Inside-Out Design

Macaron Trinket Boxes

2013-06-18T14:29:00.000-04:00

These may just be the cutest dang things I've ever seen:

My New Addiction: ONE KINGS LANE & JOSS AND MAIN

2013-06-17T14:51:00.000-04:00

I have peeked at both of these sites before, but I just recently signed up for their email alerts and really shopped their collections and oh.my.heavens are they addicting!!

JOSS & MAIN

ONE KINGS LANE

Since their collections are set up as a flash sale that only lasts a few days, you have to snatch stuff up before it goes, which for me adds to the excitement. I'd heard that on either site stuff will disappear from your cart if you leave it sitting in there too long, so when I bought from both sites recently I knew I couldn't take my sweet time with my shopping. It still was unsettling though to add an item that I was just dying over into my cart and then instantly see a timer appear that was counting down the minutes until the item would be taken out of my cart. I was practically hyperventilating as I was checking out.

One thing I got was this gorgeous settee from Joss & Main:

I'd been shopping around for one for weeks and had tried several stores and this was one of my favorites for what I'm wanting it for, and it was the least expensive.

It wont be here for at least 4 weeks so I'm impatiently waiting.

Any guesses on where I'll be using it??

Color Combo: Navy Blue and Poppy Pink

2013-06-14T14:48:00.001-04:00

A friend of mine recently asked me to help her find ideas for making her bedroom navy blue, poppy pink, and white. It's a color combo I've never played around with before, and now that I have I'm completely obsessed.

This is one of the inspiration photos that she had pinned on Pinterest.

How insanely gorgeous are these colors??

Here are some of the things I found her:

{aerial photograph} One Kings Lane

Of course her adorable kitty has to get in on the color scheme too...

One Kings Lane

I also loved gold with these colors so I threw some gold stuff into the mix as well:

It's official: I can't get enough of this color combo. My friend has great taste for loving this pairing!

Lighting Trend: Brass

2013-06-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

I have to admit, I resisted this look. When brass started appearing all over the place I was like "What?? No!" because brass has always seemed so dated to me.

But, I'm getting it now. I definitely still only favor certain shades, but I do get the appeal. It looks like gold, and who doesn't love gold? I sure do. So today I'm showing some brassy looks I could totally get behind at Chandelier Warehouse's blog.

Spoiler alert: this one's my favorite:

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See them all here.

A Backsplash Look I Love

2013-06-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

No matter what a backsplash is made of- ceramic tiles, glass tiles, marble, etc- this is my absolute FAVORITE way for it to be done. Come see what it is here at GoldenageUSA's blog.

Dining Room Inspiration

2013-06-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm planning my dining room's new look now that I moved it's original table and chairs into the breakfast nook.

I've got the table decided on for sure but even though I know the chair style I want, I haven't got the exact chairs chosen yet. I've been spending hours searching for just the right (affordable) option.

Since I'm obsessing over my dining room at the moment, I keep staring at dining room pictures to get inspiration. Here are some of my favs:

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Tablescaping

2013-06-06T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm working on a project that necessitated a quick and temporary accessory switch up on my console table so I could take some photos.

Five minutes after this happened everything was back in it's rightful place since I'd swiped several things from other parts of the house. Even though it wasn't a lasting change it was still fun to play around with and I love the glam look!

Square Lamp Shades

2013-06-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

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I'm at GoldenageUSA's blog showcasing lamps with square shades. I'm absolutely in love with the one above. Check out my post here.

Pattern Inspiration

2013-06-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

I bought this pack of notecards at Target yesterday and I am obsessing over the pretty pattern.

I love everything from the bright blue of the pattern to the shiny splashes of gold.

I want a rug exactly like this!

{Old} Table Re-Do

2013-06-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

I say "old" not because the table was old, but because this project is old- I did this a few years ago before I had a blog. I found the photos yesterday and decided to share because I think they turned out really cute.

This was my very first time painting furniture and I was TERRIFIED. But I was tired of our kitchen table and chairs and wanted to give them a new look.

Here's an in-progress shot of when I started sanding- I remember feeling really freaked out at this point because there was no turning back now that I'd scratched up the tabletop.

Here it is primed:

{This was before I knew you could buy a paint + primer in one}

And the finished table and chairs:

Those chairs were a PAIN to paint- I think it took like 5 or 6 coats to turn them an even black. That's when I realized that it's sometimes harder to make something darker than it is to make it lighter.

But I think it was worth the time it took to paint because the black and white combo came out so cute!

