Down~home Dining

"My mother never gave up on me.

 I messed up in school so much they were sending me home,

but my mother sent me right back."

~ Denzel Washington

No other reason for this quote other than we had parent~teacher conferences on Thursday

 and it just fits... :)

Over the years my style has evolved but the collection today I think captures it best. A combination of classic clean lines with vintage pieces that evoke a feeling of nostagia and deep-rooted ties to home and family. And some pieces that are just quirky but fit in spite of that...or because of that! For example, I do not have any ties to the Union Jack but love the rustic graphic feel that it brings to this collection.

I have also found that I prefer to live with quiet, muted colors and only add bold colors in accents that can easily be removed. But that's just me...Architectural Digest and other highly respected magazines often feature residences with layers and layers of loud patterns and colors and I have yet to be featured so there's that :)

1. Jonathan Adler Lamp $537

2. Collapsible Wire Basket $40

3. West Elm Pony Plate Set of 4 ~ $40

4. Solaris Chandelier $599

5. Union Jack Mirror $149 

6.  Brentwood Sconce $468

7. Washer Accent Table $199

8. Parsons Chair with Nailhead Trim $199

9. Paris Wall Clock $149

10. 3 Piece Vase Set $30

11. Jonathan Adler Bullet Vase $118

12. West Elm Gold Flatware $29

13. Floyd Round Dining Table $1727

14. Numerical Stoneware Appetizer Plates, Set of 4 ~ $12

Nuit Dinner Plate $23

15. Worlds Away Ava White Buffet $3080

A couple of my favorites from this collection are the Washer Accent Table {would also be great painted}:

The Numbered Appetizer Plates:

And the Collapsible Basket {so convenient!}:

Have an incredible Friday!

My kids are enjoying their day being sent to school ;)

~ Lori

Yellow + Gray {Spring}

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun."

~ Pablo Picasso


Yellow~ The color of a sunny day streaming through your kitchen window, daffodils that bravely peek through the spring ground as a sign that surely warmer weather is on the way, and bring it into your home and it will brighten up even the coldest of rooms.

Yellow can be used as a neutral. There really isn't a color that it can't be paired with. Soft butter colored walls can be used as a backdrop for a weathered gray, deep red, apple green, navy blue...

Use it in a north facing room and watch an otherwise cool room liven up.

Yesterday, I shared Pantone's Color Forecast and here is Benjamin Moore's take on it:

Benjamin Moore Color Trends

Here's some fun yellow accents that I paired with gray:

1. Coup Pillow $30 

2. Branly Cabinet $499

3. Set of 2 Vintage Silver Camera Boxes $39

4. Grassroots Soup Bowl $4

5. Condiment Tray $5

6. Haberdashery Wall Clock $100

7. Monaco Table Lamp $398

8. Callista Gold Mirror $1963

9. Grellow Desk Lamp $50

10. Yellow Bunny Hook $15

11. West Elm Dots + Stripes Yellow Bowl $8

12. West Elm Mod Yellow Bowl $8

13. Archive Credenza $899

One other cool thing from this collection that I did not list is the gray hardwood floor looking product under the chair. That is actually wall covering and can be sourced here. It's pricey but a little bit would go a long way. A small accent wall of it would be really dramatic.

Make it a Picasso kind of day and "transform a yellow spot into the sun".

Enjoy your day!!

~ Lori

Tangerine + Navy {Spring}

Spring is on the way! Even though my kids had the day off today due to bad weather, I have to remain positive that soon we will be enjoying warmer days...days that they can go to school, sweet school.

The Spring fashion color report is out and home decor trends follow fashion so it is something worth paying attention to. These color gurus tell us what the hot colors will be and although you don't want to redesign your home around these since they are released for each season, it can be fun to add some accents of these hues to your home to freshen it up.

Check it out here:

Pantone Spring Color Report

I put together a design board to show how a couple of these colors could be used as accents. I chose tangerine, the warm and inviting cousin to orange, and navy blue. Or Pantone's sexy names of "Tangerine Tango" and "Sodalite Blue". Orange and blue work together as complementary colors~ which in geek design talk means they are opposite eachother on the color wheel.

