Copy Cat Design: Caitlin Wilson's Dining Room

Colleen is on fire - I love seeing what she is up to on There Comes A Yes. Also, did you hear that she is now the head graphic designer for Lonny? She is so talented and I feel really lucky that she works with me! She's joining us today with a copy cat version of a room designed by another lovely friend, Caitlin Wilson. Here's Colleen:

I really love Caitlin Wilson's dining room in the July issue of Matchbook. It's a pretty mix of traditional and feminine pieces!

1. Laura Ashley Ava Table Lamp with Taylor Shade; Wayfair, $115

It's pink, but the shape isn't overtly girly, so it works well in a dining room.

2. Cabbage White paint; Farrow & Ball

A fresh, light wash of blue on the walls enhances the navies and pinks.

3. Yellow Dynasty Teapot; The Teapot Shoppe, $35

Chintz makes me happy. That's all.

4. French Empire Crystal Chandelier; Gallery Lighting, $297

A very traditional and formal chandelier--it's best paired with a mix of furniture styles.

5. Porcelain Flower Pot; Oriental Furniture, $39

To stuff with hydrangeas, of course.

6. Lucite Square Knob; The Paris Apartment, $34

Dress up a run-of-the-mill buffet with glam lucite knobs.

7. Liatorp sideboard; Ikea, $350

A basic sideboard perfect for customization.

8. "Bordighera" by Monet in Parma frame 37"x31"; Art.com, $245

Scour church garage sales, thrift stores, and fleas for a framed oil painting--you'll get the best deal!

9. Karges French Regency Dining Table; Ebay, $1595

Rarely can you go wrong with a vintage dining set. If you're searching Ebay or Craigslist, try adding "regency" to your search terms.

10. Chandler Caned High Back Chair; Ballard Designs, $299

To get that Regency look, search for high back chairs and caning.

11. Sofia Fabric in Dark Blue; Ikea, $8/yard

Upholster the dining chairs in a navy and white/cream stripe!

12. Grant Wing Back Chair; Home Decorators, $900

Use wing back chairs as host chairs--it breaks up the matchy-matchy look of a dining set.

13. Navy Fleur Chinoise Fabric; Caitlin Wilson Textiles, $60/yard

Tie the room together perfectly with this floral fabric.

Give Away: Abstract Painting by Jessie Mackay

Michael and I have a goal of bringing more art into our home over the next couple of years. I've mentioned before how it can be a little daunting to know where to start looking for artists. But have you ever been searching, and then all at once an artist's collection or piece of art just sings to you? Your heart is doing backflips and your mind is racing? That happens to me a lot in museums, where I feel a connection with an artist, but it's (obviously!) harder to find that in the art market in a real and affordable way.

I'm so, so thrilled to share today's (HUGE) give away from acclaimed artist and philanthropist, Jessie Mackay, and artist who makes my heart sing. Her work has been praised by NYT art critics and hangs in celebrity homes (check out her paintings in James Carville and Mary Matalin's home featured in Architectural Digest). Here are a few of my favorites currently available on Jessie's site.

Today she is generously offering up this 24x30 gallery-wrapped abstract painting called 'Soft Thoughts.'

Here are some close ups of this lovely painting, just sitting in my loft, waiting to be shipped to your home!

I love the bits of bright, almost neon paint peeking through the soft grays and creams.

Lucky you, there are a couple of ways to enter your name into the pot.  
1) Simply leave a comment on this post sharing where you would hang 'Soft Thoughts' in your home. 2) Like Jessie Mackay Art on Facebook and leave a comment on this post saying so.
3) Pin your favorite Jessie Mackay art from her site and leave a comment on this post saying so.

The winner will be chosen at random from the comments here on July 25 at midnight. Good luck!

****CONGRATS TO WINNER JAMIE LUNT! THANK YOU ALL FOR ENTERING****

Flokati Rugs

I love the idea of stepping out of bed in the morning onto the softest, furry pile of wool. So I've been thinking a flokati rug would be so cozy and swanky (I vow to never use that word again - it had to be done) in our soon-to-be-dark-walled bedroom.

I've been looking around for a nice flokati (aka one that doesn't shed like C-R-A-Z-Y). But I also want one that won't be a huge investment, since, let's be real, it's a white rug in a house full of kids and maybe a dog. If I didn't have about a million other places to spend our money right now I would be tempted by a real Beni Ourain Moroccan rug, like Jenna's.

Living Etc.

I've had my eye on this flokati for a couple weeks since it has pretty decent reviews and the price was good. As is typical for me though, I let it sit in an open browser tab for about three weeks - until I noticed it was 75% off (still is!). And since I'm a total sucker for marketing gimmicks like that, I just couldn't pass. A little over $100 for the 5x7 seemed like a very fair price for a well-reviewed flokati.

Elle Decor, March 2010

Anyone have this particular rug? Or a flokati in their bedroom? Spill!

PS If you're feeling adventurous, Danika at Gorgeous Shiny Things used a little bit of fabric dye to recreate the Beni look.

