Flowers for a princess, new pillows and my temporary office

I took a friend to lunch at the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles yesterday (now that is a post in itself!!!) and on the way I stopped in at the flower mart to pick up some flowers ...

 

Because this little princess is turning three on Saturday and she is having a little bash.

Don't you wish you had natural ringlets like this?

I made some sweet arrangements to go on the dining tables ...

 And there will be plenty of cupcakes.

My youngest daughter (she is such a good auntie!) is taking out all the green sprinkles to get ready to decorate them. No green sprinkles allowed ... this party is all pink!

 And speaking of pink, I have a new pillow order I am working on.

 The fabrics are from Duralee, Pindler and Kravet. They will be going in this room:

I presented the first inspiration board (you can see it here) with orange accents and the client asked for pink instead. The teal ottoman was her favorite, but it was just a conceptual piece that I had found on Olioboard. But today, it showed up on my Facebook page saying I might be interested to know that it was being sold on One King's Lane. For $369. Nice! (Scary that my research is being tracked, but it was quite convenient!)

Elliot Velvet Cocktail Ottoman | One King's Lane

Arden Charcoal Rug | Lulu & Georgia

The rug is on its way, the media cabinet is installed, and this lamp is on it's way:

Navaeh Turquoise Lamp | Lulu & Georgia

Progress always makes me smile. Another thing I am smiling about is that we have a house full of kids right now. One is staying for a while and the others are visiting. To make room, we needed to make a few adjustments and so temporarily I moved my office out into the living room. It is not permanent, but it works for now. 

In fact, it is kind of fun being out in the middle of everything ...

And the view is great! Have a happy weekend everyone! 

Fall is in the air and a new rug

I am sure enjoying the burst of Fall color in my yard ...

I am enjoying it inside my house too ...

A little bit of sunshine to brighten up the day.

Oh, and did you notice my new area rug? I bought it on Overstock and I am thrilled with the way it looks and feels. It was the one thing that was unfinished from our kitchen remodel. This room is right off the kitchen and it took me a while to find a rug that worked and wasn't too expensive.

Do you have a nice weekend planned? It is almost here!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Around here

What I walk into every morning ...

Happy Friday

Have a great weekend everyone :D

My Kitchen Reveal

My kitchen remodel is finally done. 

It has been done for a while now but I need to find time to figure out my new camera (oh boy... I still need help) and then the time to photograph. Someone asked me the other day if I "love" my new kitchen and I will have to say that I "like" it very much. If you remember, it started out with us just needing to replace the twenty three year old oven that had been broken for over a year and the cooktop that I had been lighting with a match for many, many years. I had dreamed about the day that the oven would go out (see my post about that here) because I really wanted to get a free-standing range and I knew that I would finally have to be able to replace the old outdated countertop (12"x12" granite squares) and make some other changes. But when it happened, it was no longer in the budget.

I didn't plan the kitchen the way that I would for a client ... it kind of just happened. We played with the idea of cutting the old countertop and making some modifications to the cabinets to fit in the new range but in the end that just seemed like a temporary fix. I decided abruptly one afternoon to replace the old counters. I made my selections really quickly. I knew all along that I wanted to use Carrara subway tiles so I quickly ordered those and drove down to my fabricator's warehouse and selected a white quartz that would go with the marble (LG "snowstorm"). I called my plumbing fixture supplier and had them duplicate a sink and faucet order I had placed for a client a few months before. It was all done in a few hours.

In hindsight, I wish I would have put a bit more effort into a few of the details. I would have selected a different sink (less rounded on the edges) and if I had realized (before we put the new counter on) that I was going to change the cabinet fronts, I would have changed a few of my cabinets to drawers and moved the trashcan to the other side of the sink while I was at it. But that is hindsight.

We changed all the cabinet fronts to a cleaner shaker style which was a decision I also hadn't planned on but once the counters were installed it just made the old cabinets look worse and I couldn't justify paying someone to paint the old ones (it had been 23 years) especially since I had already changed out the refrigerator and dishwasher panels years ago.  In the middle of everything, the refrigerator leaked and damaged our wood floors and we had to refinish them (I posted about that here) ... the job just kept growing.

It is wonderful to be able to cook on such a nice range - it took a while to get used to not having to light the burners with a match!

I love the new quartz counters and although I would have loved the look of Carrara marble counters, I did not want to worry about them (just the thought of Easter egg food coloring all over made me realize they were not the best choice for me). My fabricator was very generous to give me a beautiful piece of marble he had in his yard and fabricated a top for the inexpensive Ikea dresser that I had brought into the kitchen last summer from our guest bedroom. I love having that little bit of a marble "counter" and I like how it ties in the Carrara backsplash.

Wall color - Benjamin Moore's Kendall Charcoal

Ready for the before photo (taken in 2011)?

Before

Not terrible for being 23 years old ... but I sure like the new look better!

After

You all know how much I love white ... it feels clean, seems bigger and is definitely a lot more fun to cook in!

I purchased the cabinet pulls from Ikea; the paint color on the cabinets is Benjamin Moore's Super White.

The rug is from Dash and Albert and is one of my favorite rugs. It is an outdoor rug and very durable and easy to clean.  The stool I picked up from One King's Lane for a fraction of the price of the one I wanted from Restoration Hardware. It turned out to be not such a bargain; the top came with a very "orangey" finish that was awful. I tried to fix it myself and then gave up and took it to my furniture refinisher. I still paid less than what I could have ... but it was not quite the bargain I had hoped for!

  

I am loving the lighter wood floors. 

When I get back from my road trip I will show you the two rooms on either side of the kitchen - the family room and the mud room. 

Happy Monday everyone ... I hope to be posting from "the road" soon!

An artful fire screen

I was working with a new client on Monday and we were talking about how a new HomeGoods was going into her neighborhood. She mentioned that she told her husband that it was going to be dangerous having it so close to her house. And so we had a long conversation about buying just for the sake of buying and how the better way was to only go in those stores with a purpose instead of just to see what great deals they have.

And I told her how freeing it was when I made my pact with myself to stop buying; to stop bringing more stuff into my house. 

Except that the other day I was at HomeGoods innocently shopping for a client - picking up items to style her bathroom with - and found something that was just too good to pass up. I wasn't sure where I was going to use it - I thought it might look fun sitting on the mantle. So I broke my pact.

It was only $29 I rationed.  I think it makes a great fire screen.

I picked up some flowers from the florist on the way home from work today ... they let me go into the refrigerator and select them myself. I could have stayed in there forever! (I had a very hot day climbing up and down a client's stairs).

I love how they wrapped them up for me! Sometimes it is just nice to buy a present for yourself. :D