Design Esquire

Guest Bedroom Progress

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

The last few months I've been working to spruce up one of our guest bedrooms. It has a twin size bed, and also functions as Mr. DE's main closet. It was a child's room in the previous owner's home, so I wanted to update the decor to fit us a bit better.

Here is a photo from our home's inspection, with the children's theme border and lots of toys!

Here is the bedroom now, with a fun and colorful palette. I just love how cheery it is. Most of our home is in more neutral colors, but I thought I could have some fun in the bedroom and really make it colorful and happy. I think it worked.

I made the headboard myself, based on Young House Love's tutorial, found here. I made a headboard a few years ago for our other guest bedroom, and it was so easy I decided to do another one. The fabric is from Calico Corners, it is a Buffalo Check in sunshine, found here. For the locals, I bought the wood frames for the headboard at Blicks. Having the straight lines from the check pattern made it very easy to keep everything straight as I stapled the fabric onto the headboard.

I sewed the throw pillow. The chevron fabric is from Premier Fabrics, and it is their zig zag pattern in chartreuse, found here. I may sew another throw pillow a little smaller, just because this one turned out to be too similar in size to the blue sham, and I think a smaller one will look better. The pillow inserts are from Joann Fabrics.

I made the bedskirt in the matching Calico Corner's fabric. It was really easy actually. I had an old ruffly one on there, and I just cut the ruffles off, keeping the fabric portion that went between the mattress and the box spring. I then placed that fabric scrap from the old bedskirt back on top of the box spring, leaving the mattress off, and pinned the check fabric on to the old bedskirt scrap, creating pleats at the corners. That way, I could adjust the check fabric while it was hanging there. It didn't take long and it looks custom.

The blue quilt and sham are from Pottery Barn, found here, in Blue Dusk. The color is actually much softer in person and goes really well with the curtains.

I really love how the curtains turned out. The fabric is Robert Allen Les Fauves Grasslands. It is a really bright, happy fabric. I bought it on sale from The Fabric Corner in Arlington. I sewed these in a more casual style than the drapes in my living room. In my living room, I followed Janell's excellent tutorial for fully lined drapes (found here). For this room, I went with something a little more casual and less time intensive. These drapes are unlined. I based the curtains on the instructions in the new Design Sponge at Home book. Although I did sew a rod pocket (just in case I want to use it down the line), I bought drapery hooks and rings and used those to hang the drapes on the rod (all hooks, rings and rods were from Joanns - got to love the coupons!).

If I could sew these again, I would add a fabric interfacing like Janell advises in her tutorial to the top hem - it would add a lot of structure to the top and make it easier to attach the drapery hooks without poking through the front of the drape by accident! Since I was going for a more casual look though, these look fine. My advice is to pick a fun fabric, and no one will notice the imperfections!

The walls are painted Rice Grain, by Sherwin Williams.

There are still some things on the "to do" list for this room (don't tell Mr. DE, he thinks it's done). Some art for the walls, a new light fixture, maybe some new furniture. The wall space above the headboard is screaming for a fun little mirror. But most of that will be down the road, as I find things that I love. But I am really happy with how this is coming along! I smile every time I see this room.

My Master Bedroom

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Over the last two years, we've been working on our master bedroom piece by piece to bring it all together and create the peaceful retreat we wanted. It's not quite done (nothing is!), but I'm ready to post photos of it.

I'll start by showing you what we started with. Here are two photos from when we inspected the home, before buying it (so, seller's furniture in the photos).

It is a good size room. A little long and skinny, but definitely workable. We loved the hardwood floors, and the previous owners added a new master bathroom at the far end right before we moved in. Here's the other side of the room.

And here it is now.

First, we painted the walls Blue Hubbard by Sherwin Williams. To date, it's my husband's favorite color that we've used in the house (mine too). It's a soft blue/gray/green, and it is very soothing. Perfect to unwind at night. The trim is Dover White by Sherwin Williams. We left the doors their original color because the wood is very pretty in person. I think the doors are original to the house (1930s).

We also bought some new furniture. The two dressers are from Boston Interiors. I love the color of the wood, and they were made in Vermont. The quality is very nice. The scalloped mirror is from Lowes, and the three vases and curtains are from Ikea.

I always wanted an upholstered headboard, so after much thought I decided that I wanted to buy a slipcovered one, because if the headboard ever got dirty, I could take the slipcover off and wash it. Or, if I ruined it or got tired of the white, I could sew a new one. I bought the Riley headboard and slipcover from Pottery Barn last Febrary, when they were 20% off. The bedding is also from Pottery Barn. I bought the fabric and sewed the two euro pillows. The lamps are from Kirklands and the night stands are from Ikea.

On the other dresser, I have a pretty tea cup that was a gift, a fabric flower pin made by my talented (and thoughtful) sister-in-law, and the Portofino jewelry box from the Container Store. I love how my jewelry can be neatly put away, but still be decorative.

Here is another close-up of the lamps. I love the tone-on-tone blues with the wall color, and it has a great shape.

Here is another view of the bedroom. You can barely see the rug that is under the bed, but in case you're wondering it's an old Pottery Barn one (Concentric Squares in cream).

This is a very special corner. I framed a few black and white photos from our wedding, and hung them in Target frames. But the most special part of the room is the rocking chair. My mother-in-law rocked my husband to sleep in it when he was a baby.

The finish is wearing in a few places and it has chew marks on the gliders from where my husband's childhood dog nibbled on it, but we won't ever paint it. There is a lot of love and memories in that chair. It's perfect just the way it is.

Thanks for letting me share my bedroom with you! It has taken awhile to put it together, but I am so happy with the results.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

2012-01-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

I've been a little late to the pinterest craze, but you can now count me as one of the pinterest addicts. That site is amazing. Just thought I would share the Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake that I made this morning.

It is so, so good. And it may be even better tonight when I have a piece with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. As a side note, I put the batter together last night and refrigerated it, then popped it into the oven this morning. It worked beautifully.

I've also been inspired by two of my friends (I'm talking to you Susan and Kelly!) to begin posting again more regularly. I have been doing lots of things around my house, but I haven't been documenting them the way that I want with posts on this blog. I would like to get back into blogging, especially since this blog really serves as my personal journal on all of our home projects. I've been away long enough that I've really started to miss this creative outlet.

In case you would like to follow me on Pinterest, click here for my boards. I'll follow you back! I love how interactive the site is.

Bathroom Face Lift

2011-08-19T07:00:00.005-04:00

Mr. DE and I have been knocking out home projects left and right this summer. One of the next projects on our list was to update our hall bathroom upstairs.

The previous owners of our home added a nice, new master bathroom, so the family bathroom in the hallway is only used when we have guests stay with us or at parties. So, we wanted to update the bathroom, but we didn't want to invest too much in it since it doesn't get a lot of use.

Now for the good part. Here is the before (a picture taken at the inspection before we bought the house, so previous owners stuff):

Yikes. Our house was built in the 1930s, and this bathroom certainly reflected it. The previous sellers only added the new master bathroom right before they sold the home, so this was the only full bath in the house. I don't know how the previous families did it. This bathroom is s-m-a-l-l.

In the planning process, we decided to embrace the yellow and black tiles, since we weren't going to rip them out and start from scratch.

And I love how it turned out.

The first thing we did was take down the unnecessary medicine cabinet on the wall and the extra shelves. Mr. DE then painted the walls and ceiling white (specifically, Sherwin Williams Dover White). He also primed and painted the mirror and the vanity black. I cannot tell you how much better this looks in person. It's unbelievable. Even though the bathroom is teeny, tiny, it feels bigger.

Mr. DE also added some left over knobs from our kitchen remodel. It makes the vanity much more functional. (I really need to get a new soap dispenser!)

We also changed out the horrible, plastic light fixture with a new one from Lowes. It was a mix and match deal. We picked the fixture part, and then chose the shades to go with it. We went with more traditional style shades, since the bathroom is very old school. The new fixture looks great, and it was very reasonably priced too.

I then channeled my inner "Darby" and made a fixed roman shade for the bathroom. Since it doesn't get a lot of use, there was no reason to make a functional one. The fabric is Riley Blake Petals in Gold. It's really cute in person. The only downside is that it's not home decor weight, so the shade doesn't hang as nicely as the ones I made for my dining room, but it looks cute enough so I'm happy.

I also bought two yellow and black butterfly prints from etsy seller east ashley studio. They are beautiful in person and very reasonably priced.

I bought the two frames as a set at Michaels, and with my coupons they came to $4 total. I love how the black frames pop against the white walls, and balance the black frame of the mirror.

I just love how it turned out. Nothing earth shattering, but it just looks a lot more coordinated now.

Have a great weekend!

Small, Modern Home

2011-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe has been doing features on smaller homes. While this particular home is more modern than my normal style, I still appreciate all of the details that this young couple added to their home when they remodeled it, and how warm the feeling is in the house, even though it is modern. The house just gives off a very happy vibe.

The home is about 1780 square feet, and in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here is the link to the article.

All photos from the Boston Globe, photographer Eric Roth

So, what do you all think? Too modern or just right?

A More Modern Kitchen

2011-07-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

As promised, I'm going to share with you photos of my updated kitchen. Before getting to the current photos, let me show you what the kitchen looked like when we bought it three and a half years ago. All of these photos are from the inspection, so it is all of the seller's stuff (and some of the realtors are in the photos).

As you can see, it's a perfectly fine kitchen. Very 80s, but we could live with it for a while. We knew it had a good size, so that one day we could update it, and add an island. We originally planned to gut it, but instead we decided to work with what we had, but just refresh it a bit.
Have I ever told you about the hideous orange color that was in our family room when we moved in? I swear, the house was like a box of crayons - every room was a different color and there was no flow. This photo, however, really shows how dark the kitchen was. We needed to lighten it up and make better use of the space.
Here is the kitchen after we painted the cabinets white and added an island. We painted the walls when we first moved in three years ago, Cottage Cream by Sherwin Williams.

As you can see, we kept the original countertops and backsplash. They basically match the wall color, so I feel like they blend into the background and fade away.

My husband was the one that painted all of the cabinets. I helped paint and stain the island, but he was the one that really did all of the hard work. Before we started, I emailed Kate from Centsational Girl to consult her on the best game plan.

We started by priming all of the cabinets and doors with oil based primer, to block the grain of the oak wood. We then put three coats of latex paint on them, to really hide the oak grain. We used Sherwin Williams Dover White for the cabinets and doors - it matches all of the trim in the house. We also ordered new door pulls and spray painted the hinges a metallic silver, which worked amazingly well and saved us a lot of money.

I also bought a runner from Dash and Albert, to add a little brightness to the room and to hide the floor some. The floor in this room is really the last thing in our house I can't stand. It's some sort of fake brick, and it needs to go, but that isn't in the cards just yet.
I also sewed new valances for the two windows in the kitchen, using fabric I had left over from when I recovered two chairs about a year and a half ago, and some leftover lining from my drapes and roman shades. I also sewed a little skirt for the cubby in the corner of the kitchen. The old pull down door was a beast to paint, and it wouldn't really work once painted, so I sewed this little cover to hide our boxes of cereal, bread, etc. I think it's cute and functional.

We bought the island at the Millstore, a local unfinished wood store. My husband went to college with one of the owner's sons, so we try to support the store whenever we can. The base is maple, and came unfinished. There were three different sized maple countertops that fit the island - we went with the biggest. The countertop also came unfinished. So, we primed the base with the oil based primer, and then painted two coats of the latex Sherwin Williams Dover White. We then stained the countertop a honey color and then did three coats of poly on top, to make it nice and strong. I love how it turned out.
I also sewed a little quilted table runner for the island. It adds a little color to the space, plus, I wasn't not sure if setting a cold drink that would "sweat" would ruin the wood countertop, so I thought this would also act like one big coaster. Plus, it would work for placing warmer items on it as well.