I don't have this table and chairs anymore so it was fun finding the pictures and reminiscing about my first big furniture re-do. This project is what gave me the guts to start making changes to the stuff I had.

I think I did pretty good for a first-timer!

Coffee Table Trend- Gold Base + White Top

2013-05-31T11:38:00.000-04:00

I'm back with a trend for the second time today. This one is a look that is popping up everywhere and that I absolutely love- coffee tables with gold legs and a white (sometimes marble) top.

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Christine of the blog Bijou and Boheme has an easy DIY of this type of table using the Klubbo coffee table from Ikea:

I've searched all over her blog looking for the tutorial, but the only place I could find it is HERE at ivillage. If anyone knows if Christine has the tutorial on her blog please let me know because I'd love to link directly to her.

I absolutely love my DIY ottoman so there's no way I'm looking to replace it.

So instead, I've realized I need another living room. That way I have a spot for the super trendy coffee table that I'm coveting. That's not too much to ask right- just one more room??

Lighting Trend: Supersized

2013-05-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm at the blog for Chandelier Warehouse talking about a lighting trend I super duper love-

gigantically oversized light fixtures. I'm dying to do this in some room of my house.

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Read it here.

Dining Room Lighting

2013-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm talking dining room lighting at GoldenageUSA's blog.

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Specifically, what looks I really like when it comes to fixtures that will be dined under. Come see what they are here.

DIY Triangle Design On A Vase

2013-05-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to one of my fastest DIY's yet.

I think in all, this took me maybe 20 minutes to do.

I started by googling something like "printable pictures of triangles" and printed out one that looked like the triangle was the size I was wanting for my vase design.

I cut out the triangle and the excess paper around it so that I was left with a small square of paper with the cut-out of a triangle in the middle. I taped closed the cut part of the paper where my scissors had gone through to get to the triangle.

And now I had a simple stencil to use for making the triangles on the vase.

I squirted some gold craft paint onto a paper plate and wadded up a napkin to use as my sponge for dabbing the paint over the stencil.

Then I held the paper stencil over the vase like this-

(only a little tighter)

and used the napkin to dab the paint over the triangle.

Since I obviously wasn't using any kind of stencil adhesive to hold the paper down completely flat, it didn't come out absolutely perfect, but surprisingly it did come out pretty dang good if I say so myself. I've had actual stencils that had more smudges out of the line than this did.

I was just super careful to tap the paint on up and down and not slide the napkin to the side, because then it could have slipped under the edge of the paper. I also didn't use a ton of paint. I wanted this to be kind of imperfect and I wanted to see the white paint a little through the gold, so I only did one coat.

Here is the first triangle.

I wanted the triangles to be lined up really close to each other, with the point of each triangle almost touching the top of the triangle below it. Which meant that the top of the stencil would have to overlap the triangle above the one that I was painting. So to keep from smudging the paint, I had to make sure each triangle was completely dry before moving on to the next one. But I wanted this to go really fast so I had my hair dryer with me and as soon as I finished painting a triangle I'd blast it for a few seconds with my hair dryer on the cool setting until the triangle was dry to the touch. Then I could lay the stencil over the bottom of it and keep going with painting.

Here it is finished:

Before:

After:

This is a vase that I got a couple years ago on clearance for $1 at Michaels. I can't remember what color it was when I got it; something ugly. So I just painted it white soon after bringing it home. I love that now it has a fun design. You can't really tell in these pictures but I also painted around the inside rim of the vase with the gold paint because it was getting chipped and looking pretty bad in there.

I really love the repeat of triangles that I have going on on this table- first with the bowl that I sharpied the triangle design onto, and now with this vase.

Oh and speaking of the bowl- since I had the gold paint out anyway I went ahead and used it on the bottom of the bowl. Just to do one more thing to make it look more like a decorative bowl and less like a salad bowl that I drew a design on. Because that's actually what it is.

The triangles were seriously one of the fastest projects ever. And it's crazy how something so small can have such a big impact in a room. They are one more thing making my entryway look a little more stylish and inviting.

Linking to:

Happy Memorial Day!

2013-05-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun day!

Here's what I'll have up tomorrow-

-the tutorial for this super easy triangle design that I did on this vase.

Enjoy your holiday!

Re-framing A Penny

2013-05-24T15:22:00.001-04:00

Remember this lucky penny that I framed a few weeks ago?

