Home Tour - Living room reveal

If  you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen little sneak peaks of our living room décor project and although all the painting, decorating and purchasing of the “big items of furniture” are done, there are a few smaller pieces that I'm yet to fall in love with and purchase.

Let's start with the wallpaper. It's from the Next Geo range and although I fell in love with the pattern from the moment I saw it for the first time, the quality of the paper itself leaves a lot to be desired. Several rolls had what looked like dirty marks that resulted in a lot of wastage. It was pure luck that I ordered more rolls than I needed otherwise we would have found ourselves not able to finished the job until new rolls where ordered and delivered! Crazy right?

For the walls, we used Valspar paint for the first time (I'm a hardcore fan of Dulux Endurance as they clean up really well) but I found Valspar to be equally good. They are sold in B&Q  but I'm not sure whether you can also find them somewhere else.

Colour-wise, we went for a light grey with a warm undertone to complement the vast amount of dark walnut furniture we have - I'm hoping to change this for lighter furniture... one day... maybe-.

The sofa and armchairs are also from Next and contrary to our experience with the wallpaper; I'm more than happy with them. When our girlie was a baby we had one of those feared sicky accidents on the sofa - the ones that seems to happen in slow motion but you can't quite prevent. We ended up taking the cover off one of the bottom cushions of the main sofa and washed it in the washing machine. No shrinking and no change in the colour/ texture of the fabric. A sofa that survives that sort of test, gets a 10 from me!

This part of the living room is screaming for some wall art, don't you think? I have two big black frames from Ikea that would be just perfection above the sofa but I'm yet to find prints that would fit them and that we love. Any suggestions?

For that corner of the room where the temporary banana fibre rocking chair is, I'd like to have a small desk or even a ladder (also called leaning) desk where we can keep our laptop and do all the house admin stuff.  I don't know about you but I find the job of finding the right decor pieces very time consuming. By the way, have you heard about LionsHome? They are an on-line portal for furniture and home accessories. It sounds exactly like what I need right now! :)

I'm also in the search for a new table and floor lamp for that corner opposite to the door you can see in the photo below. Something that will match the style of the current ceiling light. My shopping list is getting bigger and bigger as I write this post and take a closer and  more analytical look at the photographs.

And to finish off on a high note, I'll leave you with a picture of my little cheeky monkey who particularly enjoys running around mummy while she takes pictures for the blog.

This article "Home Tour - Living room reveal" is run on www.lifeineight.com

ROMANTIC IRISH INTERIORS

This wallpaper is pretty, don't you think? That blue is gorgeous paired with dark red and maroon. I'm loving the curtains over the bed, and the patchwork bedspread. Very romantic.

Okay, lets talk about how wonderful this coral color is. Coral is great on it's own as a solid wall color, and it's equally as beautiful as an accent color combined with sea green, light pink and cream. Both of these images have me thinking about adding some coral into my own home!

 Well friends, this is my last guest post on Design Sponge! A big thanks to Grace, it has been so much fun! If you have been following along, and want to see more color palettes and inspiration, be sure to stop by my blog Color Collective. Have a splendid weekend everyone!

This article "ROMANTIC IRISH INTERIORS" is run on www.designsponge.com

A DIY Kitchen Garden Wall

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One of our favorite DIY bloggers is at it again with an effective and no-sweat idea for displaying plants and herbs indoors...

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While searching for inspiration on displaying plants indoors, I came across a guest post on Tatertots & Jello by Michelle, author of Ten June and the mastermind behind that amazing Super Sized Sunburst Mirror project we featured back in February.

Using little tins leftover from her wedding decor, Michelle created a simple grid of herbs, emphasized by the negative space of the soft grey wall in her breakfast room. What a splendidly simple way to display your plants indoors! The only problem I could see with this is that I’d always be wanting to cook with the herbs at hand, and there’d be nothing left to look at!

Make sure to check out both Tatertots & Jello and Michelle’s blog, Ten June for more great design inspiration and DIY ideas.

This article "A DIY Kitchen Garden Wall" is run on  apartmenttherapy.com

A Simple and Chic Friendsgiving Table

If you follow along on Instagram then you know that right smack in the middle of the One Room Challenge dining room makeover, I hosted some co-workers for a little friends, fun, and feast.

For those of you that are fairly new here, you may not know that I am the Managing Editor of Hallmark's bloghighlighting our highly-celebrated creative community of 500+ in-house artists. Obviously one of the perks of this job is working with creative people all day every day. So while I'll admit to being a little intimidated having them over, it's always so cool to invite creative people into your home. (Okay, let's be honest; I welcome the excuse to invite any friend into our home!) But I feel like other artists respond to the quirkier aspects of our decor. And that always makes me feel a little less...weird.