I thought I would decorate with some flowers from my yard for this little photo shoot. I always feel bad clipping them, but I enjoy them inside so much more than when they're outside!
All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out. While not perfect and certainly not as updated as I would like, it has come a long way. The island is so useful, I don't know why we didn't buy it three years ago when we moved in. Oh-well! I'm so glad that we bit the bullet and at least did this much updating. It took a lot of hard work, but it was well worth the effort.

Happy Fourth of July!

2011-07-04T11:10:00.005-04:00

Happy 4th of July!

Are you serious?!!

2011-06-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

It's not a secret, I stalk real estate listing websites. I never unsubscribed from my daily real estate listing update emails when we bought our house three and a half years ago.

Well, one of the houses that I came across today looked normal. Here's the outside. I'm more of a colonial girl, but I decided to take a peek inside, because all of the windows and deck looked nice. This was a mistake.
As I was scrolling through the images, there were tons of loud colors and the kitchen was a disaster. But, I tried to be a bigger person, mentally repainting the walls and updating fixtures as I went photo to the photo. I usually have fun doing that when I look at houses.

Then, there was one photo that left me speechless.

Here it is:

Are you kidding me? I have so many questions running through my mind. First, who would paint such a creepy mural in a bedroom? What realtor would allow a photo like this to be posted online? Why wasn't this painted over when the owners decided to sell the house? Who in the world would sleep in this room?

I apologize if I gave anyone nightmares. I just had to share this.

Oh, and by the way, the sellers are asking $500k for the house. I think they're delusional, for a number of reasons.

Bathroom Sneak Peek

2011-06-27T07:00:00.005-04:00

Yikes, has it really been two months since I posted? Time flies.

After we finished our half bath project, Mr. DE and I were watching Sarah's House one weekend, and it was the episode from this season when she's discussing with her husband whether or not to paint the wood inside their lakehouse. Sarah made the comment that men never want to paint wood. So, that opened up the discussion with Mr. DE, and I mentioned that I would love to paint our kitchen cabinets white. In a moment of weakness, he replied that the project wouldn't be that hard, even though it would be a lot of work, and he agreed to do it. So, we just gave our kitchen a little facelift. It took a while to complete everything and a lot of hard work, but the result was so worth it. I can't wait to share it. I'll post those photos later in the week or next week.

But first, here is the promised half bath project. This is what our powder room downstairs looked like ever since we moved in three and a half years ago. (These photos are from the inspection, before we bought it).

I cannot tell you how much I hated everything in that bathroom, except for the floor. The previous owners put a 2x4 as the chair rail. It was horrible. And I hated the wall paper, and the pinky beige paint color.

Our plan was to add beadboard, paint the walls, get a new mirror for above the sink, and I was going to sew a sink skirt. How hard could that be?

Well, there were a few snags along the way, as there always is with old homes. Who ever attached the 2x4 chair rail put about a million nails into the wall, so the wall came off along with the chair rail. Then, when Mr. DE went to remove the baseboards, we learned that they went down about two inches below the tile - and it was nailed into the wall down there. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it took him at least 3 or 4 hours to get the baseboards out of our teeny, tiny bathroom. The tiles in the floor were popping out before the baseboard would come out. At that stage, our bathroom looked like a scary prison bathroom. Here's a glimpse of that dark time, before everything got better.

Mr. DE filled in the 2 inch gap around the edge of the bathroom, re-installed the loose tiles, and then put in the new baseboards and beadboard. Things were starting to come together, and look so much better.

I went to Target to buy a shower curtain, to repurpose into a sink skirt. I thought a shower curtain would provide a lot of fabric at a reasonable price, plus it would be somewhat splash proof around the sink.

I bought a colorful one that matched the paint color on the top half of the wall. I thought the shower curtain looked familiar, but it wasn't until a few days later that I remembered Janell had used this same curtain in her kids' bathroom. I cut the shower curtain in half, and positioned it around the sink, with pleats on each corner. The blue painters tape helped hold it in place while I played with the pleats before pinning it together.

And here's the final product:

We bought the scalloped mirror at Lowes, and it adds a tremendous amount of light to this windowless bathroom.
I also added a ribbon around the top of the sink skirt, that matches the walls. I think it ties the room together. I also bought a soft green towel at Target, also to coordinate with the room.

We reused the towel holder from the previous bathroom. It's an oil rubbed bronze finish, and it is fine. No reason to buy a new one.

Finally, Mr. DE installed a new light fixture. Out with the old, dirty brass one, and we got a new oil rubbed bronze one for $9.99 at Home Depot.

The room still needs some art. I would love to hang a few prints on the back wall, so when people wash their hands and look in the mirror, they're some pretty art reflected back at them.

But for the most part, this room is done! I love the way it turned out. We didn't spend that much money, and the room looks completely different.

I'll be back soon with all the befores and afters for the kitchen. Those are just as dramatic!

Ballard Designs

2011-04-29T08:00:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I visited my mother in Florida. Literally, the first place we went after she picked me up from the airport was Ballard Designs. I had been dying to go to their brick and mortar store and check out all of their goods first hand. It did not disappoint!

The store was packed with goodies. Their furniture selection was wonderful to see in person. I loved sitting on all the chairs and testing them out! It was also fun to see (and feel) all the fabric selections.

There were so many pretty vignettes set up around the store. As I walked around, I wished I brought a bigger suitcase! Shiny things always get my attention.

I love this bathroom display, especially the shape of the mirrors. I'm going to create a similar look in my little powder room, with a similar curvy, frameless mirror.

This work area was displayed really well, and the chandelier added a nice touch of glamour.

My mom liked these little wall accents, and is thinking about getting them for her guest bathroom. The set is currently on sale for $25.

They also come in white.

How charming are these measuring cups? They would look so cute on open shelving in a kitchen.

There was also a very nice clearance section in the store with single chairs and other odds and ends. I wish I lived closer so I could monitor the items in that section! I bet there are some amazing deals.

While we didn't buy anything while we were there, there is no doubt that my mother will be back there in the very near future to buy some accessories for her (new!) home.

Fun with fabric

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I went back to my favorite fabric store, The Fabric Corner, in Arlington. I promise, no one is paying me to write this post. I actually pay them every time I walk in there, and walk out with fun, new fabrics. I can't help myself.

The last time I was there, they were having a 50% off sale for all home decor fabrics. How could I say no? One of my friends is buying a new condo and thinking of reupholstering some chairs in a graphic blue fabric, so you will see I focused on those fabrics while I was on the look out for her.

I really wanted that light blue fabric, above, with the swirly pattern, but didn't know where I would put it in my home. Maybe I'll make a place for it...

How sweet is that fabric with the alphabet on it? I think it would be perfect in a nursery.

Three yards of the chevron print, above, came home with me. It is so much prettier in person. It was on sale for $18 a yard, and I just couldn't resist. I haven't decided what to do with it yet, although throw pillows are a likely option. I originally planned on using it to make a skirt for a console table in my foyer, but when I brought it home, I thought it clashed a bit with the throw rug I have in there. So, I *need* to find somewhere else to use it. I'll keep you posted! (Note: a post on the console table skirt will be along shortly - I love, love, love how my foyer is coming along.)

I also bought a green, squiggly Annie Selke fabric (for $12.99 a yard!) that I made into two throw pillows, finishing off my family room throw pillows. It took me a really long time to find the right mix of patterns and colors (you can find the start of the project, here). But, I'm now really happy with how they turned out. Here's a little photo of all three prints, together.

I took these photos late at night, so the colors aren't perfect, but you get the idea. I love how bright and springy the colors are, and the throw pillows really tie the room together.

Bathroom facelift

2011-04-27T06:00:00.002-04:00

Before diving into this post, let me first explain the length of time between my last posts. I've been settling into my new job and working on a lot of home projects, and consequently my blog has suffered. Stepping away from it for a while though, has given me renewed motivation to begin again. Plus, I missed all of you, and being a part of the blogging community. That leads me to my next point. I should apologize for my horrible commenting on all of your blogs. I've been reading all your posts, but without a lot of spare time, I haven't been commenting. I'm going to change that too!

Now, on to my latest home project!

Last Saturday, on a whim, we started a little remodeling in our downstairs half bath. I had been dreaming about fixing up this bathroom since we bought our house three and a half years ago.

Here are some inspiration photos for the bathroom.

bhg.com

Canadian House and Home

As you probably noticed, we're adding beadboard to the walls. I think it will give the bathroom a little bit of charm (which it is certainly lacking) and also hide the imperfections in the walls. I'm also going to sew a skirt for the sink, although I'll make one that is more streamlined. I hope to have some "after" photos by this weekend to share. The "befores" are too sad to share all by themselves!

Easy Homemade Valentine's Day cards

2011-02-12T10:57:00.004-05:00

Even though I have been busy with my new job, this year I got into my head that I needed to make homemade Valentine's Day cards. I'm not sure where this idea came from, but once it was planted, I knew I needed to follow through with it.

So, last weekend I went to a Paper Source store and bought a few different card stocks and other goodies to make my cards. Conveniently, my husband was out of town last Saturday night, so I could spread everything out and take my time making the cards, without fear that the surprise would be spoiled!

I bought blank red cards and envelopes, and then a few different fun card stocks, striped ribbon tape, pre-cut red hearts and double sided table (to eliminate messy glue issues). My quilting ruler came in very handy too.

I cut the larger card stock down to little rectangles, one inch shorter all the way around than the card.

Then I taped the rectangles to the cards, and centered a heart in the middle. (For my niece and nephew, I wrote their names in the heart).

I also added another rectangle (again, cut one inch shorter than the card all the way around), to have something pretty underneath where I wrote message. A word of advice, if you use something with a pattern, make sure you have a thicker black pen to write your message. Otherwise, it will be hard to read.

I then cut strips of the ribbon tape to add a little flair to the back of the card. I originally tried to incorporate it onto the front, but it ended up looking too busy. I may experiment more with that element next year. I also put my last name and year on the back of the card.

Here's one more look at the finished product. These were actually fun to make, and I had a whole little assembly line going! So far, the people that have received them have enjoyed them, which makes all the time and effort worth it. We'll see how my husband likes his tonight! (We're celebrating a little early.)

Any one else have any special Valentine's Day plans?

Photos of Roman Shades and an Update

2011-01-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Before detailing all the fun I had making roman shades for my dining room, I wanted to first explain my lack of posting and commenting over the last two months. Simply put, I got a new job and quit my old one. My last day at my old job was December 3rd, and last Monday was my first day at my new firm. Things were very hectic transitioning all my assignments before my last day at my old firm (I had been there over six years), so I fell behind in home projects and blogging. But, I had all these grand plans that I would get all these home projects done during the month I had off. I envisioned blogging every day with a new project to reveal. I imagined painting my kitchen cabinets, a half bathroom and two bedrooms. Needless to say, none of that happened. I had no idea how physically and emotionally exhausted I was from my old job. I barely did anything productive the first two weeks, other than visit some of my family in Chicago. I hardly got on the computer the entire month.

But, I took care of myself and recharged my batteries. I got a lot of sleep, went to the gym and spent quality time with Mr. DE. It was exactly what I needed. I'm hoping my new job will be a lot less stressful than my last.

That said, I still had projects that I wanted to get done. We were hosting my husband's family for Christmas Eve, and I knew I wanted to get the roman shades done for my dining room, even if that was the only project I completed.

After debating about how to make the roman shades, I decided to go with a kit from Joann Fabrics. I thought it would be the most mistake proof. I saved my 40% off coupons, so I was able to get each kit for about $11. There are also a few things you need from the hardware store, but the price per window is still much, much less than custom shades. Here is what the kit I bought looked like (I can't find it on Joann's website):

The fabric I chose was the Limonia Marble fabric from Calico Corners. But since I didn't need a lot of fabric for the shades, I bought remnants on eBay and saved a lot of money.

