Tuesday, January 22, 2013

headboards + sweet dreams


remember how i was just telling you we are totally overwhelmed with headboard /wall ideas for our bedroom?

well, just this week i stumbled upon this AMAZING site. ariele seems just awesome and her work has such a great feel. i would love to own a piece (specificially; a headboard. obvi)

here are some of her designs...







fireflies

kind of obsessed with this song right now + thought i would share

fireflies


Monday, January 21, 2013

beds & headboards

we LOVE our new bedroom. just love it!

we (finally) upgraded from a full size bed to a queen and it's been amazing sleep since. we bought this bed from west elm. we wanted something simple, clean and easy to adapt to whatever we decided on the "feel" of the room. it's perfect!



we shortly after decided we need some sort of headboard. while i would be head-over-heels for something fun like this rattan headboard


or something more luxurious and pretty like this gorgeous upholstered headboard, there is no way i could convince stuart to go for it.




so we've moved on to thinking of maybe reclaimed wood plank paneling the wall behind our bed in a gorgeous grey or faded color reclaimed wood. but then there comes a thousand questions to decide on...

vertical or horizontal? (we're thinking horizontal)

what color wood? grey? white wash? sun faded lavender is our ideal, but how long will it take us to find that and stay within our budget?

is it socially ok to go to a strangers house and ask them if we can pick apart their deteriorating barn or shed on their property? (probably not)

do we do the whole wall? or just 3/4ish to mimic wainscoting feeling?

here are some of our inspiration photos from pinterest








Sunday, January 20, 2013

DIY hibiscus dyed curtains

we are so lucky to have gorgeous bay windows in our bedroom. but as of now they are only covered by hideous, old, dirty and cheap plastic blinds that came with the house. we've been searching for awesome curtains, but don't want to break the bank, especially as i have a tendency to change my mind on design ideas pretty quickly.

we think we want our overall look to be light, airy and a little pop of blues or violet colors on the ends to accent.

we were searching around bed, bath + beyond and we spotted these. i just loved the subtle texture. so we bought 8; 2 panels for each window, so they are still soft + light but thick enough to give us privacy.


HOWEVER, i scooped up all 8 of the ivory color. no white. so as we are putting them up and thinking they look gorgeous, the more that we put up, the worse it looks against our white trim. ugh.

so i've been toying with the idea to bleach them white (they don't even exist in white. i've checked everywhere!) but then what's the point of spending all that money to still have to fix them. annoying.

now i'm thinking maybe i'll experiment with one and dye it a very faint color. i'm loving this shade of pink + idea and the fact that it's natural. 


otherwise, i think i might just try good ol' rit dye and go for a shade of lilac. right now, i'm liking shade 600, 116 and 563. i'll keep you posted on the progress of the curtains.

Friday, January 11, 2013

say yes to the dress


well, i'm tickled pink to find our 'say yes to the dress' episode on youtube. we had SO MUCH FUN that day!

...and now back to reality.


Thursday, January 10, 2013

stay cozy!

it's chilly today. we have big plans of grocery shopping, a few chores (maye sneaking in a much needed manicure) and then staying cuddled up on our new, big couch.

stay cozy!






nursery inspiration

big + exciting news: we're expecting baby #2 in the springtime!

so, along with the my usual OCD and organizing plus the typical organizing you do when you move and are trying to settle into a new house, are now both being trumped by a severe case of nesting. hand in hand with nesting is planning for the new nursery. i have a zillion ideas leftover from nia's room or new things i've seen out + about. 

we don't know if we are having a boy or a girl, so we're thinking grey paint, white crib and i plan on refinishing one of the awesome dressers we just scored in either a mint or lavender color and the room having lots of warm wood tomes. 

here are some of my favorite looks from pinterest...










Wednesday, January 9, 2013

p.s. DIY dresser

just realized i didn't include a picture of one of the actual dressers we bought in my last post. here is the white french provincial style dresser for nia's room.



i've been slowly de-stickering with goo gone and razor blades when i get a chance during nia's nap times. afterwards i'll just need to narrow down my color choice and give it a quick sanding so the paint will stick.

it's in great shape and a perfect size. i'm so excited to get this project done.

DIY dresser

since we just moved from a small 1 bedroom apartment in queens to our new spacious house, we realized we didn't have much furniture at all (especially since our IKEA dresser and armoire not-so-shockingly both broke in  transit)

i've been hunting for some great pieces and found these 2 awesome dressers on craigslist. one will be for nia's room and the lower we are thinking will be in the nursery to act as a changing table double for the first year or so.

i have so many ideas for these two dressers, i feel like we need 10 more just to do all the sweet ideas rolling around in my head.

here are a few of my favorite color ideas from pinterest...


for nia's french provincial style dresser i was thinking all solid light pink


or solid pink with the pretty handles white


or a light mint green or faint, warm blue...



and for the nursery dresser, because it's a bit less detailed than nia's desser, it could carry ombre (as you can tell, i'm slightly obsessed with) in yellow or green or mint or blue shades.


 + 

 i also love the lavender color and would just have to be sure the room as a whole wouldn't be too feminine if we have a boy. then if it's a girl i would totally want to attempt this awesome faux inlay look or a gorgeous stenciling/hand painted design.




or just stick with more gender neutral mint/grey color and switch out the knobs? 


then i also like something bolder and fun that this dresser could totally carry and could perk up the room. 




