Point Click Yum

Found these dining room inspiration pics while browsing the Point Click Home Room Finder (pretty cool, you can select a room and then a decor style, and see tons of photos). Our dining room is really in progress and taking forever to get anywhere. We have an eat-in kitchen, so I don't want our DR to become one of those rooms that you never use. I'd like it to be a space where: we can have big family dinners, P can have the guys over to play poker, our future kids can do crafts, the table can turn into a buffet for our annual holiday party, I can leave out in-progress paper projects, etc ...multi-functional, comfortable yet elegant. None of the following rooms are exactly what I want, but there's some part of each of them that I love.

38 Years Ago...

...my parents got married! They celebrated their wedding anniversary over the weekend. 38 years (plus the few before the wedding when they were just dating) with the same person?! Can you imagine?! I think its amazing. What a great inspiration they are to P and I. (His parents are still also together after 40 years! We are very blessed to have such great role models in our lives.)

So...Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad (a couple days late)! I wish you many more happy years together.

Wanna see what wedding fashion was like in 1971? Don't they look gorgeous and in love!? (Love that ruffly veil bonnet thing, Ma!)

{Mom and Dad, June 26th, 1971}

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Master Bedroom

It's Friday! Yay! Hope everyone had a good week. We finally saw the sun here in Boston yesterday afternoon for a few hours after days and days and days of rain and clouds and cold. Of course, its raining again now, so....

want to look at some master bedrooms for inspiration? Head over to Show Us Where You Live Friday at Kelly's Korner Blog. Today's room to share is your master bedroom. I'm slightly embarrassed to show ours because we haven't done very much yet to it and I don't have all that many pictures. But hopefully you'll like it:)

We do have a great space to work with though. The room is really large, it was part of an addition the previous owners added to the house in 2003 along with the family room on the first floor. They didn't add any attic space over this room though, so the ceilings of our bedroom are really high and peaked with the roof line. We have 4 windows, so we get alot of light. And this is one of the only rooms in the house we haven't repainted because we liked the dusty muted denim blue that was here on the walls when we moved in.

We wanted a new bed and mattress when we bought the house because our old bed was a queen and we were ready to upgrade to a king. We didn't quite know our style yet or where we wanted to head with the space, but we needed somewhere to sleep and somewhere to put our clothes right away...so we just went out and bought one of those complete bedrooms sets (with headboard, dressers, end tables, etc) that we liked for a fairly low price. We figured that this would do us fine for a bunch of years and then when we really knew what we wanted and were ready to committ to quality, long-term furniture we would treat ourselves or start building up a collection of replacements or additions over time.

My favorite part of the room is this photo collage we put above the bed. I wanted something a bit dramatic to take advantage of the high ceilings. These are 11 x 14 landscape photos of some of the places we've gone and adventures we've been on together over the years.

{My fave part of the bedroom set we got is the bench that came with it instead of a footboard. Inside I keep alot of my purses and bags, and its a great spot to throw clothes that are clean or sit and put on your shoes, etc.}

Here's the only other part of the room I'm going to show you, "my" dresser. P has his own (that's taller and narrower on the other side of the room - also holds our tv.)




So this room is really in progress. We still need window treatments, bedside lamps, wall art and more accessories. And then of course in a few years we'll probably start all over! If I were to get a new bed right now, I'd want something like this Farmhouse Canapoy bed from Pottery Barn. I think it would add great architectural detail to the room and really take advantage of the room's height.





I would also love to do something with the peaked ceiling. Maybe line it with white boards/planks like this:


or wood beams like this:




Something to add some character and make the grand space (which I know you can't get from my lousy photos, sorry!) feel a bit more cozy and intimate. Any ideas? Has anyone done this?

Thanks for looking and thanks again to Kelly! Hope you have a good weekend:)

The Travelling Butterfly 2: Revenge of the Fallen Frame

Hello again! Got your popcorn ready?! The sequel to yesterday's post, The Travelling Butterfly, is about to start!

