Jewelry for your home

I was talking to a friend the other day and she told me how she went shopping with her daughter in one of those stores where nothing is larger than a size ten ... and her daughter realized that none of the clothes would would fit her.  My friend told her daughter ... No worries! There are always scarves and jewelry!

And I thought about how the same thing holds true in decorating. It is not always possible (or maybe even necessary) to go after the larger purchases. The smaller things can be just as fun. 

A $16.00 cobra tray from HomeGoods ...

Fresh flowers brought home from the market ...

A bargain gilded "sculpture" from HomeGoods ...

Or just a $4.00 pop of color from the thrift store ... can lift a room (and your spirit) as much as a new outfit. And hunting for these little treasures are pretty fun too.

And have you seen the new poufs at Target? Not bad for $69.99

Happy Monday everyone!

Moving rooms around and one day make-overs

The first visit to my sister's house a few months ago was to see how we could refresh her kitchen (without completely overhauling it) and update the living room a bit (you can see the almost finished living room here), and do something about the garage. We set up a plan, ordered furniture and appliances and did some organizing in the garage. Oh, and we went shopping. Lots of shopping. We hit our usual stores (West Elm, Crate and Barrel, HomeGoods and Ikea...) and came home with a couple of lamps and vases and lots of stuff to brighten up the kitchen area.

The old office space that is now the living room

My sister is a children's book illustrator and she works from home. Years ago we made a studio for her where her current living room is now (I wrote about it here) but now she works mostly in her upstairs office. She has a small desk in her kitchen where she can sketch as well. The space where she has her desk used to be the dining room ... which has been relocated to the previous living room (are you following this?!).

The new desk area in the kitchen

The first thing we did was go to Ikea to order some closets to line her garage. We used bedroom closets that slide with shelves and pull out drawers inside (another post / another day!). We also came home with a dresser to keep her tools and dog leashes, etc. in. Here is an "in-progress" shot showing the new Ikea cabinets and the almost finished dresser (sans drawers):

She liked the dresser (Ikea Hemnes) so much that we went back and got a second one to put in her kitchen / desk area. It is the same one that I have in my kitchen... you can never have too much storage I think. At $299 it is a bargain; we changed the knobs to match the kitchen handles.

The tall glass cabinet (it is actually three pieces sitting on top of each other) was purchased years ago from Crate and Barrel and had been in her upstairs office. I like that it is in this space now - it adds necessary storage but even more shows my sister's personality. Some of the items were gifts, some from travels and, do you see the stuffed lion? That was from her childhood. 

I love all the whimsical tchotchkes (ˈchäch-kə: knickknack, trinket) she has ... so much inspiration for her books!

Our first accessory purchase was this lamp from West Elm. My sister found it and it was on clearance:

I used it on the built-in desk area that is really just a place to drop keys and glasses...

The cabinets did not have any hardware and we purchased some pulls and knobs from Ikea and Deb installed them herself!

My sister is an avid golfer and the photo is of our father when he was a young man.

The lamp set the direction for the rest of the accessories ... green! We went back later and picked up this one too:

 green glass jug lamp | West Elm

The new faucet works well with its clean lines and it ties in with the new cabinet hardware. The green bottles help bring the outdoors in.

The baking soda in the Ikea bottle is something I have in my kitchen too... add a little dishwashing soap and it makes the best (and natural) cleaner. Just so you can really appreciate the new look, here is what we started with:

 BEFORE

AFTER

The new counter depth French door refrigerator is a much better fit than the previous one that stuck out too far beyond the cabinets (and door) ...

And we added a Dash and Albert Diamond Black & Ivory indoor/outdoor runner to finish it off the kitchen and keep the water from Mack's dog dish from dripping all over the floor.

Mack got a little crate makeover too ... we got the blanket (so he feels cozy) and the pad cover at HomeGoods. Mack is the fourth Airedale Deb has owned and her favorite assistant.

A one day styling job

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I flew up north to spend a day styling my sister's living room. I had gone up in August to help her select some new furniture and it had finally arrived. It was one of those whirlwind finish-in-one-day jobs - the kind I love!

She had purchased a new sofa and side chair, and the rest of the furniture she already had. 

The goal was to make the room comfortable but also a little more sophisticated. The sofa was purchased with her dog in mind - so we made sure the fabric was easy to clean and also dark. Both the sofa and chair were purchased from Crate and Barrel.

Here is what the room looked like when I arrived. The new furniture was in place but as you can see it needed to be freshly accessorized:

The yellow accent wall was painted when the room was previously her studio - it will be re-painted to match the more neutral side walls.

The wine cabinet was replaced with a more formal looking antique dresser that used to be here years ago and the top of the fireplace was in great need of some updating.

The first thing I did was take measurements and some "before" photos to refer to when I was shopping, and then we headed out to a few stores. We came home with a carload full of stuff and I started placing things where I wanted. We are waiting for a side table for the sofa and a beautiful brass lamp but this is the almost finished room:

Melrose Table Lamp | Crate and Barrel

Moving the antique dresser back in made a huge difference in the "entry" area:

The accessories were a combination of things my sister already had, Homegoods, Crate and Barrel and West Elm. What a difference a day can make, right?

Temptations

On our first day in Chicago, we stopped in at a Target downtown to pick up a pillow for me for the road. I need a good pillow for my neck and knowing we were going to be staying in some crummy vintage motels I figured I had better bring my own.

I shop at Target all the time, but there is something about being in a new Target that lures me in to all the good stuff they have. This Target had several floors and it seemed they had many more things than the Targets where I live. It was hard to buy one pillow and leave honestly.

I shop at Target for some of my household essentials and it is just not very nice of them to carry so many cute things that tempt me ...

Rue magazine just posted these photos along with an article showing how a few bloggers (yeah bloggers) have decorated using Target's new Threshold line. They have many fun (and most importantly, affordable) things to spruce up a room.

It makes me want to run up there right now!

all images via Rue Magazine