Archive for April, 2009
Behr With Me Freebie Winners!
Have you guys been playing around with Behr’s Paint Your Place tool as much as we have lately? Ever since we learned about it for our Behr paint giveaway, we’ve been trying all sorts of color combos. We’ve exhausted so many options in our own home (thanks to the fact that you can upload your own rooms) that we’ve now turned to painting some of Behr’s inspiration photos for our own amusement (since we don’t exactly have soaring ceilings and ten foot tall windows). We highly recommend it to anyone else living in a vertically challenged house.
But enough about our paint fantasies, let’s get on to the three randomly-selected winners who will each be receiving a free gallon of Behr paint (in the color and finish of their choosing) and a complimentary Behr fan deck. The lucky trio is… Gretchen, Kim and Chad.
Congrats you three! Interestingly enough, you’re each in different stages of painting progress. Gretchen’s about to move into a new home (i.e. blank canvas), Chad’s facing a house with colorless walls and Kim’s just a few rooms away from having her place complete. We can relate to each of those moments, so we’re excited to hear what color you’ll each be choosing. Hopefully you’ll share some photos of your progress (nudge, nudge).
And as usual, there’s more free stuff coming down the pipeline next week. So if you weren’t among this week’s lucky group of winners, just keep your chin up. You’ll definitely work up an appetite for our next giveaway (yes, that’s a hint)…
Full details about our freebies are available at our Giveaway FAQs. Screenshots courtesy of Behr.
Email Answers: Decorating ADD?
Q: First, I want to say that I love your blog! Your home seems so fresh and inviting! I love your style! On the other hand, I feel like I have Decorating ADD. I think I have a great plan all laid out for a room but when I get to the store I immediately find a million other things that I like even better! I can’t focus on a plan! I think part of the problem is that I like so many different decorating styles. I get bored very easily, and I think my husband gets tired of me changing things around constantly (although he would never say anything, he’s a gem!). Anyways, my question is… does this mean I have an eclectic style? Any tips for pulling it together without making my rooms look like confused spaces? Thanks a million! -Kristina
A: We totally know what you mean! It took us years to really figure out what we loved and what materials, styles and colors would work together to create a cohesive and inviting home. It’s important to note that what you love and what should come home with you are not always the same thing! There are lots of things that we love but they wouldn’t work with other items, color schemes, and elements that we already have in our home so we’re perfectly happy admiring them from afar! For example, here’s a boldly patterned navy rug that John and I both adore, but recognize that it doesn’t jive with our light and airy existing aesthetic:
Our best advice for pinpointing your style once and for all (and feeling more focused and less frenzied on shopping trips) would be to tear out favorite rooms from magazines and collect online images that inspire you in a desktop folder. That way you can easily pick out the reoccurring themes that may otherwise have been less obvious to you (ex: all your favorite rooms have a lot of white in them, most of them are punchy and colorful, they all feel uncluttered and minimal, etc). For example, here are two rooms that are currently in our inspiration folder. Note the similar serene feeling, soft colors, and natural textures accompanied by a bit of dark wood or metal:
Once you have a better idea of what you consistently like, take a good hard look at what you have. If all of your inspiration rooms have white slipcovered sofas but you’re working with brown leather ones, you might want to grab a few inexpensive slipcovers to instantly add more of the style you gravitate towards. This will also help you to develop a foolproof shopping plan that you can effortlessly stick to. For example, if your favorite inspiration rooms have warm yellow and burn orange accent colors, it will be easier to steer clear of that cool blue and white pillow that happens to be on sale.
It’s also always a good idea to keep larger items neutral (rugs, sofas, walls) if you find yourself attracted to a lot of colorful eclectic accents, which can really help the mixed & matched thing work without creating a chaotic room that feels like it’s fighting with itself. Here’s an example of a great eclectic room that doesn’t feel frenzied or overwhelming thanks to a neutral rug, sofa and walls (while the smaller pieces add punches of color and interest from all different eras):
And finally, the most important thing to mention is that a room is never really done (and especially isn’t done in a day or a week). A place that feels like home will constantly evolve and grow with you, so don’t despair if it takes a while to create a space that truly feels like you. It’s all about trial and error, learning as you go, and having fun along the way!
What about you guys? Do you have any tips and tricks to add to the mix? Tell us how you make sense of a room full of eclectic pieces or how you keep your eyes on the prize when you’re shopping for home decor!
Go ahead, submit your very own email question! Please note that while we can’t address them all individually, we will try to select the ones that commonly come up and answer them for all to see.
Images courtesy of Overstock, Canadian House & Home magazine, Pottery Barn, and Domino.
Chantel’s Second Design Dilemma
After helping Chantel transform her living room, of course we’re super excited to work our way over to the bedroom and spruce things up in there. Here’s her letter:
Hi again, design masters! We were so happy with your mood board for our living room that we’re back for help with our master bedroom. It’s close to a clean slate. The bed and two bookcases could just barely fit along the big wall adjacent to the window if that idea pops up in your plans. And we need lots of stuff: a headboard, side tables, lamps, something to stack extra pillows on at night (the Ikea Ektorp ottoman is in there now), a full-length mirror, artwork (would love to support Etsy artists), and other decorative elements (a rug and a chandelier would be so great). The style that we’re going for is beachy romantic/bohemian modern and I’d like it to tie in with the finished living room. I’ve been coveting this Amenity Home duvet cover and as for the wall color, we could paint it either of the living room colors (Benjamin Moore’s Bali & Catalina Blue) because we have extra paint- but something else would be fine too. Even wallpaper would be fun! We love greens, blues, whites & creams. Artwork-wise, I like photos that look dreamy and the room needs to be relatively child-friendly since our baby is starting to crawl and get into things. Can’t wait to see what turns up on the mood board this time! -Chantel
This blank slate of a room is just begging for a major makeover. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
Me-ow
You all know that I love our dog Burger, but you probably don’t know that I was originally a cat person. From my love of tigers as a kid to taking care of my cat Casper through high school, I’ve always had a preference for felines… until I met Sherry and her cat allergies (which resulted in a compromise of sorts: a cat-sized dog).
But there’s good news. I’ve FINALLY convinced Sherry to let me bring a cat home. And she doesn’t even have to worry about getting itchy eyes or a scratchy throat because the kitties we’ve got our eyes on are these awesome cat lampshades from Lamps Plus. We just need your help when it comes to picking the perfect illuminated furball.
So which do you think is the purr-fect choice? The Sleeping Kittens Pendant, the Laundry Cat Table Lamp or the Cat & Butterfly Swag Chandelier? It’s a painfully hard decision because they’re all so amazing. If only we had room for the whole litter! Or should we just employ the trusted eeny-meeny-miny-meow technique?
Oh, and by the way, we’re totally kidding. Happy April Fool’s Day!
Images courtesy of Lamps Plus, which does actually have a great selection of normal lamps too.