This post could also be titled "2 Frames 3 Ways". Let's find out what happens when I get bored and the seasons change, shall we? The story began with these 2 walnut frames and their 2 DIY prints - Mr. Butterfly, collaged together with some insect clip art and printed by moi, and his sidekick, Mr. Bird, cut from a Cavallini calendar. Here they were this past fall, leaning on the ledge shelves in the family room.





Like we learned in the first post/movie, I eventually decided to hang the frames here in this spot between the windows in our living room. (At that time, we didn't have these full-length drapes up yet, so there was more room on the wall..more to come on this later. Talk about suspense, huh?!)





But then came the holidays...and I love to decorate for Christmas. I figured it would be a shame not to take advantage of these two frames and so decided to switch out what was inside them for something a bit more festive. Exciting but sad...bye bye Mr. Butterfly and Mr. Bird. (Don't worry though, they went back in the frames once New Years was over, and stayed there until I decided I wanted the butterfly for our office/studio.) I didn't want to purchase any new prints or photos for this holiday project and wanted something in our color palette so that it would still coordinate with the room even though it was seasonal. So I DIYed these 2 prints using the lyrics from "The Night Before Christmas". Using large text made this new decor seem a bit contemporary but at the same time the nostalgia and tradition of this old tale added warmth and history.




Fast forward to spring and the now empty frames since Mr. Butterfly flew upstairs to his current home. I needed something new here. Conveniently, one of my friends had just given me this great old field-guide type book of botanical illustrations that he found at the dump (in the other people's trash could be your treasure section). Perfect! I cut out 2 of the pages that picked up on the new blue and green accent color scheme I have going on for spring/summer and put those in the frames.





During all this drama, romance and action we hung these window treatments. So now I think its a bit too dark and crowded on this little bit of wall. Just last night I decided these frames are going to move again, and I'm going to bring in something smaller and brighter here. Who knows where this pair of walnut frames will end up next?

The Travelling Butterfly

Hi! Let's talk accessories, one of my favorite subjects. Unfortunately, I'm not the best fashionista, but I do like to accessorize my home:) I love creating little vignettes around the house..."small pleasing views" (dictionary.com) that your eye stumbles across as you tour a room or that you come upon as you walk down a hallway. Success can be achieved by applying the same general rules or guidelines that you would to a full room, just in a smaller version (color, scale, balance, repetition, etc).


Don't be scared to or nervous about accessorizing because:

• accessories don't have to be expensive

• they don't have to be permanent

I have a ton of accessories that would work in a bunch of my rooms (when I buy little stuff for the house I more often than not don't have a specific spot in mind for it, I just know that I like it and that I can get it to work somewhere). Plus I think I get bored easily, so I like swapping out my accessories every so often to change things up, decorate for the season, or try out a new color palette.

Case in point...the travelling butterfly. Some of you might recognize him from my recent family room post or my office post. That's because he gets around!! Since I made this little guy about a year and a half ago, he's been in 4 different spots in 3 different rooms in our house. I'd say I got my money's worth. Oh wait, I didn't really spend any money on him:) Even better.





I originally DIYed this print when I needed something more for the winter mantle I was putting up after I took down all the holiday stuff last year. I had these 2 brown wood frames lying around, and filled the smaller one with a bird print from a calendar I had. After messing around with the composition for a while, I finally had it how I liked it, but didn't have anything in the wide molding frame on the left. (I wasn't blogging then, so no in progress pics, sorry!)

{This is my fireplace. I love my fireplace. This is also the old yellow paint color. I've sinced painted this room twice to find the right new color.}

I love anything nature-related and am especially drawn to botanical illustrations and other vintage looking nature art, so I thought something along those lines would work nicely with my bird print. So I put together this little collage from a book of insect clip art I already had for my side business of designing wedding invitations.

{From the Dover Electronic Clip Art Series, highly recommended, on Amazon}

Then I just printed it out on some nice cream paper and loaded it up into the frame:) Thus, Mr. Butterfly in Spot #1.





When last fall came, I redid the mantle in the living room with some autumn decorations that did not include the butterfly print or the bird. But I still liked them, and I realized that I needed some new stuff to go on my "fall" ledge shelves in the family room. Enter Mr. Butterfly and his sidekick Mr. Bird. Mixed with some wheat, a gourd and mini-pumpkin, they added the right height and color to this new vignette. And now the green in the butterfly goes nicely with the soft green walls in this room. Spot #2.





