Upside-down Wedding Cake

I am in love with these vintage wedding cake chandeliers on ebay. I want one in every room of my house . . . well, maybe just my bedroom or bathroom, but somewhere regardless.
Yum!

Nursery, Part I

It's a girl! We are ecstatic. Me, because I have always wanted a little girl, Steve because he is all done with two children and doesn't need to paint the extra room. As luck would have it, we purchased a home that has a pink striped room all ready to go, perfect for a little lady. While I was never one of those people that dreamed about my wedding before we Steve and I got engaged, I fully admit to planning a baby girl's room before she even came to be.

Curently, the baby's room is that classic extra room with all the stuff that never really made it to the attic or the basement, plus my double bed. For now, it's a total mess. But in the meantime, I'll share my vision thus far:

Crib, which will be ordered once I receive my registry coupon, yippee!

Bedding from posh tots, I just fell madly in love with the ruffles.

A vintage dresser from my parents' home, similar to this. I may replace it later on, but for now it will do. I would love to whitewash it, but alas have been forbidden.

Dressed up with cutesy pulls such as these:

It does have a mirror, but I will most likely replace it. Some pretties:

French alphabet strung over head, from Etsy:

And hopefully, this chandelier, if the ebay seller would ever get back to me on whether it is hardwired or not:

The wicker loveseat will be staying and I thought I'd get a little pouf in which to put up my feet:

And finally something underfoot. I am undecided over soft and sweet, or bold and fun:

Stay tuned!

Gasping

Vintage french lantern, yes please!

Currently sold out, but hopefully they will restock. Could be a top contender for sure.

Bamboo Shades for Safe Keeping

Love you, Target!

Need them in living room and in our bedroom. Cheap with excellent reviews. Sold!

First Impressions

Like icing on a cupcake, to me lighting is that finishing touch that makes all the difference in a room. Where it it is placed, the proper mix of styles; similar to the way a fabulous earring or shoe can transform an outfit, lighting does the same in a room.

Most of mine are original with the house. Not good original, crummy original.

I've been hunting for the right fixture for my entrance for quite some time. Because of where the front door swings, it can only be 10" high. Normally, I would have wanted a tiny chandelier or hanging lantern, but as there is a full on view of our large dining room chandelier from the foyer I am wondering if a flush mount would be a good mix of styles.

I have forever been inspired by this dramatic entrance by Domino:

Some looks I am considering for flush mount:

With an amazing full length mirror on my left wall:

If I wanted a little modern to change it up a bit, I think I would go this route:

But as we all know, I messed up big time on a certain patterned set of lamps, so I probably should not go there again.

If I were do do something hanging, it would be along these lines. They are beautiful, but they are a fortune. Darling husband would most certainly not allow:



I have forever been in love with this, but Steve thinks it is fugly. Perhaps it is not suited for the entrance, anyway. It would actually be pretty darn cute in my downstairs bathroom!

What I do know, is that I would like two of these for our upper hallway. It's the first thing I thought of when I walked through the house and my mind has not wavered since. You would be able to see it from the foyer too.

It takes a long time to bake a house. If I were to build, I would be a total mess.

Yellow Me Happy

Love, love, love this white house with yellow shutters, as seen on pink wallpaper. Our gray is so gray. This is much more me! I think I would do a black door, however. I have a love affair with black doors and a white paned glass door in front.

This house just reinterates that old homes look beautiful forever. Period.

Courtesy of: Sixx Design

Styles to inspire - living rooms I love.

The first because it is tiny and beautiful. Like a doll's house. NOT kid friendly, but gorgeous nonetheless.

The second due to the ecclectic art and starburst mirrors.

If I were able to start from scratch and build my living room again, I would want it to look like Katie Lee Joel's. Peaceful, elegant and liveable.

And finally, Lisa's, because it is plain awesome. Love the separate living spaces and the mix of styles.

The whole other wall has custom bookshelves. The perfect space to entertain, watch TV and hang with kids. Plus the view to the papered foyer and french doored dining room is so perfect I can't stand it. Eventually, I would like french doors on the dining room in the new house too. I miss them!

Looking at all these photos makes see a constant pattern - they all have very light colored walls, while ours is a deep blue, inspired by this photo below. Which is also on my all time favorite list:
The blue we have, BM mineral falls, is gorgeous in the daylight and I love the contrast against my silk drapes and white trim. However, at night it turns to a color I don't necessarily like. We will not be repaining any time soon (years), but when we finally redo the room I may go in a lighter direction.

Katie's living room is BM pale smoke:

Lisa's is F&B green blue:

We're a long way from Kansas, Toto!

Weekend Warrior - SPFYS Office

It's pretty ironic that one of the very reasons why we purchased our current home to begin with has been the project of least focus.

Yes friends, I am talking about the dear 3rd floor office. Secluded from the noise of the rest of the home ,with a worn floor and beadboard walls (well, ok, they are plastic beadboard, but still they are sweet) and central air, it is an incredibly ideal location for my wedding studio.

Due to all my attentions to the lower level and the fact that most of our brides are from the city and thus closer to Talia, I've been really lazy about creating a formal meeting space. It also did not help that my beloved antique wicker sofa did not fit up the stairs to the third floor. Sob. With the recent influx of inquiries in the Hartford area, however, and one noisy meeting at the local Starbucks, I've finally been motivated enough to get my a in gear to pull the space together. For the last two weekends Steve and I have worked incredibly hard to clean out the space, paint, change out lighting fixtures and shop for furniture and accessories. I am sooo incredibly pleased with how it turned out. This is my one excuse to be totally girly in our home and I ran wild!

I am also pleased with the fact that I did not need to spend an absolute fortune to get such a cute look. Much of the items I already had from the old office and with a few tweaks here and there it came together perfectly. Here is the itemized list of sources for the office:

• desk - Pottery Barn
• rug - Anthro
• chandelier - Lowes
• coffee tables, lamps and blue sweater pillows - Target
• brown embroidered pillows, bench and mirrored nesting tables - Marshalls
• chairs and frilly pillows - Pier 1
• curtains - Pottery Barn Kids
• frames - Michaels

With all this being said, there are still a few areas that need some help. Case in point, this blank wall, which I would like to do a photo gallery of our weddings on. After all, we've done 50!

And this ghastly wall next to my desk reeeeally needs to be fixed. A full lengh mirror would add some drama and make the room appear bigger.
Otherwise, I am 100% head over heels in love with my office. Yay!

Best Ever Face Wash

So, I've tried it all, Clinique, Cetaphil, DDF, Trish, Lancome, Glymed, . . . . you name it and my face has met it.

On a whim, I picked up these wet daily facials and I looove them. They get off every last bit of mascara and even removed Naomi's airbrush in an instant.

Love em!

80%

I'd say my living room is about 80% done. The remaining big items are:

1. find another end table for next to my couch

2. frame map or other art selected

3. photo gallery to surround map, if necessary.

4. Reupholster existing or purchase a new chair

Truthfully, however, I'll consider it pretty much done once I achieve #1 and #2. The chair and miscl art can wait a bit.

Now that I have my lamps, I am considering the following end tables. I need something fairly simple, 24" high and reasonably priced.

All along I have been thinking about framing this map, which sits all rolled up in my spare bedroom:

But, I just found this series of New York and am loving it too:

hmmm.