{inspired} my wish for your weekend

On the heals of my This is Oregon post, I starting digging into photographer Julian Bialowas work. Stunning, friends. Stunning. These are some of my favorites from his 2011 365 project, seen here.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, full of lots of laughs, family and friends and moments of peace and relaxation. Thanks for stopping by this week .... I don't say this enough but you visits and comments truly are bright spots in my days :).

{inspired} This is Oregon

Hi friends! How's your week coming along?

I came across something earlier this week that I just couldn't NOT share with you guys. Shwood is an Oregon company that makes sustainable wood sunglasses (which are super cool and can be found here). Recently they teamed up with photographer Julian Bialowas to create a photography/interactive series called "This is Oregon".

Now, all you non-Oregonians, don't go away yet. This project, while based in Oregon, is something I think a lot of you will appreciate and love.

It's a series of 10 amazing photos from around Oregon, overlayed with inspiring messages. Some of the photos are definitely more "Oregon" than others, but regardless, they're all AMAZING. And the messages are simple, straight-forward and, many, hit close to home.

I think what I love the MOST, though, is that the first edition prints come mounted between laser-engraved oak dowel rods. Such a beautiful touch. The prints also come in posters you can frame yourself.

You can see all the photos here.

I'm definitely trying to find a way to fit one of these beauties into my home!

{renovate} shang-hai ... revisited

Friends. Remember last year when my husband came home from a swap meet with the biggest-sign-ever-made and it sat in our backyard from MONTHS (read more about that here)?

And remember when I gave that sign a fighting chance and we tried to hang it on the ONE wall on our ENTIRE property that it fit? But it didn't actually fit, it was just completely overwhelming (read more about that here)?

Yeah, we sold that sign. But I'm back for part two of the story. You didn't know there would be a part two, did you? Yeah. I didn't either. But, my husband went to the same swap meet this year and once again, came home with a sign. I should've seen it coming :).

We're now the proud owners of this sign:

Which, I have to admit is not only MUCH smaller .... but much better. It's quirky and fun and actually pretty rare. We're not sure if we're going to keep it, or if we do keep it for how long. But, I'm leaning towards enjoying it for the summer. I like the owl :). I'll let you guys know where it ends up finding a home.

So tell me guys ... what does your husband/wife/partner/s.o. regularly "surprise" you with? Is there someplace they go and always ending coming home with something?? :)

{renovate} green chairs!

Wow, this week has clearly gotten away from me. I am the worst at prepping posts when I know I'm having a super busy week! Thanks for hanging in there with me friends :).

I DO have a fun spring project to share with you today, though!

Remember how we're working on renovating our screened-in back porch? No? Well I don't talk about it a lot, but it's been going on for quite some time (cough, years, cough). Here's the last picture I left you with:

Intended to be an outdoor dining space, we've gathered up six chairs over the years. Last fall I painted the white chairs you see and reupholstered their seats. So today we're going to talk about those brown chairs in the middle. As you can see, the space is incredibly neutral ... lots of greys, browns, whites. So I wanted to inject a little color and have fun with these last two chairs ....

...which, are now green! 

We actually came across these chairs in a garbage pile on the side of the road. What?! You can just imagine me screaming at politely telling Chris to pull over. :)

It's really obvious, even in the photo, that the original stain was all scratched up and worn off. And, that blue vinyl seat cover was leaving something to be desired.

This was a very straight forward chair makeover, but I put together a few tips for reupholstering chairs that I thought would be helpful, and not necessarily mentioned in other tutorials.

1. Take cushion off the chair: in this case it involved removing a number of screws from each chair. Keep the screws in a place where you won't lose one ;).
2. Decide how much of the original fabric you want to pull off -- if any! I opted not to pull it off at all because the slick vinyl makes a nice surface to build on.
3. Mark your screw holes. Seriously, this was a life saver at the end. Each chair had two long screws and two super short screws. So I labeled each hole and it made putting the chair back together a breeze.
4. Whether you are keeping the existing material or you pulled it all off, start with a layer of batting. It will not only keep things cozy, but it helps hide the color of the original fabric. Then you get to staple! You don't want to staple in circle though -- things will get bunchy. After your first staple, pull the fabric and put your next staple directly across from the first. For your next staple, pick the mid point between the first two, pull tight and then do the opposite side. Keep doing the opposite staple thing for as long as you can, pulling tight as you go. Then, you just fill in with staples where you think it needs extra reinforcement. This technique will help you keep the fabric both taut and centered.

