Simplify: Tip #9

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"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

-Hans Hoffman

Fabulous Friday!

Better late than never right? I've decided to participate in Simply Seleta's Fabulous Friday's, in which you basically just post about anything you find fabulous!

This Friday I found my inspiration from my etsy faves. Looking at some of my most recent additions I saw this fabulous color palette emerge: soft grays, whites and sea foam greens. So peaceful and dreamy, which is the kind of weekend I hope you all have!

Product info, top to bottom, left to right:
Faceted Wooden Rocks, by Kindling Shop
Mountain Clouds, by Matthew Bailey Seigel
Woodland Wonderland Jay McCarrol fabric, from Fabric Worm
Pepper, by Lonny

Obsessing Over: Colored Leather Gloves

I saw Confessions of a Shopoholic this past weekend, and while the movie was just OK, I did enjoy seeing all the crazy ensembles that "Rebecca" wore. I must say, I have become quite enamored with colorful leather gloves. Check out all the various hues she sported:

I'm getting a bit of a scrubbing toilets vibe with these ones, but whatev.

movie stills via aceshowbiz

I found a great selection online at Forzieri. At $87 bucks a pop, I can't really justify a purchase at this point, seeing as how winter is almost over. Plus, our winters are so mild that I rarely wear gloves anyway. But they are just so fun, I am going to keep them in mind for when winter rolls around again. What's your take? Yay or Nay? Which is your favorite color?

iomoi

Coolest stationary items ever available at iomoi. Just browsing through the bold graphic patterns, bright colors and funky little animals made for a mighty good time. The only problem would be picking just one! I am really digging the little Sophie The Giraffe invite shown above for a baby shower or birth announcement.
My other favorite graphic has to be this top hat seahorse :
How cool is he?

You can even sign up for their e-stationary line. $15 will get you a full year membership to a variety of different styles of email templates, so you can send email in style. Here is a little example of what an email message would look like:

Just a fun little way to add style to your day. They update designs frequently, and they recently had tons of chic Valentine designs. So go check it out and let me know what your favorite designs are!

Python Power

I have been love, love loving this gray python print lately! Any of these pieces would be a welcome addition to my home.

Domino

Neiman Marcus

Wallis Designs

Of course, seeing as how I am always on a budget, I sought out a cheaper DIY alternative. Here's what I am thinking:

Take one little side table (which I already have):

Paint it white, then decoupage a python print paper to the top. A quick google search found this 6 foot roll of contact paper for only $9.99:
Or maybe just line a cute little tray with it for the top of the table? Decisions, decisions.

Master Bed Before & After

Our master bedroom has always been the most neglected room in the house. I think that is fairly common though, because you usually spruce up the rooms that are seen the most first, so your bedroom kind of just falls to the wayside. In reality, this is probably one of the most important rooms to take care of. After all, you do spend most of your time there (sleeping of course-but still).

I'd like to share with you the before picture of our bedroom-even though I am a bit embarrassed-because it really shows the transformation the room has gone through.

Before:

Plain walls, plain sheets and a bed that was one of those purchases that I pretty much almost immediately regretted. The iron scroll work was just not working for me. However, it wasn't in the budget to buy a whole new bed, plus I thought it would be wasteful considering the bed wasn't more than a few years old and was in perfect shape.

After:

Our solution? Pry off the iron scroll work, which was only screwed in and glued to the wood, saw off the remaining wood posts, saw off the little top wooden finishing pieces from the posts, then re-glue them on to the remaining headboard. I probably totally lost you, because I am horrible at explaining things. I should have taken pictures! What a bad blogger I am. Anyway, here is how it turned out:

I like it so much better now that it has a simpler look to it. I am considering painting it white in the future, what do you think?

We decided to paint the wall behind the bed in a brown tone. We used Freshaire Paint from Home Depot, which has no VOC's or harsh chemicals and no strong paint odor-it was fabulous! Of course, it limited our color choices tremendously, and the color we chose ended up looking olive green once we got it up there. Oh well. The name of the color is Pine Cone Hill. We are big fans of the accent wall because we hate painting and can only seem to make it through one wall before wanting to throw in the towel!


