Moodboard Monday: Fresh Library

Morning y'all! So about this time of year I start craving a clean minimal space.  Yesterday we headed out to find a hutch for our kitchen.  We needed a little bit of extra storage and this one wall next to our stairs needed a piece of furniture in front of it.  We ended up going with this one from Crate and Barrel.  I wanted something sort of rustic with clean lines to contrast with the toile party happening on our walls.  We get it in a couple of weeks so I'll definitely share pictures when it arrives.

While we were at Crate and Barrel, I came across this really pretty Ainsworth Walnut Desk. 

Ok, it kind of looks fug in the picture, but it's really, really pretty in person.  The wood is gorgeous and much warmer and richer in real life.  It's also a  really solid piece, and feels very high quality, which is what I'm looking for in furniture right now. 

So of course I started imagining it in the office/library we're eventually going to build in the formal living room, a smallish room off of the entry.  For the moment, I want something crisp and clean and sort of modern with classic elements. 

Here's what I came up with. 

Ok, not totally minimal.  I can't help but layer. I feel like there's a lot of different things going on here, but it would be cozy and still fresh. 

Of course, this probably won't happen until 2015 since we have a few other big things we're doing in 2013.  But I'm actively campaigning for the desk because I can't stop thinking about it.  I'll let you know how it turns out ;)

P.S. Is it not so weird to write 2013??

P.P.S.  Downton last night almost made me rethink my desire for more contemporary clean lines in my house. 

* Sources for the mood board here

Sissy's (Kinda) Big Girl Room

Morning y'all! How's your morning going? I've already been yelled at for not getting the pancakes made and on the table quick enough.  So sorry King Edward.  Soo sorry.

Anyway, a couple of months ago my middle sissy, Elizabeth, asked me to help her with her big girl bedroom (you can see the original post here).  She's not totally a big girl because she's only 22 and to me that's basically still a baby.  I knew she wanted a happy but relaxing room to rest her tired dogs after a day of hustlin' in the popsicle industry (she works for a delicious popsicle company called GoodPops). So here's the moodboard from the original post:

Well, she sent me some pics of her room, and while it still needs a headboard and maybe some window treatments, I think it looks pretty great! 

 She used some sort of panorama app to take these pics.  She's a tech nerd and knows all the cool stuff the young kids are using these days.

It's kind of fun to see it all come together.  I love that it's so light and girly.  She has a few pieces that are really nice and will move on with her (like that snakeskin bar cart/side table), but there are also some budget pieces that will allow for her changing tastes as she becomes a grown-up. Thanks Elizabeth for sharing these! Have a lovely day y'all! 

Big Girl Place on a Budget

I'm helping my sissy with her big girl apartment that she's sharing with some friends.  That's such an awkward time for decorating because not only are you on a budget, but you're sharing furniture and combining accessories.  You're also sort of a half grown up so wine and liquor bottles are no longer acceptable decor pieces, but you still drink enough of each to know that "investment pieces" aren't really a great idea ifyouknowwhatimean.  It's expensive to furnish a place, but I think I've found some pieces that aren't too pricey for a young lady starting out.

First, the Ektorp loveseat and chaise lounge from ikea.  Joni endorses it (she used it in her daughter's first apartment here) and she's the boss of slipcovered furniture*.

*I like slipcovers, especially for messy 20 year-olds who eat shells and cheese and drink red wine on the sofa while watching Bachelor Pad.  There are way to many opportunities for one's jaw to drop and little shells to fall out of your mouth onto the sofa and leave a nice little cheese stain.  If you watch Bachelor Pad, you know what I'm talking about (every time Chris from Emily's season talks, the twins, Ed, too many mental giants in one house, the fact that Kalan's kind of the normal one, it's a lot to take in)



Also from Ikea, the Agen chair.  $30. Stackable if you need room for a dance party.

And this Peekaboo clear coffee table from SB2.  To keep it young and fresh.  

