Mood Board Making
Mood Board Making: En Fuego
I was inspired by a chipper yellow table runner and a fiery pendant light to make a warm-blooded dining room mood board just for fun. Whoop, here it is:
1. The wall color could be a soft olive-khaki tone, like the stripe in the background of the mood board (try Benjamin Moore’s Limestone 513) with browns, oranges, deeper olives, pops of yellow, and some crisp white in the furnishings/accessories. Maybe even a smidge of navy if you’re into that sort of thing. And now that I see that stripe of olive-khaki, big wide horizontal tone-on-tone stripes might be pretty fun for the walls if you’re feeling feisty (try Benjamin Moore’s Limestone 513 and Flowering Herbs 514).
2. These Target chairs are $70 a pop, and the Ikea table is under $300 (but you could always find something on craigslist and refinish it for even less if that’s your jam).
3. This Stacy Garcia pendant (along with the fun chevron runner) were the inspiration for this entire board. Isn’t the geometric kinda Moroccan-ish pattern fun? It’s down from $225 to $149 with free shipping for anyone interested. I wonder if you could search for a coupon code to take it down even further.
4. Yellow mug = happy life forever. At least that’s a theory I’m working on. Who can sip from this guy and not smile? He’s even called the beam mug.
5. Klimt has always been a favorite of mine. I have another theory that his painting called The Kiss is akin to the movie Titanic (it makes all the ladies swoon). And this lesser known garden print is painterly and soft – which makes it a nice counterpart to the graphic pops of pattern in the chevron runner and the geometric pendant. I also love that it has olive, orange, white, and even a dash of navy. Holla.
6. This giant braided jute rug from Overstock would bring in some natural texture to balance the graphic patterns and sleek dining table (it’s $230 for an 8 x 10 and has tons of 5 star ratings).
7. These bright little appetizer trays ($2.95 each) would be so charming mixed in with crisp white china, a few of those yellow mugs, and the sunny chevron runner.
8. Here’s that chevron runner (from etsy for $15) that started it all (well, I guess he’s in cahoots with the pendant, who also sparked this board). Cute, no?
Anyone out there doing some dining room makeover-ing? Or sipping from a happy yellow mug? Either way, it sounds like a good time.
Psst- See 150+ other mood boards (and sort them by room or color) here. Oh and we just heard the new 376 page (!) Ikea catalog is out here.
Viva Americana
Every once in a while we share seasonal decorating ideas thanks to google – or in this case, Pinterest – that we lurve (like we did here and here back in the day). So for anyone hosting a Fourth of July celebration this Monday (we’re not, so this is just for eye-candy-factor), here’s a little mood board o’ stuff that made me feel downright patriotic:
1. How much fun are these (originally from here)? Salty + sweet = my jam.
2. Oh Martha, you never disappoint. A few of these (originally from here) hanging around outside would look so festive.
3. These seem almost easy enough for me to pull off. Yes, the key word might be almost.
4. I love the idea of putting star stickers (or stamping/stenciling) regular old cups (paper or even glass).
5. This riff on the flag is so sweet. Printing stars and stripes on vellum and wrapping it around glass votives (with the seam taped in the back) could work I think.
6. This cake is about ten steps too intricate for me, but I love the red and white striped flag posts (you could make them with striped straws or chopsticks) combined with the ribbon flags hung with twine (which could be made with some craft store ribbon – hopefully all on sale since the Fourth is so close).
7. If I were fabulous, I’d envision myself in some sort of amazingly cohesive ensemble like this (originally from here). But I’m so not. Oh well, at least I know thy self. And thy self is way too chicken to wear white jeans with a one year old around. Sigh.
What are you guys planning for the Fourth? Anyone making something red white and blue to eat? Do you have any other fun projects or links to share? Is anyone fabulous enough to rock white jeans like it ain’t no thing? This girl is jealous.
Psst- Yeah, I know. I need a hobby. I’m all up in Pinterest’s area (who can deny the thrill of finding all this fun stuff with one simple “Fourth of July” search?). Can’t. Help. Myself.
