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Using Vinyl and Quotes to Enhance Your Space! | Ideas and Inspiration

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Photo by Betsy Blue Photography

I’ve discovered that I have an affinity for using words to personalize your space. Words, scripture, and quotes can make your space your own, and help capture the personality of your family or your business! It can make a large statement without a ton of expense, as well, and you can now custom order things on places like Etsy. Whether you choose things like wooden quotes, vinyl die-cut words or names, or large initials, you can make a big impact! Here are a few tips for using these in your home or office:

Photo Left:  Betsy Blue Photography | Right:  Olivia Leigh Photography

Size Matters: Before you choose your letters or quotes, be sure to measure and considering your wall space. As you can see below, the oversized letters from Pottery Barn are quite oversized, and meant to be a focal point for an entire wall! They could easily look too “busy” or overwhelm a tiny space, so measuring would be key, whether you choose a small grouping or large initial. 

Practical is best for small spaces: If you are working with a confined or small space, opt for smaller letters that include little hooks, or place them on shelves. If they can serve double-duty, you’ll have a statement piece that also holds things like coats and hats. 

Vinyl Letters: These are a great way to add some pizazz to children’s rooms, rentals, or other space where they might need to be changed out rather soon. I have beautiful vinyl quote with song lyrics wrapped around a chandelier in my girls’ room. It’s so sweet and adds a personal touch. 

Photos Left & Middle:  Betsy Blue Photography | Right:  Pottery Barn Website

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Trend Watch | Glass Elements

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I have a bit of an obsession with beautiful glass cloches, used throughout the rooms of homes including my own! I wanted to talk today about incorporating glass elements into your home, whether in the kitchen, the bathroom or the living room, they can add lots of visual interest and texture to your decor. They are also a fun and creative way to spend time with friends or your kids.  My girls love to add their "special" touches to many of our various sized cloches placed randomly around our home.  I will often find chicken feathers or rocks hidden under the glass!  During Halloween, we like to add black spiders or rats and at Christmas time, you will find bunches of mistletoe or spools of red velvet ribbons festively displayed.  

Photos by Betsy Blue Photography

 You can find really simple ones here at Pottery Barn for under $40 and they look amazing with plants underneath, or even vintage paper, as shown below. You can also snag plain ones without the bases on Amazon for around $16. Not all of them have to be tall and slender, there are wider, shorter glass cloches with bases that can be used for succulents, figurines, or candles (be sure to use candle safety when burning candles). 

Glass Cloches from Pottery Barn

 

I also love the look of adding a glass cloche to cake stands. The one shown above is marble and natural wood.    Cake stands can be used for actual baked goods of course, but are perfect on bathroom counters, holding soap or towels, and can be perfect holders for mismatched or loose, small decor pieces to add cohesion.  Cake stands can also be thrifted (vintage is awesome, as they are often sturdy), or found at yard or rummage sales. Even if your cake stands don’t match or have different styles, don’t be afraid to mix them into your decor and top with a beautiful cloche!

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Elegant Florals and Brass | Style Inspiration

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Florals have always come into design in various forms, through the years, but I am loving the soft elegance of this season’s vintage inspired florals. I dream of these soft floral in a neutral, chic office, playing off simple solids and shimmering brass. You can find some of the prettiest floral accessories at one of my favorites, Rifle Paper Company. We love their recipe cards and vintage recipe boxes (cooking has never looked so good!), and these beautiful notebooks. 

Office Photo from Target.com

This season has also brought us lots of watercolor inspired florals, and their soft, whimsical styles are beautiful in just about any room in the house where you want to incorporate color and print in a delicate way. We even love them in furniture, like the chair below, which has a neutral front and an unexpected, colorful printed back (similar here). A floral chair is a great way to add fun and youthfulness to a room, and can easily be swapped out later on for a completely different look. 

Watercolor florals also look beautiful when framed, as statement pieces on a wall. Etsy is an awesome place to find prints, and you can find brass toned frames at places like Pottery Barn and Michaels Craft Stores. Try hanging smaller ones in pairs, or go for a statement piece with a large framed art print. 