I have not been satisfied with the frame it was in. It was an old one that I've had for years, and even though I cleaned it up and repainted it, it was just too busy looking for what I was wanting for this penny. Really the only thing I liked about the frame was it's square shape.

So today I picked up a new square frame from Target and I'm liking the look so much better.

Before:

After:

This little frame was only $7.99 and I love how much more simple it is.

I thought about keeping the penny on the blue paper like I had in the last frame, but I decided I liked it on a white background instead so that the penny is the focal point and not the bright paper.

You may or may not have noticed that the frame isn't the only newbie to the table.

That little gold bowl is also from Target and was only $4.99.

The DIY paper flowers that I've had in this spot up until today really took a beating during our move from Minnesota back to Florida. After sitting in a box with a bunch of pillows and vases they were pretty squished. So they've been replaced by these mini faux hydrangeas. (I think they're actually called snowballs??) And while I love the black and white tin the paper flowers were in, it's nice to change things up since it's been the same way for quite a while.

What I really love about this bowl is how well it goes with the elephant I picked up last week (also from Target) that's sitting on the table by the front door...the two are such a perfect little pair.

Have a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend! We are going to "camp" with the kids in the backyard for a night...should be interesting! If things get too uncomfortable I may have to take a bathroom break and not come back outside.

Client Project

2013-05-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been working on a living room, dining room, and entryway plan for an e-design client. She wanted a leather sectional for the living room, storage space, lots of seating, and a dining table that seats 8. She also wanted the furniture items that she already has incorporated into my design and space plan. Those pieces are a wood tv cabinet, wood end tables and a wood sofa table. She has a huge open space for her entry, living room, dining room and kitchen so I tried to lay things out so that each area is clearly defined (especially the entry area) but they also flow really smoothly into each other.

Entry plan:

Entry table area:

She has a wooden sofa table that's too small to go behind her new couch so I put it next to the front door as a drop zone for mail and keys, and a spot for checking your hair before going out the door. Always gotta have that. In place of the bird art that I had in the initial plan, I ended up choosing this awesome lion art that is now on my "must get for myself" list:

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Living room plan.

This room is big so it needs a big rug. But this souk rug that I liked for it was too pricey for the budget when it was at the needed 9x12 size. So instead I suggested a 9x12 jute rug that was almost $1000 less than the souk. Then she can get the souk rug in a smaller, more affordable size and layer it on top of the jute rug.

I also came up with a very easy way to diy the wall art that I have in the moodboard, using this and other similar photographs from Etsy:

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I needed 4 pieces of art like this, and although I love the ones I put in the living room moodboard (find them here) using prints from Etsy and framing them in Ikea frames will give a similar look and save around $500.

Behind sectional:

When you walk in the front door, the back of the couch is to your left. I planned for two chests of drawers to go there for storage (she has a toddler so this gives her a place for toys, games, blankets, diapers, etc.)

Dining room plan:

I love this indoor/outdoor rug. It can literally be taken outside and sprayed with the hose, making it perfect for an eating area where there is a small child. And the color looks pretty with the curtains that I chose for the living room:

They are from Pottery Barn and you can find them here.

Something else I fell in love with while shopping for her house was this light fixture from Pottery Barn:

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I love it for the entryway; it looks so vintage and pretty. It's now on my list of things to get myself, right along with that lion art.

So is this art from Urban Outfitters:

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I love it paired with this cheap butterfly poster from Ikea; I planned for both of them to be propped together on the mantel that's in the dining room.

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I love this poster too because it not only has tiny bits of blue that tie in with the dining rug and living room curtains, but if you look really closely at the lion art that I chose for the entryway table, it has a couple butterflies in it, and the mantel where this poster goes is directly across the house from that art.

The last several days have been busy with getting this project done- she and her family just moved into their house this past weekend and needed a layout plan and furniture ideas quickly. But I'm like 98% done now and it's been really fun to put together!

Rug Tips

2013-05-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today I'm over at GoldenageUSA's blog with tips for choosing rugs.

I think some of the biggest mistakes that people make in their houses happen with the rugs, so I wanted to address some of the things that bug me the most and talk about simple ways to avoid them. Read it here.

A Family Room Makeover

2013-05-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

I am absolutely loving the new look that Brandi of Don't Disturb This Groove gave to her family room.

Here's a before, with orange paint and movie posters galore:

And here is an after- still with the movie posters, only now they look super cool against the white walls and new color scheme!

You MUST go check out this makeover- it will astound you. And have you convinced that you need movie posters on every wall of your family room.

Fabulous job, Brandi!!