I will say, the hardest part of the project was cutting the fabric. I wanted a custom look, so the placement of the fabric's print had to be the same on each window. If you use a solid fabric, you wouldn't have to worry about that aspect of the project. The sewing part of the project really isn't hard. I just sewed the fabric and lining together, and then followed the instructions from the kit - which only called for straight line sewing. There are about eight wooden dowels in each shade, along with a metal bar at the bottom, to give it weight and make it hang properly. They open and close very nicely.

Before the big reveal, I wanted to take a step back and show you what my dining room looked like when I bought the house (these are from the inspection, so it is the seller's furniture in the photos).

It was a pretty room, but the dark paint color and wood colored trim (which was really dinged up in person) was just too much for such a small room, especially given the low ceilings in my home. So, we painted the ceiling and trim Dover White and the walls Softened Green, both by Sherwin Williams. I love how it came out.

We also updated the chandelier with one from Hubbardton Forge (a very generous wedding present from my in-laws).

Now, back to the shades. I love how the fabric still lets in a lot of light into the room. (Please excuse the pictures, I had a hard time with the light and I feel like they don't truly represent how the shades look in the room.)

And at night, I think they look really nice.
As with every room in my house, there is still a long list of things I would like to do in here. I can't wait to get new dining room furniture. I would love to get chairs that at least have an upholstered bottom, so I could put a nice, light blue fabric on them (to tie in with the roman shades, and connect the dining and living rooms). I also would love to get a wood table. This one just isn't may taste, but it works for now!

I would also love to add a fun wallpaper to the back wall of the built-in cabinet. I think it would add such a nice pop of color back there, and add more depth to the room. I would also love to paint the radiator white. I think it would look nicer than the current steel color.

So, there is my dining room. It is a work in progress, but I'm really happy with how far it has come.

Last Minute Decorating Ideas for Christmas

2010-12-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

Anyone need last minute decorations for Christmas? I did. We're hosting my husband's family for Christmas Eve.

This last weekend I went to Joann Fabrics and Target, and picked up a few things. At Joanns, I picked up three wreaths ($2.99 a piece) and three inch wide red ribbon to hang the wreaths from the bay windows in my living room. I simply threaded the ribbon through the wreaths and used a push pin to attach the ribbon to the molding above the window.

I also picked up some red velvet fabric, and sewed two little pillows to incorporate the red onto the chairs.

At Target, I picked up this little (fake) red amaryllis plant ($4.50). One of my cousins gave me the silver Jingle bowl a week ago when I visited them. I love it!

I'm really happy with how this side of the room turned out. On the other side of the room, I filled a milk glass vase with some little ornaments that I bought last year at Target.

I also hung our stockings (last year Pottery Barn) and put some garland (last year Target) on the mantel of our fireplace. That is the Bellesol Mirror from Ballard Designs, which I bought a few months ago. I LOVE it. It adds so much light to this long room.I also added some really large ornaments (last year Target) to a decorative bowl that I bought about a year and a half ago at Crate and Barrel. I have a funny story about those ornaments. So, I bought them last year on the day after Thanksgiving. I went to Target later in the afternoon to avoid the crowds. When the check out guy saw these large ornaments he asked me, "How big is your tree if you're buying this size of an ornament?". When I explained they were for decoration, he added that he had been at work since 3 am, so I should give him a pass. I did.

I also added a festive little pillow to the middle of the couch (and there's one on an accent chair, that isn't shown). I got that pillow, along with a number of other pillows, a matching table runner and a tree skirt from Crate and Barrel years ago, and love them. I hate to put them away each year!

So, this post turned out to be a tour of my living room and some cheap decorating tips. Hope you don't mind!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. I'll be back next week. I (finally) got around to making those roman shades for my living room!

Sale on Cute Coats!

2010-11-04T08:09:00.000-04:00

I just received an email from Ann Taylor Loft that three of their coats are on sale for $75 today (in-store only). The coats look so cute, I had to share the news. With the recent cold weather, jacket season is here already!

The Wool Twill Swing Coat

Twill Officer Coat

Wool Military Coat

More Pillows!

2010-11-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I finally got around to using the beautiful fabric I purchased from Lewis & Sheron.

I made two pillows with invisible zippers using Sew Katie Did's tutorial, found here. I don't know why I was so scared of zippers. They're really not that hard! And the results are fantastic. Here are the two pillows I made:

I LOVE them! The fabric is just so much fun, and the colors work perfectly in my living room. Anyone else complete/start/continue on any projects over the weekend?

I hope you all had a great Halloween. I can't believe it's already November!

It's Starting to Look A Lot Like Fall

2010-10-25T08:09:00.000-04:00

I snapped this photo on my way into work today. The leaves have started changing colors, making part of my drive so pretty. I couldn't resist taking a quick snapshot. The stone wall and white picket fence also seem very "New England-y" to me too.

I hope you have a great week!

Happy Friday!

2010-10-22T09:06:00.001-04:00

Thank goodness today is Friday. For some reason this week was never ending.

Anyway, I wanted to quickly give you a sneak peek of the pillows that I made two weekends ago with my new fabric! I love how they came out. (Sorry for the not-so-pretty cell phone picture, and darn, I should have smoothed that pillow out more.)

I used the invisible zipper tutorial I found on Sew Katie Did, and it was really easy to follow! The only change I made was to make the pillow covers slightly smaller than my pillow insert, so I would have a more overstuffed look. I bought the pillow inserts at Calico Corners (I had a coupon), and I love them. The woman at Calico Corners suggested that I make the pillow covers slightly smaller, so if/when the pillow inserts "settle" a little, the covers will fit perfectly and not get too loose. The inserts have a great density, and seem well made. My husband also thinks they are very comfortable for relaxing while watching TV.

The only warning about this fabric:

The size and placement of the circles make it hard to get enough circles to center properly on the fabric. I used the same, good fabric on the front and back of the pillow covers (so, no linen or other solid on the back), and it took a whole 3 yards to get enough circles for three pillow covers. (I cut the fabric in 19.5 inch squares.) I used the blue, green and red circles, so you may find it slightly different if you want a different combination of colors.

I still need to make the pillows for my living room, but it didn't take me long to whip these up for the family room so hopefully I can get to remaining pillow covers in the next week or two. More pictures to follow!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

I Love Fabrics

2010-10-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

When Stephanie from sabbespot posted about her new favorite fabric store in the Boston area about a week ago, I knew I needed to get there, fast. Her photos of the inside of the Fabric Corner showed lots and lots of pretty fabrics. You can find Stephanie's post here.

So, this past Saturday I drove to Arlington to check it out. I was not disappointed. Look what I saw when I opened the front door to the shop:
Now this is my kind of place. Fabrics piled everywhere! While I was there, they were having a sale of 30% off all home decor fabrics. I tried not to repeat the same photos that Stephanie took, but here's a small sampling of their home decor fabrics.

It appears that I was in a bright, cheery mood on Saturday, because I only took photos of bright colored fabrics. What can I say, I was super excited to find this place. While I loved so many fabrics, I didn't buy any. I will be back though, and my wallet won't be so fortunate next time.

I did, however, order some fabrics online over the weekend. I'm going to try my hand at making throw pillows (with a hidden zipper) for my family room with this fabric:

I'm trying to lighten up my family room, and I think this fabric will do just that, plus tie in a lot of the colors in my home. The scale of the fabric is much larger than it appears. One of those circles will be about the size of the pillow. I think I'll position the patterns so that one side of the pillow will have a green circle, and the other will have a blue circle.

For my living room, I'm going to make throw pillows (again, with a zipper) out of this fabric. I love it! Other people must too, because it's on backorder. Hopefully it will come in soon!

What projects do you have planned?

Hello Again and a Gorgeous Milwaukee Home

2010-09-28T08:50:00.001-04:00

First, my vacation was wonderful. I went completely off the grid for a full week, and I was able to relax and recharge my batteries (which I definitely needed). For all that asked, I enjoyed the Pillars of the Earth. It was a perfect vacation book.

Since I've been back, I've been busy at work and I've been good about going to the gym, which explains my lack of posts. But, I have been busy working on a few home projects, which I should be ready to post about in a few weeks. Wahoo! I finally feel like my house is starting to come together.

Now, I can't do a post without at least a few pretty images. One of my friend's cousins, Mary Best, was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for her home and design business. This woman runs her own business and has two children (ages 4 and 1), and her home is just gorgeous. I love the colors she used and the way she mixed styles. Sometimes I look at images from magazines or blogs and like the style and furniture, but I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate it in my own home. This style I can relate to and I feel like I could incorporate it into my home. Plus, I love the chandelier in her basement workroom!

All images from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and photographer is Micheal Sears

Please check out the full article, HERE, for extra photos and an interview with Mary. It's worth your time. If you're interested, Mary's website can be found, HERE.

Vacation All I Ever Wanted...

2010-09-03T09:45:00.000-04:00

Next week, I'm taking the week off work and going to the Cape (assuming the hurricane doesn't do any real damage tonight). I can't wait. I would love to sit in a little seat like this.....

bhg.com

and read this book.

Amazon

I know I'm a little late, but I've heard wonderful things about it.

I also hope to hit my favorite home consignment shop and thrift store while I'm on the Cape. I'll have my eyes open for white ironware (or any pretty knock offs).

I would love to find and hang some plates in an arrangement like this in my dining room...

But in all white, like these...

All dining room images from Decor Pad

I'll also keep my eyes peeled for any other bargains. But overall, I hope to eat a lot and relax. I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!

The Oval Office

2010-09-01T08:30:00.006-04:00

So, I didn't watch the President's speech last night. I know, I'm a horrible person. But I was at the gym, working on my fitness. But, I did see an article on CNN yesterday by Dan Lothian, here, that while the Obamas were away on vacation, the Oval Office got a little makeover.

Here's a before photo that I found:

Photographer: Pete Souza

I really like the colors in this room, and the rug is gorgeous. I love the starburst on it.

Now, here are some of the afters:

While it looks like a lot of the historic items stayed the same (the desk, a few chairs by the desk, bureaus and sidetables), the sitting area certainly got a lot of attention. I seriously want those couches for my family room. While the coffee table is a little modern for my taste, I think its scale works much better than the previous one.

I agree with the author of the article that the design team (unfortunately, they're not named), "transformed the president's office from a traditional and somewhat formal setting to a more modern-styled family room."

I believe that the striped chairs from the first image were reupholsered in leather. The article also mentioned that the lamps were new. I like how the interior designer(s) worked in the red, white and blue colors with accessories. Overall, the room feels very warm.

All "after" images photographed by Shawna Shepherd

The article also mentioned that the wallpaper is new, as well as the rug. I actually really like the color of the carpet - it almost looks like a natural rug, but softer. There are historical quotes that run around the perimeter of the carpet.

It's impressive that this was all done in 10 days (although, I'm sure everything was already planned and ordered well beforehand). Also, the article does mention that this was not paid for by the taxpayers. There's a historical association that pays for each president to customize the Oval Office, and the White House said that the cost of this was similar to the two previous presidents.

What do you all think? And please please please, no political commentary. DE is a politics free zone. We just judge design.

Are you ready for some football?

2010-08-31T08:50:00.002-04:00

I am! Especially college football. The season starts this Thursday night, although my team isn't playing until Saturday. I love having friends over to watch games, and my favorite things to make are dips. I have a ton of recipes, but I thought I would share two of my favorites. And since no post is complete without pretty pictures, here are some kitchens that I can dream I'll be cooking in!

