Category: decorate

have you been on the edge of your seat all day long just waiting to see what i brought home from the antique mall and put my spin on??  that’s what i thought.  well, without further ado (i had to look that up), here she is…

oh boy, can you believe i bought that??  a search for a coffee table is what instigated my trip to the antique mall in the first place, so it was a successful outing.  we wanted to replace the ottoman in our family room, and since we have a toddler (yes, he’s walking!), we need to have a coffee table with soft edges and corners.  i knew i wanted to give something a fairly major overhaul, so i was really just looking for the right legs, and she had them.  my idea was to upholster the top of the table, turning a dowdy coffee table into a pretty cool ottoman.  here’s the finished product.  (tomorrow, the how-to!)

…take one of every single martha stewart paint chip at the home depot.  i think when you have a small child with you, people are distracted by the cuteness and will let you do pretty much anything you want.  my particular small child says ‘hi’ to everyone walking by, and they are subsequently paralyzed at my mercy for anything.  mwah ha ha!  if you don’t have a small child, i’d look into borrowing one.

really, i just wanted something at home that will give me a tangible hunk of color that i can bring around the house, shopping, etc.  i think martha’s (we’re on a first name basis now) colors are pretty great.  none of them are too jarring, and they seem to all have a hint of gray in them, which softens them just a touch.  since there are two hundred and some colors (which makes for a fat book) i haven’t come up with a great way to keep them organized, but for now, they’re in a vase on my desk, which is actually kind of pretty.  most importantly, they were free, and those are my favorite kinds of things.

courteney cox’s home in malibu was featured in the july/august elle decor.  this place is a total wowzer in my book.  i love how airy all the spaces feel, and the views are incredible!!  do you think she’ll adopt me?  or at least let me come out for the summer?  i’ll let the pictures do the talking…

{all photos via elle decor}

we have this nightstand – it’s a hand-me-down.  it was originally a very ugly ‘fake’ wood finish, so we painted it black a few years ago, but i’ve never really loved it.  but not too long ago, i saw similar pieces popping up all over blog land, painted in great colors, and with the hardware all shined up.  i thought i’d try to give it a freshening and try to breathe some new life into it.  i used some comet and shined that hardware up.  i think it’s brass plated, but there was an ugly ‘antique’ finish on it that came off…with a lot of elbow grease.  i had a quart of red paint left over from when i painted our front door, ad i slapped a on few (4!) coats.  that old nightstand now has a new life as a side table for our front room.

the finish before was this – bad.

and after…

a few of the inspiration pieces…

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have you seen cortney and robert novogratz’ new show on hgtv?  they are a husband and wife team of interior designers, and they have done some pretty brilliant stuff.  they are big on mixing – vintage with new, ethnic with simple.  they also have seven – yes, i said SEVEN – kids.  wowza.  you can tell they’ve got a good sense of humor about what they do as you’ll notice lots of quirky little touches.  i’ll let their work speak for itself.

we were drawn to this house from the start.  in fact, we weren’t even looking to move the day that we found it.  it was for sale by owner, so we called, took a look that day, and made an offer the next.  about six weeks later, we were living there.  i still can’t believe that we only looked at one house – sheesh.  we have never regretted it, and i guess it just felt like it was for us the moment we stepped inside.

it’s a cape code, and we love that it has an older feel, but it’s only 25 years old.  the exterior has gone through a few different looks in the last 5 years.  here it is not long after we moved in.

{before before}

when we moved in, the front door and shutters were hunter green – not my favorite.  shortly thereafter, we did a quick fix, and painted the shutters black, and the front door red.  we were happy with this look for a long time, but after a few years, it was evident that we needed to paint the entire house, and make a few repairs.  we were ready to make a big change, and wanted to go darker, so there would be more of a contrast between the body and trim colors.

{before}

just last week, the project of painting the exterior of our home came to completion.  hooray!  you might also notice that the landscaping is a little lighter – i cut down the random shrub to the left of the steps, and the ‘christmas tree’ that was on the far right of the house.  they were getting a little out of control, and i am so happy they’re gone.   all combined, it was a huge facelift, and we are so happy with the results.  it kind of feels like we’re driving up to a new house.

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colors:  trim: sherwin williams ‘snowbound’, body:  sherwin williams ‘gauntlet gray’

we had a great painter, so if you need a recommendation, shoot me an e-mail – carabrooner(at)gmail(dot)com.

…a few things i feel i must share.

one – these amazing poufs.  great as a fun little accent in your room – use as an ottoman, floor pillow, or just sit-around-and-look-really-cute-thing.  i want every single one, and i will just bounce from pouf to pouf all over the house.

two – premier prints is a website that i buy fabric from quite often – great patterns, cheap prices – so when i get bored, it’s no big deal to change things up.  great for stuff like making pillows and covering chair cushions.  well, i found out that you can buy their stuff through amazon – who already holds all of my info, so i don’t have to enter name, address, and blah, blah, blah.  that is a big deal to me – because it means i don’t have to get up,  track down my purse, go spelunking for my wallet, and dig up my credit card.  in my book, one click buying is where it’s at.  the real kicker is that it’s cheaper – hooray!

that is all i have to offer on this fine friday.  now, go enjoy your weekend!

have you heard about pinterest yet?  it’s kind of like fantasy land!  really.  you get to ‘pin’ pictures all over the interwebs, and pinterest is the central holding spot for everything you might find even a little bit inspirational.  you can categorize however you like.  also fun is that you can peruse other people’s ‘boards’.  literally hours of entertainment, if you’ve got time, and i got sucked in for a bit today.

i am loving the idea of doing something to the back of our bookshelves to add a little more personality to our family room, so i did a little bit of digging.  after just a few minutes of looking at pictures – there were hundreds! – i ‘repinned’ a few to my boards.  this could be such a quick little project – you could throw up a little wallpaper or plain ol’ paint.  and the great thing is, it’s not a huge commitment, so if you hate it in a year, change it!  check out how just that little something gives such a kick to these built-ins.

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a little different, but loving this idea for the kiddies.  what a statement!  and i love how it’s color-blocked.

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