Every room needs a pop of red

There's a tiny little open-air flea market in a lot on 25th st just east of the Chelsea Flea/Antiques Garage (my favorite!). It's easy to miss if you don't know where to look for it. The offerings are super shabby compared to the vendors in the antiques garage, and there's almost no furniture, but it's a fun place to look for cheap accessories. This guy's stand usually has one or two little vases or bowls that are perfect for styling rooms.

What do you think I was drawn to here?

I love a pair of anything, but the color of these vintage persimmon splatter vases was just perfect. And the shape of these was ever so slightly off, which I think is so great.

I thought for a minute they might be old Jonathan Adler vases because of the initials on the bottom, but I think these are too old to be his. The vases are midcentury (I think) and he started working in the 80s. Anyway, I still really liked them though and $25 for the pair was more than fair, so I took them home.

I love how they look on my bookshelves. A little red in every room goes a long way.

Copy Cat Design: Feminine Bedroom

Colleen, who is offering eDecorating services now (!!), is back for another stunning Copy Cat post. This photo of the Oly Studio showroom at High Point was plastered allllll over Pinterest this week. Wouldn't you love to call this room yours? Here's Colleen:

Here's a showroom that made the rounds after High Point, and for good reason: it's spectacularly pretty! 

1. Sea Urchin Art; Pieces, $28-45

Since our interpretation doesn't include a stunning brass bed, bring in some brass accents for extra sparkle. I love these urchins because the echo the shape of the sunburst mirror in the space.

2. Shane Powers Opal Glass Vase; West Elm, $23

A few coral peonies in this milky-white vase would be plenty pretty on a nightstand.

3. Coral Table Lamp; Wayfair, $95

Coral lamps fit right in with the tropical thrust of the room.

4. Chatham Canopy Bed; PB Teen, $1000

Not quite a showstopping brass canopy, but the lines are clean. Ikea used to carry a similar (and cheaper) canopy, so it might be worth tracking down on Craigslist.

5. Schumacher Velvet in Hibiscus; Decorator's Best, $109

A luxurious velvet for a bolster or euro shams.

6. Bahama Sparrow; Vintage Printable

Illustrations in the public domain are an excellent source for decorating, and this bird print works so well here! You can even enlarge the illustration with Wizard Prints. 

7. Jules Large Accent Table; Crate & Barrel, $350

It's a bit of a challenge finding new gold-toned furniture, so I love these feminine tables.

8. Gold Sunburst Mirror; Target, $90

A spindly starburst mirror adds some needed texture.

9. Lyon Chair; Restoration Hardware, $595

A pretty, cozy chair in a natural linen rounds out the furniture. (ed note: This chairs is super comfy and an unbelievably great price!!)

10. Hemstitched Percale Duvet in Pink Grapefruit; Garnet Hill, $120

Add some color to the bed with a coral pink duvet or quilt!

Marimekko Pillows

A few of you asked about the fabric on my hot pink pillows (seen here).

I pulled one of my favorite tricks here and used standard bed pillow cases to make pillow covers. These were Marimekko shams from the clearance aisle at HomeGoods.

Just use three of the already finished edges and then add your own zipper on the fourth (bottom) edge. Sometimes you can get two pillows out of one king-sized sham! These two pillows ended up costing me about $7 total, including the two zippers, and only took a few minutes at the sewing machine to finish.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! And if you're celebrating, I hope it's a very happy Easter or Passover for you and your family!

xx

Full Color Family Photos

I've always defaulted to black and white for family photos I put on display. I think maybe it feels a little more formal.

(from this old dining room project)

But lately I've been super drawn to family photos in color. It was this gallery wall in Ralph Lauren's home that first caught my eye.

But then this home on APT with LSD fully converted me. I think the trick to pulling off the look is very thin, simple frames.

I know I would be instantly drawn to this wall as a visitor! Wouldn't you? I'm dying to put one of these walls in our next place.

I think the blocks of color here make this arrangement especially artful - a mostly red/orange tinted photo, photos in mostly blues and one that's mostly all green tinted. More neutral photos fill in the gaps. There is beauty up close in the individual shots and then standing back, the arrangement has a lovely abstract flow. As they say, it's a lot of work to look effortless. :)

PS If you don't mind frames that are a little larger, I'd go with this two-pack from Michaels I used in this project (and here's a shot of the frames in their packaging). SUCH a great deal and the frames are perfectly slim and modern.

Room Tour: Perfectly Pink Bedroom

My friend Kristen from Gypsy Soul Interiors always has gorgeous projects going on at her place! I loooove when her name pops up in my inbox!

She was inspired by this chevron rug DIY project and used a perfect coral pink color. The rug is for her daughter's newly redecorated big girl room. I love the Kristen eyeballed the taping! She wanted this to be a quick project and sort of liked that imperfectly-perfect look (especially for a kids room).

You're going to want to check out how adorable this little girl's room turned out. That bed (and bedding)! That chaise! Kristen embraces all things vintage and knows *just* how to update them with paint and fabrics. I feel like this space has so much more soul than a room filled with catalog furniture!