Same could be said of setting the stage for a great meal. Just like with my home, I wanted something with a neutral base and plenty of personality. (Ahem...enter ze brass menagerie.)

I picked up an 

ivory linen tablecloth and some funky, vibrant table runners, but in the end, decided to scrap the runner and keep the table more neutral. I'm going through a neutral life stage. Less visual noise is calming me...and I need all the calm I can get with a toddler and pregnancy hormones :)

White everyday dinnerware and my vintage Thai bamboo flatware (similar here) kept things warm and fresh. Vintage tumblers housed what I can only assume was the most delicious Sparkling Cranberry Orange Sangria ever known to man because Ali made it. (I really need to stop hosting parties while pregnant.) She also provided a spread of sides. Which is genius, if you ask me, because I suspect only a select few of us get actual joy from cooking a huge turkey twice in one month (or year, if you're me). It was all so incredibly delicious. (Ali detailed and linked the entire menuhere.)

Florals aren't really my game, but I wanted to give it a shot. I played around with incorporating produce into the arrangement and tabletop. I love that the centerpiece really took center stage this way! It was great for conversation, too. "Is that...kale...in there?"

Why yes, yes it is. Details on how I did it here.

The other standout was the place cards. One of my coworkers hosted a feather-painting workshop with several Hallmark artists, and the results immediately inspired the place settings.

Those watercolor floral napkins don't hurt anything either...

Details and downloads for the place settings available here.

All in all, we had a crazy good time, and I'm really excited to start making this an annual tradition at our house. I'm curious -- how many of you are hosting Friendsgiving this year? I feel like it's a real thing now, which is so so awesome. 

This post is in collaboration with Think.Make.Share and Gimme Some Oven. All opinions are my own. Photos courtesy of Jane Kortright for Think.Make.Share.

This article "A Simple and Chic Friendsgiving Table" is run on becauseitsawesome.blogspot.com

Lumin: Lighting the way

1. A bold linear form, this solid steel structure is a fixture of sound design and sensibility, made to display beautifully on the wall, while also achieving the desired function of a fireburner.
2. A stylish home decor feature to light the walls in every room in the house, Lumin is the newest in Decorpro Home + Garden’s series of Wall-Mounted Fireburners.

A stylish home decor feature to light the walls in every room in the house, Lumin is the newest in Decorpro Home + Garden’s series of Wall-Mounted Fireburners. 

A bold linear form, this solid steel structure is a fixture of sound design and sensibility, made to display beautifully on the wall, while also achieving the desired function of a fireburner. Illuminating and bright, Lumin is modern and masterful. (Fuel sold separately.)

This article "Lumin: Lighting the way" is run on decorpro.ca

What all the best-dressed windows are wearing

1. Without them you may find this site does not work properly and many features may be unavailable.
2. Kitchen Sourcebook is part of the Time Inc.

Direct Blinds have launched a gorgeous new wooden blinds collection featuring Little Greene Paint.

You’re sure to find the perfect match for your kitchen, amongst the nine classic and contemporary colours, which include; Bone China (above), China Clay (below), Hollyhock, French Grey and Rolling Fog.

This article "What all the best-dressed windows are wearing" is run on kitchensourcebook.co.uk

THE PLAIN ENGLISH KITCHEN. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?

My love for bespoke English kitchens goes way back to my early days as budding kitchen designer. The classic pairing of clean, almost modern lines with an overall traditional, almost vintage, look and feel. The creamy, sometimes dusty painted finishes that incite a feeling of nostalgia.

When I think about it, these kitchens are so quintessentially English exactly for that reason. Steeped in tradition with a keen interest in all things modern and a bit edgy.

Plain English are masters of the juxtaposition of old and new, of tradition and modernism. In the almost workshop like space above, part of their Osea collection, all the elements fall into place. The almost industrial shell, the factory doors and windows, the wood planks that cover floors and walls and the simple open shelf, come to life through the use of color, contrasting hardware and a mix of work surfaces.

Far less edginess in this kitchen but the components are still there. Traditional inset doors, simple yet effective moldings and still that simplicity that makes this look at home in an English country manor or a city loft.

Dusty greys, greiges and beiges, only now making their way into the US design mainstream have long been a staple in British kitchen design. I love the unapologetic pairing with the pale wood counter top as it does not even try to create drama where drama and contrast are unwarranted.

And simplicity and purpose driven design does not end on the surface. This kitchen system hides plenty of storage and functionality behind closed doors for a furniture like effect when not in use.

This article 'THE PLAIN ENGLISH KITCHEN. WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?' is run on modenus.com