Stylish Blogger Award

I feel very honored to have been awarded the stylish blogger award by the lovely Doehler days blog.  Thanks so much for the award!  I feel so honored.

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 10 recently discovered great bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

I'm now required to share 7 things about myself that you may not know.  You all know I love to design, create, and decorate, but here are a few things you  may not know about me....

1.  I love to run.  Some of you out there are shaking your heads right now thinking I'm crazy.  I didn't always love to run, trust me and some days I love it more than others.  I was that kid in gym class that stepped on her own shoelaces so I could stop running during that 3 minute timed run around the gym to tie them and take a break.  Embarassing, can't believe I just told you that.

2.  Because I love to run, I ran cross country in highschool and continued running throughout college where I actually took a running class.  What do you do in a running class you might ask?  You run :)  Our final exam was to run an ultra marathon (34.1 miles)  It was one of the most amazing experiences.  It pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to achieve a goal that I had always had for myself.  I'm definitely not that hardcore anymore, mainly because I don't have the time, but I am planning to run a half marathon with my sister this summer.

(that little green speck is me running through the mountains of Virginia)

the course was SO beautiful!!

and this guy was beside me at the starting line, interesting huh?

3.  I love to visit new places and take weekend getaways.  I realize once we have children, this will be much harder to do so my husband and I are taking advantage of this while we can.  One of our favorite weekend getaways is Charleston, SC.  I love everything about Charleston.  We have several favorite restaraunts there, our favorite being Magnolias.  I love just wandering the streets, taking pictures and taking in the beauty of all the historic homes.  We love to stroll through the market and see all the local artisans.  I also love walking down King Street and checking out the fabulous design shops, taking pictures, and expanding my inspiration files. 

We always make time for a stop at another one of our favorite places, cupcake

These are everywhere and I liked this one inparticular, not sure why, I think I like the way the red pops against all that white.

All the colorful houses are so beautiful, I'm sure I'm not the only girl out there who has dreamed of a pink house at some point in her life...

but my favorite house has to be this one, the courtyard, the double porches, the painted blue ceiling on the porches, love it all....

ok, enough about Charleston.  I'm sure you get the point, I love it.

4.  I come from a family of photographers.  My mom, sister, and dad are all photographers!  My sister specializes in children's photography as well as family portraits.  She does such an awesome job and is in the process of starting her own blog.  My mom takes amazing pictures of landscape and will be opening an Etsy shop soon!  So proud of them both!

Here's a few samples of my mom's work, she's amazing right??

5.  I got married to the hottest man on the hottest day of the year ;)  Seriously, I think it was like 105 degrees with major humidity....

6.  If I weren't doing interior design I would love to be a nurse.  I actually started out doing nursing in college and ending up changing my major.  I've love helping people and have always been fascinated by the medical field.

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7.  Jesus is my Savior and for that I'm forever grateful.

So there you have it...Now it's time to share the love....

I'm awarding the Stylish blogger award to these lovely ladies....
1.  Bryn Alexandra
2.  Life in the fun lane
3.  Made By Girl
4.  Three Men and a Lady
5.  Danielle Oakey Interiors
6.  Made By Megg
7.  Centsational Girl

Bookpage Sunburst Mirror

Ok, so maybe you are over the whole sunburst mirror fad, but I happen to still love them.  I thought I would put my own spin on the sunburst mirror and the bookpage wreaths, that I'm sure you've all seen, by combining the two.  I'm going to do my best to explain what I did, but as they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I tried to document with pictures as I went.

So, you start out with a basic 10 inch foam wreath (mine came from Hobby Lobby)

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The yellowed pages of older books seem to work better but you can use pretty much any book that you want.  For this particular project I chose to use old church hymnals that my mom found for me.  Just rip the pages out of the book and roll them, making sure not to flatten them.  

Before you get started attaching your pages, trace around the foam wreath on a piece of cardboard so you can finish the back of the mirror when you are done. 

Then you can start attaching your pages to the wreath using lots of hot glue

as you layer them, you will need to fold some of the edges as you go around...

You can make it as full as you want to but I chose to stop here....

Next you need to attach some ribbon so you can hang it.  It's going to be pretty light, but I used pins and hot glue just to make sure it stays in place.

