"Oh and by the way, I threw away all your little throw pillows. Yea. Cuz throw pillows suck. They serve no purpose. They're purely decorative." -Reuben Feffer
I once had a client tell me that she didn't want the new bedding in her master suite to be too "Along Came Polly"...meaning full of unnecessary pillows. I literally laughed out loud. And I totally agreed with her. Even as as designer, I understand that no one wants to spend "two years of their life putting on and taking off pillows." So my question to you is...how do you like to dress your bed?
With your pillows layered?
With your pillows stacked?
With only your sleeping pillows and shams?
With one large decorative pillow?
With a couple of decorative pillows?
With a bolster?
With round decorative pillows?
With euro shams only?
Or with a mix of euro shams and decorative pillows?
However you like to dress your bed, stuffed animals past the age of 10 is...not...ok.
I am sorry but no rebuttals are allowed on this issue.
~Image: 1) Courtesy of allmoviephoto.com 2) Elle Decor 3) House Beautiful Feb 2004 4) Unknow 5) Dream Bedrooms 6) Coastal Living May 2009 7) Southern Accents 8) Decor Mag 9 and 10) Southern Accents 11) Unknown
If anyone lives near Aiken, SC you need to purchase these antique bins immediately! They would be great for recycling!
This $100 bedroom set in West Ashley would be adorable in a little girl's room! I would have it lacquered in a bright color to match your bedding and add some crystal knobs. You could even insert a fabric panel into the headboard that coordinates with your color scheme.
Give this dresser in Bluffton a custom look by painting it and covering the drawer fronts in grasscloth and change out the hardware like this...
~Images: Via Craigstlist.org. My apologies b/c I cannot remember which blog I got this image of the grasslcoth dresser from!
I blame Cute Overload. On Saturday, I got a rabbit.
My life, for the past seven years, has been all about minimalism. I've spent it assiduously paring possessions down to bare necessities and eliminating excess. This is due mainly to transitoriness, moving often with limited space in each location. Unnecessary items weigh you down, that much more cargo to pack and haul and find room for.
Pets do not fit into this picture. The exception has been two goldfish, neatly contained and low-maintenance enough to sustain. Granted, they rank rather low on the interactivity scale, but you can't have everything.
I dream of owning a cat someday. Beyond this, I have had to resist pet ownership completely as an unfair and impractical addendum to my mobile and fund-restricted lifestyle.
But somehow, when I saw the "Offer: bunny" posting on Freecycle, my heart was caught.
Knowing I really shouldn't, I emailed to inquire. The rabbit was a black male mini Rex, a year old. The owner was moving and couldn't take him. He needed to find a home immediately, or he would go into a shelter. I was the only one who'd shown any interest.
After a considerable amount of internal debate over the next several days, I agreed.
Almost immediately I had the sinking feeling that I had perhaps made an unwise move. Reassuring myself that I could at least provide him a temporary shelter and re-home him later, I took the necessary step of asking my landlady's permission and made an appointment to pick him up.
We met at a gas station by the highway. A battered black pickup truck containing a young couple pulled up, and by the way they grinned as I approached I knew it must be the rabbit people. A few moments' brief and nearly wordless exchange, and I drove away the owner of a small wire cage containing a rather frightened midnight-black rabbit.
During the short ride home, all I heard of him was occasional hops and the rattling of the ball in his drinking bottle. Once I got home and had carried him inside, I lifted him out to have a look.
He was perfect. His fur, impossibly silky and soft in the manner of all Rexes, felt like heaven-spun velveteen. Tiny, dainty paws ended in small curved claws. His anatomy was all perfect ovals and rounds, making him look incongruously like one of those drawing lessons where everything starts out as a shape. His eyes, a deep, shiny black, reflected the amusing combination of incomprehensibility and fear that all rabbits seem to emanate.
And he was mine.
So James Dean and I (for that's now his name) have spent the last couple of days getting acquainted. He loves to hop about the room sniffing everything, occasionally doing a sudden leap and heel-kick or a surprisingly loud thump of warning. He swiftly and mightily resists being caught, turning into rubber and kicking on the jet-thrusters when a hand approaches. He goes soft and quiet when picked up, though the push of his head into the space between my arm and my body reveals his insecurity. When he tires, he stretches out on the floor next to his cage and rests.
