Moving On Out

So, Little Brother has finally taking the leap to getting his own place. He's rented a small, cozy one bedroom apartment and relegated me with the task of decorating. Going for a warm, young, masculine look. Here's one mood board that I'm using for jump-off inspiration.

www.younghouselove.com

Though I'm mainly using this mood board as a reference for colors, I'm definitely purchasing the birds as wall art...he's a hunter. He'll like them.

Navy Blue Kitchen Redo (continued)

So, to continue on my rant...I am stuck with a huge, navy blue booth in my kitchen. Any redesign of the space would need to incorporate that color. During my search I found these beauties

(cue angelic choir)

I love the bold colors combined with the neutrals of cream and white. Since I'm stuck with some shades of yellow in the granite, this works out perfectly. Lots of potential here. So I started my search for more points of reference.

Navy Blue Kitchen Redo

When we purchased the house in the summer of 2009, the entire first floor was very well decorated. Everything from the paint colors, to the countertops, to the kitchen booth were coordinated on an almost professional level. While it was super convenient at the time, I'm always thinking ahead, and I know that some point down the line we'll have to update the look.

Decorating doesn't have a lot of rules, but here's one that I think is good to stick to: Re-design/update your interiors every five to seven years.

As the re-design is still a ways off, I won't get too involved with what my options are. Whatever I go with though, I am bound by at least one monstrosity in the kitchen...the huge navy blue booth.

UGH. I can find a new table and countertop. I can paint the boring cabinets any color I want. I can even overlook the granite with specs of red, yellow, and black. But working around this beast is not going to be easy.

Coming tomorrow...one of my favorite potential color schemes....

Pattern Priority

In browsing through different looks and ideas to complete the master bedroom, I acknowledged the complete lack of pattern. In addition to a faux wallpaper stencil I plan to paint on the focus wall, I really liked the idea of a zebra rug on the floor. Unfortunately I can't take the credit for this idea [either]; it's a great look that is truly versatile as showed in these pictures.

The Orange

Decor Pad

Eclectic Revisited

In my excitement I purchased a zebra rug that I have previously mentioned on this blog. It was cheap. Too cheap. I received it fairly quick, but the quality was extremely poor. More like a yoga mat than a rug. So, I'm trying again. Today I purchased the rug pictured below. It is actually cowhide with a zebra pattern stenciled on. I should have it next week and am SUPER excited to share the results.

Wedding Mood Board - Pink, Orange, Champagne

Ohhhmmmmmmmm

I keep thinking I'm done with the master bedroom....but I'm just not there yet. If you recall from this picture, the room originally looked like this not long after we moved in. I wanted to get things "settled" in there fairly quickly....no one enjoys the limbo of moving. Since I splurged (read: over spent) on the furniture, I tried to cut corners in other places. An example would be the wall art. I created those two canvases on my own.

Then when I was browsing around for funky wallpaper, I found this through the Graham & Brown website:

I loved the zen feeling the images relays and the silver/gray/blue tone matched the decor almost perfectly. And lucky for me, it was only $20! Love it.

Backsplash, whiplash

So now that I am nearly three quarters of the way through the upstairs of the house [we purchased a year and a half ago], I must admit to you a horrible, dirty secret I've been holding....

I've already started brainstorming about updating and/or re-doing the entire downstairs. Eeeeeek!

And to kick it all off, I just happened to be browsing around on http://www.overstock.com/ and I found these gorgeous ladies:

We have a deep color + stainless steel theme going on in our kitchen already; this would looks soooo purty behind my oven. I've bene wanting to try my hand out at tiling. I've heard it's actually pretty simple. Hmmmmmmm....

I COVET! And stainless steel appliances aren't going out of style anytime soon, so no matter what I end up doing with the decor, these beauties will fit right in.

I think I'm gonna get 'em.

V-Day!

