Revving up...

Every year I attend the "NeoCon" of the West in Las Vegas, the Hospitality Design Expo. What an event, each year it gets bigger and bigger and a great place to see all the new product releases for the year. Not just for "hospitality designers", there is everything from fabric, tile, wallcovering, accessory lines, rugs etc...


Once just one floor in the Sands Expo, know it's two floors...adding more mileage to cover and another day to the trip. I really can't wait to go and I will be taking as may pictures as my camera holds to share with you...so see you on Monday with lots of exciting images!!

Stair "scapping"...

I've always thought, "scapping" in general takes talent, I'm so fond of a well decked out table and often look to masters like Mary McDonald, Michael S. Smith and Ruthie Sommers for inspiration and techniques to follow...

(House Beautiful)

but what about stair"scapping", that just seems to be a whole other challenge all together. My interest was sparked after revisiting some miscellaneous clippings and now I'm on the hunt for more examples of well dressed stairs...

Reader inquiry...

I've received some really great emails and comments regarding my "Serenity Now" post already, one reader in particular though, mentioned that my shower curtain closely resembles the one featured below in Kate Spade's bathroom, which I adore!!!

(image via Peak of Chic)

...and this is exactly the image I had in mind when I happened upon it at a local Target, I searched online but couldn't find it to include with this post, but if you like the style, might want to pop into a Target next time your near one...

Serenity Now...

Well, we're done with our remodel...sort of done, I mean you're never really done when it comes to your house. But, for now we are putting down our tools and taking the summer off to bring "normalcy" back into our lives (whatever that is). I spent the last two weeks away from blogland to wrap things up, I guess you could say my role was that of the designer/contractor/superintendent/taper and painter in this lovely year long first time homeowner's dream...

(on the left is living room before we moved in, then on the right is at it's worst...)

..lessons learned and then some, out of it we realized that I'm pretty stubborn. I recall one morning in particular, over a cup of coffee, we discussed how to resolve the horrible wall finish through out the house and I said "If we have to have popcorn texture walls, I might just throw up and never stop..." Must have been decaf in that cup...but to clue you in to the work ahead of us, see the above disaster...

So when a girl wants smooth walls, well she just has to pick up the spackling knife and do it herself, and I really did! Any imperfections and that's all me...it looks a lot better, but after just one bedroom I was ready to shoot myself in the foot.

I'm really happy though, with the fireplace, we lucked out when we found a lil old carpenter to do the custom mantel for hardly anything and we used the left over marble from our bathrooms to do the surround...

(on the left is the lovely mirror above our vanity, and the right well uggg!!)

Our guest bath just wasn't very welcoming to say the least. A gem I know, but it all had to go...

Can't wait to finish this one up, I have roman shade and curtain fabric to select and I just can't decide. And then there's the rug and linens too! I rushed out the morning it was done and grabbed what I thought could work from Target (above), not too bad, but explaining to my hubby that it's only temporary was another thing...

(different angles, but the after is on the left showing the white painted wood work and the before is on the right)

We opted for a quick fix in the Kitchen/TV room, so we painted the woodwork white, replaced the counters and appliances, and soon the ugly carpet (yes, carpet in the Kitchen) will become lovely hardwood.

My poor parents came to visit not too long ago to see the progress and they said "What happened to all your furniture???" We got rid of everything from our college days, and we were left with the few pieces, our bed, tv, and two Ikea barstools (above). No kidding, so when I say I'm happy to get going on furniture, I really mean it!!!!!!

Underneath the ugly carpet was the ugly hardwood on the right, which refinished very nicely and I have to say I'm just so excited to have a whole house full of dark hardwood!!!

Okay, that's all for now...I just started purchasing furniture, my first pieces were some vintage chairs off of ebay, that I'll be reupholstering soon. Oh, and I plan to include you in some of my design decisions, cause ya'll have good taste and why not!! But, I'm glad to be back to blogging, it's been two weeks but feels like forever...

New beds at Oly Studio...

As I'm preparing to leave the construction phase of our house and move into the furnishing phase, I've been stopping by lots of sites to revisit some old favs, and see what's new. Well, I was surprised to see some new additions to Oly Studio this morning and I just had to share them with you...




I loved the Hanna Chair when I first saw it on their site and now the same style of this chair is being offered in a daybed!!! It has the same hand carved details as before and comes with a tufted cushion available in several fabrics, um so cute...

Then I saw this lil beauty, hard to believe it's not a one of a kind, the Margaret Bed is perfectly balanced an antiqued finish and raffia upholstery...

Gone MIA, returning shortly...

I've been gone my friends, busy as can be these days. You should know that my absence from blogland will be shortly lived...see I'll be returning sometime this week with new pictures of our "Lil House that Could"...yup, we've been working to take the disaster out of our home and it's finally paid off. But, you'll have to stay tuned for the transformation pics...I know you can't bare to wait, I'm sure!!

New pillow at Henry Road...

I've been waiting to see what new additions Henry Road will have this year and was happy to see the Fleur pillow in all it's colors: sage (shown above), teal, and pink...just thought I'd share with you!! Check the website for more new stuff...

Not your momma's wicker...

Indoor, outdoor...either way this table is fab...


Here it's all done up, I'm loving the yellow of course and the combo of black and white is perfect. These shots are of the "Deco" dining table from Jason Champion Outdoor...


I saw some pictures of this piece before, but seeing these photos above really sold me, and now I can see the may styles it can take on once you begin pairing it with other pieces...
A profile shot shows the detail of the piece, including the L shape legs...
They come in almost any color: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink of course!! Available in side tables and dining tables, but the best part is they are indoor/outdoor...


