Living Room Revamp

So my friend Emily sent a text to me in a panic, it said the following:

E: "I need decorating help, are you around?"
Me: "Yeah"
E: "I am destorying my den...trying to find something that works"
Me: "Haha I'll stop by"
E: "Save me..."

What happened was during Emily's little girl's naptime she tried to move things around and rearrange.  When I walked in things were kinda all over the place.  Here are a couple of before pics...

BEFORE:

 Not bad, cute and cozy.  However the large wall is a big canvas, what do you do with that? A quick solution is a gallery wall, good idea however I tend to think these only look really great in a catalog or magazine.  Otherwise in real life things get crooked, off-centered, or the proportions and dimensions are all off, in other words they scare me.

These great bookshelves looked really cute but they weighed down that area of the room.  To the right of the chair is the kitchen table nook which automatically weighs down/anchors that side of the room.

So here is the solution, it's not completely finished but it still gives you the idea. (The pics above are older pics Emily sent me, I wish I had some from when I walked in and along the way.)

AFTER:

Yes, obviously these are crappy iphone pics and I didn't move the toys out of the way but look past these things. We split the bookshelves apart and flanked the sofa with them. We then moved the floor lamp that was next to the chair over to the sofa.  Moved the ivory table next to the chair and stacked some books with the table lamp on top.

We also styled the bookshelves.  I typically would have removed a lot of these books but Emily said her husband uses them often so for practicality reasons we left them all out.

I pulled little nic-nacs from here and there and also organized the books.  We put all of the pretty hardback books on top shelves where your line of sight is. All of the left over books that were paperback or had covers we grouped into colors.  I think this really gave a more organized and styled look with so many books.

Emily mentioned that she has 2 big boxes of old Reader's Digest books in storage, I swooned.  If you have never seen old Readers Digest books then you need to hit up google image because they are really cool and funky on the outside.

So the next plans for the room are rotate the mirror vertically to give some height on the wall, incorporate another pair of pillows in mustard chevron or stripe.  Also flank the sofa with either another floor lamp or change the floor lamps to 2 apothecary floor lamps. She also needs some fun art over the chair and table/lamp sitting area. Next week we might make a trip to Emily's storage unit, I hear she has some treasures hidden in there so we might take a look to see what we find.

All in all, these pics don't do justice to how great the space looks. It's very inviting and homey plus it feels more open with the bookshelves anchoring the wall across from the breakfast area.  I even thought it'd be great to go out on a limb and do a stenciled pattern or stripe on the wall behind the bookshleves.  Nothing crazy, I'd do it in the same paint color but a different finish like a high gloss so that the stencil/pattern is really faint where only natural light or a good eye picks up on it.

This whole project only took an hour or two and the best part was that we spent nada dinero $0. We simply rearranged and used what we had.  Funny how hung up we get on our own personal homes and spaces but then we go into someone else's and know exactly what to do. 

Anyways, I had a lot of fun and can't wait to see the continued progress, thanks Emily for letting me share!

Savvy Snoot

2 weekends ago Atlanta had a UFC series come to town, this is all I have heard about since the Jones vs. Evans match was announced. My other half is a huge UFC fan (so annoying) and made me spend my Friday afternoon at the Fox Theater for the live "weigh-ins". 

10 years ago to the exact day I had been at the Fox Theater for my senior prom, never in a million years did I think I'd be back on that same date 10 years later for a UFC weigh-in... I mean really?

Leaving the Fox we did stumble up a funky furniture store on the magnificant midtown mile with these awesome chairs outside.  They look like they are straight out of Candy Land, Willy Wonka, or Alice and Wonderland.  I've seen pics of these from a store in NYC and had to try them out myself...

As payback after the fights were over I forced Ryan to take me to the new Savvy Snoot location in West Midtown to kill time before dinner.  Savvy Snoot is mainly an upscale consignment & new  furniture store that has been in West Midtown for some time now but recently upgraded to a bigger space for their store and showroom. 

