Cathy's Office Updates

Cathy and her family just moved into their first house in North Carolina (recently moved from an apartment in Houston).  They have a new baby girl so have limited time for furniture shopping yet they are filling up their new house quickly!

They are focusing on their office at the moment.  They recently had the whole house painted, including the office which is a very pretty blue.  As you can see from the pictures below, the room has three amazing floor to ceiling windows which make the room very bright but which also take up a lot of wall space.

  They have a great chocolate brown couch and creamy white chair.  A desk is soon to follow (already ordered).  Now, they just need some details to make the room their own.

The room is probably most in need of some curtains and a great rug to play off the great color palette they have going already.  The blues and browns make for a great first impression when you come in the front door. 

A lot of this depends on what direction they want to take their room.  Fortunately the furniture they chose could swing towards casual or more formal.  The existing curtains will certainly work but raising them up another 10 inches, and lengthening them by about 4 inches on each side will make those amazing windows stand out.   Now they just need some great curtains and a rug.

Formal Look
For a more formal look, here are some options to consider to complete the room.  Layering the sheers under the draperies will give the room an airy and bright feel even when closed, but also provide privacy for those large windows.  I love this rug and wish I had a spot for it in my house!

JC Penney Supreme Plaid Pinch Pleat Panels
Home Decorators Toulouse Rug
Target Round End Table 
Target Crystal Table Lamp
Sheer Voile White Panel
Pottery Barn Palampore Pillow

Casual Look

These ideas would work in a more casual room.  I love the idea of layering the bamboo blinds under the striped curtains.  The rug will pick up the dark brown in the sofa and the blinds.  Layering up the throw pillows will make that couch even more inviting.  Use the cube (or multiple cubes) as end tables or a flexible coffee table - also great for storing toys! 

Sources

Thomas O'Brien Antique Floral Rug
Linden Street Twill Stripe Panel
Brentwood Giraffe
Textured Bronze Lamp
Seville Rush Cube
Bamboo Roman Shade





The tray table "desk" pictured in the room above is certainly temporary!  The new desk would look great facing into the room instead of pushing it against the wall.  Making the far end of the room the desk/work area would keep things a little separate a great sitting area near the doorway.  Pulling the desk out from the wall also gives the option of putting a credenza or small table behind for a printer or other office supplies thus leaving the desktop really clean. 

Cathy, hope this helps!  Be sure to send pictures of your final room.

If you need help with decorating a room in your home, send me an email!

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July!  

Happy Birthday America!

Jim moved our flag bracket out to the front of our porch tonight.  I'll take a picture once we get the holes filled and painted where the bracket was previously.  Of course, the bracket broke so we'll be looking for a new one after the 4th - hopefully I can catch a good sale!

Here's a picture of our front door decoration which is an adorable patriotic crab that I bought at Michael's about 8 years ago!  I always get a load of compliments on it.  It's pretty much my only July 4th decor item with the exception of a few flags.

We're getting geared up for our big neighborhood BBQ tonight complete with a fun fireworks display where the husbands try hard [not] to set themselves on fire - such fun!

Have a fun, safe holiday!

Let it flow! New kitchen faucet

Unfortunately, the old kitchen faucet took a turn for the worse this week forcing us to break down and buy a new one.  The "old" one was less than a year old but I have not had time to figure out if there's some sort of warranty.  It was leaking like crazy and would not stay tight on the base.  So frustrating!  Fortunately we paid almost nothing for it during the Expo Design Center going out of business sale last year so I don't feel like it was a huge investment lost. 

I knew I wanted something in almost exactly the same style but made by a reputable company.  I quickly found exactly what I was looking for on Faucet Direct.  It's a Kohler so you can be pretty sure it's going to last for more than a year.  In case you are looking for it, it's a Model # K-691. 

Picture via Faucet Direct

It was about 3 times the price of our last faucet but you can see the construction is fantastic.  The faucet installed perfectly in about 15 minutes (took longer to remove the old one actually).  Here's the beloved hubby lying under the sink installing it.

And here's the final product -

We have polished chrome accents in our bathrooms and kitchen so this goes along perfectly with that theme, but there are about 6 finish options for this model.  I also love the pull-out sprayer and it's really clean look.  Hopefully it will hold up for the long haul!

Is it Art or a...

About 5 years ago, my wonderful friend Sara got me a great wall calendar by Linnea Designs for Christmas.  I love how you think of it as art before thinking of it as a calendar AND you can change it every month for a seasonal look.  Ever since then I have bought one for myself.

Image via Linnea Designs

This year though, I waited too long and they were sold out!!  I've learned my lesson though so I'll order early again this year (like maybe today).

But, I found a great replacement with the Abacus Gallery calendar thanks to a tip from my neighbor Meghan.  Although I think I like the Linnea Designs version a bit better, this is certainly a beautiful calendar which has a great New England theme (I'm originally from upstate New York).  

Image via Abacus Gallery

We hang ours in a simple black frame in the eating area of our kitchen just below the clock (a fantastic Target find!).  It would also be great if you had a dedicated office or in a mudroom.  

Functional art!

Exterior Update: Bye Bye Brass Ugliness

It took a while, but I finally convinced Jim that we should remove the HIDEOUS brass light fixtures from the front of our house.  We had the new black hanging fixture under the little front porch (very inexpensive from Lowe's and possibly temporary if I find something I like a lot more), but those 1970s rusty brass fixtures just had to go.

This is the best picture I could find of these ugly things.

So, when my dad was here for a weekend (he LOVES projects thankfully), I turned him loose on those hideous fixtures.  They were so disgusting and rusty that they went straight to the trash (very unusual for yard sale selling me).  Of course, that left some wholes in the house with scary wires hanging out.  My dad actually surmised that the wiring was pretty dangerous and had been done in a very amateur way - particularly on the right where the previous owners likely added the second light at some point.  We covered the holes and scary wiring with some plain metal electrical covers (required by building code) sprayed black.

Better, but the black made them stand out too much especially with the other black accents.  I then convinced Jim to take them down and spray paint them a flat brown so they blend better with the front of the house.

Sooo much better!

Now we just need to get our flag up for the 4th!