Child Art Walls....Keeping your Home Stylish with Children

As my little 3 year old flourishes into an amazing artist :-), I've been racking my brain on how to incorporate her art into my dream bohemian modern home.  To me a home should include a great percentage of meaningful things, and there is nothing more meaningful than something my little Bean Butt has created with her own heart and hands.  I will start with her own bedroom.  I've been at a stand still with her room for a while, there are a couple great pieces, her bed and the vintage numbers waterfall dresser.  This is my vision to add on to that. 
Here it is today, a cute start but missing that WOW factor. 

I'd like to get a cute modern task lamp for her bedside table or a floor one maybe.  I'm torn between a traditional brushed nickel or bronze one or a brightly colored one....I'm leaning toward a bright one, maybe either yellow or hot pink!  I love the vintage lamp in bright yellow from Urban Outfitters but of course it doesn't ship to CA!  Booey.

Pottery Barn Teen

Urban Outfitters

West Elm

Some fun mismatched frames with her artwork to frame her bed (I love the artwork hung in this room from Heather Chontos' Brooklyn home), and this cute elephant art from Urban Outfitters.

A striped duvet cover for her bed.  I'm loving this grey and white striped one from Urban Outfitters.

With the wide open wall in her room shown in above pic, I want to do a framed chalkboard, an iron "L" and a collage art wall similar to something from these beautiful homes (courtesy of Project Nursery).

From Susanna Salk‘s book, Room for Children

 Seagrass wallpaper from Elle Decor as a wainscot around a room. It’s forgiving, so you can pushpin and nail to your heart’s content and never have to worry about marking up the wall. Kids can add and subtract from this wall collage as they please, to maintain and update the room

Love this one room!

More examples from Susanna Salk

Maybe a cute striped rug for the end of her bed, some string lights, and a little color with or over her black out curtains would be nice.  We'll see.....

Have a great week. 
Jill

Dresser Makeover

It's been pretty slow on Craigslist lately, I discovered this dresser in very bad shape, brought it home.  I realized the topcoat just peeled right off so I spent a couple of days using a putty knife to peel off the topcoat as you can see from the pictures.  I also puttied over all the hardware holes so I could change up the hardware a little bit. 

I decided to try something new and did a soft grey wash over white paint on it, with a little distressing.  Then I added some new oil rubbed bronze hardware.  I thought it turned out pretty good considering where it had been.  The drawers are clean and it's very solid.  It kind of reminds me in shape of a Restoration Hardware dresser.  It has a soft masculine appeal to it.  Anyhow, I'll let you decide. 

Here it was when I brought it home:

And here it is today:

Peace, Jill

The Desk Hidden in the Back Shed....

A few weeks ago I went to look at a table on Craigslist and ended up coming home with this.  I accidentally happened upon her while walking by the back shed.  I wasn't 100% sure what it was or what it should be but I fell for it.  And I just love meeting the people behind the interesting pieces I find, the owner of this sweet desk was very interesting, telling me the story of it's youth, the tale of the his future.  Anyhow, here she was when I brought her home, not bad but a bit neglected. 

And after a little white paint, some TLC, and some brand new Anthropologie hardware, she is now fit for a proper place in the front house!  I love the beautiful peeks of robin's egg and chocolate paints.  I picture a metal bistro chair and and a great new task lamp with her. 

Furniture Rescue (and Super Cute Drawer Liners)

Since starting to refinish furniture, I've had my share of re-doing dirty, smelly and old dressers. It can be sometimes very hard to take at first, but trust me, it can be so worth the pain of cleaning the piece up in the end as long as the piece itself is in good shape. For example the adorable waterfall dresser I refinished for Lila's room in the below post came to me in pretty bad shape. The drawers were filthy and very musty. Here is what I did to remove the stink and clean it up.

1. For about 2 weeks I had bowls of ground coffee beans in each of the drawers to suck out some of the smell. It worked as long as you're okay with it smelling like coffee! :) The coffee smell does go away.

2. Then I wiped the entire piece down with a warm water and Murphy's oil soap mixture.

3. I removed all the drawers and set the dresser and drawers out in the sun everyday for about a week. That is one of the fortunate things about living in a very warm sunny climate as I could do this in the middle of December. The sun naturally cleans and kills a lot of that mustiness.

4. I refinished the dresser.

5. I added adorable drawer liners. For Lila's waterfall dresser, I used this super cute tree bark gift wrap paper from Paper Source.

To do this I used outdoor Mod Podge from Michaels (or probably any craft store) and generously brushed it on the bottom of the drawer. I carefully started on one side and laid my paper down in the drawer using a wallpaper scraper to ensure all the bubbles were out of it and the glue was distributed evenly. I let this dry for 24 hours. Then I finished by brushing on a paper Mod Podge over the top to protect it for years of future wear.

I love this tree bark paper so much I think it will be my signature drawer liner! Thank goodness a Paper Source store is opening in my city in just a couple of days! EEEeeeeeee! So excited.

Have a great weekend!

