I'm Here!

I really am! I have projects coming out my ears right now! As I mentioned before, I have every Monday off. Since David and most of my friends have typical Monday through Friday, 9-5 jobs – my Mondays have become my project days. Today's project is all about window treatments for our master bedroom re-do. I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll be doing, but you never really know what you’re going to find at the fabric store once you get there! Here are a few inspirational curtain ideas I’ve been collecting. **Please forgive me for not having many of the sources for these. I’ve had a lot of these since the pre-blog days!)

{My absolute favorite look - bamboo romans layered with curtain panels}

{I'm toying with the idea of purchasing white panels and edging them myself in a fun fabric}

{I couldn't resist including Imperial Trellis curtains}

{Simple black trim adds the perfect pop}

{Bold pink curtains}

When we first moved in to our house, I attempted to create "quick-fix" roman shades. They were unsuccessful to say the least! Love these against the seagrass wall-covering!

{I realize these aren't window curtains - but I love the idea of adding a bold trim to the bottom!}

I'm hoping to have a mid-week post this week! I have a couple of fun wedding projects to throw in the mix!

To Paint or Not to Paint

Thank you again for all of your kind words regarding the bed skirt!! It was a really fun project - and SUPER easy! Janet - to answer your question: Yes, I did sew them (w/ help from Mama Seagrass of course!) But, I was thinking, for those who don't sew - you could always get cafe curtains and use fabric tape or a quick whip stitch to shorten them.

Anyways, I have been on the hunt for a chair to use for the Master Bed vanity. In my dream world I would love the ever famous, bamboo chippendale chair

{via Jonathan Adler}

However, at $495 a piece, they're not really in my price range (to put it nicely.) I am a firm believer that you can find just about anything on Craigslist if you have a little bit of patience. While I didn't find a bamboo chippendale chair, I did find 2 bamboo chairs, and a table for $15!!!! The only catch is that it was all the way up in Orange. Think Fullerton, but East. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes from where we live. **I think I need to insert here that I have THE most patient fiance! I'm a very lucky girl!** It ended up being a ton of fun. We poked around Old Town Orange, which is absolutely ADORABLE!! It surrounds Chapman University and is all tiny, little, clapboard and shingle sided cottages. This house below is by no means tiny, but it was by far my favorite! (BTW I took this picture while the woman who I'm pretty sure lived there was taking groceries out of her car - looking at me like I was completely crazy and not to mention creepy)

{Side Yard}

On to the chairs. I got them home and realized they were way too big for my vanity. So with a quick change of plans they have now found a new home at our computer desk! Can you tell who's side

is who's? : )

{Close-Up}

{I found a pretty blue ikat to recover the cushions with}

{The lovely original fabric}

On to my original question. I'm 99% sure of my own answer to this but I would love to see what you guys think. Paint the chairs or leave 'em be?

Skirted Bed

It may not seem like it - but I'm still chugging along on my Master Bedroom Re-Do. I've been going back and forth between, "do I post about all of the little projects?" OR "do one big reveal on everything??" Well, when it comes down to it, I have ZERO patience! And I'm getting too excited so I'm going to post about a project I finished this weekend.

We bought our bed a couple of years ago. I was feeling guilty that I was always making the decisions on "house things," so David picked out our bed. I don't have a picture of our headboard right now (that's another pending project) but I do have a picture of the bed frame.

I love the espresso wood - but I don't love all of the chords that are such an eyesore under our bed (phone chords, lamp chords, cell phone chords.) As you can see, it wouldn't be easy to use a traditional bedskirt to hide all of this - and it wouldn't be me, if I didn't make something myself! : )

I was racking my brain for a solution to mounting a bedskirt underneath the frame. So, I decided to use a tension rod.

These are SO inexpensive! I got mine for $4.99 at Bed, Bath & Beyond - and of course used a %20 coupon!

I found some gorgeous white linen (my favorite!) in the remnant section at our local fabric store for $5 per yard. Since I didn't need a very wide piece of fabric, it was the perfect way to go!

{New Bedskirt}

I went with a simple pleat in the middle to help with puckering, and to break up the long run. My original plan was to add a simple border with a soft, gray, grosgrain ribbon - but I'm actually kind of liking it on its' own.

The best part - no more chords!!!