And, of course, some pretty detail shots for you guys ....

Aren't they cheery? I think they add a great dose of color to the space. Oh, and if you're wondering about the fabric (which is gorgeous, no?), I actually got it from Moxie Mandie, who happens to have a killer eye when it comes to fabric. Maybe she'll remind me in the comments where it's actually from?? :)

So friends, have you added a fun dose of color to your space lately? What bright colors do you like to incorporate to break up the neutral?

ps. The chairs aren't at the table in these shots because our back porch has become the staging area for project: kitchen and is full of appliances. YAH! :)

{renovate} adding a natural green

Happy Monday friends!

Last week I talked about adding green to our decor. And this weekend I added green in a major way - but probably not the way you're thinking {or even the way I was thinking!}. I made a trip to a local garden nursery for soil and came home with a bunch of new plants to spruce up our house for spring.

The bathroom has a fun new fern. Aren't those leaves amazing?

Our bedroom got this funky new plant. I couldn't pass up the color or the texture. Both are amazing.

And, our front steps got a little update for spring! I plant out these pots each year, this is just way earlier than normal. I did something a little different this year. Instead of planting all annuals, my normal method, I added in the mini trees I bought for Christmas decor, which then made their way to our spring mantle. I'm super curious to see how they do/how big they get outside.

I have a very basic method for filling my pots:

• Replace soil. Each year I add new soil to the pots -- soils nutrients get so depleted from feeding plants! So, I make sure to start my new plants off with good nourishing soil.
• Add in plant of different textures, colors and blooming cycles. As you can see above, there is the evergreen tree in back. At 1:00 is a flowering annual .... it'll flower red in a couple months. At 5:00 - 7:00 are succulents, which will fill in nicely and to round it out is a different red flowering annual.
• Don't crowd your plants! These seem a little empty now, but they'll fill out nicely in the next month. I've overcrowded before. Plants don't like it :) I'll show you an update when they fill out and look amazing.

I've been loving planting succulents outside. I've tried them a number of times in the house, but we don't have enough natural light :(.

And, because the weather this weekend was actually sunny (hurrah!), I got a great start on my garden. Friends, I am a bbbaaaadd winter gardener. I always let my garden go to weed. Boo. So each spring I clear it out and reinforce it with yummy new soil (see above) and then my new veggies can grow. This weekend I planted greens -- lettuce, kale and chard. Yum! I'll plant more in the next few weekends. Oh and are you wondering why I keep my veggies in a prison? We have crazy squirrels and cats in our yard. So a couple years ago we added a mesh border on all sides and it works like a charm -- no more veggies being dug up in the middle of the night!

Apparently I am not to be trusted at garden stores because I also came home with a bunch of new plants for our front yard! We didn't get them planted this weekend .... and they're currently in our backyard being watered by mother nature. So, you'll see more of these guys in the future :).

Anyone else out there have a tendency to go crazy at nursery's? There are just so many beautiful plants right now, it's hard to pass them by! :)

{inspired} an interview

Happy friday friends! 

How are you all? Any fun plans for this weekend? It's supposed to be sunny (!) in Portland (keeping my fingers crossed), so you'll find me in my yard prepping and hopefully planting some things in our garden beds!

Today, the lovely Abi of Gadding Gal has is featuring me on her blog! :) Abi is super creative and has pulled together a brilliant series featuring the women behind the blogs (you can follow the series here), titled ... Gorgeous girls. 

Who? ME? Why thank you! ;) I was so honored that she asked me to participate! Abi has put together a list of questions that I had so much fun answering.

So please pop over to Abi's to read my interview and learn a little more about me :).

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

{inspired} blues, greens and kitchen schemes

Happy Wednesday friends!

Are you wondering where we're at with the kitchen? Yeah, me too! No, I'm kidding ... we're working on lots of technical details. You know the important stuff like making sure everything measure accurately and whether we want drawers or cabinets in certain places and how big our island should be. I'll give you guys the rundown once we've actually committed. At this point, things are changing on a daily basis. Love planning!

Although not my priority right now, one thing I can't help but think is the finished design and with that comes the fun part -- color scheme! As I mentioned in this previous post, we're opening the kitchen up to the living room. And, the kitchen naturally flows into the back entry. So a couple things to consider are existing color schemes. The living room is painted blue and features pops of yellow and orange. The back entry is painted greige, and has pops of blue.

bhg 

This little grouping could not represent our house, currently, any better. What I love most about this though, is the addition of green. Maybe it's because I'm so excited for spring (!), but the green feels so fresh. So, now I'm playing with a light blue, dark blue, yellow, green color scheme.