1) Southwest Dip

Mix the following ingredients together and bake at 475 degrees for 30 minutes:

1 (or 2) jalapeno pepper(s) (chopped into pieces)
2 cans of 4oz green chilies (usually in the ethnic food aisle with Mexican food - I buy Old El Paso; also, buy them chopped or if whole, just chop them into pieces yourself)
1 big red pepper (chopped into pieces)
1 can corn (whole kernel)*
1/2 bag Monterey jack cheese
1 cup Parmesan cheese (and a bit extra to sprinkle on the top for a nice crust)
1 cup Mayonnaise

*Fresh corn is in season now, and if you grilled some up instead of using the canned corn, that may take the dip to a whole new level. But, the canned corn is plenty tasty too.

All images from Canadian House & Home

2) Buffalo Wing Dip (my personal favorite)

Let me start by saying I lost the original "recipe" for this, so I'm going to share how I make it. You can alter any of the ingredients to account for your preference of heat, etc. Have fun with it!

Ingredients:

2 packages of cream cheese
about 1.5 lbs of chicken (cooked, and then cubed or shredded)
1 bottle of buffalo wing sauce
16oz of salad dressing - can either be 16oz of blue cheese, 16 oz of ranch or 8 oz of blue cheese and 8 oz of ranch (this is my personal favorite)
1 or 2 bags of shredded Monterey jack cheese
a few stalks of chopped celery and some stalks for serving (optional)

Directions:

Take a 13 x 9 pan and spread the cream cheese on the bottom of pan to coat it. I usually end up using about 1 and a half packages, but just make sure it is a good, smooth layer. Next, in a separate bowl mix together the shredded chicken and the buffalo wing sauce. (Note on the sauce: I think I use 8 to 10 oz. So, it depends on the size of your bottle whether or not you use the whole thing. But, if you don't like things spicy, obviously use less sauce. It will look like a lot of sauce at this stage, but all the cheese and dressing cools if off). Next, pour the chicken/sauce mixture over the layer of cream cheese and spread it out evenly. Next, in a bowl mix together the salad dressing and some chopped celery (I may only use half a cup or, at the most, a cup of chopped celery -- you can also skip this step and it will still taste delicious). Spread the dressing mixture over the chicken layer, spreading it out as evenly as possible. Next, sprinkle the shredded cheese over the whole thing. I think I usually use a bag or a bag and a half. I'm pretty generous on this step.

Put into an oven at about 375 degrees. Cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the dip warms up. It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips and celery stalks. This is a really simple recipe, I hope I didn't make it more complicated than it is! Just a little warning, men seem to really like this recipe.

Enjoy! And I hope everyone's respective teams win (except if you're playing mine!).

Drool-Worthy Planner...

2010-08-27T15:10:00.005-04:00

Earlier this afternoon I stopped by Deliciously Organized and saw Carlee's post about planners. Oh my, I forgot how much I love those things. There's something about a paper planner that just can't be duplicated with an Outlook calendar.

Carlee loved these two from Sarah Pinto:

But I have my heart set on this one:

Do you think I would stay more organized with a pretty planner? I do. Maybe it will also bring me luck? Well, I'll find out. I just ordered one. You should really check these out. The styles are just adorable, and Sarah sells notebooks and post cards too (plus, a portion of the proceeds go to charity).

I hope you have a great weekend!

One of those days

2010-08-24T18:08:00.001-04:00

Ever have one of those days? Lots of things are going wrong. It's raining out. And has been for 3 days. Well, today is that day for me. I'm going to console myself with pretty pictures, and then see one of my best friends tonight. She just flew back from a trip to Ireland with her sister, and I can't wait to hear all the details! Hanging out with her will surely turn my frown upside down!

All images from Canadian House and Home

By the way, I'm working on the tutorial for a patchwork quilt. All the photos have been taken, I just need to write it up. I hope to finish it up soon!

Smitten with the Smitten Kitchen

2010-08-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

My favorite food blog is Smitten Kitchen. If you like to cook and you haven't visited the site before, you must go right over there and check it out. She tests out the most incredible recipes and then shares her take on the recipe and the changes she made. I find her instructions easy to follow, and her photography is amazing too.

This last weekend I made the Leite's Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies. These cookies involve giant chocolate chips, letting the batter sit overnight in the fridge and a little sea salt sprinkled on the top before baking. The cookie dough part was excellent. It has cake and bread flour in it, which gives it a great texture. Letting the batter rest for 24-36 hours really gave it a good taste, too. Supposedly, it allows the dough to absorb the egg better.

I promise you your patience will be rewarded. They turned out delicious. I could barely stand to let them cool before digging into them.

The sea salt doesn't have a salty flavor, it just elevates the taste of the chocolate. I don't think they're going to last long in my house!

I also HIGHLY recommend the Smitten Kitchen's classic brownie recipe. It is by far the best I've ever had. This recipe also uses cake flour, which gives the brownies the most unbelievable texture (and it also calls for lots of chocolate, for an unbelievable taste). You can blame any related weight gain on me, I hold myself fully responsible.

House Beautiful

2010-08-05T08:36:00.003-04:00

Image from House Beautiful

My husband was out with friends one night this week, so I spent the night devouring the entire new House Beautiful issue (with a little reality TV on in the background). I just loved it. Newell Turner is doing a fantastic job. For anyone that hasn't read it, I won't spoil any of the new images by posting them here.

Has anyone else had a chance to read the new issue? I would love to know what you think.

Happy Friday

2010-07-30T08:07:00.002-04:00

Image from Traditional Home, photography by John Bessler

I love this entryway from a Nantucket home featured in Traditional Home magazine. The floors, the millwork, the fun wallpaper - and, of course, all the light!

Craigslist Find...

2010-07-29T16:24:00.004-04:00

For any locals, I just saw this English Love Seat on Craigslist. While I don't have a place for it in my home, for $100 it looks like a great deal for someone else. I really like the lines of it, although I would probably reupholster it. The sellers are in Dover. For the out-of-towners, that is a NICE suburb. So, the piece is probably a good quality. Click here for the listing.

Baby Quilts

2010-07-20T08:13:00.002-04:00

These last few weeks I have been busy at my sewing machine, but I haven't shared any photos on here before now because I wanted the projects I was making to remain a secret.

Now I can finally share with you the two baby quilts I made for two great friends. The first quilt is for the 3 month old daughter of one of my best friends from college. I made a little patchwork baby quilt for her from Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday collection. My friend is a school teacher, so I thought the alphabet fabric would be perfect for her little girl! I really like how bright and cheery the fabrics are, and how they don't perfectly match. I put a nice soft fleece as the backing, so my friend's little girl can get all snuggled into it! (My friend also pointed out it's a great size for a playmat too).

Next, I made a baby quilt for one of my best friend's from work. She is wonderful and keeps me sane. Last Saturday was her baby shower, so I made another quilt! Since I knew she was having a little boy, I chose cute car fabric from the Wheels Fabric by Mind's Eye for Blake Riley. I used a yellow flannel for the border of the quilt and the backing. It's so nice and soft! Luckily, I had the advantage of knowing the colors she chose for the nursery, so I chose the yellow flannel to coordinate with it (along with the blues and reds in the fabric).

While neither quilt is perfect, I'm really happy with how they came out and I'm so glad that I could give my friends something handmade. A lot of love went into these quilts. And time. I now have even more respect for quilters! These projects were a lot of work, but I think they were well worth it. I can't wait to make more.

I just wish that I knew how to sew when my four nieces and nephews were born. I would have loved to make them something like this to let them know that their Aunt loves them and is thinking about them. In the category of it's never too late, this fall I'm going to try and make twin size bed quilts for my brother's children. Anyone have any tips for making one that big?

Also, I'm going to be making two more of these baby quilts this summer (what can I say, I'm at that age where everyone is having kids). Would anyone be interested in a tutorial for making a quilt like this?

Guest Post at Pickup Some Creativity

2010-07-19T08:25:00.002-04:00

Today I'm over at Pickup Some Creativity guest posting on how I chose my sewing machine. You can find my post, HERE.

Chris was nice enough to ask me to be a part of her Sewing 101 series. For anyone that hasn't stopped by yet, she is having guest bloggers post on beginner sewing topics for a whole month! Most of the topics are geared towards beginners, but I think that sewers of all levels would pick up a few good tips too. (I know I have!)

Chris, thanks again for including me in your Sewing 101 series! I am honored to be a part of it.

Wish List

2010-07-16T13:09:00.000-04:00

Anyone else notice all the cute jewelry that is on sale at Anthropologie? Here's a number of great pieces, all under $30 (and most under $20). I would love one of each, please!

All images from Anthropolgie

Fancy Dinner in the South End

2010-07-15T17:40:00.004-04:00

A friend and I went to Rocca in the South End last night, and had a great time! Rocca serves more Northern Italian cuisine, and my dinner was delicious. The food and service were great, and the company even better!

In addition to being a good restaurant, the outside area is designed really well. There is a path down to the restaurant from the sidewalk, and the walls are brick (which isn't too exciting) but the ceiling has these gorgeous planks. The photos don't do it justice.

Here is another photo from a slightly different angle so you can see the contrast between the wall and ceiling better. I love the light fixtures. I think they have to be bolted into the ceiling like that so they doesn't swing too much in a storm (they are quite large in person).

There is also a cute outdoor area, but unfortunately it was drizzling, so no one wanted to eat out there. I love the colorful planters and the paper lanterns.

And last, but not least, how cool is that giant wheel? I also love the eggplant colored street lamps. It adds a nice, fun touch. There are other businesses in this complex, so I'm not sure how much credit Rocca deserves for all the outdoor design, but whoever designed it did a great job. It is so inviting.

Guest post over at JourneyChic today!

2010-07-13T08:23:00.006-04:00

Image from Martha Stewart

Laura from JourneyChic has kindly asked me to do a guest post while she is taking care of her newborn baby boy! Stop on by and see my BBQ summer essentials, including the recipe for my mother's famous layered salad. You can find my guest post, HERE.

Laura, I'm so glad to hear that everything is going well with Junior! I hope he's a perfect angel and sleeps through the night for you now that you're home. Or, if that's not in the cards, at least a few (consecutive) hours every night!

Loss of a fellow blogger

2010-07-12T17:54:00.004-04:00

For anyone that prays, I ask that you pray for Marija's family. They lost a smart, charming and talented woman this last weekend, way too soon. You can read the post by Marija's husband, HERE.

Marija's blog was unique. She had the ability to intertwine her passion for design with her personality and her family's history and traditions. I think that's why I feel like I knew her, even though we hadn't yet had the pleasure to meet. It may also be that she did what I only dream about doing - leaving the legal field to do something more creative. This is a tragic reminder of just how precious life is. My heart is breaking for her family and friends. They are all in my thoughts and prayers.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner (or really pretty Stella and Dot earrings!)

2010-07-07T13:54:00.006-04:00

Today, I am the lucky winner of a giveaway by Cristin at Simplified Bee! Cristin and her sponsor, Lynda from Stella and Dot, gave away a pair of Jasmine Filigree earrings, and I was lucky number one! Wahoo!

I can't tell you how excited I am to wear these! I think they would look so great with a cute summer dress, like these:

All dresses from Anthropologie

Maybe I should get a cute new dress to go with my cute new earrings?

Happy Fourth of July!!

2010-07-02T08:23:00.001-04:00

I am ready for the long weekend! In celebration of the 4th of July, here are some images of a gorgeous home that was featured in Traditional Home Magazine. Suzanne Kasler was the interior designer. Of course, it's gorgeous. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

All images from Traditional Home Magazine, by photographer Tria Giovan, interior design by Suzanne Kasler

Girls Weekend Get-a-Way

2010-06-30T13:15:00.001-04:00

My mom and I had a fabulous time last weekend! The weather was perfect, and we were able to squeeze in everything we wanted to do. (Be warned, this post is LONG for me.)

After taking a scenic drive to Chatham, we parked the car and walked around the cute little downtown. We were able to do a little shopping for my niece and nephew, and take in the sights.

