Pillow talk.

So. The chairs from Target. I'm not sure what to say. Oh wait. Yes I do.

I LOVE THEM!!!

Not only were they extremely inexpensive, but they are comfy and made fairly well. They were a cinch to put together and very true in color to the pic shown online. The red shade works perfectly with my sofa and the other colors will let me play around with so many accents in the room! Here is a "before" of the spot where they used to sit...

Not horrible, but not so great either. Plus, these chairs go with our dining table. I wanted them back in their rightful home. I liked the layout of the two chairs side by side and since we already have a comfy couch and chair-and-a-half, I knew I wanted something less bulky. There was also the issue of the light wood legs (which I didn't want to change because they go with the other dining chairs). I don't mind a mix of woods but this was just plain weird. You can see here that even my 9 month old doesn't think mixing tones in this case is good decorating.

"Mom, the feet on the couch are a much darker wood than those ridiculous parsons chairs." Yeah, she can talk in complete sentences.

Enter the aforementioned slipper chair from Tarjay.

The perfect dark wood legs,

the perfect scale,

the perfect pop of color,

the perfect escape plan for my dining chairs,

the perfect price. What more can a girl ask for???

I actually have two of them flanking the nesting tables but am only showing one because they're not ready for a full reveal. I need to get/make pillows for them and, as you may have noticed, there are curtains up now. Sort of. They still need to be hemmed.

You're probably also wondering why there are so many goofy looking pillows in the pics above. Its because I need help deciding which size is best for the chair. So, if you don't mind helping a brotha' out and giving some input I'd appreciate it. Which pillow (size, please ignore the strange colors/patterns) works best on my new slipper chairs?

Springy Thingy

Just a little change can make things feel so much lighter and brighter. And the weather outside is letting me know its definitely time for a change!

This is the "before" with the dark brown pillow that came with the couch.

And this is the "after." Ikea, you treat me soooo nice.

This is the only problem I'm having ringing in this new and glorious season...

My mom painted this pic of my childhood home and I LOVE it. Unfortunately, it only comes out in the winter months. I need to replace it with something but what I used in my old house now has a new, more permanent home. Oh, poor me. I'll have to get some new artwork...

Having a Garden Party

Sorry for the hiatus folks. I went to visit my parents in Missouri and honestly, just didn't feel like blogging. I was going to make a visit to the cutest little sewing shop EVER and post about it (go ahead and check out the Sew Sweet Quilt Shop for yourself since I flaked) but G got sick, then I got sick (I had to go to the doctor TWICE! Serious bummer). The visit to the shop was going to lead to a fabric purchase and said purchase was going to lead to a post about the ruffle pillow I was SUPPOSED to make for my sister as a birthday gift. Major fail on my part. But, I blame strep throat. And an ear infection. And pink eye.

So we'll just start fresh this week with a nice Garden Party! That's right. Spring is starting to rear her beautiful head here at my house. Not only outside but also in my daughters oh-so-boring bedroom. I FINALLY took the plunge and bought some sheets for her bed! They're Garden Party from PB Kids and I love them.

Next up, a paint color. She requested blue and blue she will get. Tomorrow I'm going to post the dreaded before pic of her room. I'm so ashamed of how blah it is that I'm nervous to show you. Hopefully it will be so cute when its finished that you'll forgive how awful it is now!

A little V day love

Valentine's Day is always a bit hard for me in the decorating department. It always seems to early to buy a buy a bunch of stuff or set things out right after Christmas and then by the time I think to do it there are only a few days left until the big day. But I had a few ladies and their kiddos over for lunch today and wanted to spice up the house a bit with some V-day decor. One of my go to items (for any holiday) is super cheap and super simple. Oh, and super yummy!

I simply put holiday M&Ms in these cute little glass containers. They're part of a silverware caddy from Southern Living at Home (now called Willow House, I think). At our old hou

se I would put them on the mantel but now they're lined up on my dining room table. Its also fun, and a little more graphic, to separate the colors and do one jar of each: dark pink, light pink, and white. The regular M&Ms are even more cute but we prefer peanut or peanut butter here at my casa when it comes time to chow down. The best part is that I don't have to store them during the off-season. In fact, if I'm not careful, they don't make it to the actual holiday.

The only downside... you must be ready to replenish so the candles don't fall over. I told the ladies today that they were more than welcome to munch but to eat equally out of the three jars :-)

Don't you think its sweet!?