Some beautiful inspiration in varying shades of that scheme:

d.blackman 

good girl gone glad

decorpad

picassa

 westelm blog

SoHaus Interiors 

I think blue and green were meant to be together. At least in my house. Of course that means updating the living room a little too. Obviously. So much to think about :).

And by the way, the image from decorpad makes me want to buy an aqua sofa. So beautiful! What do you guys think of greens and blues? What's your favorite room from the ones above?

{inspired} spring florals

One of my favorite trends so far this spring is the abundance of bright, colorful florals. I'm a sucker for when fashion swings more feminine -- I love dressing up in cute skirts and patterns. 

I'm pretty sure my husband, who is so cool about my decorating decisions, would not so much agree with bringing overly feminine florals into our home. So today I thought it would be fun to dream and look at some lovely spaces that do incorporate this fun trend.

kristen is lovely

I love this wall paper. It manages to be moody and feminine all in one. This would be an amazing retreat.

pinterest

I think curtains are a great way to bring in a trend. They're easy to change up if you get tired of them and they bring so much personality to a room.

the decorista

I love this girly vintage couch. It's so bright and fun. And looks so chic with the pink walls.

If you like this look, and think you'd like to try it in your home, I pulled together some fun ways products that let you bring the look into your home in varying degrees.

1. Floral curtains
2. Quilt
3. Floral ipad case
4. Floral heart print
5. Amelia Sofa
6. Amaryllis Measuring Cups
7. Garden tools

I actually own #6, and I LOVE them. They're such a fun way to bring a pop of color into a room. Currently, they're serving as votive holders on my mantle. I also would love to try #4 and #1 in my house. And, in my dream sewing room/craft room/huge walk in closet (not necessarily all one room -- we're dreaming here afterall ;), I would definitely incorporate #5.

What do you think about a florals? Do you have them in your home now? Would you bring them in? If so, which products do you like best?

{inspired} a beach{ish} wedding

Happy Monday friends!

Did you all have a great weekend? :) Our weekend was relaxing ... and productive! I love those type of weekends, and they don't happen often enough. If I can find that perfect (and often elusive) balance between productive and relaxing, I'm happy.

Today I thought I'd share a little bit about one of my "hobbies" and a project I'm working on this summer. To give you a little background, I LOVE event planning. There's something about the sheer amount of details to keep track of and coordinate that makes my brain incredibly happy. But, the great thing about events is there is so much room for creativity as well! It's a win-win for me. Planning our wedding, in my mind, was the most fun ever. Seriously, I would marry Chris every five years if we had the money. So, every once in a while, and usually just for people I know {because I am busy already!}, I coordinate weddings. Usually I'm the day of coordinator ... I think they're critical and I love being able to help out people that way. I've given my coordinating abilities as gifts a couple times. And, I've taken a couple referrals and made a little money on the side. Love it! :)

pinterest

But, this summer, one of my favorite people in the world is getting married. There's a lot of background I won't go into, but she's like the little sister I never had. When she got engaged I knew I'd offer to be her coordinator, but I was tickled when she asked me to help with decor as well. YES PLEASE. 

 once wed

design sponge

She's getting married in Washington, but her theme is beachy. Since it's not at the beach, we don't want it to scream themey-beachy, but we want to give the same feeling as being at the beach: light, bright, open and airy. Her colors are a pretty bright blue, with accents of light blue, yellow, white and tan. Of course, I've been researching inspiration photos for her to get ideas. And of course, I put together an inspiration board. :) Wanna see? Good! Because it's below:

{Clockwise from bottom left} Her colors are blues and tans. She's definitely planning on having a dessert table, and I love the streamers behind this one -- so festive. She opted for no table flowers, so instead I'm thinking items that are beachy, but not themey: driftwood, sea grasses, sand, shells, succulents and TONS of candles. I love the idea of having white table clothes with a bolder blue accents. I think it will keep the room really light. Obviously, it would be cute to have fun with the straws. The room the reception's in is TALL. We're brainstorming ways to make it a little more intimate. Lanterns strung down? So dreamy. And, we'll need lots of signage to direct people I love this twine and blackboard sign. It's relaxed and casual, yet still so cute.

Friends, what do you think of when you think of the beach? How would you capture the feeling of beachy, without being too themey? The bride and I would LOVE your thoughts! :)