On My Spring Wish List

(J. Crew Silk Blythe Blouse in Poppy, J. Crew Crystal Rays Necklace In Pale Coral, H&M Conscious Collection Top in Natural White, H&M Conscious Collection Shorts in Beige, Anthropologie Evening Chill Pullover in Ivory, Anthropologie Lengthening Rays Skirt in Pink,  H&M Conscious Collection Vest in Natural White)

My Spring Wish List…I’m sensing a theme here…

Adding Architectural Detail

I came across this excellent step-by-step for adding chair rails and paneling to walls (maybe from Lonny Mag?? I can’t remember unfortunately). I loooveeee these.  It is really just a few strips of wood, but it makes the biggest difference. I’ve done it before the po’ man way, faking my way through with tape and paint, but nothing’ beats the real deal.

Last week I went to the recycled construction place, bought me some honkin’ strips of wood(for 4 dollars- holla), cut them, nailed them, caulked them, and even smoothed the caulk with my finger all by myself! I even pounded the nails in with that metal thingy that indents them a bit so you can put wood filler over the top to smooth it out. And I smoothed out all the seams and gaps with caulk and wood filler. How do ya’ like them apples??

This is the weird pass through room that is Van’s (please excuse the janky Iphone photo), and it goes right into our bedroom. You can’t tell from this picture but behind the second door is about an 8 foot long wall that stops about where that second runner stops, and before the first door is a tiny non-hallway hall that you can begin to see. My plan is to try to bring it all together by painting the bottom a so-dark-charcoal-grey-it-almost-looks-black (done), add a chair rail on the top of it all (halfway done), wallpaper the top half of all those walls in one wallpaper (ordered, can’t wait to show you. You’ll love it. It’s pretty much the bomb), and then do the faux po’ man paneling on the bottom with white paint.

Hopefully sometime this decade I’ll finish.

Easter Weekend Round Up

How was everybody’s weekend? We had a fully loaded sugar smack down three-day rager, filled with egg hunts times three and multiple notable quotes and moments. Such as-

“I am going to set my alarm, drink champagne, and wear my tiara.” My grandma sharing her plan to watch the royal wedding at 1 am.

My Dad- “Jaden, do you love your Uncle Jonathan or what”, Jaden- “Yeah I have to go potty”, and proceeds to drop trou’ and pee in bushes

My friend Steven– “I believe it is my destiny to one day be American Ninja Warrior”. He really can scale buildings like some freak of Spiderman nature. And he can hang from his arms for a really long time. Check out his coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs fingers

Miss Pomp also got blamed for the false start of about 150 2nd-3rd grade kids who were scraping their foot on the ground like a raging bull to get to mass amounts of hidden eggs at our churches annual Easter egg hunt. It wasn’t really her. Her voice just hits crazy high pitch octave range sometimes…..she’s just the loudest.

My husband was in bed sick Easter Sunday, and somehow this is one of only about three pictures I ended up with from the weekend. And none of them have all of our family in it. So Uncle Jonathan will be the stand-in Dad for the day. It’s good for a kid to have stand-in dads. We gotta help each other out.

And just for fun…

Hits the charmingly creepy nail right on the head, no?

Can You Spot The Knock-Off?

I came across this article in Est Magazine, an online mag, on real-deal Eames vs. poser Eames.

Now ask me if I care……I will never pay upwards of 350 bones for a plastic chair. While I may count the ways I love these chairs and all variations of them, I’ll continue holding out for the holy grail day I find one in a goodwill somewhere, with a random deer head sitting on it. And I’ll buy both.

I have no problem with knock-offs. In fact I’m stoked on knock-offs. My tastes and likes change often enough that I’m not really the type to get collector’s items kind of things and keep them for life. I think I’m too fickle.

So here’s to the knock off’s people!

Lavender & Lace

(Top and White Jacket – Urban Outfitters, Leather Jacket – via Ambiance, Shorts – via Villains SF, Shoes – Sam Edelman)

We had a token warm day last week, and I was SUPER excited to take these shorts out for a spin. I bought them almost a year ago at one of my favorite stores, Villains SF (check out the post they did on me here, and check out their resident fashionista, Ashley, here), but for some reason, had not found occasion to wear them until now.  They are a gorgeous shade of silvery lavender that feels so light and summery.

What are you guys excited to start wearing now that spring is officially upon us?

The Man Cave: Breakdown and Sources

The Charge: create a space where teenage and not-so-teenage dudes can flop down, hang out, and play video games, whilst also allowing for overnight guests. So the couch HAD to be a futon or convertible sofa. So that’s where I started.

