The one about Colorsnap...

I just saw via Pinterest that Sherwin Williams has an app to find the paint color that corresponds to real life colors. Sounds pretty awesome to me! It says it works on Blackberry but I am so over my BB and will only do this once I have fully appleized my life and added an iphone to my arsenal (hopefully in next month or two). 

check it out here

Anyway, check it out, let me know if you have it or plan to try it, I wonder how accurate it is.

xxSarah

The one about all the stuff I saw while shopping but didn't buy...

*disclaimer: horrid photos, please don't hold my BB's camera against me.

Target

task lamps, for around $40-$50, great deal and very similar to those sold PB/WS.

Pier 1

faux Mora (grandmother) clock, about an inch thick. cute. Once featured in a Country Living sweepstake.

table top Mora. Not diggin floral print, but love otherwise.

slip covered slipper chair. Really like the color palette of this cover.

Southeastern Salvage

metal dining chairs (that I've been pining over!)...only $78!! Similar at PB are $245/ea.

garden bench. these were about twice the size of all the other ones I've seen (more apropos for actual side table use) and these were only $68! Cheapest by far!

I never thought I'd be so good at walking away...but if you've read my last post, I'm trying to veer away from unplanned purchases as they tend to turn sour.

xxSarah

The one where I ponder...and ad lib.....

Do you ever get half way through a really extensive project just to think, hmmm, am I making a HUGE mistake, I don't really even like [insert color]...and this [insert large object in room] is so busy, how will I ever find a [insert object] or [insert object] to coordinate...

I impulse bought some fabulous fabric at Hancocks for a great price. BUT now that I have made 2 dummy curtains, I'm JUST NOW REALIZING that this was not at all the look I set out to do. What is it that blocks out all logical planning when we find a steal on something pretty? Now I have to rethink other objects because I found some great sale fabric with like 7+ colors in it {not the simple yellow and cream I originally stated} so yea. Main color is a deep red....RED! When was red ever in the equation??? ::sigh::

I should never shop unsupervised. ever. ever. again.

The one about the front windows...

I've decided to start naming posts like "Friends" episodes. I think it'll catch on. :)

So, here is my plan for the windows. A little something like this.

Hope to find fabric like these inspiration drapes from Antrho. Not only are they more than I want to spend, but I am planning to do mock drapes on the windows, so will only need like 2' in width, and then will do some stationary roman shade style treatments for the sidelights.

I have purchased custom cut rollers shades and they are now hung, next will be painting them with navy sripes and then finding hardware. I LOVE this guy below, but they are sold out for another 4 months I was told!!! :( 

What do you think? Have you seen any DIY shade pulls?

xxSarah

{And a father's day shout out to my dad and my sweet hubby! Meatloaf, potatoes, apple pie and other all-american manly treats at my parent's tomorrow in celebration, woohoo!}

Top O' the Morning to Ya!

Ok, so I'm not a coffee drinker (unless its a bottled Starbuck's frappuccino, weird I know) and today, feeling like I needed a little edge on my morning, I filled a Guinness high ball with my chocolate milk....

  

So far, no noticeable difference. 

BUT I am hoping I will get some sort of energy boost soon before I get to my parents. I have been helping my mom with their new pool project. Family motto is pretty much "why pay someone to do what you know how to?" 

 Here is a sneak peek of some tile work we have been doing (in the 95-100deg heat).

looks a little different b/c glass tile is on white pool wall and on concrete blocks. but once the grout lines are all white, no gray peeks through to make top look darker, thank you color theory class! I had to reassure mom more than once :)

The old pool was a big generic vinyl monster. This baby has a waterfall wall and jets that shoot in. The tile is neutral colored glass 1" tiles and the surround will be cut concrete that we will stain in a month or so of curing. I took this a few weeks ago, the concrete has been poured and we are going to finish grouting today. Cannot wait to take "real" pictures and share with you all her hard work and planning.

Take care!

xxSarah

Advice on my dilemma PEAS!

Ok, so I'm starting a fire under my own butt! I've got to get going on this room switch, too many visitors in the next two months to be taking my sweet time making decisions...but this one is HARD! :(

 

I made a few diagrams and am also polling facebook peeps...This first photo was taken like 2 yrs ago,  It's been 100deg for days...like I'm going to show you my fried up grass, psh! yea right!

