I especially love high contrast in design, juxtaposing the crisp white against the dramatic dark.  An intensely deep hue, balanced with plenty of light, conveys sophistication and elegance – two feelings I absolutely adore in a space.   Here are some intense walls that I’m drawn to these days.  Fancy that, in the middle of June. 

  Burnham Design

 Lonny Magazine

     House Beautiful

Homes and Gardens

    Amanda Nisbet

  Donna Griffith photographer

Mary MacDonald

via Decorpad

via Decorpad

House Beautiful

 Country Living

 Firmdale/Crosby St. Hotel

  via Decorpad

House Beautiful

 Metropolitan Home

 Better Homes & Gardens

via Decorpad

 Country Living

What about you?  What are your thoughts on dark painted walls ?  Does it feel like doom and gloom to you ?  Too bold for your taste ?   Or have you taken the plunge and pulled off the high drama?   Do share your ‘darkest’ thoughts !

.

Anywho, I recently painted his room a very bold color and am still waiting on a few accessories but I’m impatient when it comes to decorating around my house and I can’t sit twiddling my thumbs to wait for a few accessories, no sirrrrreeeeee  ! 

I have now turned my attention to the living room.  I’ve never really featured this space because it’s a little hum drum too traditional for my changing taste.  Yes, I’m feeling the need, the need for some ooh la la moderne décor.  I’m inspired to start a makeover, just needing to figure out how to do it in a cost effective way !  ‘Diamond style on a dime’ – that’s what I always say.   Hey, that rhymes.

So here are my inspiration photos, and you’ll spot our living room as it is way down below.  Notice the colors I’m drawn to are this cool blue and warm gold mixed with cream to lighten and brighten up the space.  I’m terribly addicted to this color medley right now.  I must have it. 

Loving these botanical prints with moss velvet gold leaf settee. 

 Liz Williams

Here’s what I say to this turquoise lamp.  “Hello lover.”

Thibaut

I heart wainscoting.  And bold n’ gold starburst mirrors. 

 Thibaut

Pretty pretty wallpaper.  Again, loving the wainscoting. 

Thibaut

Icy blue velvet and a gold chandelier.  Yum.

Elizabeth Dinkel

Here’s a bedroom, but in those colors I adore. 

Southern Living

Another bedroom, but check out how lovely the cream and gold table looks up against the blue.  LOVE.

  Annette Tatum

Hmm.  A vibrant accent, like deep red?   Interesting.  Love the chandy.

Southern Living

Another fabulous color combination.

Elizabeth Dinkel

Here’s an example I like of mixing traditional with modern glamour.

Style at Home

Dining room perfection in my eyes. Love the mix of fabrics and wood tones. 

Liz Williams

So those are my inspiration photos. 

Here’s the space I feel needs some sprucing !

Here’s the living room from last autumn with its warm tones and too traditional decor for my taste.  Please forgive the bad lighting.  It’s a little cluttered, so it’s time to streamline. 

Here’s a few things that will definitely stay:  1) the piano of course !  It’s a family heirloom given to us by our gracious grandmother.  2) The cream rug because I can’t afford another right now (unless you find one for me!).  3) The chocolate velvet settee which fits the wall perfectly.   4)  The bronze silk curtains   5) The vintage blue glass lamp in the corner and 6) the little white French style chair I redid last year.

Everything else is pretty much fair game !  I especially don’t like the beige bench under the window.  So here’s the plan so far:  I’m definitely installing some DIY wainscoting around the room and I’ll be painting above (or perhaps wallpaper?).   I think I should slipcover the sofa.  I need something completely stunning under the front window.  Maybe I should bring the cream cabinet downstairs and put it there?  I also need some new or rearranged art.  Perhaps some DIY patterned pillows ?  A new chandy splurge ? 

What do you think ?  Are you digging the blue and gold medley I’ve chosen?  Know of any reasonably priced décor or fabric that this space is screaming for ?  Got some ideas or links to fab décor ?  Bring it darlin’ !  Help a girl out. 

I would love to hear what you think ! 

So as you know from yesterday’s musings about thrift store hunting, like many of you, I have an addiction to fixing up furniture.  The other day I stumbled across a company called Somerset Bay that uses color on their pieces in the most incredible way and I was completely inspired.   Brace yourself, because these colors will have you wanting to run to the paint store to refinish one of your own in a similar fresh spring shade.       

Now please pause while I pick my jaw up off the floor.  Isn’t it amazing how one brightly painted piece can make a room come alive?  Talk about serious color inspiration.

Do you have any plans to introduce more color into your home this season ?  Do share! 

All images courtesy of Somerset Bay.

Enjoy ! 

How cool is this idea to wallpaper the drawers of a dresser with a little decoupage ?

Sew a half dozen sheer napkins together for a cafe curtain, and add charm with mismatched flatware as curtain hooks !

Add a pop of color to your pantry by sewing kitchen towels into basket liners. 

Jazz up your summer table by hot gluing decorative items like sea glass (or vintage buttons, glass gems, etc.) to plain napkin rings.

Transform the drab into the fab by backing an ordinary bookshelf with wallpaper and replacing the wood shelves with glass.  Très chic !