Color, Thank Yous, and Easter

I want to start off by saying thank you for all of your comments! They are all definitely the little bit of cheer leading I need to keep going on this house! David is a great cheerleader too - but it definitely doesn't hurt to get some outside perspective! ; )

Second - Many of you asked if I would share the color of the blue stools. The paint is from Valspar (purchased at Lowe's) and the color is Shale. Just a small can did the job with PLENTY left over.

I also want to extend a very heartfelt thank you to Janet over at the Gardner's Cottage. She recently did a post with a very sweet comment on my house - however - HER house is adorable and is CHALK FULL of history! If you have never checked out her blog (which I have a feeling half my readers are now from her blog! : ) you must! Besides the post on her amazing cottage, my favorite posts are her "Monday Menu's" ...and get this - it's all vegan! I promise you'll be salivating!

Below is her cottage - it was originally the Gardner's cottage (hence the name :) of a very large mansion in Redlands.

{image: The Gardner's Cottage}

And finally - HAPPY EASTER! I hope everyone has a beautiful Easter no matter how you celebrate. We celebrate like every other holiday - Big. Family. Dinner.

{image Tricia Foley}

{Image (really has no relevance - just pretty) also Tricia Foley}

I realize this pic (above) really has no relevance other than I came home from work to find these beauties perched on my kitchen island. : )

Happy Easter Everybody!

Barstool Reveal

This is going to be a quick post - David and I just got back from Mammoth last night and I have a mammoth sized mountain of laundry to do! (HA! pun intended!)

I'm finally starting to get the hang of this painting thing. : ) Granted this was a much smaller project than the last one, but actually finished relatively quickly! I'm thrilled with how the paint turned out, and it added some much needed color to our very white kitchen. (Which I will be posting pictures of soon!

{New blue stools!}

{Before}

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!!

Mellow Yellow

OK - Right as I'm shooting my mouth off that I'm a "Sunday Blogger," I go and post mid-week (I realize the date says Monday but I'm really posting on Wednesday)! However, I was feeling particularly inspired today and want to post! And since I'm the boss of this establishment - I can do that!! : )

I also realize that the first official day of Spring was a few days ago, and that this post was probably really more appropriate for that. We have been having the most beautiful weather here lately and it's really beginning to feel like Spring! I'm sitting here watching the sunset and it's almost 7:30!!! This is when I LOVE the time change (try and get me to say that in the morning!)

One of my absolute FAV colors is yellow! It's especially near and dear to my heart this year since it is one the main colors in our wedding. (Our bridesmaids will be wearing a yellow dress of their choice.) We'll look similar to this pic.

On to yellow decor

{I would put yellow Imperial Trellis curtains in my house in ONE second flat!}

{Unexpected color combo - but I like it!}

Hope everyone's having a good week!

New Finds

I'm realizing that I'm really becoming a Sunday blogger. I used to try and scramble and rack my brain for mid-week posts, which stressed me out, which caused this "fun" hobby to become so incredible not fun anymore. But, Sunday posting gives me the whole week to think about my post, take pictures, and relax!

Anyways! ONE more post on the Rose Bowl and I PROMISE - I'm done! I just had to post on all my finds! The last time I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market it was raining and there really weren't a whole lot of vendors. This time however - the weather was perfect, and I actually found some good stuff!

{Lattice Pillow $12!!}

I already had the solid green pillow behind it and the greens happened to match perfectly!

I have a new collection I'm beginning to form (by the way - I have exactly one item is this "collection" so far) But hey, you gotta start somewhere! I inherited a beautiful gentleman's chest from my grandparents when we moved in. It has the most gorgeous mother-of-pearl in-lay in all of the handles. It's huge and it needs something pretty significant on the top. I have always loved old demijohn bottles and I want a collection for the top of this piece. So here is bottle number one of my collection.

{vintage demijohn - $20}

**I'll post a picture of the chest later - we have guests right now and the room is a little crazy!

{I would love to find some in this shape - image via Apartment Therapy}

The bottle I found came in its' original crate and I can't decide if I should leave it in the crate or find something else to do with it. Any thoughts/suggestions??

{Close-Up}

{Inside Label}

{Small blue & white - $4}

{New Lamp for the new vanity}

Speaking of new vanity - I thought I'd take the chance to show you the final result! **Sorry for the long post...

{Please excuse the missing knobs :/}

{Close-Up of the new cup pulls}

{The mirror is another hand-me-down, I love the old bubbling mercury in the back}

That's everything! I'm headed out to finish painting the kitchen stools!