We nixed tuxes right away – we’re having a 3 pm ceremony and the event just isn’t that formal. Plus, rented tuxes can look sloppy and our guys are too good looking for that! So we settled on a gray three-piece suit for Ryan – something that he can wear after the wedding for a good many years. Something like this:

So handsome.

Since buying a suit can get expensive very quickly, Ryan didn’t want to demand that his four groomsmen also buy a suit (especially a matching suit, since he plans to splurge a bit on his). He felt very strongly that they not have to buy a jacket.

While we liked the idea of a patterned shirt (like gingham), we just couldn’t find one that worked with the rest of the look of the day, so we opted for white shirts with gray pants and a gray vest (that don’t HAVE to match). We’re also giving them the option of black suspenders if they already own pants and don’t want to buy a vest.

Kind of like this:

Since the bridesmaids are all wearing neutral shades but different dresses, I think the overall effect will be that we’ll have a cohesive palette up front without looking like an army of bridal attendants. At least, that is our goal. To create good photos but highlight our friends’ individuality.

This took of several weeks of weighing different options, but I’m very happy with where we ended up, and Ryan is too. One more big thing off our list!

Photos from: SMP, SMP, Angela & Evan

(don’t miss weeks one and two of this series!)

Bookshelves

Styling bookshelves is all about maintaining balance, whether you’re working with a wall of built-ins, a particleboard bookcase, or a couple of hanging shelves. Because you’re working with a vertical plane as well as a horizontal plane (meaning top to bottom as well as side to side), you’ll have to frequently step back to analyze your progress and make adjustments. It may even take more pre-planning than a table, but that’s ok.

The first thing to consider in terms of accessorizing is the background they will be displayed against, either the back of the bookshelf itself or the wall that shows between the shelves. You’ll want to provide contrast so that the items you so carefully arrange don’t just disappear into the background. This means for a white background you want darker items. If you have a lot of white items to display (dishes or figurines) you may want to consider painting the back of your shelf in a color that makes them “pop” like a blue or black.

You’ll start by arranging large items on the shelves, distributing them evening across the shelving. These might be baskets, boxes, large vases or bowls, or art pieces like statues. If it helps to think of the shelf as North, South, East, and West, place your large objects in each of these zones, plus one in the middle. This is especially helpful for large walls of shelves, so if your shelf is too small for that, don’t fret. Just keep things spaced out and balanced.

Next you’ll place your books. I’m a big believer in always including books on the shelves and don’t have much interest in bookshelves filled with only tchotchkes. Even if you don’t have a LOT of books, they should still be in the mix. That being said, I’m also a believer in mixing in personal mementos. If your books are already packing the shelves to the point of not fitting anything else, I suggest thinning them out a bit or moving some to another shelf somewhere. A good mix of items and books (no matter the ratio) is the best.

Try to stagger your books across the shelves so that no one shelf or side is “extra heavy” with books – it should look like your books evenly fill the shelves all the way across, just with some open spaces (that you’ll fill with decorative objects). Different ways I like to arrange books:

• In a small group that uses the side of the shelf for support and one bookend for support (about 5-15 books depending on the size of your shelf).
• In a medium-sized group in the middle of your shelf with decorative bookends on either end (10-17 books). Make sure the bookends are visible and can be admired.
• Fill one shelf with books placed vertically.
• Fill one shelf with books stacked horizontally (good for larger books that are too tall for the shelf).
• Using a horizontal stack of books as “bookends” for books placed vertically – either to one side of the shelf or with a stack on each side.
• Using a few larger books placed horizontally as a pedestal for a decorative item or picture frame – this works well for making small picture frames seem more important and not get lost, or for grouping small like items.
• Using a small easel or plate stand to showcase a book’s pretty cover.

This is a good point to step back and check your progress.

Next I layer in the color-themed pieces. Remember how I was saying that you want your items to pop off your background? This is where the highest contrast group comes in, as well as any items fitting a desired color scheme. For instance, I might be using white and red items against a wood background. I nestle these in spot on the shelves, using my stacks of books as risers for any low or smaller object. Again (say it with me…) you want these items to be balanced from the top down and side to side.

