There’s No Place Like Home

Recently one of my favorite blogs did a focus on interior designer Robyn Karp and I was blown away. Not by the obvious talents for adult spaces, but by the rooms for children. They are gorgeous! He or she (not sure if Robyn is a man or woman) knows exactly how to take a kids room and make it innocent, sweet and fun for the little ones and still ooze high style for mom and dad.

One of my favorites is this little girl’s room ready for a toddler in the first photo, then change the bed and it’s ready for their teen years. Perfect!




And here are more of her fabulous designs.

My 50 Year Old Baby Update

As promised here are few pictures of the house renovation. Just a few though because truthfully, she's only had a partial facelift. Today I'll share with you some of the details we added or updated. Only details because showing you the whole thing right now would be like posting pictures of my bedroom with the bed not made dirty laundry lying around. :)

I love my new 50 year old red oak floors on the second floor that went from old, dirty and down right disgusting...

to a gorgeous coffee walnut finish. They look much lighter in this picture because of the sun.

Our new door hardware and raised panel doors. I love the egg shape handles that are solid forged brass and heavy. I got them for a steal at Tuesday Morning! These may not seem like a big deal, but if you saw the original old, worn, silver/brown/brass hardware circa 1970 you'd be excited too. We ended up replacing all the doors which was not originally planned. After a brief attempt at refinishing and painting the old doors we knew it was going to be an arduous task no one wanted to tackle.

I also love our glass doorknobs on the second floor linen closet. They are gorgeous and only $7 each at Home Depot. Definately cheap on the chic!

My gorgeous chandelier in my studio! We added the medallion and crown molding. The ceiling is painted blue and I had planned to change it, but after some new color on the walls and better lighting it ended up looking beautiful.

Our paint colors which I am crazy about. Walls are Elmira White from Benjamin Moore

Our master bedroom is Wedgewood Gray from Benjamin Moore.

All the moldings are painted Bennington gray also from Benjamin Moore and it's actually two shades darker then the walls on the color card.



The color of my husband's study Pewter Green from Sherwin Williams. A gorgeous gray green color suggested to me by a friend and she was dead on! Thank you Amanda! By the way, this sample below does not do this color justice.

And last but most certainly not least, the best new addition to the house my beautiful daughter. She was helping us sort the new flowers we got for the backyard.

That's all for now. I'll post more home photos later.

In the Pink

In the January 2009 issue of House Beautiful top interior designers selected their perfect shade of pink. Pink can be a really hard color to choose; some are too blue, others too orange and so on and so on. There are thousands of shades to choose from, so if you’ve got pink on the mind here’s a little guidance to help you start your selection.

Some of these designers’ names you probably don’t recognize, but I promise you’ve admired their work before you just didn’t know it. Keep in mind the colors below will vary based on your computer monitor.

Charlotte Moss chose Pantone 705-c

Jennifer Garrigues favors Benjamin Moore Wheatberry 2099-70

Robin Bell likes Benjamin Moore Old Country OC-76

Libby Cameron chose Benjamin Moore Cat's Meow 1332

Phoebe Howard selected Sherwin Williams White Dogwood SW6315

Jackie Terrell thinks Valspar Paris Pink MS037 is best.

Thomas Jayne likes Benjamin Moore Pale Pink Satin 008

Alexa Hampton fancys Benjamin Moore Love & Happiness 1191

Suzanne Lovell prefers Benjamin Moore Peony 2079-307

Kelly Wearstler chose Pratt & Lambert Coral Pink 2-6

Make a Date with Your Girl Friends

Mark your calendars because what looks like a really good chick flick releases August 14, The Time Travelers Wife. You have got to watch the trailer for this movie here. I never read the book but the trailer alone made me tear up!

My friends that have read the book said it is a beautiful love story and a MUST READ. I get silly excited over things like this. I love a date night with my girl friends; good food, good wine and a great tear jerky. The perfect evening out and a definite mommy-must-have!

Daddy’s Lil’ Copilot

I just finished a crib set for some friends and I’d thought I’d share the pictures. Below is the original inspiration bedding set from Pottery Barn Kids. PB Kids doesn’t make this set for cribs so we custom designed our own. The Mommy-to-be purchased a full size bed sheet set and the rest we customized to her liking.



I think it turned out really cute! Dad is a pilot so of course aviation was incorporated, but not made to be the entire look. This was also my first try at making crib sheets; a fitted crib sheet. I’ve tried it before and they are very hard to make with the varying crib mattress sizes you can buy today. Surprisingly these were a cinch to make. Maybe I’ve gotten better over the years.

Enjoy!

The mobile from PB Kids

Art Worth a Thousand Words

I love this artwork from Rosenberry Rooms. This sweet little pigtailed brunette could be my daughter Jacquelyn. She loves to dance and create her own ballerina moves. The blonde could be any one of her sweet friends; Avery, Lauren, Caroline, Reagan, Stella. Beautiful!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I discovered devastating news today. Mini George is just too mini. If you don’t recall what I am referring to read about my long time love here. He arrived today about 8 weeks early and it felt like Christmas morning. I was bursting with excitement to open his box and give him a proper welcome. After carefully inspecting each delicate glass piece my husband and I did a mock “hang” in our foyer and that’s when reality hit like a ton of bricks. He’s just too mini; grand in his beauty but not in stature.

Sigh…time for plan B. Farewell my one true love!