Mother and Daughter Team Up!

I came across this mother/daughter team in Traditional Home while I was waiting at the dentist's office. Not a day or two later, I've seen this cute apartment circulating all over the blog world! And why? Because it's so fantastic. Simple and serene, yet playful and a bit feminine. I want to get rid of everything I own and start over. That's what good design does, right?!

Mother and daughter, Suzanne and Lauren, have a great blog called goodbonesgreatpieces.com/blog.

Here is Lauren's sweet apartment:







Don't you love that lucite bench with the antique desk, the yellow gourd lamp, and the ticking loveseat? Oh my! Such great stuff here!

Calico Fabrics!

Well, I ventured out of the house finally! We had 2 and a half feet of snow over the weekend, and needless to say, I needed my shopping fix! ha ha! So I went to Calico Fabrics.

I love their fabrics, but the saleswomen are incredibly snooty. They don't even say hello until you've been wondering around the store for 10 minutes. I was eyeing this beautiful ikat fabric when the woman asked if I needed help. I told her I had a lime green sofa and throw pillows in this aqua color and exact pattern (see below). She tried referring me to some other fabrics with lime green and aqua, and I didn't like them at all. I said, "I love this ikat fabric so much I want to make it work," and she said, "well it's not working." Just like that. What the hell does she know about my taste? I was so annoyed. So you can't mix patterns now? Ugh! Why would I want matchy matchy? Oh well.

Here are the swatches. Maybe they don't work, but I love them! And they're just throw pillows for crying out loud! Plus the shapes are similar...





And here's the lime green couch:



Is it too busy? I don't think so.

Dream Room

How do I make my living room like this?



When it looks like this?



I want a lighter, airy feeling to this room. I'm not sure how to achieve it with the green sofa and yellow curtains. The curtains could easily change, but the sofa is harder to replace. Any suggestions? I have great light in my apartment, so that's not the problem. I also have a lot of dark wood furniture. Perhaps replace the coffee table? Ugh! I want all new furniture.

Kristan Cunningham's Rental

I stumbled across Kristan's home on the LA times awhile back, and then was thinking of it the other day. I always liked her on Design on a Dime! So I did a search and found it again, with more images this time. I am so in love with this place. I will let the images speak for themselves. But what I really want is those silk grey curtains and wingback chairs. I die... Seriously where I can find those curtains.

Chair Makeovers

I like chairs, alot! See my other post on another chair makeover. My mom sort of collects chairs, too, and now I'm following her obsession.

I made over two chairs this past week. It was nice and sunny, so I set up on my porch and went to town. Luckily I was painting both glossy black, so it was much easier.

Here is chair number one before:



I acquired this chair at work for free. I work in an art department, and this was leftover in the photography studio. The little cushion was when I was into that burgundy color, which now, I hate! What was I thinking?

Here is chair number one after two coats of glossy black paint, an IKEA sheepskin and a pleated pillow (both I already owned):



Here is chair number two before. I lie, I forgot to take a picture because I was so excited to paint it and recover it. I bought this little chair for $7 at my local thrift store, Yesterday's Rose. It had a black vinyl seat cover and a kind of bland brown wooden frame.

Here is chair number two after two coats of glossy black paint and Sophia fabric from IKEA:



And here's the full vignette with art on the walls:



I am so in love with this striped fabric. It's dramatic, a little carnival-esque. I also like how the striped fabric mimics the lines of the chair. Oh happy day!

So here is the cost breakdown:

$0 for chair number one (picked up at work)
$7 for chair number two
$8 for paint for both chairs
$4 for Sophia fabric

Oh yes $19. Now that's what I'm talking about.

Everybody's Doing It...

Black walls, that is. At first, I thought, oh no, what a disaster! I can't imagine how many coats of paint it would take to fully saturate the walls and not appear streaky, and well, awful.

They also remind me of my old bedroom in high school. When we moved into the house, the room had patterned black wallpaper and one wall of gold mirrors. I guess the previous owner was ahead of the design game because now black, wallpaper, and accents of gold are all the rage. And I'm actually liking this trend. Waah! Oh thankfully my mom took down all the wallpaper and mirrors for me. What a nice mom!

The other day I was painting some chairs glossy black, and I had about a half of a can left. I was this close to painting a small wall in the hallway black, but I didn't have any painters tape or rollers, just one little two-inch brush, so that spur of the moment idea was put on hold. Plus I live in an apartment, so I'd have to paint it back white.

Anyways, here are some black bedrooms. I think they are lovely, very cozy, and the black walls make everything recede into space, or depending on your accent colors, they make everything pop! Three and four are my favorites!

Images via Apartment Therapy:

Chesterfields

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted. I've been searching for the perfect Chesterfield sofa all this time (actually, planning my wedding is more like it!)

I have recently fallen in love with the Chesterfield sofa. It's overstuffed, yet still sleek because of the lack of back cushions. I love the tufted back and rolled arms. It's elegant and classic yet playful and vintage. I appreciate those contrasting qualities in just about every aspect of decorating.

Here are some beauties:









Craigslist here I come. Please please have one in ivory with nailhead trim.