Photo frames and art pieces are a good layer to add next – be sure to place them so that people can actually see them (ie, not too low so that people have to stoop down). You can lean larger pieces behind other books or objects.

Finally, layer in all your smaller bits and any items that didn’t fit your color scheme. Here you’ll mostly be watching for a balance of size. Group very small like-items and corral them on a tray or on a stack of books.

Step back and observe the arrangement. If anything sticks out to you, it’s probably not in the right spot. Feel free to pull some items off and rearrange if they aren’t working. You may have to do that several times, but that’s part of the fun!

Other ideas for styling bookshelves:

• Using a tall shelf as a bar – group your bottles and tools in a tray that’s easy to slide out if needed.
• Adding baskets and boxes for hidden storage – lidded works best to keep dust out.
• Hang art on the front of the shelves (on the framework), or hang a piece inside the shelves for an open and airy look (make sure it gets plenty of light).

I hope this little guide helps you style your shelves like a pro! Next up – tables (of ALL kinds!).

One of my best friends (she is one of my bridesmaids!) got married on Saturday and I was her maid of honor! The wedding was down in Tacoma and I had lots to do so we rented a hotel room at the Hotel Murano and went down a few days early.

I hosted a brunch for her in lieu of a shower or bachelorette (bride’s request – and she lives in a remote town in Alaska so this was the only chance we had!). We had it at the adorable Hello Cupcake store, which was PERFECT.

Isn’t she gorgeous?

I didn’t get a SINGLE picture from the actual wedding because my phone died at the salon when we were getting our hair/makeup done, but I CAN link to a sneak peek from their photographer’s instagram! Sneak peek here.

Loved the hotel. Definitely would stay here again if we ever need a hotel in Tacoma.

Father’s Day we went out to my parent’s house in a more rural area (needless to say, perhaps). My dad (middle) is having a large hanging and spinning art sculpture put in the backyard, and we went down to help them carry and install the frame device (that blue thing).

Love the way the blue pops off the green woods behind it. And that little building to the right is a shed that my dad built last year to store his tools. Of course, you remember their house tour last Christmas?

Now that my bestie is off on her honeymoon, I’m circling back to my own wedding plans! Next big things are getting all the catering rentals nailed down and the menu a little more firm. Choosing a bakery for our assortment of cakes. Buying Ryan a suit. Finalizing the groomsmen’s attire. And finalizing our invitations (they are almost done!). Meanwhile, two boxes of these arrived and I can’t stop petting them.

Cocktail napkins with our married monogram (which will also be my personal monogram, actually!). I looooove them. I ordered them from The Stationary Studio and couldn’t be happier.

Ok, I better get back to my furniture layouts and room mock-ups! Happy Tuesday!

Week 2! Setting the stage for arranging. No matter what I’m styling, there are a few steps that I never skip! Follow along for best results.

1. Clear the area of existing items, dust the table (or shelves, etc.) and all the objects.
2. Gather objects from other rooms that you could repurpose here. Lay all objects out on a table or the floor.
3. Evaluate the space you’ll be filling – you want your arranged objects to contrast the background – choosing light-colored objects for a dark bookshelf, or colorful objects for a white table. Maybe you’ll want to change the current backdrop. Weed objects accordingly.
4. Start arranging objects that you definitely want in place – I like to start with larger objects and then fill in around them.
5. Step back occasionally. You’re looking to make sure the arrangement is balanced in both color and “visual weight” – one side shouldn’t have all the bulky items while all the delicate items are on the other side, they should be mixed evenly. Likewise, all the blue items shouldn’t be in one spot either, spreading them out feels more cohesive. See example below.
6. Fill in smaller items. Swap things around and try something else – it’s ok to not get it exactly right the first time!
7. Finished? Time to tackle the next area!

This is the process I follow if I’m styling shelves, tables, or even dressers. Next week we’ll start diving into some more specific concepts for what kind of surface you’re styling, but you’ll always want to apply those concepts to this process. And remember, nothing you’re doing is permanent, so it’s ok to make some mistakes! Your eyes will learn to recognize when something looks out of place or unbalanced. Like anything else, it takes practice!