Mood Board Making: Just For Fun
It feels like years since I made my last mood board (you can see over 125 of them here). What the heck is up with that? So I’m breaking the dry spell with this just-for-fun creation that I tossed together with some cheerful and sunny summer color. I wanted to pick some fun accessories that anyone with a neutral toned sofa and neutral colored walls could use as a springboard for pulling together a room with a warm, happy, and inviting vibe:
1. The color palette for the room is full of warm tones like sunny orange and yellow along with some rich dark wood tones, some basic neutrals like mocha and tan, and glossy white trim. As for the exact wall color, since I cobbled this board together with the intention that these items would seamlessly slip into an already neutral room, I added that strip of warm cream paint along the top of the board to represent the wall color (like Water Chestnut by Glidden), but really any warm-ish neutral on the wall should work.
2. I actually thought a bunch of these fun plates with a pop of citrus-y orange from Crate & Barrel could look awesome hanging on the wall in a little cluster above a mantel or over the sofa to add interest and dimension. They’re only $3.95 a pop (on clearance) so you could grab ten of them for around $30 and just mount them on the wall in a big cloud-like cluster using plate hangers from the craft store.
3. This is the pillow that started it all. I love it so much, and thought it would be fun to build an imaginary room around it. So it got dragged into my little photoshop doc first (yup, I use photoshop to make these, but I’ve heard great things about mydeco.com and polyvore.com – which are both free). Anyway, ain’t she a beaut? Two of these on the mocha sofa along with one solid pillow in one of the colors of the patterned pillow (like orange or yellow or even pink) should do the trick.
4. Since I was making this imaginary board for someone with creamy neutral walls and a tan/mocha sofa, I figured they’d already have some standard wood end tables. So instead of a matchy-matchy wood coffee table I thought it might refresh the room if they switched out the coffee table for these nested little texture-filled woven tables. They could be casually placed in front of the sofa and work along with the basic wood end tables they already own. Just to bring in another tone/texture/finish instead of more wood. Oh and I bet they’re DIYable for anyone with the patience to make them out of hardware store wood and wrap them with rope for the same effect.
5. These Ikea curtains are elegant yet playful – kind of like fancy little coffee bean sketches dancing up the wall. The cool thing about them is that they’re super neutral so they’ll layer into the room so easily (while adding a bit more texture thanks to the geometric detail). And they’re just $15 a panel even though they’re extra long. Ikea for the win.
6. These great sculptural lamps will add even more interest to the room while allowing the pillows, wall plates, and rug to be the happy little punches of color among other classic and neutral touches. Oh yeah and they’re just $49 each (down from $100 a pop!).
7. This handmade Thom Filicia rug from Overstock.com had me at hello. First of all, it’s really well priced (just $143 for a 5 x 8). And second of all, while some folks would be scared to bring in color with a rug, sometimes it’s just what a room with neutral walls and a neutral sofa needs! Take our old living room which sported a cheerful yellow rug with a cream sofa and tan walls for example.
8. This is just a mocha sofa that I threw in to “complete” the picture (even though I was assuming that folks might already have one). If you don’t have a sofa this color (say it’s cream or soft sage or white or something else) just bring in the accessories that you like and see how it goes. It could totally work. You can always go for a slipcover if you think the sofa color is the only thing throwing the room off (they sell them pretty affordably at places like Bed Bath & Beyond and Target- although I’m not sure how well they’ll fit your individual sofa, but you can always try them and return them if it doesn’t look right). And if slipcovers don’t do it for you (or your current sofa is shot), this guy is only $699 thanks to a big JC Penney sale (he was originally $1200!).
So there you have it. My little imaginary neutral room mood board. If you end up getting some of the items and pulling them into your house I’d love to see pics over on our Facebook page! Do you have any favorite things? I’m kind of in love with the rug and of course that pillow had me at hello. Ah pillows, you make me happy. Have you guys been making any mood boards these days? Do tell.
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.
Playroom Plans
You guys already know that our playroom is looking kinda rough these days (thanks to this whole house update post from last week):
But we’ve decided that once we clear it out, it’ll actually suit our family better as a less traditional space. Burger is a beloved member of our family, so we think he deserves his own little area. And since Clara plays pretty much all over the house (in the office, the living room, the kitchen, and her room – depending wherever we are with her) we won’t really need an official “playroom” until baby number two comes along (and we turn the playroom into a bedroom).