We saw these awesome mirrors, I'd love these in so many ways.  Flanking something, decoratively by themselves but they'd be really neat in a cluster.  Maybe 9 of them with 3 in each row, they were only about $65 each too.

These bamboo benches really caught my eye.  The bamboo was painted a mahogany color but these would be really cool as is or re-painted and recovered.

I was obsessed with this mirrored buffet.  It was a tad out of my price range but I would have loved to take this home, it was beautiful!

I have to admit, I fell hard for this oversized lamp.  LOVE.  This would never work in a home like ours, I feel like it needs a bigger space or higher ceilings but it is just lovely.  The Mister also liked this lamp. 

This gilver (silver+gold) side table was so cute.  I loved the tassle pulls and you can't see but it had very small nailheads as trim all over.

Tufted chairs are one of my favorite things, amazingly enough I don't have any in my home but I wish I had these pretties. They were pretty comfy too which seems unusual with tufted chairs.

I wanted this side table sooooo bad.  The price wasn't too bad (under $500) and it was so pretty.  I love the pattern in the woodwork.  Right as I was about to give Ryan the puppy dog eyes and ask for approval from him to buy he brought up a great point.  The things inside this chest aren't concealed because you can see through the woodwork.  (Sometimes guys can be smarter than ladies). This fact might not bother some people but it wouldnt work for us.  I think you could always line the doors with fabric panels too as a solution.

After leaving Savvy Snoot empty handed but with a full decorating-heart we went to see the new free people store in West Midtown and got a glimpse of the new Lulu store.  Having this in my backyard will be T-R-O-U-B-L-E but I can't wait.

If you are ever in Atlanta, definitely check out West Midtown, there are so many great home and design stores among other things.

Chicago (Part II) & Nashville

About a month ago I spent a couple of weeks in Chicago, Ryan came up to visit for a long weekend in the middle of the trip.  The first day with Ryan we did some sightseeing as I mentioned in the Part 1 post.  Day 2 we got up, grabbed Starbucks and headed to the Wendella Architectural Boat Tour.  If you are ever in Chicago you must do this, it's really neat.  It's a great way to see the city and learn about all of the cool buildings and the history. However, get there early to line up if you want to sit on top deck.

This is Ryguy and myself sitting on the boat, about to take off for the tour. 

The Wendella ticket office and boat loading dock are right under the Wrigley Building (again my fav).

Another view of the city from the first half of the tour...

These buildings are SOOOO cool! They are completely round and have a parking garage in the bottom of them.  Apparently the only way to park here is by backing in to your parking space.  I'm convinced by my husband, my father in law, and especially my own father that guys are OBSESSSED with backing in to parking spaces.  When is the last time you saw a girl do that just for the heck of it???... I wonder if a bunch of men live in these condos??

This is a view of the city towards the end of the tour, anyone spot the Batman building? :) 
On the far left you see a parking garage and that was also used in the last Batman movie.

 This tour rocks and it's really cool to see all of the neat types of architecture in the Windy City and see the differences in them from what decade/period they were built in.

Chicago weather is very bizarre because one minute it's blue skies and gorgeous and then fog rolls in and its cold and dreary.  This is what happened after the boat tour.  We went to lunch at Lou Malnatis afterwards for some deep dish and then wandered around some more.  After getting tired of the cold we headed to see Katniss in the Hunger Games and went to dinner at Wildfire near our Hotel. I guess you could say we were worn out.

At the end of my time here I had a friend's bachelorette party coincidentally planned in Chicago. I didn't stay for both nights just one but had a blast.  We started the day shopping and then in the evening headed to the Beauty Bar which I think we were a bit skeptical of at first.  You pay $10 for a mani and a martini, too good to be true if you ask me!

This place is AWESOME.  It looks like an old timey beauty parlor turned into a bar.  I wish so bad that we had this in Atlanta. 