All the stores had the cutest signs.

We then took another little drive, and stopped to take pictures of the gorgeous water views and boats.

We then checked into The Bradford Inn. We loved it. The location was perfect, the rooms were large and spacious, and the grounds were immaculately kept. (They also gave us homemade cranberry and white chocolate cookies on check-out, which was a big bonus in my book!)

This was the view from our window! In the distance you can see Stage Harbor in the distance.

We had this view of a Church from the parking lot! Not bad...

My mom and I then took a little walk down to Stage Harbor. I have a client that lives in this neighborhood, and their waterfront home was recently appraised at $4 million (just to give you an idea of prices).

My mom and I loved everything about this house - the architecture, the shingles and the landscaping! It was perfect, and it had a water view!

For dinner, we headed to the Tavern at the Chatham Bars Inn. I had never been before, and it certainly didn't disappoint. The resort and the views were just gorgeous. There was a quick rain shower while we were coming in, so I didn't get any photos of the outside. I was able to snap a photo of this vignette though - how cool are all those mirrors?!

The next morning we went to the see the Chatham Lighthouse and beach. The weather was perfect again!

We then took a drive up through Orleans, Eastham and Wellfleet. This is a photo of the Eastward Ho Country Club. The golf course has incredible water views on each side. We pulled over to the side of the road so I could grab this photo, so it's not the best, but those are people playing golf down by the water.

We then headed to the Cape Cod National Seashore Park. We didn't have time to hike any of the trails, but we walked around a bit and then drove through parts of the Park.
It was so peaceful. I can't tell you how happy I am that so much land on the Cape is protected for future generations.

There's also beaches in the park. My mom dipped her toes into the 59 degree water! For a Floridian, this was a very big deal to her. I don't know how people were swimming out in the water, it was cold!

Here is the Nauset Lighthouse. We were told that it is the lighthouse on the Cape Cod Potato Chips bags. The company is still based on the Cape. (My husband went on a factory tour as a child.)

For everyone that has stuck with me for this long, here's a little reward. By the Chatham Bars Inn, there were homes like I have never seen before. They looked like they were out of the movies (or a really fancy shelter magazine). Here's my favorite:

I couldn't even get the whole house in the photo, it was that big!! The home had hydrangeas and day lilies lining the path to the front door - and it was a long path. My mom and I, having no shame, stopped in the middle of the street when there were no cars behind us to snap these photos. Doesn't it look like it's out of a movie?

Thanks for letting me share our trip with you! I hope you enjoyed the photos, I certainly had a lot of fun taking them!

Okay, so I lied . . .

2010-06-25T08:30:00.000-04:00

I'm posting about sewing again. (I swear I will take pretty pictures at the Cape this weekend to make up for it!)

Last night I made a little zippered, pleated pouch to match my new purse. I wanted a little pouch with a zipper to throw into the bottom of the bag so I wouldn't lose my credit cards, cash, etc., but I didn't want my normal bulkier wallet. Oh, and of course I wanted it to be cute!

So, I whipped up a little something that I found on Skip to My Lou. Click here for the link to their pleated pouch tutorial. This was the first time I had sewn a zipper, so this little pouch is not mistake free. But, I learned from the experience and the next ones I make will be much better.

Oh, and for all of you with eagle eyes out there, this is also a sneak peak into my master bedroom redesign. There is the new SW Blue Hubbard paint (from Martha Stewart's old SW line), and a sneak peak of the top of my new dresser. These photos were taken late last night, so the color and lighting are off, but you get the idea. I'll post more soon of the rest of the room.

Here is one last photo of the bag and matching pouch (whoops - I should have straightened the bag before taking the photo!). Although I can always do better, I'm very happy with them!!

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Pleated Hobo Bag

2010-06-21T08:14:00.000-04:00

This will be my last sewing post for a while, I'm sure people are getting sick of them! I promise I'll do some more design related posts soon, but please bear with me for one more post because I LOVE this most recent project :)

So, Saturday was my last sewing class at the Boston Center for Adult Education, taught by Stephanie Sabbe, and we made pleated hobo bags. (Note: Boston bloggers, I highly recommend her classes!!). I used fabrics from Amy Butler's Love collection and, as the name implies, I love this fabric. As you can see, we added a magnetic snap closure and some pockets to the inside.

Here is the inside from a different angle. The lining has fusible interfacing ironed on, so the bag has a lot of structure and support.

The straps also have interfacing, which makes them nice and strong. They also look cute with the contrasting straps on the inside! (To see how I refinished this chair, check out the post HERE.)

Here is one more photo. I just can't tell you how happy I am with the way it turned out.

My mom is coming to town next weekend, and I'm taking her down the Cape. She's never been before, and I think we're going to have a great time. I can't wait to use my cute new summer bag!

Ruffle Apron - Done!

2010-06-14T08:49:00.005-04:00

Here is the final product! I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Although, I may add a few more ruffles to make it a little longer (I'm a messy cook!). By the way, Stephanie is a great teacher! I love her laid back approach to sewing. I would recommend her classes to anyone in the Boston area.

Next Saturday we're making a purse, and I can't wait. I have the perfect Amy Butler fabric for it. The best part is, if I can learn to make a cute style, I could make a new purse for every season!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

My weekend

2010-06-08T08:53:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I had a fun packed day! It started off with the beginner's sewing class taught by none other than Stephanie Sabbe from Sabbespot! I had a blast meeting Stephanie and working on a ruffled apron. I thought Mad Men style fabrics would be fun on the apron. While not finished, here's a sneak peak: Directly from the sewing class I meant up with my sister-in-law for the Junior League of Boston's Uncommon Kitchen Tours. There were eight or nine homes open for the tour, and each home had their kitchen and dining room staged. The homes were in the South End, Back Bay and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. It goes without saying, but those are nice (really nice) neighborhoods. I only had my cell phone camera, and I didn't take photos of every kitchen because some homes didn't allow photos, and others were too crowded to get good shots. But, I was able to catch a few goodies.

We started the tour in the South End, where there were a lot of homes to see. Here's one of my favorites.

I love the backsplash and the pendant lights.

This little desk area was great too. This kitchen used every inch of space to its full potential. What a great use of a ghost chair, too.

I also loved the dining room, which was open to the kitchen.

Here is another pretty dining room. I like the unexpected deep color. You can't see it in the photo, but the ceiling was painted green.

Here's another shot. Sorry for the quality of the photo - it doesn't do the room, or its colors, justice.

This kitchen was a lot of fun. The owners had small children. Their toys were neatly stored on one side of the room, where there were upholstered chairs in a sitting area in front of a fireplace. I think the kids would love the countertop -- it had glitter in it! Again, the photos don't do it justice.

Look at all the storage!

One last shot from the stairs. I am having series stove envy right now . . .

This was another beautiful kitchen in Back Bay, on Commonwealth Ave. I'm a sucker for a white kitchen with a subway tile backsplash.

Here is the dining room, which was open to the kitchen. How beautiful are the built-ins and the window seat? To the right of the picture you can see a handrail -- a few steps up was a giant living room with spectacular views of the city.

I hope you enjoyed the tour, too. Emily, I was keeping an eye out for you since you blogged about this a few weeks ago. I'm sorry I didn't run into you!

Which kitchen is your favorite?

In my dreams...

2010-05-25T13:10:00.000-04:00

I would have a craft room like Martha Stewart's . . .

All images from Martha Stewart Living

And a laundry room like this...

Image from Canadian House and Home

Anyone care to daydream with me?

Lighting Update

2010-05-21T12:49:00.003-04:00

So, I bit the bullet and ordered a new lighting fixture for our upstairs hallway this morning. Thank you to everyone that commented on my previous post. After much thought, I decided to go with a semi-flush fixture from Schoolhouse Electric that would provide a similar look, but the length would work a lot better in the space.

To refresh your memory, here is our upstairs hallway:

And here is the semi-flush lighting fixture that I ordered in antique black:
If I had any photoshop skills I would combine the two photos, but I don't, so please use your imaginations! I'm going to have the fixture centered over the stairs.

I also have to thank Cristi from Charm Home, because while I was leaning towards a pendant light originally, I also liked the above semi-flush fixture but wasn't sure if it would provide the same "oomph". When she left a comment recommending the same fixture (and after a lot of other people recommended using the semi-flush style too), I knew it would be the best one to go with because it would have the style and the length that would work perfectly in the space. I love the shape of the shade. Plus, it was on sale! Sometimes everything just aligns, and it makes the decision a lot easier.

The fixture is made-to-order so it will be a few weeks until I get it. I promise to do a follow up post once it is installed. (And for anyone keeping track, I think it's a win-win situation for my husband and me - no need to declare a formal winner!)

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

More sewing!

2010-05-20T08:37:00.006-04:00

I thought I would share the dish mat and kitchen towels I made for my mother-in-law for the summer. She requested a nautical theme, so after searching high and low, I ended up back at Joann Fabrics and found a lot of cute fabrics. (Note: the tutorial for the dish mat is courtesy of Darby, found HERE.)

My mother-in-law was very happy with the fabric selections, which made me even happier! It's so nice to make a gift for someone and have that person like and appreciate it. Here is a close-up of the sailboat fabric.

Here are all the towels and dish mat together. I like how they are mix and match. This was the third dish mat I've made, and it's by far the best. It's nice to know I'm making some progress with my sewing skills. While they're not perfect (don't look too closely at my straight lines!), I'm definitely getting better. To really improve my sewing skills though, I've enrolled in a beginners sewing class every Saturday in June through a local adult education program, and the instructor will be the lovely Stephanie, from Sabbespot. I have a feeling the classes are going to be a lot of fun!!

In the meantime, I want to try making roman shades for my dining room with the fabric that I got at Zimmans (see my post HERE for photos). I think I found a great online tutorial, so in the next few weeks I'm going to give it a try. Wish me luck!

A look back on my garden

2010-05-17T07:59:00.007-04:00

This weekend the weather here was gorgeous. Yesterday I was able to get out and do some more work on my garden in the backyard. After adding a few more perennials, I'm really happy with how lush it looks, and I haven't even added any annuals yet. I want to make sure the warm weather is here to stay before buying and planting any annuals.

Yesterday afternoon, after I was finished in the garden, I went back to some photos from last year to see how much progress it had made. I was shocked by how much the plants grew in the last year (especially the catmint).

Here are some photos that I took on May 25, 2009:

It was a good start. I wanted to go with mostly perennials so that I wouldn't have to start from scratch each year. But, perennials are more expensive, so I knew I would just do a little each year and continue to add to the garden. (I added a few more plants after these photos were taken, I just don't think I have any pictures from later in the season.)

Here's a few photos from the garden yesterday. The blue catmints have gone wild, and I love it!

A little butterfly even came to visit! (It's the orange spot - I couldn't get any closer or it would have flown away.)

While most of the plants still haven't bloomed yet, it's really coming along. I'll post some more photos, maybe in late June or early July, when everything comes alive. The black eyed susans, echinacea, day lilies, etc., haven't bloomed yet, but when they do, I think it will really take the garden to the next level. The rest of the yard now needs some TLC, but one thing at a time!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T12:44:00.004-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers (especially my own)! I'm off to enjoy the day with my husband's family. I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

A little reveal and a lighting dilemma

2010-04-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

As I've mentioned in previous posts, Mr. Design Esquire and I have done a lot of painting over the last year. Most of this included painting all the trim in our house Sherwin William's Dover White. Today, I'm ready to give a sneak peak of our upstairs hallway.

To put this in perspective, I'll first show you a couple photos I took on the day of our inspection, before we bought the house. Notice all the dark trim.

