Friday Favs: TheHomeCentric

Ok, do you remember Lauren's bedroom idea board? (Side note: After pictures coming up on Monday!Ack! So exciting!) In that board I featured a pillow from Etsy seller TheHomeCentric and suggested that Lauren use it to tie the whole room together. (She did, by the way!) Well, I am head over heels for all of the gorgeous creation on this talented gal's site. Seriously, I can't not think of a pillow that I want from Urvi's selection!

How bout this beauty, that is highlighted for Mother's Day? I love how all the sequins work together to create that awesome wildflower.



And this one, I am just dying over. Linen? Check. Mother of pearl? Check. Made for Jenny? Check, check and CHECK!  I love how neutral it is and yet so divine. Love.IT. :-)



Perhaps your tastes run a little bolder. In that case, you must love this purple damask - it is stunning! And yes, I also have a crush on damask, in case you were wondering.



They're not all light backgrounds though, this clever gal also has this stunning chocolate rose pillow. Me likey.



There are ten pages of pillows to browse through, with all sorts of delights like this pintuck creation,



this ruffly beauty,

or this glam statement piece.



But perhaps you're not a glam girl like me, perhaps you run away from the sparkles and glitter and shine. (Why, I wouldn't know) Not to worry, there are all sorts of muted and toned down beauties as well. Like this rose burnout velvet design,



or this gorgeousness made without any cutting! Amazing!



So head on over to Urvi's shop and peruse all her fabulous pillows! I dare you to leave without buying at least one! :-)




P.S. Nope, I did not receive any endorsements, payments or freebies for posting about this etsy seller. I just thought she was cool. Also, all the pictures are from her shop site. They're not mine, and I don't mean to pass them off as such. :-)

Castle for Sale: Chateau De Farcheville

Felling luxurious today? Here is yet another castle for sale that will make your heart go all a flutter. This gem is located in the heart of France, just outside of Paris. The Chateau de Farcheville is a 14th century castle just 25 minutes away from Paris that has been completely renovated.



It has 18 (!) bedrooms, including the king's room, the queen's room and 31 bathrooms. Talk about never having to share a sink! Personally, I like the queen's room best.



The king's room, while not as much my taste, does boast an adjoined sitting room/salon that is quite beautiful.





Of course, this castle is nothing to shake a stick at. The property spans more than 1000 acres, with private hunting grounds, an indoor pool and a gym/spa, maid's quarters, a private cinema, chapel, bakery and music recording room.





You will have your choice of dining rooms each night, as there are five on the property. The large dining room is incredibly impressive, but the other rooms are equally charming.









There are also four kitchens, this one is exclusively reserved for breakfast. I can imagine a typical morning going something like this: "Hello, Pierre? Where are you?" "Why, I am in the breakfast kitchen, having my croissants from our bakery." Silly you. It's not like he would be in a different kitchen, right?



Of course the grounds are beautiful, with lovely gardens and a well kept courtyard.





All this can be yours for a mere 110 million euros. With the current exchange rate, that's about $150 million dollars. Once again, I am offering to go halvsies with anyone that might be interested in living just outside of Paris. After all, with all those bedrooms, bathrooms and dining rooms, it's not like we'd run into each other. :-)

Info and pictures taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Farcheville

http://www.viviun.com/AD-118950/

Inspiration Tuesday: Jewelry and Hair Flowers

In an effort to corral my every increasing project list, (as well as clear all the files off of my hard drive), Inspiration Tuesday will be occupied for the next few weeks with projects that I would love to try out some day. So I apologize for the redundancy for some of you, but maybe someone will get inspired!  I've included links when I have them.

Black and Gold Earrings. Love the little gold dangles, and the contrast between the black and the gold.

Clip On Earring Necklace.  I'll be watching for a beautiful pair of clip-ons to make this little pretty.

No links for these, but I'd love to make something inspired from them.

Hair Flowers:

Feather Light Hair Flowers. Love the textures in this hair flower, although I think I would tone down the frou frou.

Make your own silk flower. Love the little jewels inside this hair flower.

Spring Goals

We're nearly a month into spring, and I'm just getting around to my spring goals. With that in mind, a few of my goals will be ones I have already accomplished. :-)

Spring Goals

1. <s>Enjoy trip to the beautiful land of Spain <s/> An added benefit of this trip was that is broke me of my major time wasting addictions: Facebook and blog reading. Now that my schedule has been redefined, I'll theoretically be more productive. :0)


2. <s>Start flower seeds. </s> My marigolds are growing like the weeds that they are (did you know that they are weeds in Eastern Europe?) but the poppies I started before we left for Spain seem to have bitten the dust. The black eyed susans have once again failed to sprout, I am not sure what is up with that. I've also started wave petunias, so we will see if I'll be able to get away with not buying them this year. The only thing left to start are the johnny jump ups, which I'll start in about a week.


