quick and easy headboard change

over the weekend i pulled out my stash of domino magazines.  i love looking through them every now and then just to see what i can find that i haven’t noticed before.  i find that as time goes by i notice different details in the articles and pictures.  sometimes it’s a light fixture; other times it’s a particular color. 

this time i noticed a great way to make an easy change to a headboard.  domino did a article in their june/july ‘08 issue about stephen elrod, vice president of design for lee jofa, and his seaside cottage.  the “new to me” element in the home was the layering of throws on top of headboards in two of the bedrooms.

although i’m not crazy about the fabrics he used i do love the idea.

i thought i’d throw out some ideas of how i would pair the two.

for an upholstered look i would pair this thomas paul print slipcovered headboard with a gray chunky tassel throw from west elm.

for a seagrass look similar to the headboard in the second photo i would pair this pier 1 headboard and a suzani overlay from wisteria.

and for a darker option i like the pier one chocolate seagrass headboard with the ws home zebra stripe throw.

another great and inexpensive way to achieve this look would be to purchase a fabric remnant at your local fabric store.  once you hem the edges or use stich witchery then you could just drape it over your headboard. 

hope you all had a great long weekend.  i sure did!

LiveJournal Tags: domino,ws home,headboard,west elm,stephen elrod,thomas paul,suzani,wisteria

Girl In The Greenhouse

It's stores like Anthropologie that get us going. You walk in the door or look at those catalogue images and get that feeling of inspiration and excitement and you just want to buy it all.

I even love the online version of the Anthropologie store and the image shots set in exotic places. They do it all so well.

These are some of my favourite images from two of this year's collections. I want a greenhouse and I want a bed in my greenhouse.

my happy place

i’m in my happy place right now…

 meg ryan’s martha’s vinyard home in elle decor

that place is listening to my brandi carlisle station on pandora and looking at lovely magazines{unfortunately i’m not doing all of this at martha’s vinyard}.

 meg ryan’s martha’s vinyard home in elle decor

hope you can go to your happy place sometime over the long weekend.

 meg ryan’s martha’s vinyard home in elle decor

enjoy your memorial day weekend!

LiveJournal Tags: elle decor,meg ryan,martha's vinyard

headboard love

my heart did a little pitter-patter dance when i saw this headboard upholstered in one of my favorite quadrille fabrics.  this headboard is pure perfection.

you can see the rest of this park avenue apartment here on the house beautiful website.

**side note – i have been out of town all of this week but i did see the new house beautiful at the grocery store on sunday.  why is this a problem?…because this is the second month in a row that i’ve seen house beautiful in the store before i actually got my copy.  i never received last month’s issue and when i left home i still hadn’t gotten this month’s.  house beautiful and i will have to have a serious talk if i don’t get my issue for the second month in a row.

LiveJournal Tags: house beautiful,house tour,quadrille

in disguise

does your closet look like this?

or these?

if you said yes then turn that frown upside down. thanks to country living you can make it look like this!

i’ve seen a lot of closets-turned-offices but i think this is by far my favorite.  the bright punch of aqua and the floral wallpaper add so much character.  the peg board and tackboard on the backside of the doors makes storing small items that much easier.  the best thing is that it can be completely contained with the closet doors should it start to look like this again.

hopefully that would never happen though.  check out how to create your own office nook here at country living’s website.

i didn’t want to leave you with an ugly “eek” picture so here’s one of my favorite images completely unrelated from the post but still pretty from the latest coastal living issue.  isn’t that sofa amazing!

LiveJournal Tags: country living,coastal living,office

A Beach View

This week I have been distracted by entertaining friends and 18 energetic 3-8 year olds gathered for a birthday party at our Lighthouse beach house. After days of patchy rain the sun came out, the sea was sparkling and someone even spotted an whale swimming by, the first of the season!

Even though I was stressed out baking mini sausage rolls and quiches and filling up princess party cups, I couldn't help but feel how lucky we were to have that view.

It was a time to stop and just be in awe of the beauty of a deserted beach and the sound of the surf. The boys were barbequeing on the back deck and enjoying the views across the river to the navy air base in the distance.

The aerial shot shows how we are surrounded by water views here.

LoveSugar

i was reading camila’s blog today where sweet nothings was guest blogging about their favorite artwork and happened to click on one of the art links.  i’m so glad i did because i fell in love with the etsy shop that it sent me to.  LoveSugar design has some of the cutest prints ever!  i love the colors, graphics and sweet sayings that are on all of the prints.  check it out for yourself here.  below are a few of my favorites that i found.

LiveJournal Tags: LoveSugar designs,artwork

paint problems?

while we were killing time before heading to the airport to fly back from our vacation this weekend we hit up the barnes & noble down in west palm beach.  i always make a b-line to the periodicals so i can see the latest home decor issues that are out.  while scouring the magazines i came across a house beautiful “bookazine” that was all about paint colors and paint choices.

i flipped through it and immediately thought that it was a great tool for those of you out there who aren’t in a financial position to hire an interior designer but still need help with paint selection.

this bookazine is a collection of the “color” sections of the last dozen or so house beautiful issues.  {basically what i’m saying is if you already subscribe to house beautiful, and have for the last year or so, then i wouldn’t go out and buy it because you already have -or have read- what is in it.}  if not, and you are considering painting and need some guidance, then go for it. 

here’s a run-down of the topics the bookazine covers…

chapter 1 – neautrals

chapter 2 – color by color

chapter 3 – room by room

chapter 4 – how do you want your room to feel

chapter 5 – naturals

chapter 6 – how bold are you

chapter 7 – solving problems with color

the bookazine is full of color suggestions from many well-known designers.  windsor smith, phoebe howard, suzanne kasler and many more suggest an array of their favorite colors from multiple paint manufacturers for you to choose from.

the layout is fun, fresh and very readable.

they’ve also thrown some beautiful interior shots into the mix.

for about $10 you’ll get 500+ paint suggestions to help you paint the rooms in your home the perfect shade. 

so what are you waiting for…paint away!

{all images – either house beautiful  or mine :o)…i’m sure you can tell the difference.}

LiveJournal Tags: house beautiful,windsor smith,phoebe howard,suzanne kasler,paint color