Here's how these colors can work together:

1. Newport Rectangle Mirror $1320 {DIY and paint your own frame}

2. Cage Brass Pendant Light $175

3. Fizz Clock Orange $38

4. Walker Twin Bell Alarm $49

5. Beauty Full Wooden Sign $229

6. Organic Vase Set $324

7. Ceramic Buddha Head $24

8. Braylon Pendant Light $279

9. Tangerine Organizers $20

10. Calais Cabinet $899

11. Chelsea Ivory & Blue Hooked Wool Rug $90

12. Zig Zag Navy Embroidered Pillow $90

Here are few more fun accents:

Set of 4 Mini Elephant Storage Bins $35.00

Tangerine Ampersand $24.99

Tangerine & Mint Owl Vases $48 for 2

Happy Leap Day and remember to Spring Forward on March 11th!!

From the studio ~ Lori

Crownin' Around

"Love is the crowning grace of humanity."

~ Petrarch

I have to say that lately I've been crazy about crowns. Even incorporating them into some of my furniture and art pieces. I like how they can range from intricate to organic. How this one symbol is woven through so many different cultures.

I love this collection of small vintage crowns.

http://www.luxeandlillies.blogspot.com/

This super cute graphic can be purchased on etsy for the incredible bargain of $1 and used to your heart's content. 

This glass jar with a crown top would be great for styling a shabby chic wedding or just as a decorative display on an old distressed hutch. It can also be purchased on etsy.

This cool metal punch could be used to make decorative tags, jewelry or mixed media art. Just a great graphic that ranges from Christmas to New Baby or First Birthdays. Purchase here.

And with Easter approaching, a crown of thorns would be a meaningful and simple display sitting on a shelf on top of a Bible. Carefully make your own or purchase here.

From the studio,

~ Lori

Bath Remodel

"People often say that motivation doesn't last.

Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily."

~ Zig Ziglar

Today, I found the motivation to work on one of the many odds and ends we have left of our home remodeling projects. We recently installed a new vanity, countertop, floor, etc. in our kids bath. I wanted a really large framed mirror for this bath but had a hard time finding the right size. So today I tiled the backsplash and continued the mosaic tiles up the wall and along the ceiling to create a frame for the mirror.

 



If you are considering a project using mosaic tiles this may be your week to buy them. Home Depot

is running a sale on their glass mosiac sheets for $4.98 this week. The slate and glass mosaic tiles that I used on this project are from Menard's and I bought them on sale as well. Every week it seems like one of the big box stores runs a special on them. Expect to pay $5- $35 for a 12x12 sheet.

I needed a pendant light for this space and didn't want to spend a lot {of course!!}. I liked the idea of an industrial or rustic light and found this barn light in the outdoor lighting section at Menards. At just under $40 and with exposed screws, simple gray shade and black cord it was exactly what I wanted for this area. And it is rated for a 300 watt bulb....yesss 300 watts! I wasn't even sure I would be able to find a 300 watt bulb but sure enough they had a 250 and a 300 watt. I tried the 250 watt and it works great.

Barn Light

Hope you had a wonderful Sunday!

Blessings ~ Lori

Happy Flowers

"If I had to live my life over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies."

~ Nadine Stair, 85 years old

I really needed to feel like spring is around the corner so I bought some tulips this week.

Set them in a basket and placed some shredded old book pages {from a book that already had lost pages} on the dirt.

   

It's amazing how this one small thing can make a room feel happier.

 I placed these happy flowers on a piece of furniture in our living room that I refinished in white and distressed.  We needed a piece of furniture for under our wall-mounted TV to store all of the kids Wii games and diapers and I'm not going to lie, a few are just junk drawers for a quick clean-up!

I wish I had taken a "before" shot of this one. Trust me,  it was a $15.00 wreck. It was missing two drawer fronts so I had those made by a company in Grand Rapids. The soft pine was pretty nicked up so I just went with that and distressed it after I painted it white.

I didn't want to spend a lot on cabinet hardware so I bought these inexpensive green acrylic knobs and added a few water spigot handles. The green, red and orange colors worked well for Christmas, Valentines and even into Spring. This combination would also work great for kid's furniture, a kids bath vanity or placed on a board and used as hooks. I have another idea for the cabinet hardware on this piece and will change them out soon.

Or I might collect six more of these water spigot handles and add those on for awhile. If you have a piece of furniture that seems tired, just changing the hardware can bring new life to it.

And don't forget those happy flowers...

Blessings, Lori

For the Boys

"Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."

~ Plato

I love my boys, and by boys I mean my son and husband that is still a boy at heart when it comes to toys.  Today, I am dedicating this post to some really great products designed for these young bucks. (although I would love any of them myself...)