The company's slogan is: "Not your momma's wicker," which I think is just great. Check out their website for more outdoor offerings like the Cube cabana above...

Put me in a cocoon...

I never thought I would say this, but please do...

I'm ready for some R & R and when a rep came in the other day showing some new outdoor pieces to their lines, my jaw almost dropped when I saw Henry Hall's Cocoon Hammock...

I love it so much I just had to share it with you...and sorry for the sporadic posts, I'm working like a mad woman on our home right now...

Double take...

Yup that's right...that's exactly what happened when I got my most recent Pottery Barn catalog. At first I said: "Ooooo, Pottery Barn's getttin' good these days. Might have to clear some room on my credit card...".

(Pottery Barn's Moorish Tile Rug on the left, Madeline Weinrib's Brooke Orange Rug on the right)

And then came the double take: "Hey...I've seen something really similar somewhere else...hmmmm." You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...and what do you think? If you were on the other end, would you be flattered??

(Pottery Barn's Bradley Lamp on the left, Jonathan Adler's Nelson Lamp on the right)

In my opinion both these lamps have great style even if they are very similar...but maybe not similar in price...

(Pottery Barn's Ikat collection on the left/John Robshaw's Bukhara collection on the right)

I love the colors in both of these, one with the pink accent and the other orange. Thinking about it though, over the past year of so Pottery Barn has really brought color and life back to their products and I really appreciate that even if there inspiration is easily noticed...

Console"ing"...

I'm a busy bee lately, this remodel is consuming me, so my posts may be a bit more geared in that direction for the next week or so...

(Angie Hranowsky)

After work, there's more work to be done...I go home and sand walls, paint...you get the drift. And if I'm lucky I get to do the fun stuff like pick out furniture and fabrics!! So, today I was thinking about the console table I'm putting in front of our big window in our living room, and what to put under it...and I love what's done in these photos cause it looks great, but also provides more seating for guests. So console yourself with these interior shots here...

(Vanessa De Vargas)

(Jonathan Adler)

(Ashley Whittaker via The Peak of Chic)

Frame it out with paint...

(Steve Miller Design)

I'm thinking about doing this in my house, because I love this idea. Right now, I've got just plain white walls in our living/dining room space...but to add some life to them I've been looking for ideas that are less expensive and non-permanent (so to speak) and came across these images recently, what do you think? Worth the effort??

(Woodson and Rummerfield)

You go Ikea...

Not bad for Ikea right?? With a little hardware, this could be a pretty cute sideboard (maybe check out Anthropologie's hardware line). Sometimes those Scandinavians really surprise me, I guess you just never know, right! Check it out here, selling for $349...

Speaking of outdoor furniture...

(image via NY Social Diary)

Have you seen the new furniture line from Sheila Bridges, it's available at Arthur Lauer...and it's fabulous if you ask me. This could me another option for my ideal outdoor set up...what do you think??

Bridges Loveseat

Bridges Lounge Chair

Bridges Armchair

My ideal outdoor set up...

Are you familiar with Brown Jordan's Calcutta collection, well allow me to introduce you!! A Chinese Chippendale inspired look made from sand-cast aluminum, which means it's ideal for the outdoors.

It was the winner of the California Design Award in 1967, and this classic design is as timeless today as it was 40 years ago, wouldn't you say?!?!

In a perfect world, this would be my outdoor furniture...but, I think I need to work on getting furniture for the inside of my house before we go there! Maybe you need some though, and I can live vicariously through you...find it at Gumps online!

The perfect luggage...

in a recent post I mentioned that I may have to use my luggage as furniture this year because I doubt it will be getting the use it once did...and I just had to share a recent Ebay find with you, this vintage Louis Vuitton hard suitcase. I know, you want it too, but I must warn you it's latest bid was for $1480...

All wrapped up!!!

(Kelly Hoppen Designs)

I'm just crazy about this look...the fact that these two chairs just so happen to be a lovely shade of yellow is great, but what I'm talking about it is their feet...what a look to wrap them up like that. Kelly went with the color coordinated approach (above), but I dig on the multi colored look below too!!

(Jake Fitzjones Photography)

What do you think, liked the wrapped feet look too??

Ivanka's design eye...

Now look at you go girl, turning your assistant's Darcy McNutt's one-bedroom apartment into a stylish lil' pad if you ask me...

I spy an Ikea "Saarinen table" look a like, a John Robshaw quilt, and a West Elm day bed just to name a few...

Maybe Ms. Ivanka's next venture should be an Interior Design business like Turquoise Chic suggested in her post about this today (which I'm so glad I stumbled upon)! And, who could forget her own apartment of course, which you can view here in case you need another peek...

What do you think, could this be a new career path for Ivanka???

(Image via Turquoise Chic blog, originally from Glamour magazine May '08)

Puttin' it to good use...

I'm thinking with all the hard work we've been doing on the house lately (we really have, can't wait to show you the photos!), that it's time to plan a getaway...I say this because we really need one, something tells me though that our suitcases will not get much use this summer...

(via Terramia)

instead, maybe since they're getting so much time at home, I could put them to good use...and trust me I'd love to because they just might make a cute side table...

A few red accents...

nothing is going to ever change my mind about red being one of my favorite colors, especially to use as an accent in a room...

Tom Scheerer

I've posted about this color before, but here are just a few additions that you may or may not have seen...I just love the railing in the picture above!!

Markham Roberts

Betsy Burnham

a perfect color choice for this piece here...

Blogger/Designer: Vanessa De Vargas

and when Vanessa took a rather plain Chesterfield sofa and dressed it up here...