Painted Ceilings

Back in the day when I was a child of the 80's we had painted ceilings. Not white mind you , but the same color as the walls. Though back then most of the colors were a coffee and cream color or something pastely not the bright or dark hues we do now.

In time the trend was to paint the room a color and paint the ceiling white. Which works really well. My whole house is painted in that manner.

This spring I will repaint my bedroom and living room and I'm thinking that there is no reason to keep the same theme of colored walls and white ceilings going. My friend had her place painted a dark taupe and the ceiling the same color but a shade lighter, and it looks AMAZING. Granted she has high ceilings and floor to ceiling windows, unlike myself, so that's probably why she can do a dark color.

I have been collecting these images form around the web for a while, if one of them belongs to you please let me credit you. I think I might venture into painting my ceiling a complimentary color or even a lighter shade of the same color. If I had the ability I might even try the painted stencil on the ceiling, although I think it looks best with very simple walls.

What do you think? will this be a deterrent in this market if I decide to sell the house and my ceilings are something other than white?

How amazing are these examples, I esp. love the one that looks like its a mosaic, I first thought that someone tiled the ceiling. That's dedication.

Love to hear from you all  on all and any subject, comments make my day.

Jayson Home and Garden

Before the holidays I went to brunch with a couple of girlfriends. We decided to hit up Jayson Home and Garden afterwards.

This store is always amazing, the displays and furniture constantly changing. I love this place in the spring when they have the outdoor garden plants out already. This time around the theme was christmas, obviously, but a country christmas. I snapped a couple of pics with my phone so sorry the quality is crappy but you get the idea.

They have my favorite chair in a raw linen with nailhead trim, not like I can shell out 1,900 for a chair but hey, they have it. When you sit in and speak it sounds as though your speaking through a cardboard megaphone. The sound vibrates in your ears, it's really surreal.

What a cool concept with the brass pom pom flowers. To make an impact you have to put up a bunch of these on a wall. I wonder if there is an easy way to make these yourself? I think I feel a project coming on. 

If anyone has any good suggestions on how to make these, please feel free to comment. I always love reading your comments, they make my day.

Christmas decor continued

Back in late November I got my bootie in gear and started a bunch of crafts some that had to do with christmas. I bought felt and styrofoam to make a felt wreath like I have seen all over blogland. I love the look of the plush felt in all its rufflely (is that a word) goodness. I was also smart in the sense that I am not patient enough to cut that many circles out and actually get done so I purchased a OLFA rotary cutter. Que in the angelic alleluia, no kidding, this thing is unfreaking-believable. I love it, I made about 300 circles in oh 20 minutes.

The great thing about this tool is you pick a size and no need to draw out the circles place it on the fabric and rotate around it once and your done. Once I got the hang of it I flew through those circles, all the same size with no crappy uneven edges.

I then started to hot glue and some of the places I used pins to get them into the styrofoam, which I think was the start to my downfall. I'll show you later. But either way I finished the wreath. I decided to make it with a linen instead of just the plain felt, I liked the texture.

As soon as I took the picture, the best thing happened.... it came crashing down and split into 3 pieces. Yeah not even a chance to close the door. It was weak and heavy at the same time, heavy from all the felt that was smooshed into it and weak from all the pins that were holding the circles in place, the hot glue probably didn't help either.

Lovely, isn't it.

What would any sane person do, probably throw the sucker out. But after taking 3 days to make this and the resources that went into this I was NOT going to give up on this. So I grabbed a roll of duct tape and taped the whole thing together in the back. I'm happy to report after that incident it stuck on our door for the entire holiday season, and then some.

Note to self next time space the the felt out a bit it could probably do with some breathing room and look into a sturdier styrofoam. Any hints or tricks if you've made this before you all would like to send my way, I'm listening.

So this was christmas

And what have I done...
Well to tell you the truth, a lot of nothing and a ton of something. Meaning I've been super busy with work and other work commitments and then my daughter and I were sick with sinus infections and mucous, so that wasn't pretty. And you all know how it is around the holidays, shopping, cleaning, cooking. I'm not trying to make excuses but I also didn't want to post pics until I learned the ins and outs of my new camera. Yay, I ordered myself as an early christmas present a Nikon D7000 and it took forever to come in.