Hmm, any other advice? I don't want it too busy but with so many different windows I'm working with I just don't have a simple solution. Looking for enough privacy since we really LIVE in the living room, but to be aesthetically pleasing as well.

Thanks!!!

Sarah

A Ziggy Zaggy Mourning, A Frame Fiasco, and A Lamp-No-Go.

Ever since I saw this post from Danielle Oakey Interiors I fell hard for this simple chevron rug. 

picture me in a soft embrace with my macbook, crooning Adele's "Crazy For You"

However, I've been holding off on buying too much until I get my room switcheroo moving a little faster and can determine what size rugs and such I need. SO my tortoise pace has yet again punched me in the gut. The rugs are sold out. However, dear pals, don't you fret, after some stalking, threatening, and super secret insider information [....i emailed customer support] I found that they will be sold yet again around August of this year! You bet your pantaloons I will be on UO's site each morning starting late July. I am that desperate and crazed to have this. Reviews were pretty good. For a $70 rug I think less than 5 stars is plenty acceptable.

In other news....my presh-tastic frames went nuts on me. I think the wood was a little moist and once hung for a few days in my hot hiney house, they shrunk! 

I emailed photos to my dad in a tizzy, and now they sit at my parents yet again, awaiting an operation. I sure hope they come through ok!

And on a final note, lamp guts are kinda pricey. You have the electrical kit, then the threaded rod thing, then the shade and base...not a great deal. So I have decided to either try to dissect 2 similar thrift store lamps [scary] or just buy them new. 

vases i was planning to turn into buffet lamps :(

Enjoy the weekend, I am photographing a 1 year old by a river bank. So excited! Will link up to a picture once they are edited. 

xxSarah

Lovely X Bench

First lets bask in the beauty of these inspiration photos....

beaulifestyle.blogspot.com

 love-lovin the palette and furniture choices in this one.

decorpad

 

decorpad

 

overstock

 

thomasville

Now let's talk about my new love. She came to be with a slight stitch issue. About 2 inches of a fold came loose that I will need to slip stitch together...but that got me 30% off at HomeGoods!

Here she is in the store, will share more once I have her gussied up and once I get my living room re worked, cable guy comes tomorrow to wire us up in the front room! yayayaya!

 

Isn't she great! The perfect blue with golden nailhead trim and tufted top. Not sure yet if she will be used as coffee table or additional seating. hmmm.

this one was great also. love the upholstered legs, herringbone pattern and cushion style...but the color was just not right.

Enjoy your weekend, stay cool if you are down south with me! Going to be a hot one!!

xxSarah

To have and to hold...our TV {Armoire}

My aunt gave me this armoire a month or so back, it was just taking up space in her basement. It is Asian inspired and pretty sturdy. I fell in love with the contrast of the organic hardware on such a big square piece of furniture. It was a rich burnt orange which would definitely not work in my space, so I painted it  a cool gray. This my friends was not fun! The hardware does not come off and so I had to use an artist's brush around the circles and florets. I still have some cleaning up of where my hand was not so steady.

open with t.v.
{note vintage Moroccan pouf I snagged at estate sale!}

with the floret twisted you can see the ORANGE!

Closed. I like the softness of what is a traditionally bold colored piece.

Soon, I will be moving the living room into the "front room" and the dining room back here off the kitchen. I will have to share a floor plan. Like our last house downtown, which was built in 1890s, the rooms were not designed for the same modern day purposes and sometimes you have to compromise natural flow for practicality.

Enjoy your day!!!

xxSarah

Keeping life in balance. {framed memories}

I have been holding on to six really special prints done by two awesome photographers I have the pleasure of knowing. I chose two of my favorite engagement photos, two of my favorite wedding photos, and two of my favorite infant photos of Stella and ordered them as 8x8 inch prints mounted on matte board.

I have been brainstorming the perfect way to frame and hang these for some time. Thinking of not only my decor but the best way to compliment or contrast the black and white images. I started out planning for black gallery frames with large white mattes, having about 4-6 inches of negative space to either side of the image....then I began lightening up my space with neutral tones and slowly moved the black frame and accessories out of the room where I planned to hang these. So I pondered off-white gallery frames but then wasn't sure of the white mattes....

