Unique Photo Frames »

I saw this post from Design Sponge about Photojojo’s glass jar frames. I thought this was such a fun idea to make your photos more interesting. You can see the tutorial at Photojojo.com.

The New Couch »

My friends are probably beyond tired of hearing of my couch escapades. If you remember, I had already gotten a new couch just a few months ago. As it turns out, that couch was as hard as a rock. I never sat down and watched TV and we never had people over because it just wasn’t comfortable. I even started developing some upper-back pain because of the angle of the cushions. So - big fat lesson learned, and a renewed appreciation for craigslist: we sold the couch for just $200 less than we paid for it and moved onward and upward.

Now, I’m not as big of a furniture snob as you may think I am. I do however cringe when I hear these words: “sectional” and “rounded arms”. A sectional always sounded like one big mammoth piece of furniture, and I’ve already had two couches with rounded arms, so I wanted something new. Because the shape of our living room is so narrow, there isn’t enough room for a couch and a loveseat, and our best option is a sectional. Turns out, sectionals aren’t as ‘not cute’ as I thought, but 90% of them had rounded arms and I just couldn’t do it.

After sitting on probably 50 different couches, we made our decision and I must say, I’m quite happy. The couch was firm at first, but after jumping on the cushions {yes, one cushion at a time, my husband and I jumped on the cushions while we watched a golf tournament}, they loostened up quite niceley.

{sigh}… so glad that stress is over and my living room looks better than ever, with BEAUCOUP seating for friends. May I present, Macy’s “Bradley” sofa:

Now, if I could just figure out what to do to make my boring little contemporary kitchen look a little bit less generic!

Decorating With Black and White »

Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. Here I’ve compiled some fun black and white decorating, as well as my suggestions on products that will help make it happen.

And here are my suggestions for great black and white pieces:

Here are the highlights:

ceramic canisters {pottery barn}

nesting hexagons {west elm}

deco scroll curtain {urban outfitters}

birdie lamp base {urban outfitters}

french industrial side table {wisteria}

swedish tub chair {wisteria}

Wall Tiles {target}

Mantle Clock {target}

Accent Table {target}

above image credits from:
http://www.housetohome.co.uk
http://hookedonhouses.net/2008/03/07/decorating-inspiration-black-white/
http://mysanantonio.ctwfeatures.com/homestyle/home_20080327_contrast.html
http://alkemie.blogspot.com/2008/07/study-in-black-white-one-designers-home.html
http://freshome.com/tag/graphic-design/

Mounting Your Television »

I have noticed over the last few months, after having mounted our TV in our new condo, that many are hanging their TV too high. I can see how this is easily done, because the things we normally hang on the wall are artwork. Normally, artwork is hung at eye-level when standing up. A TV however, is not meant to be viewed standing up. A TV should be mounted much lower than artwork, because it is viewed while sitting down.

If you think about TV consoles, they are usually much lower than say, a kitchen table. They are low to the ground, because the television should be lower to the ground. Here are some examples of mounted television heights. (I don’t have a standard for measuring televisions, but sit on your couch and guage what a comfortable height is for your TV.)

This one is too low.

This one is too high.

And this one is just right.

Vintage Christmas »

Maybe it’s the weather, or the premature holiday marketing at Starbucks, but I just got excited about decorating for Christmas. I don’t decorate for many holidays, mainly because I don’t like clutter. However, Christmas makes me a new woman. Every year, I do my day-after-Christmas shopping, shopping carts full of Christmas decorations that I get the pleasure of opening around the week of Thanksgiving the following year. Oh, I LOVE Christmas decorations.

So with my premature excitement comes my premature Christmas inspiration board - vintage style.

The Highlights:

pine cone ornaments in greens and golds {smith and hawken}

mercury glass tabletop trees {smith and hawken}

ceramic bird {pier 1}

icicle ornaments in shiny gold and brown {target}

iridescent brown tree skirt {front gate}

vintage look moss garland {pottery barn}

sparkly silver stocking holders for the mantle {christmas people}

black, white and silver damask dinnerware {target}

berry beaded wreath {target}

silver foil stockings {west elm}

silver tree branch candelabra {west elm}

Anybody else in the Christmas mood?

Recovered Pillows »

My mom updated her couch with a recovered set of accent pillows. She complimented her small-scale patterned couch, a blue and green ticking upholstery fabric, with a large-scale floral fabric from Amy Butler, one of my favorite fabric designers. When putting fabrics together, always consider color and scale. Two large-scale patterns would appear too busy, and two small scale patterns wouldn’t balance like these two.

Master Bedroom in Transition »

Reader, Shannon, has a master bedroom that is currently in transition. She had just purchased new bedding and pillows and is looking to tie it all together. You can see the room as-is in the picture below.

Here are my observations:

I love the matching nightstands and lamps on either side, but the lamps are too small for the size of the room. Plus, they have no form.

The sconces look outdated. At best, they could be pulled down lower, much closer to the nightstands to make it more intimate. If they were spray-painted in a shiny bright color, that could help bring them to date.

The room lacks pattern and color.

Here is the inspiration board I put together for Shannon to show that her room has style, color and pattern. Here is how she can achieve that:

A pale green wall color would be a great way to modernize the zebra print. I suggest adding this subtle paint treatment (as seen on HGTV) with a lighter shade to add interest to the boxy room. {HGTV}

A green bench anchors the green in the room, and adds another formal touch. {target}

Formal pillows play nice with the bold zebra print and bring the brown and green together. {target and target}

Make the couch or bench look inviting with a mustard-yellow throw. {target}

The lamps next to the bed need to be weightier because the furniture in the room is weighty. These lamps are fun AND traditional, and they add warmth to the room. {wal-mart}

The large wall could use some color. This print ties the brown, yellows, greens and reds in one place. {cost plus world market}

Because the wall is large, the print may need some help filling the space. I chose two fabrics by Amy Butler in a vintage frame to help tie the colors together, and add weight to the focal wall above the bed. {fabric.com}

Glass fixtures add color and help set the tone. {bed bath and beyond}

Because the bedding is all one solid color, I suggest tucking a pattern underneath with fun sheets. These colors peeking out add personality to the room. {overstock.com}

What do you think? What would you add?

How many people »

does it take to hang a group of pictures? My husband, sister and mom helped me hang the pictures above my sofa, and here is how we did it:

Picture groups are a great way to fill a big wall, save money on art, hang pieces that mean something to you, and bring color into a room. These frames are filled with scrapbook paper.

Condo Chronicles: Picture Wall »

My hallway was looking pretty boring (as most hallways do) and my friend Shannon pointed out that we didn’t have any pictures of us hanging in the house. (Anybody else not like pictures of yourself?) So I decided to make a picture wall at the end of our itty bitty hall.

I took frames that I already had, (you know it’s not like me to spend money on something like this when I’ve got scraps that can be repurposed), and spray-painted a couple to help with the color palette. The frames are all different in size and color, don’t match up symmetrically, and have no rhyme or reason. Thrown together, free, and perfect.

Thanks for the instigating Shannon!

2 for 1 Furniture »

My favorite kind of furniture is dual purpose furniture. This would almost be organizational overload because I would have to pick the perfect things for this perfect storage opportunity. BUT - How great would this be?!? (I found this product at eco-friendly inhabitat.com)

And, what if it looked like THIS?

This was paper Mod Podged onto the stair, but I think this might be a destructive method. Better would be wallpaper where there are solutions to remove it down the road, best would be paint, because you can always repaint.

pictures from design*sponge and inhabitat.com.