I know its way past christmas but I figure I can still get away with it since there is still snow on the ground.

This year I started from scratch and went with all white decorations on my tree. I went and purchased the white porcelain feathers and white porcelain acorns and a couple of origami birds. I love the look of them cuz they are unglazed porcelain instead of the glossy look that plates have. It's a more modern version I guess of porcelain. I also bought some porcelain keys from Kohls that were on discount for 2 bucks a pop. I added some white glass ornaments and some silver and champagne gold sparkly thinga-ma-jigs. It wasn't as complete as I wanted it to be but the porcelain feathers and origami birds set me back quite a bit and it's really hard to find white bulbs that looks glamorous without looking cheap on the cheap. Topping the tree off was a silver glitter star and on the bottom was a white sequined silk shantung skirt that was picked up at Hobby Lobby for 50% off which made it $30.

This year was the first year I used the LED lights, not sure I like them, they give off a blue tone that I never had when I used the regular lights. Maybe I'll go back to my Martha Stewart pearl bulbs next year.

Until then, here is what my tree looked like this year, I still think pics never do a tree justice, but here goes nothin...

Minerals and crystals

I need some bling for my home, something sparkly but not fake, and no rhinestones. I'm not a rhinestone kind of girl. I have seen these minerals and agates in several different uses, and I think I might need a new sparkly night table lamp. I currently own the crystals in jewelry form and I get so many compliments on them already. Maybe the agate platters, I really love the black crystal lamp with the spider but way too much out of my price range ($3,500.00). I think I'll have to start with the agate coasters.

And aren't crystals supposed to put people in a happy place? At least that's what Spencer from the Hills claims, although I'm not sure they did him any good.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble -Shakespeare

Halloween has never been my FAVORITE holiday but with the influx of non-kitchy decor and I'm starting to like it more than for it's doorbell ringing madness!

I think this year I'll get in the mood and paint my nails and toes in the fab colors from NARS, although purple has always been a staple for me, I don't have this one from NARS yet. And maybe I can order the silk scarf in time for Sunday - although I can see myself wearing it through the season indefinitely. 

1. Skull ring - I know its pretty pricey but a girl can dream right!
2. NARS colors in Versailles and Purple Rain
3. Skull votive - These are pretty large but how cool would they look scattered along the pathway to your door or on a table scattered among other decor, or food.
4. Skull Candle - Don't hate me cuz I like skulls, they just evoke a more grown up halloween instead of pumpkins everywhere. I bet this smells very musky and heavy.
5. Black crepe paper wreath
6. Crackle Balls Lighting - This looks like a full moon, I bet you can use this for a bunch of other occasions too.
7. Vintage Skull Print - BlackBaroque has a bunch of different designs but you know my thing with skulls and all.
8. Dark moody flowers, like flowering cabbage, black calla lilies, monkey tails and ebony leaves - I help my mom doing flowers for weddings so it rubs off.
9. Bat Bunting - How fun!
10. Silk scarf - I couldn't decide which one I liked best, there are several that struck my fancy.

Hope you find some inspiration here to make your own spooky chic halloween.

Brown paper wrappings... These are a few of my favorite things

I remember back in grammar school, at the beginning of the year when the teachers passed out your new school books. They would request that we cover our books with brown paper collected from bags from grocery stores.  But who would have thought that many years later, I would want to cover my books on my own. It looks so uniform and clean, I just wish my penmanship was as pretty as the penmanship on this example.

I walked into Restoration Hardware the other day and they were singing my tune. The books on the shelves were covered in brown paper or linen paper and they looked fabulous. This would be a great way to uniformly have your books stored if the color method doesn't work for you. 

I started the color method but I like keeping categories of books together and so this method... not so much. So do I go ahead and brown paper and label ALL the books. That seems like a lot of work but it might be worth it. Add it to the list of things on my to do.

Pipe Dreams

Maybe I'm late on this trend but I've been keeping an eye on this for a bit wondering if you can pull it off and it not look homemade but chic. I have come to the consensus that it's pretty plausible that it can be chic if used sparingly. There isn't one piece that stands out more than the rest, I love them all, but I don't think that you can do the whole house in this style. Just too much. Now if only I could get my hands on some  beaten old wood and some old pipes, that would be fantastic. Add that to my list of to do...

Rue the day!

