Okay, Okay, I'll give you a hint: A glimpse into my new living room

I have been working on how/what to do with my living room (well, all the rooms, but I'm starting there). Although I have been getting some private furniture commission work coming in (Yay!), I'm really not doing too much in the way of design jobs. And really, what do I have to show anyone in respect to my work anyway? So I thought I should start at home. Besides, after I saw this certain episode of Color Splash in which David turned this dark, ugly, nearly unfinished basement den into a "Yaht Club Themed Sensation", I've wanted to come close to the same thing.

I was just going to wait until I was completely finished to even talk about it, then post before and afters and include some inspiration photos. But you know me, I can't keep a secret very well. I get too damn excited. I was so happy with how my bedside table came out, I just HAD to blab about it. But seriously now, I'm keep the rest under wraps. Really. I mean it this time. (Hahaha...)

For lack of better photos to show you of my living room, I share these with you but keep the judgy down to a dull roar. Yes, my Christmas decorations are too busy. Yes the window treatments need an overhaul-it's on the list, and I could list 20 other flaws that I instantly see, we're going to ignore all that. The only thing you're taking away from these photos:

My couch is white
My dog is black
My kid is active
My yard is 3 acres with dirt in it
My garden is massive (which means dirt)
My house has sand dunes across the road

You do the math.

The before living room:

(You get the idea)

For those of you that aren't in the white slip cover club, you're going to want to ask me why I didn't think that white would be hard to keep clean. Well, don't do that. It's not even necessary because I already have the sane reasoning on the ready:

Because I could just take the slipcovers off and wash them! (Every other freaking day)
Because white is so pretty and refreshing! (Sure, when it's white. And even then it gets old)
Because I'm so smart and won't listen to anyone (We've hit the zinger here folks)

Then enters David Bromstad into my life.--->

Dear Lord, 

Why does David Bromstad have to be gay? I mean, first Nate Berkus, now David, can't you let me fall in love with a straight guy that loves interior design?

Lovelorn, Chrissa



Dear Chrissa, 


Hahahahahaah. You're cute.


Peaceout, God.



I totally fell in love with this one room he did. Well, okay, it wasn't a room, it was an entire lower-level den. Navy walls, white wing back chairs, mirrored coffee tables, yellow lucite chairs, navy couch, yellow flowers, ottomans and lamps. It was just crazy inspiring. After searching for days on the web, I finally got off my lazy butt and snatched up screen shots by pausing frames on Hulu. I know, so original, right? ::rolls eyes::

Don't you just love it?

I'm putting my own spin on things. Which means turquoise, duh. The table that I finished isn't even for this room, it's for my bedroom, but I'll share it anyway, you know, to keep you coming back for more.

I think there was a 110% improvement, but then again, I am hella biased because I dig this yellow in such a yoooj way.

Unlike my kid:

B: "So I've noticed a lot of yellow trim and accents lately. I take it your about to redo everything?"
Me: "Very observant. Yes, I'm redesigning my bedroom and the living room and using a lot of yellow accents. It's my new second favorite color"
B: "Yeah, I noticed, about that. Yellow is the color of the glare in a monster's eye. Which means I think it's ugly. Can you not keep using so much of it?"

Alright, that's all I got for now. I'll keep you posted.

Oh, what I wouldn't do with a lot of time and a little bit of money

Okay, so maybe not just a little bit of money...I'd need enough to buy a house, some paint and hopefully have an operating nest egg to fund all of my thrifting. In the meantime, I guess I can settle for refinishing free finds I abscond and living vicariously through the 200+ design blogs I am obsessed with.

This week I've been stuck at home pretty  much most of the time nursing the worst case of allergies ever. That, coupled with having left my cell phone charger at my cousin's house that lives a few hours north, has kept  me pretty much on the DL for days. Don't worry though, my time hasn't been idly wasted, I've been putting Blake's old toys up on eBay, doing (a little bit of) laundry and surfing blogs while I watch countless episodes of Moving Up, Designed to Sell and Color Splash (if David Bromstad wasn't gay, I would so kidnap him and keep him locked in my house until he succumbed to my feminine wiles, I'm just saying).

Today's favorites:

I love this room. I’d love it so much more with paint on the walls. Say, turquoise for instance:

image via BHG

What a perfect little breakfast nook. All that light! The turquoise French doors have me squirming in my seat.

I’d love the floor if it were blue, but what really gets me about this space is the view. I love the tree outside the window (is that a willow, cypress?). I would be so content to retreat to this space to drink tea and read a good book. 

I am terribly in love with this bed, and have been looking for an old fireplace mantle since I first saw this in print form. I found one last year at the Habaitat for Humanity ReStore, but they wanted $200 for it and I refused to allow myself to spend that.

And the letters? Love.

