Greetings and happy (almost) weekend everyone!  I’ve invited Michelle of Ten June back to be a guest contributor on the blog – she has an amazing eye for design and we both agreed that right now we’re big time loving the bold floral patterns reappearing in interior design.  These aren’t the itsy bitsy pastel florals of previous decades, in this century florals are bigger, bolder, and full of unexpected color combinations.  Please welcome back Michelle of Ten June and her five tips for bringing back floral into your home. 

Take it away Michelle!

Don’t you love when old trends make their way back into our lives? I’ll bet you thought you’d never see this fad again… floral décor!  Gone with the days of acid wash jeans and slap-bracelets was flouncy floral décor, right?  Think again! The use of big, bold flower patterns is making a big comeback in interior design these days.

If you, like most of us, love this look but are unsure how to bring it back into your home with style, I’ve compiled five fabulous tips for bringing back floral décor. Ready, set, flower power!

1. Use floral designs with bright, bold colors.

There’s nothing like a graphic pop of color to make floral patterns feel modern and fresh. Forget the pastels and let your flowers shine in bright pinks, purples and yellows. These hues show that you’re proud of your floral décor and you aren’t afraid to show it!

Design*Sponge

 

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I was at Marshalls the other week and found myself yet again drawn to the aisle with the shapely white ceramics on sale.  I ended up buying a pitcher, a large sculptural bowl, and vase, all for $20 (woot!) and all because I didn’t have that particular white piece in that particular shape.  I have deemed my obsession with white ceramic objects  a sickness and I feel no shame in the affliction.    

via Better Homes & Gardens

They’re just so simple, so stylish, and so versatile.  I love how Nicole has her collection above her media center in her family room.

via Me Oh My

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I love looking at baby nurseries, and I think they’re one of the most fun spaces to design.  My own children are babies no more, they’re in elementary school, but back in the day I did enjoy making their nursery special.  The only baby in my life right now is little Gigi, and she’s the daughter of one of my very good friends. Her mom asked me to photograph her nursery to preserve for the baby book, so I thought I’d also share a few images with you. 

Gigi’s nursery is filled with all the essentials for a wee one and her space is decorated in a classic color combination for a little girl’s nursery: pink and brown.  Here is the corner dedicated to reading and rocking to sleep.  A rocker or club chair is one of the smartest additions to any nursery and I always found having one in the same room as the crib makes the transition to bed an easy one.

This mom chose a soft neutral tan for the wall color as a backdrop to her color scheme that includes classic pink and white.  I love the added texture of the seagrass trunk for toy and blanket storage.

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I discover new blogs in all sorts of ways and recently a reader left a very kind comment so I hopped over to visit her blog.  I was delighted to discover Jen of Migonis Home who together with her husband AJ and young son Drew, is renovating a Cape Cod style cottage in Massachusetts. 

I loved her whole approach to the transformation of their home, and the fact they’re renovating it slowly while along the way making due with what they have.  Jen and AJ are making changes to their new abode to make the home suit their lifestyle.  I invited Jen to share her story and offer a few tips for living large in small space. 

Please welcome Jen!

Hi! I’m Jen Migonis from Migonis Home and I am thrilled to be joining you here today!  My husband and I bought a 75 year old Cape Cod in the seaside town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts two years ago and boy, did it need a lot of work! There was about four layers of wallpaper on every wall and zero insulation under that (not a big deal if you live in California but if you live in Massachusetts and you can see your breath in your bedroom in the winter then it’s a different story).

Our house is tiny, so when we found out we had a baby on the way four months after we moved in we realized we need to make this house work hard for us.  Our house is far from perfect, and we are working on a project in almost every room, so bear with our “in progress” photos. 

When Kate asked me to be her guest I knew almost immediately what I wanted to talk about: living large in a small space. Today I’m going to focus on four ways to maximize your space in a small home.

Let it Flow.  House flow is essential for entertaining so when we renovated we knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room; if you are looking at the photo the location of the wall was on the left side of the hutch. Fellow Cape dwellers have mentioned to us how large our downstairs appears because it’s so open.

Now, we have a circular flow to our entire downstairs and if you are standing at either the front or the back door you can now see the opposite corners of our house. My son loved this when he was in his walker and sprinting around non-stop.

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