{renovate} the depths of indecision

Sometimes I'm quick to make decisions and know precisely what I want. Other times, it takes me months and I second guess everything. The latter usually revolves around fabric and/or other textiles. It just so happens that I'm trying to choose a couple different fabrics right now. And a couple rugs. I need to choose fabric for over the kitchen sink. I also need to choose fabric for the living room ottoman and I need a rug for in front of the kitchen sink. Oh and possibly a rug under the table in the nook. Seriously, it's a lot! It makes my head spin. I know I want to have some fun with the fabric over the sink, so I'm trying to choose that fabric first and then base my other choices off it.

I know you're all curious, so here, my friends, is what indecision looks like:

I. CAN'T. CHOOSE. First world problems, right? I just want to pick one so I can move on with my life, but none are right. At the beginning of the kitchen remodel, I posted that I wanted to updated the color scheme be blue and green - instead of just blue. This still holds true. More recently, I posted a variety of fabrics, trying to narrow things down. The one thing I have decided is that I want a floral, because there are so many straight lines in the room - the cabinets, the tile, the painted lines on the floor. (My awesome husband pointed that one out ;) I need to both mix it up and soften it up. The problem here, though, is that a lot of florals read too stuffy.

The fabric below (left) is actually the closest to what I'm looking for. Chris loves this one. But I think it's maybe too turquoise? Although, the pattern is pretty awesome.

During High Point Market, I was drooling over browsing the #hpmkt hashtag in instagram and came across this fabric:

PERFECT. Do any of you know what this is? I asked the person who posted, but haven't heard back. I LOVE it. It's bright and fun, yet not too busy or precious or stuffy. If any of you know, or have a guess, let me know! :)

Friends, what do you second guess yourself about? Are you in the middle of a decorating dilemma right now?

{inspired} winter color palettes

Today feels like a great day to talk about color palettes, don't you agree? If you've been following along, I have blue on the mind lately. It's a very happy coincidence that there's so much blue in stores right now! It's such a nice cool-toned color for winter and I love that both of color palettes below would transition nicely into spring.

Winter color palette #1.

jcrew

pinterest

I love the layered blues in both this outfit and the room. A huge dose of white keep both really fresh and clean and the varied shades of a single color adds a ton of depth.

Winter color palette #2.

anthro

pinterest

inspire to design

I actually own this top and it is so amazing in person. The colors are gorgeous. I love how both the table setting and the room take a different spin on the same color palette and are still both amazing. The table setting is a little more glam; the room is a little more preppy. I totally love them both.

Friends, which color palette is your favorite? What color are you completely digging right now?

**Each season I take a look at an outfit I'm loving and translate that outfit's color palette into a comfortable and stylish room. If you’d like to check out previous color palette posts see: fall color palettes, summer color palettes,  spring color palettes, winter color palettes, fall color palettes, summer color palettes, and spring color palettes.

{inspired} kitchen fabric options

So, as for the kitchen remodel, we're getting so close to the fun and pretty part - decorating! Adding some color, some fabric, etc. The stressful part, though, is that I freeze and quadruple guess myself when it comes to picking out fabric. I am the worst at picking fabric - it takes me forever. And in this case, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. Let me set the scene for you guys.

Because of the new couch, and yet to be shown new ottoman that will serve as a coffee table, we're mixing up the entire first floor a little. I'm looking for ottoman fabric (desperately needs recovering), kitchen window fabric and nook window fabric. Because everything is so open to each other, they need to coordinate on some level. I'm also trying to decide if the kitchen window fabric should match the nook window fabric to give in a cleaner look, but then I think it might be more fun to have a different fabric. See? Factors.

Our rug, which I love, is pretty traditional. The color palette in the rooms, as I talked about last spring, will be blues and greens. As a lot of you probably know, I'm really drawn to geographic patterns, which I think would balance out the traditional rug really well. Here's what I've been looking at so far:

(top: fabricut, calico corners, robert allen; second: duralee, serena and lily; third: calico corners,  duralee; bottom: calico corner, calico, schumacher) 

 

I love them all! Oh, but there isn't a lot of green here, so I'm still looking.

A part of me also really loves soft florals, though. And I think they play off graphic patterns beautifully - when done well. My fear with these, though, is they can quickly escalate to granny. Granny is NOT the look I'm going for, but these fabrics can be nice:

(top: calico corners, calico corners; middle: calico corners; bottom: lee jofa)

It's a start, right? I'm sure we'll be talking about this more :).

Friends, how do you narrow and choose fabrics?

