your daily dose of cuteness.

Behold the adorableness in this chick's house!













{all images: Trisha Brink's Photostream}

I think she crawled into my brain and read my thoughts. I love the kitchy-ness and the lived-in-edness and the fearlessness! It's what I woulda if I coulda.
SO cute!

color me sick.

Being somewhat artsy, you'd think I'd be pretty adept at picking out interior paint colors. Yeah, not-so-much. I always go into it with the best intentions of picking out the subtle yet punchy enough color that looks exactly like what I see in my mind's eye... and I always end up with something very much NOT that. Take for instance... the bedroom incident.

For a very long time I've had an obsession with finding the perfect turquoise. Not a bright, vibrant turquoise, but an antique-y, dusty, regency sort of hue. When we first moved into this house I painted the bedroom in what I though was just that. Something to complement the white painted floors and give rustic charm. Hahaaa... turns out, I was more than a little bit off! Upon seeing it for the first time, Andy called it the Guatemalan hospital room. And it totally was.
(I am desperately searching for a photo, but I think I must have incinerated all evidence.)

But today I saw this pretty little cottage featured on House of Turquoise......and I said, "Now that's my color!"

I love it.
Reminds me of this...
So beautiful.

And Oh!
Oh, how I do wish I were in some Jane Austen-esque countryside manor house frolicking with my Mr. Darcy instead of where I am in actuality... the sick house.
Nursing a feverish baby whilst simultaneously coughing my ever loving lungs out.

Oh well.... That's why God invented the internet.
:)

a few things of note...

Whoa! Cuteness overload! I haven't had a chance to really catch up on my blog-reading until today, and whew! there was just so much awesomeness to behold.
I have to share some stuff I'm digging on...

Firstly:
The Cottage Cheese's adorable 50's inspired kitchen find.



Second:
The Young House Love blog. How am I only just now finding this?!

Thirdly:
Desire to Inspire never fails to do just that. Here are a few Flickr finds of laundry rooms to-die-for.

Fourthly, and finally:
I am loving all of these cute, colorful prints. And plan to take note of a few I'd like to have for my new(yet to be found) kitchen or studio.

{via: Design is Mine}

{via:A Cup of Jo}

{via: A Cup of Jo}

{via: Design is Mine}

...And now, I will leave you, my lovelies, as I hear myself being beckoned to attend to the youngster. (Plus, I'm afraid he may be in there eating all of my Cadbury creme eggs as I type this!)
Yikes.


Happy Tuesday.

change is in the wind...

I'm beginning to get excited about moving and starting fresh in a new house. I get bored SO quickly with my decor and always wish I had a clean slate to start fresh on. Pretty soon, that'll be the case. My daily source of design inspiration is forever Desire to Inspire; where I ran across this:

{source}

There are so many design elements here that I have been adoring for a while now. Filed in my mind under "things I plan on implementing in our next place". The bold horizontal stripes, the whimsical yet polished look, the mixing of casual and elegant textiles. Plus, I really want a cow hide rug. They're always a staple in the rooms I love. (Andy doesn't agree. But he will soon see the light. Oh, yes. He will.) I'm also really into this wallpaper:

{source}

What do we think? Cool, huh. I keep seeing it everywhere... and I dig it.

Hope you all are having a beautiful, relaxing Sunday! I'm off to make dinner and then plant my hiney firmly on the couch for the rest of the night. It's Oscar night, baby!

done and done.

For those who may be wondering... Here are the finished shutters and door, freshly painted. After polling(bugging) my friends and family on which colors to choose, I ended up even MORE confused on what direction to go. The results were pretty split down the middle. The red door/brown shutter combo was what my heart was yearning for... but after hearing such differing opinions I opted for the slightly "safer" choice. Boring ol' green and brown. (And I must confess, the green turned out a tad yellower than I was wanting... but so be it! I'm sure as sure as sure not gonna be re-painting those suckers!) I think it looks just alright.
I'll be saving that red for MY next front door. One that I can enjoy for a long time to come! :)

a bit o' news...

