New Year

Wow. I can't believe I made it a whole year without one blog post update. This year was a great one, and I'm looking forward to an even better 2013!!!

This year there were some amazing events in my life:
1) Hubby started a new job which meant paid vacation, sick days, healthcare, and many future opportunities
2) WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. Yep, in July of 2012, after barely two weeks of looking/talking/house hunting we made an offer and found the perfect house. It's not a starter home, it's a long-term...forever? home. We love it here. And I can't wait to (at some point) share our progress.
3) I, with my now very good friend Mandi, continued studying for and took our NCIDQ test for Interior Design Certification. We found out almost a month ago we both passed!!
4) Both my sister and one of my best friends are pregnant! We will be welcoming a new niece in February and nephew (my good friend is an only child so their little boy will have lots of "auntie-but-not-really-related" aunts!!
5) I am attempting to get back into the gym routine with said friend Mandi, and hoping to continue with a healthier lifestyle in the new year!!




I've still been cooking, baking, and decorating up a storm over here. But am I back for good? We will see, though I'm sure I am still not up to any regular postings. But maybe I'll have even more great things to come back and share this year!

Happy New Year, all!!

weekend update: Oct 21-23

I apologize for being a little MIA on the blog-reading-commenting front the past few weeks. Things have been fairly busy at work and the majority of my free time at home has been spent either on the computer working on an [exciting!] interiors project with a friend or staying off the computer doing other things.

Anyway, this weekend I [again] spent a lot of working on this interiors project! On Friday I stopped at Andrea's Kitchens in Erie and Pier 1 for some inspiration for the project. Here's it all summed up in a little mood board for you all:

On Saturday I went with said project friend to look and possibly purchase some of the above items. We went to Padden's paints to look for more options for one of the rooms and searched - and found [we  think]! - the drapery fabric for the dining room. I worked more on the project in the evening and hung out with the hubby, of course!

On Sunday after church Josh and I went to Best Buy where I picked up this sweet new case for my phone. I'm a klutz and fear for my poor phone screen's life now that I've cracked it once, so I knew I wanted something heavy duty. Loving it so far!!

In the evening we hung out and I made cupcakes for the Mercyhurst Interior Design student visitors we have coming tonight. Recipe later this week! Spice cupcakes [made with applesauce] and caramel butter cream frosting! They are pretty amazing.

Anyway, hope I'll be able to get back to reading your lovely blogs this week! Thanks for sticking with me and reading and commenting on mine!! Happy Monday! Have a great week, folks!

fun find: Jewelry Storage

I have been wanting a new way to store my jewelry for quite some time now. I have an Ikea Malm dresser w/ flip up top for jewelery storage, but I'm running out of room and have some necklaces that get way too tangled when lying down and really need to be hung up.

I have loved the idea of shadow boxes or picture-frame jewelry storage every since I saw it a while ago, can't remember where I first spotted it though.

This post from Apartment Therapy reminded me again how I would love something like this.

image from Better Homes and Gardens

It was rumored that my friend Katie might have had something for me like this for my birthday, but that someone...might have damaged it...so I never got it. I want to make my own but I'm wondering if I should just hold out. Katie? Thoughts?

window frame jewelry display from The Borrowed Abode

frame + old radiator grill - love this! from i could so make that

these are gorgeous. originally from Pottery Barn, but no longer available. you can totally DIY these!

another awesome tutorial. vintage picture frame + hardwire mesh = funky, functional storage. from Julie Ann Art. seriously, this is just cutting wire and stapling it to a frame. how easy is that!?

How do you store your jewelry? Box? Hanging on a wall? Hidden in your closet?

fabric friday: 08-12-11 / DesignTex Showroom Tour

Check out this video for a tour of DesignTex NeoCon 2011 Showroom with Kimberle Frost, Caroline Vaughn, and Tom Hamilton of DesignTex and Cindy Allen, editor in chief at Interior Design Magazine.

fabric friday: 07-29-11: Arc|Com NeoCon Showroom

Arc|Com is one of my favorite fabric vendors to use at work. They recently posted some pictures of their showroom in Chicago for NeoCon on their Facebook page. Just wanted to share the goodness!