At least I hope you won't have to rue the day you missed checking out rue magazine. It launched its premiere issue this week, unfortunately there is only an online version but I can still pull up my chair with a latte and flip through the pages with my mouse. Here are a couple of my favorite spreads and color combos - the navy and gold I'm lovin' that combo!

Market after the Street Market

After we came from the Randolph Street Antique Market we went and got some lunch nearby at Market. I had never been there before but the food was delicious. We had a tuna tartar with crispy wontons and rare tuna and spring rolls which were ok but the bomb were the truffle french fries. I wish I didn't feel stupid taking picture of the food cuz the fries man they are something to write home about. They come in this cone that has two little cups one with ketchup and the other with something I call magic sauce. Yum it was so good, they are just the right kind of crispy and salty and soft inside, everything you want from a gourmet french fry and they have truffle oil on them. Hence the name truffle fries.

Ok so here is a pic I pilfered from their site of the tuna and one with the fries in the background. (wipe drool of chin)

And here is a pic of their awesome roof top, imagine what fun it would be to be up here at night with the chicago skyline on a nice summer night.

But what I really wanted to showcase was the magnificent tile work that was done in the basement on the way to the restrooms. The hallway was done in a long narrow tile and the wood covered the walls and ceiling but at the end of the hallway there was an alcove made of Carrera marble that Im not sure if it comes in this shape or you need someone to lay this way, but wow what a  statement it makes. 

Can I sing "LOVE IT", makes me want to run my hands over it. Although I don't know if its practical inside the home so many peaks and all must be a Be-atch to clean and all. But then again when is anything that's done in a commercial space practical for the home. It's the wow factor that makes you want to come back to certain places just for the ambiance.

Oh the lights in the hallway, they aren't just normal lights they are x-rays of body parts. It looks cools except I have no clue why or how it ties into the rest of the restaurant? Go figure. Anyhow if you are ever visiting Chicago I highly recommend a visit to Market, if you want to skip the crowd go in the day, at night it gets pretty busy as it is a bar and lounge.

Pantone Fall Color Forecast

I live by Pantone colors. I love picking through the Pantone picker to decide on a color. It's not to say that the clients always have the extra money in their budget to print with spot colors, but I like picking through those first and then changing them out to process color system after. Sorry for the shop talk.

So when Pantone each year comes out with their forecast for the year I always take notice. I mean not only does Pantone set trends in advertising, this reaches far more – to fashion, interior, design, etc...

What do you think, anything strike your fancy? Sometimes we think meh, but after seeing the combos gel a bit, I can see myself using those colors.

What do you all think, can you see yourselves using these colors in your next home project, if so I would love to know which ones and where.

What to do with 30lbs of shells?

I love shells, but a lot of times when ever I see shell art or things that are done with all shells they tend to get gaudy, fast. While on vacation, in shellers paradise I might add, I thought to myself, yeah these are pretty but what am I really going to do with these things once I bring them home, thats not tacky, or too beachy. I live in Chicago, my furniture is of the dark variety, it doesn't lend itself to the "beachy" theme.

So my plan was to bring shells that I can group into categories and display somehow in a clean way. This is what I came up with, let me know if anyone has any other suggestions because literally I have about 10 more lbs. of different shells.

My first grouping was a plethora of pink shells that I put around my snake plant in a white ikea planter. They seem to contrast nicely with the variegated green spikes and the white geometric planter. I also added the white shells to a dark planter that my ficus is in, I won't show that one since the planter is not to my liking and am currently searching for something more modern. I'll keep you posted once I find something else.

The other thing that I put together was a bunch of these pearlescent shells, almost capiz like but they aren't capiz and grouped them with a few of the white shells in a round short vase. On top was one of the air plants that I grabbed off of a tree that grew all over the area. I checked, I wasn't stealing, I was actually, come to think of it, propagating. 

These air plants grew in clusters all over trees, and they would attach themselves to the trunk and just grow all over. There were a couple of the larger bromeliads on the tree that I think these spawned from.  You can't see on this pic but they have these tentacles that grow and at the ends are seed pods that when the wind blows it carries and "seeds" itself on a different part of the tree.  

