Wooden cabinetry anyone?

I understand that white kitchens are the thing right now, and believe me I LOVE a white kitchen.  The problem is that the cabinetry in my kitchen is cherry...and the house isn't old, so there would be no point in altering them.  I still enjoy wooden colored cabinetry, and I'm going to find a way to make it sexy again (along with black appliances)!  Here are a few inspiring images-

 

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I feel another kitchen painting session coming on...have I mentioned the decisive person in training to you before?

Garage Love

I hope that you all had a fabulous weekend!  Mine was rather productive, and it happened to be three days long, so that's always a bonus!

Today I want to showcase a few garage spaces that are fabulous in their own unique ways.   Simon cleaned the garage out this afternoon, so garages are fresh on my mind!  Just looking at these makes me want to glam up ours.

Look at the pink door!  Soooo cute!  I wonder if Simon would allow it...

This garage was converted into a full living space!  The next two images are the inside.

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Enjoy the rest of this weekend.  It's not Monday yet, so take full advantage of the time you have!  If coffee ends up being necessary in the morning, so be it!

Moroccan Inspiration

I called myself a decisive person in training in my last post. I just want to reiterate that.

Anywho, I decided to change the paint color in the kitchen. We (I) haven't actually painted yet, but I was set on a particular color (smoked oyster by Valspar). A few things happened that disabled me from getting the paint when I wanted to. Luckily so. Now I've gone back to the original thought of painting the kitchen a light gray. think long think wrong right? Oh well.

Next, I decided to carry out a modern Moroccan theme throughout the downstairs. Since we have an open floor plan, you can see all rooms from a central location. To make each room different would look crazy. I was browsing the internet looking for inspiration for Moroccan design. I love the jewel tones, and most of all the unique patterns. Here are a few images that I enjoy:

On our trip to South Beach last year, we stayed at a wonderful hotel, Palmer House, which had a modern Moroccan theme in the rooms. It also solidified the love of Moroccan decor. Here are some pics:





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The Long and {not so} Short of it

Hello good people! Hope all is well. Things around here are starting to pick up...both business wise and interior design wise. Stay tuned for some exciting additions to my shop this spring!

Drapes...it was something that I had been wanting to add to our great room for a year now. last winter was cold, and with nothing but paper shaded to keep the heat in, we were definitely looking to get them up as quick as possible. Fast forward to the following winter, and it's even more cold! Still no drapes! Reason? I'm indecisive...if you didn't know. Well let me rephrase...I'm a decisive person in training. To make a long story short, I decided to make my own drapes because I was having no luck finding the length that I needed for a decent price and a fabric that I liked. Went to the fabric store, and everything happened to be $3.99 a yard that day {score!}. Found a fabric that I liked and purchased it after consulting via text message/picture message with Simon. The fabric sat around for a good month before I cut it into the four panels needed. Another three weeks went by before we actually started putting them together. Thanks to a tutorial from the wonderful couple of Young House Love, we used heavy duty hem tape for the edges since we don't know how to sew {yet}. Okay, okay, enough talking already. Here we go:


The fabric rolled up all nice and tight




Our work area {the great room floor}


Good old trusty iron



Great Room windows before {even before we moved in!}


And after




Another before {in which we were living this time}




The plan is to keep the walls the neutral color that they are and to add color with art work, possibly wall decals, and a nice mirror {more on that mirror later...}. What I really love now is a nice golden glow that greets me every morning when I open my bedroom door to go downstairs!
We decided to stick with neutral colored panels..well...because...who really wants to go through all of that again? We plan to make more curtains for the house, but not that length! It was a wonderful and rewarding experience though, I must admit.

Any DIY projects underway around your way?

Staycation Inspiration

It is the eve of my return to work after a great week off. I actually accomplished a respectable amount of things. One of them was much needed cleaning and organizing. I hate cleaning, but I can say that I actually enjoyed it over the past week. Perhaps because I was off of work, so everything seemed a little sweeter?

Anyhow, I took a visit to my local bookstore and picked up a copy of the latest House Beautiful magazine. This issue had so many great ideas in it! I was totally inspired to do something in the house...especially after reading the "Send us a picture of" feature. Apparently readers send in pictures of whatever the magazine will be showcasing, and hopefully their picture will be one of the lucky ones chosen. This month's spotlight was coat closets. Eek...mine was a complete mess. In fact, I would cringe before opening the door because I knew what it looked like. So this is the feature-

This is the embarrassing "I can't believe I'm posting a picture of this for the world to see" before shot-

And this is the "Thank you House Beautiful for giving me the drive to clean up this hell hole" after shot-

Now I look forward to opening the closet door and smile every time. But I can't help but wonder...of the closets that were chosen, how many of them looked like mine before they took their "magazine worthy" picture?