home decor: going green

nesting boxes

More then once I’ve heard a designer say that you should introduce color in sets of three. So when I decided to go with green, after a lot of hemming and hawing, the challenge become finding three things that I liked well enough to bring into my home. After about six months of keeping my eyes wide open I found some lacquered nesting boxes at Crate & Barrel. I was instantly taken in. That become my starting point, or shall we say – my color wheel. I’m not the biggest advocate of safe design. I’m far from being wild or outrageous but I’m neither safe or boring. But even for me, deciding to paint a my dresser what could be considered neon green felt a bit risky. The first paint swatch I selected didn’t work and after a quick mental breakdown I went back to the store and worked with my fabulous paint guy on a more customized color.

That dresser is now my favorite piece.

I think its been about a year since I had my big moment of realizing I wanted to go with an unexpected shade of green as my accent color and only now am I adding that third piece to the room. I stumbled upon these great 60s inspired shag pillows and suddenly I couldn’t get them out of my mind. So I purchased them, which is a lot because I’m not a fan of pillows in my home. I’ve had several flings with pillows and after about six months I always end up ditching them. I hope these are different, that I can keep them around for the long haul. I do love them and I love the movement they bring into the space.

I don’t know if it’s the size of the room or the placement of my accent pieces but I’m not sold that three is the magic number. I can see how three is enough but I’m not getting that vibe in my space yet. The color still looks a bit out of place and too mechanical. So, I’m keeping my eyes open for piece number four. Nothing as bold or texturized as the pillows since I think then I’d be entering into contrived and overload. Instead I’m thinking something transparent, maybe glass. Think Heineken beerbottle for inspiration. Ideas?

shag pillows

storage in green

home decor: hallway

Back in December we painted our hallway. We being my mother and I. Its become our December ritual. She comes for my birthday and during her week long stay I find something to paint and thus slowly all the walls in my home are getting beautified. You may recall that I posted about it briefly here when I was looking at paint swatches. I wanted a really milky chocolate but everyone kept steering me towards a lighter pallet. Fortunately I’ve realized I prefer richer colors and went with my gut feeling. I’m so happy with how it turned out and the color really pairs well with our wallpaper.

Please ignore the $3 light fixture. I’ve been searching for the last year and still nothing makes me swoon. Some day…

our hallway

Wondering, should I paint the doors? Perhaps a gloss black.

wishful shopping

I promised myself that we’d spend the year paying down our debt. Not that I have a ton of debt but when you’re tying to save for bigger things and also pay to send your child to private preschool in New York City you are bound to feel broke. I even wrote myself a feel good email about the bigger picture. About how we are working towards bigger things, prettier life events, that make all the small little purchases seem worthless. I really feel everything I wrote but I’ll be damn – there are a lot of little things I still *really* *really* want. Like these goodies from Anthropologie. I’m just saying… the old school swivel clock that looks like it belongs in a locker room would be so pretty on the half wall between my kitchen and living room. A little something to break up all the sweetness going on in that space. And I’ve wanted to start a key collection for a while. No idea why, I’m just saying. So yes, I need the key. And how phh-urty are the soap and lotion bottles with the bronzed nozzles and the equally phh-urty wire holder.

clock via Anthropologies

key via Anthropologies

soap & lotion with wire rack via Anthropologies

Hmm, just noticed the swivel clock is only 6.25″ in diameter. I officially have no use for it. Bummer.

shopping from my bathroom

On the weekends I take over the duty of bathing our son (a task my ever helpful husband does during the week). So last Sunday I got my son all squared away in the tub and then I pulled up my little stool and about 6 catalogues that had been calling my name. I’m not a huge fan of West Elm. Their pieces tend to look lovely but in person the price never seems to match the quality. Anyone else ever feel that way, like the actual craftsmanship is questionable?

I digress. Perhaps the craftsmanship is horrible but I will admit that a few pieces caught my eye. Shall we do a bit of imaginary shopping?

