Girl Crush

I'm taking a break from house projects for the week. And while doing so I thought I'd make an admission - I have a girl crush. On Ina Garten. And I can't decide if it's because I'm on a super wedding diet right now and I'm hungry. Or if it's because every time I'm at the gym trying to help said diet, I always gravitate to the bike in front of the TV with the food channel on (can someone explain that one to me? That's just plain mean!) Or if it's because she has an insanely beautiful house. OR if it's all of the above!

On an episode of "the best thing I ever ate" last night, on the food channel, Ina was talking about a little specialty food store she used to work at in South Hampton. How fun does that sound? A little specialty food store in South Hampton?

Wouldn't you just love to be sitting at that counter while she cooks? Not to compare Ina to any other chefs on FoodNetwork - but I just love how calm and relaxed she is while she cooks. And with Ina you get double eye candy - drool worthy dishes and an amazing kitchen!

{So simple and classic.}

Here's the kitchen that Ina teamed up with House Beautiful to design for the 2009 Kitchen of the Year.

{This photo makes me want to go register for cake plates!}

I'm off to go dream of this

this

and this

YUM!

**All photos courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens**

Gallery

I want to start off first, by saying that I had a fun project planned to post last Monday - but I was duped by Craig (you know - of Craigslist.) I had been coveting these completely amazing, set of 4 bentwood, armchairs that I was going to paint a soft, pale blue. They already came with white canvas cushions, and I was going to make pillows in a fun print. And this whole thing was going to go in my breakfast nook. But Craig tricked me!!!!! The chairs are teeny, tiny!! I'm talkin' chin on the table tiny. I drove all the way out to El Cajon (that's a long ways away) to pick them up. And you want to know what the worst part is???? I chickened out on telling the guy "no thanks!" That's right - I am the proud owner of too-short chairs that I can't use! Lesson learned.

Ok - moving on. As you know, I have been chugging away at re-doing my master bedroom. Side Note: I've decided that calling it a "re-do" is a little mis-leading since it really wasn't done in the first place. So do I call it my master bedroom DO? Anyways, I have been completely struggling with what to put over the bed. Does anyone else struggle with this? It's such an awkward place! You definitely need something that makes a statement. At first I was thinking framed sea fans - but after Aaron Brother's told me that they would do it for $225........PER FRAME, I said "no thank you!"

On to plan B.

Our very good friend/roommate is an amazing photographer. He's actually an engineer by day, but is an extremely talented musician/photographer by night. His Dad happens to be a landscape architect with an awesome yard full of every kind of plant you can think of. Combine the two - and I ended up with over-the-bed art!

Getting these bad boys lined up perfectly proved to be quite a feat! I used the brown paper trick. You trace and cut out the size of your frames on brown paper (or any color really) and then tape them on the wall as you'd like them. Using blue painters tape, you can move them around and arrange them easily.

{check out those straight lines!}

{Final Product}

I've always love the look of the random gallery walls. I don't think the random look was right for our bedroom, but I would like one to do one later in our living room.

{The mother of all gallery walls}

{Organized gallery}

I'm Drooling

.....over this house! Not only is the house adorable, but check out that amazing garden!

{Caitlin Creer Interiors}

Wedding Straws

I'm staying true to my word and comin' at you with a fun wedding project I've been working on! I don't think I've said too much about our wedding on the blog so I'll fill you in. We're going to be having our wedding at The Inn in Rancho Santa Fe. It's a quaint, single story inn, built in 1922 by the young and talented Lillian Rice (you go girl!)

{The Inn circa 1920's-ish}

{The Inn today- We'll be getting married under the big Pepper tree!}

The overall theme of our wedding is going to be Vintage Garden. Our main objective is for it to be fun and a complete reflection of us! Because of this, we're not really following "the rules" on quite a few things!

{Our colors are mainly yellow with touches of green}

{We're thinking of adding little touches of green with succulents}

In true "me" fashion - I'm making a lot of the decor items myself (with lot's of help from mama seagrass!) I found some really cute, yellow, vintage fabric on-line and we're going to be making bunting flags to run along the edge of the building where our reception will be held. (I'll show pictures soon!) I wish I had pictures of the reception area - it's in a little private garden area under a canopy of outdoor, garden, ping-pong lights.

{Example of flag bunting}

Remember my Ball Jars post? We'll be using those scattered along all of the tables for tea-lights!

The part I'm MOST excited about (besides the actual getting married part of course!) I just found out that The Inn will be setting up croquet for our guests during cocktail hour, while we take our pictures! Next to the big tree that we'll be getting married under, on the other side of the pathway is a croquet lawn! Should be fun!

On to the latest wedding project I've been working on. Since we'll be getting married in August - notoriously one of the hottest months in S.D. (I know, I know, I'm not complaining - I know hot here, does not even begin to touch the kind of hot other places experience!) Regardless, we want to be prepared so we're going to be setting up a little refreshments table for guests to enjoy iced tea and lemonade. And what would iced tea and lemonade be without some vintage, barber stripe, paper straws???

{I made little flags that say "drink and be married"}

{I found vintage, paper straws online here}

{I've got quite a ways to go before I'm finished - but I had to share my start!}

**All wedding images found via Green Wedding Shoes Blog**

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!!!