Easy Line Drawings

After the powder room was finished yesterday I couldn't stop thinking about artwork that would go in there. I had decided I wanted simple, pretty line drawings as to not compete with the mirror and grasscloth. I scoured Etsy but came up short.

Then I had the idea to just make my own! I could probably have tried to free hand some, but to be honest that takes time (for me at least).. time I do not have. So I took the short-cut route.

I found these beautiful images on Vintage Printable. (I love Vintage Printable.. all the images on their site are royalty free so you don't have to worry about copyright infringement. Phew!)





Aren't they beautiful?? I love how the prints include the root systems. That was my favorite part. (I actually printed these first to try them in the bathroom but the cream image was lost up against the tan grasscloth. I needed something white).

I had vellum laying around from our wedding, so I took the vellum and used it as tracing paper to trace out the image. Here is an action shot taken with my iPhone:




After I was finished, I put the vellum against a plain white piece of paper. You can't really tell the sketches are on vellum unless you look really close.

And the final product:





I love how they turned out! It looks like I spent a lot of time on them, but I didn't :)







I had these frames laying around and they look really cool up against the grasscloth.

The best part- this entire project cost me $0 because I had everything laying around!

I couldn't resist...

The wallpaper hanger just left and I just couldn't resist sharing some pics! I LOVE IT!





Still to do:

- hang mirror
- install faucet
- finish painting vanity doors
- new hardware
- art

But those are easy & fast fixes.. hope to be done very soon!

Nice Throw Pillows

If someone showed me this image and asked me where these throw pillows are from.. I'd probably say Crate & Barrel.



Guess where they are from? IKEA! I found myself browsing the IKEA pillow selection and was very pleasantly surprised. These four pillows create a soft, pretty mix of (faux) silk, linen and cotton. Perfect for a neutral nelly room.

From top to bottom: DAGNY, AINA, HENRIKA, RITVA

All covers range from $6 to $15 (!!!). IKEA also has feather inserts for only $7 (!!!).

I'm always an advocate of beautiful designer fabric pillows (they can really change a room), but these four pillows are pretty great. They look much more expensive than they really are!

California Preppy Office

While I was writing up the plan for this design board, I was trying to think of a way to correctly describe it.

Me: I chose these awesome pillows in great patterns. It's an unexpected color palette, too. Not something you see all the time. Orange, Navy and Sage. So fresh and "California Preppy" :)

Client: Wow Bryn!!! I really love it, "California Preppy" is such a great way to describe this board.

Before I show you the office design board, here is the living room for the same client/home I designed in the past:



Formal, sophisticated (but still "young" i.e. the trellis fabric). Great for a living room. But for my client's office, we wanted a little more color and pattern since it's a more informal space.

Here is the plan...



See how it says "closet door wallpaper"? It's the same concept as Melissa Warner's closet in House Beautiful:



ps - this e-decorating client is actually in California and I love their home. I've warned them next time I'm out there visiting my in-laws I want to sneak by and take after pictures ;)

A Feeling

There was a lot of college basketball on at our house this weekend so for me that meant a lot of playing on the internet.

I've been thinking a lot about our own home lately. I think it may be spring fever.. I just want to do so much to it! But I have to admit.. I've really come to love our home. When we bought it, I was infatuated.. but it's grown to a deep love as each space is slowly coming along. We are truly blessed and I've developed those feelings that everyone talks about home ownership. Home ownership is a huge privledge and I dont' take it for granted one day. And trust me when I say like any relationship, somedays there are some hate. Like when we had to replace our HVAC system (ouch) and when we found a HUGE water spot on our ceiling (which luckily for us wasn't coming from the roof.. only a clogged drain). And sometimes my husband says "think of the money we'd have if we were still renters!" But we do love this house so much, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Enough with the cheese... the reason I started this post is because while basketball was on in the background, I was playing around with pretty pictures on my laptop. I love going through my inspiration file finding looking that "speak" to me and that I look at and think "I love the feeling of that space."

I went back and looked at some old Lonny's.. I love looking at old magazines because you always seem to discover something new. I remember seeing this bedroom, but I went back and feel more in love with it:

[ lonny ]

Love this "feeling" for the guest room. Light and airy, calm.. but with a little bit of an ethnic vibe.


This bedroom reminds me of our master.

[ Canadian House & Home ]

I just love the styling of these shelves.

[ southern living ]

Family room feeling...



The majority of the posts I write are for you, the reader, but sometimes I write a post for me. This would be one of them :)

Pitter Patter Print

I came across this print from 20x200 and it made my heart pitter patter with nostalgia.



