Treading in Color

This picture stopped me in my tracks when I saw it. The natural color combinations are breathtaking!! I love navy blue as a main color and yellow as an accent! What are your thoughts? I used a color similar to this from C2 called Brigand in my half bath and I'm still in love with it!!

#1 Removable Wallpaper This surface material is easy to apply and therefore easy to change when you feel you need to. Accent wall seem like to much? Consider lining the back of a bookshelf instead. #2 Live Plants Live plants can help bring life and happiness to a space, and good for your health to boot! #3 Window Treatments These should be hung a couple of inches ABOVE window including trim. If you are able to, extend the hanging rod past the window on both sides. This creates the illusion of a bigger window and allows more natural light into the room. #4 Adding Texture and/or Color There are a few ways to do this. One could be bright pops of color in your accent pillows or with a plush throw blanket. Another way may be to add woven baskets to your plants or add storage for your magazines. #5 Lighting Don't forget to include all three layers of lighting to your room.      A Ambient (general/overhead)      B Task     ...

A trend we keep seeing in the interior design industry is two-toned cabinets. I feel I can add value to this trend as I am a strong believer in this trend but not necessarily by choice. My husband and I did a kitchen remodel a few years ago only by the idea of a fellow co-worker and now good friend. Although I work with a lot of talented designers, this one in particular was extremely talented with kitchens. She was able to see past my small, outdated kitchen to the beauty it is today and believe it or not she  chose two-toned cabinets for me. I left the design (mostly) in her hands. I had white painted cabinets previously-both uppers and lowers and had mentioned my complaint of my lowers never staying clean! At the time we had a large dog and two small children so the white seemed to always look dirty! Her solution-a darker cabinet base and I've never looked back! With appliances moved around and a wall removed (some sweat and tears) I LOVE my new open kitchen!! Cabinets, ...

I recently read that the #1 design mistake most people make is...CLUTTER. I was kind of surprised until I started decorating for christmas in my own home and realized how much STUFF I had! So this year I decided less is more. Of course we still put up a tree but I usually over-decorate my mantle and this year I'm keeping it simple. I have a good friend who is a true hy-gee' decor lover and is always stressing that "less is more." She's always getting rid of STUFF and a lot of the time I'm very envious.                                                      So I think that might be my goal this coming year- getting rid of STUFF. Even though my kiddos are still young, it might be a good lesson to learn! It just seems impossible sometimes while working in the design world. I love everything and enjoy changing it up often. I need t...

I'll start with a before picture so that you can better understand the WHY? My kids brush their teeth in this bathroom and it is always a mess! Don't ask how toothpaste can get on the wall? The shelf was pretty difficult to clean time and time again and have you ever tried cleaning up globs of dried toothpaste? It's the worst! So my hubby came to the rescue yet again with a pinterest idea he saw online- removed floating shelf AFTER The answer was individual mason jars to hold toothbrushes and toothpaste.  So far, so good. Less mess!

Did you know we install glass showers @ Sterling Carpet One!? You may have noticed that shower doors are looking more minimal than ever these days. This is because designers are now embracing the sleek, less-is-more look of frameless shower doors. These stylish new door types leave excessive metal hardware and framing out of the equation, letting showers blend in more seamlessly with the rest of their surroundings. (Domino magazine) The other FANTASTIC part of the equation is that our designers can help with it ALL! Our designers can help choose the tile, grout color, to heat/not to heat floor and even accent tile for a little bling or more storage options! Clean Crisp whites are what's trending now- Adding Glass doors and a walk in shower is a way to update a forever bathroom by eliminating the bathtub. I also think they allow for a lighter brighter space which can be good for smaller spaces.  Moral of the story: Looking to update? Remodel? Stop in to Sterling Carpe...

Even though us midwesterners tend to be 5 or more years behind the most up and coming home decor trends from the coasts, I'm going to talk about 5 decor mistakes to avoid in order to catch up a little. 1. Neon colors- I feel like this one is a little obvious, if you crave a dramatic color I might suggest a Candy Apple Red instead?! When in doubt, always go for a warm neutral and accent with color in your accessories. 2. Anything Chevron- This trend is a little harder to quit and might take some time                but consider replacing the chevron trend with a new pattern like stripes or polka-dots. 3. Plastic storage drawers- These stackable drawers were awesome for when we were in            college, but let's give the grown up version a try and switch to wood or even a storage ottoman. 4. Ruffle Curtains- Feel free to still use these in your little girls' room but when...

