Couches, Patterns, & Color

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Striped Wall

My sister in law came over the other evening and gave me lots of fun ideas for our house.  I guess it just takes someone else sometimes to get you motivated to do some things that you've been too afraid to do.  I LOVE color. I love fun. I love out of the ordinary, non matching, eclectic style. Sarah helped motivate me to add a little of the color part to our home. I have been afraid of messing up, but it's just paint right?

I also love these bold stripes in grey and white. I'd like to do one wall like this in our living room. I have a can of grey from our office that I think would work...so it wouldn't cost anything!

Office Revamp...

I am still working on getting the pegboard ready to go. My mom came over and helped me organize and straighten some things up. It was much much needed. I have trouble seeing what needs to be done when I see the mess every day.

Her helping me on a few things turned in to me moving a few things around and going through lots of papers and little junk that has needed to be thrown away for a LONG time!  So thanks mom=)

It feels so good to get stuff like that done.

I got my zippers in for my pillows so I am SOOO excited to get to finishing up some of those!  I still have lots of work to do though. I am planning on having my site up and ready to go by the end of summer!!  I can't even wait.  I have LOTs of sewing, designing, and number crunching to do until then.

I just wanted to get my sewing area organized and how I like it before I go full force on the pillows.  Sometimes messes just make me get all unsettled and unfocused. I need cleanliness in order to get things done.

SO....

Here are a few things I've been looking at to help get my space feeling like a real sewing center!

This desk found at Crate and Barrel ( in white)...

Justin and my brother are going to make it for me this weekend if all goes well!  I'm so excited! It will be so nice to have more room to work with.

I was looking for a fun rolly chair too, so I can easily move back and forth from my new serger to my sewing machine...since I'll be using both regularly.  I saw this one on amazon and loved it. I've never quite seen a chair like it.

Justin was looking for a chair too since he works from home.  He has been sitting on an exercise ball for the past year. I don't know how he's done that for 8 hrs a day...but he liked it for a time.   Anyway, he ordered this one for himself... and got me the one I liked too!  He's such a sweet guy...  I'm excited!

So there you have it.  Lots of home office changes for us coming up. I think they will really be nice. I'm looking forward to some organization and some nice seating!

Living Room: Creating Height

Happy Tuesday!  Hope you're enjoying it so far.  I wanted share a little decor tip with you today.  I have had the hardest time in our living room and dining room with knowing how to decorate and fill the space. I LOVE our tall ceilings and am so thankful we have them, but they are a bit of a challenge.

I've been wanting to get a book shelf for the living room to help fill one wall. All we had were short decor pieces; an end table, the couch and a little entry table/cabinet.  I had been looking and looking here in town for a nice one, but just hadn't been able to find one in good shape for a reasonable price.  

I got this shelf in Chicago at IKEA. Yes...we drove it all the way from Chicago to Springfield.  It was in a box, but a long one that barely fit in my mom's van. My poor sisters willingly agreed to let me try and take it home. We all rotated sleeping under and around the thing the whole way back. Thanks K&K...I will always remember our trip when I look at the shelf =) 

Lilacs...The Sweetest Spring Aroma

I love lilacs! It's funny how you really start to notice things later on in life. My parents have lilacs at their house and all growing up, I don't think I realized how incredibly beautiful they were.  I have been appreciate the little things more this spring. There is so much beauty in just one tiny petal!  Take time to really look!  It's incredible.

We went over to my parent's for lunch on Sunday and Mom let me take a bundle home.  I LOVE the smell! I have them in our kitchen.  They are so gorgeous!

You know what else I've noticed about God's creation lately?  Well..being an artist, I love color combinations.  I don't like when everything matches PERFECTLY, but i love different hues and colors that work well together.  I was just looking at the sky the other day and the trees and the flowers budding and guess what...there was not ONE color out of place. SO many colors...but all blended beautifully together.  It really is amazing. He truly is the Master Artist!

I hope you are enjoying the spring flowers as much as I am.  Pick some a bring them inside too!  They really cheer up the place=)

Oreo Cream Cheese Truffles

I thought I would share a few more pics from My sis-in-law's engagement party.  We had fun stylizing the food and drinks.  I wish I could have gotten more photos but it was a bit hectic.

My favorite part of the food display were the oreo cream cheese truffles.  They were AMAZING...thanks to Sarah. She is so good at making these. She made them look so perfect for the party by adding the little pearl sprinkles (from Hobby Lobby).

Here are her masterpieces.

Try them yourself!

~Ingredients~

1 package regular Oreos (not Double Stuffed!)

1 eight ounce package softened cream cheese

Twelve ounces of melted white or milk or dark chocolate (or all three!)

Baking pans lined with wax paper.

~To Make~

~Combine all Oreos and softened cream cheese in a food processor.

~Form into balls.

~Put balls on baking pans lined with wax paper.

~Freeze until hardened probably 10-15 mins.

~Dip balls into melted chocolate. 

~Set back onto wax paper.

~Refrigerate to cool and store.

You can decorate any way you want.

(recipe from here)

OH, and another easy party tip...line plates, trays, or tiers with cute scrapbooking paper to make it go with your color theme.  It's really easy and a cheap way to change things up.

I hope you enjoy!  Have a great Wednesday and enjoy this weather!

