Let Me Catch You Up

Remember the abstract wall art posting?  It was really no contest where we were going to hang it.  Above the couch in the den won!

UGH - I cannot wait to get this room completely done.  I've got the curtain rods and I've started shopping for a new couch.  I think the curtains are really going to transform the room.  I need to get on finishing E's room and then wrap this one up too!  After I get the curtains up we'll definitely be adding more art to that wall.  Did you notice the two lampshades?  We had to move the floor lamp because of all the new surround sound equipment - which I also desperately need a cabinet for.  SO MUCH TO DO!!!

I'm still loving my gold leaf pen.  I jazzed up the double mat in this frame with just a few minutes of effort!  The framed print came from Delivered by Danielle on Etsy.  She has a great shop if you are looking for wall art; she totally worked with me and came up with the color for the print in minutes with very little direction!  I think I said "Raspberry/Dark Hot Pink" and she was like "BOOM!" I'm done. Buy It. And I did.

 

While playing on Pinterest I came across this pic and thought "Oh what a cute chair."  Then I took a closer look.  Do you recognize any of the fabrics on the chair?

Photo courtesy of paigekudsen.blogspot.com

It's got my den curtain fabric AND the zebra fabric I used on the ottoman in E's big girl room!  Love.  Paige has great taste and the cutest family - you should really check out her blog. 

Etsy wise, I'm waiting with bated breath for Lauren of Lala Design Studio to return from vacation so I can purchase this necklace.

Photo courtesy of Laladesignstudio shop on Etsy

I spotted this on a treasury list before I logged in and immediately showed Joe the iPad and said "I want this for our anniversary next year." But I'm not sure I can wait!  I'm also on the hunt for something with Evelyn's birthstone in it.  I've spotted a few necklace on Etsy I like - but not love.  If anyone spots a piece of jewelry with Citrine in it I need; let me know.   

I bet you are all wondering why I haven't said anything about the Olympics yet.  Don't worry - an entire post is coming.  And last night's men gymnastics meltdown had me downright depressed, yelling, and in bed about 2 hours earlier than normal.  I will say I was so happy for Great Britain to win a medal, and so sad Ukraine got bumped by Japan and the rock star Tokyo-Go-Go hairdo guy.

I'm off to see my parents progress on some redo's they are doing for the house.  One of which is the bathroom I used growing up.  I SO wish I had taken before pics.  Maybe mom did.  Hope everyone has a great day!

Home Is Where the Heart Is Prints

As I may have mentioned before, the walls of our house are bare.  I just can't find anything I want to put on my walls for the next twenty years!  I had the same problem with our house in Dallas so I just put mirrors everywhere and I'm about to do the same in this house. 

After I did the Every Little Thing canvas, I began exploring lots of websites to find more wall art.  (I'm working on another project I hope to have posted next week of another wall art creation I'm working on - yippee!)  I was playing on Etsy during breakfast this morning and during Nick Jr. TV time and stumbled on some cute-I-must-have-these prints.  I'm referring to them as Home Is Where the Heart Is prints.

In short (before I get to the pics) they are graphic prints with a little heart where the city you specify is.  All the shops give color options for the prints and a lot of the sellers offer customizations (in the forms of names and dates) and will work with you to get exactly what you want! 

I'm for sure going to get one for Fayetteville.  It's where Joe and I got married and where we live now (which happens to be down the street from the chapel where we got married).  Problem is...I just can't decide which I like best!  I'm sure I'm not listing even the best options out there, but was so excited about this find I just had to share!  There were about 151 pages of these on Etsy and I was not able to look at every single one, but wanted to show you some that stood out to me - I hope you enjoy!  I'll keep yall posted about which one I order. 

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop mereleemade

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop dekanimal

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop hunterandsmile

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop hunterandsmile

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop mollymattin

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop earlybirdink

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop EmbieOnline

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop LivyLoveDesigns

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop DesignsByTenisha

Trinket Dishes and TGIF!

I'm glad it's Friday for many reasons. 

First and foremost, it looks like the rain is no more!  We've gotten drizzle all day today until now and I think I see blue skies and sun on the horizon.  Our backyard looks like a mud pit though and I'll be mopping floors all weekend.  Boo.

Fridays are always fun.  My People magazine just came in the mail, Joe leaves work early and then we have all weekend together.  Poor E is cutting her molars and being a little bit fussier than normal.  We have one through and 3 more to go; after that we get a 5 year break from teething - Yay!!

I also get to announce that Lauren M. is the winner of the earrings giveaway!  Yay Lauren.  The outfit she suggested is a coral top with gray shorts and gray Toms platforms.  To pick the winner I rebuilt the outfits suggested with stuff from my own closet.  I would never have picked the gray for myself and thought it wouldn't look good with the coral, but Wow was I wrong.  I have myself a new outfit for summer now.  We'll have to have Lauren take a pic with them on for all to see. 

