A little of my week ...

Here is a little of what is going on in my neck of the woods this week...

The kitchen remodel (the one where my client has a bet going with her brother) is coming along great - it will be 95% completed by July 3rd. This is the kitchen where we 'broke ground' on June 4th. It looks like we are going to win the 8-week-bet.

The counters are in and so is the backsplash. The painters are finishing up this week and the appliances and cabinet pulls (and plumbing) are scheduled to be installed on Tuesday. If all goes as planned it will be a working kitchen for my client to have her family over for the 4th of July. 

I ordered the counter stools yesterday. I had fallen in love with a couple of fabrics. And they were absolutely perfect for the new kitchen. My client wanted a fun print that would make a statement but it also needed to be kid proof.  So my idea was to put the blue-ish green "vinyl" (which, by the way goes amazingly great with the backsplash) on the seat and front and the other fabric on the back. I pulled the third fabric to use in the adjoining room.

But the problem is that as much as I want it to work, it does not go with the rest of her house. I know what you are thinking ... well, kind of what I was thinking ... once you do a big remodel like a kitchen, all the old stuff kind of looks tired in comparison and ends up getting changed down the road anyway ... so I was hopeful. But it turns out their 'old' is not all that old and they like it. Darn. So we switched. And can I say that I love the new even more?

As disappointed as I was, I feel like I kind of 'won' because we are using white. Ahhh.  The back of the stools will still be the same fabric - just in a different colorway which goes nicely with the wall color (Dunn Edwards Inside Passage) and will show contrast well with the dark countertop (Caesarstone Raven).

These are the stools:

Nathan Anthony

The counter stools were our final decision to make on the kitchen so my work there is basically finished. Now I can sit back and watch it all come together!

I picked up these from the framer today - they are the beginning of a fun art wall for one of the little girl's rooms I am working on ...

And this was delivered - it will be made into some fabulous pillows for a beach house family room. It is an outdoor fabric which is always my first choice if there are kids or animals involved.

And lastly, (is lastly a word?) I stopped by to check on a living room upholstery job today and took a few photos. This chair (there are two of them) had been around for a really long time. It had been recovered at least once before and my client still loved the pink but the fabric was getting worn. So we changed it up ...

It sat too low to the ground before so I had it raised up a few inches and changed the old casters to a nice wooden leg.  We also added some new pillows to freshen up her sofas. (The carpet will be changed next).

Here is the room before we started:

living room before photo

And here it is with the new pillows. The new chairs sit to the right:

living room with new pillows

Hope you are having a great week!

From plain to spectacular

via

I have been spending a lot of time at Ikea lately. It is my "go to" place for frames (Ribba), shelves (Lack), cabinet handles (Vinna) and dressers (the Malm).

Malm dresser from Ikea

This dresser is a favorite of mine. It comes in several sizes and I have used them as nightstands, in closets, as living room consoles and dining room sideboards. At $69.99 for the 3 drawer chest or $169 for the 6 drawer dresser, it is an affordable option for most. Ikea now offers glass tops to fit which adds a really nice touch and you can easily dress it up by adding handles.
Like these for example:

via

But I thought I would show you some other ways to change the Malm dresser from simple to spectacular (just in case you have not seen them before!).

Amanda Carol at Home

Amanda used these overlays:

To turn her Malm into this!

The overlays are the brainstorm of Danika & Cheryle, a couple of friends who saw the need and came up with this ingenious idea. I found more great examples of how these simple overlays, can transform the Malm dresser on the O'verlays' website:

I love the white on white. 

And while I also enjoy the simplicity of the plain Malm dresser - there is something irresistible to me about these with the overlays.

It is hard to believe this started as a simple Malm dresser.

Ikea's Rast dresser is another common dresser to "hack." 

Here it is in it's natural state which sells for a mere $34.99:

Are you ready to see some crazy transformations?

via | directions here

My all time favorite is Nancy Marcus' Dorothy Draper inspired chest. Here is the $3,200 version:

Dorothy Draper Espana Chest

And here is Nancy's:

See Nancy's tutorial here

This one is pretty great too:

via | directions here

And finally, Naomi's campaign cabinet:

You can see her step-by-step instructions here. 

Pretty incredible transformations, right? But if you are like me (I am not crafty nor do I love DIY projects) it might feel a little overwhelming. So let me show you something that I know I can do (which means you can too!). It just involves a little spray painting ...

This ...

Ikea's Vittsjo shelving unit - $70.00

+ gold Rust-oleum spray paint ... turns into THIS:

via Cottage and Vine

Now I just need to find an empty wall!

Happy Monday Everyone! 

Love is kind

“Be kind and compassionate to one another,

forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” 

- Ephesians 4:32

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

-1 Corinthians 13:4

secret agent L

"When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor." -Matthew 11:2-5

images via

Be inspired

I saw this beautiful room designed by Heidi Pribell the other day on House of Turquoise.

Heidi Pribell Interiors

And couldn't stop staring at it. 

Heidi Pribell Interior Design 

It is probably one of the prettiest rooms I have seen in a long time! The colors are what stood out for me first and the unexpected rug. And as I study the room I see so many things I love; the mirrored screens, the ornate gold lamps with the simple and crisp white drum shades, that spectacular wallpaper ...

It just feels happy, doesn't it? Does it inspire you? It does me!

Hope your weekend is filled with 'happy'!

images via here and here

Happy Summer

Summer does not come as clearly (or obviously) as it did when I had kids in school ...

And I almost missed it ... except for my calendar that says, "summer begins." And so it is official!

For a free download of this print click here (courtesy of The Rubber Punkin)

And speaking of calendars ... Do you remember my post last year about the wonderful pocket calendars?

The 2013 (I know, I know, I am just getting used to writing 2012 too) pocket calendar is available. 

You can purchase yours here. 

By the way, did you notice my summer collage? I really just wanted to show off my new collaging skills. I have been mourning the loss of Picnik closing in April and was thrilled to find out that PicMonkey is now offering collaging. And it's free! Yay! I am back in business.

And speaking of business ... (I know, this sounds like quite a trail I am leading you on!)...  Makiea Montgomery, who just started a brand new interior design business, also just started a new blog. She was so kind to mention me in her post today and I thought it would be so nice if you all would pop over and say 'Hi'. You know how it is when you have a new blog and you check every five minutes to see if anyone commented? You can find her new blog here. 

Thanks everyone for stopping by - hope your week is going great!

images: 1 2 3 4 5 6

How to love a sofa

Remember these pillows?

I thought you might want to see where they ended up:

What a fun outdoor space this has become! I love that my client had the pillows made to give to her husband on Father's Day ... she picked out the rug and styled it all herself! Didn't she do a great job?

And while she was at it, she had a few made for inside too:

The sectional was lovely before ... but it felt a little "dull" and not at all reflective of the darling young family that resides here.

Ready to see it now?

This room is not dull anymore! 

photos courtesy of my client (via her iPhone)