Happy Thanksgiving

I'm headed home to the country to spend Thanksgiving with my family- I hope everyone as a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!!



photo from marthastewart.com

Secret Source...(ok well not really secret)

I love to wrap my Christmas presents in "fun" paper and beautiful ribbons.

Side note: I use quotes around "fun" because according to my Mom only cream, silver, gold and maroon are allowed on or under the Christmas tree and anything other than those are a no-no. Well, as soon as I moved in with the BF and had my own tree, those rules went right out the window and I got all kinds of pretty patterned paper to wrap my gifts in. You should have seen my moms face when all my "fun" packages arrived at my parents house to put under the tree for Christmas morning... priceless!

Anyway, I searched and searched and finally found the cheapest place for satin ribbon...Papermart (my secret source). They seems to have the best prices around and have many different colors and widths available. I guess Cottage Christmas (from Cottage Living) agrees because I saw Papermart listed in there as their secret source too! They also have great boxes, wrapping paper and other items needed to make your packaging beau-ti-ful!









I'm posting this now so y'all have time to go and order some fabulous satin ribbon to adorn all those amazing Christmas presents you are giving this year.

pictures from Whateverradio Blog

More Pink!

Just got my last issue of O at Home (sniff, sniff) and I open it right up to more pink! This time it was this awesome pink wall decal in the shape of a grandfather clock from whatisblik.com. Why didn't I think of these?

(click on picture to see close up)

Here is a picture from the website showing all the different colors.

They have lots more decals too...check them out HERE

Fashionable in Pink

You must check out this months Metropolitan Home, the spread of Nisi Barryman's South Beach home is out of this world. Nisi is the founder of NIBA Home, a showroom which is filled with amazing things from top to bottom. These are the types of websites and magazine spreads that make me wish I was a millionaire, better yet had a few different homes I could furnish.

How could you not want to see more with that HOT pink front door- it just welcomes you from the start.

LOVE this sideboard/cabinet with the Lucite feet. The two side chairs that are on either side are great too, and the color is my fav!

I spy my favorite color! I love that orange side chair, and the pattern on the rug is wonderful.

This headboard is awesome! I love the shape of it, and how it pops right off those hot pink walls.

NIBA Home can be found at www.nibahome.com

all pictures from Metropolitan Home

Boston Poster

I know this has been posted before, but I'm really digging the Boston map. Paired with an Ikea frame, it would be prefect on my walls. I think this one is going on the Christmas list.


Poster can be found HERE

Keeping Busy

The BF is in grad school taking night classes (while working full time) to get his MBA. Needless to say, he is often not home. To keep busy I have come up with many projects, or activities as I call them, to keep from being bored or lonely after work.

I already posted about the pillows I made for my new bedroom, and have moved on to more sewing. After an expensive trip to the craft and fabric store, I've started making little make-up bags, shoe bags, and other things out of all the cute fabric I got. I also discovered this iron on vinyl stuff, and have started making vinyl lined make-up bags, much easier for clean up...the stuff is awesome!

Here is one of the vinyl lined bags I made (sorry for the poor quality picture)

Actually, before I made the bag I was practicing with the iron on vinyl and made a set of coasters.

After being home for many nights alone, I have made over a dozen little bags. I had so many I've started giving them away to friends and now have a few requests to make more. This is just one of the many crafts I keep myself busy with at night, I'll post the others when I take pictures of them.

Hmm, all the projects I've made are starting to pile up in my house...maybe I should open an etsy store. Anyone out there make things at home and sell them on etsy?? How is it working out for you?

Getting Ready for Christmas

I know its not even Thanksgiving yet, but its time to start making a list of things I need to buy/make/decorate for Christmas. Since I live in the city with no car it makes it hard to get around and buy the things I need, so I make a list before Thanksgiving and when I'm home in the country I get everything there to bring back to my apartment.

So far here are the things I have on the list:

Amaryllis Bulbs

I love the bulb potted in this birch tree piece- I wonder if my Dad could make me a few like this- (hint hint Dad)

Paperwhite bulbs- my Mom hates the smell of these, but I love them!

**Does anyone have any tips on how to get these to grow short and not be so tall that they fall over before they bloom?? Please share, I would be very grateful**

Silver glass ornaments from Target (a box of 12 is $1.99, best deal ever)- I love to use these all over the house. I put them in glass jars, any open container in the family room, and all over the mantle.

I have to make two boxwood topiaries and a wreath.

My parents have a huge boxwood in the backyard, who knew boxwood was so expensive at the florist? So the tree out back gets a yearly trim at Thanksgiving so I can make these for free. This decoration takes some time, the topiary pictured here is about 12 inches tall, and to make two of them took me around 5 hours-ugg!

For my front door I think I am going to try and make a wreath like Erin made from Elements of Stlye. Hers looks so pretty, I think I can do something like it.