Jill xo

Waterfall Dresser Obsession - Craigslist Heartbreak

Okay, so I found this amazing 1930's art deco waterfall dresser on Craigslist yesterday, called them, they said it was still available, I said I'd come right then to pick it up. I told the guy I'd call my husband since he worked right there and call him right back to get the address (should have just gotten address first!). When I called back his wife answered said she was on hold with another guy about the dresser, I said I had talked to her husband and told them I was on my way to pick up. She said she'd have to call me back, that she needed to talk to her husband. They never called back. Then a few minutes later I get a text, "Sorry, we decided to keep it. About the dresser.' My theory is someone offered them more money and they sold to them, or, they had so many people interested they decided to keep it and maybe re-sell it later for a lot more. It was only listed for $60 and was everything I was looking for! I am so down now (the downfall of Craigslist, heartbreak LOL!!)

My plan is to get a second waterfall dresser similar to this one that I recently refinished for Lila's room and refinish it so that when Evy gets in a big girl bed we can put them in the same room and they'd have similar dressers. I have some time but now the hunt is on!

My creation for Lila's room

Until then I guess I will enjoy pics of these beautiful dressers!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE

In the Fun Lane

Red Shoes Homegoods

eleven - o - one creations

West Elm and Victoria Smith Love

Hopefully you get the West Elm catalogs in the mail...if not, go to the West Elm website. There is a 'Show and Tell Parsons made Personal' spread in the latest 'Start Fresh' catalog and under the 'New' section on the website. In particular I am loving the interview and spread with Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay.com.

Again I'm LOVING the opposing mix of laid back bohemian style with crisp modern lines. My style is forever evolving but with this style I feel like I've finally found it, the perfect blending of my style. I've tried the shabby chic thing, and I love individual pieces but put all together doesn't work for me. I love some modern pieces but everything modern feels very cold and sterile. I just love the idea of blending multiple styles with important personal treasures and somehow making it come together. It also makes it easier as you evolve your style, you can mix and match items you already have into new pieces. A little creativity also helps. Hope this spread inspires you. :-) Now if I can figure out where she got those awesome dining chairs and oversized chalkboard!! My personal favorite though is that amazing area rug! It would look amazing in my baby's nursery!!

I am also finished with a couple furniture makeovers too so hopefully I can share very soon!

Peace,

Jill xo

Brooklyn, NY Brownstone Love

I am totally drooling over Lucky Magazine's, February 2012 Lucky Life spread, "Nothing Precious" article about jewelry designer Lyndsay Caleo's Brooklyn Brownstone, "an oasis of let-your-hair-down cool filled with a mix of rustic and modern furnishings and artfully arranged personal treasures."

It is this beautiful balance of organic rustic materials and modern design, with a perfect hint of personal touches. I love the stark whites with the natural browns and greens. I can't stop staring at the beautiful pics.

I couldn't find the actual magazine pictures but was able to find pics of her brownstone on Design Sponge. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have, and it gets your wheels turning for your own Spring home makeovers.

Jill xo

Nursery Cubby Storage

Even though my little EJ is over a year old, I'm still working on her first bedroom, by the time I feel like I've finished she will be ready for her big girl room. Oh well, I'm having fun!! My latest obsession are these wire cubby storage units. Since I'm using a normal dresser for her changing table it would be nice for storing diapers, wipes, etc. above her dresser so they aren't sitting on the dresser and constantly falling off. The first one I saw that got me thinking was this vintage wire cubby shelf at Restoration Hardware:

But it wasn't quite right so I started googling it.....and found this one from PB Teen, unfortunately it is 'No Longer Available'. I like that it just has three cubbies with hooks underneath.

I found this one at CB2 which might be perfect except for the color which is an easy fix so it's def in the running.

And lastly I found this one from Gardener's Supply Company, which I think might be my favorite but is about $20 nore than the CB2 one. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.

Hope you are enjoying 2012 !

Peace,

Jill

The Everything Table

A few weeks ago as I was scouring through Craigslist, one of my favorite pastimes! :-), I came across this awesome table. It reminded me of the really old green table used for display in the back of my local Anthropologie store. I knew I had to have it, not sure for what, but knew I needed to bring it home. After a little haggling on the price, it came home that night. Once it was sitting in my garage, I thought it would make an awesome art table for the girls. And it would.... if we lived in a bigger house. So I decided to refinish and sell it. It will be very sad to see it go.

Here is what it looked like when I brought it home

And this is what it looks like today. I painted the entire thing a very industrial grey color, then painted the body an off white and antiqued the entire thing. Hopefully someone will enjoy many years with it, hopefully there will be many meals, glasses of wine, drawings and discussions over this table. :-)

Peace,

Jill xo

And the winner is....

And after weighing price, looks, and reviews on quality, I think we have a winner. This table from Cost Plus World Market, the Aiden 3 shelf console, will be perfect for adding some baskets and getting all the new, and old, toys organized. I already have the perfect home for it, see that space against the wall under Lila's framed artwork.... Now I just have to go pick up the rain check and wait for it to get here.... :-))

Hope you are all having an exceptional start to 2012! And getting organized!!!

Peace,

Jill xo