A few weeks ago, I shared our color inspiration for our new front door. Our old front door was a classic red, called Posh Red from Valspar. While we loved our old front door color, we decided it was time to change it up with a new color. With our new house color, I thought a shade of  aqua or chartreuse would work well with our newly painted deeper grey house. I gathered all my paint swatches we were considering and tape them to the front door. 

We looked at the various colors from all angles, seeing how well they went with our grey house, white trim and red brick. I was having a super hard time narrowing colors down and asked for help from my Instragram friends, which gave me so much great feedback! Follow me here on Instragram. To my surprise Hasani loved the very first color and thought it was the perfect shade of our front door right off the bat. 

I on the other hand wanted to slowly narrow it down to the top to colors we loved the best.I secretly loved the chartreuse shades, but was so nervous it would look too loud & neon once the door was painted out. Totally not the look I wanted for our front door. I snapped a few pictures of the final two colors, and got mixed reviews from my some family. My Dad hated hated the color and begged us to go with red front door like we had before. My sister surprised me, just like Hasani and loved the first chartreuse color for our front door. It shocked me, because you may remember she hated the color too just like me Dad. In the end we narrowed it down to an aqua blue shade and shade of chartreuse. 

Before I share our freshly painted front door, lets step back in time a little bit at remind you what our house looking like a year ago around this time pre-house fire. Our former red door, looked so bright and cheery with our light grey shaker style siding (I still miss you front door) 

Our house now, with new our new siding and craftsman style front door. We loved all the natural light our old door provided and fell hard for this beauty knowing it would look amazing with our new siding and let lots of light in while still be semi-private thanks to the step up into our house. Truth be told, I was getting smitten with the unfinished wood, but since our home gets a lot of morning and afternoon sun I know painting over staining it would be a better long term solution. 

The color we decided to paint our front door was the color that made us most happy felt fresh and fun, was the pretty shade of green. It was also a color that sacred me, I know it sounds silly, but I stepped out of my 'color comfort zone' and I'm so happy! Our front door was painted Antiquity by Sherwin Williams. We are absolutely in love with the shade its a pretty vibrant color and looks amazing when you drive by the house (which I did a few times) and as you walk up our walkway. In the shade the color is more intense in a pretty yellowly green way and not in your face neon way. Here's our house before the front door was painted. I was getting smitten with the unfinished wood, but since our home gets a lot of morning and afternoon sun I know painting over staining it would be a better long term solution. 

Our unfinished wood door open to the our living room, before the trim was finished and the walls painted. 

Our front door now, in the back ground is a glimpse of french door that leads to our new laundry room. I love how fun and bright our front door is. We decided to paint the inside of our front door white to match our interior trim. 

I'm so happy we went with this bright cheery color. Our home rebuild project is finally winding down after almost a year in the making, looks like we'll be moving home in a few weeks and that's when the real fun begins and more DIY projects are in our future.

What do you think of our new front door color? What color is your front door painted, a classic shade or a bold color?

* Edit: The color aqua blue color we didn't use is called Drizzle by Sherwin Williams 

Pin of the Week

Pinterest Pin of the Week, is where I share my favorite Pin of whatever has been on my mind during the week: Decor, DIY, Gardens and Food and much more. My Pin of the Week for this week is vintage phones, they bring in such a fun element in the kitchen or bedroom. We had a fun yellow princess phone in our kitchen before (found via eBay) that I can't wait to replace with something equally cute. Vintage phones come in array of fun colors: white, yellow, pink, orange, blue and more. 

 (via Pinterest)

Have a nice Holiday Weekend! 

Feminine Blue Bedroom

My last post about our bedroom was looking at blue lamp inspiration and trying to what role my lovely new to me Ralph Lauren lamps will play in my bedroom. I wasn't sure if they were going to be a pop of color focal point or layered in with other blue colors. Now that my fabric swatches I ordered have arrived, I have a clearer picture of our bedroom direction. I'm hoping to create a feminine blue bedroom, but not too girly a nice mixture of California Modern Casual (the name I coined to describe my style) 

Here's the fabrics that I planning on using in our bedroom. I think the shades of blue and aquas in the floral fabric nicely layer in the shade of blue in our lamps. I'm head over in heels in love with the floral fabric, its lovely and almost a woven type fabric reminds me of our old dining room drapes which I adored.

Fabric from left to right: Zia Chevron, Velvet Water, Bethe Robbins Egg Blue, Fluer Summer

Here's a closer look at the floral fabric. I simply adore this fabric! It looks amazing with the blue tones of our lamps. I seriously feel like I found perfect fabric for our bedroom & our lamps. Cue me doing a happy dance. 

(via Tonic Living)

The floral fabric and geometric fabric play so nice together, the soft robins egg blue both fabrics are so pretty and compliment each other so well. 

Right now, I'd I love to use the geometric fabric as drapes in our bedroom windows, and the Fluer Summer fabric as large Euro pillow covers, the Ikat print as pillows and lastly the pretty velvet fabric as a large bolster pillow. Of course there's a possibility where the fabric is going may change depending on our budget. We both love love the Bethe fabric, however the cost is going to add up soon, so we'll see. 

Those are my ideas so far for our bedroom in terms of fabric. I'll snap some pictures of our bedroom this week and I need to share our  french doors! They french doors look amazing and truly feel like they've always been apart of our house.

Are you working on any fabric projects?

Happy Lighting

This is my 1,150th post about lighting for our house, and I'm sure by now your sick of hearing about all my lighting details lol. I'm keeping this post short and sweet, Hasani, the kids and I headed over to the house to drop off two light fixtures when realized the electricians came a day early and installed all our lights! If you follow me on Instagram you already saw a few of our outdoor lights (you can also see the pics here or on my side header) Oh and the lighting I was dropping off for my bathroom, was smashed to pieces, so I'll be dealing with that today, thanks Overstock! Anyways I walked into Avery's bedroom and did a happy dance, he didn't even notice until the light, until I turned on the light on and then he joined me in a happy dance. He was starstruck and laughing and pointing at the light. 

My little toddler loves loves his lighting for his bedroom! I'm so happy I went with my gut for his bedroom, the light just makes you happy. I purchased the lighting from Land of Nod, the lighting comes with a plug, but has the option to be hardwired and includes a canopy if you choose to hard wire it. 

Next we just need to determine how long we light to hang from the ceiling. In the above picture its hard to tell, but the lighting is centered his bedroom. I can't wait to see this light in action at night. We opted to put all our bedroom lighting on dimmers again along with our living / dining lighting, so his light won't be crazy bright.

What do you think of Avery's happy lighting for his bedroom? 

Lighting Check

Another week, another round of lighting checked off my list! Last week, I shared the lighting we decided on for our Kitchen,Hallway, Mudroom, Our Doors and Avery & Tabari's bedrooms. We finally have all our lighting nailed down and purchased. Last I let off last off, we were still undecided on lighting for our bedroom, living room and dining room & bathroom. I'm back to share our lighting choices. Here's the lighting we decided on for our spaces.

Here's where our new lighting will be hanging in our home. 1. We loved this drum shade chandelier from Overstock in our room before, and decided to bring it back in. Tip: I was able to get all the lighting we purchased from Overstock with a 10% discount thanks to looking for discount codes online. 2. We have an area in our room (space between our closet/bathroom & french doors) that needs lighting, I didn't want anything hanging down looking funky from our bedroom - so after looking for a while, I came across this crystal flush mount light, that I love! I can't wait to see this beauty hung. 3. Four our living room we nixed our ceiling fan, something we were planning on doing, and decided to go with a double drum shade, you all know how much we love drum shades :) Tip: I signed up for a Lamps Plus 'new homeowner' and was able to save $20 on our lighting fixture 4. On our idea board, we had two lights we both loved, but in the end we decided to go with a more affordable option that would still sparkle a little. 5. I've been on the hung for pretty and affordable bathroom lighting, which seems nearly impossible! I finally lucked out with this darling modern retro for our master bathroom. 

I'm really excited to see how the lighting in our living room / dining room & kitchen lights will all flow together since those rooms are open to each other now that we enlarged the doorway between the living room & dining / kitchen areas. I'm hoping they all compliment each other nicely once hung. 

All of our lighting will be installed in a few days, so looking forward to seeing the house lit up. 

What's your favorite lighting fixture in your home? 

Pin of the Week

Pinterest Pin of the Week, is where I share my favorite Pin of whatever has been on my mind during the week: Decor, DIY, Gardens and Food and much more. Custom window coverings can be very pricey. Fun Fact: When I was younger I worked for Wards in the Custom Window Fashions Department selling custom blinds & draperies, so if you ever have questions about measuring, or determining fullness for drapes, email me :)  Now back to my pin of the week, I've been thinking about buying pre-made roman shades and then adding patterned fabric or ribbon to create fully functional DIY custom shades. One bonus about using pre-made roman shades, is the new shades will be a 'little lined' for privacy. 

(via Pinterest)

Have a good weekend!

Everyday White Dinnerware

It's no secret I love white dinnerware! It's one of those classic looks and makes an everyday meal look more restaurant style. These days its easy to find pretty white dinnerware, which is a good thing. I'm currently on the hunt for a pretty white dinnerware set for my home. I recently found found five 16 piece dinnerware sets ranging in price from $ 75 - $ 40. All the dinnerware is pretty and affordable, which makes me super happy, because I plan on buying two sets. 

1. Threshold Coupe  2. Threshold Scallop 3. Essential Dinnerware 4. Royal Daulton  5. Martha Stewart French Cupboard

In addition to pretty dinnerware, I've also been slowly buying 'Everyday Pretty' for our kitchen...and adding more items to my want list. I love these kitchen pretties what I consider 'kitchen essentials.' 

1. Marble fruit bowl 2. Owl Cookie Jar (I have) 3. Ruffle Cake Stand (I have) 4. Imperfect 'handmade look' bowl 5. White Juice Pitcher 6. Baker Set (I have)

Do you love white dinnerware? What's your must have kitchen essential? 

Blue Lamps

Since buying my 'new to me' blue Ralph Lauren lamps, read more about my steal of the year here, not to brag or anything totally bragging. I've been gathering blue lamp inspiration, since I plan on using  those lovely lamps in my bedroom. I'm in the process of deciding if the lamps will be the pop of color 'focal point' in our bedroom or layered in with other shades of blue. I recently ordered some fabric swatches that caught my eye from Tonic Living and will share my bedroom ideas soon. I love this bedroom below and the amazing water color style blue lamps. I love how the lamps are layered in with the other shades of blue, aquas & creams....it all flows together with out being 'matchy-matchy.'

(via Pinterest)

Words can't describe how much I adore this bedroom!! It's amazing, I love the how in this bedroom the lamps are the pop of color and one of the standout features in the room. 

(via Pinterest)

I shared this lovely bedroom a few months ago as part of my french door inspiration for our bedroom. Those blue lamps look stunning in this bedroom, lets be honest everything looks stunning in this bedroom. 

(via Pinterest)

These aqua blue lamps are the 'pow' of this room, I'm smitten with how much they pop. 

So many shades of pretty blue lamps are me getting excited to firm up some plans for our bedroom. I can't wait to share my fabric swatches and determine if they'll work in our space.  

Are you a fan of colored lamps?

The Makings of Our Linen Cabinet

Up until a few weeks ago, I didn't really have a clear plan for our linen cabinet in the hallway. During the demo construction phase on our house, I had the cabinet moved from facing Tabari's doorway entry to facing the inside of the hallway. When we first moved into our house, I removed the old funky doors and eventually got around painting the inside and organizing it with large baskets for all my hair care products, extra towels etc. Here's how our little linen cabinet looked a while back. Read more about my old linen here. 

Now not we have the cabinet facing front, I had to do some re-thinking on open shelves verses full doors. I love open linen concept because it helps keep everything organize and in its place. But I did the whole set up before we had Avery at the time Tabari was only 10 and couldn't care less whats in the linen closet. Avery on the other is curious, some days he's into the anything that's not a toy is more fun phase, lol. Then it hit me, I love the glass we installed between our kitchen and laundry room, it helps create its own little space. I decided on a two do combination with the upper door being glass and the lower door wood.  

Next looked on though Google images to get some inspiration and see how it would look and firm up my ideas. I just adore how this linen cabinet looks! 

(via Custom Made)

(via Houzz)

(via Tone on Tone)

I did a little mock up on my computer and settled on have the upper cabinet shaker style with glass panes, I'm in love with glass panes on cabinet doors & doors for that matter. For the bottom door of the linen cabinet, I decided on one solid door would work better, even though I love the idea of bottom large storage drawers. Here's my mock up.

My linen cabinet project was pretty easy since the inside of the cabinet already had drywall in, all I would need is two face frames (for the cabinet doors to rest when closed) and two cabinet doors. I did a little price comparison locally and the prices were double my budget for this little space. I found a company online called RAW Doors, they make custom doors, face frames and drawer fronts. I placed my order a few weeks ago with my custom measurements and the doors and face frame arrived on Saturday. Up until they arrived I was a little worried I measured incorrectly even though I measured three times before placing my order! Thankfully my doors and face frames arrived the exact sizes I needed and they look amazing!

I snapped these pictures using my iPhone, I'm so dependent on it! I'll take better pictures of my linen cabinet doors after they are hung using my good camera, I'm so rusty on it now! The solid wood door is leaning in front of the linen cabinet & the glass pane door is leaning in front of where the linen cabinet used to be. 

My door didn't come with glass so I'll be taking it to a glass shop this weekend and having glass inserts cut for it.  

I can't wait to see the doors hung and installed! I'm going to start looking for some pretty hardware for the doors, 'Anthro' inspired maybe? I'm also still undecided about what color to paint them. Part of my says white the other part of me thinks a medium gray would be really pretty since our home already has a lot of painted white in our house. 

Any thoughts on color? 

Welcome Counters

Our new kitchen counters were installed last week & we are super duper happy. I love these counters, they are exactly what we wanted! They are the cherry on top of our mini dream kitchen (read here about our mini dream kitchen plans) When looking at counters this time around, we thought we were going to go with solid surface, like we did last year (before the house fire) But we ran into two issues. 1. The color we choose before LG Hi MACs Cotton Dust  color was no longer available at Lowes, because they were discontinuing using that brand & the sadly the Cotton Dust, didn't look that good with our kitchen cabinets we choose. So Plan B was, lets go with Corian Rain Cloud, but then I did a price comparison with Ceasarstone Misty Carrera. The Quartz counters actually came in a few dollars less than the solid surface ones, its was a no brainier we went with Quartz. We just loved the look of the Misty Carrera. We did spend more than we did last year on counters since we changed up our layout giving us more square feet, meaning more square feet of counters = more money. But we are super happy and in the end that's what counts. 

Here's a few pictures of our new counters, snapped with my iPhone. Hopefully in the pictures you'll be able see our counters are a soft greyish white and pretty deeper and subtle color variations that remind me of marble.

We still have lots of little items on the 'To Do List' just for our kitchen: Install Subway tile back splash, install outlet covers, install wall mount hood, install floating shelves, install appliances, install under cabinet lighting etc etc. 

I'll be take much better pictures of our kitchen & counters using my good camera very soon, the iPhone pictures don't do these lovely counters justice! 

What do you think our new counters? 

Pin of the Week

Pinterest Pin of the Week, is where I share my favorite Pin of whatever has been on my mind during the week: Decor, DIY, Gardens and Food and much more. This week, I've been thinking a lot about the pillows I plan on sewing for our home and looking at ways to customize my pillows. Adding a border of ribbon or even fabric on pillows & drapes can give the pillows a unique and high end look. Even if you don't know how to sew yet or a beginner at sewing, consider using iron hem tape to add a border to existing pillows or drapes. 

(via Pinterest)

Enjoy your weekend!

A Few Lighting Decisions Made

Over the past several months I've been sharing lighting ideas we've been considering for various parts of our home. So far I've covered our living room, dining room, hallway, laundry / mudroom , boys bedrooms & our outdoor lighting. I'm still looking at ideas our bedroom and both bathrooms. This month I decided its time to start talking and start shopping, after-all it would be nice for them all to be installed at the same time when our electrician returns!  

So far I've purchased lighting for our boys bedrooms, hallway, laundry room & kitchen pendant, our closet, and outdoors. Still left on my to do list, purchase our bedroom lighting, dining room & living room and decided on bathroom lighting. I have no idea why these three rooms are making me pause. 

It feels to make decisions & even better when you love the decision. 

Here's where the lighting is going. 1. Hallway Lights, I just love there classic modern spin! 2. Schoolhouse Lights will be in my closet & our mudroom, I originally planned on going with a different light for the mudroom, but the light had bad reviews. I came across the school house at at HD Home Supply for only $6.00 each, they were on clearance! 3. I found this light at Home Depot, the reviews are mixed so we are going to do a test run and see how we like it above our kitchen sink. 4. I really like lantern style lighting, I think these will look great! We are going over-sized in a few spots 5. I bought this light for Avery, I know he's going to love it and can't wait to name his light, space ship or rocket, lol 6. I bought this huge light for Tabari at Restoration Hardware Baby & Child if you follow me on Instagram you so the huge box he was helping me carry. I got this light for a steal and its huge! But I love large scale lights even in small spaces it adds to the drama. 

Sadly we have to wait a few more weeks, before we can see them all in place. I can't wait to turn on the lights each room one by one and just stare up. Ahh, things like lighting really excite me. 

Any surprises on our lighting pics for our house?

Edit: I forgot to mention I got Avery's light from Land of Nod during a 'free shipping' promotion and saved additional 10% for signing up with my email address. 

Recent Thrifty Finds

As you know, I love shopping thrift stores, Craigslist & most recently consignment stores to find really good deals. I've bought dressers, a piano bench mirrors and vases all from one of the above spots. One of the fun things about thrifting is find an old piece that's already perfect just needs a new home or a piece just in a need for a little love (paint/primer/sweat & tears/new hardware etc) My latest finds have me super happy, and even better I actually needed what I bought. I'm all about need over want. 

Anyways I've been wanting & needing a kettle for my Kitchen forever, I like the stove top kettles but I adore the electric ones so much more. We have an electric one at my 9-5 and I love using it to boil water for tea, oatmeal and ice tea. I spotted a Bella Electric Tea Kettle at Target that I loved! Super pretty & stylish, its the tea kettle that makes you want to consume more tea! But I couldn't bring myself to splurge and spend $49.99 on it, nope couldn't do it. 

Fast forward to my recent stop at Goodwill, I like shopping this Goodwill whenever I'm in the area because they get clearance items directly from Target!! I was looking for some vintage Pryex, when I spotted the Exact Bella Electric Tea Kettle from Target, for only $24.99! I asked the Goodwill associate if I could open the box and plug it in and make sure it works, he said no problem and also confirmed it was brand new. I plugged it and it turned on! I was still a little unsure of buying in case it wouldn't boil water, but the return policy is within 7 days. When I got home I made sure it worked and it did. Boiled water super fast! Its super cute & heavy!

Its one of those kitchen items 'you can leave out' because it looks decorative & not like counter clutter, lol. I plan on storing the 'hot plate' in a drawer when not in use. Man I love that tea kettle. 

My next thrifty find happened a few days ago. On Saturday Hasani & I stopped into our local Salvation Army, I was tempted by the 40% off sign out front on furniture. I fell head over heals for a pair of vintage mid century style end tables. I loved the sexy legs and I also liked the lamps sitting on top. My husband however wasn't feeling the tables, and so it reminds me compromise is important in design and holding out for something you both like is key. Even though it can suck! I snapped this pictured while in the store and shared it on Instagram, follow me here. 

We left the store, but I kept thinking about those blue lamps. I knew they would look amazing in our bedroom and I reminded myself we could always spray paint them! After grabbing a coffee and returning to the store I bought them! To be honest I was a little bummed they weren't included in the sale, but they were in prefect condition and super duper heavy & a classic shape. Even without being on sale, they where a steal only $8.00 bucks each. 

As I was walking to our car I looked down at the wood base and saw a nameplate that read 'Lauren.' I thought to myself those couldn't be Ralph Lauren, there's no way. When I got home I did a 'Google search' and discovered they were in fact Ralph Lauren lamps! 

I really love the pretty amazing detailed crackled finish on the lamps, its perfection. 

Now, I'm not sure if the lamps are vintage or just a few years old to be honest, but since I was curious I popped on to RalphLauren.com to look at their current lamps. I found two similar in style body shape and lamp shade and was blown away (by the prices) The Camille Porcelain lamp retails on the website for $540.00. The Camille has a very similar profile as my Salvation army lamps & the same thick wood base. 

The Madeline Porcelain lamp is also similar in shape to my find and retails for a whopping $1,620.00 per lamp. My friends, I only paid $16.00 for both lamps!! Can you believe I was annoyed that I paid $16.00 for two lamps in perfect condition with lamp shades, what the heck was I thinking? lol I  knew the lamps I was buying were very good quality super heavy and in amazing condition, but being a thrifty girl, I never mind if I can save even more. 

It's crazy, in the past couple of months this is my second major lighting score. Remember those lovely 98% sure they are Robert Abbey lamps I bought at a local consignment store? Yeah, I thought that was my score of the year, I guess not. I'm officially calling the amazing find my deal of the year! 

Oh, my new nick name is the lamp whisperer, lol. Since buying these beautiful lamps on Saturday I've already starting to pulling together ideas for our bedroom and will be ordering fabric swatches very soon, I have no intention of painting over their pretty blue crackle finish. We had a little blue in a bedroom before and I'm looking forward to adding this pretty shade in our bedroom. 

Have you found any amazing thrifty deals lately? I'd love to hear more about your score!