And it feels good to have him there. Despite my trepidation about acquiring an animal, he's added a dimension of life and companionship to my normally sterile and solitary existence. He's something to care about and care for, a level of need outside my own that is satisfying to meet. He's probably going to be one spoiled rabbit. And even if I can't keep him forever, he's already won my heart.
(His cage was dirty when he arrived. It's since been cleaned and is now all spiffy with recycled pulp bedding, healthier than shavings).
People seem to be terrified of picking paint colors. Oftentimes living with the builder's white for years out of fear. I understand that you can make a poor paint choice...I have done it myself. Once I chose a shade of brown that looked like I had wiped my nephew's diaper all over the wall. It was gross. But guess what I did? I repainted. It is really that simple so have no fear!!! Here are some (hopefully) helpful hints when picking out paint.
For starters, don't arbitrarily select paint colors! Choose the color from something in the room like a rug, bedding, a vase, etc. If you don't have anything in the room then wait to paint until you have made some other selections. It will be worth it. Why? Because there are infinite colors of paint to choose from and you can pick a shade to match anything (literally). It is a bizillion times easier to work forward instead of working backwards. If you have ever spent hours, weeks, months, or years trying to find the perfect fabric to match a paint color that is already in the room then you will know of which I speak.
If you do have let's say a fabric that you are trying to pull a paint color from then you can either match one of the colors in intensity like this...
Or you can go to a lighter or darker version of the color (hue) like this...
If you are afraid of an actual color then you can try pulling one of the neutrals like this...
Or you can match the "ground" (background) of the fabric like this...
**These paint colors show differently on your computer screen. I promise the do match the fabric!
Be sure to look at all of your room selections together when selecting a paint color-carpet, fabrics, trim color, window hardware, furniture finishes, etc. as all of these can affect the way a color is perceived.
Be sure to look at the paint color options in the actual room and in the various lights of the day.
People often have a hard time seeing how the room will look once it is painted just by looking at a tiny paint chip. This is understandable. If you are able, paint out a section of the wall so you can see it in larger scale. If you are unable to do this then paint a sheet of white poster board (paint the entire thing corner to corner and paint on the dull side) and put it in the room.
Once you have selected a color...go for it! And relax, it's just paint.
I originally got this idea from an old Pottery Barn catalog (above). I have all my inspiration binders labeled with pictures on the spine indicating what is in each binder. Like so...
(l to r) Pillows/Fabrics, Window Treatments, Office/Organization, Bedding, Exterior, etc.
For the record, I have many more and some are just labeled I, II, III, IV, V, etc. for unclassified, general "I like 'em" things. I see Tara Guerard of Soiree (a local special events company) did the same in her office which was featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine.
Amen to that Tara! I feel the same way! But just to be real with you people...this is what my office looks like on a day to day basis.
This is my bedroom. It is beckoning me from the next room...I am SO tired that all I can think about is my bed and that I want to be in it! I am sorry for the lame post but I have been going non-stop and I am exhausted!
Some info on my room (if anyone is at all interested)...the nightstands I found separately (each at a different flea market). I about wet myself when I found the second one and realized it was an exact match to the other one! Think I paid $15 total for both of them and had them lacquered the same (Benjamin Moore Navajo White). I still need to change out the hardware but have yet to decide on some I like...it has been four years. The headboard is a rattan product from West Elm that I had a slipcover made for because I didn't love the rattan once it arrived. I used the same linen fabric from the headboard on the panels and bedskirt (which you can't see in this pic). The ottomans are from an Eclectic upholstery line. Coverlet and shams are Pottery Barn (I hate to admit that-damn you Pottery Barn!-but I dig the paisley print and it has all my fav colors in it). Coverlet is from an Eclectic bedding line. Lamps are Arteriors. Wall color is Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue. Chair is grandma's recovered in a cream, nubby linen. Flooring is wall to wall seagrass. Sunburst mirrors...ah, can't remember! That's all you can see! Is my duvet cover driving anyone else crazy in this picture of is it just my anal retentive ass?
Have a great weekend!
Don't forget to enter my contest by the end of today to win the cutest pig pillow you have ever seen...(Katie if you are reading this doesn't Ashlea need this pillow?!?!)
