Mad About Monday

Camilla Engman

Max Wanger

BBC

20x200

This has nothing to do with design or decorating but I am crazy about balloons right now. Whether there is just a single balloon or a large group- I am fascinated and amused by them.

Birthday Girl

Saturday was Darby Olivia's time to shine. She took part in her first ever doggie costume parade at the Arts Market. A wonderful kick-off to her birthday week- especially since I have nothing else planned. I am hoping they make this an annual event as she had such an amazing time. Another reason I would like there to be another parade is because she did not win "best costume" and the competetive mother in me would like (my costume making skills) her to win! She lost to two Shelties in store-bought hot dog outfits. Booooo. While she was there she met Sebastian, her new boyfriend, and also got to hang out with old pal Kobe.
During the parade...strutting her stuff.

Sebatian & Darby with their moms.

Sebastian didn't want to wear his costume:(

Darby met Amber, a 6 month old Wheaten- adorable!

Joy and I screamed "SIT!!" at Kobe and Darby until they finally sat at the same time. Too bad they are 300 feet apart.

The face of a loser. Don't worry girl- next year you will be a cupcake! (AND you'll win!)

What a beautiful day!

My Attempt Towards Becoming a World Class Sew-er.

My grandmother was an amazing woman. She taught me how to crochet when I was 5 or 6 and had me design quilts for my babydolls which she would then make. She made me pick out exactly which fabrics would go where and I could literally draw ANYTHING and she would be able to make it. For the longest time now, I have been itching to create stuff and though I used to kinda be into painting and drawing I wanted to try out that craft that everyone in my family is so gifted at. Perhaps I would be too...so with the use of my mother's trusty old Singer, I started out with a costume for Darby. A "Birthday Girl" dress, if you will. She turns one next week but there was also a doggie costume parade at the Riverside Arts Market yesterday.

Then on to the Roman Shades I mentioned in an earlier post. I just need to tack the folds and purchase the hardware to hang them.

I am apparently HORRIBLE at calculating yardage so there is enough monkey fabric to make two pillows for the chairs in my laundry area AND placemats and napkins for the eat-in table that I am using as my "sewing center."

So I have NO CLUE how to do this- is it called welting? I am determined to figure it out though.

See? I think it will be alright.

I will add extra wide bias tape to the front of the pillows and the placemats too.

More pictures of the finished products and Darby in her costume to come soon!

Trellis Everywhere

Absolutely Beautiful Things




Jill Crawford

Parker Sims Interiors




Purlsoho

Purlsoho

Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis on chairs at Tonic Home

What is your favorite application of trellis patterns? Mine is wallcovering. For now though, I just have my Starbucks Travel Mug:

Sisterhood of the Traveling Vogue

$115.00 A YEAR for 6???????!! It is $80.00 on Amazon. A little better.

What I propose is that a group (of 4-6) forms that pools their money together for a subscription and then passes the magazines around as they arrive until everyone has had a chance to view it. At the end of the year, the magazines would be split up at each subscriber's homes and kept available in case needed at any point. Images would have to be scanned, never cut, so that they are kept in good condition. Thoughts? Anyone interested?

2 For A Dollar

So I was looking at JCrew and pondering how to win a billion dollars so that I can purchase everything they sell. I was also just browsing for FL/GA to get ideas for maybe a top, dress, or accessory of some sort that would subtly add some team spirit. Full price JCrew is certainly not in my FL/GA budget so I continued my search over at Forever 21. I didn't find anything cute for the game but I did however find a wonderful deal!

Bubble Necklace, JCrew, $150



OR.....







Onyx Bead Drop Necklace, Forever 21, $14.00



Obviuosly, if I want a bubble necklace I will go with the Forever 21 option. I would like to do more of this type of post. I am somewhat obsessed with finding good deals by purchasing both sale and "wannabe" items (within good reason). This applies to furniture and other home goods as well. Sometimes if one of us is acting funny, Josh or I will say "What's your deal?" and the other will respond, "Two for a Dollar." I love that little joke bewteen us and so I will probably use "2 For A Dollar" as the title for any post where I discuss stuff like this!

The Laundrobot

So, no "Mad About Monday" post yesterday. My apologies. Want to hear what happened when I tried to sit down to post something? No? Well I am going to tell you anyway. Darby was EXTREMELY hyper last night even around her bedtime. She does this obnoxious thing when I sit down at the computer where she put her front paws up on the arm rest and barks into my right ear over and over and.... Yes, Laura, we should have considered cats;)

What makes her stop? When I get up and do anything other than sit on the computer. This is just AWESOME when I need to get actual homework done. So last night I did laundry and ironed for the third day in a row. I still have one more load and approximately 6 shirts to iron. I feel like a laundry robot, or "laundrobot." I don't know about you guys but ironing takes for-ev-er. Maybe that is why people end up decorating their laundry rooms. I just stood there looking around thinking of all the little details that would make it more functional and cuter.

Image 1: Flickr, Image 2: Country Living, Image 3: Decorpad, Image 4: Decorpad, Image 5: Decorpad

Carnivale!

What a good, solid budget will get you:

Tulle jacket for a rainy day: 30 bucks.

"Eat Up Jacksonville" at Morton's: $25.00 pp

Learning that utensils should be a thumb's distance from the edge of the table: Priceless.

Finished.

In case you are just joining me on my blog, here is a link to all "Bathroom Renovation" related posts. All of them were tiny steps leading up to this post, the grand reveal. Drum roll please...!

A reminder of what was...and a look at the new room:

Thank you, Martha Stewart, for your beautiful paint colors.

Towels, curtain from Pottery Barn.

All tile, hardware, and paint purchased at our local Lowe's.

That picture frame still has the silly photo it came with in it...I have yet to order the pic I want from Shutterfly.

This is J's favorite feature: a toilet paper cabinet with tissue box/magazine holder:)

This shelf was $50 my friends. Target. Shelf's accessories found in Steinhatchee or purchased at T.J.Maxx.

I love the stripes on this basket..I tried to repeat that throughout.

Like the mosaic tiles? They are my favorite feature.

Darby is well pleased...and isn't that all that really matters?

A Better Bettina

The "Monkey" fabric came in!! Now I need a lining and I can get started with my project! In the meantime I was browsing fabrics again for another friend's bathroom and I came across the "Bettina" print.

I was pretty sure this was the same fabric I had seen in said friend's bedroom a la Pottery Barn. I checked and sure enough it is by Breamore for Pottery Barn. This got me thinking how my friend could add a border to some ready-made curtains to get a custom look etc, and then I remembered the "Brooks Chair" and how much I adored it in that print.

This chair is on sale for $579 which is quite the expenditure.

I checked the Pottery Barn site to make see if they sold the Bettina fabric by yard and they don't. The fabrics they do sell run about 25 dollars per yard. At BuyFabric

you can get it for 14.95 per yard.

What if someone, say, found a slipper chair on Craigslist for $70...

Spent $80 on fabric....

$75 (rough estimate) having it slipcovered....

You would save a grand total of around $350 (that doesn't include tax and shipping) !!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone:) I will reveal the finished bathroom on Monday!