A Camping Room

How cool is this? An attic nook converted into a camping room, complete with sleeping bags and woodland wallpaper!!!!! If I had the space, I would totally do this for when we have kids. A place just for getting away, having fun and using your imagination. Like a whole new world, just a few stairs up.



In the recent addition of the Boston Magazine Home edition we got in the mail, they featured a gorgeous old home in Newton, MA that was completely renovated by the owners (with help from their contractors). She created this camping room in an attic nook as a Father's Day gift to her husband and their 2 boys. Aw!!! The room is even shaped like a tent:)

Furthermore, the title of this issue was "The Hot 50: The Next Generation of Design Stars Who are Shaping the City".



So, a big shout out and congrats to fellow blogger Erin of Elements of Style for making the cut!!! (Literally, when I read the cover of the magazine I said to myself "Geez, Erin's definitely gotta be in here somewhere." and she was!) Click here to check out Erin's post on her part of the magazine as well as more photos of the above amazing home in Newton.

PS. I totally stole both of these pics from Erin's post. Thanks!

PPS. My 2 best friends and I used to go camping in our backyards growing up. We didn't care that we were like 75 feet from our parents, the house, a bathroom, we just wanted to be out on our own, chatting, playing games, eating all the yummy food we brought out with us. Does anyone do this anymore?

Rate My Space Rockstars

Hello! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I hadn't been over to hgtv.com's Rate My Space in a while (does everyone know they added a Holidays tab recently?!), so I spent a few minutes today browsing through. These were the first 2 spaces I saw that really caught my eye:

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What a beautiful "Dining Room in Progress" by RMSer knightmovesblog! I love that the "striped rug" is actually Flor tiles! And with a little googling magic, I found her blog....Knight Moves:)

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Check out this great "Coastal Guest Room" by RMSer KarenSpirit. I love the colored contrasting ceiling... and she installed the molding all by herself one week when her husband was away!!! Awesome!

The Next Mood Board Monday: Bold and Bright Area Rugs

Hi! Wow, sorry for the long delay there in between posts. No excuses, just life getting in the way:)

So how about another Mood Board Monday McLinky party? Let's do it on Monday, March 8th. That gives you a couple of weeks to get inspired, spend imaginary money and prepare your room design:)

This time the party is all about bold, bright and geometric area rugs. Frankly I'm getting tired of all this cold and snow...an injection of fun and cheery rooms might be just the thing! I remembered dog-earring this cool mustard and cream rug when I was flipping through the latest West Elm catalog (it comes in chocolate brown and ivory too). Then I thought stripes might be a good balance...and who's better at stripes and rugs than Dash and Albert?! So, here they are, your inspiration items....choose one...and design a room around it:


1. Andalusia Rug from West Elm

{Exotic pattern from a traditional silk scarf is reinterpreted for the floor in wool and cotton. In Horizon and Ivory}

2. St. John Stripe Indoor/Outdoor rug from Dash and Albert

Hope you like one of them!!! For anyone unfamiliar with the concept of the Mood Board Monday McLinky party, here's the general idea (we would love to see some new faces):

1. This is not a mood board competition for designers (although designers are more than welcome to participate). This is a fun way to share all of the creativity out there and showcase how we can all start from one inspiration point and end up with a variety of ideas.
2. To be a participant, you need to create a complete mood board for a room of your choice using one of the two inspiration pieces shown here.
3. On Mood Board Monday party day (Monday, March 8th in this case), come back here to link up to the party. You will need to include your sources in your post and give a brief description of the room and how you used the inspiration item.

Check out our past Mood Board Monday parties here: MBM01, MBM02, MBM03 and MBM04.

Please spread the word...the more bloggers, the more creativity and beautiful rooms!! See you back here in a couple of weeks, I'm looking forward to all the different kinds of spaces that can spring from just one starting point:)

Sarah's House

No, not me, silly! Sarah Richardson! (Remember her from the show "design inc."?) Has anyone else been watching this show on HGTV? It's on Saturday nights at 8:30pm, right after Divine Design.

I really like it, even though I've only caught 3 episodes so far. (After reading a bit of the website, I guess this is the second season of the show, but I don't remember ever seeing it before this. Maybe it was only airing in Canada then?) Anyways, the show follows designer Sarah Richardson as she buys a house (a "swinging 60s back-split in dire need of an update") and renovates it on a budget ($108,000 for the whole place I think) with the help of her team - Tommy, her design side-kick and Vito, her contractor.

So far I've watched Sarah move a wall and redo a room for her nursery, create a home office, convert some space in the basement into a beautiful guest room, completely redo the basement laundry room and add a good looking storage room. Here's some before and after pics from these 3 episodes. (Check out the hgtv website for each episode to see the paint colors used, sources for furniture and decor, and contact info for any artists or contractors she worked with).

***Nursery and Home Office***

{nursery before}

{nursery after}

{office before}

{office after}



***Guest Suite***

{before}


{after}



***Storage and Laundry Room***

{before}

{after}

Pretty cool, right? I'm going to have to go back and watch all the episodes I've missed...either try to catch them on HGTV or watch them online here...because I definitely want to see how the rest of the house comes along. And I'm going to have check out "Sarah's Cottage" about creating her weekend country getaway. Fun! Any other Sarah (or Tommy) fans out there?

The Wall Came Down!