And I’ll spoil the surprise for all of you folks on bump watch, Clara’s brother or sister will probably be about three years younger than her because I’ve got strict orders from my doc to give my body two full years between pregnancies to heal (thanks to some birth complications with Clara). And since it takes almost a year to bake a human on top of that two year waiting period, that’s where we came up with the whole three year approximation.
But back to the playroom. We’ve decided… drumroll please… to give Burger his own little nautical themed room! Because every pooch deserves some sea faring fun. He always seems to have the best time at the beach, so that jumped out at us as the right environment to really set him at ease. The sea gulls, the warm summer air, the sailboats, an errant pelican. What eight pound chihuahua wouldn’t love that? But enough talking, here’s our Burger-licious mood board:
- Our color palette will be pretty straightforward: navy, red, and white (with some natural wood tones and maybe a few pops of yellow worked in there for fun). The walls will stay white with graphic red & navy accents along with a super cool mural for added pop (more on that later).
- How cute would a few of these $33 seagull mobiles be when hung in a flock from the ceiling? Burger should like them since he loves watching real birds flap around outside in real life.
- This boat-ish dog bed was the inspiration for the entire nautical theme. At $260 it’s not cheap, but what can I say? Burger’s like L’Oreal. He’s worth it. Plus it’s such a room-making detail that we just couldn’t pass it up.
- Here’s the mural that I want to paint on one of the walls. I like that it’s obviously sea-inspired without being too over the top (a dock with a single pelican in the foreground feels kind of “understated” compared to some of the other busy and über bold murals that we’ve seen).
- This weathered ship’s wheel (for $34) should look cool on one of the mural-less white walls in the room.
- No dog room is complete without an on-theme dog toy, so this $7.99 blue anchor chew toy definitely fits the bill.
- And since we want to keep Burger looking “cohesive” with the rest of the room, we can’t wait to pick up this $27 outfit to help him get into character.
- Instead of something more traditional, we thought hanging fisherman’s nets (just $17.99 a pop) as “curtains” would add lots of texture and more sea-faring fun. Fingers crossed Burger doesn’t get all tangled up in them. Haha.
So that’s our vision for the playroom, at least for the next few years. Should be interesting.
Now I’m just putting words here, just to fill up space so that when you’re reading the numbered points above your eyes don’t skip down the page and notice this next part. You know, because it’ll ruin the surprise.
So in case you’re wondering if we’re totally off our rockers… we might be. But this post is still totally a joke.
APRIL FOOLS!!!
Did we get you? Did the $260 dog bed tip you off? Or was it our description of the pelican mural as “understated”? Did you really think Burger would be caught dead in that sailor’s suit in the name of cohesive design? Or did you all know this was coming given our history of April Fools Day hijinks (like this post and this post)?
Mood Board Making: Hunting Lodge Chic
We have no idea what our future living room will actually look like, but today this is what I’m loving:
- Soft gray walls (like Benjamin Moore’s Light Pewter) with crisp glossy white trim
- A huge comfy sectional (with washable covers- score) in a gray-brown hue. The fact that this baby is $848 has me permasmiling.
- Some sort of woven round ottomans (like these) that can be moved around for casual texture that can double as extra seating in a pinch.
- This sleek TV stand in high gloss gray from Ikea (we figure a room that’s big enough for a large sectional will probably dwarf our current TV stand, so we might need to go a bit bigger).
- A lovely wool rug like this one with a gray and lime green modern design- although the price for an 8 x 10 (which we’d need with a large sectional) has us sweating a little. Maybe it’ll go on sale?
- This cool white deer head hanging above a fireplace or even above a nice wide doorway (it would look so great with our exotic animal-inspired lime and caramel colored zebra pillows).
- These aforementioned pillows.
- Some bold green curtains like these (which we could DIY with fabric and hem tape, just like the ones we made for Clara’s nursery).
So there you have it. All the items that are floating around in my head for our future living room- at least at this moment. I’m so friggin’ impatient. I’m like that kid in the back seat asking “are we there yet?” every two seconds.
