas.  I am still digesting all of our conversations and her inspiring suggestions, but here is some of our plan so far:

Entry hall, staircase and upstairs hallway: Farrow & Ball Blackened

For the family room: Farrow & Ball Borrowed Light

with Farrow & Ball Mouse’s Back behind the built-ins

For the dining room: Farrow & Ball Elephant’s Breath (pretty paint, weird name!)

For the master bedroom: Benjamin Moore Fanfare

For Clare’s room: Benjamin Moore Hint of Pink (1/2 strength)

For Julia’s room: Benjamin Moore Silver Satin with white stenciled polka dots

So, what do you think?  We are going to get started upstairs, probably with Clare’s room first.  I am so excited to try a stencil in Julia’s room.  Seriously, I am on a giddy design high!

{All images can be sourced here}

Design Crush: Suellen Gregory

I love running across amazing Richmond-based interior designers.  I stumbled upon Suellen Gregory on Pinterest and was giddy to find that she is based a few miles down the road.  I really like her traditional, timeless aesthetic mixed with a few impactful and unexpected modern details.

Isn’t she wonderfully talented?  All of the pictures are from her website — go check out her entire portfolio for some serious inspiration!

P.S. Are you on Pinterest?  Come find me there!

{mini} Buy This, Not That!

Anyone remember these posts?  I have been coveting this duvet from Serena & Lily for some time and just saw a great knock-off for more than $120 less….

LOVE THIS?

{Catalina Duvet Cover, Serena & Lily, $230 for F/Q}

BUY THIS!

{Tangled Up in Blue Duvet Cover, Land of Nod, $109 for F/Q}

P.S. Have you seen all the awesomeness at Land of Nod lately?  I love that most of it is easily translatable to adult living but at kid prices….

{Eden Table Lamp}

{Wish My Lucky Four Leaf Mirror}

{Confetti Duvet Cover and Sheet Set}

{The Vines Have it Storage}

 

Nursery Preview

 Today I am sharing a sneak peek at Julia’s nursery.  It’s about 80% finished and LBH, it may stay in that range for a few more weeks or months.    And nothing is ever 100% done around here anyway — that’s part of the fun!

My favorite elements of J’s nursery so far are the subtly striped walls (my husband did a great job!), the wooden monogram above her crib and the playful roman shades….

So, it’s coming together.  The last bits and pieces are:

• Bribing my husband to Paint the dresser and an end table a high gloss white.
• Select lamps for either side of the love seat.
• Choose a few more pillows for the glider and love seat.
• Decide what to do for wall art above the glider.  I am thinking about fun DIY abstract canvas or a medium-sized gallery wall with framed family pictures and mementos from her birth.

I will include a complete source list when I do the big reveal, but here is a quick one for you in the meantime:

Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Daiquiri Ice
Monogram letters: custom order from KY Grace Designs
Jenny Lind Crib: Land of Nod (ordered in 2007)
Crib Sheet and Skirt: Serena & Lily
Crib Bumper: Pottery Barn Kids (ordered in 2007).  This will come out before the baby sleeps in the crib due to recommendation that bumpers be removed from cribs (reason why I didn’t order the bumper that matches the crib skirt from Serena & Lily)
Roman Shades:  custom order from Windows By Melissa
Pink Flower Pillow: Serena and Lily
Green and Pink Flower Pillow: Caitlin Wilson Textiles
Dream Big Print: The Love Shop
Owl Wastebasket: Target

Stay tuned!  I hope to be back before the week is through with an update on the 2-years-but-who’s-counting bathroom renovation….

 

 

‘Round Here

Happy Friday!  It’s still rainy around here, so the light is not the best, but below are a few shots around the house these days.  Seasonal decorating is such a challenge for me.  I don’t want to get too kitchy, but with a 4 year old who loves to help decorate, I want the house to remain playful and fun, especially for Halloween, which was one of my favorite holidays as a kid.  So, I tried to incorporate a lot of brown, orange and black with some kid-friendly touches.  Oh, and if you make it to the bottom, there is a little bonus sneak peek of the nursery paint….

{Corner of the mantle}

{Living room}

{Front hall console}

{Dining room}

{Corner of the family room}

{Front door.  Need Pumpkins!}

{Painted nursery.  Mentally remove the mess and insert better lighting!}

Have a happy Fall weekend!

My Sliver of Missoni Mania

I was a day late, but luckily still managed to snag a few cute Missoni for Target items.  Surprisingly, our Target wasn’t completely wiped out at 9am yesterday.  But still, I didn’t get the one item that I was jonesing for, which apparently is now being sold on eBay for oodles (OMG, check out this Buy It Now for $350!, more than 8 times its asking price at Target, whaaaaa?):

I was suprised that there was a bunch of kitchenware, computer cases, notecards, kids and baby clothes and accessories, makeup cases and even 2 bikes left when I stopped by over 24 hours after the launch. 