By the way, today I'm contributing to the blog for a lighting site called Chandelier Warehouse. I recently watched "The Great Gatsby" and it had me swooning over a particular look...come read my post to see what it was!

Look Who Came Home From Target With Me...

2013-05-17T09:46:00.000-04:00

This guy.

Every time I go there lately I see it, and yesterday I finally decided I was tired of going home without it.

My daughter LOVES elephants. So one reason I wanted it (besides the fact that it's just adorable) was that it reminds me of her. But there is a tiny complication....when I put the elephant in our cart she thought I was getting it for her. She kept squealing "Thank you Mommy! Baby elephant!" She got pretty angry every time I told her the elephant was for me. Now she keeps creeping into the foyer to look at it and, when she thinks I'm not looking, pet it. If it goes missing from it's table I'll know to go check her menagerie of toy elephants.

Why Lighting Is So Important

2013-05-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

Today I'm talking light fixtures over at the blog for GoldenageUSA.

Specifically, why they are my favorite part about a room's design.

Find out here.

A DIY Ottoman

2013-05-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

Check out this gorgeous ottoman made from an old coffee table:

This fabulous re-do was done by Alaina of

Fabtastic Eats

I love her fabric choice- you know how I love zebra, and I think it might be the same fabric I have on the pillows on our couch...which, by the way, is the same one as hers!

Alaina used my coffee table-to-ottoman tutorial when she and her hubs did this one. It's so awesome to see a project that was inspired by something I did, and even better to see how great it turned out- my tutorial must not suck! haha.

Go check out Alaina's post about this project HERE.

Spruced Up Foyer

2013-05-13T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy that our entryway doesn't look like this anymore:

After the addition of a table, and a bit of pattern from the little bowl sitting on it (both of which I already had) plus a couple new purchases, the room now looks like this:

I love that it feels like an actual room now instead of looking completely neglected. I feel like the entryway is actually the most important room in the whole house. It's the first room to welcome you home everyday, and it's also where people visiting get their first impression of your home. And up until a few days ago, our entryway had nothing good to say to us or anyone else. But it feels a lot better in there now!

I loooove that I FINALLY have a fiddle leaf fig.

I've wanted one ever since they started popping up in every single design magazine a couple years ago. At the peak of their craze I was seeing people getting fully grown ones for over a hundred dollars, which I know is pretty typical for a tree, but that's just way too much for me to spend on something that has a high probability of my killing it.

But this little one was only $8.88 at Wal-Mart, which is so affordable that I can keep replacing it if I continually fail to keep it alive. I guess you'll be tipped off that something's not right if my tree never seems to be growing.

But I'm crossing my fingers that this one thrives. It's so pretty now that I can't wait to see how much more beautiful it is at 6ft tall.

I still can't get over this table's new look. I love it so much.

The rug is from Overstock and I am really happy with it so far.

Like the plant I got for in here, this rug was super affordable- only $46 for a 4x6 ft size.

It's a natural fiber and really thin, which is what I wanted because I didn't want there to be any annoying drag with the door when it was opened over the rug.

This rug has no traction whatsoever on the floor; it slides around like crazy if you don't have a rug pad under it- which I don't. But I wanted to save us the extra $20 or so that a rug pad would have cost, especially since my entire budget for a rug was only $50 so the cost of the pad would have had to come from that. So instead I used a picture hanging command strip at each corner of the rug to hold it down to the floor and so far it's working great to keep in in place.

The rug is still in that awkward, new-rug phase where it's got fold lines everywhere and doesn't lay quite flat yet. But with how often it gets walked over it should be smoothed out pretty soon.

I would love to be able to do more with this room- painting the front door a dark gray or black, switching out the light fixture, and doing some kind of board and batten to the walls would be first on my list. But since we are renting those things aren't options. (except for the light- but even then I'd have to get the deal of a lifetime on a fixture I loved in order to make it worth the trouble.)

I would like to add some art in here eventually, despite the very limited wall space.

But I'm really happy with this little update for now. It makes the view from everywhere else in the house look a million times better.

*Rug Update*- it was going well with just using the command strips to hold the rug in place, until our yard guys showed up outside and our two dogs made a beeline for the door to bark at them. By the time the frenzy was over the rug was in a wad against the door. I've since broken down and bought a rug pad and it works amazingly.

Sharpie Design on a Salad Bowl

2013-05-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I showed you guys how in my quest to finally do something with our entryway,

I brought in a little table that I'd painted a dark gray.

