Some inspiration For You...

I have been on pinterest quite a bit lately, pinning my heart away! Every time I'm on there, I am all over the map... pinning images of beautiful bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, ideas for clients, etc. I thought I would share some of my favorites lately! Enjoy!

Clean and simple, but so chic. I could repaint my dining chairs!

This dining room is soft, a bit feminine and has those gorgeous wishbone style chairs!

Back to back sofas would be cool in a large space! It can separate the rooms into different zones for different purposes. This room also has my favorite color palette and is designed by the very talented 

This kitchen is pretty much perfection in my eyes. And notice how they mix metals... brass lanterns paired with chrome faucets?!? Don't be afraid to try and mix your metals!

I love this color palette and space! And notice how there is nothing on the wall above the bed? With a pretty wallpaper like this, it's not needed!

A great way to style around the TV!

Yep, all over the map! But at least with it all on my boards, it's organized chaos!  ; ) Follow me HERE to see some my latest favorites.

Giveaway: Your Own Color Glide Pro Kit!

In yesterday's post, I debuted by newest art piece that I created for our living room, using the Color Glide Pro. Thank you all for your positive feedback on my blog and on instagram! You're the best. :) It was such an easy tool to use and can also work great for touch up painting in small areas, doors and trim work. You could even stencil with this product! I am so excited to be giving away a Color Glide Pro kit that includes: 4 medium reusable applicator tubes and 2 paint transfer pumps to one lucky reader!!

This kit gives you endless opportunities to reuse your paint while keeping it fresh and ready to go. It's a kit worth $26.00 and I promise you will love it! To remind you, I decided to use mine in a creative way with a new canvas art piece for our living room...

Since I am also painting all of our interior doors with the same dark color, I know I will reuse the applicator tube for paint touch ups! It's super simple to enter the giveaway:

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment below telling me how you plan to use the Color Glide Pro Kit.
2. Help this product grace the shelves at Wal Mart by voting to put it on the shelves.
3. Follow this blog through Google Friend Connect or by e-mail.

Extra Entries:

(+1) mention this giveaway on facebook, with a link back to this post.
(+1) mention this giveaway on twitter, with a link back to this post.
(+1) mention this giveaway on your blog, with a link back to this post.

That's 4 chances to win!! Best of luck! The giveaway will close at 11:59 pm EST Thursday, August 15th. The winner will be chosen on Friday morning, August 16th.

Good Luck!!

Creating My Own Art With Color Glide Pro

When expensive, original art is not in the budget, I am a big proponent of taking out the brush and trying it yourself! What's the worst that can happen? When shopping at local craft stores, I have noticed that large pieces of canvas aren't that expensive. In fact, I have been lucky to shop when they are 40% off! So, when a representative from Color Glide Pro contacted me about trying their brushless painting applicator, I thought this would be a great tool to use when creating my art. In the kit, you get a refillable, reusable paint applicator tube with a soft felt applicator and a paint transfer pump so you can easily transfer paint from your old paint can into the tube. I had a large amount of wall space upon entering our living room that needed something new and fresh. Once I got started painting, I could not believe how easy it was to use! In the future, I will definitely try it for its intended purpose, which is to touch up paint small areas, doors and trim. But, it's also fun to think outside the box and try something new with it. Luckily, it worked!
Let's back up, as I explain the process and give close up shots of the cool product!

What you will need for this project:

1. Paint can with your favorite paint color.
2. Paint stirrer
3. Canvas board
4. The Color Glide Pro!
Since I wanted the art to be dramatic, I went with a 24x36 canvas board, which is the same size as the basement art for our kid's space. I wasn't sure if it would be messy to use the pump when transferring the paint. It wasn't at all! The applicator tube also shows the fill line spot, so you don't overflow your tube.
This was after I shook the applicator tube, making sure it was well mixed before painting. The tube comes with a shake and mix ball inside, so I can reuse the paint and just shake it again, when ready to reapply! I went with my favorite dark color, Dragon's Breath by Benjamin Moore. I am using this color on all of our interior doors, so I had plenty extra on hand. Plus, it works well with our home's color pallete, so it's a win win for the art piece! When deciding on a design for the canvas art, I knew I wanted to make it modern and graphic. I tried a sample out on a paper towel, which also helped me figure out how to use the applicator tube.

I really had my fingers crossed on this one, because I didn't want to mess up and discard the art. Luckily, the tube was so easy to use, I just went over a line again, if it needed some extra color and thickness. And here she is again, all styled up and filling the space quite nicely!
When I'm ready to take out the applicator tube and use it again, the paint will be ready! I just give it a good shake and that's it! It stays fresh in the airtight tube and will last for a very long time. The tube even comes with a space for you to list the paint color and brand.
The above instruction list would be a great image to pin, as it gives a clear explanation of how to use the product. Scroll over the image to pin it straight to your pinterest account. (Or any image, for that matter!)

Make sure to come back on Wednesday, if you're interested in a kit for yourself! The lovely representatives from Color also gave me a set to give away and use however you like!

Loving the Vintage Style at Shabby Apple

I usually keep this blog interior design focused, but every now and then, I like to talk some fashion... especially since interior and fashion designs are interconnected! I usually gravitate towards clothing styles and colors that I also like in my rooms. I wear a lot of browns, blacks and grays with some color sprinkled into the mix. That's also how I like to decorate my home. With clothing, I also love that vintage, worn look. And you know I try to include that collected over time style in our home, as well. So I thought it would be fun to start the week off with a great site that makes the vintage look oh so stylish! Shabby Apple does the vintage look very well. Their site is fun, has a huge selection and flatters any figure. Here are some of my favorites...