Last weekend, the last few days of January, I finally got to take down my Christmas decorations. In their place I splashed the house with some pink, red, and white Valentine decor. I love Valentine's Day, specifically the colors (yay pink), the hearts, and the mushiness of it. Brings out the softer side in people...usually.

For some reason I never spent any time gathering up Valentine's decor last year like I did for all the other holidays, so this year I had to get a bit creative.

Some simple flowers by the front door...









A few candles, marbles, and heart platter on the table....

And a little display of affection where the boys spend most of their time...right by the TV.

I got some great ideas for Valentine's Day quotes while I was browsing around on Etsy.com. Instead of paying $20 for the prints, I picked up some blank canvases and some paints at Michaels Craft Store and created my own.

This quote is from the famous children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". The monster says to the little boy, "Please don't go. I'll eat you up; I love you so."

And this lyric really needs no introduction at all. That little picture next to it is a Valentine's card I gave Mr. Bartender a few years ago.

I'm loving the Valentine Decor around the house. Unfortunately, there is one person in the house not looking forward to Valentine's Day this year...Bruno. On Monday, February 14th, we made an appointment for him to be neutered. Oh the irony.

Pretty pretty bookshelves

I think I've mentioned before the great deal I scored recently on Craigslist. Two bookshelf units for $25 total! Well, last month I was finally able to prime and paint these babies before the weather got too cold to even paint.













Of course, step numero uno was to prime. These shelves are made of cheap fiberboard (as opposed to real wood). I've learned the hard way that paint does not stick to them very well. I needed a coat of primer to provide a good base for the paint.



After priming, I painted the outsides a plain, glossy white. Since I wanted a bit of a "pop", I painted the inside of the shelves a light aqua color to blend well with my office color palatte. I must say, I had my doubts along the way, but I'm super happy how they turned out!


The left bookshelves will eventually hold my business materials, which is why it's a little bit more empty at the moment. The right side are all the books we used to have on the downstairs bookshelves, which have since become primarily liquor shelves.


Here's a shot from a different angle so you can get an idea of how the shelves blend with the rest of the office space...including my new memo board.

Blank Slate

When we moved into the house, this ginormous dry erase board was left hanging in the office by the previous owners. I contemplated throwing it away because I don't really use dry erase boards. And, did I mention it's GINORMOUS? Seriously, it's like 3x4. I felt that throwing it away would be very wasteful...but I didn't know what to do with so much white space.

Then I remembered a project my father and I worked on when I was litle. We created a cork board for posting memos. Ultimately I decided to have the best of both worlds - I would cover one half with cork and keep the other half clear for dry-erase stuff.

I went to Michaels and got some cork rolls and cork glue. Cut my fabric to the appropriate size. And put some heavy books on top while the glue dried the fabric to the cork and the cork to the dry erase board.

Voila! A dry erase/corkboard for my office!!

When I was done, I must say I felt a little bit like the dog in this photo : )

Featured Blog

I have recently been introduced by my friend Kate to another great DIY blogger: Mrs. Shelley Smith of House of Smiths. She and her hubby have three adorable girls and have managed to pull off some amazing projects around their house.

Top on my list of projects to "steal" from House of Smiths is her super cute flower balls. These are perfect for Valentine's Day!!

I particularly love Shelley's great photographs. She makes me covet a "real camera". Maybe when I have babies of my own one day I will want to snap so many photos :) Right now it's just these two buggers pitter-pattering around the house.

Dear Winter: Thanks For Making Me Productive

So, it's February. Right now Chicago is right in the middle of a huge storm covering the Midwest/Northern United States. To my knowledge work has not been called off (yet), but there's definitely not much to do other than that. So I'm using this week in-doors to be productive around the house.