I wish I grabbed more but I wasn't too sure if I would have a hard time bringing these babies home. I was able to wet a paper towel and stick them into a plastic baggie filled with air. Wouldn't you know it, they survived the trip home and are doing pretty well. Every few days I just mist them with some water and a bit of fertilizer.

My biggest coup from the trip was a bunch of barnacles, that I thought I might display on my media stand between the stand and the top shelf that the plasma rests on. I don't know what I was thinking, I thought the space was much bigger than it actually was.  When I brought the two barnacles home, they wouldn't fit in the space so I had to figure an alternative. 

Oh and that beauty sitting next to it is a FARM raised coral from Indonesia, that I purchased in Florida. I have been looking to buy some coral for a long time but they all are very fragile and the bigger they get the more unlikely a place will ship. Most of the ones that I looked at before are pickup only.  I know the coral was farm raised, they were too perfect to be something that was found in the ocean, and I paid about the same amount I would have paid for synthetic coral i.e. plaster. Anywho, the barnacle, those things I was told are a nuisance and grow on most anything. I know this to be true since a ton of shells that I picked up from the beach had tiny clusters of barnacles already forming (you can actually see a barnacle growing on the seashell picture of the potted snake plant).

So for now these specimens are on my console table, hopefully curious little fingers won't go trolling while my back is turned. If you notice I have a clear plastic stand to prop the coral on and the barnacles have these felt stickers on them, both of these are really sharp and will scratch up the wood mighty easily.  

As for whats on the media stand between the shelves, well that's a work in progress yet again. I'm hoping to fill it with some objects that are bright that will stand out amongst all that dark wood. Back to the drawing board for now.

Air plants still do require a green thumb

As I mentioned before I am a gardner. I love the changing of the seasons, especially living in Chicago, the coming of spring. So it no surprise that when the growing season is done for, I have inside a plethora of plants to keep me going until the next growing season. One such plant that has been in my home is an air plant or better know as tillandsia.

I got this plant originally 5 yrs ago, not this particular plant because THAT particular plant decided to die on me, rot is actually a better word. I'm not bad when it comes to gardening but for some reason the air plant was not surviving in my home for longer than a year. This particular plant that you see is the 5th, and so far surviving.  These air plants are exactly what they sound like they survive on air, and the water thats in the air. So I was told. But I think the real reason they survive at least in zone 5 is in how much sun they get. Not hot direct sun but filtered sunlight. 

I was having my humidifier running in the winter in the living room and after a few months noticed that the air plant was rotting from the inside so to the trash went #1, #2, #3 and #4. This last one was in my bedroom, in a fairly decent spot, it was getting late afternoon sun but through the shades, which I gather is enough. Also I soaked this sucker, like the rest of them, for a couple of hours in the bathroom sink.

I'm crossing my fingers, hopefully they will stay with me for a very long time. I love how beautiful they are. Their texture is something out of this world. The Tillandsia Xerographica has a texture like paper and the curly leaves twist around and under but for a plant so large its super light. 

I think I read somewhere that they do a wonderful job of cleaning the air of harmful VOC's. Bonus.

Oh and the container that I placed the air plant is made out of tree bark. Don't know which type of tree. Isn't it gorgeous? I love this container, I have two of them. It was given to me as a gift from a coworker, who is an awesome gardener in her own right.  

I wish I could get more of these but alas, she bought it at a yard sale YEARS ago, and for .25. Yes 25 CENTS each. I wonder if its hard to make? hmm project for another day?

If you have success in zone 5 with air plants, leave a comment on how in this world you get them to stay alive, and if you ever get them to bloom? Which I've heard they do.

Steel Drum style in the Windy City

My awesome friends, Ann & Vince, have a house in with a back deck. When they bought the house they intended on tearing down the deck and making a huge multi-level wraparound porch. It seemed that the deck always went on the back burner as they got busy with other projects. But last spring, Ann decided that enough was enough and with a caribbean inspiration, a little of Bob Marley and Jimmy Buffet she decided to bring the caribbean to Brookfield. I know she talked about this project for awhile and people kinda thought this was going to look horrible, but she's a designer as well and I think her vision was really thought out before she went along with this. Plus I think she had to get her husband on board so this had to look phenomenal.

This is the before, pretty sad looking when the sun isn't out don't you agree. Especially with all the dead plants and bare trees.

