Monday Blues + One

In typical Monday fashion, I didn't have enough time to publish a post yesterday (but I had every intention, so does that count?) and so hence, the title! :)

Reese Witherspoon's new store, Draper James, in Nashville is so beautiful!  I love all the shades of blue, white, stripes, and touches of brass!!  Great inspiration!

Get the look:

{Rug, Chair, Sconce, Lampshade, Wallpaper, Pillows}

PS:  I LOVE the lampshade and am currently using this fabric in a living room project!  It is so pretty in person!!

Do you remember the "Kooboo" chair from World Market?

Wasn't that such a great deal at $129.99?!   Fast forward two years, I am now considering kubu chairs for our breakfast eat-in-kitchen.  Unfortunately, World Market has discontinued their kubu chairs.

Kubu rattan is considered a very sturdy and hard material which has a natural 'gray' finish.  I recently found a similar option on Overstock - Safavieh Banten Kubu Soft Gray Rattan Club.

It is VERY similar to WM's Kooboo chair except for the cost - $258.99.  I ended up ordering two of them to see how it would look in my eat-in-kitchen.  I want to use them as 'hostess' chairs when we have guests over.  

Once again, please IGNORE paint color on my walls.  I have the new color picked out, but we haven't painted it yet.  So, I really, really like the warmth the rattan adds.  The picture doesn't do it justice, but every time I walked in the kitchen and saw the chairs, it made me happy.  

I called my girlfriend to come over and see the chair because she too is looking for new chairs for her breakfast area.   She really liked the chair (as well) and we played around with some fabric choices for her kitchen.  

A great outdoor fabric - Calico's inoteca (especially if you have children)!

I love the above fabric in the smaller pattern.  It reminds me a bit of the below fabric which I would love to use  - Petite Fleur in lake blue by Kerry Joyce. 

Good 'ol standby, KWID imperial trellis (see below).  I actually think the seat cushion should be done in a solid white and then use the KWID fabric as a throw pillow in the chair.  That way you can use the pillow in more than one place if you wanted too (get more bang for your money)! 

At the end of the day, this Safavieh is a great option if you're in love with the "Kooboo" chair from WM. I'm still on the fence as to whether I am going to keep it (as I am considering other options).  

But, I am in love with the kubu material!!  It automatically added the texture and warmth that my kitchen space needed!  

Isn't she a beauty?

My friend received her english roll arm chair upholstered in Duralee's john robshaw fabric.  I'm loving it!

Here is the information on the chair and the fabric.  Progress is being made on my friend's living room. In two weeks, she will receive her new custom couch!

 

A Small Den

I have a great friend who is moving to Rockville, MD this summer.  They just bought a house and we've been consulting on paint colors, furniture, flooring, fabric, etc.!  She is a mom of 4 children (ages ranging from a 4 month old to a 6 year old) and while she would love to dedicate more time on decorating her home, she just doesn't have the time.  This is where I come in!!

We're working on her family room and I saw this oldie, but goodie from Anne Turner Carroll, which was published in Southern Living, and I think it is a great example of how to make a small space work.

This is what she started with...

After working her magic, this is what she ended up with.....

Beautiful, no?

This room was challenging in that all three walls had either doors, windows or a fireplace not leaving much wall space for furniture.  Here, she used two club chairs pulled into the center of the room and paired them with a patterned upholstered ottoman.

I really like how the ottoman's pattern adds interest by not being too matchy matchy, but still pulls in the color of the club chairs.

In the opposite corner of the club chairs, she re-upholstered a vintage chair and added a floor lamp to create another reading nook.  Behind the vintage chair is an antique empire chest that houses their flatscreen t.v.

She enhances the small space by putting nesting tables between the club chairs to add more surface area and installing floating shelves on the wall behind the chairs to create a stylish bookcase.

She painted the fireplace and the floor so that it would work seamlessly with the rest of the color scheme.  I really like everything about this space.

It is just proof in the pudding that you can really make awkward and small spaces work for you!

To see full article, go here.

A Perfect Layout

One of things I am struggling to find while searching for a home is an ideal layout for a family especially with small children.  The town we're looking at in CT has a lot of charm and is known for their 'older' houses.

Unfortunately, with many of these older houses, you sacrifice a lot of today's 'wants'.  Many of these older houses have smaller rooms instead of an open concept, lower ceilings as oppose to higher ceilings, a confusing layout as oppose to an ideal layout for a family with kids.

So, it came as no surprise at all, when I stumbled on this beautifully designed home by Sally Wheat via Cote de Texas, and thought the layout was perfect especially for a family.

The Entry

Okay, besides the absolutely gorgeous decor, let's look at the architectural details for a moment.  You walk in and immediately can see to the back of the house!  The french doors lining the back wall of the house immediately make the house feel spacious bringing lots of natural light.  It is wide with tall ceilings - more than one person can stand in the entryway at a time! 

See how wide and how tall the ceiling is?  My dream.  Immediately off to the left and right of the entry is the formal dining and living rooms.  Perfect layout in my book.  To see more of those rooms, please read Joni's entire post here. 

Another view from the entry leading into the family room.  And, for the record, I am absolutely in love with the brick flooring.  Your eye is immediately drawn to the flooring and it adds so much texture and warmth!

The Family Room

A bright and airy family room lined with french doors leading off to an outdoor space.  Brilliant.  Great for entertaining and bringing the outdoors inside!  Built in bookcases flanking the fireplace.  Again tall ceilings which always makes a space feel a lot larger.  