Here is an after photo, with the trim painted. The walls are Sherwin Williams Rice Grain. I loved this light sand color after seeing it on Layla's blog, The Lettered Cottage. (Please ignore the ugly bathroom in the background, that's on the to-do list, and so is painting the doors.)
Obviously, I need a lot more art, but I love the direction it's heading. I had a custom runner made for the hallway, with a matching rug for the downstairs foyer. Here's a close up of the rug, the colors are actually brighter in real life. I love it!

Landry and Arcari

Now, this is where I need your help. The awful 80s light fixture has got to go. Ideally, I would love to recenter the new light fixture over the stairs so we could get a fixture with more length (remember, ceilings are low in my house). Hanging the fixture over the stairs would also better light the whole hallway. Right now, one side has much more light than the other. I want to use a Schoolhouse Electric pendant, sort of like the one below.

Schoolhouse Electric

My house is a colonial from the 1930s, and I want to bring the lighting fixtures in line with the architecture and feel of the home. I've already bought other light fixtures from Schoolhouse Electric for the foyers and hallways downstairs, and I'm waiting to purchase something for this upstairs hallway before calling the electrician out to install everything. I'm tired of having pretty fixtures sitting in a box, so it's time to make a decision!

The problem is that my husband loves the look of the Schoolhouse Electric pendant, but he's concerned that it hanging over the stairs will make the light be right about eye level in the hallway and it would be too bright. I don't think this is too big of a concern, since the shade will diffuse the light and not make it too jarring at night. I also think this hallway needs some drama and interest, and I think this light fixture would be perfect.

So, you (the jury) have heard both sides of the argument now. Which side do you think is right? Or, have I completely missed the boat and need to re-think everything?

Thanks so much for your in-put, I really appreciate it!

Girls Weekend!

2010-04-23T07:47:00.008-04:00

All images from Millie Motts photostream at Flicker found through Absolutely Beautiful Things

This weekend my book club is having a little girls weekend, and I'm so excited! I think we all need some quality girl time every now and then. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Drapes are (almost) done!

2010-04-19T09:15:00.003-04:00

This weekend I tackled the drapery project. Following Janell's instructions, found here, I made four drapery panels for my living room and I am very happy with how they turned out. Please excuse the quality of the photos and the lack of proper "staging", I snapped these photos before heading to work this morning.

To give you some perspective on how far this room has come since Mr. DE and I bought our home 2 and half years ago, here is a photo that I took during the inspection before we bought the house (this is the seller's furniture in the photo).

I know some people are against painting wood, but the ceilings in my home are not high and this room tended to get very dark so we painted all the trim Sherwin Williams Dover White and toned down the yellow to a nice cream color - SW Cottage Cream. Here's an after shot.
I still need to "train" the drapes and hem the bottom of the draperies (they're just laying on the floor right now), plus I want to play with the spacing of the drapes on the rod -- but I was so excited I didn't want to wait to post the photos. So pretend that everything is straightened out and I at least took the time to pin the bottom of the drapes up!

Also, I made the drapes long because I'm not sure if we may move in the next couple of years, and I want to get as much life out of these drapes as possible. Anywhere we move would have higher ceilings than this house (about 7 feet 6 inches). I'll play with the hems (eventually) so there's not quite this big of a puddle on the floor.

Here's a few more photos, because obviously I'm excited with how they turned out.

I only had one meltdown while sewing these, and it was likely a "user error" with my sewing machine. I needed to rethread the bobbin since it was running low, which I did, and I even sewed on a scrap piece of fabric to make sure everything was okay and it worked. Well, the next step was the final step on one of the panels - to sew the final stitch across the top of the panel (the only stitch that shows on the entire drape). Of course, something got bungled up and I was halfway done with the stitch when I realized the bottom thread (which was on the front of the drape) was all bungled and puckered. I started crying big time. After the lovely Mr. DE talked me off the ledge, I rethreaded the machine and re-inserted the bobbin (after throwing it across the room) and finished stitching the top stitch. Hopefully the drape is high enough that no one will really notice the one bungled drape. I'm not telling which one it is!

Last, but certainly not least, I have to thank Janell for the tutorial she put together on her blog. I cannot imagine how long it took her to take all the photos and detail each and every step. I am a beginner sewer, and her steps were easy to follow and I am so happy with the results. As I mentioned, the only mistake I made was my own fault with rethreading the machine. I think the biggest compliment of all is that my husband thinks they look fabulous. He doesn't get excited for much and he doesn't sugarcoat anything, so I know they look pretty darn good. He also told me they don't look handmade, which I'm pretty sure is a compliment!

Thanks for letting me show my latest project off! (And if I'm delusional and the drapes look like crap, please be nice in the comments and let me keep living in my little bubble!)

My weekend project

2010-04-16T17:55:00.002-04:00

Palmer Weiss

This weekend, I plan to follow Janell's wonderful instructions and sew drapery panels for my living room bay window. Her instructions can be found at Isabella & Max Rooms, here. Because I am a nerd, a few weekends again I did a test run with one yard of the fabric and one yard of the lining, and I love how it turned out. So, this weekend I'm going to test my sewing skills and attempt four panels. Wish me luck! Here are some of the images I was inspired by when I was re-decorating my living room.

Design, Inc.

I forgot the link, can anyone help me out?

Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles Magazine

It's supposed to rain this weekend, but I will definitely take some "after" photos weather permitting. If not, I'll try to get a few the following weekend (assuming we have some better natural light). Please wish me luck!

House Tour

2010-04-13T07:30:00.003-04:00

I have a confession. I troll the local real estate listings everyday. We won't be selling our house anytime soon, but I love looking at the listings to keep my finger on the pulse of the real estate market. So, if the time comes and we want to move, I'll be able to hit the ground running. (Plus, it's a lot of fun!)

In one of my broader searches, I found a beautifully decorated house. The house is a Cape, and has been wonderfully updated. Not every fixture is top of the line, but I love what the couple has done with the place. Look how pretty it is! The portico is so welcoming. Here is a close up of the siding. The owners did a wonderful job with the detailing.

I love the size of the kitchen, and the huge island. I prefer not to have the cooktop on the island, but the size of this island would make me rethink my general rule. I also love the hardwood floors. I bet everyone hangs out here during parties.

Here is another view. You also can see the dining room in the next room.

Speaking of parties, this dining room would be perfect for a dinner party or hosting a holiday. I love the paint color on the walls and the fancier chandelier with the farm style dining room furniture. It is a great mix of styles.
Here is the room from a different angle. You can also see the fun stripe they painted on the floor and the large mirror in the corner.

Here is the more traditional living room. I love the mirror and the tufted sofa. I assume this is their downstairs bathroom. I love the beadboard ceiling. It gives the bathroom a little extra something.

Here is the master bedroom. Again, I love the wall color and all the windows. Something tells me this is the last room on their list to furnish.

Because, check out their daughter's room. I love the light fixture (Ikea?) and the soft shades of pink.

This looks like a great little boys room or playroom. It is very organized!

Here is another more modern bathroom.

The deck and the backyard are huge. I could definitely throw a party back here!

So, what do you think? Did this couple do a nice job updating this home? Is there anything that you would change?

Guest Post today at JourneyChic

2010-03-24T07:53:00.006-04:00

Today you'll find me over at fellow Boston blogger JourneyChic discussing my wardrobe essentials! You can find the post, HERE. Please stop by and say hello.

Laura, thank you so much for asking me to do a guest post!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T08:47:00.004-04:00

Here are a few of my favorite green rooms, just to get you in the mood!

Images from Canadian House and Home

Or So She Says...

2010-03-10T08:10:00.004-05:00

Better Homes and Gardens

Today you can find me over at Or So She Says discussing ways to update your home for spring. You can find my guest post, HERE. I hope everyone is having a great week!

A little field trip and a find

2010-03-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

Saturday afternoon I found myself north of Boston on other business, when I decided to take advantage of being in the area to stop by Zimmans, a fabric store that I heard rave reviews about, but had never been to. Wow. I should have gone sooner! The place is amazing and enormous.

My cellphone photos do not do it justice, but the place is HUGE. I think I wandered aimlessly for at least the first 30 minutes, completely overwhelmed. Here's a photo taken toward the front of the store. Here's one facing the back. There were several rows like this, all front to back full of fabrics. Also, notice all the trash cans lining the aisles? Not only were the fabrics all traditionally stacked up vertically, but there were tons of trash cans in the aisles each full of probably 10-20 rolls of fabric.

Here's a photo of one back corner of the store. Did I mention I was here for about 1.5 hours? The basement was also full of fabrics and remnants. I was out of steam by the time I got down there, so I wasn't able to bargain hunt like I normally would have been. There are also two floors full of furniture and accessories. I cannot overstate how big this store is (and how much I want to go back!).
I only bought one fabric. I had been looking for a fabric to bring together my dining room which is painted Softened Green by Sherwin Williams and my living room, which is painted Cottage Cream by Sherwin Williams and decorated with blues and creams. I'm trying to pull some soft greens into my living room with the accessories and artwork, and needed a fabric to bring the two rooms together. I took this photo of it at the store with my cellphone, when I was debating whether to buy the fabric or not:

I pulled the trigger and bought it. I plan to make roman shades for my dining room with it, and then make a pillow or two for my living room (the rooms are across the foyer from each other). Here's the bay window in my living room. Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, it was a very dreary day Sunday so there's no natural light.

Here's a close up of the fabrics next to the wall color. There's a shine to the fabric, which is slightly distorting the colors, making them appear darker. The green stripe (second from the left) actually perfectly matches the paint color. I think the stripes will add some height to the room, and the cream color background will still let a lot of light filter into the room.

What do you all think? Was it a good purchase? Oh, and for a disclaimer, it will likely be a while before I sew these. I still need to make the drapes for the living room from Janell's tutorial, found here. I'm hoping to start that project next weekend, and it will probably take a few weekends to sew all the panels. Does anyone else have 15 projects (at least) going at the same time? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Bedroom update...

2010-02-22T08:00:00.002-05:00

Now that I am almost finished with our living room, I'm moving on to the bedroom. My inspiration, of course, is Phoebe Howard. Her bedrooms are so classic, tranquil and luxurious.

Here is one of the photos that really inspired me. It is from the guest bedroom in her Atlanta apartment. In an interview with House Beautiful, Phoebe Howard said that the wall color was Blue Hubbard by Sherwin Williams (it was from Martha Stewart's line and now discontinued, but apparently Sherwin Williams can still mix it). She said that it is a grayish blue, with just a touch of green in it. (I've also heard good things about Sherwin Williams Sea Salt - it's supposed to look like sea glass according to Layla at The Lettered Cottage.)

I think the Blue Hubbard color will match perfectly with my new bedding. When Pottery Barn had a recent sale, I bought a new duvet cover and shams from their Grand Embroidered collection in Porcelain Blue. They are really pretty and soft. The color of the blue detailing is even softer in person. I also bought the matching Hanna Quilt in Porcelain Blue to create a similar look to the image below:I love this image too. The starburst mirror is just gorgeous. I have a smaller one hanging above the headboard in my guest bedroom. I found it in a thrift store on the Cape for $20. I may try to find another one for the master bedroom, although I doubt I'll be that lucky again with the price!

Although, for a different look, the painting below is just gorgeous.Here are (a lot) more images from Phoebe Howard that I'm using as an inspiration as I think about the other elements in the room.

All images from Phoebe Howard

How wonderful are these rooms? Phoebe Howard really has a way with bedrooms. Although, to be fair, the rest of her homes are absolutely stunning too.

I may also try making a headboard based on the Colette Bed from Crate and Barrel. I made the headboard in my guest bedroom following the instructions by Young House Love, found here, and I'm very happy with the results. We will likely be moving in a year or two, and at that point I want to upgrade to a King size bed, so there is no reason to spend a lot of money on a headboard now.

So, what do you think?

A Big Thank You!