Here is what I picked up:

Clockwise: 1. Notecards, 2. Girls Sweater Tunic, 3. Girls Sweater Leggings, 4. Mug, and 5. Baby Blanket (note the hint of green and lots of hot pink!). 

The blanket is the first thing that I have bought for the new baby!  Here is a close-up:

It will look fun in her nursery!  If it’s good enough for Rachel Zoe, it’s good enough for her, right? 

{Rachel Zoe’s bedroom featuring Missoni (like, the real tres $$ Missoni)}

Per my sources at Target (the check-out dude), I hear there will be one more replenishment sometime around the 1st of October.  Tell me, what did you snag and what will you be watching for?? 

Nursery Inspiration

So, we found out that we are having A GIRL! 

Even before we found out the gender of the baby, I have been envisioning a mint green nursery.  Now, I am thinking mint green and white horizontal stripes with hot pink accents.  Here is my inspiration image:

Substitute hot pink for the red, and promptly remove the wall decal!

Here are some other inspiration images of nurseries, stripes and the color palette — I can’t wait to get my husband painting that room!

What do you think?  I am still not sold on the stripes and considering wainscoting on the lower half of the wall with mint green up above.  Hmmm.  Lots to do.  Stay tuned! 

{Photo credits: 1. Baby Lifestyles, 2. DecorPad, 3. Color Zen Blog, 4.  Survivin’ on Sweet Tea and Love, 5. DecorPad, 6. Sketch42, 7. Pinterest, 8. Pinterest, 9. theLennoxx}

Easy Breezy

{via Vintage Room Style}

{via DesignSponge}

{via Apartment Therapy}

{via Bohemian Vintage}

{via Young House Love}

{via Your Home Only Better}

{via Roseland Greene}

I am insatiably obsessed with vintage fans these days.  Can you tell?

I just bought a vintage/retro style fan for my bedroom.  Pics coming!

Quick Playroom Update & Happy Weekend

Happy weekend!  I just popped in to share a quick, impromptu project that I undertook yesterday morning.  My three year old has been coming home with artwork GALORE this year.  Which can range from one line drawn on white paper with a crayon to gorgeous and cool Jackson Pollack-esque paintings.  I had a huge stockpile of this artwork and didn’t know what to do with it.  Here’s what my cutie-pie and I came up with (sorry about the iPhone pics):

Before (usual state of the play room, keeping it reals, people!):

After:

I have plenty of room to expand — three more walls to be exact!  Happy weekend!

My Design Resolutions

Happy New Year!  The start of 2011 feels liberating.  2010 was a great year, but it feels good to leave its baggage and the holiday stress behind me and
start fresh. 

I have been making a personal plan for the upcoming year and along with that, have been introspectfully examining my design goals and aspirations. 
Here we go:

1. Get rid of everything that I don’t love without guilt, including gifts or family hand-me-downs.  This will always be a work-in-progress for me and I have closets full of gifts and hand-me-downs that I “don’t hate” but they never leave the closets.  Time to purge.
2. Step out of my comfort zone and do not feel constrained by traditions and expectations.  Expectations and thoughts about re-sale value often water down and paralyze my design decisions, and the status quo remains longer than it should.
3. Eradicate the mini-blind from all windows in the entire house!  You may want to avert your eyes….YIKES.
4. Strike the right balance of investing in high-quality pieces while mixing with affordable, low-end accessories.  My favorite style combines classics and antiques with affordable basics.  I don’t want a house full of just antiques or full of just low-end “junk”, and with Target so close by, I tend towards the latter.
5. Finally recover these chairs that flank our sideboard in the dining room. They were hand-me-downs that came with a furnished home purchased by my mother, and I like their shape, but the fabric is HIDEOUS!
   
6. Finish my 3 ongoing projects!

I am nearing completion on Project Big Girl Room.  I need to style the dresser (now that the changing table is gone — woo hoo!), order some throw pillows, finish the wall art and maybe work on the closet-turned-secret room.

Upon a mention to my husband about wanting to re-do our downstairs bathroom, the next thing I knew, he had demo’d the whole thing.  Tile floors, vanity, mirror, toilet, light fixture – the whole sha-bang.  We are working on a yellow/gray/white bathroom update.  Here’s the current state — yikes again! (also, the yellow is much prettier in person and really not neon.  I had to use a headlamp to take this picture because the light fixture was gone!)

I have also kick-started the New Year by ordering the West Elm Zigzag Rug for my front hallway that I posted about here and here.  I will also likely order a new console and some fun accessories to spruce up the entryway to our house.  I want to get rid of the yellow curtain at the end of the hallway that currenlty serves as the door to our laundry room (we had to take off the door to fit our front-load washer/dryer when we moved in).   Here’s the before:

I would also love to hear more from my readers this year!  I know you are out there because I see you on my stat counter everyday. 
Please feel free to comment, ask questions and say hi! 
I love hearing from you!