Yes, I am still obsessed with birdcages. Two of these would look lovely in my home.

bird cages via west elm

I’m loving the upholstery on this chair. The chunky weave would add great texture to a room. I even like the lavender and the texture on the rug

armchair via west elm

This tufted leather headboard is fab. It’s like the companion piece to our couch. Sigh!

tufted leather headboard via west elm

home decor: (finally) a place to craft

As a child I was Barbie crazed. Like, I played with Barbie until I was 12. Girls these days just don’t do that but if only they knew what they were missing.

Fast forward, about four years ago I came across some Barbie prints and I was in love. The images made my head spin and there was this one I just had to have. But the limited edition print was apparently sold out. I spent a year trying to get my hands on the print when low and behold, the image was back in circulation as a limited edition collection of four pieces. Then, like a good Barbie crazed adult woman, I asked my mother to buy me four framed limited edition prints. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t feeling two of the prints or the overly fussy frames that adorned the images. Since then three years have passed and I’ve come around to loving all four images along with their fussy frames.

For a few years two of the images sat in storage while the other two were split between our two bathrooms. That was until this weekend when I had a spur of the moment thought. I’ve done a lot of flip-flopping over what direction I want my desk to go in. Narrowing down a look is always hard for me. I am certain that I want a good amount of space for hanging do-dads. For a while it was something tall and narrow that would hang off to the side. Then it was something large and all encompassing. I went from something covered in burlap, to a coffee sack to a feed sack. I thought French vintage fabric and then absolutely positively felt. So yeah, I’m still working on the details but in the mean time I have determined that I want to be inspired by my Barbie images on a daily basis. With my husbands help I went ahead and hung three of the images over my desk. They site pretty high with the intentions that I’ll hang a cork board of sorts under them. My thought of direction is now long, low and narrow. I’m clueless on fabric choices to cover the board. Help?

I’m still uncertain about a few other details. The cake stand needs tweaking, as do the contents under the glass. Not sure where my glitter birds should go and of course my want for an actual wooden bird cage is still there. My current desk lamp is possibly broken and thus was on the floor for examination when I snapped these images. I need to figure out if it can be salvaged or if I’ll need to hunt something down.

Thoughts or suggestions?

my new craft space

my new space

home decor: transition into a toddler space

I mentioned in this post that I recently did a bit of dumpster diving. Check it out because there’s a really adorable photo of Graycen but I digress. Anyhow to summarize – apparently it was my lucky day, after all it was my birthday, and chance was on my side. I had been talking for weeks about wanting a play kitchen for our son but grumbling about how expensive those suckers are. Then low and behold, I find a wooden play kitchen stove in a pile of New York City trash.

insert image of clouds lifting, angels singing and pretty gold shoes

My friend Stacie asked if I would share some images of our find. So, if you recall, I also mentioned that we picked up a child’s table that was also being trashed. It was old school vintage and I couldn’t dare pass it up. The bigger problem was that I had just purchased a small table for Graycens room like 2 weeks prior to this find which has left us over run with kid stuff. Our living quarters are now cramped with things while I figure out our next steps but here’s where things stand as of this weekend.

You can see the before nursery photos here but basically what I ended up having to do was to move Graycen’s crib so that it’s parallel to his closet doors rather then against the wall. Not ideal but it’s working and the changes are slowly growing on me.

BEFORE:

Graycen's nursery, crib against wall

AFTER:

the rescued table and stove

Graycen's new (to him) stove

The stove shows some wear and tear but it’s definitely lovely, no? And tell me you love the painters tape as wall adhesive. I think it’s pretty clever.

And just for reference, here is what the table looked like when we found it. I was scared of what I might find under the 80′s wallpaper but apparently it was nothing scary.

the had to have kids table

desk envy

I think this workspace is just darling and the characterized silhouettes are simply clever.

image via valspar at Lowe's

the desk hunt

I’ve been wanting to purchase a desk for well over a year. I spoke about it for a hot minute here. Then I had a few life changes that left me re-evaluating my needs. I finally took the plunge two weeks ago. I’m still sorting out the space but thought I would share two of the desks I liked but ended up passing on for one reason or another. I ended up going in a completely different direction then these but I could have easily settled on either one and been in love.