The Suze would also require you to have some sort of large tree.  She sent me one when I moved into my first Kansas City apartment.  The front desk people were like, "um yeah, you have a tree in the front office?" I loved it!  Parents, it's a good gift to send your new grown-up kids.  I like a palm or a fiddle leaf fig. 

With those basics you can pretty much accessorize however you'd like.  This is what I did: 

Nothing fancy.  Pretty neutral.  I'm having a yellow moment so I added a pop of yellow.  That's a Slim Aarons print.  There's a way to get those on the cheap, but I'm not going to tell you because I semi-respect copyright laws*.  I love the Pottery Barn jute braided pillow cover.  I have them in my living room in french blue, but I'm wanting some white ones for the next house.  The grey la fiorentina pillows are from Arianna Belle and the metal accordion side table is from Urban Outfitters.  Finally, the rug is from Overstock.  I would not spend a lot on a rug, especially if you anticipate dance parties.  

Hope my young readers found something useful here! 

* Ironically, I focused heavily on copyrights & trademarks in law school.  I say ironically because design bloggers technically violate copyright law all day everyday.  The magazines have figured out how to work with it, rather than taking the music industry route and suing everyone.  I'm of the opinion the laws need to be changed, but that's boring stuff for copyright nerds like me so I'll leave it at that.  

Moodboard Monday: Sissy's (Kinda) Big Girl Room

Morning y'all! Last night my Sissy, whom we affectionately call Wizzie, texted me to see if I could put together a little moodboard for her new bedroom.  She just graduated from University of Texas and works for a popsicle company called GoodPops - they are superdelicious guilt-free popsicles that you need to try if they are in your neighborhood grocery stores (check their website for locations).  Anyway, Wizzie is my silly sister, super-girly like me, and loves happiness, glitter and Buddy the Elf.  So here's what I came up with this morning:

She has the budget of a 22 year-old without a trust-fund so I tried to keep it to things that weren't to 'spensive.  Here are some linkies: 

• Monogrammed Hemstitch Euro Sham $46 from TinyTulip.com (great site for monogrammed stuff - I bought some towels for Edward's Bathroom, which you can see on the website, so yeah, we're famous) 
• Pink Giraffe Pillow Cover $34 from Etsy: Festive Home Decor
• Blue Velvet Pillow $75 from Arianna Belle
• Parsons Desk $116 (on sale) from Home Decorators Collection 
• Tufted Arch Headboard $399 from Home Decorators Collection 
• Anthropologie Pipeline Handle $12 for the dresser 
• Brass Etagerie Ikea Hack DIY on Little Green Notebook (the Ikea Vittsjo Units are $70 and spray paint is only about $5) 

The garden stool, art, poodle book ends and ghost chair are already in my sissy's possession so I tried to work with that color scheme while still keeping it fresh and relaxing.  I love an all-white bed.  I would say it's my signature, if I were to have one.  Maybe it's because when we were little our mom (The Suze) would call bedtime Lily White's Birthday Party, thus brainwashing me into believing sheets must be white.  And, y'all, I believe that whole-heartedly.  Lily White Sheets = Bedtime Imperative.  I truly believe there's nothing better than crawling into a crisp white bed after a long day! Have a lovely Monday!

P.S. Bachelor Pad tonight!

Moodboard Monday: Family Room & Art I Need

Susie Pryor - Beach Stroll

Morning y'all! I hope you had a lovely Father's Day weekend! Kip installed a fan and we ate our weight in fried chicken so I would say, overall, it was a successful weekend.  I've written about my favorite artist Susie Pryor in the past (see here).  I love her work, especially when her subjects are little ones.  I saw the above painting the other day, and I decided that I need it.  It reminds me so much of Edward, probably because he's pantsless and in what looks like an oversize t-shirt.  That's Edward's standard uniform at home when I'm too lazy to deal with his wiggles - who needs pants anyway? Also, because Edward is a wanderer, a trait he inherits from his Grandpa as well as his Dad.  He loves to take a stroll by himself (within reason, obviously, since he's one and a half).  Ms. Pryor managed to capture a memory of Edward that I will always have without even knowing him so I'm pretty sure it's meant to be mine.  I don't often want something that badly, so, ahem Kip, save yer pennies please because I want it realbad. 