Well we've decided that the time is finally right to make our move. We are putting our much-beloved little house on the market. It's such a strange feeling, and hard to describe. One I never had when we were moving from apartment to apartment. I mean, this is our house, it belongs to us. Bought while I was pregnant, and the place where we brought our sweet little new Jack home to. There have been countless memories. The idea of other people living here... well, frankly, it weirds me out a little. But we want to start growing our family and also have to start thinking about the school district we want to be in for Jack. ...and so, with a bittersweet taste in our mouths, we've started trying to spruce the ol' place up a bit.

First on the agenda: A new door color and new board and batten shutters (which I have the zany idea of trying to build myself... hmmm, we shall see how that works it's little self out.)

I've been taking a poll for which colors to go with. Care to add your two cents?

(and please don't be jealous of my photoshoppin' skills. I know they be awesome.)

my week, thus far.

This week has been jam-packed so far. The weekend went by in a blur, going here going there, here there... and then it was over. On Monday I spent the day painting a sweet mural for a sweet friend and her sweet baby. It really turned out cute. And, of course I totally blanked on the taking of pictures, but that doesn't matter because I completely ripped it off anyway. Odeedoh is like the cornucopia of inspiration.... and we thought this was such a cute idea for a little boy's room, especially since it's not cutesy and will grow with him for a long time.
This is what I did:



{images: ohdeedoh}

Tuesday was here before I knew it, and marked the beginning of Jack's musical training. He went to his first piano "lesson". I say, "lesson" because he didn't actually touch the piano once, but was being trained in the ways of sitting silently and not moving during the other kids lessons... for 45 minutes.... after not getting his afternoon nap, because said "lesson" is scheduled smack-dab in the middle of said nap-time.... and the other three mother's kids were behaving like cherubic angels.... and I kept feeling really uncomfortable and pressured.... and well, I think you can imagine how it went. I left in tears. Of course, only after the other mom's approached me to tell me that I 'shouldn't worry at all' and that 'he's obviously just being three' and that their kids 'acted the same way in the beginning and it was impossible to expect anything different'.... and ....well, I just felt like a royal ass-hat by the end of it all. What the hay.

ANYWAY.... That was Tuesday.

Today went much smoother, and for that I am thankful. A now, as I sit here clad in my comfiest of comfy PJs, waiting for the effects of this glass of wine to set in and a much-needed episode of So You Think You Can Dance... I find myself with a first class ticket on the Blissful Express speeding down the tracks to Happy Land.

Goodnight ALL!

a simple craft.

Here's a really ingenious yet simple idea for re-purposing TP rolls as awesome wall art.
Love this!!!!!
I'm gonna start saving these suckas!

Image and Craft How -To:
Growing Up Creative

I could imagine this above a bed or down a hallway... the possibilities of colors and shapes are really endless. Um.... why didn't I think of this?

autumnal.

Martha, Martha, Martha... Love her or hate her... one must admit... the lady knows her stuff. I was trying to wait until at least the first of October to post all of this goodness. The weather outside has me absolutely giddy! I mean, it's practically Autumnal! (I just LOVE that word. Autumnal. When I say it, I smell cider and camp fires and hear leaves crunching... Autumnal.)

I LOVE those little yarn pumpkins up there! I think that may be my first craft of the season...
And these vintage-y Halloween hangups are definitely on my list too. So cute.

I will also be doing the above pumpkin incense burner idea.

Now, as far as dressing up in costumes goes... I ALWAYS have grand plans, but they never seem to come to fruition for whatever reason. But this year... This year, I'm gonna make it happen! Andy and I already have a little something up our sleeves.... more to be disclosed at a later date. But, I digress... Feast your eyes on what Martha's got to say on the subject:

all images: marthastewart.com

Charming!
Care to disclose your costume plans?????

rooms to inspire

It's obvious to me that Fall has indeed arrived because I'm starting to feel invigorated and inspired again! My long-parched well is once again bubbling over with fresh ideas. And when I first saw the beautiful rooms below over at Desire to Inspire... well, they made me giddy. So unique, so brilliant yet simple, like living in someone's imagination... Eccentric Victorian I would call it.
I love it.

images via desiretoinspire

My favorite things are: The cherry blossom wall mural in "Olive's" room. The deep purple wall and pink floor in the kitchen. The peacock feathers in a blue vase on the mantle, perfect. The hanging clothes displayed on the walls and inside of frames... Charmante!