After this we headed to dinner at Carnivale, which was delish and I highly recommend the skirt steak (Amaazzzee).  Then we headed over to Moe's Cantina which is a bar not a mexican restaurant. It was really fun and they had great music on with the music videos in the background to each song (love that!). Things got a little crazy with the bachelorette and crew but we had a ton of fun.

Our friend Stephanie came all the way from Arizona for the party.  Random fact, Steph and I were random roommates at college orientation the summer before our freshmen year.  We then pledged the same sorority and later lived in a big house with 6 other girls. 

If you know me, you know that I like to bathe in perfume.  So of course when I went to the ladies' room and saw the attendant had a TON of perfumes to use and freshen up with I HAD to use one. Apparently Coco Channel Mademoiselle was an imposter fragrance because it smelled sooooo bad and was way too strong. Never will I be tempted by bathroom perfume ever again. 

My friends Haley and Rachel being funny...

Rachel's awesome sister Emily who is our Chicago tour guide, she's so fun. Her and her husband have a place in Bucktown in Chicago and I wish I could blog on it, it's a really cool townhome in an awesome location.

The lovely bride Lindsay and I who is getting married to Clark next weekend, Cinco de Mayo wedding, woo hoo!!!! I think I caught a picture with her while she was in the middle of a solo dance with her lollypop :)

Enough about Chicago... time to give a southern city some love... NASHVILLE

The next weekend we packed up and headed to Nashville for my friend Rachel's Stock the Bar party and other friend Brooke's baby shower. We stayed with his friends Wes and Abby who have a precious 2 year old and a 4 month old.  Ryan claims he is scared to hold babies but he got a lot of practice in this weekend with Miss Olivia and Little Miss Emma loved her some Ryan....

Saturday I hit up Homegoods/TJ Maxx in Mt. Juliet and scored the mother load, well not really but I just found a lot of pretty things. Then I ventured off to Brooke's baby shower for her little girl Reese due in June. We ate, opened presents, gossiped chit-chatted, and got crafty.  This was our 1st baby shower for our group of friends from college and my friend Katie made the comment "baby showers really are more fun than wedding showers".  I might have to agree with Katie on this one.

We also decorated diapers for Brooke for her middle of the night feedings & changings.  This was really funny because we could write or draw anything we wanted.  I have a feeling that Brooke is going to get a lot of laughs in the middle of the night. 

After this we scrapbooked pages for Brooke to later in fill in with pictures.  It was also decided by my friend Haley who loves to scrapbook (as do I) that we are going to have a scrapbook weekend in Atlanta at my house.  Basically what it will entail is lots of wine, food, and going through old pictures... geesh we are getting lame old. 

My sweet friend Rebecca can sew, monogram, and applique and so I had her applique this pink seersucker cross onesie for part of Brooke's gift.  So cute and little, let me know if anyone wants my friend's info.

That night we headed off to East Nashville for our friend Rachel and Jaime's shower.  East Nashville is a bit transitional but it has some beautiful old homes and some even have a view of the Nashville skyline.

My friends and I trying to get a picture with the skyline/sunset in the background.

 Now with the bride, all of these girls were bridesmaids in my wedding too.

Myself and the lovely bride to be...

All the girls with the bride to be and the groom, love this pic...

The house we were at had awesome outdoor space, one of the porches had an old bathtub filled with potting soil... of course this was a perfect picture opportunity...

Rub-a-dub-dub....

Anyways, we had a great time at the party and I can't wait till the next one. Time with friends really is good for the soul.





This is the most random posting ever mostly with pics of my friends and it's really long, major apologies, all caught up now though. :)



I visited a cool home store near my house last week and hope to post those pics next time. ]

Project Updates

I feel like I've had a lot to blog about lately but there aren't enough hours in the day to do so.  I still owe an update on a couple of my recent trips (i.e. Chicago part 2 and Nashville).  I'll ignore those for now and do a quick update of this week.