So with that desperate plea, I give you a moodboard I'm working on for my family room (art I need included).  You can even get a glimpse of the family room in my new house in the corner! I would show you more images of the home, but I feel weird putting someone else's home with all of their stuff out there without them knowing (even though I kind of do that every day). It's still a work in progress, but basically a way to get my ideas out in front of me.

I've always loved the Kelly Wearstler for Schumacher Gordian Weave fabric.  I think it would be a great way to tie in (no pun intended) the black and white striped awnings outside the room.  Our sofas will be more spread out than in the current house so I think I want to slipcover the ottoman that currently functions as our coffee table and place it in front of the fireplace for more seating.  Then I can get some proper tables to use in front of our sofas.   The Suze has a pretty piece of thick beveled glass over two blue and white garden stools and it makes for a lovely low table so I may steal that idea.  Ok y'all, that's all for today! Have a good one!

Moodboard Monday: Chaise Love

Morning y'all! It will be a miracle if I make it out of my PJ's today.  The house needs major cleaning (yuck) and it's rainy and I can't go to the grocery store on a whim anymore.  I now have to do my grocery shopping sans Edward - he insists on pushing the cart despite the fact that he's 2 feet tall. He also has to make a lot of noise to let everyone know just how hard he's working.  There's no bargaining with this child so he gets to stay home.  Anyway, there's no reason for me to leave the house today so that essentially means there's no reason for me to put on regular clothes or brush my hair.

But that's not why I'm here today.  I'm here to do something I love to do, which is find expensive items I can't afford and pretend they're mine.  Today's topic: the outdoor chaise.  We purchased our chaises over the weekend (I'm so excited to get them and play with pillows), but that hasn't stopped me from coveting these amazing bamboo sun chaises from Michael Taylor Designs.

I saw them in this month's Veranda feature The World of Outdoor Chaises that I can't afford. I love them sooo much.  Sometimes I ask Edward, "How much does Mommy love you?" and he holds his arms out wide and says "much."  I could amend that question to say, "How much does Mommy love the Michael Taylor outdoor bamboo sun chaise?"  That's how much I love it.  

I love it.  

So I made a moodboard for y'all of my dream backyard, which includes this chaise that I love so much.  

{Sources: awesome tables lit from underneath from this wedding and all over pinterest-duh; overhead twinkly lights via apartment therapy; garden and herringbone patio via Habitually Chic; Bamboo Sun Chaise with Wheels; Grey Santa Barbara Umbrella; blue & white garden stools; boxwood image via Boxwood Terrace}

Moodboard Monday: Midnight in Paris

Morning y'all! Last week I posted about the lavender and white hotel room in Midnight in Paris.  I made a moodboard to go along with the post, but I couldn't get it to download properly.  So here it is appropriately for Moodboard Monday, which I haven't done in awhile.   

Not gonna lie, I could live here.  I probably overuse the Stark antelope carpet in all of my moodboards, but it just seems to work in all of my dream rooms.  I love it so much.

Other elements of my Parisian-inspired bedroom:

• Pillows: Julia B. Pierre Monogrammed Pillows
• Bedding: Plum toile like this Toile Oriental fabric 
• Headboard: Ballard Designs Camden Slipcover Headboard in St. Helena Gray (soft washed cream and gray ticking stripe in a textured chevron weave of cotton and rayon) 
• Side Table: Wisteria Handmade European Chest
• Venetian Mirror from The Well Appointed House
• Blue and white vase like this one from The Enchanted Home Shop
• Painting of an opera lady from 1st Dibs
• Rull Fancy $5 Million Apartment in Paris 

Dare to dream, people.  Dare. To. Dream.