2010-02-21T14:21:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month I won a giveaway from Emily A. Clark, and this week I received the beautiful print from Sofia's Sketchbook in the mail. I love it! I chose this little owl, and I couldn't be happier.

How could I not be jolly looking at him? Thank you so much, Emily and Sofia!

Updating a pair of chairs...

2010-02-17T07:59:00.004-05:00

This weekend I finished up a project that I started the weekend before - painting and reupholstering two chairs that I bought on Craigslist. I love how they turned out, and this project has given me the confidence to tackle more furniture projects in the near future (in particular, I would love to paint my kitchen table and chairs).

First, here is the Craigslist picture of the chairs. The seller claimed they were mahogany, but were worn and in need of work. I loved the detailing on the backs of the chairs, so I thought they would be the perfect chairs to paint.
After following the tips suggested by Kate at Censtsational Girl, here, Brooke from Blueprint Bliss, here, and Janell from Isabella and Max Rooms, here, I first sanded the chairs (or should I say, my kind husband detached the seats and sanded the chairs for me). Next, I used leftover primer that we had to prime the chairs. Since it is winter here and I had to work indoors, I didn't use spray paint. Next, I applied two thin coats of Sherwin Williams Dover White paint, which was also leftover from painting all the trim in our house. For the last step, my husband applied wipe-on poly to give it a nice shine and to protect the paint job.

Here is the end result:

For the seat cushions, I only kept the original wood and replaced everything else. The original foam cushions were gross, so I used two foam cushions that I got at Joann's Fabrics that I cut to size. In hindsight, the cushions are probably too plush for the height of the back of the chair, but, they are very comfortable so I don't mind that they are not proportional. I then wrapped some batting around the foam cushions and used my staple gun to secure the batting to the back of the wood seat. Next, I centered and wrapped around the green trellis fabric that I bought at Joann's, and stapled the fabric to the back of the seat. Then the seats were reattached to the chair.

Here is another look at the finished chairs.
We are going to use one for our computer desk and the other for my sewing desk. I also think they're cute enough to pull into our family room when we have guests over and need extra seating. I can't wait to paint something again. I may have a problem . . .

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-11T12:20:00.004-05:00

Usually I'm not too sappy, but I do enjoy Valentines Day. Mr. DE and I always stay home and cook a special meal (usually a few courses) and enjoy a bottle of red wine. This year, I gave Mr. DE a little extra help with my gift, and pointed him towards three little landscape paintings that I really liked on etsy. They have already arrived, and I love them. I'll do a post on them soon.

This home, featured in Traditional Home magazine, would be a beautiful space to enjoy on Valentines Day (or any other day). I love all the rich, saturated colors.I'm not sure I could convince Mr. DE to paint our bedroom pink, but the color certainly works in this space. I love all the textures in the room, and that headboard is fabulous. The white linens keep the room from being too sweet.
I love the bedroom for the owner's two daughters. It is so fun, and certainly one they can grow into as they get older.

All images from Traditional Home, photography by Julian Wass

Next week I'll be back with some before and after photos of the two chairs I painted and recovered. I love the way they came out! Thanks to everyone who gave me tips on how to best tackle the project.

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend! Anyone doing something special for Valentines Day?

Great vacation and a little more sewing...

2010-02-01T08:00:00.003-05:00

I'm back! I had a wonderful time in Florida with my family, but unfortunately I caught a nasty cold and so I've been away from my blog a little longer than planned. Luckily, I'm feeling much better now.

First, I would like to share the dish mat I made for my mother, with matching kitchen towels. Again, I used Darby's tutorial from Fly Through Our Window, which you can find HERE. I love how it turned out (and my mom did too)! I used Amy Butler's Love fabrics, and I think the colors and patterns are perfect for my mom in Florida. I also had a lot easier time making this dish mat with the thinner towel.

While I was at it, I also made some dish towels with Valentines Day fabric that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics. The fabric on the left actually has glitter in it, which brings a little bit of sparkle to the kitchen.

I have lots of crafty plans up my sleeve too! I bought two chairs from craigslist that I plan to paint and to reupholster the seat cushions. I bought a fun green trellis fabric that I think will great. I've never painted furniture before, but I can't wait to give it a try. Any tips you would like to share before I start?

A warm getaway...

2010-01-15T08:51:00.001-05:00

Next week I'm taking the week off work and going to Florida to visit my mother. My brother and his family are coming too. They live in Chicago. I can't wait to spend time with my niece (almost age 3) and my nephew (age 1), and hopefully the weather will be warm enough that we can play outside. So far, the forecast is calling for highs in the upper 60s and mid 70s, and I really, really hope its right! That would be dreamy compared to here.

Anyway, to get me in the mood for warmer weather, here are some beautiful images from Traditional Home showing a 10 acre farm in Santa Barbara. I love the tent, balcony and other outdoor living areas.

All images from Traditional Home

I hope to do another post or two before I leave on Monday. I have a few more sewing projects to share, but since they are gifts for my mom, I'm going to schedule to post them after I leave so I won't ruin the surprise!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

A little bit of sewing...

2010-01-04T20:05:00.008-05:00

While it was snowing outside this weekend, I had fun tackling a few sewing projects that had been put on hold the last few weeks (or really, months). I made a few pillows on Saturday for my living room and then on Sunday a dish mat from this tutorial by Darby from Fly Though Our Window. She is a wonderfully talented person, and I love all her sewing projects. I cannot tell you how happy I am that she writes these tutorials for us beginners!

I'll use the dish mat by putting it on my kitchen counter, and then placing items on it that didn't thoroughly dry in the dishwasher (or when I'm hand washing dishes, I can set the dishes on it to dry). It will be better than the Bounty towels or thinner dish towels that I normally use. Plus, I'm really happy with the way it turned it! I chose two coordinating bright and cheery fabrics to bring a little color into these long winter months.

I probably should have straightened the mat better before taking the photo - oh well!

Here's a close up of the triple stitch that Darby recommended using. It is a nice substantial stitch, and it was the first time I used a speciality stitch on my sewing machine.

The one thing that I would do differently next time is to use a thinner towel. I couldn't do the final step because I couldn't get the dish mat to fit under my sewing machine's foot to sew the last top stitch around the perimeter of the mat. Even so, I think it will work fine and hold up well in the washing machine. Plus, it will look pretty hanging from the bar on my oven!

*** UPDATE*** I should have mentioned in my original post that the base of this project is a bath towel, which is what makes the dish mat more absorbent than paper towels or regular kitchen towels. The project is very inexpensive since you can use an old bath towel and less than two yards of coordinating fabric. It will also be more economical than running through a lot of paper towels when you're trying to dry items that didn't complete dry in the dishwasher (or letting hand washed items air dry). Darby has a very easy tutorial for any sewers out there!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T15:25:00.012-05:00

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday! I am looking forward to the long weekend, and the New Year. Hopefully 2010 is much better than 2009!

So, to try something a little different today, I took a stab at creating a fun New Years outfit on Polyore. Ever since my sister-in-law asked her bridesmaids to wear gold shoes for her and my brother's wedding, I've had a thing for sparkly gold shoes. So, I picked an outfit around this fun pair of shoes.

New Years Eve by designesquire featuring J Crew

I hope you have a fun, safe New Year's Eve. I'll be at home watching the ball drop on TV (assuming I don't fall asleep on the couch).

New Year's Eve Ball, 1978. Photo credit: The New York Times.

This picture cracks me up. I'm not sure why. I imagine the guy with the pipe saying, "Wow, this is one big ball. Now, how is this going to work again?".

I also wanted to thank everyone for all the comments and emails this past year. I am so glad that I took a chance and started a blog. I've met so many nice, talented people and I can't begin to thank all the other bloggers out there enough for sharing all their creativity, knowledge and ideas. I've learned so much in the last few months and I now have so many design ideas floating around in my head. I can't wait to start putting them in action.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Traditions

2009-12-21T07:30:00.004-05:00

Growing up, Christmas wasn't Christmas without my mother's breakfast casserole. She would either prepare it the night before or get up early Christmas morning to make it. She would then put it in the oven right before we started opening presents, so by the time we were finished the casserole was ready. (It also made the whole house smell good while it was cooking!) In case you need a new breakfast recipe, here is my mother's recipe.

Breakfast Casserole

1 (16 ounce) package Regular Flavor Jimmy Dean Sausage

10 eggs, lightly beaten

3 cups milk

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

6 cups cubed bread

2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped (optional)

1/2 cup thin-sliced green onion (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F. In large skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until thoroughly cooked and no longer pink. In large mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, mustard and salt; stir well.

Distribute half the bread evenly in a buttered 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with half the pepper, half the cheese, half the sausage and half of each optional ingredient. Repeat layering using remaining bread, pepper, cheese, sausage and optional ingredients. Pour egg mixture evenly over casserole.

Bake uncovered for 55-60 minutes, or until eggs are set. Tent with foil if top begins to brown too quickly.

I think this recipe could also be modified by substituting in peppers, ham, bacon, veggies or anything else that floats your boat. This year I may mix it up a bit by combining my mother's recipe with my mother-in-law's quiche recipe, that way I could incorporate some of the traditions from my husband's family into our breakfast (plus, a buttery crust usually makes anything taste better!).

All images from Better Homes and Gardens

Karen over at Strictly Simple Style is also discussing some of her favorite Christmas traditions today, including the Caramel Apple French Toast casserole that she serves for brunch every Christmas morning. I will definitely need to make that soon, it sounds delicious!

A Country Christmas

2009-12-15T12:57:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that Christmas is next week! I'm not quite ready yet. There are still a few gifts that I need to get, a Christmas Eve menu to plan and my house is in desperate need of a cleaning. That will have to wait though because Mr. DE will be busy painting our foyer and upstairs hallway this week.

Also, is anyone else having the problem that they're buying themselves gifts instead of their loved ones? There is just so many cute things out there, and so much of it is on sale that I can't help buying myself a thing or two when I go shopping . . .

I think if I lived in this house, I would always be ready for the holidays and guests (at least, this is part of my fantasy). I love how they decorated this old Colonial with a bit of a rustic cottage feel. The home looks so relaxed and beautiful, its just waiting for a party to be thrown in it! All the wreaths and greenery are just stunning too. Enjoy!

Images from Country Living

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow....

2009-12-07T07:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning I woke up to a winter wonderland outside. I love snow. I especially love how snow makes my favorite tree in the backyard look. It was a lot of fun decorating our Christmas tree Saturday night with the snow falling. I felt like I was in a Christmas carol!

A few Christmas decorations...

2009-12-01T07:50:00.007-05:00

This weekend I started putting out my Christmas decorations. This year I'm mixing it up a little. To add some drama, I bought this large gold bowl and filled it with some giant ornaments from Target. (The check-out guy at Target remarked that I must have one giant tree when he saw these ornaments, which made me chuckle.) I love the gold and red color combination.

While the bowl currently lives on my dining room table, it will be moving into my living room next weekend when I get my new coffee table. I've been working the last few months on updating my living room, and I think it will be ready for a few after photos in the next few weeks. Maybe I'll post a few sneak peeks this weekend. I have a few sewing projects that I want to tackle before the room will be closer to done. Is anything ever really "done"?

** Note: I know my dining room set is terrible. I plan on getting a real, wood dining room set when I find one that I like (and when I've saved some money). Little by little I'm tackling the rooms in my house, and the dining room is on the bottom of the list! Karen, you did a post on this a few months ago when you started your dining room redesign that I completely related to. You can find the post, here.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T08:11:00.004-05:00

Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell

Image from Best Norman Rockwell Art

I'm really looking forward to spending time with my husband's family tomorrow. Although this hasn't been an easy year, I have so much to be thankful for. I'm off for the rest of the week to spend time with family, eat a lot food, watch a lot of football and do a little shopping! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

More images I'm thankful for...

