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I've found that art can get really expensive.  I'm a huge fan of framing prints (you can order large prints or posters pretty cheap from sites like Art.com or Posters.com) but I love a good piece of abstract art on a canvas. We have a few hanging in our home that I'm obsessed with - we have one very large piece from Ballard that I'm still obsessed with two years later... it hangs in our living room .  And another piece of black and white abstract  from West Elm that is in our dining room. I believe everyone has a creative streak in themselves, so I wanted to start posting ideas about creating art for your own home. First up... an ombre art project... Source For this project you'll need:   - A large stretched canvas (or small... if you want to test it out before going big)   - A 2" foam brush (they are cheap, and you can toss it when you're finished)   - A super saturated paint (any kind of paint would do... wall paint, craft paint, oil...)   - White pa...

I've always loved the look of banquette seating, or bench seating in a kitchen or dining room.  As long as the table isnt TOO long, and you're not having to scoot down 4 feet on a long bench, it's charming, and it makes a formal space more livable, and less stuffy. Also a good option for kids (in my opinion)... they can scoot in on their own, and bench seating can sometimes be lower to the ground than chairs. Not sure if you're sold??  Take a look at a few of these for inspiration - I guarantee you'll change your mind... Traditional Kitchen by Alexandria General Contractors Harry Braswell Inc. Traditional Dining Room by Hermosa Beach Interior Designers & Decorators GEORGE Interior Design Modern Kitchen by San Francisco Architects & Designers John Maniscalco Architecture Traditional Dining Room by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators kim scodro interiors Eclectic Spaces by Portland Media & Bloggers Janell Beals - House of Fifty Mag Dining...

Did everyone else get their Ikea 2014 catalog a few weeks ago?? I read some pretty negative reviews online around how disappointed people were with the new products - not enough exiting updates... nothing too mind blowing... Ummm... were we looking through the same catalog??  I thought that they had some AMAZING new things this year! I love this idea of pushing two butcher block tables together to create a large workspace / floating island in the kitchen... (also, the bin pulls on the drawers are great, and the tall glass bookshelf is another favorite)... And while this rug isn't new, it's been a favorite of mine for the last year, the clock is cool, and that black and white curtains are so on trend! Pretty much everything in the Stockholm collection caught my eye - that coffee table... the lines on that sofa??  Are you kidding me??  It looks like it walked right out of West Elm! I mean, right???  It comes in white, tan, grey... I LOVE it. The Stockholm chandelier is...

Our bed got a mini update last week - nothing earth shattering, but a definite improvement... It's probably not very noticeable to most people, but we FINALLY got some euro shams for our bed, and I did a little hotel bedding DIY on them. I've been wanting actual hotel bedding pretty much since we moved in here a few years ago, but its SO expensive.  Even just 3 euro shams from Restoration Hardware run several hundred dollars, and I was not about to pay that for just a few decorative pillow cases.  Thanks, but no thanks. I'd been digging on Overstock, eBay, and Amazon for other options... I looked at a few at Macys, Bloomingdales (yep, they sell bedding online!), and Lands End, but either the options were still really pricey, poor quality, or the wrong colors.  I wanted either navy, or a dark grey (black seemed more limiting since we have a lot of navy going on in here)... So I decided to experiment with a little project. I'd seen projects online where people had used gr...

Well hello November, it's nice to see you again...   October was a great month - warm weather along with the first few real tastes of fall weather, and my little blog hit an all time high for site traffic.  When I started this blog, I had no idea people would actually read it, so to see how it's grown is just crazy to me.  Thank you to all who read, and comment, and message me privately - it really means a lot :-) I was looking back at some of my old posts from last November, and it's hard to believe that was just a year ago... it's funny to read and remember some of the projects I'd worked on (and posted about) that totally flopped.  Some of them I totally forgot about, but this blog is like a living timeline of my life, so even though there are some I'd like to forget... it's all there in writing.   Remember this  Gold Leaf Barware DIY ??  Those glasses went to Goodwill shortly thereafter.  I'd almost forgotten that failed project.  Also......

Emily Henderson is a design goddess.   She just posted this bedroom yesterday morning, and of the people I follow on Pinterest, I saw this room pinned, and re-pinned by about 10 different friends (and when I say friends, I mean for the most part random Pinterest "friends"). Anyway, this room is SO SIMPLE, but so lovely, so I just had to come up with an affordable version for the rest of us to mercilessly copy. Source I love that everything in the room is light and bright, letting the headboard take center stage.  SO GOOD. The chandelier MAKES this room, and so I kept the original chandelier in my inspiration.  It's actually quite affordable from Shades of Light - if you're ever in the market for a chandelier you'll see that they can run up the cost quickly. With the bedding, the headboard, the lamps, the nightstands, and decorative pillow, we're talking about an entire room makeover for well under $1000. Here's my own version... Where to Buy:    1.  Navy ...

It's almost November, which means it's almost my FAVORITE holiday...  Thanksgiving!! With fall, and Thanksgiving on the brain, I saw this image, and had to share.  Isn't this the best idea for simple DIY place cards at the table??   *Source Unknown Just go out in the yard and collect the biggest sycamore leaves you can find, spray them gold, and write everyone's name on each one. I thought that was the most clever idea - can't wait to copy it... Happy Tuesday!