It was important to pick the couch first, because depending on the fabric and style that was chosen, it would dictate the fabric and style of the rest of the pieces. And there are way less choices in futons and convertible things. But I actually love the one I picked. I love the over-sized tufting and whiskey colored leather, while the shiny chrome base bring the modern in. And I got the flop-down-and-let-out-a-wierd-uuuuuuhhhhh grunt of approval on the comfort factor from the dude. So I took that as a thumbs up.

I originally wanted to go with a round coffee table to break up the shapes, but I found this one at a yard sale for $10. Uh, sold. It would have ben too much brown and too heavy if I left the whole thing how it was, so I painted the under side a very pale grey to lighten it up. The top is all uneven and imperfect. I like that. It looks natural and organic. It ended up working better than a round because the space is super tight. I don’t think a round would have actually fit as well.

The ottomans in there all double as seats, should there be some huge shooting tournament or something.

Silver pouf too girly for a man-cave? I think not. Only if I refer to it as a pouf. No poufing. I wanted something shiny and reflective to un-dull it up.

This thing was my token piece of awesomeness. I thought it was just a cool sculptural piece of wood until I brought it up to the register and the guy said “Isn’t that a cool tooth??”. It’s a tooth. And it actually has a little plaque on it with some random dentist’s name on it. But I like oddities like that. And this family appreciates oddities.

SIDE NOTE: I had the most awkward 15 second dance party with this guy ever. I was asking him a question at the counter and that Madonna Justin Timberlake song came on, and I said “oh I love this song”, and sang the friky friky part. Then he sang “four minutes what”. Then we sat there for a second and I said “ok bye”, and left. But I now feel like we have crossed a barrier in the customer-owner world and I will get to know him better. There’s no going back. We had a moment.

So, in a nut shell, I pay attention to material and texture when I am choosing pieces. Leather couch, wood table, metallic non-pouf, metal side table, ceramic drum stool thing, shiny white modern lacquer, natural seagrass, etc. That is what helps bring dimension to a room and keep it from feeling dull. I kept the main pieces pretty neutral and brought color in the pillows. They are easy to change if you get bored.

Oh….the paint! I was really excited about how the paint turned out.

I wanted to create the sense of more architecture, which kind of brought in a library like feel to me. So we just used Frog Tape and paint. That’s it. It’s just taped off. And I looove this paint color. (listed below). See more pictures of the Man-Cave here.

SOURCES:

Couch- Overstock

Pillows- Hand made DIY

Wall Art- Kiki and Polly (Etsy)

Rug- Ikea

Coffee table, yellow candle holders, lamp, chairs – Thrifted/Second Hand (Good call  Rufus’ Food and Spirit Guide guy)

Ceramic Stool/Side Table- Ross

Circle Side Table- Marshall’s

Media Console- Ikea

Hanging Pendant Light- DIY

Metallic Pouf- Nate Berkus for HSN

Number Ottomans- Thrifted DIY

Paint- Martha Stewart Rain Water

Holy Louboutins Batman!

(Images via The Coveteur)

So this is what a rich person’s closet looks like….

Presenting The Man-Cave

Sadly I have no before picture! So just picture straight up mustard yellow with a dash of mac and cheese orange paint on the walls, and some mixed discarded furniture pieces. Dark, harsh, not pretty folks. This is not a large room and it was pretty much impossible to get full, good shots of the room because of all the angles and door jams around it. So we roll with what we got…

Friday I’ll talk you through why I picked what I did, and give sources and details

Men’s Style

(Jacket – J. Crew, Tie – Diesel, Jeans – Comune, Shoes – Red Wing)

 

My handsome husband at my cousin Ali’s wedding. Everything I love in men’s fashion can be found in a J. Crew catalogue.

Before and After: Teenage Girl’s Room

These are the before shots of a room I tackled about 6 months ago. The objective was to take the space that was fairly non-descript, and turn it into a place that a freshly teenaged girl would love to flop down in, and would feel a bit more grown up.

Here’s the transformation

The girl now loves her room I’m happy to say. You might recognize the DIY customizing of the Ikea Side Table, and the hanging pendant light was a DIY with felt and an Ikea cord kit. The girl and I also painted the canvas’ together, which was super fun for me to get to do that with her, and fun for her to have a part in designing her room. The desk and bed were already hers, and I just added a touch of sophistication and detail to the desk by adding the little black border.

What do you guys think??

Also, I’m trying to find a before picture of the Man-Cave for Miss Divine before I post it. Harder to show transformation sans before pic. Not trying to tease…..