Before & After: Family Room & Kitchen

Ok y'all, here it is. 

Family Room Before: 

Family Room After:

P.S. My new pillows and blanket.  The room feels more fun and springy now.  Not so serious.

Kitchen Before:

Kitchen After:

I'm not going to even begin to try to explain all of the things we did.   It's been five years in the making, on a starter home budget.  I wish I blogged back then.  Instead, I just lurked.  I will happily answer any questions if y'all have any. 

I do want to talk about something else before & after related.  It drives me absolutely bananas when magazines do before and afters and post the befores in black and white.  I get that for the overall visual page layout, it is more appealing.  It's just, why bother?  Changing paint color and color scheme is a huge part of a before and after that I desperately want to see. Are y'all with me?  Drives me crazy.  Ok, that's it for my rant.  

Finally, I have to say a little prayer of thanks today for sparing not only my family and friends during yesterday's tornadoes in and around Dallas, but also my Dad's business that he works so hard at everyday and he's built from the ground up.  You see, all of those super scary videos of tractor-trailers flying through the air, well, my Dad was watching it live just feet from his office, debris falling on him and his co-workers as they ran inside for cover.  The tornado hit everyone around him, but spared his property and his life.  It doesn't even make sense.  I feel so sorry for the business around him that have to pick up the pieces, but I am soo grateful he doesn't have to deal with that and beyond grateful that no one was hurt.  So I'm going to spend the rest of the day counting my blessings.  Do it with me, it makes your day infinitely better! 

Before & After: Bookshelves

Morning y'all! I have some awesome before and afters to show you tomorrow (in my humble opinion).  My mother-in-law found pictures in her computer of our house when my husband first bought it.  Woof! It was U-G-L-Y.  I was going to post them today, but this post turned out to be a bit longer than I expected.

So first, I want to share my hard work on the bookshelves in our den and family room.  I was literally sore after spending the day arranging books and tchotchkes, which is kind of embarrassing.  I decided to arrange the books by color, mainly so I could control what you see from the kitchen and family room when the door is open.  I didn't want to be sitting on the sofa and look over to see a bunch of red and black and purple.

Before:

As you can see, there was a lot going on (like the pumpkin?) - the result of 5 years of just throwing books on the shelves.  Also, this has sort of become Kip's "man room" where he retreats to watch golf when I'm watching Real Housewives marathons.  Kip loves books and audio/visual equipment.  I'm pretty sure his brain automatically dismisses the presence of wires just as mine dismisses shopping bags as a decorative distraction.

After:

Better no? I have to deal with the audio/visual equipment for now, but I tried to do my best to hide it.  As you can see the column of shelves on the right is organized from top to bottom using the colors that match the rest of my house (blues and whites, duh). I wanted the top shelves to be more neutral than bright, since you see those first.  Deciding this beforehand made the entire process easier.

Here's what you see when you walk in the door:

And here's what you see from the sofa in the family room:

It makes such a difference.  It's important to consider decor from all angles.  Here's another closer shot of the bookshelves:

Some close-ups of my favorite little vignettes:

Notice all of the pottery?  Kip made all of those in his high school ceramics class.  I love them because they show off his perfectionist side.  He's one of those people who just does everything really well.  It would be annoying if he wasn't so nice.  The jar of books are flip-books from our wedding. 

Kip's grandfather is a WWII veteran and brought him a bottle of sand from the beach at Normandy.

We have a lot of random books, and grouping them by color makes for some interesting pairings.  We have a lot of religion, literature and history books from college.  The ninja turtle is my only ceramic-ish contribution.  I point it out only to show off my psychic abilities, which I initially discussed here (scroll down to number 7). I made this at my sister's birthday party, 6 months before I met my husband.  For some reason that I didn't know at the time, I obsessively carried it around as a good luck charm.  Funnily enough, my husband dressed as a ninja turtle the night I met him.  Coincidence?  I don't think so! Totally fate.  (P.S. It was Halloween, not just a random dress-up thing - we're WASPs.  I was pregnant Britney Spears).