Unique Christmas Gift Wrapping Ideas

With all the craziness of Christmas, I never want to look past the most amazing gift of all.  Jesus born in a manger.  God becoming man.  How incredible is that!  I was thinking about it today and was blown away at how amazing a gift that is.  We are truly blessed to have a God who loves us.  So much that he would send his son into this world to die for us. 

colored doors

A lot of rooms in our home are neutral colors.  I've been thinking it could be really fun to paint some doors a fun color.  I don't know though.  It seems a bit risky.  I'd have to be really sure of the color.  That's always the hard part. It would only take a quart though, so it wouldn't cost much if I wanted to change it.  Hmmmm....

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Hope you enjoy the snow today! 

Kendra

Eclectic yet put together

It's been a while since I've posted some of my design likes. These are all so fun because they are put together, but yet are not entirely matchy-matchy. I sometimes have trouble knowing how to put my crazy eclecticness into an orderly fashion.  I love these bold colors and statements.

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Setting up the Tree

Did anyone else set up their tree on Thanksgiving night??  I was giddy about it. As soon as we got home, we pulled out our tree from the attic, got out our Christmas box, turned on the Christmas music, made some hot chai tea and went to work.  My sisters came over to help, which made it lots of fun=) 

I was looking at some fun Christmas decor the other day and found these really neat ideas.  I love this first one!  I have some antlers that my father in law just gave me. I'm so excited to hang them up.  I want to hand ornaments from them like this...

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here

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!

Little Jewel Bird

I've had this bird cage for several years now, and hadn't found the perfect use for it...until today!  I love how unique it is.  It adds a little character to our bathroom and isn't just sitting collecting dust.  It now serves a purpose! I don't have tons of jewelry, but It's fun to have a neat place to store it.

Color

I just love the colors in these rugs.  The patterns and color combos give some great ideas for decor elsewhere in your home. 

White on White on White

I'm in a slump!  I'm trying not having too much color...like I normally do, and instead have hardly ANY!  I have all these ideas of how to add fun pops of color, but then chicken out.  I want to re-cover our ottoman in a fun pop color... but what if I spend all that time (and money on fabric) and then hate it! I want to make curtains for the living room that are a cheery color for winter...what if I get tired of the color.   So...white goes with...white.  So boring!  I need to just make a move and stick with it!


Can you believe it's already Wednesday!  Hope you have a good day.

Guest Bedroom Update

I hope you had a good weekend.  The weather was gorgeous!  I got to hang out with my sisters and mom this weekend for an evening and loved it.  We made it an extra special night and went to get our nails done, went shopping, and went out for dinner.  I love time with family...it is so special.

I thought I'd update you on the guest bedroom.  We still don't have a bed frame, and may not get one at all.  The bed works as is I suppose...  So here are some pics of what we have so far.

Dining Room Curtains

Remember when I saw these curtains at a Flea Market and wanted to get them really bad?  Well someone told me that they were not, in fact, vintage...but from Ikea.  It made me laugh.  I thought they were some special, one of a kind, old pair of curtains with a neat story behind them. 

We were able to go to Ikea about a month ago and I got these curtains.  Same print, different color. I love them! They bring so much more color to the dining room that the other ones did.

Here's the ones I found in the Flea Market:

Season for Crafting

Here is the Fall garland I made with Becky.

Wall shelves

We have a very blank wall in our house. It's one of those big empty walls that is just really intimidating. I havn't known what to do with it. It is white and would be fun with just about anything on it...that's the problem.  Too many choices.  I think I'd like to just have some big simple shelving.  Here are a few I found that I like. 

 Hope you enjoy...

 

designfromca.blogspot.com,

countryliving.com,

thelennoxx.com,

eclecticrevisited.wordpress.com,

ohdeedoh.com

Decor Pillows

I decided to make some new throw pillows for our bedroom. We have plenty of pillows as is...I know.  People tease me about have way too many throw pillows, but don't worry, I just re-covered some I already had.  It's just fun to change it up.  Here's what I came up with.

It wasn't bad before, just a little drab.

I started by lining up a color palette of fabrics I already had.

I weeded out the purple after making a few pillows.  I like it but I already had too many!

I've had the black and white floral print fabric for years and years. It was an old vintage dress...sounds sad to cut into it, I know, but it really wasn't cute at all.  Don't worry...

...Oh, and the pillow in front was a gift.  I didn't make it... ( I think it's from Target)

Our little Breakfast Nook

We got this vintage table at a garage sale several months ago.  It needed a little cleaning. I took some steel wool to it and it cleaned right up. The chairs are a friend's. She has such great taste.  She used them in her wedding around the head table...how fun is that!  For now, they bring some fun color to our kitchen.

I decided to bring some plants inside to cheer us up.  I love freshness inside!

Have a great Friday!  Enjoy the weather this weekend.  I'm excited about spending this weekend with some sweet friends from college. Can't wait!

Urban Rug

We got to go to Urban Outfitters while we were in Chicago too.  I got this floral rug.  It really helps make our kitchen feel a bit warmer.  I love color. Our white walled house is fun, but I've been so afraid of what to do that I just keep not doing anything.  It was so fun to finally add some pops.

This little rug was from IKEA.  It was only four dollars!  I got two for the kitchen.  One yellow and one red.

Here's the Urban Outfitter's rug.  I love the bold colors.  It has all three of these patterns on one rug. 

I decided to put it under the wooden island.  I stand around it a lot, so it's nice to have a little something soft under my feet.

Thanks again for stopping by!