I'm looking forward to tomorrow because I have 2 friends doing the Gusano's Pizza Challenge.  They have an hour, as a team, to eat a ginormous pizza.  I cannot wait to cheer them on and see how they do. 

Blue Bloods is on tonight.  We love us some Blue Bloods.  I love that Magnum PI is in it (hottie), and I love the fact the guy who plays his "pops" is only 6 years older than Magnum in real life.  Hilarious. 

Talking about TV shows, I "came out" to Joe that I'm a closeted SMASH watcher.  It's truly captured my attention and I look forward to Monday nights every week.  I've found that when I admit I watch it to people, they admit they watch it too - and everybody loves it.  You should seriously give it a chance.  I was their number one trash talker seeing the previews leading up to the premiere, but it was so hyped up I just had to watch.  Secretly obsessed.  I'm not sure why I didn't want to tell Joe.  I told him I watched the first episode and he would hate it (he probably wouldn't), and OOPS! that darned DVR just kept recording them and I kept watching them.

The Southland season finale was this week.  It's seriously the best show on television.  There was an episode last season (if you watch, you know the one) that had me balling and I'm pretty sure Joe was crying too.  SO GOOOOOODDDD!!!

Dancing With The Stars premiered this week too - love!  It was the best season premiere ever.  The competition has never been this close.  It's gonna be a great season.

As this week comes to a close I thought I would share some items I'm obsessing over on Etsy.  I'm going to post them to Pinterest too:

I got a trinket dish for my kitchen sink this week.  A cute little brass hog since I'm a Razorback.  I hate taking my rings off when I'm cooking and just leaving them on the counter, so I played around and found some cute brass animal trinket dishes on Etsy.

How cute is my little piggy? He looks even better in person.

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop upscaleyardsale

This little seahorse might get purchased for my master bathroom.

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop saltandginger

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop blythhousevintage

Only $6 for both of these!

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop nenafayesattic

Owls are very in right now

Photo courtesy of Etsy shop cubecone

Hmmmm.  Maybe I shouldn't be showing you guys the other dishes I didn't get.  You might buy them before I make my mind up! (I learned the hard way with the brooch posts).

The blog has had a big week - we had a couples of posts really blow up on Pinterest and had lots of new visitors.  I'm looking forward to see what next week brings.  Have a great weekend!



My New Black and White Chevron Rug!

I am over the moon excited!  I indirectly came upon the website AllModern.com last week. Within 5 minutes I had ordered a rug and then sent it to Joe with the "Do you think this will look ok...." email asking permission. 

Here is the rug:

Image courtesy of allmodern.com.  nuLOOM Kinder Chevron Ivory rug

It's a 5x8 and I got it for $75.  What the what? you say?  I know - I did the same.  Brace yourself for this though - - - shipping was free!  I read the purchase summary like 10 times before I actually believed it. 

You know how much I love chevron if you know me.  You might have noticed the blog background and header and read this post here about the obsession.  A little goes a long way.  But this room needs a punch of fun since it's suppose to be the room my family congregates in for movies, games, and Wii time. 
All Modern is really great.  While you can run into some items that are kinda pricey, they also had really great stuff that is within my price range.   

This rug is going to go in our bonus room upstairs.  The room is carpeted, so this is my first venture into the rug-on-a-carpet look.  But with the coffee table I'm refinishing for the room, which is on casters, I was worried it would tear up the carpet.  So I chose this rug to sacrifice for the greater good of home resale value.

I bought the rug last Tuesday so I'm hoping it comes in by the end of this week.  I'll be sure to post pics!

Recycling Windows

Each time I'm antiquing I always see salvaged windows for so cheap!  I always look at them and see a $5, $7, or $10 price tag and I SO want to buy them, but I hadn't come up with a perfect use for it yet.  That was until Saturday when Beth at Unskinny Boppy posted this blog about her antique window turned shadowbox which is her most prized possession. 

I adore and covet it!

She gives instruction on how her husband made the window into a shadow box and tells the sweet story of how it came about.  I love her wedding dress - and what a great use for your wedding day bouquet!!!

I didn't keep my bouquet (big regret now), but I'm going to brainstorm some other items I can put inside.  I think I'll do one with a mix of pics from Joe's and my wedding and maybe a pic from the honeymoon and one of Evelyn as a baby.  What a great idea! I'm really excited to get working on this project.  You know, after I finish the other 15 projects I have on tap.

