Tiny Tables I Adore

We have an incredible shrinking house. I swear, when we moved in, it was MUCH bigger. The cabinets held more things, the drawers were more spacious, the cupboards plenty big enough. But now? Not so much.

So, we have two options: sell and buy a house with double the square footage (haha) or be smarter with our space.

There's a little spot next to our back door, for example, that just struck me as a great place for a tiny table or mini desk to hold some of the things that clutter up our kitchen counters-- invitations, cell phones, outgoing mail. A clutter catcher! We'd have to rig the door with one of those little stopy thingies on the hinge so it wouldn't bash into whatever it is. But I think it's doable. See what you think...

Here's the space:

Here are the options:

Anne Secretary by Ballard Designs
(I'd probably get this in black, since we have a lot of
distressed black in our family and dining room.)

Pottery Barn Charlotte Bedside Table

Ballard Designs Piccola Cabinet

Ballard Designs London Low Console
(This comes in black, too.
And I bet that drawer would be perfect for little Bug shoes!)

So....now to decide! I'm always GREAT at the virtual window shopping, but not so great when it comes to pulling the trigger. Any input you'd like to provide would be greatly appreciated!

Big Boy Room

I have completely fallen off the blogger wagon. This is partly because we're running around like headless chickens getting our house ready for Baby Mia's arrival in six weeks. It's also partly because I'm running around chasing our two-year-old while also preparing for the arrival of Baby Mia. And partly because we've been working on our magazine's fun new Web site (check it out here) and putting out our summer issue (here), while chasing our two-year-old and preparing for the arrival of Baby Mia...all completely headless, mind you.

The irony is that our life is CHOCK FULL of awesome blog material these days! From creating Bug's Big Boy Room to working on decorating the nursery to getting hardwood floors and searching high and low for area rugs--my nesting craziness has been blogger's wonderland. But alas, the life of a pregnant nester leaves little time for recording or reveling in the results. I can't tell you how many blog posts I've written in my head (when it's attached) in the shower only to have them swirl down the drain with the suds.

Here's a little peek at our nest these days. Let's start with the big boy room, shall we?

Here's Hunk with a little helper, putting up the moldings in Bug's room. Bug is obsessed with any power tool that could potentially inflict a mortal wound.

Moldings going up:

And the finished room:

Bug approved!

Happy Hubby, Ugly Walls

Hunk talked me into getting the family room wired for surround sound and (gasp) the TV mounted above the fireplace- something I swore I’d never do. He convinced me by pointing out that we could then move the TV armoire to Bug’s soon-to-be Big Boy Room for toy/book storage and move the couches around to make room for a couple new chairs and, hence, more seating for guests. So, he got me on three fronts: nesting, shopping and hospitality. I totally got played. Now our TV is above the fireplace, three unsightly speakers are adorning my mantle, and the walls are completely butchered with rough drywall. Oh, well. It’ll look good in a few weeks when all the pieces fall into place… And in the meantime, I’ve got a happy hubby: worth its weight in A/V wires.

Take a Style Quiz!

I am a schizophrenic when it comes to furniture styles. When I walk into a shabby chic room, I suddenly love all things Rachel Ashwell. But then I'll go stay at an inn in Charleston, and I'll covet anything refined and antique. And then I walk into my family room-- where I'm apparently a huge fan of Fisher Price. (We call it the Great Bug Invasion of '07). It seems I know what I like when I see it, but until I see it, I have no idea what I like! See, schizophrenic.

Which is a problem given that I'm planning a little redo of my family room furniture this year (I hope, I hope). I am having the hardest time nailing down a style to direct my choices!

So, I found this little online quiz from Sproost to be very helpful. (Wendy at the Shabby Nest clued me in about it.) It helped me categorize my craziness into three distinct styles:


I'm 36% French Eclectic:


36% Classic:



and 28% Wine Country:



I guess that makes me a classic French drunk. teehee.


But Sproost neglected one very important design consideration.

I am, after all, 100% Bug:
:-)

Fun Spring Things

Dontcha just love spring? Here are some of my favorite spring things.

First, some fun little things for the kitchen table...

A little birdie nest....
And a little birdie for the nest.

A pretty little terrarium...

Easter egg hunts...

And chocolate bunnies!!! (or chokut bubbies, says the Bug)
Long live spring!!!

furniture purgatory

Eight years ago, I loved my family room. Hunk and I were newly married. Our love was new and so was our furniture. While time makes love deeper and stronger, it makes Rooms To Glue couches weaker and creakier. Add an overgrown Westie and a toddler with a penchant for peanut butter to the mix, and it's safe to say we need new stuff.

That is--as soon as we finish Bug's big boy room, redo the nursery, fund the birth of Baby 2 and pay off our SUV (we're doing the best we can, Dave Ramsey). So, barring a lucky lottery ticket, family room plans have been relegated to the b-a-c-k burner.

If I can't buy new stuff, I can at least do a little window--er, Web--shopping to collect some wish list possibilities. These things make me happy.

This couch is from American Signature Furniture.

Hate the accent pillows but love the nailhead trim, the beige peanut-butter-camouflaging fabric and the price ($800--which is about $400 cheaper than my taste usually runs ;-).