*(all images were from pinterest by searching "dresser")



perfect winter chili (with orange zest!)

i love chili! i obviously love a good classic beef version, but in trying to incorporate healthier recipes in the everyday i made a super healthy ground turkey version that was mild, hearty and beyond delicious. the orange zest is what really makes the recipe - it's a perfect addition.

ingredients
1 onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced


3 carrots, chopped

2 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. fat free ground turkey
14 oz can of black beans
14 oz can dark kidney beans
14 oz can pink beans
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup red wine
3 Tbsp cumin
3 Tbsp chili powder (use more if you like it spicy)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp. orange zest 
1 avocado, chopped, for garnish
1 cup cheddar cheese, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish

steps
heat oil in large saucepan and saute onion, garlic and carrots. approx. 3 minutes. 

add ground turkey and saute until cooked through. 

rinse beans from can. always!

add beans, tomatoes, wine and spices. (also, if you have one of those chili packets of spices, you can just use that instead of the cumin & chili powder)

cook for 30+ minutes. serve hot and garnish with avocado, sour cream and cheddar cheese. enjoy!

* if it looks like it's too dry you can add more wine, fresh tomatoes or a small can of tomato sauce






suburbia update

happy new year!




i'll start from this week and go backwards...

still recovering from a weird chest cough/cold that seemed to come out of nowhere and thankfully has not spread to stuart or nia. stuart went back to work for the first time in weeks today leaving us ladies home. we've been in fancy dresses and ballerina costumes all day whipping up fruit smoothies and watching sesame street

NYE was super boring. we huddled up on the couch, the 3 of us watching "mulan", only intensifying nia's princess obsession and then i passed out at 9:30PM, completely bored by jenny mccarthy and ryan seacrest. 

christmas was awesome! we had to cancel our planned trip back to Wales for christmas due to ridiculous ticket prices. it's like the tickets knew how much, almost to the penny, we had in our savings account and wanted to play a joke. but we had a stellar time at home, just the 3 of us. nia's favorite presents: a tie between minnie light up high heel shoes and princess chapstick. 




i had a week of freelancing back at martha stewart. it was awesome!!!! i didn't realize how much i missed working. and an added bonus of seeing a bunch of sweet, familiar faces. thankfully, the subway map was still in tact in the back of my brain along with old favorite lunch spots on my old stomping ground. best lunch of the week: friedman's pulled pork sandwich with pickled red onion on a perfect brioche bun. 


           

we had nia's 2nd birthday bash the first weekend in december. she was thrilled at the idea of being 2 and loves a good party. plus, her birthday party was the first real event we've had at our new house. we'd be lying if we said we didn't love giving all of our guests tours.



we've had a bunch of fun events sprinkled in between too; our annual friends faux thanksgiving, which was down right delicious and so much fun hosting in our new house, a traditional pre-christmas date with our best buds that was chock full of cuteness, christmas cookie baking date with nia that resulted in 4+ dozen pink sprinkle clad tree and snowflakes cookies, and impromptu shopping trip to bryant park + columbus circle christmas markets to soak in the season. 



updates on the house...

1) we ordered a grown up couch. our very first grown up couch. EVER. big upgrade from our black velvet (horrendous is an understatenent) hand-me-down settes from wales, quintessential NYC apt IKEA futon, and the current pink tootsie roll couches. we're pretty excited. it was delivered yesterday and we are super happy with it!!!!

2) majority of our gutters and drain pipes are full of leaves and debris and are now almost all broken and about to burst due to expanding ice. lovely. stuart was hard at work yesterday tending to them with the help of A LOT of tools, a rickety old ladder that looked totally unsafe, hot water buckets and positive thinking. 

3) while stuarts been home for a bit he has done a zillion little projects around the house. awesome! includes but not limited to: creating shelves in old coat closet to convert to a linen closet, building shelves in bedroom closet to covert to a filing closet, painted the office (a kick ass chartreuse color - martha stewart "mimosa") and patched giant hole in the kitchen wall.  in short, things are really moving along! (pictures to follow soon!)

as a tease, it's pretty much these awesome shelves from the container store meets martha stewart mimosa paint color

  +   


4) we bought not one, not two, but three (amazing) dressers we found at consignment shops and on craigslist. one is gorgeous, refinished wood with pretty little carved handles. it's perfect and needs no updating. it feels so amazing to finally have the last box in our bedroom unpacked. the other two dressers just need a little tlc so i have a growing painting section in the basement that needs tending to this winter. one of the other two dressers is a tall, white french provincial dresser that just needs some serious de-stickering and a fresh coast of white. and the other i have a whole dresser design file to filter through of ideas. i'm thinking pink outside with light pink drawers and natural wood bead strand pulls? or maybe all lilac or mint? or covered head to toe in zigzags? (again, pictures to follow soon)

5) we had/have bat in the attic. well, i heard it one night when stuart was away at work and then the next night it had a repeat performance. we stayed up in bed for over an hour on our phones; stuart googling home remedies for bat repellant and me for bat noises on youtube to confirm our suspicions. suspicions confirmed, however,  UPDATE: we haven't heard it since. do bats hibernate?

6) we picked out a paint color for the wood paneled guest room and once the office is done (this week!!!) that is next on our project list. although, the painted wood paneling is really just a way to put a serious, more in-depth update on this room on hold for a few years. 


love and 58 degrees, 
L