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Happy Birthday to my beautiful mama - my sounding board, my number one fan, and the person I aspire to be like every. single. day.  You are without a doubt the most loving mother, and I am so lucky that you are mine.  To another wonderful year... a big year... and so much to look forward to. I love you so much. xoxo

Who doesn't love royal blue and white paired together?? No one.  That's who. I realize how confusing that double negative sounds... read it again... it makes sense... promise Blue and white is a classic combination for a reason, and one of my all time favorite patterns is the Kalah Blue pattern by Duralee.  You see it everywhere.  Remember this AMAZING bedroom from House Beautiful last year?? Target also has a darn good knockoff of this pattern in a chair that I can no longer find online... if we had somewhere to put it, you can bet your buttons it would be in our house - it's SOOOO good. The throw pillows may make an appearance in our house in the next year... perhaps when I'm in my post-Christmas "simplifying phase" in January... And these curtains??  LOVE.  (Maybe that's what inspired them to hang that print right next to them... just saying!) And another pair of curtains... they just bring a little magic to an all white space... And surprise surprise.....

I need a new coat like I need another hole in my head.  Which is to say, I don't need a new coat, BUT... how amazing would it be to trot about town this winter in one of these?? Pink Coats by beckyc1923 featuring a wool coat Gianluca Capannolo pink coat / RED Valentino wool coat , $865 / Sartoria Italiana Vintage pleated wool coat / RED Valentino coat / Jigsaw leather coat , $395 A soft pink wool coat!  LOVE. And if Kate Beckensale is on board, I am too! Source Source Source Source Source Amazing with grey, perfect to dress up jeans... Obviously fab with black and white, and the perfect femme touch for leather pants. AND... if you weren't already sold it's a breath of fresh air among the black, grey, and brown colors of winter!  Don't you want to stand out?? Perhaps this will go on my Christmas wish list this year.....

I haven't done a design board in a while and it's time to get those creative juices flowing again! This living room (from Houzz) is pretty much the stuff my dreams are made of... Traditional Living Room by Barrie Interior Designers & Decorators Staples Design Group Open concept.  Neutral Furniture. Classic details. Contemporary lighting and accessories. Worn natural woods.  It's love. I put together an inspiration board to get the look (for likely A LOT less than this room cost)... take a peek: That sofa is actually one of the ones we'd been considering from Pottery Barn - the Carlisle Couch with it's deep feather stuffed  seat cushions and pretty turned legs.  It's not cheap, but it's the core of the room! To balance out the cost of the sofa, everything else is a bargain find - that rug from RugsUSA is just $1000 right now (with the 60% off discount) for an 8x10' - great price. I love the look of the grain sack throw pillows, and the carved wood c...

My little lion heads brass pulls are here!! I was SO STOKED to see these come in the mail yesterday - I rushed home from work just to put them on the dresser, and was able to snap a few photos on my phone before it was completely dark. With the days getting shorter, there was not a lot of natural light left, so the pictures are fuzzy and dark, but you get the idea... the brass pulls are AWESOME!!  Actually, even better than I hoped they would be! They are actually quite small - the head itself is maybe an inch, but the ring adds to the size. In the picture below, you can actually see that I hadn't screwed the pulls on the other side yet... I was too excited (and the light was fading fast), but there will be more pictures to come soon - promise. What do we think of the decorative brass corner caps??  I looked into options to antique them a bit, but it involves toxic chemicals to strip off the protective film (I read that the natural stripping methods with lemon juice, etc do NO...

I recently stumbled upon a new blog and it's love.  I discovered City Farmhouse  on Pinterest, and after clicking over to the photo's source, fell down the rabbit hole.  An hour later, I'd completely stalked her entire house, and trust me when I tell you... it's AMAZING.  What I love the most is that she's really into up-cycling furniture and decor she already has... I mean how pretty is her living room all done up for Christmas?? A lot of it is found furniture that she's slapped some paint on, recovered, or made-over in some fabulously creative way.  A girl after my own heart, since money isn't exactly growing on trees around here... The coffee table is a prime example of her creativity... the table is originally from Ikea, and she painted it and nailed wooden slats down after giving them an aged finish.  I've thought of doing this exact project SO. MANY. TIMES. But I've been too lazy, and I felt really unsure of if it would turn out... seeing her g...

Sooo... it looks like the antler craze isn't going anywhere, and call me crazy, but I'm still really digging rooms that include mounted antlers... after our five days of "Indian Summer" last week, it's feeling a lot like fall.  The nights are getting colder, the leaves are starting to change, and the jammed up cars on our street every morning tell me that all the kiddos are back in school!  I love that mounted antlers are sort of the toned down, gentrified version of the mounted moose head, and brings just a hint of hunting lodge rustic to an otherwise citified space.  Kind of the perfect season decor to welcome autumn, and lead into winter! One of my favorite examples... Source Cool right? It's "backwoods rednecks" meets "civilized city folk".  Ha! The thing I like most about the mounted antlers is that there are no beady animal eyes staring you down... and no fur... just a clean leather mount. Source And just look at how lovely these are ...