Archive for August, 2008
Dana’s Design Dilemma
When we heard that Dana was looking to swankify her new living room/office, we couldn’t wait to spice up her space. Here’s her letter:
I’m looking for some of your budget savvy advice and your fabulous design eye. I’m having a design block over this new space. Just moved 3 months ago and we have a living room/office, that opens upon our dining area (which is a total blank slate). My husband is in real estate and his passion is golf and I practice feng shui while parenting a little toddler. We want the space to reflect us and not look entirely like a catalog, we are a blending of many styles: casual, cottage, creative, updated-traditional. I shop at Pottery Barn often and love Williams Sonoma Home, so those stores would reflect us most. The sofa, chair, desk and bookcase must stay because of budget (and I love my chair and bookcase)!!! Looking forward to your reply. -Dana
The multipurpose room (and Dana’s multifaceted style) inspired us to explore a soft, soothing palette that strikes the perfect balance in her space. So without further ado, our handy dandy moodboard:
Here’s the moodboard breakdown.
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Wedding Crashing: A Modern Day Fairy Tale
We’re back after crashing yet another fun and fabulous wedding. Meet Katie and Martin, an adorable couple who met while taking French lessons (I told you, they’re adorable). So it’s no surprise they pulled off a fairy tale May wedding at Gunston Hall in Mason’s Neck, Virginia. The historic plantation (once George Mason’s home) was the perfect setting for a posh pink and mango affair complete with shimmering dusty pink bridesmaid dresses with a warm orange underlay (by Jim Hjelm). The bride sported a stunning Paula Varsalona dress and carried a chic mango colored calla lily bouquet and of course the groom and the groomsmen donned matching calla boutonnieres. Aren’t they a good looking bunch?
And if the scenery wasn’t magical enough, the bride arrived in a horse drawn carriage (so sweetly old fashioned) while both of her parents walked her down the aisle (so sweetly modern).
The ceremony was miraculously held outside (after weeks of non-stop rain relented mere hours before) while the reception was held inside the elegant and historic ballroom.
And just in case the beauty of the bride’s bouquet was lost in some of the wider shots, we thought we’d throw in this gorge close-up for all you flower lovers out there. Yummy.
Once inside the reception hall, fun pewter photo stands held seating cards for each guest- and also served as sweet take-home favors at the end of the night (Katie snagged all the picture stands from Pier 1 where they just happened to be deeply discounted).
And the stage was set for an elegant evening of food and fun. The tables were understated & serene while the traditional buffet style meal was both tasty and tasteful. Oh and Katie’s favorite wedding tip is to intentionally choose a small-ish dance floor. A big dance area looks foreboding and empty (even when it’s not) and a small one gets everyone to come together and dance like they really mean it. Such a good tip. And the dance floor was packed the whole night long (all this wedding crashing has made us bona fide experts at every dance from the Macarena to the YMCA). And boy did we break out some memorable moves.
But none of the moves that we whipped out on the dance floor could rival the romantic/hysterical wedding serenade that Martin and his friend Theo performed- a medley of songs that the groom rewrote for his lovely bride (our favorite was their Bon Jovi remix: “You give love a good name”). We totally picked the right wedding to crash.
And all that laughing sure made us hungry. Which is where the delicious three-tiered cake came in handy. We loved the sweet swiss dot pattern and the square tiers (which tasted as good as they looked, by the way). And the added sugar boost ensured that the dancing and celebrating went on into the night.
We hope you enjoyed Katie and Martin’s big day. What was your favorite part? Aren’t those calla’s to die for? Oh and John’s actually visible in one of the pictures above… can you find him? It’s like Where’s Waldo. Thanks for joining us for yet another memorable marital masterpiece. Who knows where we’ll pop up next…
Sarah’s Design Dilemma
When we heard Sarah’s plea for a young, hip and modern kitchen, we couldn’t wait to cook up something stellar for her space. Here’s her letter:
I am so excited to get your advice. I love your style, and the moodboards I’ve seen look awesome. Here’s my dilemma: our kitchen is small with very limited counter space and we need more. We have 3 kids 3 and under, and just don’t have the time or budget for a large remodel, so we thought we could live with it by doing a little mini makeover. I’m thinking that we can lose the small pieces that surround the room. (we eat in the dining room so we don’t need the table or the cart that the trash is under). I’d like to create a recycling center and add another Simple Human trash barrel next to our existing one for cans and bottles (paper is in the hallway). I’d also love to change the paint color, but it has to work with our gray-green laminate countertop and the cream colored floor tile. Our style is definitely casual modern and I love cool colors and would like to keep the room light and bright. I had the idea of adding an island with storage (Ikea’s Varde Base Cabinet) to the middle of the room, which would give me added storage and more counter space. I’d also like to paint the cabinets (but need a color suggestion), replace the cheap beadboard backsplash and I wouldn’t mind a countertop suggestion, as we might be able to do it in the future. I want the kitchen to be young and hip and fun. Can’t wait to see what you come up with. Thanks! -Sarah
The potential is evident (those stainless appliances! ample room for an island! a great working triangle!) so without further ado, our hip and modern moodboard makeover:
Here’s the moodboard breakdown.
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Paint Inside The Lines
The year was 2005. We lived in New York. We were renters and most of our great design ideas had to be filed away for later. And today I uncovered something awesome from that file: an easy step-by-step guide to painting a dramatic mural in your home.
This is an article I scanned featuring a guy, Martin Rivas, who used a paint-by-number technique to create a retro-style mural in his New Jersey basement. Click the image above to see a larger (readable) version of the article, or just use my cliff’s notes version below.
Step 1: Pick an image that you love (which has similar proportions to your wall). Make your life easier and save some money on paint by also using something that has a limited color palette. Martin chose this vintage Mexican hot chocolate ad. Muy caliente, no?
Step 2: Go out and buy your paint and supplies (rollers, brushes, paint trays). Here’s where you save that money on fewer colors.
Step 3: Transfer the image to your wall. Martin did this using the age ol’ trick of drawing a small grid on the original image and a corresponding larger grid on the wall. Then you can sketch your image square by square in pencil. An alternate option is to use a projector to cast your image directly onto the wall and trace it in place (that’s if you’re the fancy type that owns a projector).
Step 4: Now it’s just like paint by numbers. Simply fill in the lines, starting with the largest areas first. Sounds easy but it can be time intensive. As proof, here’s an animated version of Martin’s mural coming to life (don’t worry, it loops – it’s just a tad slow).
Cool, right? Have any of you all attempted this? Seems straight-forward enough, so I just have to find a wall and an excuse for doing this somewhere in our house. If only I had a man cave…
Reader Redesign: Kitchen Eye Candy
When Jen sent us pictures of her fantastic kitchen transformation (all the way from England!) we couldn’t wait to share ‘em. Here’s her letter:
I absolutely love your blog and find your style so inspiring. I wanted to share my latest project with you as I am so pleased with it. I created a wall of colourful pictures in my kitchen and I love how it turned out. I am a photographer so all it cost me was the price of the prints (they are 8×12 inches each) and the frames were only $8 a piece. Thanks again for all of your inspiration! -Jen
Here’s the blank slate before:
And the good-enough-to-eat afters:
It’s amazing what a few cheap frames and some tasty kitchen related artwork can do. Check out the gorgeous close ups of each image here. Yummy! And keep those before and after pics coming our way. We eat that stuff for breakfast.