Floral Pillow | Society6.com            Watercolor Wallpaper | Project Nursery.com Monica Hibb

It’s also super fun to balance out the florals and prints with other textures in neutral hues. Think woven baskets (above), and interesting wood stains/textures. It will add visual interest without adding another complex print. 

Floral Chair | Horchow.com

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Summer Must Haves | Trend Watch and Inspiration

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I love summer! With my innate love of whites, creams, neutral tones, and pretty textures, summer naturally lends itself to my personal style. It’s also the perfect time to add in pops of color and with the ample natural light, everything is brighter and cheerier. Here are our picks for practical, lifestyle pieces to make your summer style perfect!

Woven Market Baskets: I love the large market baskets I’ve seen around. You can use them at the farmer’s market, store blankets in them in a living room, or toss them onto your patio to hold clutter. This one from Etsy is one of my favorites! They also come in a variety of sizes, which makes them very practical as well as cute!

White linen: White linens are a quick way to add instant style and polish to any space. Whether you opt for a tablecloth, cloth napkins, or placements, they are not only pretty, but also environmentally friendly and easy to toss into the wash to clean. We like these easy pieces from The White Company.  They are light with a subtle texture.

The perfect summer tart: No party is complete without a beautiful, easy dessert. This beautiful lemon tart is a cinch, and you can follow the easy recipe here from Martha Stewart. A rustic, beautifully cooked tart is the perfect dessert to impress your friends and provide them with the perfect finishing touch to a home-cooked meal!

Rustic Lemon Tart and other Meyer Lemon Recipes via Martha Stewart

The cutest little berry basket in ceramic is the best table topper, ever! Add a tiny pop of color into a white table setting with these darling little berry baskets from Crate and Barrel, cast in sturdy ceramic. They are washable and hold more than just berries....we’ve seen them filled with flowers, lemons, leaves, and baked goods...You could group three or four of them together for a larger impact. 

What’s your favorite summer must-have?

Incorporating Beautiful Lighting into Your Home

The other day, I was thinking about how much of a difference that quality, beautiful lighting makes in your home. It can change the whole feel of a space, and add warmth and style in a way that even furniture cannot. I love quality lighting pieces, and some of my favorite pieces come from Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. I know we often talk about affordable pieces here on the blog, and those two retailers are definitely not known for being the most affordable. But lighting is one of the areas I personally believe you need to invest in pieces that can withstand the test of time!

This Rope Filament Collection from Restoration Hardware is stunning. The sturdy piece will last and last, and will overcome changes in decor and paint to look beautiful for years. The classic styling will pair well with a farmhouse style decor for contrast, and with pretty neutrals and whites. You can find it here.

You can also make a big impact with key, smaller pieces like this table lamp from Restoration as well. The vintage mercury glass base pairs well with modern pieces, as well as multiple furniture finishes, making it another piece that you can easily use for years.

Pottery Barn is slightly more affordable, especially if you may want to change your decor before several years have passed. I love this six arm chandelier piece that has a rustic charm. You can use it indoor or outdoor, and it is beautiful and classic. It would pair best with items close to the “Fixer Upper” style we have been showing you recently.

This pretty piece would be right at home in a bedroom or sitting room, with it’s intricate inlay design. The subtle texture is not overpowering, but also adds interest to the surroundings. I’d love to see it with neutrals and pretty rustic wood furniture. 

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Decor Trend Watch | Bathrooms

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                                                   Left : Natural White Oak Plank Flooring | Middle:  Pottery Barn Holden Bath Accessories | Right: Terrie Day's Master Bath

When you're decorating your bathroom, you have to consider who will be using it (should it be kid friendly? Great for guests?), in order to choose the best and most stylish accessories that will work for you. We went to one of our favorite stores, Pottery Barn, which we love for their classic, tasteful stylings, for the best in new bath decor!

Stripes, always timeless, set the stage for a classically styled bathroom. The charcoal and white curtain, when paired with crisp whites and dark wood, is beautiful, and would be beautiful in a guest bathroom. The simple look requires little upkeep, and will stay nice for years without major renovations to the style. The curtain would look beautiful with additional white accessories like these.  

