New Living Room Rug

You may remember this post? Where I wrote about a jute rug that I had gotten at Target? Well, don't worry, I came to my senses and saw how blah it was in my living room and took it back. It doesn't matter how inexpensive something is if it doesn't work in the space. I knew that I needed something that would contrast against the dark floors but not be too light. I also wanted something that had texture and an interesting pattern without being too distracting or that would dictate the color scheme of the room. It couldn't break the bank either.

I've been waiting patiently, for months now, for the rug that I wanted at West Elm to go on sale. It finally went on sale for 20% off. Plus, I still had about a $100.00 credit from when I bought my couches that I could use to put towards the rug. Honestly though, I hesitated when I ordered it, because I had intended to order a swatch so that I could see whether or not it was going to be soft and if the colors were right. But, I never ordered the swatch.

One of the things that bugged me about our current rug was that it wasn't a full 8 x 10. I don't remember exactly how big it is, but it was maybe 7.5 x 9 or something like that and so it didn't go under the bigger couch.  I liked that it was wool, but I felt locked into the color scheme and the floral was a bit girly, which is fine, but I think our white couches are feminine too, so there was a little too much girly girl going on.

Anyway, enough of the blah, blah, blah......

.............................................out with the old rug

in with the new rug..................................................

After it came in and we put it down, I told my kids I didn't like it. No, I don't like it. I love it! I love the color, the pattern, the texture. I love everything about it. It's very soft, not the least bit itchy like some natural fiber rugs can be. My only regret is that I didn't get it sooner. It completely changes the look of the room. It's kind of like when you put on a new dress that's just perfect for you. It's a new dress just perfect for my living room.

I really love how it makes our newly redone coffee table stand out too.

Here's the coffee table on the old rug.

It sort of gets lost in the dark floral carpet.

Now the coffee table pops against the lighter carpet. I'm loving all of the textures in the room, and the charcoal gray and warm wood tones on the coffee table.

I'm deliberately not showing you more of the room because I made some other changes that I'm very excited to share with you next week! So come back and I'll show you more.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a Great Weekend!

(My apologies for the excessive use of !!!!!!!!!!!) !

Linking up here:

Jacob's Moveable Snake {Kids' Crafts}

I swear that I do have some decorating projects that I've been working on to share with you. They're just not quite ready yet.

So, my sweet son said that I could share his cute little craft project that he came up with awhile back. When I first started my blog, I thought I would have a lot more kid's craft projects. But my kids just don't do as much crafty stuff as they used to. 

Jacob is into Lego's and animals. So, when he's not putting together Lego's or stalking the latest Lego releases on Amazon.com or Target.com, he's reading about animals, acting like an animal, or drawing animals.

Olivia is into reading, music, playing her guitar, texting her friends, Owl City, clothes, and drawing.

Anyway, here is Jacob's moveable snake.

He started out by stringing together some paper clips. Then, he wrapped each one in pipe cleaner.

Next, I hot glued on some googly eyes and a red felt tongue that we had cut out.

How's that for a fast, easy, inexpensive and fun kids' craft? 

Brought to you by Jacob.

 Thanks Jake!

Chevron Striped Tissue Box

Sorry I was gone so long. We had an audit at work that demanded all of my attention last week and last weekend. Nothing like an audit to suck the joy and creativity right out of you. Anyway, its over now and I spent part of Saturday working on some projects. I actually did several, and this one was definitely the quickest and easiest.

I already had couple of these plain bamboo tissue boxes, but I wanted to dress this one up a little bit.

The inspiration for this project was this Nate Berkus storage box from Target. I love the juxtaposition of metallic gold with natural wood tones.

I used blue painter's tape to mark off my chevron stripes. I just eyeballed it. I wasn't worried about perfection. Then I used some antique Rub and Buff for the stripes.

The stripes were looking a little faint though so, I peeled back some of the tape and the color was way too light.

Gold craft paint to the rescue! Luckily, I had some in my craft paint stash.

A fast and simple way to dress up a plain tissue box.

Have you done anything crafty lately?

Hope you have a great day!

Recharging

I've been feeling a little low energy lately. Uninspired and just plain meh. 

source

So, I'm taking a little time to just recharge and get my mojo back.

I'll be back...

Thanks for stopping by!

ReStore Find & Morningside Antiques

Sorry for my absence this week on the blog. May tends to be a very busy month for us with the end of school coming up soon. We've been busy with recitals, school events and field trips. These are the best things to be busy with though. I'm so grateful to be involved with my kiddos, who are growing up way too fast!

This past weekend, Deme from Fresh Coat of Paint, and I got to spend Saturday morning chatting over breakfast and coffee at Flying Star. Then, we went to ReStore, to scout out some thrifty finds.

Deme found these two beauties. We weren't quite sure what they were but they were white and glass, with beautiful details and in pristine condition. I can't wait to see Deme work her magic on them!

(All photos in this post were taken by Deme because I brought my camera, but it somehow disappeared in my car? Thanks Deme!)

I was immediately drawn to this lovely blue orb. It needs cleaning up, but I think it will be perfect for my back patio. I just hope it doesn't wind up sitting in my garage for two years. Isn't the blue glass fantastic? We both agreed that our finds were like nothing you would find in a retail store.

Since we had a little time left after ReStore, we popped into Morningside Antiques for some inspiration. The people there are just so friendly and helpful. The store is loaded with tons of fabulous treasures. Deme and I were like two kids in a candy store. We could have spent hours just looking around at all of the fantastic stuff.

Like these gorgeous chinoiserie patterned stools.

Deme was loving all of the colorful Turkish rugs that were very reasonably priced.

This bookcase was too cool because it folded flat into a table. 