Jett Desk in White Lacquer by Z Galleries

This is actually a dinning table in hi-gloss that I thought would work. I have a short file cabinet in white that is also hi-gloss which I thought would slide under the table nicely while also giving it more of a desk feel.

Hi-Gloss Bobby Dining Table by CB2

Bobby Dining Table from CB2

home decor: latest project

my new chest of drawers

Last year I gave myself a minor headache over which accent color I thought would go best in our living room. I had managed to narrow down my options to a bright sunny green or an even brighter yellow. I feel like yellow was everywhere last year, and I liked all the stuff I was seeing, but I also had my doubts. I was feeling like perhaps it was trendy and a fad that I would outgrow.

During the fall I did some major winter cleaning and re-organized every closet in our home. Somewhere during that process I found an old binder I had made during the time leading up to our home purchase. Finding that dusty black binder was like finding a box of my own forgotten treasures. There must have been hundreds of photos perfectly categorizes. It included paint chips and detailed instruction for each room. I can be crazy neurotic like that. What I realized while going through each and every photo was how much I loved green back then and how it’s clearly a color I still love and want to live with. That was the moment I knew it was my accent color and suddenly everything just felt right.

For my birthday I decided to forgo the usual shopping spree and instead used that money towards sprucing up a few things around the home. Fortunately I’m completely smitten with every project I took on and thank goodness because I would have cried had I went through another fiasco like the master bathroom. Think the ugliest Pepto Bismo blue you’ve never seen but that I somehow developed. It’s bad! But that’s a story for another day because both the projects I undertook last month are perfect and lovely.

I’m insanely in love with the green dresser. I think the color is bright but not too bold. It’s fresh and adds pop to the room without commanding too much attention. And I think it adds life to the space and shows the spirit and energy that’s in our home.

AFTER PHOTO: Dresser, now being referred to as a chest of drawers, repainted in green with new knobs and two coats of poly.

my "new" chest of drawers

BEFORE IMAGES: Here is the dress in it’s original state – bright white and being used in our bedroom.

dresser in it's original state

This is how the nook in our living room looked before – like toys had exploded everywhere. We ditched the floor matt, removed the photos on the wall and put the toys in boxes (or donated them).

before image of the space in our living room

I love taking a little bit of risk in my homes décor and I think the green paid off.

Of course,  apologies for the slightly fuzzy photo. Perhaps I should have waited to post this when I had a better image but I know that might take months so I’m sharing what I have. I’ll try to capture a better image and one of the living room as a whole. At some point, right?

a new year, a new me

clock faces, source of image unknown

There is something about the start of a new year that exhilarates me. I always start January with an abundance of confidence and optimism… like the world is mine. I love that feeling, that extra push to do big things and to find your happiness in life. So that’s where I am right now.

I must also mention that as of today I have been blogging for one year! Some days I thought I would never make it. Other days I just wanted to give it all up but mostly I felt good about sticking to it and seeing one year through. I can’t say to what capacity I’ll be blogging in the new year. But we’ll work it out, k?

I have big plans for twenty ten. Some are big secret plans and others I can talk about freely. And as much as I feel like I have the next year planned out there is still a lot left in the air, I think I like it that way. Given all the things I need to work on I have major plans to morph into a frugal girl. Not sure what, if any, home decor plans I’ll be working on. I do want to read more. I only read one book in 2009 so I’m gonna try and increase that by 4 more books. I know, I know, that just seems pathetically funny but it’s my goal and I’m gonna own it. I’m sticking to books that will either enlighten me, or make me a better person. I’m also excited about getting the Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Crafts. Apparently I’m disillusioned enough to think I have that sorta time on my hands.. plus, how do MS crafts fit in with my new frugal life style. Who knows, but I hope to make it work.  I’m feeling blissfully happy about all of this right now. So to all of you –

Go forth young ones and make big things happen. Live life and enjoy it.