This chair is so sweet.

It's pretty, but not stuffy. Looks comfy. And the neat little table next to it is a nice balance. I don't love the chair with the couch, though.... :-(

Pottery Barn strikes again. Sweet little casters, nice ruffle trim. Don't like the fabric with our decor, but it comes in lots of options.

...But! Hunk hates it. So it might be relegated to Blog world forever. What a sad fate.

This bombe chest is from Pottery Barn, too... and unfortunately costs almost as much as the couch. But isn't it lovely?

And this is the one piece of furniture in our family room that I still like. (Ours isn't this shiny in real life. :-) I know it's huge, but it's the most comfortable chair in the universe and worth every square inch. And, since it's Hunk's happy place, maybe it can be a bartering tool to get that ottoman back on the list.

Okay, I feel better, now. These items are safe and sound on my blog: their furniture purgatory.

Vintage Easter Decor

My grandma was a ceramic artist. At least, I guess that's what you'd call her. We just always said she "made dolls"-- even though, as you'll see, she made much more than that. Every summer, we'd visit her in West Virginia and spend hours in her basement, making trinkets out of ceramic and porcelain and firing them in her kilns. It was grand fun.

My grandma passed away when I was a senior in college, but every holiday she is memorialized in my house through our holiday decor. Like these little treasures here...

Surprise! It's not a dozen eggs!

Look at this little cutie.

And this little bunny is my favorite ~

She also made me and my three siblings personalized bunny mugs. (We have Santa ones, too. :-)

These treasures from Grandma make me happy each Easter when they come out of the box: little pieces of my childhood that have been reborn in my own family's traditions.

Happy Easter, everyone!

"God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”-Romans 5:6-8

an inexpensive little decorating project

Sometimes I get an urge to add something new to my home, but I don't want to add something new to my budget. So that's when a girl's gotta get crafty with what she's already got.

A few years ago, I made these pillows for my bed. The shams are made from a distressed, linen/cotton toile that was so lovely I saved every scrap. And good thing. Because in my recent urge to get crafty, I pulled out the scraps and made these:

I took two dated floral prints that used to hang in our guest room and removed their contents. Then, I simply wrapped the cardboard backing with a bit of the toile fabric and taped it in place.

One of my favorite verses has always been 1 Corinthians 13:13 ~ "...and now these three abide: faith, hope and love, but the greatest of the these is love." So, I printed out the words "love abides" on khaki linen-textured cardstock, attached it to the fabric with double-sided scrapbook tape, and voila! A meaningful little message for the top of the barrister's bookcases in my bedroom. And all for not a penny.


The font, by the way, is Bleeding Cowboy. (I know, so dramatic). I downloaded it for FREE from Scapvillage, the site that has the BEST FONTS EVER.

Got any inexpensive decorating tricks up your sleeve these days?? If so, please share!

Kitchen Inspiration

Hunk and I have been talking about economical little ways that we can improve our kitchen (which would make Mama very happy) while not causing too much strain on the ol' budget. Keeping in mind that we will inevitably outgrow our home within a few years and (if the economy is behaving itself by then) move, we don't want to do anything too...radical. But I'm in the mood for a little sprucing up in the meantime.

So, I took to blogworld for some much-needed inspiration. And I got it: beadboard! Check out the beautiful little beadboard backsplash in Heather Bullard's kitchen. (Her entire site is peppered with inspiration landmines. Watch where you step or you may find yourself blown to DIY land for a year's worth of weekends!)

Here are some more photos for my inspiration files:So pretty, right? And since installation would really only require a can of paint, some caulk, and a nail gun, Hunk approves!

Deep Thoughts... on Wallpaper

I have NO wallpaper in my house. It's all paint, paint, paint.

But most of my favorite spots in the world (the historic home in Roswell where we held our wedding reception, the bed-and-breakfast where Hunk took me for our first anniversary, my friend's sunny yellow kitchen) are all wallpapered. Coincidence? I think not.

We are getting ready to transform our guest room into a Big Boy Room for Bug, complete with a walk-in-closet-converted-to-play-space, and I'm toying with the idea of wallpapering the play space.

I've been seeking a little cyber-inspiration, and here's what I've got so far. Not all are kid's rooms, obviously, but all serve to satiate a little of my wallpaper curiosity.

I like this living room. The wallpaper print looks formal to me, but paired with the casual furnishings, it looks put-together and timeless. And I like how it's papered just above the chair rail, too.

Too bad my living room is two-story. I don't think Hunk would ever forgive me. It would be worse, even, than when I eat his leftovers without permission. teehee.


Now check out this nifty little idea. Just a stripe, please! A little radical for me...but I appreciate the originality! (and I really like that funky yellow chaise thingy)



Now we're getting somewhere!

(Of course, leave it up to Martha to come through for me. She and I have a long-term love/hate thing going on....)

I love how just the closet is wallpapered. It's inviting and fresh... and close to what I want to do in Bug's room (but not so floral-y or Martha-y).


And, for the finale photo: look at this cutie-pie kid's paper! Can't you just picture it lining the walls of Bug's Big Boy closet?!




Now I just have to convince Hunk of my idea (and stay away from his leftovers... for awhile.)