Tag Archives: home decor

Hanging with Pinterest and West Elm

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Last week, Pinterest put on a Bay Area meet-up at the local West Elm store. Two of my favorite things combined = magic. Well, for the most part. We’ll get to that later. You may recall my love for inspirational image organization on Pinterest and our awesome kitchen table scored on discount from West Elm.

My Pinterest-loving friend Jillian came along and we scoured the merchandise, took a fun photo in the picture booth, sipped on some sparklers and nibbled on some passed appetizers. I have to say, we were a tad disappointed in the event. While it was nice that West Elm offered a 10 percent discount, I didn’t really feel much more connected to Pinterest. They also have yet to post the pictures (c’mon the event was Thursday) and the food was just dessert and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

It wasn’t all lost, however, as there was a ton of eye candy. I had just received the West Elm catalog, and was glad to see some of the items in person. Their colors reall sing to my style, and you may sense a common theme in the following photos. :)


Can you say gray and blue? The last one is a great green chevron bath rug. I’m thinking I may end up taking that home with me when I start to get a little more serious about my bathroom makeover. Maybe a mood board is in our future…

Pinterest Challenge: Custom Faux Leather Drum Shade Chandelier

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Update: I finally posted the full tutorial for this project, check it out here. Thanks for stopping by!

I’m exhausted. It’s been a whirlwind past few days as I’ve scrambled to finish a DIY project to join in with the Pinterest Challenge. For those unaware, it’s a blogging challenge to put our inspiration found on the addicting website. It was put out by Katie Bower of Bower Power, Sherry Petersik of Young House Love, Emily Henderson of Secrets from a Stylist and Design Star fame, and Lana of Make a House a Home.

To call this a challenge is quite fitting. I had planned to work on it last night after a birthday dinner with my parents. Walking back up the stairs to our house, I was surprised with a bunch of friends there to celebrate my special day. What fun! So grateful for one of the best birthdays yet, even if it meant that I had to sacrifice sleep to finish my project. I’ll be back to share more with you later, but I’m afraid my instructions will be incoherent given my sleepy state.

So, it all started with a couple of lamp photos I saved to Pinterest. First, the metallic parts of these two lamps, one from Ikea Hackers and one from Isabella & Max Rooms:

 

Here’s the fugly chandelier that was in our upper hallway. Anyone else have one of those?

I knew I wanted something metallic, modern and slightly beachy. As I continued trolling around Pinterest, I saw the image below.

Google Image Result for http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cnd5nzfBZP0/TcJf3P4MxyI/AAAAA

Unfortunately it didn’t have a link besides a Google image. Anyone know where it’s from? To make my own version, there were several missteps, hours spent in the car bouncing from store to store, and times where I thought it would never work. But I’m pretty dang thrilled with the results. Sure, it needs some touch-ups here and there, but I’m glad to present you my completed project!

It’s hard to tell with the 1:30 a.m. light, but I painted the lamp in ORB (oil-rubbed bronze for the newbies), then made our own lampshade, covered it with fabric and glued more than 150 painted pleather circles onto the shade.

What do you think? We’re tired, but really digging the new light. :) Well, the Bachelorette has chosen and now it’s time for bed! Good ole’ four hours sleep…

Patriotic Decor for Fourth of July

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My Matthew just LOVES the Fourth of July.  He used to drag me over to the city’s fireworks spectacular — we spent all day in line for the chaos that was open seating on the lawn!  Me, on the other hand, I loved our family BBQs with smaller fireworks in the backyard.  Trying to decide which way to celebrate caused some drama in our first year of marriage (actually, Emily’s wedding up north made it an easy decision — it was our first year dating that we did not agree).  We now have the best solution — we bought a house where we can see the city’s fireworks from our lawn! It wasn’t in our initial home buying reasoning, but it’s a definite perk! Now our family and friends come over and barbecue and we relax as we await the awesome fireworks spectacular.

Red, White, and Blue Coasters for our home!

It seems like having patriotic decor would have been automatic, given our love for the holiday, but that has not been the case.  I realized last year that we had NO Fourth of July decor.  This year, I made some super cute star coasters to celebrate with.  And a few years back, I made my mom this awesome table runner — but we still need one of our own.  Hopefully I will make one by next summer. My goal is to make one decoration for each season, each year. Then we will have a stylish house when we hit our 10 year anniversary!

A quick pic of the table runner at my parents house

What do you do to decorate for the Fourth of July?

Mood Board: April’s Yellow, Gray and Blue Bedroom

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Back in August, we celebrated my birthday with a week of Giveaways. One of them was a custom mood board design that went to April. Well, we’re back now with the final result. But before we get to that, I’ll give you a glimpse into what April wanted.

Her apartment bedroom is 11 feet by 13 feet, with a queen bed. She wanted furniture, but not a lot would fit in the space. As for places she likes, she shops at Target, World Market, Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn. Her budget was $1,000 to $1,500. Check out some inspiration pictures she sent:

Carrie Bradshaw's apartment redux. Source: Apartment Therapy.

She was really loving the gray, yellow and teal combo, as shown here in these inspiration photos from Design Sponge.

See the final reveal after the jump! Continue reading →

Birthday Week Giveaway: Custom Mood Board

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*Entries for this giveaway are no longer being accepted. Visit our giveaway page to see other chances to win. *

If you all have been around for a while, you know that I love me a good mood board. I’ve long enjoyed home decor and have been glued to HGTV since I was in middle school. (In fact, I’m even watching Design Star as I type this!) I love the challenge of making a space beautiful, but also functional. Working with people’s likes and dislikes, unique spaces and tight budgets, it’s all about creating a custom and individualized space that feels like home.

Wisteria, Inhabit, Inhabit, Inhabit, Inhabit

Readers may have seen some of my mood boards, like this living room created around a giraffe pillow, the eclectic patio perfect for a small space, and this modern and beachy living room inspired by a trip to San Diego.

Ikea, Boston Warehouse, Pottery Barn, Ikea

So, do you have a space needing a new look? I will consult with you — learn what you like and don’t like, what challenges you face, and your budget — and develop a custom mood board to serve as design inspiration and also like a shopping list. We’ll work together until you’re feeling the love with look for your space.

Giraffe Pillow Room

Earn up to three entries, one for each of the following methods. Remember to leave a comment for each entry!

  1. Leave a comment on this post.
  2. Share this giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Comment here to tell us that you did. A sample post could be “Check out the birthday week giveaways with @newlywife on www.newlywife.com!”
  3. Blog about it on your site. Comment here to tell us that you did.

Contest closes at noon, Monday, Aug. 9. Open to U.S. residents only. Up to three entries per person/IP address. Winner will be chosen at random and has three days to respond before another will be chosen. Good luck!

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