Inspiration!

Yesterday I saw some great inspiration for my house and I think its just what I need to get the ball rolling on a couple of rooms.

The first is from Hi Sugarplum! and is perfect for G's room. Her room is soooooo depressing right now and I can't wait to get started. She requested "bwue" walls so this is perfect!!!

lotusbleu2

pottery barn teen

The color scheme in the second will be reversed but I'm so excited to have some direction! I think I'll go a little more blue-grey than aqua but will achieve the same bold and wonderful effect. Her room serves as a guest room so I don't want it to look too baby-ish and because we live like renters, knowing we'll be moving on in about 3 years I like to keep colors pretty neutral. I REALLY want to get some sheets from PB Kids but they're so darn expensive. I've been scouring stores to find something that I like even half as much but to no avail. I do have a 10% off coupon so maybe I'll make it happen anyway.

Pics will be coming soon so pop back over and check out our progress!!! And I'll be posting about solving my curtain/drapery rod dilemma with a little help from Courtney at A Thoughtful Place.

A throne for my new queen

Sadly, you may have noticed in the pic from my last post that our new mac-eroo, aka The Queen, is sitting on top of a folding table. Its sturdy and gets the job done but lets face it, a computer like this needs a royal throne! Not that I'll be getting anything soon considering that we made 3 major purchases the week after Christmas (computer, dryer, water softener) but here are a few worthy contenders that have caught my eye:

$99 - Draper desk (Target)

$159 - Linon Anna (WalMart)

$249 - Paterson desk (Crate & Barrel)

$299 - Parsons desk with drawers (West Elm) Its hard to tell from this pic but this is a VERY glossy white. Love it!!! It also comes in a mirrored finish (I. Die.) but not so practical considering that its home will be in the "toy room."

What do you guys think? The Draper seems like a great deal and I like the chunkiness of Miss Anna. I'm kinda wondering right now why I thought the Paterson was worthy of my list. And, umm, numero quatro is my definite favorite but unfortunately has the highest price tag. Its so sleek and sexy, unlike anything else in my house, especially after all the holiday gorging (except for her highness. And maybe my new washer and dryer but can they really be called sexy? They see a lot of baby poo these days). It makes me nauseous with excitement to think that a desk like that would ever want to live at my house. I usually need tons of storage-y cabinet space to hide all the junk but I am SOOOO over that in this case. I'll stash my stuff somewhere else! So let me know if you notice a sale at West Elm or an online coupon (or that you love me so much you've decided to buy it for me) so I can snatch it up and save a little moo-la.

Oh Tannen "da Bomb"

'Tis the season and my tree is finally up! I'm pretty traditional when it comes to holiday decorating. I see other color schemes that are Beau. Ti. Ful. But none of that is really my style. Someday I'd love to have one tree for all my oldies but goodies and another more formal tree that is more trendy and "decorative." When it comes to my current tree more is definitly more and nostalgia rules the day! Most ornaments are in the red, green, white family. I have a mish-mash of ornaments that are more sentimental than stunning. There are also a few new ones and this one is a new fave. I think its meant to be painted but I like the rustic look of the unfinished wood. I have 5 that are similar, given to me as a gift last year, and I think they came from WalMart. I'm hoping to get a few more this season.

This precious little mousie is MY FIRST ORNAMENT EVER!!! See where it says '80 (guess I'm giving away my age but I couldn't not share)? Thanks Mom for saving it for me!

And here it is. Our noble fir in all its glitzy, glammed out glory. And, while I don't follow many of true decorator rules, I do faithfully adhere to one Martha Stewart philosophy when it comes to my tree. Years ago, I heard Martha say that 100 lights should be used for every foot of tree height. I look at that as a minimum requirement. Our 6 foot fir is dripping with 800 little glistening lights. Love it! Leave me a comment and let me know how you decorate your tree. Do you use the same ornaments every year? Go with a different theme or color scheme depending on your mood and the trends? How bomb is your tannenbaum? Don't forget to link to picks of your tree on your blog!

Wrapping the rails

I wanted to put up a traditional garland on our staircase railing this year but with all the expenses for the house I didn't really want to spend the money buying the stuff this year. So instead I used some ribbon that I've had for a couple of years and wrapped the rail. What do you think? My favorite part (which is hard to see in this pick) is the red holly berries hanging beneath the bows. Super cute and I'm thrilled with my free splash of color and festive decor!