Some other ideas for salvaged windows include:

Hang them as wall art

Courtesy of Jennifer Kathryn Photography

Frame a mirror

Photo courtesy of Madigan Made

Mount floating pictures

Both of the above photos courtesy of Pacific Mutual Door

Turn it into chalkboard/magnetic board/dry erase board



Courtesy of Red Hen Home

Paint or etch a saying or quote onto the glass

Courtesy of Paint Me Shabby

You could also place scrapbook paper or fabric behind the windows to use as wall art as well!  Share any ideas you might have. 

Vintage Brooches

This isn't a new obsession for me, but a revisited one.  I'm crushing on vintage brooches lately.  I think they make any outfit look polished and put together.  I've started pinning mine to cardigans, scarves, and using them at the waists of dresses to gather the fabric. 

I got my first vintage brooch with the intentions of wearing it in my hair for my wedding.  But when the one I ordered from Etsy came in the crystals had a blue and purple tint to them when the light hit them which wouldn't have matched my champagne colored lace dress.  So instead of returning it I had the idea to pin it on my purple coat and I get more compliments on that thing than you could imagine! 

Here is Laura modeling the coat for me

Wouldn't that coat look blah without the brooch?
As usual, my dear friend Laura had the great idea to pin a brooch of hers to one of her necklaces.  So I started to do it and now I'm noticing a lot of people are doing the same.

Since Laura was forced to stop by and model on her way home I also forced her to model a scarf.

Of course, when I make something my obsession I want LOTS of it.  So I spent probably 3 hours surfing Etsy and Ebay looking for some new pieces.  I look everytime I flea market and antique shop too to try and find something to add to my collection, but haven't found the perfect piece just yet.  I'm looking for a brooch for my white coat and some to pin to my jewelry as well. 

When I started my search today, I was surprised by how many big player names there were being sold for so cheap! Dior, Gerrys, Juliana, Weiss, Sarah Coventry, Trifari, Yves Saint Laurent - all available!

Here are the pics of my favs I found looking around on Etsy and Ebay.  Etsy alone had over 100,000 hits for "brooch" so there was no way I could view them all.  Hope you find something you like!  They all include links to purchase the items. 

Christian Dior circa 1963

Image from Etsy shop MindiLynJewelry

Image from Etsy shop denise5960

Image from Etsy shop VintagePennyLane

Yves Saint Laurent

Image from Etsy shop brocantic

Image courtesy of Goodoldjewlery

Image courtesy of Etsy shop musarraandcompany

There are several like these; entire lots of brooches.  I'm loving the one in the center with the red center stone. 

Image courtesy of Etsy shop SteampunkArtSupplies

Image courtesy of Etsy shop kiamichi7

I love the filigree work on this one

Image courtesy of Etsy shop ArtiFects

Image courtesy of Etsy shop kiamichi7

Image courtesy of Ebay shop 1213studio

Update on February 15, 2012 - Check out post Vintage Brooches - Part Deux here. 

Obsession of the Day: Chinese Chippendale Chairs

Today was our first snow to experience back in Arkansas.  I suppose it flurried overnight but left enough to blanket the yards and rooftops.  Roads are clear though and that's good.  I took Lil' E outside to play in it and she was not having it.  She kept saying "Oh No My Slide!!"  "Oh No My Basketball Goal!"  "Oh No My Table"  "It's Dirty!!"  and she wouldn't touch it at all.  I did, however, sing the Bubble Guppies theme song and got a smile out of her. 

On to the topic of the day:


When I say Chippendale, you think this......

When I say Chippendale, I think this.......

Then I think of this......

I've seen them. Twice.

And then I think of Chinese Chippendale chairs.


I love Chinese Chippendale Chairs~what a lot of people (like myself for years) refer to as bamboo chairs.  They are called Chippendale for Thomas Chippendale who lived in the 1700s in England and was a renowned interior designer and furniture maker who introduced the style.  It's truly amazing that Chinese Chippendale or Chinoiserie is still a popular design staple today. 


You'll notice in the pictures below there are many of today's designers recreating these looks.  If you want to look at more Chinoiserie style items I encourage you to visit chinoiseriechic.blogspot.com.  That Beth is an abundant resource for inspiration and links to purchase Chinoiserie items.  During my research I found about 20 photos of chairs I wanted to include for this post, but thought since she's already done the work you should directly visit her site.  Hope you enjoy!

Courtesy of Chinoiserie Chic

Courtesy of Jonathan Adler

Courtesy of V and M

Graciella Rutkowski Interiors, via decorpad.com

Courtesy of STYLEBEAT

I'll take the beverage cart too. 

Courtesy of Society Social

Courtesy of Design Workshop, Inc.

Courtesy of The Regency Furniture