We hung the butterfly artwork I made (you can read the post about how I made them here). I would eventually like to make this a gallery style grouping once I collect more pieces. The zig zag throw is from Ikea; the woodgrain quilt, shams and glass gourd lamps are from Target (no longer available); the end tables are from Cost Plus (no longer available); the toss pillow on the bed is from Burlington Coat Factory. Below is a shot of the print I posted about here a few days ago:


All in all I really love the way it turned out. What I really love is that the total for the complete make-over was a mere $320! You know I'm all about the bargain hunting, and basically everything except the paint was on clearance when I bought it. I hope you have enjoyed this little sneak peak into our little master bedroom re-do!

Simplify: Tip #8

8x10 print available to download for free here

Define Your Style

I finally got around to taking that Sproost interior design style quiz that has been floating around on different blogs for awhile now. It is actually a quite fun, easy quiz to take if you have a few spare moments. It shows a handful of different styles of rooms and you click on how you feel about it, ranging from "Love it" to "Hate it". What I really enjoyed are the product suggestions at the end, which are matched to your style results. You can even purchase them directly from the site (which I think is the whole point of the quiz).

Here are my results:

And the explanations for each style-the phrases that I agree with are in bold:

French Eclectic

Parlez-vous français? Even if the answer is no, you can confidently say your home does! French Eclectic somehow manages to be both formal and casual, classy and unassuming at the same time. You like your spaces to feel inviting from the moment you (or your guest) opens the front door and this feeling should continue even after you've entered your most formal room. Even though there are French antiques here and gold details there, the rustic country elements provide a balance and warmth that seems to say, "come in, relax and stay a while." Your love of antiques leads you to flea markets, garage sales and hours of eBay hunting."

I'm not sure how sold I am on this result. I definitely don't have, or necessarily want, any French antiques, though of course I can appreciate them. I do love flea markets and ebay, but I have never been on the lookout for anything particularly French-well except for Eiffel Tower figures, but I don't think that really counts!

Modern Elegance

Variety is the spice of life! And nowhere is this truer than in the design of your home. You may love contemporary, but wish it wasn't quite so cold and austere, or perhaps you're drawn to traditional rooms but you'd like to create a less cluttered and busy space. Transitional Style is here to marry those apparent contradicting designs.

And guess what? It's the contradictions that make the mix of contemporary and traditional so successful. The result is an elegant room that appeals to young and old alike. A sofa with modern lines blends seamlessly with a pair of traditional chairs. New fabrics work so well on antique pieces. It turns out that modern art looks even more exciting above a collection of traditional pieces. The room feels simple and sophisticated, elegant and hip.

Now this definitely sounds a lot more like me!

Cottage Chic

Who says that cottages can't be modern and chic? Who says that they have to be floral and cheesy? Not you!

You love the carefree spirit that the cottage interior inspires, but you are also serious about your appreciation for modern art and hip treasures. You love old and new alike, and love to highlight them all to expose the uniqueness of each. What better way to show off these treasures than with a light background?

Yes, yes and yes!

So since I wasn't feeling the first response I took the test over (I was that bored) and noticed that there were different room choices this time. There were more that I actually really liked and my results turned out like this:

So French Eclectic was outta there and Hollywood Couture makes an appearance. Interesting. I figure since Cottage Chic and Modern Elegance showed up again, those are definitely the ones that describe my style best. Here are a few of the recommended products at the end that I really liked:

I actually already have a very similar starburst mirror over my fireplace. I have also been wanting a bullet style planter like the one shown above for a good while now. I'm not going to be buying any of this stuff, but it was fun to browse anyway.

If you take the test, come and share your results, I would love to hear them!

Freebie Alert: The Indie Fixx Feed Your Soul Project

So by now I am sure we have all come to realize how dire this whole economy thing is getting (to put it lightly). It has definitely put a damper on my spirits just thinking about how in the world we are all going to get out of this mess. But alas, another kind spirit top the rescue, doing their part to make your day a bit brighter: The Indie Fixx Feed Your Soul Free Art Project. Each month will feature new artists who have created a piece specifically for this project, and you will be able to print said pieces for free! I just love the reasoning behind Jen's idea for this:

"I also know that when people start to tighten up the purse strings they tend not spend money on things that aren’t necessary for survival, things like books, magazines and art. But, art is important for your soul. It helps rejuvenate, it’s thought-provoking, offers inspiration and can generally brighten an otherwise dreary day among other things."