Eventually the family room ledge shelves got redone again, and Mr. Butterfly and Mr. Bird needed a new home. Hmm, I thought, they're in frames, why not hang them up? This little wall in between the windows in the living room had something else hanging on it, but I was tired of it. So instead, I put up the prints. (See them there? I don't have a more up close pic of this, sorry.) Spot #3.

{This is our living room. You have not met it yet, unless you know me from thenest.com! More to come on the living room in future posts.}

Finally, the time had come for Mr. Butterfly and his friend Mr. Bird to split up. Not really, but I needed some art for up in the office and I had already taken him out of his brown frame to put something else in there. I thought he might be a fun pop of color against the pale blue walls, and its helps to have nice things to look at while you're working. This time I put him in black frame (that I had lying around), and because it had a smaller opening, his other buddies got a little cropped out. No problem, they're still doing better than Mr. Bird, who is currently sitting inside our entertainment center (with some other decor stuff I'm not using) waiting for his chance to shine again. Here's Mr. Butterfly in his 4th and current spot. Who knows where he'll end up next?!

There you have it...how inexpensive DIY art can go for miles. So don't be afraid to accessorize, if you don't like how it turns out, take the stuff down, move it somewhere else, or keep it for later when your taste might change again or when you might find something to pair with it for the perfect look.

Stay tuned for the sequel to this story tomorrow when we find out what happened to the brown frame Mr. Butterfly left behind!

Nursery Names

I love text and type used in home decor. And I love finding inspiration for our future nursery! Seems like the current trend in nurseries is to include the baby's name somewhere in their room. Above the crib is a perfect and obvious place to show off the name you spent so many months picking out:)

{With individual three-dimensional letters. Image via Rate My Spacer obxgirl.}

Let's check out some other ways that you can feature the baby's name:

{Vinyl wall decals can also be used to spell out a whole name or create a more graphic monogram. Image from Rate My Spacer Momma2Be.}



{Even just a simple single letter for the baby's initial makes a quiet but bold statement. Image from Rate My Spacer Mod Baby.}

{Love these personalized vintage woodtype letters from Welcome to Walton's World. Image via Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh Kid's Home Tours}

{Check out Sam's name spelled out in old-school blocks from Sam's "Zen Toddler" Space! Image from Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh Kid's Home Tours}

{This sweet name train was a gift to baby Eleanor. It fits right in with the other vintage toys and blocks that famous mom Nicole of Making it Lovely included in her nursery.}




{These cute Mod Definition Prints from blogger Sincerely B's etsy shop mod momento are completely customizable. How fun to write your own "definition" of your little one?!}

Fun, huh?! Do you guys have any clever and unique ways of including a name in the nursery?

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!!! Hope you are all having a great day, you deserve it:)

We went out to breakfast this morning with P's dad and mom, P's sister and my 2 nieces and nephew. Had an awesome time, and 2 humongous blueberry pancakes.

Unfortunately, my dad is a few states, and one time zone away, so we won't get to spend any time with him today:) I saw him last week though, and the whole family will be vacationing together for a week on Cape Cod at July 4th (can't wait!)...so my card and phone call will just have to do for now (Dad, you're getting your present in person when we see you!).

But at least I can take this brief moment to say thanks for being the best Dad in the world!!! Thanks for being a great role model, always supporting us, never letting us pay the bill when we go out to eat, continuously making us laugh, and teaching us so many things (like how to read a map, when to procrastinate, and how to furl the jib). Thanks for my curly hair and skin that tans instead of burns. Thanks for being such a great friend. Love you, Dad!! Wish we could be together to celebrate today!

{my sister, Dad and I on my wedding day - one of the things I love about him, he always makes us laugh!}




****************



On another note, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land for featuring this blog on her Friday's "Linky Love, New-to-Me Edition" post. I can't believe all the new friends who have stopped over to say hi and leave such nice comments since then. Just another thing I love about blogland, all the love!! Thank you, Kimba (and the rest of you)...what an honor.