Monday, October 17, 2011

Library Design Complete!

Remember the library design I put together for a friend in Utah?  My fabulous friend and extremely busy mother of three has completed her family library!  Take a peek inside and let me know what you think of my first official e-design consult!




I absolutely adore the personal touches and especially love the pictures of the kids with their favorite books.  So cute!  She was able to use an existing piece and restyled the shelves with the family's book collection.  Stacking and placing books both vertically and horizontally is an easy way to make a boring bookshelf a little more interesting.



The fabric she chose to custom-cover the chairs is so sweet and chic!  Love!



The table to the left of the couch resembles a card catalogue and can be used to store CD's, books, and DVD's.  A very authentic touch for a modern library!


I could not be happier with my first e-design!  What do you think?

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Barnyard Bash: Olivia & Grayson's First Birthday

The months leading up to my babies' first birthday had my head swimming with ideas on how to make it special for both of them and their little friends.  The theme I decided to go with was "Barnyard Bash," and seeing as we live on a farm, I found it extremely appropriate!  The kids LOVE animals, so we hired a petting zoo for all of the kiddos to enjoy.  I know what you are thinking, that they won't even remember this and why put so much effort into a first birthday party?  Because I love them and I can't help myself!  I wanted to throw a party they would enjoy and that would be all about the kids having fun!  So, welcome to our Barnyard Bash and our babies' first birthday party!

The tractor was Jeremy's great-uncle's who sadly passed away this year.  It was in our front yard for the kids to have their picture taken on and was the perfect touch to honor Uncle Cy.




I hand made all of the decorations "scrap-book style" for more of a vintage look.  Most everything coordinated with a deep red, sky blue, sunny yellow, lime green, and chocolate brown color theme.  Yes, I realize these are a lot of colors - but hey, it's for the kids! 


The dessert table was AH-MAZING.  Fall colored candies such as Twizzlers, Juicy Pear Jelly Bellies, candy corn, and M&M's served as eye candy (pun intended) and sweet snacks.  






 We had amazingly delicious pumpkin spice and strawberry marble cupcakes made by Sweet Temptations.  She also made the babies' smash cakes (also strawberry marble cake with buttercream icing), which resembled little hay stacks with chickens adorning the top of the hay pile.



These chic (vanilla) and piggie (red velvet) cake pops were the hit of the party!  They better have been after we stayed up until 1 am the night before making them!


For party favors, I made each child a chocolate tractor pop and stuck it in the middle of a small clay pot full of candy corn!  I figured even if the child was too young for all the sugar, the mom could enjoy it!




For extra seating, we set up three tables in the backyard.  Unfortunately, most people still gathered in the kitchen, but at least I had the cute centerpieces ready to go!



We served all of the food buffet style - one side for the adults and one side for the kids.  I couldn't help but make cute labels for the kiddies.  The water bottles (with Olivia and Grayson Birthday labels) and organic lemonade were iced in steel and copper tubs in the kitchen.






 

The best part was seeing how excited all of the kids were for the pony rides and petting zoo!  My two loved the animals and squealed in excitement over the baby goat licking their hands.






And of course, I had to squeeze in some sweet family pics in front of the tractor!



And lastly, my sweet babies enjoying their first birthday cake.  Life is so good.




Have you thrown any great parties lately?  Let's hear about the decor!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Mud Room & Laundry Room Link Party

I am sharing my mud room today over at The Mustard Ceiling.  Check out all of the other fabulous laundry room and mud rooms for inspiration!  You won't be disappointed.



Our Little Mud Room

One of the most important things to me when designing our house was to have a space to "unload" all of our things when walking into the house instead of letting them spill over into the living space and kitchen.  I very much appreciate our garage entrance, but knew we would need a home for shoes, jackets, hand bags, baby bags, and whatever else we need to drop at the door!

After several failed attempts of trying to hire someone to custom build shelving and searching all over creation for the perfect pre-made storage system, we stumbled upon this beauty from Restoration Hardware.  I have always loved the Pottery Barn locker system, but did you know it is only 60" tall?  I knew that would not give me the look I was going for considering we have nine foot ceilings.  I am only 63" tall and I can't imagine you can store very much in them.

The mud room entrance is off of the garage and enters directly into our kitchen.  There is an outside side which exits to the screened in porch as well as a small powder room with a pedestal sink and toilet.  Planning ahead for the future, I thought it would be nice to have a bathroom there for children coming in from playing outside or Jeremy working in the garage.

Okay, enough background, welcome to our sweet little mud room!

 

We used ceramic tile that resembles slate and has many different natural colored tones in it.  I originally painted the room a darker tan, but recently used Ben Moore's Silver Chain to brighten it up!






The tiny powder room that we refer to as the mud bath is over to the left if you are viewing the pictures above.  It is small and a little rustic, but I think perfectly appropriate for its purpose.

 


The top print is "The Kiss", the middle is an oil painting my brother brought me back from Italy, and the bottom is a print of the old theatre in Strasburg, VA.  The vintage map I found at an antique store; it was made the year my parents were born!