Don't you just love that? So head on over where this month there are three different prints available to you from Samantha Hahn, Jessica Gonacha and Jen Wallace:

Here are more of the artists you can expect in the future:

vol. 25
Berkley Illustration
Browington Forest
Michele Maule
Tricia Mckellar
Things are Better with a Parrott
Stephanie Fizer
Unconventional Ida

More Gilt Goodies

Gorgeous jewelery from Kendra Scott available from Gilt. I didn't realize the links won't work unless you are a member, so if you want to sign up and check it all out you can use this link: http://www.gilt.com/invite/jettagirl19.

Obsessing Over...

Lately I have been thinking a lot about purchasing a large art piece for either my entry or family room. I have two types in mind:

1. A large canvas with a moody wash of colors:

Susan Spies-Outlands

Amy Melious-Tranquil Waters II

2. Black and white photograph of ocean waters:

Because I can't seem to get this vignette out of my mind:

The above is a photograph by artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Stacks of this print were displayed and given out for free at his showings, in what he called "democratic artworks".

This one has a similar feel, though it is not nearly big enough in size:

Kevin Woyce Photography-Ocean Waves

What about you? Have any ideas floating around in your head, or finally bought that piece of art you had been wanting for so long?

Etsy Love: Kathi Roussel

I love the delicate handmade jewelry created by etsy seller Kathi Roussel. But what really caught my eye was the clever way she stages her products: with vintage dollhouse furniture.

Check It Out: kelly + olive

Recently I happened upon the blog modern homebody, and saw that they were having a giveaway that entitled the winner to a free custom moodboard makeover for the room of their choice. Well, I just love a good moodboard makeover so I had to enter! Guess what? I won!

The ladies behind the blog, Courtney and Laura have a business called kelly + olive, in which they provide various interior design services. The moodboard service I received consisted of:

• color palette advice
• furniture and accessory suggestions
• ideas for revamping current furniture
• furniture layout suggestions
  

They asked me a few simple questions via email, I sent them photos of my room, and within 24 hours I received my 6, count 'em 6 page presentation! I was blown away by what an awesome job they did. I wanted our family room to be more light, fun and fresh, which would reflect our family dynamic better than our current setup. The ladies really hit the nail on the head, and came up with ideas that I just love and hopefully will get to implement soon (just going to take a little buttering up of the ol' hubby). What is so great about their services is summed up in their manifesto: "We will help you fall back in love with your stuff."

Here are a few images from the presentation:

Cover page:

Color palette suggestions:

Suggestions for revamping my inherited Wingback chair and side table, as well as some cool artwork:

To view the rest of the pages, hop on over to the kelly + olive blog, where they have posted a nifty little slideshow.

I have been putting off redoing my family room for so long because I could never seem to make final decisions as to which direction I wanted to take the room. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh set of eyes to give you a push in the right direction, which is exactly what Courtney and Lauren have done for me. So go check them out in all their glory:

modern homebody blog
kelly + olive website
kelly + olive blog (in which they just posted an awesome presentation for a baby girl's nursery that you should definitely check out)

Simplify: Tip #7

ngoc minh ngo

"Cling to simplicity, sincerity, serenity, and the power of truth." -I Ching

<3

I hope you all have an utterly fabulous Valentine's Day and weekend! My hubby has the day off and we have a babysitter, a rather rare combo, so I am going to be gallivanting around town with him today.

Snail image from the ever creative and inspiring resurrection fern. Check out the rest of her photos with this little guy-a great reminder that everyone needs a little love in their life!

Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing

I picked up this book for Natalie awhile back and have been meaning to share it with you. The title of the book pretty much says it all. It is filled with funny little illustrations proving the point that it is just rather silly for animals to wear clothes. I just love a book that will make the little ones giggle. Here are a few images I found online, because I am too lazy to scan them myself:

"Because it might make life hard for a hen."

"Because a kangaroo would find it quite unnecessary."

"Because a camel might wear it in the wrong places."

You can purchase the soft cover version at amazon here, with used copies selling for as little as 50 cents.