First of all, I am now hosting people at our house on May 13th, I feel a bit under the gun to get some small projects completed.  List includes but not limited to:
1. Skirted Table -lamp & accessories to decorate
2. Pick Art for the Wall - Order frame & install
3. Paint stripes down basement hallway-hang Ryan's family football memorabilia
4. Finish painting headboard
5. Buy new fridge and dishwasher
6. Yardwork in the backyard
7. Buy and paint cornhole set
8. Plant new planters with spring flowers
9. Order and paint swing for front porch
10. Order new Schumacher Pillows
11. I really could keep going but I'll stop here....

Did you catch #1 though? I finally picked up my table skirt.  Yes, I was like a kid on Christmas, so excited! Without further adeiu....

You'll see the Target bar tray I mentioned in the last post, couldn't find it in bronze, only red.  Doesn't look bad but can easily be painted. Not sure if I will leave it here anyways, currently on the lookout for a mercury glass/lucite lamp too.

The seamstress who sewed(is that proper grammar??) this bad boy added a semi-thick cording to the hem, it looks sooo good!

This is a view from my (coral) dining room.  I promise the colors in my house aren't this bright, it's much more serene than it appears to be.  After spending 3 months on my floor, I finally hung our starburst mirror from Homegoods ($79!).  I need a new vase though, my cotton branches (Ballards) and fabric flowers (Scott's Antique) seem to be covering the mirror.

I arranged this myself, not awesome but not too shabby for my first time either! Hoping to get some more fabric flowers from the lovely vendor at Scotts Antique.

 As if hanging a mirror and getting my table skirt made weren't big enough accomplishments, I also ordered art for above my sofa!!! Yeaaaahhh...

This lovely Imari Plate is my accent plate for my fine china and what I used as a starting point when I picked my paint colors for the house. Once I buy my mirrored buffett (#12 on my list) I plan to rotate that mirror in my dining room and flank the mirror with these pretty little thangs. In the meantime, I love how the flowers in the china almost mimic the flowers in this art (#totalaccidentiswear).

I found this art from CozaMia, Nancy the artist, was so sweet and made this Peonies print in a version specifically for me that had more coral than pink.  It works perrrfecccct to say the least.  I already have my brain buzzing with ideas for Framing thanks to the lovely blog post by Baylor Says... Oh, I can't wait for it to be on my wall! Mister Hubs liked it but though it was a tad girly but like they say "A man's home is his wife's castle."  Couldn't have said it better myself...

I'm planning to incorporate new pillows covers on my sofa starting with this lovely fabric from Schumacher's Imperial Trellis line.

I'm so happy I decided on the Peonies print, I was back and forth between the Wild Herringbone (below) but decided adding some dark to the space will help weigh it down a little plus let me incorporate pillows like the one above.

That is all the work we've done to the inside of the house this week (I won't torture you with pictures of my new mint leaf plant or ground cover plants) outside.

Off subject though, if you live in the Atlanta area, the Atlanta Food Truck Park and Market opens to the public this evening at 5PM.  This is down the street from us and will be so cool to have.  Trucks for lunch and dinner 7 days a week plus farmers market on Saturdays. Come out and support Atlanta Food Truck Park & Market as well as your local farmers and small business owners.  :)

Nothing else going on, hope to get some time in the sun this weekend at the pool and the Braves game. A month from now I am back in Chicago and then straight to the BEACH for a long weekend.  Found the perfect summer/beach dress at Anthro this weekend. How cute and easy will this be this summer when it's super hot outside with some turquiose jewelry.  I'm also thinking pink or yellow jewelry but I recently saw a post about mixing the colors green and coral together to be more adventurous.

The back is the best party, easy breezy... Also comes in a gray and white version that would be fun with yellow or red shoes or jewelry.

Don't ya just love warm lazy days.....