I love how they displayed the fabrics!

Beautiful fabrics!

View from outside the showroom.

Love this!

Beautiful fabrics and beautiful showroom, as always! Wish I could have attended the show, but thanks to Arc|Com for sharing pictures of the space!!


Pictures from Arc|Com: Shutterfly

fabric friday: 07-08-11 / Chris Barrett Textiles

I saw these textiles originally on an Apartment Therapy post.

"Chris Barrett Textiles is a vibrant collection of outdoor soft furnishing fabrics made from 100% solution-dyed acrylic textiles and hand-designed with signature abstract patterns."

BIG SUR in color Suncup

MONTECITO in color Multi-Wildrose

MONTEREY in color Wildrye

I really could use some cute seat-pillows to go on the sweet pink chairs we have on our "patio." (still need to get a picture of the "patio" up!)


All images and information from Chris Barrett website.

style obsessions: arc floor lamps

I've been trying to find information on who started the "arc floor lamp" trend, but have only been able to come up with a few names: George Kovacs and Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. 

The Castiglioni brothers designed the floor lamp with inspiration from a street lamp in 1962. Their arc lamp is considered one of the classics of modern lighting design and is part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection. It is the last image below (Arco Floor Lamp) and link for more information.

Kovacs is a well known name in modern lighting for introducing the first American made halogen torchiere ("lamp on a tall pole with a small head holding a slender quartz bulb") and the "Save Your Marriage" lamp ("twin adjustable lights attached to the same plate above the bed"). Info from here.

Here are some of my favorites:

Possino Euro White Marble Base Floor Lamp from Lamps Plus, $299.99.

George Kovacs Polished Chrome Arc Floor Lamp from Lamps Plus, $360.99

Twiggy Floor Lamp, made in Italy, Hive Modern, $2338.00

Arco Floor Lamp, made in Italy, Design Within Reach, $2,696.00

style obsessions: sectionals

One thing that has remained consistent in my design style is my love for sectionals. Now I'm not talking cheesy, bulky, leather wrap-around sectionals - but modern, retro, neutral colored chaise + sofa sectionals.

Funny how when I had the opportunity to buy a sofa/sectional I ended up buying a pretty basic, transitional and still-not-broken-in-or-very-comfy-even-after-four-years couch and matching loveseat.

Here are a few of my favorites from the web:

Image from Apartment Therapy. I adore this sofa. Have no clue where it's from though.

Karlstad sofa + chaise from Ikea. I love it in grey.

Cini Boeri Lounge for Knoll Studio (I know these aren't sectionals - but i still love the low, comfy look). Image from Neocon 2011 Showroom Highlights.

Gus Modern Carter Sectional Sofa from All Modern/CSN Stores. I love this style.

Santa Barbara Sectional from Vivavi.

Modern Fabric Sectional Sofa from Tosh Furniture.

Grey Fabric Sectional Sofa from Tosh Furniture.

Modern Grey Fabric Sectional Sofa by Tosh Furniture.

I'm definitely drawn to a few key elements: neutral (mostly grey) colors and textured fabrics, visible metal frame/leg and a medium height back with floppy, loose cushions.

mood boards: olioboard

A few months...a year...ago...who knows anymore, I signed up for some mood board type website where you could grab anything you liked (home decor, fashion...) and create a style board of it. Earlier this week I was thinking I wanted to get back to that and create some boards, but I could not remember for the life of me what the website was.

I Googled and I succeeded. Well, sort of.

 
OlioBoard! I'm not sure if this is what I signed up for before, but I'm signed up now and it is pretty darn cool.