{create} custom painted plates

As you all saw Wednesday, I created custom painted dessert plates for my Thanksgiving Table. Today, I'm back with quick and easy directions for creating your own painted plates! Painted plates are a super easy way to dress up a table and add a splash of color if you have all white dishes - like me! :)

The goal of these plates was to create a layered, textural and colorful look. I wanted them to be something I could use year round and that would feel special for desserts or appetizers.

With that in mind, I started with four white dessert plates (from the Dollar Store!) and a gold paint pen. I freehanded a different design onto each and let them all dry.

I found these great stencils at Michael's -- they're Martha Stewart adhesive silkscreen stencils and they were FANTASTIC for working with the curves of the plate. (I was going to link to them, but Michael's website is seriously impossible to navigate (AKA, I'm lazy!), but they're easy to find in the store). The silkscreen means there isn't an actual cut out where the stencil is, but a million tiny little dots that the paint goes through. You can't tell their dots on the finished project and it made stenciling practically fool proof.

The colors, which went along with my Thanksgiving inspiration and nicely tie into colors I use all year-round, were Martha's Green Olive and Wild Blueberry. Make sure you're using paint that cures onto glass and can be washed later! The key to painting, as with all stencils, is to not overload the paintbrush. Or, in this case the foam blotter :). I tried both a brush and foam and the foam worked so much better -- I think because of the silkscreen. You can see in the photo on the left that I dabbed off a lot of paint before I ever touched the stencil.

Here's the first round of stenciling. I applied a stencil or two per plate, let them dry for a hour, and then came back and to do another layer on each plate. The project will stretch out over a day, but applying each layer is so quick that it doesn't feel time consuming.

And these are the four finished plates. Each plate has about three or four layers. I just kept going until they felt done to me, which in this case was layered and textural, but not too busy.

And see? They display dessert nicely ... as if macarons ever look bad ;).

Friends, have you ever painted glass before? Or any sort of dishes? It's a great easy weekend project if you're looking to spice up your Thanksgiving table!

Have a great weekend all!

**Update! I'm linking this post up to Beneath My Heart's November link party!

{create} a colorful thanksgiving table

First of all, thank you all for your sweet comments about my kitchen! We're getting there and it's been so much fun to share the process with all of you.

That said, I'm sick of working on my kitchen! I've been in such a creative funk the last few months -- there's been tons of change in our lives and with all the kitchen work, well? A little funky :). But that all changed this weekend. I had a tiny spark of creativity - that I hope is here to stay - in the form of a Thanksgiving table! Clearly, we're not hosting Thanksgiving again this year, but I still wanted to play around with how I would set a table if we were. The bonus? Chris and I've eaten at the table a couple times since, which is a really nice change from the couch. (I know, I know. All excuses point to the kitchen remodel ;).

My inspiration was the blue, citron, gold and wood color scheme that I posted about last week. From there I set about layering textures and colors to create a table that is simple, but special, warm and inviting.

 I love the citron stripes with the gold and white.

And, that herringbone is one of my most favorite fabrics ever.

Because the color scheme isn't exactly "traditional," I created a simple centerpiece filled with seasonally appropriate pears and acorns :).

I also whipped up that sweet little tray that contains the centerpiece. See, I told you I was feeling creative! I'll post a tutorial soon.

And speaking of crafty, I also made the colorful salad plates. I LOVE that our dishes are a beautiful, simple cream color, but sometimes I just want a little extra oomph on the table. I wanted to create salad plates that were colorful, botanical and a little funky. Tutorial on this coming up soon too! :)

 

This whole exercise makes me want to host Thanksgiving again. But, I have a feeling once the kitchen is done we'll be hosting a lot of dinners :).

{inspired} Thanksgiving ideas

Happy Monday friends! Did you all have a great weekend?

Now that it's November, I'm excited to start thinking about Thanksgiving! A couple weeks ago, we Chris and I were running errands and I came across a Thanksgiving/fall-type table that I just can't stop thinking about.

Isn't it gorgeous? The blue and citron make such a nice fresh color scheme for fall. Different than the typical oranges and reds, but still warm and beautiful. The layers of stripes, color, wood and feathers make it interesting and inviting.

With this lovely table in mind, I thought I'd create a mood board with some ideas for a blue and citron Thanksgiving.

Clockwise from top: napkins, gold wishbone, blue dotted plates, gold tree stump plates, creature plates,  and candle stick

Friends, what colors are you planning on for your Thanksgiving table?

ps. You can see my Thanksgiving table from last year here.

{inspired} summer color palettes

I realize that summer "officially" starts on June 21. And, there are a lot of place across the U.S. that have been basking in hot warm summer sun since before then. But we're a little slower here in Oregon. It's a general rule that Oregon summers - the sun, warm weather - don't begin until after July 4th. Seeing as how we've had nearly two weeks of perfectly sunny mid-80's weather, I think it's safe to say that summer finally here :).