To do list:

* take down Christmas decorations (check)

* put up Valentine's Day decorations (check)

* office memo board project (check)

* Valentine quote project (check)

* order Master Bedroom rug (check)

* Valentine flower project

* prepare for fire safety per YHL's list

* paint Master Bedroom focus wall

As you can tell, I've gotten a lot of this done already. Tonight (during the "blizzard of the century" I will be uploading pictures. And watching tv. And drinking wine. And praying that work gets cancelled tomorrow.

Lemonade from life: Skinny Chick Pizza

Great idea! Especially when you live with boys who eat whatever they want and you can't : (

Lemonade from life: Skinny Chick Pizza: "The key to lasting weight loss is not complete deprivation, but consistency and moderation. One way to achieve your goals is to modify your..."

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...Winter

One thing I have learned during my time here in Chicago: there are some winter-wear items that you can splurge on, some you can just can simply scrimp on, and others that are best to deal-hunt for. I have learned this the hard way over the last ten years; being raised in Florida, I really had to just figure things out by trial and error.

Splurge: When it's 6am and you're waiting for the train for 20 minutes in 10 degree weather (without windchill), the only thing you desperately need is an extremely heavy winter coat. Because of their [high] prices, I have tried to scrimp on down coats for around $100 at Marshalls or TJ Maxx, but I find that the small details really make a difference. For example: a hoodie that is too light to stay up by itself in the wind or pockets that are not lined. And, because they're cheap, they only last two seasons before they are too worn to use. While some brands like NorthFace and Columbia, are more expensive, to me they are WORTH it for Chicago winters. This weekend Santa bought me the NorthFace Arctic Parka. This baby should last me at least 4 - 5 seasons.

Steal a Deal: For the 50-degree days and for nicer occassions, you'll need a coat that's not so utilitarian; I've found that I like wool trench coats or peacoats. Though they're less heavy than the down coats and parkas, they should still be lined. I refuse to purchase any coat that does not have pockets (why even make such a ridiculous product?) and I like this item to be in a color or a camel/tan base, so that it will match with either black or brown outfits. The department stores can charge $200+ for these items; I almost always buy mine at Marshalls or online. This year I purchased the coat below, in Avocado, from Overstock.com with a 10% off coupon for $75.

Scrimp: While I love name brands as much as the next person, I have found that some items just take too much of a beating during the Chicago winters to really be worth the purchase. For warm boots of a certain will-go-unnamed-but-very-popular-brand, the salt and mush just tear up their fabric and make them quite unsightly by the end of the season. So, instead of buying $170 *** Boots every winter, I've opted to buy a less expensive brand this year. These boots have rubber soles (unlike *** brand), warm lining, and are super comfortable on frigid days. At only $30, if they don't last more than one season, I don't really care!*

*Note: for serious snow boots, I have found that the study ski boots I bought for $170 have served me amazingly! I am still able to pull them out three years later when those serious snow storms come through.

Featured Blog

Today I'd like to introduce you to Kristen of Kristen F. Davis Designs. I "found" her when I was looking into wallpaper ideas for my master bedroom. I fell in love with her faux wallpaper project that she debuted on her blog. How elegant is this? (I plan to duplicate in my own master bedroom very soon!)

Kristen does commissioned painting and design projects around the Atlanta area. She paints everything from canvas, to walls, to furniture and is extremely talented. Check out her blog!

It's That Time Again!

Temperatures are consistently freezing, the holiday lights are up, and everyone is blabbing about Black Friday. Yes, it is officially gift-giving time. Like most people these days I very rarely pay full price for ANYTHING. I shop at the discount retailers and even then I try to stick around the sale racks. Some of my favorite stores for holiday shopping:

TJ Maxx

Marshalls

Home Goods

Claire's (really!)

http://www.dealradar.com/

One of the best places I've discovered on the internet is http://www.dealradar.com/. While we're all familiar with Groupon and Living Social, there is probably a plethora of other group-based discount providers in your area (for Chicago there are 25+). Dealradar.com consolidates all the discounts available to you into one daily email. It is SO MUCH BETTER than receiving 25 emails each day.