DID YOU KNOW?

Brass is back! When my sis and I were in Dallas a few weeks ago, we stumbled across the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and decided to duck in.  I'm glad we did!  I found some super cheap plywood pieces for an upcoming project, and this little $5 beauty.   I liked the shape of it and picked it up intending to repaint it.  But you know what?  I'm kinda loving it as is!  I swapped out a shade from a lamp I'm not using right now.  I love the warm metal tone, it's perfect for fall! A few keys to using brass: *Steer clear of a finish that is too glaring and shiny and bright yellow, look for a warm mellow glowing tone. *The shade should be a crisp, modern shape. *And while you're at it, mix those metals up a bit.  Go ahead. It's o.k.   Mandi found this beautiful lamp at a thrift store and toned down the bright brassiness with-our favorite-Rub N Buff.                                                                       ...

CONTINUE READING »

FALL MANTEL {2012}

This mantel morphed into something different than what I had originally planned.  Here's the long story kinda short: -I started with an old dresser mirror (just the rectangular center mirror itself) that's been the in garage for about 10 years, you know, with the ugly orange-ish maple finish that lots of old furniture has. -I used my trusty Rub & Buff to make the frame gold and leaned it on the mantle with my black lanterns that I robbed out of my newly completed office .  My plan was to use the black lanterns and mixed metal tones. -It just wasn't working for me, the scale was too small.  I remembered that there was also a surround for that mirror that went with the dresser.  So, I dug it out, swept all of the cobwebs off of it, and gave it a quick gold spray to match the mirror.  All the while, I was really missing the burst of color from my green shutters on last year's mantel. . -It hit me...wouldn't this entire piece be fun GREEN...give me the ...

CONTINUE READING »

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY

For over a year I've been planning to repaint my master bedroom.  For months I've been thinking of fabrics that I want to used in there.   Do you read House Beautiful magazine?  I just subscribed a few months ago after many years of not receiving it, and have enjoyed looking through it's pages again.   Upon receiving the latest issue a few days ago, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the cover. You see, I'm totally infatuated with this blue fabric.  I've been considering it for the drapery in my master bedroom.  I've pinned it, more than once I think, on my Pinterest Fabrics Board (you can follow me on Pinterest here ). If it's showcased in a beautiful magazine layout, I must be on the right track...right?  Sometimes it's nice to have a little bit of validation like that with my design choices. I'm also trying to decide what companion color I want to use, red or coral or something else.  Recently while on a day trip...

CONTINUE READING »

THE OFFICE-CLOSE UPS & DETAILS

This room was builder's beigey-white when we moved in,  went red immediately, and now is back to a crisp white.  If you missed my post last week , the ceiling is "Wrought Iron" by Martha Stewart and the walls are "White" by Behr. Here's where we came from:  I have painted the formerly stained cabinets in  our kitchen and the  living room built-ins, but really didn't want to paint all of the shelves in this room.  So, my thought was by lightening the walls the stained wood wouldn't look so dated.  I ended up painting the back of all of the shelves the same color as the wall to lighten the interior of the shelves as well.   Last month I asked you all to help me pick an accent color for the room.  You all had some great suggestions, but I realized as I started putting things back in the room and on the shelves that I had just about every color to work with!  I decided to let all of that speak for itself and kept the fabrics...

CONTINUE READING »