I've done one board so far (I mean, come on - I only just signed up an hour ago). This board's inspiration is our existing comforter - Dwell Studio for Target - that I bought with our shower/wedding money. The rest of the board is future home inspiration and wishes for someday. Who knows, by the time we buy a home or can get all this cool stuff we'll probably have a different bedspread and bedroom color scheme going on! (I tell you one thing though - I will always want one of those circular burst mirrors! I love them!)

You can pick and choose paint, furniture, rugs, bedding, accessories - anything! And arrange it all, change the scale, rotation, and order of images. You can also browse through lots of other boards, comment on them and find more inspiration! You can upload your own images, browse vendor websites after you've made your board and share your board on your blog, Twitter or Facebook. LOVE!! I'm sure there are even more things you can do with it, I just haven't figured them all out yet.

Check them out on Twitter, Facebook and online.

what do to with power cables: embrace them!

um, i've never even thought of doing something like this. these ideas are so great!!

(fave)

(also a fave)

images from unplggd.com.

renovation: zuckville

almost THREE years ago (i can't even believe it's been that long) i posted some images of the renovations my boss, AJ, did in the house that sits in front of our barn on west 26th street. since then, The Slomski Group has moved in and become tenants (they are friends of my bosses) and this past year, AJ has been hard at work renovating the second half of the first floor.

i took some pictures today but only wanted to share the light fixture he put in one of the rooms. it's pretty awesome. i also got some pictures of the upstairs, which is not renovated yet. i can't wait till it is and i can post before and after pictures of that space!! 

pretty cool, huh?

fun find: block bedding

i saw this bedding originally on Apartment Therapy's post on designers working with bold colors. i love this bedding, so i had to check out the other colorways and fun things they had.

bedding is available from Hay products and was designed by Sholten and Baijings. looks like it's available in Denmark...wonder how it works in the States? 499,00 DKK is actually around 100 dollars (so Google told me) which isn't THAT intense...though i can't really tell what is included (pillow covers and duvet cover?).

i think this red one is my favorite. i love the overall simplicity of this room as well.

before + after: dining room chairs

well, it happened. i finally got the supplies and painted two of our dining room chairs!

here are the chairs before priming and painting. of course i had to take the worst picture in the worst possible location.

chairs after priming (please note that gorgeous linoleum we have. also, you can faintly see in this picture the random wood-grain patch under the drop cloth and paint can)

finished chair!

the process was pretty easy - i wiped the chairs with a damp cloth, used fine grit sandpaper, wiped down again, primed and then painted several coats of red (two full coats and a third touch up). i ended up using a latex semi-gloss though i originally wanted an oil-based high-gloss because it's more durable and cures faster (so i've read). however, the oil-based only came in set colors (and i didn't really want stop-sign red), so i was willing to give up on the oil-based and high-gloss finish to get the paint color i wanted.

this gives you a great shot of the rotting wood that is bee infested. they were pretty quiet and out of the way when i was taking these picturse, so that was nice.

when i finish up the other four chairs here's what i'll do differently:

1. focus more on the priming and allow more time to dry between prime coat and final paint. there were some parts of the chairs that did not cover well with the primer and those parts covered worse with the red paint. also, i think that the hour i left to dry in between priming and painting wasn't enough, as it seemed like some of the prime coat came off when i was painting with the red.
2. sand more. i think i'll focus more on sanding the legs and the back in hopes that it will help with the primer situation described above.
3. do all steps in the basement. i did the priming and first coat in our kitchen. although it was nice doing it with the doors open, it was easier after i put them downstairs and had lots of room to spread out my drop cloth. especially when i do the four remaining chairs, having the extra room will be great!
4. get a smaller or foam brush. although my brush is nice, it was more of a medium size and was hard to do the legs and the spindles on the back. i think that the foam or smaller brush would help with primer coverage as well. also, with a second brush, i will be able to enlist the hubby's help!!

check out that amazing tomato-herb plant we have growing!

i'm hoping to do the other four chairs this weekend and maybe start on the table. the table will be in white and possibly with an oil based paint.