3. Finish A Tale Of Two Cities. Talk about masterful literature. I can get through a novel in two to four hour when I want to, but I am savoring each page of this classic. It is absolutely beautifully written.


4. Start another classic.


5. Paint and recover chair for the guest room. (Now that it is once again unoccupied)


6. Open Etsy shop for my photography. This also entails editing all the pictures from Spain and choosing some to put in the shop.


7. Start a new sewing project - a dress, a shirt, an apron or a skirt. Basically whatever strikes my fancy.


8. Plan my birthday bash for my "Golden Birthday!"


9. Post about projects I would like to do, to organize all my links and project ideas. Divide into sewing projects, house projects, gift ideas, etc.


10. Be a better wife to my Lover.

Here were my 10 goals for March:

1. <s>Have fun with family, especially those coming in from out of town.</s>


2. <s>Finish the coat rack.</s> I suppose I should show you, right? It came out great.


3. Revamp chair for guest room.


4. <s>Play chess. </s> I played twice. I really want to learn this game... I'm trying
   !


5. Make a new recipe. Fail. Maybe this spring :-) If we are ever home.


6. <s>Start flower seeds </s>, plant bulbs if weather cooperates. Bulbs will be planted at the end of April.


7. Blog every week day. Nope. Not even close. But I am okay with that.


8. <s>Take lots of pretty pictures. </s> I'm currently swamped with pictures, which is a good problem.


9. <s>Prepare for trip to Spain (in April).</s> And we survived the trip!


10. Tell my husband every day why I respect and admire him. I really tried - I will have to ask Lover how I did with this one.

I'm giving myself a 65% on this latest set of goals. I am looking forward to spring!

I am away from my desk.

Just wanted to let you all know that posting may be sporadic this week. I am wrapping up a trip to the beautiful country of Spain, and will be on my way home tomorrow. Once I have recovered from jet lag I will be sure to share all my fun stories and pics with you.

See you later!

Friday Favs: Funniest YouTube Videos

For this Friday Fav I thought I would share some of my favorite YouTube videos. They're sure to make you laugh, each one makes me howl every time I see it. Also, I am in no way trying to pass myself off as the author of any of these videos. I just think they are really funny.Please don't disable my links.  So without further ado, here are my favs:

I always love a good impression, and this one where Matt Damon is making fun of Matthew McConaughey is stellar:



And of course who can forget Miss South Carolina?


You need to watch Jimmy Kimmel analyze her response. It's just as funny.

American Idol has become popular around the world,  apparently even in Bulgaria. I love this girl's rendition of Can't Live by Mariah Carey



I like to think I am a good driver, but I know plenty of women who fit the stereotype. Like these women:



if you like the Muppets, you'll enjoy this one:



and, my favorite of all time, guaranteed to make me laugh every.single.time:

Charlie Bit My Finger



So what did you think? Did I post one of your favorites? Did I leave yours out? Please share, I am always in the mood for funny stuff!

Construction Zone

When you are in the throes of a huge remodeling project, it is important to keep a sense of humor. If not, you will burn out almost immediately. :-) Not that I speak from experience.

With that advice in mind, we created this fun little sign to place at the bottom of our basement stairs, as you enter the crazy zone.



It says, "Construction Zone"  "Watch your step! And your head, your feet, and any other body part you care about."



It makes me smile every time I go down to the basement. :)

Can you see why I was stressed?

A month or two back I talked about how stressed out I was over the basement remodel. . While I am currently receiving therapy for this, I want you to understand that my stress was not unfounded. Here are a few pictures that will illustrate why I was so stressed.

Exhibit A:



The lighter area is where the new laundry room is now located.

1. Here's where the washer and dryer used to be. Now they are under the electrical panel. And, yes, I had to do laundry while the basement looked like this.

2. Here is the window that is under our deck, that we converted to a vent panel. It now vents the dryer and the fan for the bathroom.

3. This is the "Main Stack" for the plumbing. I painted it turquoise. It is now accessible, unlike before where it was hidden in the wall, behind a mirror.

Exhibit B:



This is our bathroom. Isn't it beautiful? :-)

4. The toilet stack, plugged with rags. Ew.

5.  Where we (and by we, I mean Lover and my brother) found the centipede nest. Oh, and while we are on that subject, some big suckers have been showing up now that the weather is getting nicer. We (again, loosely using the term "we") summarily dispatched them to Centipede Heaven. (Is there such a thing?)

6. This is where we are installing the shower. It's going to be awesome. Cannot wait.

7. We had to rebuild the support for the stairs for the basement. We're assuming that at one point there was adequate support, but the P.O. removed it because... that is the kind of thing they would do. :-)

So now you can empathize with me a little better. Right? Or am I just a whiny brat? Do I need to subject you to the pictures of the centipedes again for you to pity me a little? Go here. I dare you. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Friday Fav: Heather Berry Handmade Jewelry

My friend Heather runs a shop on Etsy that is chock full of her beautiful jewelry. I've seen it in person, I've given it to friends, I love it. Heather has the knack for putting just the right elements into a piece, whether it be a necklace, bracelet or earrings.