Directly behind the family room couch is the kitchen!  Yeah!  Perfect if you have small children because you can cook and watch your children play or watch t.v. in the family room.  I like how the staircase is viewable from the family room, kitchen and even the entry hall.  

The Kitchen

And, the piece de resistance (in my book) is the eat in kitchen.  How gorgeous is this kitchen?  Where we are looking, it is impossible to find an eat in kitchen.  It seems to get that, we'll need to go up at least 50 to 100K in price!  Unbelievable!  

And, you can't see it here, but the kitchen has a small hallway that links directly to the dining room which looks like it houses a bar or a butler's pantry.  This home is absolutely stunning and I need to write an entirely different post to capture all the beautiful decor details.  To see more of this home and to learn more about it's stunning design, go to Joni's post here.

So, this is my perfect layout for our future home!  Is this too much to ask for? ;)  

  

The Perfect Desk Chair

I love this desk chair and I would like to find one like it - I bet I could find one at a antique fair, consignment store or the like.

If I found one, I'm sure it would need to be reupholstered.  I would choose a black and white striped fabric.  I think the black and white fabric paired with the brass frame and casters would look so chic.

This fabric which has a sort of john robshaw'esque' feel (at least to me) would be perfect (the price is perfect too)!

I would only need a yard and 1/2 given this nifty little yardage table for reupholstery projects.  And, if the frame and casters weren't brass, I would paint it in Rustoleum's Metallic spray paint in brass.  Or switch out the existing feet for these beauties!

Okay, now I gotta go out and find me this chair!! :)

A Splash of Pink

I'm not sure it is because I have a little girl, but I'm falling head over heels for interiors with a splash of pink.  At first, I was convinced a pink sofa would be the right amount of pink to make me super happy!

Source: isuwannee.com via Fran on Pinterest

But, after living with a pink sofa in our rental, I can tell you it is not ideal with little kids.  It takes only seconds for my son to finish his lunch and then go dive on the pink sofa with his greasy hands.  Hello stains!  So, I'm reconsidering a pink sofa (unless it is in our master bedroom, but I need to convince my husband of that!) and am now thinking of injecting a splash pink in other ways.

Source: designindulgence.blogspot.com via Fran on Pinterest

via

via

Hello pink chair!

A Short Jaunt to Jayson Home and Garden

I'm back from a wonderful vacation to Michigan and Chicago.  Lots of fun time with the inlaws - fireworks, boating, sunbathing, grilling and watching Luke have a blast with his cousins.

Kevin and I were able to get away to Chicago for a quick trip.  Having only been there once before, I was really excited.  An awesome city that offers both the city and beach life.  So cool.  We stopped at Jayson Home and Garden and while we there that place did not disappoint.  Here are some highlights.

LOVE!

So fabulous, enough said. 

Succulents were everywhere.  

Chrome chairs.  So sexy.  

I want, pretty please!!

Perfect shade of green.  Love the mix of modern & rustic.  

Acrylic antlers!!  

Inspiration for a DIY!

Love this fabric!  I'm kicking myself because I didn't find out the name of it.  

And, just one for good measure...I'm in my 3rd trimester - the countdown is on!

The Versatile Spool Chair

This weekend my friend and I went furniture shopping.  We came across the spool chair.  When we sat in it and I couldn't get over how comfortable it was!!  She has been looking for a comfortable chair for her bedroom where she can sit and read and we both agreed that this chair could be a contender.  The great thing is it's versatile, it could easily fit in a living room, family room or study setting.  Here are some of my favorite images.

House Beautiful

Hickory Chair

Hickory Chair probably has the best spool chair out there.  Timeless and great quality.  A piece you'll have forever.  On their website, you can picture the chair in any finish or fabric of your choice!!  Simply click on the 'Personalize this item' button on the top right hand of the product page, like this one.  

Hickory Chair

Layla Grace

Layla Grace carries both the chair and the ottoman with many fabric options.

Wisteria

The Wisteria chair is currently out of stock which is not surprising for $600, however I think not having padding on the arm rests would bother me and the fine print 'assembly required' worries me.  

Bloomsbury Vanguard Furniture

I found this one on clearance for $800.

Are you a fan?  Do you own one?

Before & After: Kitchen Bar Stool

Note to self: don't promote a big reveal unless you have a big reveal.  So in my previous post I mentioned that I was working on a piece for my kitchen (to complement my roman shade), with a reveal soon to follow.

Something you should know about our kitchen: it is small.  11 x 11, to be exact.  We redid the kitchen shortly after we got married and I moved in.  It was a gut job (including the ceiling and floors - but the walls stayed).  I'll save those details for a later post.  But one of the things that bugs me about our tiny kitchen is that there is nowhere to sit.  No island, no countertop overhang, no nothing.   

Between the end of the countertop and the entry to the dining room there is just enough wall space for a single bar stool (how sad).  I measured the space and kept an eye out for a high bar stool that would work and found one at an antique store for around $10.  Here is my find:

BEFORE

A great stool, but the color wasn't right.  As you already know from yesterday's post, I wanted to match the color of my stool to the citrine color of my roman shade (below).  I finally found the perfect color - Benjamin Moore's Mother Earth.

And, here is the reveal - the bar stool now painted and situated in small nook between the entryway to our dining room and the end of our countertop.  Finally, a place where someone can sit and visit while I cook!

AFTER

And, I just love Anne Harwell's Courtney Barnes chair print right above it!! 

I know what you're thinking: "this was the big reveal?".  Well, yes.  But in the war I've launched against this house, even the smallest victories are very rewarding and energizing.  Happy Wednesday!  :)