Refashion a shutter and some brackets into a one-of-a-kind shelf and coat rack for your entry. 

Add vintage charm with skeleton keys mounted to an embroidery hoop backed with scrap paper or wallpaper remnants.  Very creative !

Float stock cabinets off the wall, remove two doors, then add a pop of color to the remaining door fronts.  I love the crafty clock made out of foam core, paper secured with spray adhesive, chipboard numbers and an clock making kit.   So fun !

Got a great vintage piece of cloth but you’ll never wear the outdated piece ?  Refashion it into shams and an accent pillow.  Brilliant !

Create a sheer canopy with panels and a ceiling medallion centered above a bed. 

Use garden hanging baskets mounted low in a kid’s room to corral toys and books.  Be sure to secure to your wall studs !

Build a unique pencil holder out of rosettes from the lumber department !  Or how about this – fill a pair of them with sand, top it with another rosette, and you’d have a perfect set of original bookends.

Add interest to a plain vase by using painter’s tape to create your design, then  sponging on some colored glass paint. 

Convert an old fashioned end table into a modern file cart and tool storing station.  This is genius ! 

Add a touch of garden themed whimsy to your kitchen by bringing in a trellis and displaying your kitchen utensils. 

Another plain shelf is given new life with fresh paint, contrasting scalloped molding, and decorative paper secured to the back.  You can spot the ‘Before’ in the bottom corner. 

All images courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications. 

Aren’t these the most fabulous ideas ?   Which one is your favorite ?

It seems everyone has talked about upholstered headboards and how much we all love them.   And let’s face it.  Upholstered headboards are FAB-U-LOUS.   Every retailer from Jonathan Adler to Tar-jay has one for you to ogle over. 

Then I got to thinking.  There are a lot of upholstered headboards out there with really amazing curves.  Here are a few dramatic shapes that really inspire me, and I think perhaps could be recreated with careful execution with a jigsaw.  Much of the piping and trim is tricky, but these curves certainly inspire me to get jiggy with my jigsaw again. 

Elizabeth Dinkel Designs

Calico Corners

Country Living

Jonathan Adler Designs

Restoration Hardware

via Decorpad

If you’re talented on the sewing machine, make a complimentary skirt !

Palmer Weiss Designs

Better Homes and Gardens

House Beautiful

Urban Outfitters

Decorpad

This greek key pattern on a clean white fabric headboard could also be mimicked with a fabric marker for the design, ribbon, a glue gun or fusible webbing, and a whole lot of patience.

Decorpad

But who says you need a jigsaw ?  Square is perfectly wonderful too.

UKTV

Overstocks

Better Homes and Gardens

via Casa Sugar

Pottery Barn

Country Living

West Elm

With a little fabric, foam, batting and a plywood base, you can recreate a designer look in an upholstered headboard, for much less.   But y’all know this already – there are so many creative DIY fabric covered headboards to be seen out there.  Just Google it – you’ll be amazed.  I was !

But speaking of achieving the look for less, many of you wanted the cost breakdown on yesterday’s tufted headboard.  Here goes:  Calico Corners fabric (1 4/8 yards) $45; plywood $15; batting $8 with coupon; 2” foam $40 with coupons; button cover kits $12.   The rest of the supplies I had on hand.   Total = $120.

The choice to use an upgraded fabric and 2 inch foam made it more expensive than it could be, but compared to retail, I still feel like I got a pretty good deal.

Not bad for $120 buckaroos !

I just want to snuggle up and get cozy with these images.  Each room has just the right touch of faux fur, with a single rug, pillow or throw.  They make me feel warmer just looking at them.

Decorpad

Pottery Barn

The Coat Check

Point Click Home, Design by Candice Olsen

DecorPad

Point Click Home, Jonathan Adler Design

Seattle Homes Magazine

Martha Stewart

Curly Fur Imports

Inmod

In Style

Style at Home

Elle Decor

House Beautiful

Elle Decor, throw from The Coat Check

Jeffers Design Group

The Neotraditionalist

Pottery Barn

I spy with my little eye my own faux fur throw in my living room, photo below. 

Marshalls, $25 dollars. Love it !

And I’ve just finished sewing some faux fur pillows and you’ll never ever believe where I found the fabric.   Tune in tomorrow !

What are your thoughts on faux fur accessories in the home ?

Would it be to much to ask to have my living room look like this ?

Swoon !

And my dining room look like this ?

Heaven !

And a bedroom, any bedroom, look like this ? 

Perfection !

Of course, this is completely impractical right now because I am surrounded by pets and children and dark wood furniture and messes and well, real life.  Not that I mind.  Pets, children, dark wood furniture and messes add a certain warmth to a home, don’t you think?  

So as much as I may swoon over these designer rooms, in truth, I wouldn’t trade my family and the mess they bring with them for all the glamorous white spaces in the world.   That is, unless these spaces came with a lifetime’s supply of bleach and free dry cleaning. 

My wish for the New Year?  Simply to have more of the same.  OK, so the economy completely stinks, but I’m looking on the bright side.  The bright white side.  I’m looking forward to more fun projects for this blog, more time with my children, a nice vacation with my family, and good health the whole year through. 