So like everything else, to the back burner {aka the closet where all small projects go to die} they went. Finally for mother's day I decided I wanted frames, I was sick of not having these memories up in my home. My parents have some rough cut timber for various projects and they agreed that I could have a few pieces. So I drew up a plan and on mother's day weekend my dad, hubs, g'pa and I began to construct the frames.

this plan changed a bit when we brainstormed how to keep everything in place.

Everything went smoothly with our assembly line of worker bees {other than a nail from dad's pneumatic gun literally grazing my indian-style bent knee. Believe me he will hear about that for as long as I remember it}. And then the assembled frames set in the garage for another week or so until Mom and I got a chance to do a white wash on them with diluted deck stain.

I ordered glass from a local glass specialty store, much cheaper than Michael's or Hobby Lobby (who don't allow coupons on custom framing/glass cutting) and Dad cut some pieces of wood to use with a screw for keeping everything in place. So I layered the glass, the matte board mounted print, and some cardboard, which all fit perfectly in the routed inset under the pivoting shims.

Then I took some screws {green cement board screws that I had on hand...hey, they worked great. don't judge me} and picture hanging wire and prepared these pretties for hanging!

Off to the wall! I can assure you nothing about a 80 year old house is square, also nothing about rough cut frames make them of equal length, and lastly when using wire, no matter how well you measure for your screws/hooks your wire will not have the same tension on each frame...so I was dealing with a lot of "ish." I hung a craft paper cut out of a frame around the height that I wanted. Calculated the spaces, then measured 9ish inches here and 2ish inches there and finally I was able to hammer in the hooks and slap some of these guys up on the wall.

The blue piece of tape down below is the height of the buffet that will make its way in the room.

Then the craft paper came down, the last frame went up, and I had the most childish grin on my happy face!

Melissa Pardi Photography

Ashley Warren Studios

Ashley Warren Studios

The contrast of such beautiful fine art images with the imperfect, rough around the edges frames is quite comparative to life. And in my quest to make my house a home, I want to make sure there is this kind of balance. 

xxSarah

Big Ol' Stinking Blog Post! {lamps & mirrors & chairs, oh my!}-

Good thing I don't do this for a living or I'd be eating....well, probably not much better than I do now :)

I have been gone for a while...again. So wanted to share a few things in one large post just in case I decide to disappear for another week or two. :D

I found this freaking awesome lamp at a local thrift for less than $2! It was bulbous and had texture but was a terracotta color so I primed and painted it a glossy white. Then I have been searching online for the perfect shade. Was thinking drum shape, maybe some anthro inspired floral needlework? However, yesterday, mini decorator Stella decided it would look much better if it were on the floor...in pieces. Sorry for the dumpy garbage pic {hubs apparently has been searching for a new favorite energy drink}

RIP Lamp

Lamp shade inspirations...

I do have two ceramic vases I found at an auction for like $4 for the pair...I may attempt to take a lamp kit to them. Any advice on 16 month olds and keeping lamps in the house???

that would be the contents of my wallet. and shoes. and the remote. and clothes. she'd been awake for 30mins.

Now for some not so depressing projects.

Ok, so I really promised myself never to share photos of my tiny messy closet-with-a-bed master bedroom {chuckling to myself at actually calling it a master bedroom} Our home was built in the 30s...so aside from it being extremely inefficient when it comes to heating and cooling, the rooms and bathroom are teeny {yes I said bathroom. there is one in the downstairs loft/manroom but singular in our living space}. Well we still managed to cram the 60s-70s, solid, heavy as a horse, king suite that I got from my grandparent's lake house. I loved the caneback headboard and carving in the dresser and nightstand but hated the speckled brown finish. So when I got it home, I painted the headboard dresser and side table an antique white and ran out before getting to the mirrors. Almost 2 years later, (act as if you can't believe that!) I finally pulled out the mirrors and decided a paris gray with some subtle glaze would maybe be a nice contrast.

I approve.

I think I mentioned once, twice, three times, how I am so stupid for attempting to reupholster two matching chairs...well, feelings haven't changed. I do like how chair one turned out. I do love my Land's End Chevron Ikat pillow that I snagged during friends and fam event! Woohoo!

and with her twin who is still looking rough.

Well that felt lovely. Glad to be blogging again. 

Here is a sneak at a blog to come later this week...

fabulocity times 6!

Enjoy your day!

xxSarah