My love of typography, design and color must have started from birth, because as a little girl I coveted, yes coveted, my Pink Pearl erasers. I rarely used them because they were just too pretty to use! Is the Pink Pearl pink not the best pink in the whole world? In fact, I just now realized this, but it reminds me a lot of my office paint color:



Anyway, I'll definitely be getting this print for our new laundry room. Not only is it beautiful.. but it's sort of comical: eraser = removing mistakes = fresh start = washing clothes. Okay maybe only my weird brain works that way. Either way, it's a great print.

Laundry Room Pics

I touched on it a little this week, but it's official - my mother in law has booked her trip out for the end of April and we are going to knock out a finished laundry room. So it's time to do some research and check out some laundry room inspiration.

Love the stainless steel shelving...



I definitely want a countertop above our washer/dryer... but granite is too rich for our blood. I'm thinking butcher block?

This one is titled "i wish"..



I have always adored this laundry room from House & Home:



Like kid's rooms, I think you can go "fun" in a laundry room with color and pattern. There is not much room in our laundry room to put any fabric.. but I can see doing a really fun rug.

[ all above images were found at decorpad.com ]

I love this "real life" laundry room from Holly of Life In The Fun Lane:

I was really surprised when she posted her reveal because I had planned the exact same hook treatment in our laundry room, too! We air dry a lot of our clothes, so a lot of hooks are necessary. It will be fun to see how ours turns out (our room is a lot smaller so I'll need to go with smaller hooks so they don't reach out and get anyone).

I'm excited to tackle this room, but I PLAN to finish the bedroom and powder room first :)

Half Moon Window??

Sometimes you scratch your head and think "what were the builders thinking??". An e-decorating client of mine contacted me about their master bedroom with a crazy half moon window above their bed:



The client contacted me to help figure out what in the world could they do with that window?? They also wanted it to be blacked out because it lets in too much sunlight while they are trying to sleep.

And here is my solution:



A tall headboard, a blackout shade and a mirror. Looks like a completely intentional design and no one will ever know there is a window behind there ;)

Here is the rest of the plan for the room:

Wanna Know?

I have so many projects going on with our house (big and small) so I thought I'd share a little status report. It's mostly for me, but in case you wanna know ;)

Master Bedroom

I'm getting our painted dresser back this week and also picking up a piece of art Amanda painted for me. These are too big pieces of the pie for our master bedroom.

I also approved a CFA for fabric for our settee, so that has been ordered and I'm just waiting for that! We're so close to being done.. can't wait.



Still left on the to do list is:

- get settee upholstered
- hang additional lighting
- gold leaf mirror for above dresser
- install closet door knobs
- figure out fan situation (I want something smaller, closer to the ceiling but that would require a remote.)


Powder Room

We finished peeling off all the wallpaper this weekend (as much as we could). Finally!!



Next steps..

- Paint vanity (already have paint.. must sand then paint)
- Paint trim
- Get grasscloth hung !!!
- Install hardware & faucet

( I love the little H & C)

Laundry Room

MIL has agreed to come out at the end of April to help lay tile in the laundry room, yay!! This the last space on the first floor that needs "renovating" after the powder room. It's a diasaster. It will be an easy, inexpensive job that hopefully we can knock out pretty quickly! If you remember, I started peeling wallpaper the day we closed!




Misc.

- Install second copper pendant in hallway.
- New lamps for entry & family room

I've been thinking about getting a small & inexpensive IKEA sectional for my office. Since my office is a pretty large bonus room, I'd love for it to also function as such. Mainly for later down the road when we have kids.. we can use it as a playroom after work hours. As you can see.. I've taped off the space for the sectional:



I've also been busy with the biz which is great! Speaking of.. I spent too much time on this post. Gotta go!

New Lamps

Lighting is probably my second favorite thing after fabric. So you know I was pretty excited when a blog reader mentioned my urn lamps would be PERFECT for her space and when I offered to sell them she said YES! Because this means... new lighting :)

I've already planning on getting this wavy Robert Abbey lamp for our entry, so that's what will be replacing the urn lamp:



Now I just need to think about what to get to replace the lamp in our family room..

Here are some contenders...

furbish



pb


lowes

I'll keep you posted ;)

two fabulous designers

Last week I came across two great designers via some of my favorite blogs (you can find my faves on my sidebar).

First up is Kristen Panitch Interiors. She is located in Los Angeles. I'm a sucker for California design. Here are my favorites of hers..

[ all images found via her website here ]

Second is Lauren Stern Design. Lauren is located in NYC. (on a side note, I LOVE how simple and clean her website is. It makes me rethink mine...)

[ all images found via her website here ]

I feel like there is something so fresh about these two designers but I can't quite put my finger on it. I love that their spaces feel relaxing and casual but are still very visually interesting.