In the pictures of it you'll see there's a small wooden bowl sitting on top of it:

That's a salad bowl.

Since my budget for sprucing up this room is small, I tried to use what I already had as much as I could. So when I was looking for things to fill the tabletop I just wandered around the house and grabbed whatever I thought would work. We got a set of these wooden salad bowls for our wedding, and for the first few years every time we had salad I served it in them. But now I never bother- we either plop it on our plates or grab a different set of bowls because they're closer to get to. So I knew we wouldn't miss this bowl if I used it over here on the table.

But I wanted it to look more decorative and less like a bowl to eat salad out of. Plus I wanted to add some pattern to this room.

I decided to draw a design on it using a black sharpie. The design I came up with was inspired by all the triangles that are EVERYWHERE now and that I am loving, and it was also inspired by the fact that I would have to do no measuring and no math in order to do it. It's a random design but with the exact same sized shape repeated over and over, so it's abstract AND orderly. (At least that's what I'm telling myself- you might just think it looks like I traced a bunch of Doritos around the outside of my bowl.)

So to begin, I cut the corner of a piece of thick paper to make a triangle:

Then I held the triangle to the side of the bowl and traced it in pencil.

Every time I moved the paper triangle to trace it again, I'd lay it in a different direction and let it overlap other triangles I'd already drawn, making a penciled design like this:

Once I'd gone all the way around the bowl, I went back over all my pencil marks with a sharpie marker.

It was not that easy to do. I could definitely never be a surgeon because my unsteady hands would kill more people than I'd save. And the bowl has tiny cracks and dents in the wood that made it even harder to keep my lines straight. But knowing that I had three more of these bowls if I completely screwed this one up made me less afraid of using a permanent marker on it. There's nothing like excess to make you comfortable.

Here is how the process looked partway through:

You can see that some of my lines look like I was scared of something while I was drawing them.

But despite that, I still think it turned out pretty cool- especially for being totally free.

The only thing to do after finishing up with the sharpie was to go back with an eraser and get rid of all my pencil lines. And I discovered that with some extra pressure the pencil eraser would actually completely erase the sharpie too, so I was able to clean up some areas where my marker had really gone astray or where my lines were way too thick.

And here's the bowl now, back on the foyer table:

I really am liking the design- I think the layout of the triangles looks kind of 80's and then the fact that the triangles are open and just traced with black (instead of being color-blocked) makes it look current.

I actually like it so much I'm tempted to eat a salad out of it. Or better yet some ice-cream.

But then I'd have to wash the bowl and I'm not sure how that sharpie would stand up to the dishwasher.

So I'll just keep admiring it on the table.

I plan to finish this room's little fix-up this weekend, so I should have photos early next week.

Have a great weekend!

{Linking to: Liz Marie Blog}

Darkening A Table

2013-05-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

I'm tired of our entryway being completely barren (except for one pitiful vase in a corner) so this week I've been working to change that.

I brought in this table that I hadn't found a spot for since moving into this house.

Because we don't have much wall space in this room I'm really limited on what I can put in here, but this little table is luckily just the right size.

I like that it gives us a spot to drop keys or change or whatever when walking in the door, but I did not like the color in here. This room is already super light, so I felt like the silver paint was looking washed out against the wall color.

Plus because I am limited on what I can put in here, I want what is in here to be really standing out and making more of a statement.

I decided this table needed to be way darker so that it would stand out in this light room even though it's so small.

I mixed up a very dark gray color by combining medium gray and black paints (both of which I already had.)

Here's the table now:

I love it so.much. It's hard to tell in pictures but the color has a very slight bluish undertone, so depending on the light it almost looks like a super dark navy.

I love how the mirrors and the silver-dipped legs now pop out so much against the dark paint.

The only thing I can't decide on is the exact placement- I don't know if I want it where it's at in these finished photos, or if I want it in that recessed area of the wall like I had it in the before picture:

I think I like the way it looks a little better when it's up against the part of the wall that sticks out, but the problem with that spot is the door. It can open all the way with the table there- all the way meaning completely straight out from the hinges, but if you push it further back than that it will hit the table. I feel like the table is safer tucked back into that little nook even though I don't like the way it looks as much when it's back there.

So I'm not sure yet...still deciding.

In the meantime I am thrilled with the new table color!

I'm still working on our foyer and I'm excited with how it's coming! My budget is tiny so I can't do a whole lot in here right now, but it's nice to not walk in the door to an empty room.

Pictures of the whole room coming soon! :)