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My bedroom is currently all white. The walls are the same off-white they’ve been when I bought the place. The great thing about everything being white is that it makes it very easy to switch color in and out. Here is an idea. I generally avoid brown and teal because that combo was all the rage two years ago and all the big box stores (Bed Bath & Beyond, Target) reproduce it with no respect. I think with the right pieces and patterns it could look really cool, especially with my white framed windows. My favorite piece of this concept is Graham & Brown’s Superfresco Scope Wallpaper. I am such a sucker for a good wallpaper.

What do you think? Now if only those items on the right magically all appeared on sale! Sigh! Oh… and Happy Friday!

I desperately need a light above my kitchen table. It has looked like this for almost two years (yikes) now:

Below are some options I’ve been thinking about for the last couple of months. I know I want to avoid color, but I’m having a tough time on textures because of the patterns going on currently. I mean a LOT is going on between the bar chairs and the wallpaper.

I’m not sure which one to choose. If you have other ideas, please send them my way!

I love #6, but it’s too close to what I want to do in my front room with the Edison Chandelier. And #3 seems a little too “urban loft” which is not really my style. I love #1 but it might be too fancy for my little kitchen. I think that leaves me with #2, #5 and #4. So tough!

Room Sources:

Wallpaper: Cavern Home Blackbird from DesignPublic

Bar Chairs: from Ikea, with custom covers

Table stuff: Anthropologie

The chalkboard wall is done!

It was so easy! And so cheap! I love this idea for offices (hello, brainstorming session?) and for homes with kids. I want to change the design every day! Here’s how it looked before:

Ok, so how did I do it?

I started with a pint of Rustoleum chalkboard paint ($8.99, Home Depot). It goes on just like paint. After two coats (with a lot of drying in between) it’s about ready to go. Some DIY’ers recommend sanding down the paint to make the surface more smooth, but I like more of a rough texture for chalkboard. It also helps with smudging. After some conditioning (rubbing chalk all over surface and then cleaning with damp cloth) I was ready to design. At first, we did just random drawings. A smiley face, a tic tac toe game but then I saw Dana Tanamachi’s chalk typography and wanted something a little more structured. So here’s what Aaron and I did:

1.) Rubbed down the wall

2.) Traced some designs on to transparencies from my Indie Rock Coloring Book ($15, Yellow Bird Project) that I’ve had forever but never used.

3.) Used my new-to-me overhead projector ($15, Craigslist) to get the design up on the wall

And that’s it! Here’s what I spent:

$15 - Projector

$9 - Chalkboard paint

$6 - Chalk

$35 - 100 Transparencies

Total cost: $65. Not too shabby! The majority of the cost came from the transparencies, which are rare these days and suddenly very expensive. (The same reason I’ve been putting off buying film for my Polaroid camera!)

Another thing I’ve always wanted to share with family, friends and blog readers - my favorite Etsy shops. Here we go - Bow Wow Beds!

With the addition of Suge (the boston terrier) to the family, I needed a bigger doggie bed. Selfishly, I was hoping the two dogs would lounge all cute-like with each other (which has proved to be more of a dream than reality). And because there are no design-friendly beds available at the usual suspects (Petsmart, Target) I knew I could rely on Etsy.

Bow Wow Beds is unique in that they make their beds out of duck canvas, which means they are almost indestructible to our gnaw-happy little friends. And how cute is the stenciling? It satisfies my recent craving for monogramming.

I also just learned that Amberlii and her Bow Wow Beds will be featured on Nate Berkus’ show which is in ADDITION to being featured on Martha Stewart and HGTV. So awesome.

Here are Suge and Biggie enjoying their bed (separately of course):

**And I am not getting paid to write this!!

Happy Friday! Thanks so much for the great feedback and nice notes on my little rookie blog here. Before I leave for a night out with Aaron’s family, I wanted to post something I worked on last night.

A good friend of mine, Lyndsey, needed some ideas for a quick bathroom update. And like anyone who wants a quick improvement, she didn’t want to spend a lot of money. Here is an idea, all for under $100.

Some things I considered:

The walls - Lyndsey’s landlord does not let her paint (which is like denying me air and water)

The pieces themselves - when you’re working with a budget, it’s still important to invest in design. Purchase quality over quantity.

Here’s my idea:

Because she can’t paint the walls (Restoration Hardware’s paint line in Pumice would look amazing) I love the idea of doing a variety of large/small white picture frames. Choosing a mix of vintage and new also helps with appeal and texture. And because I can’t help but throw in something a little silly/whimsical, I threw in Urban Outfitter’s Grassy Green toothbrush holder.

We’ll see what she says. And maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll get an “after” pic!

Dana, the creator of one of my favorite (and fellow Cincinnatian) blogs, House*Tweaking posted an amazing way to upgrade the ever popular “quote on the wall” look. I love her approach and want to try something similar for my plain jane bedroom.

Here is an image from her post, which in a tribute to its awesomeness, was featured on Apartment Therapy.com:

So now you know what I’ll be doing this weekend. According to Dana’s post, I will need:

Grommets

Twine (check)

Black paint (check)

Drop cloth

and one of these (which I am getting from a fellow Craigslister this weekend!):

My best friend Andrea is getting a new place this summer, so I’ve been racking my brain with ideas for her bedroom. I’m super excited about this design opportunity, as she is starting from a completely clean slate. The opportunities are endless!

Here is one idea. Andrea has a sassy sort of style. I also think of Paris - in college, her dorm room walls were COVERED in black and white posters of the great city.

So I came up with this:

What do you think? Here are the details on this concept:

Club Chair - CB2

Credenza - eBay

Patterned Pillow - Jonathan Adler

White Drum Lamp - Walmart.com

Zebrahide Rug - West Elm

Paris Print - Art.com

I have another one brewing in my mind. More coming soon…

Darby is a friend of mine and was dealing with a good problem to have: lots of great stuff and not-so-great ways to display it.

Here is where he started with his entry way:

So I poorly drew him a re-do, with some collaboration with Miss Lyndsey, using items already in the photo (because who wants to go out and buy MORE stuff). Here’s my sketch:

And… ta-da! I love it! (Sorry for the blurry cell phone pic)

It’s amazing what a little horizontal shelving will do to simplify a space. I think that’s why credenzas are so popular these days. Low furniture instantly provides a classic touch.

I cannot take full credit for this one. Aaron and I worked on this one together. This was labeled as his dining room when he first bought his place, but I convinced him to try it out as a living room.

Before:

And after:

I love the pop of yellow in the sunroom. The paint was thin and took me almost 6 coats to get it finished. I wish you could see the credenza on the other wall - it’s a similar color yellow and works so well with the gray walls and rug. I try to stay away from being matchy matchy but it’s working for me here.

Sofa - Macy’s

Rug - IKEA (Area rugs are so expensive. Save yourself some cost and put two 5x7’s together. Patterns are tricky but it worked out great here.)

Nelson-style Slatted Coffee Table - Craigslist