All this to say ... it's time to look at summer color palettes! For those of you newer readers, each season I take a look what's on my to-wear wish list, and then translate that into a comfortable and stylish room.

Summer Color Palette #1

 

anthro

southern piphi

Summer Color Palette #2

 

asos

traditional home

Summer Color Palette #3

jcrew-skirt jcrew-shirt

free house interior design ideas

Friends, which look is your favorite? Obviously, I LOVE coral right now. But I'm also really digging blues and greens. I think I would take them all :)

** If you’d like to check out previous color palette posts see: spring color palettes, winter color palettes, fall color palettes, summer color palettes, and spring color palettes.

{inspired} mood board monday

It's that time again! Mood board Monday! This is my favorite link party ... I love that it stretches me to be creative and think outside the box. For this one, our lovely host Sarah chose a few different chairs for us to build a room around.

I chose this amazing chair, because really, how gorgeous is IT?!

I was having trouble coming up with an "imaginary" room for this lovely to live, so instead this mood board is based in reality. As most of you know, my family has a beach house. And my mom and I've been brainstorming ways to update my bedroom there, and so this moodboard is a jumping off point for that room. We already own the seagrass headboard, and the side tables and dresser are very similar to what is already there. We've been talking about using PB's blue stripe duvet on the bed, so I used these things as a jumping off point to add in the gorgeous chair and update the room.

1. Colors. The walls will be a nice, bright, warm white. And, we'll incorporate accents of blues, pinks/corals.
2. Seagrass headboard.
3. Blue stripe bedding. Will use the shams and the duvet, so roll up at the end of the bed.
4. White quilt. Will be the main bedding. It adds a lovely dose of neutral and texture.
5. Pillows Pink flower pillow
6. Wall art  So, so gorgeous. A beautiful water painting that doesn't scream: I'm at the beach!
7. Pendant lights  To hang over each side table.
8. Side tables 
9. Mirror. Lovely. A little beachy, but not too "theme-y"
10. Dresser 
11. Blue Chair
12. Floor lamp To create a cozy little nook around the chair. Perfect for curling up with a blanket (see #13) and a book.
13. Blanket
14. Pink flower pillow

Make sure you visit Pewter and Sage to check out all the incredibly creative mood boards! And, make sure you check back on Wednesday for kitchen remodel progress. Let's just say we had a very productive weekend :)

{inspired} kitchen mood board

Happy Friday friends! I have super crazy happy that it's the end of the week and we're onto to the weekend!

I finally had a chance to actually put together the mood board for our kitchen renovation. The overriding basis for a lot of the kitchen decisions was that it has to flow with the living room. See, we're opening up the wall between the living room and the kitchen, so these rooms need to correlate more than ever before.

As a reminder, here's an {older} pic of our living room. We've actually begun incorporating more navy into the room since:

By incorporating the creams, blues and browns into the kitchen area, we feel like we'll have good flow. Beyond that, we want the space to be bright and friendly. We'd like to add in a touch of industrial, to fit with the rest of the house, but making sure it is still classic and fits the "bones" of our older home.

1. Colors. The greige, the same color as our back entryway directly off the kitchen, will go on the walls. We'll accent with a lighter blue, darker blue and some small, small pops of orange and yellow. 
2. Adel Cabinets from IKEA. We debated long and hard about IKEA cabinets. But in the end they won because in reality, this update is as much for our enjoyment as it is for upping our resale value. If we went with cabinets that are TOO expensive, we won't get our money back.
3. Hardware. A little industrial, a little librarian. Love.
4. Lighting. This is still up for debate, but I do really like this one. It's clear glass (not grey as it looks in the photo) and think it would be very pretty above our island. But, we'll see.
5. Swiss Cross Tile from Ann Sacks. LOVE. Like so, so, so much.
6. Faucet. A little more industrial.
7. Farm sink. This was at the top of my list when we started planning. It hasn't budged an inch :).
8. Butcher block counters. This was also at the top of my list, but has moved around a bit. In the end though, it fits the look we're going for.
9. Lighting for above the sink. All I  knew was that I didn't want a pendant above the sink, but I think I really love this one.
10. Island stools. I've been looking EVERYWHERE for stools. And omg, they're expensive. I really like these though, so we'll see.
11. Hardwood floors. It's been a roller coaster that I'll tell you about more later, but I'm just so, so, so happy that we're refinishing our original hardwoods! 
12. Fabric. I'll bring the pelmet box back to add a little color to the room.
13. Accessories. Some bowls were already have, a spoon rest we already have and plants all round out the color scheme nicely.

 So, that's where this remodel is heading friends! Which part is your favorite? :)

I 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} 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! :)