Yes, I did.

I went and got some new paint (a previous swatch I have shown) and re-painted the office tonight. And.........

I love it!!

I'm going to wait to reveal the room later, but just wanted to update!

Flawless

Rachel Bilson is my style icon. Here is a new picture posted of her from Frugal Fashionista looking amazing as always. I wish I could look so effortlessly put together all the time like her:

An Inspiring Space

I want to feature an absolutely beautiful, calm yet modern bedroom from Rate My Space on HGTV.com. Some of you may have seen this, some may not have, but either way it's such a great room I had to blog about it!

I also posted a sneak peak of it in my previous post about paint.




I love that she leaned framed pictures up against the wall on the floor.


The shudders are such a great, unique alternative to drapes. Also what great storage she has up on the top!

I'm feeling a little blue....

I spent all day today priming and painting the office.

And........... it's SO BLUE! I don't get it. I'm really hoping, praying, wishing it changes but I'm thinking it's not going to.

Here is my original sample, painted on the same primer, etc:


And here is the room right now:


Doesn't the painted sample look more green?



Not exactly what I was hoping for :/ I really thought after 9 swatches I found the right color. But for some strange reason, it just is not at all what I wanted!

This color is what I was looking for:


I'm exhausted and naseous from painting all day so I don't plan on changing/fixing it anytime soon, I'll just have to deal for now. I still need to do 1-2 more coats... so I'll (of course) keep you updated as to what the final product looks like.

New News

As you can see, I changed my header. I am not really fond of bright colors, so it didn't make sense to have a bright header. I hope you like my new simpler one.

Also, I got the PB Capiz pendant lamp in the mail - all I can say is FALSE ADVERTISING! It looked nothing like it did online, the quality was so poor, and the "capiz shells" did not look like shells at all - it looked like milk carton plastic. So I'm back on the search for a great drum pendant light.

CB2 Picks

As Matt and I were catching up on Tivo-ed Top Chef last night, I was flipping through the new CB2 catalog. Here are some items I tagged:


I've seen these glass candlesticks before, but I love this exact cluster; it would look great on our Master Bedroom dresser.


Grey pinstriped shower curtain - perfectly understated.


How awesome are these clear desk accessories? What a great addition to our soon-to-be new paint color!

Great Success!

I did it! I picked a color! Que the music!

Can you believe it - last night I went out to Lowe's to pick up my NINTH paint sample. I decided I was going in all the wrong directions with the swatches I already picked up and needed to go lighter with less green and mauve tones. Boy was I right! I absolutely love the paint I picked up, and I will probably start the painting process this Sunday.

Things I learned by buying paint samples:

1.) The color always looks different from the paper swatch.
2.) PRIME the walls! It's amazing what a difference it made in the color!
3.) It may take 8 paint samples on a wall for you to realize you are picking the wrong colors.
4.) $36 in paint samples are worth not having a color on your walls that you hate.

So here it is!

It's an Olympic color, I don't have the color name with me at work... but I'll definitely post it with the final pictures of the room!

Spring Cleaning

I have felt so frumpy lately. Well, this isn't a new thing... I'm the queen of frump.

I've put together a new spring "collection" of items I would love to add to my wardrobe. Matt - can I get them? haha just kidding.... I already know the answer: no.




The clothes are a mix of Urban Outfitters, Forever 21 and J Crew. As you can see I approach my clothes the same way I do as my home : neutral and simple.

Approx price of all the above not including shipping/tax: $339. That is not bad, eh?

UPDATE: I bought the black tunic with a GC from my mom - Thanks Mom!

Easy Mac, Garlic & Cheese

Tonight we had a yummy (and very bad for us) dinner!

Mac N Cheese is one of my favorite things to eat, you don't need to know me long to know that I love cheese. So I knew this recipe had potential when I stumbled upon it. My favorite part was it was quick and easy.

I changed it up quite a bit, so here is my version, and I'm calling it....

Easy Mac, Garlic & Cheese Pasta



1 can of cheese soup (Campbells)
1 8-ounce package of shredded cheese mix
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of 1% milk
1/2 cup of Reduced Fat Buttermilk (I know - what an oxymoron, but it exists)
1 tsp of Creole Seasoning (I did a couple shakes, so this is approximate)
1 tsp of Basil (I did a little palmful, so this is approximate)
4 cloves of garlic finely choppes (yes 4 cloves! We love garlic, and 4 cloves is a LOT... I suggest you do 2-3 cloves)
1 lb package of Rigitoni pasta

1.) Cook pasta to al dente.
2.) Mix all ingredients excluding the pasta together in a large mixing bowl. Add in the pasta and mix it all together.
3.) Put pasta and cheese in a casserole dish and cook on 400 for 20 minutes.


YUM!

Artist Spotlight: Janet Woodward-Hill

Janet is one of my favorite artists of the moment. I came across her work on Etsy.com, and then I found her featured on one of my favorite blogs Absolutely Beautiful Things.

Everyone knows I love anything and everything to do with "home", and Janet's interiors are to-die for:









Janet's portraits pull a heartstring for me because her style reminds me of my grandma and great-grandma's style. Here are some of my favorites:







Here is one of my great grandmother's paintings:



I hope to add one (or two, or three!) of Janet's pieces to this wall someday :)

I'm a little neurotic....