Then, I finished the back edge by attaching the cardboard I had traced out earlier.  You could choose to get a little fancy with this but it will never be seen so it doesn't really matter.

Now you are ready to attach the mirror.  Flip it over and apply LOTS of hot glue to the edges of the mirror and glue it in place.  

I used a round craft mirror from Hobby Lobby.  I chose one with a beveled edge because I thought it looked more professional.

and now you have the finished product!  Something a little unusual and unexpected, maybe even a conversation piece.  I don't have room for it in our house so it's making it's way to our booth to find a new home.  

Linking up to...

Cowhide

My cowhide rug has safely arrived (I sold my other one to a client) and is nestled atop my sisal rug in our dining room.  I really love the way it looks and can't wait to get my table done and see everything all together!

Little Updates

Do you ever get tired of the colors you have in a particular room in your house?  I've felt that way about my living room for a while.  It's been the same colors since we moved in almost three years ago.  I know to most that may seem like a pretty short time, but for us crazy people designers that's a long time!  I've patiently waited to find just the right way to spice it up or possibly introduce a new color, and there it was...I was strolling the aisles of World Market looking for a client and I saw it in all it's glory.  It was an IKAT pillow with the same shade of orange that's in my living room and it was paired with an expected teal color.  I knew it when I saw it, that would be the way to add some interest to my living room AND they had two of them left!  It's was a sign.  It was meant to be.  I feel like you need one piece, artwork, a pillow, fabric, etc. to pull all the colors in a room together so you don't get stuck with a bunch of random colors and nothing tying them together.  This pillow provides a jumping off point to add pops of teal to the room without them looking random or out of place.  I'm super excited to start adding some small teal accents to the room.  I think this is the change I've been looking for....

    

Hooty Hoo

I admit, this owl is a little creepy with his beady yellow eyes.  Anybody ever seen the fourth kind??  That's what he reminds me of.  Any-hoo it's nothing a little white spraypaint can't take care of.  He was only $3 at a local thrift store.

So here he is in all his creepiness....

and after a little makeover...

see that rug in the background by the door?  I love it and found it for a great deal at world market.  It adds some great texture!

Chevron Chair

I completely forgot to take a "before" picture of this chair but you probably remember seeing it somewhere along the lines in one of my older posts.  Not the best picture, but this gives you an idea of what it looked like before.  Blonde wood, not my favorite, but it was free so I can't complain.  However, when the table started it's long makeover I knew the chairs needed a facelift too.  

So, they were painted a fresh, crisp white and the cushions were recovered with my new favorite fabric, a chevron stripe.  I love covering chair cushions in fun fabrics because it always makes a statement and is easily changed when you get tired of it.  It's also a great way to try out a trendy print.  

So here's the "before", again not the best but it gives you an idea.

and after...as my 2.5 year old nephew would say, "oooo fancy!"

Bold Furniture Trend

I have definitely been inspired lately by the bold painted furniture trend.  I'm normally achicken conservative when it comes to painting furniture a bold color to go in my own home or to sell because I want to appeal to the masses.  I did go against my typical black or white when I redid my nightstands and they are one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our house.  In my own home, I get bored pretty easily so I tend to go with white, black, or brown for furniture so I can easily move it or update it.  However, all these fabulous inspiration pictures from blogland have got me wanting to take a walk on the wild side...yes that's about as wild as I get, painting furniture a bold color ;)

so let's talk a walk on the wild side, shall we?

I love this bold coral/orange color on this nightsand and that black shade is pretty great too...

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Love the bold color Michelle chose for her dresser, check out the whole room here.  You will love it!

and I've had my eye on this amazing campaign dresser Emily did for her home office....

I love how the white accents pop off the green back of that bookcase...I'm dying to do this somewhere.  Unfortunately our only bookcase is filled with my husband's vast DVD collection.  Not sure they will really "pop" ;)

image via Tobi Fairley

and centsational girl is just that, centsational!  Love this makeover she did on her office credenza...

Don't you love the painted detail on the top?

and I'm sure you all remember this one from Lonny....

So those are just a few of my favorites at the moment...It's gloomy here today and it's making me feel inspired to paint something bright and cheery.  Hope your day is as bright and cheery as these pieces!