Quickie Update

I was ecstatic when Sarah sent some updated pictures of her kitchen.  Back in March, I featured Sarah’s kitchen as a Quickie and now I have the privilege to share her progress with you.  She is loving her new appliances, painted cabinets and can’t wait to do some work to the backsplash and countertops!

Here is a reminder of how it looked before:

And now for the big unveiling (!):

Don’t the dark cabinets and stainless steel appliances look great?!  Loved seeing how it looks today and can’t wait to see what new changes the house holds in the next year!  If you like what you see and want to get a Quickie of your own, click here to get started.

Quickie-Favorite Bedroom Items

So for the next few weeks’ Quickies I thought I would pull together some of my favorite pieces for each type of room.  So naturally, I figured I would start with a bedroom in this year’s most popular color, turquoise.

Here is our board:

And now for the rundown:

1. Starting with the color palette, a gray-ish blue for the walls in a soft tone will give that calming chic effect we are looking to create.  Something like, , should just do the trick.  For the rest of the colors, dark brown, a light taupe and punches of dark turquoise will make the room finished with furnishings and accessories.
2. A geometric headboard will ground the room and this favorite from west elm won’t disappoint.  Between it’s eye catching price and the symmetry of it’s lines, this will be a bedroom staple for years to come.
3. The nightstands a just a bit off but that is what I absolutely love about them.  Since the headboard has so much symmetry it is great to pair it with side tables that are a bit out of balance.  I think the pulls add so much character to these pieces with out dating them for years to come.
4. With such stable, long lasting pieces in the room so far it is time for a little punch of unexpected.  A couple of these chairs in a seating group just to the side of the room will look fabulous.  And if you don’t have room for 2 just add one with a little side table to create an “intimate reading nook.”
5. Just a little accent for your nightstands with this lovely, modern alarm clock.  It is just the perfect amount of edgy with such a classic room.
6. The bedding is from one of my favorite designers that I introduced you to a while back, DwellStudios.  This bedding reminded me of the headboard, but with a softer side in circles.  The neutral gray tone will look fantastic in the room of muted blues and that little accent pillow with the birds will pull the rug right in.
7. Speaking of the rug, this dark turquoise lovely will nestle right under the bed perfectly.  I loved that it had the bird’s foot prints lining one edge that throw the symmetry of the bed right out the window.  Just a fun little nod to not making everything perfect-o!
8. The window coverings needed a little softness, but still needs to pull back in some structure, so these panels fit the part.  The natural linen material often looks a bit messy, but the link pattern helps to create the form that it needs.  Hung from a basic brushed nickel rod these will help make the room effortless.
9. Lastly, nightstand table lights will look dramatic with this full arc table lamp and the bright white linen shade will pull all the materials back into the space.

Hope you love seeing a few of my favorite items.  I have spent many hours contemplating that headboard!!  Don’t you just LOVE that chair?!  Anyway, if you are interested in a Quickie for yourself, stop on by and shoot me an email so I can get started!

Spring Catch-up

My folks were in town for the past week and boy did we have a great time.  We did everything from hanging in LA, betting on some horses and watching around 250 dolphins play.  Here’s our fun rundown: we went to a taping of Price is Right and, unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the stage but it sure was fun to watch the taping.  Plus, the lady who won the whole showcase and all was seated just behind us so we might be flashed on the big screen!!  We also took a trip to go whale watching, but it was in between blue and gray season so we were only able to see a pod of dolphins (but boy were they cute!)  And finally we each picked a strategy for the Kentucky Derby and put money in the pool.  Too bad that John was the only one that took home anything and it was a whooping $7.40!!  Talk about big spenders! 😉

We also worked on my household to do list that had been back-piling for quite a while.  They graciously offered to do a few of the things off the list and before the end of the week the entire list disappeared.  Talk about a weight lifted off my back.  Thanks for visiting and helping us out!  We had a great time and can’t wait for you to come back.

Here’s a glimpse at what we completed:

Dad and I cleaned up the workbench, reorganized tools that never found a home when we made the peg board wall and installed the vise.  Here my dad, Lee, is just finishing up the installation.

Meanwhile, my mom, Kathy, was putting some spar varnish on our new patio chairs from IKEA.  We had this same version before that are not intended to be outdoor chairs and the finish quickly came off (less than 3 years) in the sun so we put a marine grade lacquer on this time to protect the chairs a bit better.  Trust me when I say these chairs make a fire-pit so comfortable.

So while mom was finishing up dad and I got the idea to create a new house number plaque since John had bought me new numbers for my birthday a while back.  I know very romantic gift but I asked for them!!  Anyway, we ended up cutting a new board, staining it, mom put a couple of coats of lacquer on it then we attached the numbers and installed it.  Now our front really looks great since all the items are in brushed nickel (the light, mail box and number plaque) and match!

That afternoon we also installed a new clothesline with a retractable cord on our patio.  Since we live near the beach we are always bringing home beach towels that need to dry off before they track sand in the house so it will be nice to have this cleverly designed clothesline for the future.

To finish off our afternoon we planted the planter garden I had been planning.  First, the planters didn’t come with pre-drilled holes so we made our own with a concrete drill bit.  Next, we filled the bottoms with river rock for a better water flow, then filled them with dirt.  I am now in charge of keeping a lime tree, a strawberry plant, grape tomatoes, radishes, tiny cucumbers, basil, cilantro and mint alive.  I will keep you updated if I kill anything or if they start producing like they are suppose to.

Lastly, we had an old stump that was part of the original planter the home builder put around the garage.  We intended to remove it with a chainsaw but dad kicked it a few times and the thing came right out.  Guess it had been dead for longer than we thought.  Talk about an easy removal!  So we poured on some more topsoil and planted some wild flower seeds.  Hopefully, they grow as well.