Sometimes I wonder how Matt puts up with me - I am definitely very thankful for him.

I've been trying to pick out the perfect color for our office - and I have bought eight paint swatches so far! I finally stopped myself from buying more - painted a big primer spot on our wall, and started the process of narrowing down to one.

Here is Round One:




After I narrow the colors down to 2-3, I'm going to use the rest of the white space to paint larger samples.

At this point I can't even tell you my favorites - but I'll be sure to post Round Two.

And as a re-fresher, here is my idea board:

Capiz Me

I've finally committed to my lighting choices and bit the bullet and bought this from Pottery Barn (with gift cards - yay!)



I've noticed during my lighting debate of 2008 I have become drawn to Capiz items! Hence my purchase above, and also my in-the-very-near-future purchase of this pendant:



I think Capiz shells shout casual and elegance at the same time - which I'm sure is what I'm drawn to.

I've found some other Capiz items that I really like:


Capiz light From JCP.com


Capiz Holders from ShellHorizons.com.

The only items I actually purchased/am purchasing are the lights, since I don't want to go TOO island theme. But I am excited to add a touch of Capiz to our decor, it IS Southern California after all ;)

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do? Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You!

Friday night we had the cops called on us!




haha yes. It's true! And NO we were not having a party! Let me start off by saying we have the world's worst neighbors. From Day One we had an issue with them. When we went to their house to introduce ourselves the first thing they told us was that we could not park along the street because it "blocked their view". However, we live on a curve, so that space is actually in front of our house. We've had many many other issues with them, but this Friday topped the cake.

We had two friends over, had a couple drinks and were having a great time when we had the grand idea to play Rock Band! We started rocking out, and at around 9 p.m. we had a knock on our door. IT WAS A COP!!!

I have to say in all my days of partying in college I never once had a cop come to break up the party. And here we were, the four of us in our mid to late 20s in our own home playing ROCK BAND and the neighbors called a noise complaint.

The cop was around our age, and was trying his best to hold back his laughter. It was only 9 p.m. after all, and he could see through our windows that we were playing a video game.

So those of you who are Rock Band-ers, be careful! You may just have the cops come if you are rocking too hard!

LOL!

Our First Garden

Today Matt and I planted our very first garden! I don't have pictures yet and we still have a lot to do... but I love how it looks so far. I love flowers and I am crossing my fingers I can keep them alive!

In lieu of pictures, I'll leave you with this....

Etsy Seller Spotlight : Nataera

While searching Etsy last night, I found an incredibly talented artist's shop. It's called Nataera, and not only is her art unique and beautiful, but it's perfect for the budget-conscious art collectors of the world (ahem... me.)

Her use of color is my favorite aspect of her art. Here are some pieces I'm drooling over:






(how awesome is this copper wire sculpture???)



I hope to get one of her paintings for my birthday (which is in a little less than 2 months).

I adore trees.

I've always loved trees. I remember on long car rides as a child looking out the window, as the trees would pass me by (or we would past by them by) they always seemed like they were dancing; in a perfectly choreographed ballroom dance. Next time you are a passenger, look at them passing you by all in a row - you'll see what I mean :)

So of course when it came time for our wedding, I knew I wanted it outside, and I only looked at one location - in the foothills here in CA surrounded by trees, and knew it was the one.



So, I was searching online tonight and checking out some of my favorite etsy sellers when I stumbled upon an amazing sale by one of my favorite etsy photographer -

Fine Art Photography by Irene Suchocki.

She had a buy one piece of art - get one free sale going on that ended in a half an hour! I knew I had to jump on it. Well turns out the exact piece of art I picked was also featured on Extreme Home Makeover, and even on one of my favorite episodes (the one with the Marine). Here is the beautiful piece:


Read all about it on her blog.

The art print I got for free along with my purchase is this:


Although I'm not particularly fond of birds, I fell in love with this print because of the name "Two of us". I couldn't help but think of Matt and I on our wedding day sealing our vows within the branches of Padua.



I've said it before - when I buy art, it has to be meaningful to me, especially since I don't like many things on our walls!

It's not over until the fat lady sings!

Can you believe it? I CAN'T. Right when I thought I had made my decisions on lighting - BAM! Pottery Barn comes out with a drum pendant that I like MORE than my original pick!



versus



I can't believe how the tables have turned. Especially since I was drooling over the drum pendant in this image I posted a couple days ago:



And thanks to our AMAZINGLY generous wedding guests - I could purchase both the PB Lantern and the new PB Drum Pendant with gift cards.

Unfortunately, I have a MUCH bigger decision that I need to make today, life-changing that is. I'll post about it soon. Yes - this is a teaser!

But please, lend me your opinions! Which do you like better?

Office Space

The Office is the next on my "Re-design" list. Originally I thought I had wanted very dark walls, but Matt nixed that idea. Also, I realized the room doesn't get much light.

Here is my new idea board:

I'm trying to find the perfect color of oyster-gray-ish. Hard to describe ;)

Also I plan on organizing our bookcase to look similar to this:


And doing a wall just like this:

(Thanks thisyounghome.com!)

But first, I need to pick a paint color!