And I don't have any before pictures of my family room book shelves, but here's what I did there:

And on the other side, I tried to arrange it so it was pleasing to look at while watching TV, but by that point I was running out of steam.  The bottom shelves have all of Edward's books and some toys.

Welp, that's all I have for today! Come back tomorrow for some more before and afters.  I promise I won't be such a chatty cathy doll ;)

P.S. I found this quote about books that sort of sums up my husband's and my attitude toward book hoarding and why we do it:

“I am a product [...of] endless books. My father bought all the books he read and never got rid of any of them. There were books in the study, books in the drawing room, books in the cloakroom, books (two deep) in the great bookcase on the landing, books in a bedroom, books piled as high as my shoulder in the cistern attic, books of all kinds reflecting every transient stage of my parents' interest, books readable and unreadable, books suitable for a child and books most emphatically not. Nothing was forbidden me. In the seemingly endless rainy afternoons I took volume after volume from the shelves. I had always the same certainty of finding a book that was new to me as a man who walks into a field has of finding a new blade of grass.” ― C.S. Lewis

Giggles, Cuddles and a Beautiful Spring Morning

view from my backyard 

There's nothing like a happy, cuddly munchkin and a beautiful spring morning to bring me out of a state of travel-induced exhaustion.  This view is one of my absolute favorite things about our house.  Edward is kind enough to make sure I wake up early enough to enjoy these types of mornings.  Early morning is actually my favorite time of day despite the fact that I have to wake up, my least favorite thing to do.  I live in a world of extremes clearly. 

My delay in posting this morning is due to Edward's particularly snuggly and giggly mood, giving me multiple hugs in between bouts of laughter.  I wish I knew why so I could recreate it every morning.  Toddlers are moody like teenagers, but instead of sulking off to a corner and glaring at you, they yell and throw themselves on the floor.  They also rebound at an alarming rate and go from shooting lasers out of their eyes to floating on clouds of flowers and rainbows.  And when they're in the mood to be sweet and loving, it is the greatest thing ever. It can cure any form of general malaise, just like Spring.  

Here are a few more pictures of springtime in and around my house.  

More flowers from Trader Joe's.  I just shoved them in the vase and probably could have done a better job of arranging them, but I'm too lazy.  The three books underneath the flowers have been greatly influencing my style lately.  P.S. My new pillow cases arrived.  As soon as my throw blanket is here I will share pictures in the form of an amazing before and after.  My mother-in-law found pictures on her computer of our living room and kitchen when my husband first bought the house and it was barf-worthy.  Just wait.  

The hyacinths on the entry table smell amazing.  They are easily becoming my new favorite flower.

My Paule Marrot Tulips print that makes me happy when I look at it.  The Suze says it reminds her of something she had in the 70s.  She did have an amazing fern print fabric on her sofa that is back in style.

I'm trying to hide the brick sink under a bunch of flowers like it's a patio.  Hyacinths in the bathroom are a far superior solution to room spray or potpourri.  Just FYI.

My new pelmet box using Charlotte Moss' Caroline fabric for Fabricut in pool.  It reminds me a lot of David Hicks' The Vase, which you can see below.

via Beehive Blog

Love The Vase.  Love it.  (also love the Porthault pillow in the picture above)

And finally, Edward had a playdate at the park yesterday and soon after we arrived the storm clouds rolled in.  The combination of the dark gray clouds behind the gorgeous purplish pink budding trees and the bright green grass was beyond beautiful.  I'm thinking Monday's moodboard may have to be inspired by these pictures.   The colors were so gorgeous and inspiring.

This is a super random post I know.  Have a lovely day y'all!