For a children's bathroom, where items will take more wear-and-tear, you can still find stylish and pretty decor that will withstand toddlers and kids! For girls, we LOVE this shabby-chic inspired ruffle curtain from Pottery Barn. We would add in some simple bath mats to absorb bath time splashing, and maybe even this adorable footstool for those little ones reaching the sink! For the little guys, or a unisex bathroom, we would love this navy henley stripe shower curtain that would polish up any family bathroom.

For the master bath, a place of refuge and peace (hopefully!), we would choose this pretty, delicate grey and cream pattern curtain. Paired with pewter accessories and all-white linens, it would feel like a day at the spa! Grey is so soothing, but you could add in pale blues or teal greens to add some color and life to it, if your bedroom is also neutral hues. West Elm also has some gorgeous candles, similar to Anthropologies, that would work well in a soothing bath environment. This scent is amazing!

We would love to help you put together a bathroom you love! Contact us today for more information (please bear with us as our website undergoes changes). 

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Trend Watch | Faux Windowpanes

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Have you seen the fun faux windowpanes popping up in decor lately? They’re so cute, and I’ve been dreaming up ways to incorporate them into my styling. I noticed them on HGTV’s Fixer Upper recently, where stylist Joanna Gaines used them to liven up one of her renovations. She always has great taste, and I’ve seen her add them in, mixed with greenery and other accents to work with the distressed wood. With this trend, you can do anything from a subtle photo frame with a windowpane style, to a full, vintage window with the glass removed. 

You could use a simple photo frame like this floating windowpane one from Target like this one (for under $35!) to bring a subtle touch of the french inspiration to your home, or you could scour salvage yards for real vintage windows and bust out the glass panes. Make sure, if you find old windows at thrift stores or yard sales, to watch for shards of glass and splinters. Sand down rough edges and make sure it’s safe before mounting with heavy duty hardware!

You can also incorporate them into wedding or event decor! It takes a bit more planning and effort, but they can be hung as a beautiful backdrop for photos, or for a styled birthday or baby shower. Make sure you hang them from a strong beam or support so your guests don’t end up with one on their heads! Lastly, you can try a faux window as an alternative to a headboard! I saw this recently, but the example did not use a vintage window (I don’t think that would feel very nice to lean up against!), but they had a custom one made that looked like a windowpane. 

How would you use this trend?

Romantic Neutrals| Master Suite | Southern Oregon Interior Designer

Who says neutrals are boring?! I say they are SIMPLY elegant!  This Master Suite is truly a reflection of the owners of the home. Sweet. Calm. Lovely. Inspiring.  Can you tell I LOVE this couple? I have worked with them over many years, and feel very  blessed that they trusted me to make their master bedroom a retreat for them!  This room is monochromatic in color but filled with texture and pattern. The ruched bedding adds a touch of feminine romance to the otherwise masculine bed. The splash of color in this room comes in it’s most natural form…flowers!  Photos by Olivia Leigh Photography.

I could curl up in those chairs all day and read a Nicholas Sparks novel (if only the owners were gone for the week)!

Parisian | Bedroom | Southern Oregon Interior Designer

For this teenager, it was all about Sweet Parisian Dreams! We started with pout-pink walls and linen…Ooh la la! For this girl, who loves to read, a wing-back headboard and lounge seating gives her cozy options to curl up and read a book. I wanted something unique above her bed, so why not add local time and Paris time (like you might see in a train station in old Europe)? What girl wouldn’t want her very own Paris inspired bathroom! This marble top vanity is paired beautifully with a french market sign. Now if we only had some pastries! I am sure if the occupant of this room was around, she’d bake us up some treats!  Isn’t that the cutest dog ever!! She just had to sneak into the pictures!!! I think she makes the perfect accessory to such a soft, sophisticated room. Thank you Olivia with Olivia Leigh Photography for the photos!

Calming | Dining Room | Southern Oregon Interior Designer

Here’s an exclusive sneak peek into a dining room I am currently working on! Just a few short weeks ago, this very dining room had an old dark hutch and dining table, teal blue walls and floral printed fabrics! Now it is a calming, neutral space with a rustic smoky pine table and buffet. Now onto the accessories!! Photo credit: Olivia Leigh Photography