I love the color blocking style of the above dress, which is a look that is very popular in interiors right now. 

The lace alone reminds me of an era gone by. I love the cap sleeve and grosgrain ribbon waist

Every woman needs a classic dress they can wear anywhere. This one is perfect for fall and I love how they paired it with an aqua necklace! I have to show you the back, because it took me by surprise...

Love it! The brass button detail suits interior design very well, as brass is all the rage right now!

Have you ever shopped at Shabby Apple? If you have, I'd love to hear what you thought! I think a shopping visit is in order very soon.

One Door at a Time

There's nothing like having a blog with recorded posts to remind me about my very slow progress with projects! A long while back, I painted our interior foyer door black and vowed that I would do the rest of the interior doors, one at a time. Well.... flash forward a little over a year, and I have painted one more! I hope I'm not the only one who moves at a snail's pace with my home! The best time for me to paint is at night. The house is quiet and I can concentrate on what I'm doing. But, it's also not the best lighting! So, it probably takes me even longer, because I want to make sure I get in every crevice so that I don't have to take the paint brush back out the next day to fix what I have missed. I literally had a flash light to the door to catch any missed spots! And anytime you are painting a very dark color over a light one, there's always the need for at least 2-3 coats. OK, so with all of my complaining, you can now see why I waited a year to do a second door. :) I chose to paint our kitchen door next, which goes into our newly finished basement. After all that work, here she is...

I am really happy with how it turned out! As with the foyer, I went with Dragon's Breath by Benjamin Moore. It's a muddy gray/brown/black color that is so soft and neutral. I like the way it pops against our builder grade faux brass door knobs, making them feel more current. The paint is in a semi gloss finish, which will clean up nicely and gives a fun, shiny style to the door.

Our Basement Shelf Style Reveal!

With the previous post being about the basement, I thought I should just jump right in and write about another finished area of the space. {Don't you just love checking projects off the list?!?} This was a big project to tackle, as I had the contractors put together a 54 cube unit bookshelf. I will reveal the secret to how this was done, later in the post! As with any home, we needed additional storage... a place for our books and mementos and a spot for all of the kiddos books and treasures. I have always been a fan of bookshelves that hold more than just books! It's also a great place to display family photographs, art, sculptural objects, etc. So here it is...

Bookshelves Hold More Than Books.....................  

As you can see, there were a lot of shelves to fill! For a while there, I wasn't sure we would have enough books and stuff to fill it, but I was wrong. If you look hard enough in your home, you can find it! For these shelves, the top section is for our things and the bottom half holds all of the kid stuff. I love pairing the everyday {books} with something unique {sculptural pieces, objects, etc.} It adds depth to your shelves and tells more of a story about you! I also try to use the entire shelf... layering pictures either in front or behind books. That gives the illusion of more shelf space. And I also like to lay the books both horizontally and vertically. It pleases the eye to see different heights and proportions when looking at the shelf and makes it that much more interesting. When deciding what to do with the top row of shelves, I knew I wanted to add texture with woven baskets. Since we don't have an IKEA nearby, I knew it would be pricey to find 9 of the same size baskets. So, I went to my trusty TJ Maxx and decided to just find 9 similar baskets with different shapes. I actually think I like it better than having them all the same. Each cube measures 12x12, so I just brought along my measuring tape to the store and measured as I shopped! I definitely recommend that when looking for a particular size basket. I was surprised to see that some of the baskets were too big, when I thought they would fit perfectly. It saved me a trip to the return counter! At the beginning of this post, I said I would reveal the secret to the way these shelves were made. Well... they are just 6 sets of the from Home Depot! I had the contractors buy these shelving units, remove the backs on them and build them into the wall. They connected them together and added the baseboard and crown molding to give them a true built in look. I also plan to add a framed piece of art or mirror to one of the outside shelves. I have always loved that look!

Our Basement Kid's Nook Reveal!

Our basement was finished in the middle of May, and I am excited to show the first complete nook in the space! The basement was renovated primarily as a fun place for the kids to play. It's also great for us, because all of the toys can be relocated to this floor! So, I thought it would make sense to start with one of their spaces first. We had the contractors paint an entire wall with chalkboard paint as a great place to get creative and have fun! This zone is for drawing, crafting,and anything they can imagine up!  Enjoy!

Design With Kids in Mind...................................

Sorry for the large amount of photos! It was a sunny day, so I went a little crazy. Our windows are not very big in the basement, so it was great to be able to have this natural light stream in. We have had a lot of fun with this chalkboard wall. I wrote this bear quote from one of our favorite book series... The Berenstein Bears! When we're ready to erase and draw something new, we just use a white sock. To really get it cleaned, I occasionally go over the chalkboard with a wet cloth. You might be wondering if the chalk mess is an issue on the carpet. To fix that problem, we only buy dust free chalk, which my mom found at Staples. {Thanks, mom!} When they really get coloring, some chalk dust falls to the baseboard. But, it is really minimal and easy to vacuum. Much easier than regular chalk would be! We keep the chalk and sock eraser in small plastic cups in a basket. The plastic cups can easily be washed out, when needed. The Oh The Thinks You Can Think quote was done on canvas as an inexpensive, whimsical way to add some art. I wrote about the simple process. The rest of the art has come from the creative kiddos. They love that it is truly their space and feel proud to show off what they have made! We love being able to have this extra square footage in the house and the kids love it, too.

Happy Friday!!