(Do I regret not busting out that $200 now? Yes. Yes, I do.)

Images via BHG

I totally love the idea highlighted in Coastal Living linked from The Estate of Things. I would absolutely love to use this washbin idea in a kids bath or in a garden sink corner (yes, I want an outdoor working sink in the back of my dream house by the gardening area so I can wash my hands constantly without having to go inside). - side bar, I had to correct the word "sink" in this entire post because I posted it as "sick". Freudian? 

Image via The Estate of Things

I would have never thought to use these colors together but I absolutely love it. They’re really uplifting

Image via Cote De Texas

I interrupt this blog to talk about how much I LOVE this look:

Image via Wifestyle Files

I am in LOVE with this bathroom mirror anchored by these beautiful windows with such a magnificent view. I really, really want it. Kind of bad.

Image via Wifestyle Files

I loooove the use of these mounts. The sheds make me swoon. One of them will become quite relevant in future posts:

I am in LOVE with this home office:

Image via Made By Girl

You know, the more design aspects I find and fall in love with, the more I worry that it will keep me from ever really being happy without having everything I want. I get so excited by something that catches my eye, but then with equal fervor, I WANT IT!! 

For now though, I am content working on my own home's current redesign. I hope to be "done" soon (is there ever really such a thing as done?) and I'll post photos. I've gotten several pieces refinished so I have a lot of projects to show off.

xo

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...you're the fairest of them all

I think perhaps the most likely culprit of my fascination (and fanaticism) with mirrors is Lewis Carroll. I have always had a vivid imagination,  however, after first reading Alice in Wonderland in the fourth grade, and subsequently Through the Looking Glass, I became absolutely transfixed by the idea of mirrors and the worlds they could be harboring and the endless passages behind them that could take me any where I dreamed of going. I attribute this also to my significant affection for mirrors over fireplace mantles, you know, since that's where Alice's was.

The idea that a reflection could contain an entire other world was enthralling to me, and though, it was only a story, the metaphor was completely tangible. Upon the reflection of a mirror, you are truly able to see another place. Now, in most cases that place is right behind you, but the thought is still the same. It’s a wall with a window to the rest of the world around you.


I love how a mirror can deepen a room, give it life, texture…and even the semblance of more space.

Take a white room for instance. You can have a totally white room but you can also have a mirror that reflects the colors outside, making an interchangeable focal point that never gets old, since it’s objects are constantly changing with the time of day.

via Design Sponge Online

Clicking that link cost me $100 because the mirror on the bottom left? The Audrey? I have to have it.

via Shelter

I love how this mirror gives so much height to this table, but the balance of the lamps and their reflection perfectly balances them together. 

I love these lamps. I’ve wanted them for some time now but they’re so freaking expensive. I thought about getting some cheapies and spray painting them chrome..and I might just have to do that. In the meantime, I'll covet them softly.

via A Perfect Gray

This room seems very dark, but the white accents and mirror off-balance the gray perfectly.

via Absolutely Beautiful Things

Sidebar: That sofa? I has to have it. I need it. It needs me, I can hear it, "Chrisssssa, I need you"

via Brabourne Farm

The mirrors in this room seem like hallways that go on for an eternity.

via COTE DE TEXAS

I really love this room, I am sure mostly because of the prerequisite white, slip-covered couch, but I also love the plates and feedbag pillows. I plan to make some of my own just as soon as I have time. They’re so durable. I am sure that my being a devoted COTE DE TEXAS fan has absolutely no relevance here either *looks around*

via Desire to Inspire

What a fantastically great room this is. I love how perfectly the mirror matches the chair backs.

via Desire to Inspire

This room is so sweet and lovely. The little mirror over the bed is so adorable, but in this delicate room, so grounding as well.

via Desire to Inspire

The bedside mirror so perfectly fits the nautical themed room with all of its porthole goodness. The one thing that I always find the most charming is that with Interior Designers, nothing is ever an accident, every detail is well thought out decision.

Sidebar: Notice the bed? In case this is your first glimpse, it's all the rage with kids these days. See what I mean?

xo

Damn my affinity for white couches.

I blame the internet for my infatuation with white couches. Well, my infatuation with white everything to be more succinct. I tried to rationalize that because my own white couch is slipcovered, it was a very sound idea. I could just remove the cover whenever it got dirty, throw it in the wash and the put it back on, like a pretty couch dress.

Except.

I have a dog. With black hair.

I also have a son. With real feet, that walk through real grass.

So to hell with that idea.

This is my couch when I first got it (notice the bare living room and empty fish tank? Refrain from judging because I had just got those as well):

 I am going to have my cover dyed gray soon.

One of my favorite blogs, Decorology, has a nice pile of couch candy for your viewing pleasure:

All images via Decorology

Is it any wonder that I am washing my stupid, pretty white couch twice a week?

xo