I stumbled across this old Lonny image a few days ago and can’t get it out of my head! Since first discovering all things lucite in Domino magazine (must have been 2008?) I’ve been a fan of using it in living rooms. The weightlessness really fits well into most designs because it feels unobtrusive while adding a dose of modern to the mix as well. And in a busy living space, those qualities are a no-brainer. But I hadn’t given much thought to using it in a bedroom design. I do love bigger pieces in lieu of a nightstand (and in fact would only do that in my own home if I had the space for it). And the fact that this one doubles as a nightstand AND desk without feeling bulky or detracting from the real star (that bedding!), well… let’s just say I’m filing this idea for a future home for me as well as for my clients.

Find a similar piece here.

P.S. I told you I was loving white curtains!

I’ve started a new project – we’re still establishing the scope and signing contracts but that doesn’t mean that my little brain isn’t already whirring with a million ideas. Here’s one of the “inspiration” pictures my  client pinned…

I am dying! SO GOOD.

I’m also counting down to Saturday, which is my best friend’s wedding! I’m her Maid of Honor, so besides the wedding itself I’m also hosting a brunch and will be attending the rehearsal and dinner. Can’t wait to see my gorgeous friend in her wedding attire (and to see her at all, because she moved to Colorado after we graduated college and now lives in Alaska and I NEVER see her!).

There are some other huge things happening but I won’t bore you with details right now. Let’s just say this little lady is a bit crazed.

Good thing I booked a massage for this week too!

I’ll be around but may be light on the posting this week. Definitely come back Wednesday for post #2 of my styling series!

One element of wedding planning that is directly related to home decor (and therefore basically one of the first things I was inspired to tackle) is the wedding registry. I have always had a LOT of opinions on registries, so now that I’ve actually put one together, I thought I would share some of my thoughts. I’ve read a lot of registry guides and always seemed to have major disagreements with them, so here’s my take!

(Of course, every couple is different and their needs/wants are different, so this is just my personal experience.)

We approached our registry with the mindset of these items being life-long purchases. Some people think of registries as a “gift-grab” but it brought us so much joy to imagine us in twenty years, hosting Christmas dinner in our forever-home, surrounded by family and friends. I love the idea of creating family heirlooms to pass down to my children and grandchildren. And to always think of the gift-giver when using the serving dish/vase/cocktail glasses.

That being said, I’m also very averse to creating clutter. I’m constantly buying things that I want to get rid of in a year (which drives Ryan crazy). So we were seeking simplicity, versatility, quality, and thinking about what we really wanted and would definitely use. Before even looking at registry guides or stores,or had a scanner in our hands, we sat down and made a list of what we wanted to add. This happened over several months. We tackled pots and pans first, saving categories like stemware for several months later.

We chose to register at Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, and Amazon (for a few random things), combining them all by using Gift Registry 360. This way, we could do price comparisons and choose the best price where we registered. For example, our cutting board is available in all three spots, but is about $40 less on Amazon.

A lot of people have assumed that because we’ve lived together for almost four years that we could “skip all the kitchen stuff” and suggested registering for our honeymoon. While we weren’t opposed to the honeymoon idea, our registry is almost ENTIRELY kitchen stuff! Since moving in together, money has been tight. We’re still using mostly pots and pans from Ikea and mashed together sets we had in college. We have a couple nice pans Ryan got for Christmas, but otherwise everything is pretty low-quality for the amount of cooking we do (at least 5 nights a week). We also have a lot of small appliances, but are missing a blender (which I want badly!), a food processer that holds more than two cups (the one we have is ridiculous), and a knife sharpener.

Other items we definitely went for were high quality knives. We relied a lot on the Cook’s Country product reviews to assemble our equipment lists (after coming up with the categories we wanted on our own). Our knife list comes from about three different makers. About half of them are Wustof. After we found out that Wustof provides fulfillment incentives (free gift or giftcard if you receive more than so much worth of product), we made sure to register for all the Wustof knives from the same retailer so they’d be combined. We obviously registered for each knife individually, since we were creating a personal set from different makers. An extra bonus of this is that we registered for two chef’s knives so we can both be working in the kitchen together with our most commonly-used knife.