The procedure was pretty simple, the first step was to clean the wood. They applied this deck cleaner and left it on for a couple of hours, washing it off to reveal nice, clean wood that was ready to get stained, once the rain went away.

You can't tell, but it made the deck fresher not so gray, as it tends to get with rain and snow covered for several months out of the year.

Next it was time to stain. They went with a product from Sherwin Williams Deckscapes. They have a ton of colors to choose from and three different finishes.

After staining the deck with the help of a couple of extra hands and drying time it was finished. It doesn't hurt that the sun was out when this photo was taken since it gives it that extra feeling like you might be somewhere tropical.

Can you hear the steel drum playing? Well if that doesn't inspire you to turn a dingy, gray heap of wood into this wonderful and marvelous concoction I don't know what will. I know some neighbors were thinking this was going to look like a Vikings Deck when they were told that it was going to be stained in purple and yellow, but after it was complete, they were all pleasantly surprised that it came as well as it did. 

Now take a look at the finished product, the all weather wicker deck furniture with the turquoise cushions and the light-up palm tree totally ties this thing together. 

How wonderful and gorgeous is this deck? I love the vibrant colors of it set against the white. I think if the white stain was not there it might be a little loud. But I think it has the opposite effect, very calming. They did an awesome job and I think everyone can take a page out of this and not be afraid of trying new and crazy things. After all its only paint (stain in this case). Now get me a daiquiri. 

Reupholstered chairs

I might have mentioned that I stalk craig, on a regular basis. I have a restraining order put on me by my husband as of late; so I can't go and buy anything currently. But I have to show you my best craigslist find. It is a pub table and {6} – really 6 pub height chairs. All for $300.00 Thats a steal in our neck of the woods, new ones don't come that cheap and this one has 6 chairs AND the table expands.

My dad and I drove 45 minutes to pick it up, we stuck it in his van with all 6 chairs and didn't need to disassemble anything. The table and chairs were in a great condition. The only thing that I did not like was the cushions that came on the chairs.

I thought that's an easy fix. I was going to go and buy fabric for them right away but I wasn't sure what I wanted to put on them, plus I didn't feel like spending a lot of dough on fabric either. So being the resourceful girl that I am; I used the leftover fabric from our couch fix that the upholsterers left for us. Which essentially was FREE since they were repairing a tiny rip and they kept sending us the wrong side, after the rip was repaired the guy who was out here fixing it let us keep it, which came out to 5 yards.

So thats what I did I covered the chairs in the leftover couch material. It was ok, but was not what I really wanted in the end. Plus it was way to matchy with the couch being in the next room and I can see from one into the other. They were microfiber, which is fantastic when you have kids, cuz everything comes right off. But they were boring.

As you can see, it's not bad, just well, ho hum I guess. They come clean real easy. I know since my daughter, Ari, drew with ball point pen, red marker and highlighter all over that material on the couch. It all came out. Thank God for her sake.

But one day on a whim I was trolling Hancock fabrics and out of the corner of my eye in the discount bin I see something. Ohh its grey, and yellow, grellow, my favorite combo and its reduced. I look at the pattern and I instantly fall in love. I have to have it. So I went home without it. 

I know, what the hell was I doing? I didn't want to impulse buy so I went home to think about it for a few days. Needless to say I couldn't get it out of my mind so I went back 2 days later  and was going to get a few yards.

As I was at the cutting table it seemed like such a waste to grab only a few yards, I took all of it, all 6 yards for $32.00. I thought that was a great deal. I wanted to come home and change the cushions out right away, but I held back. Don't ask me why, maybe I was just lazy and didn't feel like striping all 6 chairs again and stapling with that heavy duty stapler. *Note to self or to whomever reading this, if you are ever going to use a staple gun, get a good one; one that is comfortable in your hand cuz after awhile the sucker hurts.

I waited till after the holidays and after the winter blahs and decided that today was the perfect day. In between making Rick Bayless enchiladas, come back for pics and recipe later, I recovered the chairs. 

So without further ado, tada... oh wait I'll show you the material closeup, it's a nice heavy nubby material. 

And NOW for the chair, who knows, maybe in another year or when we move into a different house they'll get another makeover. But for now I love them.

