Happy LUCKY Friday all! Today is always a special day for me because it was my late Nana’s birthday and St. Patrick’s Day so it doesn’t get much luckier than that. I have been loving all things green lately (isn’t it funny how you can get hooked on a color?) so what better day than the present to share my green snaps with you!
This lovely bauble arrived from J. Crew this morning!
My parents stopped by with shamrock plants for the girls, an annual St. Patty’s tradition.
So excited to announce that I have been working on setting up a Sara Langley Designs Limited Edition Pop-Up Etsy Store. Stay Tuned!
Gorgeous green with greek key detail, Therese Marie via Etsy
A palm pic from our recent Disney Cruise vacay to the Caribbean. Take me back NOW!
I have been debating a glossy green front door like this one via Southern Living.
Classic trench in Kelly Green from Lands End, now 30% off code:gold, pin:6075.
A toast to my Nana, Beefeater and Tonic, TWO limes.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May all your wishes come true!
As I patiently anxiously await Spring temperatures (it is going to be a high of sixteen degrees in my ‘hood tomorrow-yikes!) I have been thinking about my garden and was recently bundled up outside stalking my poor boxwoods to see how well they survived the Winter. I hope the neighbors didn’t see me because I have been known to talk to the plants to encourage growth… my Nana swore it made a difference and her garden was amazing!
1/ Gorgeous Planters2/ Rows of Hedges3/ Partnered with Hydrangeas4/ All in a Row5/ Adorning a Door6/ Indoor Decor7/ Trimming the Stairs8/ Adorable Notes9/ Place card holders10/ Beautiful Topiaries
Hi all! Almost there- It is WEEK FIVE! The room is painted, all items are purchased (with some exceptions below), and a few areas are even set-up…the home stretch! Now for all the little details on my checklist….
I had a new chandelier installed (finally after 7 years of living here!), but I’m not sure I’m happy with the neutral shades since I’m aiming for more color pops in the room. Here is what I chose from Lowes. I went with a big box option due to limited lead time and installation schedule:
Also on the checklist, I am adding trim to the curtains I purchased from Overstock like this inspiration pic from Amy Meier Design:
I am struggling with deciding on additional pieces of art. I bought four of the same frames for either side of the buffet, and want to bring in colorful art but don’t want it to compete with the patterned drapes and bold rug. Hmmmm…going to keep looking.
Also need to finalize my tablescape. Thinking of keeping it clean and “classic” so as not to compete with all the other bold prints in the room. Some inspiration..
HI all! I have been totally beeeeee-hind. So much so that I am running from one thing to the other and have been forgetting things like crazy. Nevertheless I have been working on the dining room, despite having missed a week of posting (yikes)!
We made great strides with the millwork that we started here. I totally love it and have already started planning for more of the same in the living room. As you all know, projects grow legs and start to travel, and mine has meandered across three areas- from the Dining Room, through the Foyer, and into the Living Room. Taking out the arched doorways and raising the headers led to drywall, spackle, paint touchups and beacoup plaster dust across three rooms…. but I would do it all again without hesitation.
View from Dining Room, through the Foyer, into Living Room #ihateplasterdust.
View from Living Room looking through to Dining Room (oops have to move thermostat!)
#lovethesmelloffreshlumber
OK, now on to some design candy….
First up, I found this gorgeous silver bamboo mirror at Pottery Barn. I fell for it in the store and with only one remaining in stock I had to take it home without measuring where I wanted it to go. It was so swoon worthy that I took a chance and it.fits.perfectly.
Next I discovered a colorful rug through Drooz and Company, the amazing store of fellow design lover, Shelly Kennedy. My “before” dining room was so neutral for way too long that a definite prerequisite for this design challenge was to introduce major color. This rug totally fits the bill, and of course I could not pass up the coordinating candles!
#cannotbeliveitspolypropyleneEverything looks better by candlelight!
Additionally, I had ordered this print from Mintedbefore I found the rug, but it is a lucky coincidence and works to pull the bold colors from the floor up to the wall.
