making progress

The office is still a work in progress...slowly but surely.  The next project all started when Amanda sent me this stunning picture from Lonny.  I'm sure you've seen it by now....

I just love this room and decided some touches of magenta in my office were just what the designer ordered.  You see, the office was starting to look a little drab to me, like it needed something.  So, I started by adding this simple magenta design to the top of the desk.

I started by painting a broad border of pink around the edges.  I let it dry and then taped over it with Frog  tape.

Then, I painted over the whole thing again with magenta paint.  This helps to "seal" the edges and prevents bleed through.  It works every time.

I didn't take a picture of the next step, but I painted over the whole thing with white and then peeled the tape away to reveal my new design!  I probably could have done this the opposite way but for me this was the best way to get the pattern I wanted.

and here she is...

p.s.-the lamp was $2.99 at Goodwill!

Million Dollar Decorators

Have you seen Million Dollar Decorators?  I hadn't seen it until this weekend and only caught the tail end of it.  Saturday was a lazy day for us, we just hung out and watched TV after running a few errands, (the hubby surprised me with a Starbucks and a yardsale date, it was awesome)  it was so nice to have some down time too.  So, anyways onto the show.  They happened to be working on an office makeover that had me drooling.  I love everything about it.  The bold striped curtains, the chevron floor, the desk, the chair, all the black and white, those lamps, the gallery wall, and especially those pops of coral.  Makes me want to redo my office again ;)  

  

all pictures from here

Before & almost after

I know I've been leaving you hanging with the office makeover, it's moving along much slower than I would like, partially due to my indecisiveness.  But, it will get there.  So as to not keep you hanging any longer...I have decided to show you some progress I've made on the hutch.  You'll notice one thing is missing...the doors!  Part of the veneer is missing on one of the doors so I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with that.  So anyways, here's my "doorless" for now hutch.

Reminder of the before

then, the first "after".  It just didn't feel right to me, like it needed something

I painted the inside purple just for fun

Then, I decided to paint the back gray, just to give it some more dimension and I think it did the trick.

striking the perfect balance when dressing a bookcase can sometimes be a challenge.  Here a few things I always try to think about or include to keep it looking balanced.

Something personal, this is my sweet nephew

something quirky/eclectic to keep things interesting

something vintage, like this old bird picture from a book I bought at an antique store

something bright (like this bowl I madeover)

here's the before...

and after a little spraypaint, I like that the inside is a different color than the outside

and of course books, I always try to go with books that color coordinate with the room.  That's not always possible so, in this case, I covered several of the books with white craft paper for a more cohesive look.

and the less attractive books found a home in the cabinet below.

Guest Posting

Today I am guest posting about my master bedroom over at Sadie & Stella.  Thank you ladies for having me!

Hop on over and check it out here.



Playing with my Silhouette

This weekend has been a busy one, tying up loose ends, trying to finish up the office, and we got a new car!  (well new to us :)  It's an SUV so I'll be able to haul more furniture around, so exciting.  Anyways, I had a a little time to do some silhouette projects I've been wanting to work on.  All of these were done with vinyl (it came with a free roll when I bought it)  If you haven't heard about the silhouette yet, it's awesome, you can find out more about what it is here.

I've been wanting to make labels for my canisters for the longest time and the silhouette made it so easy.  In case you are wondering, I combined the light and dark brown sugar which is why it looks a little funky, kind of like an ant farm?

I found this glass jar at Goodwill and jazzed it up with a new label.  

I added the "room service" label to this yard sale tray to give it a little more character.

and lastly, I added "his" and "hers" to these soap dispensers

I've made some progress in my office this weekend, I'll share photos soon!  

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful dad!  Love you!

Hobby Lobby Mirrors

I stopped by Hobby Lobby yesterday to get a few crafting supplies and ended up in their mirror aisle.  You can always find so many great things at Hobby Lobby.

I thought these were some awesome mirrors and they are all 50% off this week!  (in case you are wondering I am not being paid to post this, just thought they were cool and some of you might like them :)

this one is my favorite...

I bought this one for my office...

Work in Progress

The painting is done!  These are all "in progress" shots as the room is far from done.  As for the color, it's "custom", which is fancy talk for I mixed some oops paint in my garage. :)  In person it reads as a smokey lavender.

I convinced my hubby to get rid of the hutch on top of the desk, the storage was nice, but the overall look just wasn't what I was going for.  Also, I thought it might be nice to have the desk in front of the window and the hutch wouldn't allow for that. 

It was hard to get an accurate representation of the color, but this picture represents it best.

Reminder of what it looked like before, bright neon green.

It really wasn't terrible, just time for a change.  Here's the desk with the hutch.  Kind of hard to see the green, but you get the idea.

once again, not bad just not "me"  I actually still really love the curtain fabric.  Who knows what I'll do with it now, maybe cover some chairs?

Still to do:

*find light fixture and have ceiling wired for a light fixture

*finish the hutch and accessorize it

*decide on curtains, I'm thinking maybe a broad black and white horizontal stripe

*decide on wall art

*I've got an awesome chair in my garage (got it for FREE) that just needs to painted to replace the existing chair

*accessorize!

*possibly add a DIY wood shim starburst mirror

I want to add accents of gray, black, and gold to keep it looking a little more "adult" and not too juvenile. 

I ordered this book from Amazon the other day, can't wait to get it!  You all know I have a thing for anything beachy!  I'm hoping some of the pictures will work well for wall art.  I'll let you know how it is when I get it.

Stay tuned for the updates...

and so it begins...

No turning back now, the lavender office makeover has begun...

goodbye neon green, hello lavender.

the lavender office begins...

One of my goals this week is to get started on my lavender office makeover.  I mentioned in a previous post that I'm really loving lavender and it has inspired a little makeover in my office.  As my design business starts to take off, I'm spending more and more time in there.  I want it to be a place where I feel inspired.  Right now it's ok, but it doesn't really do much for me.  The walls are bright green (way brighter than I anticipated) and it just wasn't what I wanted originally.  Now I've lived with it for 3 years and it's time to change.  My mom just so happened to find some oops paint for me that I think will work perfectly!  I think I may have to do a little paint mixing to get it just right but for $5 I'll take it.  I want it to feel girly but not juvenile and I think lavender is just the ticket.

Here are some images that have already got me dreaming of my new office...

the wall color here is pretty close to what I have in mind...

so glamorous!

and another thought I had...paint the ceiling and leave the walls white...hmmmm....

(all images via decorpad)

so now it's decision time, paint the walls and leave the ceiling white, paint the walls white and the ceiling lavender, or paint the whole thing lavender (ceiling and walls)...decisions decisions...Wish me luck!