Before & After: My Fireplace

This week I plan to reveal a few more Before and Afters of the very slow progress of our home renovation.  Today, the family room fireplace.

Before

After

I always knew the fireplace had a lot of potential. Its true beauty was hiding behind a dated mask circa 1980. We had the guts of it completely rehabbed and outfitted with a gas log system. Once we pulled down the tiny ledge that was acting as a mantle and removed the brass cover, we were amazed at how big the fireplace really was.

What a difference the right paint colors and scale of a mantle can do for a fireplace. Every time I pass it I have to smile. We are so pleased with the end result.

The walls are Benjamin Moore Elmira White and the door and molding are BM Bennington Gray.

Big Girl Room Inspriation

I think it's safe to say I love this room.  It's so perfect for a little girl transitioning to her tween room.  I need to squirrel this one away for furture reference.

Photo via Pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com by way of Stylecourt.

Comfy Cozy Robes for Cuddling

These pint size robes from Seth & Grayson for your pint size loves are gorgeous!  The price not so much...if only kids didn't grow so fast.

Mudrooms - A Definite Mommy Must Have

This awesome post on Mudrooms by Molly Frey Designs makes me wish we had one for all our clutter and crap that end up everywhere.  Check out the full post here.

Elevation Inspiration: Our New Exterior

We are about to break ground on our desperately needed curb appeal project.  Many visitors to our humble dwelling have commented on how our house is not an ugly house, but it is not a beautiful house either.  Uh...thank you, I think. 

So naturally I am beside myself excited that we are updating the exterior to best of our abilities.  Our house is not particulary special in anyway and in fact the exterior is very angular and boring with a modern design.  Sometime ago I created my inspiration board to guide me along the way.  Details are below.

We are completely overhauling the front door since its atrocious and adding a simply triple panel arched top with two new sidelight windows on either side. Not an exact match to the one above, but close. For the exterior we are painting the hideous peach/pink brick and trim a cool grey color and the front door and shutters will be a dark charcoal grey. All the door hardware will be in satin nickel and the handle set is Baldwin Hamilton; door knocker and door bell from Restoration Hardware. The gorgeous huge faux zinc planters are from Wisteria and the gas lanterns are just a sample of the style I love right now. The mailbox is also a brushed stainless steel from CSN. Instead of a traditional doormat I am thinking of using an indoor/outdoor rug. I think it cozies up the front porch and adds a little bit of the unexpected. This particular one is from Overstock and the size is 2.5 feet by 5 feet. And lastly we'll have an area to the side of our front door where we can put a bench or rocking chairs. Of course I'll be making some sassy and trendy outdoor pillows and I love the above Trina Turk outdoor fabric from F Schumacher.

There you have it folks, have a great weekend!

Beautiful and Affordable Play Room

Do you love the way this gorgeously styled play room looks? Could you envision it in your own home and does it make you yearn for an interior designer?

Photo from Sloan Mauran ID

If you answered yes to any of the above, then you are not alone. I too stopped dead in my tracks and wished my upstairs rec room looked like this. Well my friends, good news! This gorgeous and yes totally affordable room is more achievable than it looks.

Okay so let's start with what you might not have in your kid space, beautiful hardwood floors, 8" baseboards, beautiful AND expensive wood double hung windows and of course that arched window seat. But aside from the architectural details, the styling of the room is perfection and yes achievable.

Would you believe the meat and potatoes of this room comes from Ikea and a few other chic and cheap retailers? Allow me to demonstrate....

First we'll start with Ikea, where you'll find about 80% of the items for this design.  This rug is not the exact same as the photo, but a very close second and you can't beat the price.

The ever so popular Ikea toddler table and chairs.

The bookcase...Ikea as well.

   

Or the Ikea Expedit turned on its side.

Some baskets to fill the shelves.

The comfy armchair in pink if you have girls or if you are striving for gender nuetral, the red.

The apple green pillows, also Ikea.com.

And the wall art.  Frames from Ikea and wall cards from LandofNod.com.

And finally the biggest splurges for this very affordable room, the beautiful gord lamp and custom roman shades.  The lamp is from LampsPlus.com and the fabric is an apple green cotton duck from fabrics.com.  The perfect fabric for a simple roman shade. 

So there you have it, high style for a steal.  keep in mind this design works beautifully because the bold furniture and asseccories are accented with clean crips neutral walls. 

Beautiful Birthday Shirts

I just purchased this adorable birthday shirt from gymboree for my daughter's party this weekend.  It's so precious and too cute to pass up. 

Of course I had to get these cute hairbows too.

Check out these cute shirts for boys too, available in 1 through 5.

Krazy for Kelly's Kids

This week I was introducted to Kelly's Kids clothing and I am smitten.  So many cute outfits for little ones I had a hard time exercising self control.  Here is what I bought for Spring/Summer.  This morning I visited their website and now I am thinking of a few more items....

Ice Cream Dreams and Waffles

I love this fun and vibrant breakfast nook featured in Traditional Home magazine.  Styled after a traditional ice cream parlor, it's a setting perfect for food, crafts and fun. 

This look would be so easy to duplicate in your own home.  Striped walls with a pale barely there pink on the bottom and that table looks a lot like this oh so chic and affordable Ikea one. 

A similar chandelier could be found here and spray painted white, then pull it all together with a set of vintage chairs recovered and whoa la!  High style for a steal.