I hate to paint yet choose the MOST. TEDIOUS. PAINTING. JOBS. EVER!! This is my front tile entry that I decided to cottage paint a while back with a stencil and then top coat it with several layers of polyurethane and pray it holds up. Took me a whole weekend to finish!! So I decided this time I"ll paint my interior french door that's white, black. All of my trim is white and I don't plan on changing that anytime soon   ever! My thought was that my boys were going hunting for the weekend which meant spare time for me and I wanted to bring attention to the detail of my french door. BEFORE DURING AFTER I do have to say I LOVE the change but I still HATE to paint. Before I started I spent an hour taping the glass on one side but because I had to do 2 coats I couldn't remove the tape after one coat while the paint was still wet, which is ideal. All said and done, I will never use tape again, it hurt me more than help me! I did not tape the back side ...

How to add a little farmhouse flare to your home. It's all the rage right now as a go-to for decor. It's smothering HGTV episodes and can easily be incorporated in to your everyday! One of my favorite farmhouse decor options is exposed beams. Here's a quick story for you...I live in an older home with popcorn ceilings! Of course someday I eventually wanted to scrape, sand and retexture them but after our kitchen remodel on the other side of the house, I knew how messy that was! When my kiddos were babies the 3 of us flew to Colorado to visit my family. My husband is a teacher and couldn't get the time off so he stayed behind. Upon arriving home from a week's vacation, he had a "surprise" for me! I walked into the living room to find he had installed wood beams to our ceiling!!! We had always talked about the idea of doing so but I was hesitant to do it with popcorn ceilings. I didn't want to draw attention to my ceilings. Low and behold I didn't ...

I usually get asked daily about 2 things- 1. Grays 2. Painting Cabinets Grays I've touched on in a past post but if you're thinking of painting your cabinets, have a seat, we have a lot to go over. It's a process that requires a lot of work but if you do it right, you should only have to do it once. In a lot of scenarios people are dealing with well built oak cabinets that are in great shape but the finish has gotten orange or yellow over the years due to the aging top coat. New kitchen cabinets can cost you thousands of dollars but painting them and maybe changing the hardware to update them, may only cost you a couple hundred. First I suggest "scuff sanding" the doors. Not to remove the finish but to open up the pores of the existing top coat in order to take something new, your primer! But before we go on to adding the primer I recommend giving them a good cleaning. I would use TSP which is an inexpensive powder cleaner you add to water or simple ...

wall mounted lights accent pillow Silhoutte by Hunter Douglas       I distinctly remember years and years ago I watched an Oprah episode where she mentioned that the one room often left for last in a remodel is one of the most important, your master bedroom. Through all the years this piece of advice has stuck with me. In my current home I have recently recovered the headboard and my husband has stabilized the bed. Meaning we vetoed the bed frame and screwed the headboard to the wall. We've had the room painted the same greige for years and I still love it so no change there. My husband has also added faux beams to the room which helps tie the rest of the home in and add some warmth to the space. The window treatments were an investment almost right away when we bought the house because we replaced all the windows and we were able to take two windows and replace them with one large window instead. The window treatments are from Hunter Douglas and are definit...

About 4 years ago we dove head first into a kitchen remodel and it was the best decision we ever made! The problem is that I work at a design center, meaning that the wheels are always turning. My most recent idea is to change the lighting in my dining room. When we did the remodel it made a more open concept as we took down the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room. The easy answer and most cost effective at the time was to replace the lighting with 2 matching flush mount fixtures.  Now I'm thinking of adding a chandelier above my dining room table. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. It was on clearance from Pier1, rustic wood beads and I'm not even sure it's big enough but it would be a change! I'll have to swag  the chain in order to center it above the table and might need to add a medallion to the original hole in the ceiling but those are just thoughts...here is the before- I also think the light I have mounted in the corner would be too mu...