Bar Cart Teaser (of course this area needs to be the FIRST to be set-up) #peek-a-boofitbit
I also did a little furniture DIY, but I totally made a rookie mistake and did not get a pic of the piece prior to revitalizing it (similar here). I have been meaning to paint this cabinet for the eight years I have owned it, and I am LOVING the Hale Navy (#benmoorecoveragerocks). I repurposed wallpaper from our mudroom to give the back some flair… of course in a large scale print.
I popped into Home Goods in search of some fun accessories and found this awesome navy alligator textured tray.
And of course my love of orchids necessitated the purchase of one that will fit.right.in.
pop o’ purple
Cannot wait to show you the final results! Two more weeks! I am sure it is all going to come together…right?
I am attempting to put a dent into the To Do List for the Dining Room and while I never thought I would be doing actual DEMO for this project, this is where we find ourselves. I looooove demo but not when you are hosting two parties in a few weeks and need to use the room! I had the best intentions to just do some painting and new decor for this Challenge, but I could no longer tolerate the pony wall we inherited between the kitchen and the dining room. And you know how it goes…one things leads to another…
The offending 1/2 wall was always a fun picture spot (my mom with the girls at Christmas)…
IT.IS.GONE!
And of course the header needed to be taken out as well in order to open it up even more! The unpleasant surprise was that beacoup electrical was hidden in the ceiling channel and because the kitchen was an addition done many moons ago before we bought the house, the ceiling heights were off. In sum, we could not take the whole header out. BUMMER.
Working with a header…
So, a plan is forming with help from Pinterest to add molding on the surround. Oh, and this happened because I suppose we were on a roll..
Down with the arches. The doorway between the dining room and foyer…
I am so ready to finish the demo and the get rid of the dust!
Welcome friends from the ORC! To jump into Fall, and quite frankly to gain some inspiration AND motivation, I am excited to tag along with the One Room Challenge. I have enjoyed following the Challenge for years, stalking the designs and relishing in the amazing “afters.” It is really fun to follow along and see what both the selected bloggers, and the guest participants like myself, come up with at the end of six weeks!
I have decided to move forward with updating my dining room. At the end of this month we are celebrating my birthday, as well as my daughter’s 8th birthday (wait…8! Yikes!), and will have a lot of friends and family over to celebrate. I typically get myself into trouble thinking that of course I can finish a room rehab from top to bottom in time for company, but this time I have promised my poor husband, who always jumps in to save the day when I have bitten off more than I can handle, that I will temper my design ideas.
Here is our current dining room that we first painted when we moved in 7 years ago. I still love the custom color which was a happy accident when I took my daughter’s sweater to Lowes for a color match. The curtains I made with material from Premier Prints, using this tutorial from YHL. I still enjoy the room, but am sooo ready for color, bold prints and an overall lighten-ing up of the space!What I want to change: 1) The chandelier we inherited with the house that I have lived with WAY TOO LONG; 2) Add fresh paint in a gorg neutral gray and FINALLY (with lots of shouting for emphasis) paint the moldings that we had installed when we moved in ahem 7 years ago, but never painted beyond the primer; 3) Add a fab new rug (Side bar: Currently, with young children and two dogs I have been too nervous to put a rug under the dining room table for fear it would be nothing more than a giant crumb catcher, but now I am going for it and want one that will be REALLY colorful and fun….and hides crumbs; 4) Purchase lovely curtains that I DO.NOT.MAKE.MYSELF (if I am going to wrap this up in time that must be part of the plan); 5) Actually hang art on the wall instead of empty frames on the floor or, as the pic below shows, hastily tacked up because company was coming…7 years ago (noticing a pattern here…).
This is our sad little bar area. I purchased a cart from Target awhile ago, but never set it up because the kids were younger and the less easily accessible glass the better! Now that the kiddos are a bit older I am excited to implement the cart into the Challenge design. This pic also shows folding chairs that we drag out whenever we have more than four people eating at one time, so I am hoping I can incorporate more seating as well. Lastly, I would like to repurpose and paint some furniture, and find a more successful pet gate (insert frustration here).
And THAT.IS.IT. I think I did a great job not adding too much and will totally complete it on time for both the Challenge and the Birthday parties (at least that is what I keep telling hubby).
Today the sunshine is streaming through the windows and while I try to ignore the dust, I am so excited for Spring! Here are a few things that signal Spring in our house:
