Framing Love Notes

I picked up the book Crafting a Meaningful Home at the library recently and really liked a lot of the ideas inside.

One project that caught my eye was this wall of framed love notes. I was rifling through some of our old love notes and, sadly, there aren't many artsy looking ones. Just a lot of gushing words. But I guess it's never too late to try my hand at stick-figure-style love notes, hmm?

*Martha

Happy Tape

A little happy something is brightening my life at the moment: Happy Tape.

Have you heard of this stuff? It's Japanese-inspired masking tape and it's sooooo fun. I want every single color.

It won't permanently stick to anything, just like masking tape. You can rip it with your fingers and that resulting rough edge just makes it more fun to me. Who knew tape could be so fun? Fun, fun, fun.

I got the striped set.

I like the preppy little touch these stripes add to photos, lists, wrapped gifts, and I even used it to put an "S" (for a lady named Sonya) on a gift bag when I forgot to get a card. I have also used it in my kids' baby books to stick in photos. I would otherwise use photo corners, but I love the playful style of the tape.

It's the small things.


P.S. Speaking of small things, Mr. Noah is 12 weeks old today!


*Martha

Pretty Vacuums

Look at these pretty vacuums from Miele. They are just killing me. I want. 

*Martha

Painted Floors

I saw this floor a long time ago in Better Homes & Gardens and then it just showed up on The Nate Show. In studying the whole room again, it's kind of surprising me how dull everything else seems. The furniture, wall hangings and chandelier are nothing special. But then the floor comes along and BOOM. It just makes the room sing. And she did it for under $100. Love that.

The Nate Show 

This floor is just so cool for a nursery. 

 OhdeeDoh

The floor matches the walls in a tasteful, understated way.

Lipstick Trucker 

Very cottage/beachy room here.

So many patterns are at play here, but they all work since white is underscoring everything.

 Design Dazzle

Kitchen perfection in my book.

Laundry room perfection as well. Again, I love the white with pops of color and pattern.

Birds of a Feather 

Retro time!

Ish and Chi

Mmm, soothing and simple.

*Martha

Bathroom Re-Do

WHOA, 2 kids! I feel tangled in knots most days, which is why this blog is oh-so-sparse. Yesterday my little Noah (now 9 weeks) did not sleep from the hours of noon to 10 pm, except for a couple cat naps. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? HOW IS HE EVEN STILL ALIVE? I realize now that it was just too busy a day overall and I need to slooooow down. Anyway, between all the madness, I've had a few moments here and there to redecorate my sad bathroom.


Remember my bathroom inspiration post with all that black and white? Well, I finally made it happen. 


Here are the grotesque before shots. Don't you love those sexy Hollywood dressing room lights? Blech. (That's me trying to get the boy to sleep. Come on, Noah! You can do it! [No, no he can't.])

And I would love to get rid of that door, but my landlord said no. Booo. Wait, I have a better idea: let's tear the whole bathroom down and start over again. But, it is what it is, and we will refer to all the quirks in our apartment as "charming."

 So, here it is. I added the chair decals that Cyndi got me for Christmas. (Thanks, Cyndi!)

I put new paper in this Ikea frame I've had forever. (Isn't that the most CHARMING unnecessary hook right there?)

 I painted this once-blue earring holder black and kept the white in the middle.

I talked more about doing this in my Jewelry as Decor post. It's an old picture frame with some wire strung from end to end.

You'll notice the little cupcake plate-turned-jewelry-holder that I mentioned in the same post.

Here are the chair decals again. I think you got them from Target, right Cyndi? These decals could be easily taken up a notch by framing them with white mats and classy, thin, black frames. 

 Tah-dah! 

*Martha

Nate Berkus Associates

I was watching Nate a loooong time ago when he gave a tour of his design studios in Chicago. I was dyying over the industrial ruggedness of them. I scoured the web for pictures and finally happened upon some great ones in the latest edition of Lonny Magazine.

I love the open shelving and all the samples hanging on the sides of the shelves. I love the exposed ceiling and all the lighting.

*Martha

Client Project - Modern French Country Living Room

Several months ago we finished a client project and we never got around to posting the design boards. Here they are!

A little background and description: The client's living room is small but multi-purpose, so it needed to serve as an entryway, family room and entertainment room. She wanted to keep a few items and buy a few items, plus she needed more storage/shelving, seating and art.

The first board shows several pieces of her furniture she wanted to keep: the couch, side table, bench and mirror. We gave her a fabric option to use to reupholster the bench. The framed music is a visual idea of what the sheet music would look like on the wall (more on that below). The picture gallery wall is an example of something we suggested she put over her couch - a combination of art and family photos.

The design board below shows all the products we chose for her living room. Her color scheme is light blues, browns, grays and cremes. They love French things, so we found a couple accessories to reflect that; the sheet music is French sheet music from Etsy which we recommended she frame to put on the wall. The ladder serves to heighten the small room as well as for shelving and to add visual interest. We recommended wall sconces instead of floor lamps for lighting since floor space was limited. Multiple ottomans are to serve as flat surfaces as well as additional seating.

The design board below features some additional options to switch out or substitute, since the client admitted she gets tired of things easily. She also likes vintage items, so we added a few more of those.

This was done on a budget of just over $1,000, meaning all the items on the middle board add up to just over $1,000. Killer, right? The most expensive items were the rug, the drapes (which she might even sew herself, saving even more money) and the furniture. By keeping a few items she already liked, mixing in a few additional large pieces, plus accessories, she can have a total room makeover for not much money! She doesn't even have to buy everything at once - this type of thing can happen gradually over time. Buy a pillow here, an ottoman there and before you know it, your space can come together. That is what I love about these e-design boards - you can see everything together at once, and then you get to mull over it and do the rest at your pace. 

Hope you enjoyed it!

Click here to read more about starting an e-design board for yourself.

*Martha

A Picnic Perhaps?

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday! And how perfect that it's a 3-day weekend this time! And how perfect that there will be sun in Seattle at this perfect time! And how perfect that I threw out my picnic basket that I got for our wedding because I thought we'd never use it! NOT! I can't believe I did that, but it's true. I did. And I don't know what to do this weekend without it. Hopefully you'll have your own perfect picnic, perhaps with some of these fun items I found for you. Have a great one! (Someone please buy that grill! It's so rad.)

1. Mini paper lantern string
2. Patriotic paper bunting
3. Picnic basket
4. Condiment jars with tray
5. Stripe beach towels
6. Adirondack chair

7. Ribbed vase

8. Beverage tub
9. Outdoor rug

10. Tray table

11. Charcoal grill


*Martha

Do You Pinterest?

{Pinterest}

Hey there! It is rare that I have two hands free to type, but I do at the moment, so I'm here! I am alive and surviving! Well, actually, I've had help for most of the month but all my help went back home (thanks Granny Nannies!) and today is my first official day alone with the kids. The stars aligned and they are simultaneously napping. So far so good...


I know I am so late to jump on this bandwagon, but last night I finally dug into the obsession that is Pinterest. I had approximately one finger to use on my keyboard while my son slept on my chest, so it was perfect! Just pin, pin, pin. That site is addicting! Are you on Pinterest? What do you like about it? Dislike? I love that it's made bookmarking design-oriented things so easy and I love seeing what other people are into. I would love to become your Pinterest friend. Will you follow me and I'll follow you? Or if you want to be invited, I can invite you. It's sooo exclusive like that. (Not.)


In the meantime, I'm hoping to get back to this blog. It depends on how often the stars align with my little ones and their sleep, so wish me luck! 


Martha

Sienna & Noah's Nursery

Little Mr. Noah Hullinger Ware came a three days early on May 27! In fact, I was at Target getting one more thing for the nursery when my water broke! His early arrival caught me off guard because my daughter came four days late but since he has been such a good sleeper, I was able to hurry and get pictures of his finished nursery before he really makes me start working. 

Here is Sienna's side. Not much changed here except I painted her crib white to match the one I bought for Noah. Painting that crib was NOT fun. I repeat: NOT fun at all. But now that it's done, I love how it freshens up the room. And, like I said, it matches Noah's crib; it would have royally bugged me if they didn't match even though for a long time I was hoping to buy a natural wood colored crib for Noah to match Sienna's but decided it would be too hard to get the exact right tone of blonde wood. 

Here is their closet. Her side of diapers and blankets, his side of diapers and blankets (except I just realized their diapers are switched in this photo - oops) with wipes in the middle. I like having the metal baskets so I can be well aware when I am running low on supplies. And it looks like I am low on wipes!

The room is small, so in order to keep the big glider in the room we ended up putting the dresser in the closet. I actually really like that we can put everything away at the end of the day or during nap time and close the doors so all distractions are out of view and the kids can just focus on sleeping.

And, yes, that is a shower caddie. I wanted some more shelves at the changing station and liked how this matched the baskets above. The knobs are yellow flowers from World Market, on sale (4 for $7) - a much more sensible option than Anthropologie knobs I always pine for. I added the knobs to that bird tray (in case you can't tell what that is on the right) I got at an antique shop in Oregon awhile ago which turned it into something to hang things from.

I made the changing pad on the top of the dresser by cutting down the mattress that came with my son's portable crib and then making a couple slip covers out of cheap fabric. The other cover is green polka dot.

Here's Noah's side. I bought him a portable crib since he will be transported from room to room for several months for nighttime and naps. Right now he is sleeping next to me on the couch! The sleep situation is always evolving, so I know this portable crib will be put to excellent use.

The reversible pillow is from Target. See? Boy side:

And girl side:

And, finally, my favorite accessory in the room: that $4 red stool from a thrift store. It's perfect as a side table for stacking books for story time.

I hope you enjoyed my little nursery tour! I really enjoyed putting it together. What I love the most about it is that it's not too matchy matchy, not too blue or pink saturated and not too cutesy. It was not easy figuring out how to make sure two genders were represented, but it became a bit easier when I let go of stringent boy/girl color schemes or mainstream nursery styles and instead collected/made little pieces along the way that made me happy. When I go in that room it just makes me happy! And that's the kind of environment I want for my happy little kiddies.