#1. Folding Bike

I would love this for transporting all our bikes in the car to the trail.  I can see how convenient this would be for college kids and city living. Designed by Dominic Hargreaves, hopefully we'll see this prototype on the market soon. 

Folding Bike Link

For all our basketball stars...

#2. Basketball Return Shoot

You don't have to chase after the ball...and that's a good enough reason for me.

SKLZ Shoot Around

For our rustic campers, hunters, and adventurers:

#3. Biolite Camp Stove

Build a fire inside and it generates energy to charge your smartphone, LED lights and GPS.

Biolite

Hope you had a fantastic day with your valentine!!
Blessings, Lori

{I will be posting more furniture and home projects soon.}

Owls + Mondays

"Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is go where they can find you." ~ Winnie the Pooh

Art is therapeutic for me. Whether I am attempting to create it or viewing someone else's much more skilled work it restores my soul and just makes me happy. Today, while surfing Etsy and with a slightly different idea for this post, I found an amazing graphic artist...or maybe she found me. I was just in the right place.

Maja Lindberg is a graphic artist and illustrator in Sweden.  Here are a few of her pieces that I love. These are on her blog and prints can be purchased on Etsy.

http://majali-designillustration.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/majalin?ref=pr_shop_more

"Delivery"

What a great baby shower gift! (Approx. $25 for a 5x7 print) So cute ~ 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91480909/delivery

"The Balloon"

 What kid doesn't dream about flying on the end of a balloon?

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91480909/delivery

"The Owl"

This is how I feel about Mondays.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83355645/the-owl

I hope something really great finds you today.

Blessings, Lori

The Home Stretch

We are finally at the eve of our last coat of polyurethane and I couldn't be more relieved! We can almost say we are two-time hardwood refinishing survivors. There should be a badge or ceremony for this occasion!

Here's the stain color that we decided on {and love}:

Some more details from the kitchen...

Next up we are having some trim finished, paint, and hopefully there will be something left in the budget for a few new furniture pieces. I can almost see the finish line and I am celebrating at the end of this marathon!

{Feet don't fail me now}

Blessings, Lori

Sawdust Dreams

Happy, happy New Year!! I hope 2012 finds you rested and as fresh as a squeaky clean shower after watching 'Hoarders'. Submerse yourself in whatever creative bliss that lifts your spirits and makes you feel good. As for me, I'm hoping to find some peace in a new creative space and actively pursuing one particular word...SIMPLIFY. Right after we're done remodeling our home.

Our house has been in some sort of remodeling phase since we bought this "starter" home over 12 years ago. As a young, naive, newly married couple my husband and I bought this cottage by the lake with huge, ambitious dreams of what we could turn it into. We laugh now because we're pretty sure once our families saw this gem they were wondering when the bulldozer and wrecking crew would arrive.

About 2 years ago we turned on the full court press to get this house done. Added on a garage and small addition for a new laundry, mudroom and bathroom. Gutted the kitchen. Tore all the carpet out of the main floor and replaced it with hardwood. Since we already had hardwood original to the home in the living room we added unfinished wood to the rest of the main floor so it could all be finished the same. That brings you to our most current project and the one we have been DREADING the most:

Sanding and staining the wood floor that covers 90% of the main floor...and LIVING in our home at the same time...with 3 kids.

This wonderful contraption is what is making refinishing the floor much nicer this time. And the two men that came with it to run it aren't a bad deal either! We rented a sander and refinished this floor right after we bought the house and I think we still cough up sawdust. This beauty makes all that mess seem like a distant nightmare. {To accurately describe how awful refinishing a wood floor is I will compare it to having a baby. It took me a little over a year to "forget" about labor and get pregnant for another child. It took us 12 years to think about this laborious task again!}

Here are the many stain colors that we sampled. I'll let you know in my next post which one made the cut.

This picture is the best way to visually depict the way I feel after living in a remodeling project for almost 2 straight years. I have named this picture "The Kade's" and debated sending it out as our Christmas card.

Getting there...a snippet of the new kitchen, new front door and part of the new wood floor. Yes, that is two more stain samples on the floor in the kitchen. No, I'm not afraid of mixing stain colors. Variety is the spice of life. {Excuse the cluttered mess on the counter. That's what happens when almost every piece of furniture is in the garage. I bet you didn't have to go to your garage this morning to get clean socks! :)}

And now you know why I chose the word "Simplify".

Blessings, Lori