I'm sure you'll want to know just like I did - the wall color is Iced Apricot by Valspar. Definitely adding that one to the paint color arsenal! This elusive perfectly peachy pink color is hard to nail down!

Gorgeous job as always, Kristen! Thanks for sharing!

If you have a room submission for LGN, please email jenny at jennykomenda dot com. Thanks!

Lamp Shade Switcharoo

Got a ho-hum lamp shade that could use a little spicing up? New lamp shades can be very pricey (pretty shades here are always at least $50. Usually closer to $100/$150+!). I had an old white silky shade on hand that I decided to paint red a couple weeks ago. I tested two different colors, but I knew I wanted the Oxblood color from the get-go. I think it's a really good idea to temper bright, garish colors with muddy, off-tone colors in a space.

I had an old quart of glossy red paint on hand that was the perfect color (Man, I wish Home Depot still carried that Ralph Lauren paint line! Those colors were so pretty!). So, the trick to painting lampshades? Either water the paint down, or better yet, thin it down with paint conditioner. I've used this brand with great luck.

But the real trick to painting lampshades (or furniture, or really anything with a brush) is to load the brush with a consistant amount of paint every time, lay the paint down smoothly the first time and then resist every temptation to go back over what you have done! Just let it dry. Once it's fully cured in a couple hours, you can lightly sand the whole shade and give it a second coat to cover up any imperfections in the first layer.

Don't forget to paint the inside rims, but I like to stop where the fabric hem rolls in. Leave the inside white or black (or line it!). You can paint paper shades too, but I wouldn't water your paint down in that case- use the conditioner or just straight paint. I've painted a couple different types of shades and most of the time it works great, but it should go without saying I wouldn't mess with a really lovely expensive shade. Reserve this project for those approaching-nasty yellowing shades that so often come with lovely vintage lamps!

PS The Homies are out again! (They always sneak up on me, so thanks to those of you who nominated and voted for me already in both the Best DIY blog and Best Home Design categories - I'm not holding my breath, but I am super flattered. xox) I love the Homies because they make it so easy to find really great, new-to-me blogs! It's risky business though, finding a new blog that fits you so well you just can't go to bed until you've read through to their very first post! :) Dare I click through the list before the weekend?!

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Huge Prints for only $4!

Michael and I were married eight years ago in the Arizona LDS temple. It's such a beautiful place and is really special for our family. A while back I was looking for vintage maps of Mesa, AZ on eBay (we collect old maps of places we've lived) and I stumbled across this photo of the temple from the 60s. I loved how modern the shot is with all the white space!

Later I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and knew I wanted to blow up my vintage photo for our home. I scanned in the photo and brought my zip drive to Kinkos (Or I guess it's called Fedex Office now? Bor-ring!). For only $4 they printed my image on their large format blueprint printer. The largest size you can do is 48" wide, but mine is 36". It's so inexpensive because the paper is nothing special and you can only have black and white. But it's huge and graphic and so affordable!

I cut down the paper to size and then mounted the print with scrapbook tape on double thick foamboard I got at Blicks for $7 (which I also cut down to size using an X-acto knife).

After mounting the print I realized I could save a ton of money by not framing it and just painting the edges. I used an orange tester paint that I already had on hand and a square-edged artist's brush. It was easy to carefully paint just the edges of the foamboard.

I hung the mounted print on the wall with my favorite picture hanging strips.

I'm so happy with how this project turned out. I only wish my wall was bigger so I could have done the full 48" width!

From the side you get to see the pop of vermillion color. I love little surprises in design!

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Another way to paint your interior doors

Hello friends! Happy President's Day! Michael and I are taking advantage of the three-day weekend to wrap up some half-finished projects together.

As I was working on a DIY yesterday, I had a flash of inspiration when I remembered this shot from Martha Stewart living. I love how they painted the inside rim of the door that punchy red color! Such a fun surprise in an otherwise pretty neutral room.

image via the lovely Abbey Nova

Hoping to finish up the project this afternoon to share with you tomorrow!

Reader DIY: Animal Bookends and Brass Figurines

Ooh! I love this Reader DIY from the adorable and talented Cassie at Hi Sugarplum!

Cassie figured out a really inexpensive way to make cute book ends and brass-looking table top accessories (HERE and HERE).

She picked up random little toys and figurines from thrift stores, hobby shops and the dollar bin at Target and spray painted them!

She super glued the painted figurines to flat rocks and made really cool, unique bookends.

Cassie did a similar project using (my go-to) Rustoleum in Brass from their metallics line.

PS Their gold color has way too much pink in it, but the brass is a lovely bright yellow. It really looks like brass, right? I'm thinking a trip to the Homegoods clearance section is in order!!

Cassie spent less than $5 on each of these. Little projects like this that cost almost nothing are so great. It's a nice way to get a fun look that you don't have to commit to. If she wants to change these out for something else later, there's no reason to feel bad. I love it.

Thanks for sharing, Cassie!

If you have a DIY project you'd like to submit, please email jenny (at) jennykomenda (dot) com.

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