We loved these antique bowling pins. I was thinking they would look great on top of my yet-to-be-completely-styled-after-almost-two-years bookcases in my living room.

How beautiful is this robin's egg blue headboard with the distressed finish? Can't you just see it on a bed with some white rouched bedding on it?

This desk and chair are classics that will never go out of style. We loved how they had reupholstered the chair with modern black and white geometric fabric.

There was lots of fabulous artwork. These black and off white prints were calling my name because I am loving black and white so much these days.

Isn't this metal windmill fabulous? What a great addition to a garden this would make. There's Deme in the mirror. Do you see her?

These yellow school lockers made me want to start all over and re-do my son's room. Aren't they fun? And that's me, in this mirror, with my head cut off. Next time, we'll have to take actual pictures of ourselves.

So, what did I come home with? This little hooved footed beauty! 

Just kidding! Deme and I both agreed that it was kinda creepy and neither one of us is big into taxidermy (no offense if that's your thing).

It was a lot of fun and a nice change of pace from my usual Saturday morning routine of house cleaning and grocery shopping. Thanks Deme!

Have a Great Day!

currently loving...

Orangerie fabric from Designers Guild

Source - A Storied Style

Floral pillows with black piping (Schumacher Avebury Vine fabric by Woody Liana - Etsy).

Via Decor Pad

Gray Owl paint by Benjamin Moore.

Painted shadow box molding to dress up plain walls.

Becky Griffin's Curious Details

Black painted French doors and window frames.

Becky Griffin's Curious Details

Home Bunch via Pinterest

What are you loving?

Master Bedroom Progress

Hi there! Last week, I gave you a little sneak peek at some of the changes I've made in my bedroom. You may know that I've been grappling with the idea of changing the paint color to a darker, moody blue color. But, I decided that the color, Behr's Light French Gray, was fine. I decided that the problem was I needed to stop changing my mind mid course in every room, and just finish what I start.

About three years ago, I got my Pottery Barn couches. They were expensive, probably twice as much as I'd normally spend on a couch. But, I'd been wanting them forever and finally decided to just save and get what I really wanted. I charged them on a Pottery Barn credit card and then paid it off right away, so that I could get 10% store credit. Well, I had the credit for about three years just waiting to get just the "right" thing.  I have always loved the West Elm organic pintuck duvet. It's feminine without being to frou frou, if you know what I mean? What was I waiting for? Since West Elm and Pottery Barn are owned by the same company, I could use my Pottery Barn credit to get the duvet I've been wanting for years. Of course, I still waited until it went on sale for 20% off.

I knew that I wanted a big white fluffy rug. Maybe because they remind me of the flokati rugs that we had when we lived in Italy when I was little. I got four rugs from Target, when they were on sale, and put them together to make one rug. Part of the reason I did it this way, and I hope I don't gross you out here, Bocce tends to eat all sorts of weird things in the back yard. Then, he comes inside and throws up. I swear, it is always in my room! I'm able to wash these rugs in my front loading washer. Besides, have you ever tried putting an 8 x 10 foot rug under a bed? Major hassle. Bocce has even thrown up on my new duvet. Since then, has been banished from my bed. Sorry Bocce! Still love you.

The bench, I already had and didn't like how small and kind of cheap looking it was. I knew I wanted to replace it with something longer and nicer looking. I still wanted a bench with storage though.

I found this lovely bench one day when I went in to Ross looking for a simple straw bag. It was calling my name with the tufting, the nailhead trim and the linen looking fabric.

 It reminded me of some of the more expensive benches I'd seen at Ballard. It also reminded me of the couch I put on this mood board that I made a few months ago.

So, I had my West Elm pin tuck duvet, my rugs, and then the bench. I needed something to bring some life to the space. I went online and started looking for fabrics and was drawn to the large floral prints. Then, I remembered that a few years ago, when I was going through my major Pottery Barn phase, I had gotten a duvet and some pillow shams, but I never could seem to make them work in my room. So, I took them off my bed and put them in a bag marked, "Craig's List." Then, I put it in my garage, with the intention of selling them. Well, it's a good thing that I'm a procrastinator because the floral duvet and shams work perfectly with the white pintuck duvet, and it ties into the colors of the bench and the blue gray walls.

Things were starting to look lovely, except for the eye sore knotty pine night stands. I could not stand them a minute longer!

So, I painted them off white this past weekend and changed out the hardware.

It's truly amazing what a coat of white paint can do for a piece of furniture.

Here's a closer look at the hardware, that I got at Hobby Lobby when it was 50% off so they were three bucks a piece. So sparkly and pretty. Love them.

Here's a closer peek at the scented drawer liner that I put in the drawers.

The lamps, you may remember, were an amazing HomeGoods find.

I threw a few accessories on to the night stands this morning before I woke my kids up to get ready for the day. The statue of Venus is from Italy. The clock is from Target and I really don't use it because it ticks so loudly it bothers me. It's much prettier though, for blog pictures, than my digital clock. :)

The white vase was a $2.00 find at Goodwill. I will never pay full price for vases again! I loved all of the detail and curviness of it. The Eiffel Tower picture is a thank you card from my niece Heather, from many years ago, that I borrowed from the living room.

I would still like to change out my headboard. I'll probably DIY a tufted headboard with nailhead trim to coordinate with the bench. I'm still not completely loving the starburst mirror from Target either. It just looks a little insignificant, or mass produced, or something's just off about it so we'll see what happens with that.

It's funny, because as soon as I quit obsessing about the paint color and decided to just get on with it, things fell into place.

The room isn't done yet, but I'm loving the progress so far. I'd love to hear what you think.

Happy Tuesday!

Linking up at Katherine's Corner's Thursday Blog hop.

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