Happy Friday friends, how about a chance to win some super cute freebies this weekend?  Yay !

Please welcome my newest sponsor Cute As Pie Office Supplies ~ your online shop for some fabulous office products.  If you’re bored of the mundane choices at your local office supply store, there is hope for your desktop ! 

Cute As Pie is the place for oh-so-chic office supplies so that the surface of your workspace is the most stylish on the block.   Are you a list maker?  Organizational diva?  Super mom on the go?  Multitasker?

There’s plenty of pretty products for you to love!

Organizers !

Oh so pretty file totes!  Do you recognize the blue one?  I have one for all my receipts, and I love it.

Magazine storage: 

Pencil holders:

And plenty of other goodies too.

And that’s just a teensy weensy sampling, friends. 

There’s so much more to see!!

Eligibility to win one of two $50 gift certificates to Cute As Pie Office Supplies:

1)  Hop on over to Cute As Pie Office Supplies and have a look around ~ you’ll love it!  Pick your most favorite product and tell which one you’d be sure to choose if you won.  Hey, list a few favorites, because with $50 dollars to spend, you can grab a few goodies.

2)  For a second chance to win, either link to this giveaway on Facebook, or tweet this giveaway on Twitter with a link, then leave a second comment telling where you posted (either FB or Twitter).

Free shipping too.  US and Canadian entrants only this time. 

Be sure to follow Cute as Pie on Twitter too for all the latest !

Two winners chosen by Random.org.  Giveaway ends Monday July 26th at 8 p.m PST. 

Good luck and have a fabulous weekend ! 

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Greetings friends, how about a peek at a few upgrades in our master bedroom ?  It all started with wanting to lighten the fabric on the headboard I made last year.  I also wanted to change the shape of the headboard, and paint the walls a deeper hue with Benjamin Moore’s ‘Nantucket Gray’. 

Rather than the expense of wallpaper behind the headboard, I decided to add this trellis pattern that I stenciled and hand painted  ~ I was inspired by Kristen’s hand painted wall I saw a few weeks ago. 

We still have the same chandelier, but the subtle shimmer from the painted pattern on the accent wall adds even more interest and glamour.  

Read the rest of this entry »

I know this is a DIY/decorating blog, and y’all know I never get tired of talking about fabric and paint swatches, but sometimes a gal just needs a little mid week girl talk.

Today, I feel like talking about summer skin essentials.  Even though around these parts, we talk plenty of decorating and home improvement, I often digress.  Today’s topic happens to be favorite skin care products for protection, coverage, and subtle glow.   Ooooh, cosmetics, I can hear you giggling !!

Let’s pretend we’re all out to lunch together drinking iced tea, gabbing about our favorite things, loving each other’s shoes, and giving each other the down low on beauty products.  Glad you could join us girlfriend ! 

There’s an ongoing debate about the sun’s rays, its dangers and benefits (Vitamin D), but the overwhelming consensus is we are all supposed to avoid extended sun exposure. 

For face every morning, I use La Roche Posay’s Anthelios SPF 60 Ultra Light Sunscreen Fluid and I buy it at my local CVS Pharmacy.   It’s very thin, fragrance free, and has matte finish, and that just makes me happy.

In the afternoons, or when I’m outside, I use Colorscience Sunforgettable mineral sun protection and I love it.  It’s pricey at $50 a tube, but worth it since it avoids the often greasy feeling of lotion sunscreens, and for me, lasts all summer. 

It has titanium dioxide and zinc oxide to intercept ultraviolet rays ~ I carry it around in my purse and dust it on throughout the day.  Definitely a fav. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I had every hope of finishing up all the final touches in my master bedroom over the weekend, but as fate would have it, nada was accomplished.  Instead, I took some leisure time, and I’m so glad we got out and enjoyed ourselves.   

Instead of finishing the space, we went out wine tasting in Sonoma and had the best time ever.  The weather was perfect, the kids were angels, the wine was cold, the cheese was stinky, and the evening ended so well, I crashed on the couch with the kids, all of us completely wiped.  It was heaven. 

But our bedroom remains a complete disaster zone, with laundry and ladders and paint cans and tarps everywhere.   I had a crazy idea to repaint the entire room last week in ‘Nantucket Gray’ by Benjamin Moore.  It’s the perfect shade of medium gray with a hint of olive.  My poor husband has been so patient with me while I try to give this room a facelift. 

One of the upgrades I was eyeballing were these lamps at Z Gallerie, they’re delicious. 

But then I found a pair of lamps for 1/3 the price at Marshalls ~ loved the shape, but of course I wanted them white ! 

I got this idea from Janell to spray paint some curvy lamps a glossy white, and I absolutely love the final result ! 

$40 lamp from Marshalls:

Love !

I spray painted with Rustoleum’s ‘Gloss White’ (heart!), and removed the brownish band from the shade.   Then I hand painted the champagne stripe at the base to make it pop off the dresser. 

So modern !  So purty ! 

Did you happen catch the sneaky peek at the hand painted wall treatment ?  If you follow my tweets, you’d have seen my inspiration link for it last week !  The bedroom should come together very soon, fingers crossed.

Today I’m off to Restoration Hardware ~ ordinarily I don’t shop there because they’re a little pricey, but I’m holding in my paint covered hands a gift card and their linens are on sale !  Aw, yeah.  Gotta love how my hub redeemed some miles from his business Am Ex to bring me a RH gift card.

He must have been listening when I kept saying how much I love their Belgian Washed Linen Quilt and Shams, and how I kept repeating after ten years, how much we really deserve something nice for our bedroom. 

Or maybe it was the page from the catalog that I taped to his side of the mirror.

I’m just subtle like that. 

I’m torn between Fog, White, and Orchid.  Decisions, decisions !  

What have you spray painted lately ? 

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