2009-11-23T07:30:00.001-05:00

All of these images are getting me in the mood for Thanksgiving. I really enjoy how simple, yet beautiful, each room is decorated. It just goes to show that your home doesn't need to be fancy to be warm and inviting for the holidays.

All images from Country Living

Happy Wednesday

2009-11-18T12:40:00.004-05:00

Even though I'm still underwater at work, I'm starting to look forward to Thanksgiving! Here are some beautiful dining rooms to drool over.

Images from Traditional Home and Phoebe Howard

Serenity Now

2009-11-10T13:48:00.006-05:00

Image from Traditional Home

I have not been able to post as much as I would like lately. Work has been crazy. There was another set of layoffs last week, but luckily I survived. It has made for quite the stressful time though, not knowing whether I would be one of the ones laid off. Plus, I doubt the layoffs are completely done. By the time I've been getting home at night, I just haven't had the energy to post. I hope this will change soon. I've been doing a lot of work around the house the last few weeks that I would love to post about.

Well, that's enough woe-is-me. I love the above room - that mirror is amazing and I love the mixture of silver and gold above the fireplace. Speaking of the fireplace, how fabulous is the brick's herringbone pattern? The color on the walls is just beautiful too. I definitely could snuggle up on one of those chairs with a nice fire in the fireplace.

Personalizing my home..

2009-11-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice Halloween! We had lots of trick-or-treaters, and they were all cute and (most) were very polite. I really love the community aspect of Halloween. It's fun to see all the kids and their parents out and about and having fun.This fall I have really been trying to make our house feel more like a home. We've lived here almost two years and I'm just now really starting to decorate. I think as newlyweds, we could only buy so much when we moved in, so now that it's a few years later I want to buy the little things that will make our house feel more like us and reflect our personalities. Here's some ideas on accessories.
For some reason, I vacillate between more of a country style and then more of a modern style. I think that's why it's been hard for me to buy things, I'm sort of all over the place. I think that just means I should buy different styles, and then change things around for the seasons and my moods. I think that's a good rationalization on why I should buy more.

Images from Country Living and S. R. Gambrel

Is anyone else schizophrenic when it comes to styles? If so, how do you deal with it?

Halloween

2009-10-29T09:30:00.002-04:00

I LOVE Halloween. I haven't decorated as much as I would like this year because work has been a beast the last few weeks. So, this year I'm enjoying looking at other people's decorations.

This house from Country Living is amazing. But it may be a little too spooky for me.

I also like these images from Martha Stewart . They are still very festive, but a bit less spooky. I think a little spooky is good, but I don't want to scare any children (although, that first image may be for better suited for older children).

Anyone have any good Halloween plans?

I've been BOO'd!

2009-10-28T20:32:00.002-04:00

Image from Country Living

I've been Boo'd by Kathy at Creative Home Expressions! The "booing" was started by Toni over at The Tattered Cottage.

Here are the Blogland instructions for participating in the Halloween fun.

You have been Boo'd. Please keep the fun going by following these instructions:

1. You have 24 hours to work your spell.

2. Copy and post the Halloween Boo Poem with the instructions for playing.

3. Pick 4 blogs you enjoying visiting and tell why you enjoy visiting them, with a link to their blog and remember to link back to me.

4. Be sure to ADD your "Boo" Post back to this original post (The Tattered Cottage) so everyone can join in on the fun.

5. Let's see how fast and far this spreads between now and Halloween.

You Have Been BOO'd

The air is cool, the season is fall,

Soon Halloween will come to all.

Ghosts and goblins, spooks galore...

Tricky witches at your door.

The spooks are after things to do,

In fact, a spook brought this "BOO" to you.

The excitement comes when friends like you,

Copy this note and make it two.

We'll all have smiles on our faces,

When we see who Boo'd who's places.

The following have been Boo'd:

1) The Green Door - I love her style! She and her husband are renovating their house, and they're doing a beautiful job.

2) Deliciously Organized - Carlee and Tifla are two very talented sisters, and I love all their style and organizing tips.

3) Everything LEB - LindsB is getting into the Halloween spirit and I love it! She's got a really good eye, and I always enjoy her posts.

4) Strictly Simple Style - Karen not only has a great style, but she always sends me the nicest emails and always comments on my blog. She's also super crafty too.

Colorful House Tour and Class

2009-10-25T18:14:00.007-04:00

This Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a "Budget Decorating Class" through the Boston Center for Adult Education, taught by Kyle Freeman, of Cloud 9 Organize and Redesign. Kyle also contributes to Apartment Therapy. The picture above is of Kyle's living room, where the class took place. It was so neat to see the real live space after seeing it on Apartment Therapy.

I learned about the class through, Laura, from JourneyChic. I am so glad she told me about it. Not only did I get to meet her, but I learned some good, budget-friendly design tips. I'll pass on a few of the tips, as we tour Kyle's apartment.

The white couch below was a craigslist find. Kyle re-used a mirror she already owned and added a window shade to accentuate the built-in behind the couch and mimic the windows directly across from it. This area is decorated very differently now (the dining room table is now in front of the built-in), but it is even prettier in person. The light just flows into this room. I love the lantern too.The window treatments below are a vintage find (just beautiful in person). Kyle also used in-expensive curtains to soften the hallways in her apartment. The panels really did the trick.

Her kitchen cabinets are from IKEA, and moveable. The kitchen was slightly rearranged this weekend. I just love all the color. She has a pretty orange rug on the floor in here now (actually, FLOR titles). She said she wanted to make the kitchen feel more like a family room, and I think she really accomplished that feel.

Just look at the beautiful window bench in the back. Some of the fabrics are vintage. Kyle said she uses all sorts of vintage fabrics for pillows - linens, pieces of vintage clothes, etc. find Another trick is she sews each side of the pillow with a different fabric, so she can mix it up whenever she feels like it.I love this pretty chair and lamp. It adds such a unique element to the kitchen.

I think I could find a lot of inspiration at this desk . . .

. . . and in this office.

This couch was also a craigslist find.

All images from Apartment Therapy

A good portion of the class was spent looking at before and after photos of spaces that she re-designed professionally. It was really interesting to hear how she approached each space and then re-worked them. All of the changes were relatively inexpensive, it was mostly about improving the furniture and art placement. Kyle also went through photos that students submitted, to advise them on how to improve their spaces. I really learned a lot by hearing her suggestions, even though the spaces were not mine (I got swamped at work in the middle of the week and missed the deadline to submit photos -- so stupid, I know).

Overall, I am so glad that I went to this class. I learned a lot, got to see a beautiful home, and I got to meet a fabulous blogger! It was a great day! I can't wait to see what other classes the BCAE offers.

Beautiful Colonial Home

2009-10-20T20:21:00.007-04:00

Well, it is definitely fall here, and I find myself drawn towards cozy, New England style homes.

I love this Connecticut home from Country Living. I think the homeowners did a good job updating the home, but keeping it true to the Colonial feel. I also like how they displayed their collections. I just wish there were more photos of the living room and bedrooms!

All images from Country Living

I'm dreaming of...

2009-10-18T21:12:00.007-04:00

a white Halloween?
It snowed AGAIN today. These pictures are of my backyard early in the afternoon, so it snowed a lot, lot more as the day went on. At one point this afternoon my husband said it felt like Christmas, not mid-October. I'm not looking forward to the commute tomorrow morning. I really hope everything has melted by then.

Although it looked pretty, the snow ruined my plans today. Eddie Ross had to cancel the flea market trip due to the weather. Mr. Design Esquire scored major brownie points by offering to go with me to the flea market if I still wanted to go, but with the weather forecast I didn't think it would be worth the trip. I should note, the forecast today was for lots of wind and rain - no snow. So, I was shocked to look out my window in the early afternoon and see the white stuff falling from the sky. It sure made the Patriots game fun to watch though (as did the score!).

At least I got a little fix of Eddie Ross this evening on HGTV. Did anyone else see the Halloween special? I loved Eddie's design. I would call it "classy Halloween". As a bonus, a lot of the decorations would last through Thanksgiving. I would recommend the special if you have time to watch it.

Snow?!!

2009-10-16T08:09:00.006-04:00

Image from Country Living

Well, we had our first snow fall of the season this morning, and it is only October 16th! The snow didn't stick to the ground (just some bushes), but it was definitely snowing outside my house this morning! I think I need a nice cozy room like the one above to spend the day in!

This Weekend...

2009-10-13T19:47:00.007-04:00

I am so excited because this weekend I'm going to the Eddie Ross Flea Market Trip to Todd Farm Flea Market. Basically, the trip will be Eddie and Jaithan guiding a group of people around the flea market, sharing their wisdom and insider tips on finding good deals. I just hope I remember everything they say!

First, I can't wait to meet Eddie and Jaithan. I'm sure everyone reads his blog, but if not, you can find it, HERE. You'll find tons of good ideas on all sorts of things, like decorating, cooking, crafts, flower arrangements and restoring furniture.

Second, I hope to find some good items. I've spent the last few weeks trying to make a mental list of items to look for. I'm worried that if I don't have a plan, I'll get sidetracked easily and not get what I want and end up with random objects (granted, I'm sure even the random things would be good!). So, here is what I am thinking:

Art. We have around 4 things hung on our walls. I am in desperate need of something that could pass as art on most of our walls. The problem: I am terribly picky about art, hence the reason I don't own any. So, I need to keep my eyes open for good stuff for my walls. I don't just mean prints either, I think a flea market may be a good place to find some unique things that would look really cool hung in groups or alone as a statement piece.

A dresser for our living room. I would love something to hold linens and other knick-knacks.

A dresser for our guest bedroom. I would love one like Erin's from Elements of Style (I would actually like one of everything in this photo, please!).

Just so my husband doesn't freak out if he reads this, I know I am not going to get all of these things. But a girl can dream, right? In reality, I seriously doubt I would find dressers for a price I would be willing to pay (which is not that much). But I would love to find one or two great items - hopefully some nice accessories or something art-y. I will definitely do a post next week on the trip! Please keep your fingers crossed that I find some great stuff (for the right price!).

Is this Week Over Yet?

2009-10-07T20:06:00.006-04:00

I am having a long week, and I really want the weekend to hurry up and get here so I can sleep in Saturday morning. On that note, here are some lovely bedrooms that I would love to wake up in. Enjoy!

Images from Phoebe Howard and S. R. Gambrel

Stunning Entryway

2009-10-05T19:57:00.004-04:00

Image from Traditional Home

I love this entryway. I don't think I can pick a favorite element - the shape and size of the front doors, the light fixture, the delicate console table and of course, the painted stairs. I love it!

A BIG Thank You...

2009-10-05T19:45:00.005-04:00

To both A Life's Design and Nesting Place for their giveaways! I can't believe it, but I won two giveaways over the last week! (I promptly stopped and bought lottery tickets on the way home from work tonight- I hope I continue my winning streak!!)

First, I won a beautiful milk glass bowl from Megan at A Life's Design. Megan had the giveaway to celebrate opening her own etsy shop, which you can check out here.

Next, I won a Small Words giveaway from Nesting Place. I can't wait to have a special sign made for one of my nieces and nephews!! Her pieces are so cute and I think every child would love one! The most amazing part? I beat out 1,436 people to win (hence, the buying of the lottery ticket).

Thank you so much for such generous giveaways - I cannot believe I won two within a few days of each other!!

Twist and Shout

2009-10-02T07:00:00.002-04:00

Images from Traditional Home

I am currently obsessed with stairs since I really want to paint the ones in my house. I love the twists and turns of this staircase. The blue ceiling, windows and lantern are also really neat features. Everything is just so light and bright!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Come See Me...

2009-09-30T08:29:00.005-04:00

. . . Over at Creative Home Expressions! Kathy Passarette was kind enough to include me in her "5 Things You Didn't Know About . . . " Series. Come see my answers, here.

Thanks again, Kathy!