This is one of my favorites that she has in her shop right now, the Ophelia Teardrop Necklace.



I've seen this Flight bracelet in person, and it is just the daintiest thing. I love the beads that Heather has paired with the sweet little bird.



These Turquoise Flower Blossom Earrings are divine. As in, I want them, now. :-)



Heather has a whole selection of $10 and under earrings, and these Silver Lace Filigree Teardrops are one of the choices. Um, gorgeous!



Heather updates her shop frequently with new items, so be sure to check back often. I'll leave you with one more beautiful necklace, the La Vita e Bella Necklace.



Be sure to head on over to Heather Berry Jewelry and check out all her other beautiful creations!

Castle Consultation: Lauren's Master Bedroom

After seeing Trisha's room makeover, Lauren sent me pictures of her master bedroom and asked for help with art and accessories. She said:

Hi Jenny,

I wanted to send you a few pictures of our master bedroom. We have done some decorating but now we are sort of stuck. I love our furniture and paint color choices.. plus we don't have it in our budget for all new bedroom furniture but we could definitely buy some art and accessories.

I would appreciate any input you have!

Thanks, Lauren

Lauren's room is already off to a great start. I love the bedroom furniture that they have, and the two blue shades on the wall are so soothing.







And here is the idea board I created for Lauren.



As I mentioned, Lauren's room already has all the building blocks for a great room: great furniture, paint color, lamps and curtains. So my suggestions are for the finishing details that will really make this room a knockout.

First  up, let's talk about our color palette. The darker blue (Behr's Eminence) and light blue (Behr's Breaker) are the paint colors in the room, with the darker behind the bed.  The silver tone in the middle represents the hardware, lamp bases, and accessories in the room. The sandy tan color is found in the curtains, and we'll be bringing in art and pillows to tie this color into the rest of the room. The caramel color will be in the art, and the accent pillow to bridge the gap between the cool blues and silvers and the dark wood.  The dark brown represents the wood furniture, and the color is repeated in the art.

The trick to making dark furniture work with light colors is to find a way to pull just a li bit of that color out of the furniture and sprinkle it around the room in little accents. This helps the whole room to feel cohesive and tones down the stark contrast between light and dark.

This wall art from BBB is perfect for this room. It brings all of our colors together, and the ethereal print works perfectly with the calming mood that already exists in here. Remember to use a 20% off coupon to save a little more moolah! Lauren should hang this on the wall across from the window, replacing the flower pictures that are there right now.

Next we're going to address the lamps that Lauren recently purchased. The bases are great, and I love how they relate to the hardware on the furniture. I'm going to suggest a shade like these Pottery Barn Lampshades to replace the current shades. The shades are bright white, so they'll be crisp and fresh, and they have subtle detailing that really makes them pop.

To further dress up this area, we're going to bring in these round mirrors (from Target!) and hang them just above and to the side of the lampshades. (Closer to the walls)

Below them, on the nightstands themselves, I'm going to suggest bringing the frames from the dresser over to add some personality and sparkle, as well as that pretty white flower tealight holder. I love the little glass shelf on each of the tables, and I think that a few long and skinny hardcover books (in tans and light blue) should reside below the glass on one side, and a slim and sleek box (maybe for jewelry) on the other. Check Home Goods, Target or Walmart for one that's ready to go, or make your own by covering the right size box with fabric or paper. Silver or white will really pop, and a light tan would also work.

Now let's dress up that bed a little. I love the clean lined bedding and the colors are so soothing. We just need to add a little interest. Two of these euro shams (in sandy beige) from Walmart placed behind the blue pillows will add a little contrast and texture with their subtle tone on tone stripes. Then, in front of the blue pillows, this beautiful creation from etsy seller TheHomeCentric will add tons of glam factor. The sparkly metallic details bring in more of that warm caramel color and the metal rings relate to the hardware on the furniture and the mirrors on the walls.

Lastly, let's talk about the wall with the large dresser and curtains. I love the unfussy lines of the curtains, but they need a little pizazz. Adding a deep brown trim to the edges will spice them up in a heartbeat. I love how much texture grosgrain ribbon has, and Lauren can simply iron it onto the edges of each panel (a few inches away from the vertical hems )  with bonding tape. Her local JoAnn's or Michaels should have everything she needs.

Then, because we moved the frames and the votive holder to the nightstands, we'll bring in this silver beauty from West Elm to add a little sparkle to the top of the dresser. If Lauren wants something plainer, this one will work too.

So that's it! A simple idea board to make this room go from great to stellar, without breaking the bank. What do you think? Do you like my suggestions or do you have a better idea? I'd love to hear it! Oh, and be sure to check out Lauren's blog LifeUncluttered. It's so fun!