So...don't be mad or disappointed (or excited because you were really lying to me when you told me you liked it!!!)...but I took the living room gallery wall down. I didn't quit on it or give up, I (ok, we) decided that its not the best thing for that wall or that spot in our house (actually...when Paul got home from his business trip and saw it for the first time he said it wasn't as ugly as he thought it would be!!!). I could have definitely made it doable/passable with all the great advice and suggestions you guys gave me (thanks so much!), but I realized that I was never going to LOVE it. And I don't want to be staring at something/passing something everyday that's just OK. This wall is so central to our main living space that it deserves something better than just a quick fix to use up stuff I had in the basement. Hopefully I'm not disappointing any of you:)

I'm going to start over though. I had wanted for awhile to do a gallery wall of family photos (probably all black and white pics). No clue where that idea was though when I was wondering what to do with this blank living room wall...I must have been having a senior moment and forgot all about it (I'm going to turn 33 in a few weeks, after all). So that's my new plan. I will incorporate a lot of your ideas going forward so that I don't mess up again...keep the frames all one color, don't leave too much space in between them, and get some piece of furniture to anchor the wall. I think having a consistent subject matter will help too (plus, now these pics will all be special and important to us, not just a few sentimental pieces hung in between random filler art)...photos like these:

{my maternal grandmother and grandfather on their wedding day}

{my paternal grandparents on their wedding day}

Not sure if I will do all black frames:

{ideal home}

{source}

{kentucky mama}

{above 2 images from thenest.com Decorating and Renovating FAQ bio}

or all white frames:

{young house love}

{above 2 images from thenest.com Decorating and Renovating FAQ bio}

or brown or silver...or some other random custom color:

{source}

But I have a feeling we will love this wall a lot better once I'm done:) Thoughts?

A Real Wedding Giveaway

This is so cool. I know most of you are married, but if you know anyone here in the New England area who is engaged or planning a wedding, you have to check this out.

Two groups of New England wedding vendors and the wedding inspiration blog Style Me Pretty (a great resource for inspiration pics...be sure to look at their galleries for table decor, overall party details) are coordinating to give away 2 different weddings!!!! Like the coordination, flowers, photography, the cake, the invitations and the dress! Insane.

There's a few rules: the two winning couples must be planning a wedding to take place somewhere in New England sometime in 2011. It sounds like the winning couples will be chosen based on their story...the vendors are looking to support couples who are in financial hardship yet still somehow give back to the world or their communities.

To enter, fill out the contact form over at Jessica's Country Flowers (use the additional comments section to explain about you or whoever you are referring, and why this would be a dream come true for you).

Here's Abby's original post with all the info.

So, one winning couple will get to work with these amazing vendors: Jessica's Country Flowers, photographers Justin and Mary Mantz, Details Wedding and Party Planning, Stonington Paperie, Lovely Cake and White Dress by the Shore.

The second winning couple will be in great hands with these generous vendors: Jessica's Country Flowers, Steve Depino Photography, Sixpence for Your Shoe, Paper Olive, Toria Dolce Fine Desserts, and a dress by The Plumed Serpent.

{both images from Jessica's Country Flowers}

Good luck and be sure to spread the word about this amazing opportunity!!!

PS.How can I thank you all for taking the time to comment on my gallery wall? You had such great feedback and suggestions. Thank you, thank you! I'll keep you updated:)

Not Sure If I Like It

Hello! How was the weekend? How come it always seems like its Monday again?!

Well, I had a productive weekend, but I might hate the fruits of my labor. I'm not sure:( I need your help.

Remember I wanted to put up a gallery wall in our living room? (Click here for my first post.) Here's the blank wall before:

And the final configuration of frames I settled on:

Here they are now all up:

Hmmmm. (Hanging these was a lot easier than I thought. Actually easier than a symmetrical grid where everything has to be perfect and centered. First I started by creating my "invisible rectangle" that I wanted everything to be contained within...I measured how high down from the ceiling I wanted things to start, how far in on the left and right, and how far from the ground I wanted the bottom row to end. Then I hung the 3 frames in the left-hand column, the 3 in the right-hand column and started filling in the middle. The whole thing might be a bit high...shute. I didn't want it too low in case we put furniture there or something and I didn't want it to be a safety issue if any kids were over.)

I'm definitely not thrilled with how it looks. I don't hate it, but I'm not sure if its the right thing for this wall. Now...it could be because I'm definitely not done. Even though the frames are up, a majority of them are getting new prints or artwork. Everything circled in red below will be filled with something better. So should I wait and do that and then see how I like it? Live with it for a bit and hope it grows on me? Immediately take them all down and fill the holes?



Here's some of the more personal/sentimental things that I thought would be better hung on this wall than sitting in my basement:

{watercolors of mine that I painted in or after college}

{a cross-stitch my grandmother made for me}

What do you think? What should I do?

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And just for laughs, my husband's view on the gallery wall....of course, he hasn't seen it. He's away on business, has been since last week, won't be home until Wednesday:( This was our conversation on Saturday afternoon while I was in the car on my way home from a dentist appointment and he was doing whatever he does when he's away for work.

P: So, what are you going to do when you get home?
Me: I think I'm going to try to hang those frames that are all over the floor.
P: Oh. You're really going to put those up?
Me: Yes! What do you mean? You said they looked good!
P: I did? Oh. But are you going to put all of them up?
Me: Yep.
P: Even that blue framed one that your grandmother made?
Me: Yes!!!! That's special. You don't like it?
P: Well, I don't know, it doesn't really go with anything else.
Me: But I have all this stuff that's just sitting in the basement. Isn't it better to have it hanging up? Plus, my style is sorta changing.
P: To what? Ugly?

Bwa ha ha! The next morning he called to check in on me and asked "How's your ugly wall?!" Too funny. He does make me laugh:)