What gets me excited?

As a seamstress, these images below get me excited.  To have an hour digging around in these stacks would be a dream. 

image via

Waking to Sunshine

This room just makes me smile.  I can't decide what I like best; the preppy frock hanging on the wall, the custom headboard or just the all around pops of yellow.  I likey.

Image via

Here are few inexpensive fabrics to emulate the same look.  All fabrics via

 

Some of My Work

So do you ever wonder what I am up to when there is dead air on this blog for days on end?  Here is just a sampling of a couple of projects. 

The extremely talented Megan with Toast and Laurel hired me to sew the drapes for her master bedroom that was desinged by Erica from Urban Grace Design.  Here's a peak at her room with the drapes and a gorgeous Madeline Weinrib rug.

Then a few months later Megan sent over one of her clients, Courtney who was having a fall party.  Courtney hired me to sew burlap ruffled tablecloths for the festivities and here they are.  And you can see more beautiful pictures from their fall party  here.

If I was having a boy...

No I am not pregnant; but if I were with a boy, below is the my nursery inspiration.

Shopping Guide:

Rug - Dashandalbert.com

Glider - Serenaandlily.com

Basket - Potterybarn.com

Fabrics - Jacquelynreese.com

Pillows - http://www.fabricadabra.us/

Patrick the Pup - FAO.com

Zinc Letters - Anthropologie.com

Mirror, Lamps and Console - Ballarddesigns.com

Painting - Dog Art Studio via Etsy

Pink, black & white crib set, on its way to its new home!

Third set out the door this week.  This one is for a newborn that just arrived last week.  We started with these fabrics.

This chenille is actually white not yellow like in this photo.

And here is the bedding set.

And a closer look with the matching bolster pillow for big sister's bed who will be sharing the room with baby.

And now on to the next order.  Check back for more photos.

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. 

Makes My Heart Flutter

While fabric shopping for a client I stumbled upon this pattern and something about it got my heart racing.  I just love it.  I am a sucker for a beautiful trellis print and scrolls.  The pattern is Ivory Scroll Leanika by Dena Designs for Free Spirit and you can buy it here.

And it comes in pink!

Shades of Gray

Gray, charcoal, flint, slate, silver, pewter, smoke or platinum (my personal favorite) call it what you want it's all shades of gray.  By many reader requests, here are more gray fabric options.  Of course in the world of fabrics, these are the affordable ones.  If we going high dollar that's whole nother post.

You can find these at premierprintsinc.com

These at Fabrics.com

And these at Calicocorners.com