So, what does everyone do to get ready for Christmas decorating? What is on your list of things to buy for decorations?

Pictures from apartmenttherapy.com, flickr, marthastewart.com and from Erin at Elements of Style.

Loving This...Cracker Jar

Its no secret that I love to organize. I love to buy containers to organize and group like items together. For the kitchen this cracker jar from Target is my favorite item. I use it for most items in my cabinet, such as: tea bags, rice, brown sugar, powdered sugar, coco powder, oats for my oatmeal and many others. (the flour and sugar go in larger glass containers) At around $3.50 for the medium size jar, its quite the bargain.



The ones I use are made by Anchor Hocking and can also be found at the Container Store and other places like that.

Walmart, Who Knew?

I was looking around for some cute black and white pillows, and when you google "black and white pillows" about a million different options come up. Well, I clicked on a cute one and was shocked to see that it was from Walmart!


Now I must be honest- its not that I didn't know Walmart had house things, because I did- I just always assumed they would never be as cute as Target things- I'm a Target snob. So, I got to searching the website and found some other cute ones, the green one is even made from organic materials. (who knows how much actually is organic, but its better than nothing)

Then, just as I get excited about all the cute new things I found, I see this...

Oh, and there are alot more where that one came from. Walmart really does have everything.

images from Walmart.com

Designer: Kenneth Brown

I first saw the work of Kenneth Brown in the pages of House Beautiful and from the first room I saw, I was hooked. His work is very distinctive with the use of bold colors and patterns but using them in a more traditional way- exactly the look I love. He can be seen on HGTV's reDesign and also has a new show Over Designed on TLC.

There are many loft apartments in Boston, and every one I have seen looked so modern and cold to me. His design here is so warm and inviting, I could definitely live in a loft like this. Those zebra chairs are to die for, and the gallery wall is perfect on that wall.

Again with the zebra print, and I love his use of bright, bold colors here. This would be a perfect guest room for me.

A close up of those amazing chairs....I want them!

I think I like this loft more than the first one- its more me and a little brighter. The black and white wallpaper is beautiful just on one wall, and I love how the yellow vases just pop in front of it. I love how he paired the old farmhouse table with those chairs, I love the mix of dark and light. I can't leave out those lights- they are awesome!

Another view of the same room- love that pillow!

More zebra- love it! Hmmm, don't those yellow vases look familiar?

here

This bathroom is amazing, I love the two sinks- how many fights about toothpaste in the sink would that save :)

This rug adds so much interest to this room, and with the green and gold its fabulous.

This is the perfect mix of old and new to me- I love the very traditional bed, but then have a very modern looking side table and bench covered in black leather. More zebra to give it that extra touch and with my favorite color orange- I love this room!

Those orange chairs are great, and since they are my favorite color, how can they be wrong?

Those benches look like the same used in that blue bedroom above, I like how there are paired to add extra seating.

These were just my very favorite designs of his- there are many many more from his shows and website- you can check out more
This is a great entryway, and I really love the floors here- the dark color wood is my favorite. I love this fireplace, I wish that's what mine looked like.I really like this desk area, its very masculine to me, but in a way that I could enjoy working there. That brass lamp looks so old world, but paired with the plain drum shade its prefect. Another view of the same apartment.

Black is Back

Ever since I posted on Tori and Deans new place, I have been lusting over black cabinetry in the kitchen. When I first saw what she (Tori) was doing to her cabinets, I thought she had lost it, but when I saw the final outcome I was in love!

Here is Tori and Deans place, the kitchen that got me started on the love of black kitchens...

There is, of course, Kelly's kitchen. She makes it look so chic standing there in a beautiful dress. I really like how she uses the black subway tile here, it is a nice change from all the white subway tile that is out there.

I love the floor detail here, this would be beautiful in a city apartment...of course the rest of the place would be amazing too if this is what the kitchen looks like- I wish I had a couple (actually alot more) million for a place like this.

I love all the space in this kitchen, and how huge that island is! I'm not a fan of the wall color with the black cabinets- with this dark floor and all the black, I would have done a lighter color wall...but then again this is not my kitchen.

This is a kitchen I could move right into. I love every detail here- from the farmhouse sink, the marble counter tops, the tile back splash, the stainless steel hood over the stove, and all that storage...omg I would love to have a place for everything in the kitchen. I also like how there is a second sink on the island- very handy.

Here is another view of the same kitchen.

Here is another great kitchen by Jeff Lewis- I love the light pendants here.

This last one I could move right in as well. I usually don't like alot of open storage because I like to be able to hide away the mess- but here I could store all my pretty sterling silver pieces, beautiful glass and if and when I ever get a formal china set and still have enough space for the stuff I want to hide. Again, I love the marble counter tops too.

images from Mrs. Blandings, Flipping Out, HGTV, Apartment Therapy, KWID, and homearama.com