Kitchen Crush

When we got married, we got as a gift a set of knives. I also went out and bought myself a set of stainless steel knives from overstock. 2 sets of knives, although they are great knives I have literally no counter space. So two knife blocks are getting ridiculous. The solution was to get rid of one of the blocks and try to put most of the knives into one block. Not a great solution when they are all clean and put away there are always too many or the holes aren't right for the width. It's completely frustrating. Until – I was at BBB and saw the Kapoosh knife block. The model that they had in stock I wasn't into and I wanted to get the larger one. I decided to go online and see if I can find one that suits my kitchen more. I sure did, they aren't cheap but I really want to get it.

Do you have one? Do you like it? I read a comment online that the "sticks" get all bent out of shape, is that common? Looks pretty awesome, you can fit multiple types of knives from different sets and have them all corralled in one place.  Let me know what you think about these.

 

    

Upholstered Dreams

I'm constantly lurking on craigslist, and I always find something that needs to be taken home, to the dismay of my husband. 1. Since he needs to haul the item and 2. I really have no more room in my home for such purchases. I don't know what it is, I love chairs, all kinds of chairs I would put them everywhere, but that starts to look real cluttered real fast. But if I had a bigger bedroom I would totally get this chair and put it in a nice nook.  

Designer: Beth Dotolo  Photography Kevin Dotolo

Isn't this pattern gorgeous, and look how wonderfully the shapes line up with the cushion and the frame. This is not the work of an amateur, I should know. I have a book on upholstering and it looks easy but it's really not. The only thing that I have done are my kitchen chairs. I bought them with an off white microfiber on the cushion and it was from craig, so they were used. I had this leftover fabric from my couch when it was broken we had it fixed and they sent over soooooo much fabric that I decided to keep it.  Well I was able to reupholster the chairs but it's a boring fabric choice . So I'm doing it again.

I found this fabric in the discount bin, and all Im saying is its a little grellow. You know... grey and yellow.

But until I actually do them, I will show you a few of my other  upholstered benches that if I had the space or little grubby hands weren't a problem than I would totally get.  

That is if my local salvation army weren't such greedy bastards and actually sold something that wasn't an arm and a leg. I mean come on'. How is it other people can find all these gems at the salv army or thrift store and cost $15? I find a chair thats stained and the wood is nicked and they price them at $60 and up. After you factor in the fabric and the batting the chair will come out total 300 buckeroos. And if you decide to take a stab at it yourself, forgetaboutit'. 

If you see a nice chair or bench that has great curves and doesn't cost a fortune, send her my way, but leave her on my back stoop so my husband doesn't see. 

Paisley is fresh again.

I have loved paisley forever – or since I saw eons ago Crate and Barrel carry a paisley bed set that was too pricey for me working a minimum wage job. Well it seems paisley has been making a quiet comeback in the recent years. Not only do the finer retailers start carrying paisley bedding in fun, contemporary renditions but also the budget retailers have too.

Photo credit Pottery Barn

Is this just not GORGEOUS!!! It is definitely not your grandmas old paisley patterned bedding. Pottery Barn sells this and it is on my list for new sheets for spring. That cherry blossom branch doesn't hurt either.

Photo credit Pottery Barn

And even this set priced for a lot less at Walmart is very cute. It has the benefit of being an all in one instead of just the duvet cover.

Decisions, decisions...

A, E, I, O, U

THE on sale for $99 originally $325 atwestend 

I already have an ampersand but i definitely need the @ and maybe one of my (our) initials.

Updated fall front decor

It seems that if you carve a pumpkin too early or like October 12th, by the time halloween rolls around it will rot. Thats exactly what happened to me. I carved a cursive letter S onto my pumpkin scraped away the top layer only revealing the flesh ala Martha Stewart.

Too bad I did not get a chance to take a pic of it but you get the idea. To make my front porch more appealing to trick-or-treaters, since my husband brought a barrel of candy and we need to get rid of it, I should do something decorative. I whipped this up in a couple of minutes.

Had some left-over branches that were hanging around in a vase and lookin kind of sad. I shoved the sticks into the dirt, poured some lava rocks to give it more height and then placed some moss that I ripped from the edge of my yard on top of that. And ta-da!!!. Well it was a ta-da for me since it was such a no brainer, best part of all it was SUPER CHEAP-OOO. So now maybe we can get rid of all the candy so I won't have to eat it all, since I'm the only one that knows where its hidden.