And to be sure, a heck of a lot more white paint. 

Image credit:  1) Cote de Texas; 2) Country Living; 3) Layla Grace

 Happy New Year everyone -

I’ll see you in the next decade !

From the Real Simple article, a few of my favorite responses were these:

“The sensation of peace on a cozy, rainy Sunday; the feeling of relief when you pull into the driveway after a long trip; a quiet kiss on the head of a baby asleep in my lap; and the warmth of my husband’s arms. Home has been many places for me over the years, but its comforts are defined by simple, blissful moments like these.”  Sarah Bernard, Somersworth, New Hampshire

Image: Real Simple

“Home is where my younger brother can’t understand why a boy would stop liking me.”  Emma Button, Stillwater, Minnesota

 

Image: Real Simple

“Home is where the rags of your life are turned into quilts, lemons become lemonade, and a few extra pounds are simply welcomed as ‘more of you to love’.” Sherry Bubnowski, Four States, West Virginia

Image: House Beautiful

“A place where I can wear purple yoga pants, a holey yellow T-shirt, and flip-flops without feeling as if I’m about to be ambushed by the hosts of some TV makeover show.”  Tara Pierson Hoey, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  Image: Real Simple

“What does home mean to me?  A pantry, fully stocked with jars of pickles, jams, and fruits, all preserved by friends, family members, and me. Home is going into that pantry, leaning against its shelves, which are probably a little dusty, popping open a Mason jar of homemade apple butter, and eating it right there, out of the jar with a long iced-tea spoon.”  Victoria Fedden, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Image: Country Living

“A place where I can be 100 percent me. If I want to make fried bologna with a side of couscous or have a cackling laugh attack watching I Love Lucy, I can, because I’m home.”  Jessica Hanson, Marseilles, Illinois

“Bathing suits dangling from the deck rail, a healthy pour of crisp white wine in my glass, and the scent of the grill on my husband’s shirt.”  Amy Moriarta, Oak Park, Illinois

Image: Simple Nest

“The delicious scent of dinner in the oven, the wonderful sight of my girls playing together, and the annoying sound of Barney singing in the background.” Kristin Ricci, Haddon Heights, New Jersey

Image: Country Living

On a related topic, the Queen of nesting over at Nesting Place wrote up an article last week in this post about Defining Your Space.  I highly recommend this read in her series on ‘31 Days to a Better Nest’. 

In my town, the seasons are changing rapidly.  A big storm has moved in to Northern California, and I truly love a really good first rain.  I’ve taken the opportunity to pull the winter clothes out of storage, and to add cozy throw blankets to every sofa and bed.  The dining room slipcovers have gone from cream to mocha velvet.  The white vanilla candles have been replaced with scented ones, filling the rooms with apple pie and pumpkin spice aromas. 

So I’m interested to know.  What does ‘Home’ mean to you?  What steps to you take to transition your home from warm seasons to cooler ones? 

Whether it’s a lazy summer afternoon, or a rainy winter day, I’m still crazy about the idea of lounging in the mid afternoon in a daybed.  There’s something about a bed, out in the open, beckoning you to lie down with your favorite book, with the likelihood that you will indeed, and eventually, drift off to slumber land.   

These days, with two small and energetic children, a nap in the middle of the day is my idea of a serious vacation.  But at least I can dream of drifting off to dream in some of these favorite cozy spaces.   

House Beautiful, March 2009

O at Home, Winter 2008

Country Living

Domino

House Beautiful, June 2008 

Decor, Fall/Winter 2007 

Country Home, June 2008 

West Elm Circle Daybed

Sweetwater Cabana, styled by my friend at  Beach House Style

Sunset, February 2009

BH&G Flea Market Style 2009

  Sampon Daybed, LifeShop Collection

Mandalay Day Bed, Williams Sonoma Home

Indoor Swing by Jay Jeffers 

 Decor, Fall/Winter 2007

Priscilla Day Bed, Pottery Barn

Source Unknown 

House Beautiful, February 2009 

Don’t these daybeds make you want to curl up with your favorite read and hide away from the world?  They do for me. 

“Sleep, perchance to dream, ay, there’s the rub.” 

- Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Happy Weekend everyone.

I purchased some cabinets with glass shelves from the local Villeroy & Boch outlet store that closed its doors, but I need to paint them and they’re 100 inches tall !  I’m also going to attempt to install grasscloth wallpaper, and make another no sew valance.  Plus all the accessories!  I’ll have lots of posts in the upcoming weeks as I update you on the progress. 

Here are some of the images in my inspiration file: 

Turquoise Design

Domino Magazine (?)

House Beautiful September 2005

House to Home 

Charlotte Moss Study, House and Garden 

 House Beautiful, April 2008

Wiliams Sonoma

Source Unknown

 Tyra Banks Office by Kyle Schuneman

Ideal Home March 2007

 Source Unknown

Source Unknown

Source Unknown

I have no source for some of these images, so help me out if you know where they’re from. 

I’ve got a lot of work to do to pull off something special in my home office.   Stay tuned !