We also skipped a lot of the “must-haves” like wine glasses, towels, vacuum (we have a perfectly nice one), flatware… Where we are right now we hardly EVER entertain, so it didn’t make sense to ask for 20 wine glasses that would be hard to move from apartment to apartment without breaking them, when at the low prices we saw we wouldn’t have a problem buying them for ourselves when we’re finally somewhere permanent. I couldn’t decide on towels or flatware, so I just skipped them. Someday I’ll be able to choose a towel color, and I’d rather just get vintage flatware.

A lot of the guides I saw were encouraging brides to skip formal china. I think that’s really sad! I  know that I will love and use our china and it will always have a soft spot in my heart as our “wedding china.” We already have informal dishes that I love, and it would be about $40 to finish off our set of those to a full 10, so I’m not in the position of registering for two full sets of dishes. I chose the Juliska Country Estate pattern. It mixes with our current white dishes, and it will look great with other small pattern accent dishes and vintage floral plates (I can’t resist these at antique malls where they are so cheap!) but it won’t look dated in a few years – it’s a very classic look. I wanted a lot of versatility for how to style them with our other items. We didn’t just register for the full suite of dishes though – we narrowed it down to the pieces we know we want, then we’ll add other items over the years as we gain room.

Finally, we made sure that there were a variety of price-points available. Obviously a lot of pots and pans and some of the knives are over $200. But we filled out some of the lower price points by registering for individual items, not sets (like with bakeware, about $30 per piece). We also paid attention to our bar area, which had a lot of less expensive items that could be combined in a variety of ways. We don’t want to be a burden on anyone who wants to give a gift. Even though many of our items are “investment” pieces, we made sure to keep a lot of items under $100 and many under $50 as well.

So that was how I approached my registry – we did the entire thing online to avoid spontaneously adding things that were cute in the store that we’d never use. And though we’ll be replacing a lot of our current kitchen items, we’ll be able to pass most of our current stuff down to Ryan’s sister, moving into her first college apartment in August (the junkiest stuff will get tossed/recycled though!). And we’ve already had our first item “completed” and I fully admit to squealing out loud when I discovered it! So exciting, and makes the wedding feel real (only four months away now!).

Whether you’re working with fine antique furniture and custom built-ins or with big box store tables and Ikea bookcases, the principles behind styling your accessories on them are the same. That’s why it’s one of the easiest ways to update a room with very little money, especially if you plan to use accessories that you already own.

Over the next five weeks, we’ll begin with some general rules, then move on to ideas specific to different areas. And while you may want to follow my tips for ideal pieces to own, you will be able to implement many of these ideas without any additional purchases.

Essential Pieces

You may have a collection of antique wristwatches, or maybe robin eggs… but no matter what you choose to display in your tablescapes, there are some key elements that will help you achieve the most cohesive look. You may already have some of these on hand, or there may be a few that you’ll want to keep an eye open for the next time you’re out shopping.

• Trays – large and small
• Tall pieces, like vases or sculptures
• Chunky pieces like baskets or bowls
• Books (ones you love, but try to get hardcover!)
• Easels or plate stands for small art
• Picture frames at least 4×6 inches (use matting to upgrade small photos to bigger frames)
• Plants (living or a convincing fake!)
• Candles
• Small (around 4-5 inches) objects and boxes
• Bookends

In fact, here are some of my favorite essentials…

Tray, Topiary, Box, Baskets, Jar, Origami Stars.

Plus, this look is so stylish AND simple. I love white drapes with white walls, so it’s a perfect look for renters. And you can always find affordable white panels if you can’t go custom – sewing on trim is easy enough if you want a look like this one above.

The look in general translates well to the rest of the furnishings as well. This is where I’d like to be right now:

A little pop of color, but otherwise so streamlined, so crisp, and so simple.

So relaxing.

Photos from The Design Files, Lonny, Lonny, Elle Decor.

Of course, this only works if you don’t have a million video game consoles and multiple device players, but I think a DVD player and Apple TV would fit perfectly on the shelves below. And it’s on sale right now!

For entertaining, we play music on our stereo through the Apple TV and you can choose to have a photo screensaver display on the screen. For our holiday parties we’ll upload snow pictures to an album and use that, but I’d love definitely use images of paintings or cool black and white photography if I had my TV displayed like this!

What do you think? Would you put your TV on display?