our home...reality vs blog photos

I thought I'd share this funny incident that took place in our home yesterday morning.

In case you didn't realize the reality of life with a diy blogger isn't always as polished as it

 appears in the pretty blog pictures!

Mr. Simple was sitting at the computer quickly scrolling through reading my blog

 post with the pictures of the fresh, current radiant orchid look, remember?

I hear him say, "That's our living room?"

This was the scene pre-blog photo, I had taken everything out of the coat closet for

 painting and piled it in the living room. While Mr. Simple was engrossed in the football

game a few feet away I moved it all out of the way and staged the pretty photo for my

 blog post AND moved it all back! 

Look close, you'll notice the similarities? :)

When he turned around to check out our stylish, clean living room he was met

 with the more recognizable mountain of clutter!

Good motivation for finishing the closet, wouldn't you say?  

i jumped on the radiant orchid trend...

Hey everyone, hope you had a wonderful weekend. It was a great one for all of us
Denver Bronco fans. : ) I made progress on adding some pizazz to my closet and finally
 decided on stripes which means I'm crazy, it's a coat closet it's a tad more time consuming.
So I changed gears and thought I'd share how I've embraced the radiant orchid trend by
incorporating a beautiful unexpected find at Home Depot, a diy, and my favorite black and
 white Ikea pillows in our living room.

This ikat fabric has been one of my favorites forever, I'd ordered a sample from
Calico several months ago and was hoping it would work with my bedroom makeover,
 but no luck. After seeing a pillow made up with pom-pom trim I knew
I could create one using my sample as the front and a different fabric on the reverse
side, I used burlap. The sample was $8 and trim $4 at Joanns. Although it isn't quite
orchid, it worked well with my other two that are. They were from World Market, I added
 the Greek Key trim and had used them in the One Room Challenge Bedroom Reveal,
  a lucky coincidence they're orchid!

I lined my acrylic tray with a magetic anomoly map that I had used for wrapping paper.

The other day I was walking through Home Depot and noticed these gorgeous plants
displayed in a center aisle and ON SALE for $10!! A lot of bang for the buck, it is over
30" tall, and can be grown indoors or out. A happy surprise and perfect compliment to
the orchid.

Hawaiian Ti Maria care instructions here. 

I wasn't sure if I was a fan of Pantone's new color of the year, Raidant Orchid,

but I'm loving the fresh, current look in these small doses and the great Home Depot

 find that helped pull it together.

Are you on board or on the fence?    

Stop by Sarah's Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick

Check out the inspiration with Mandi at Rock What Ya Got! 

Joining the Special Mega Inspiration Party here

Cassie and her friends are hosting the Be Bold Challenge

my weekend diy...

Happy Friday everyone! 

I'd planned to knock out two easy diy projects this weekend, and then while I was

 organizing our coat closet I remembered this project that has been on my list forever:

Give the inside of the closet a dose of whimsy with a fun paint color...

sarah richardson 

Painting will be the easy part - choosing a color is sure to be a challenge!    

Lilly Pulitzer Store - Lilly's Notebook

Have a happy weekend friends!! 

Stop by on Monday to check out which diy I ended up commiting to. :)

deal alert...

I remember posting about these pillows last year, and they were gone in a flash

 at this crazy price! 

Once again Costco has an amazing deal on these quality

Indoor/Outdoor Decorative Pillows

20" x 20"

$15.99  for a 2-Pack

Weather and UV Fade Resistant

I loved mine on our deck last year and they held up beautifully in the Colorado sun,

 wind and snow, the squirrels were the death of them...grrrr!

Here is the new collection of bold patterns and colors out this year.

I'm thinking the happy yellow would be a nice punch of color paired with my

 black and white stripes! 

2014 to do list...

Hi everyone, thank you for hanging in here with me and my irregular, hit-or-miss blog
 posts over the holidays. We got in one last ski day yesterday and as of today
school is back in session, and life is back on track - woo hoo!!!
Our kiddos were scheduled off for 19 1/2 days, that's crazy, two weeks would be perfect!

Here are a few things I have planned for the first part of the year, I'm
 hoping breaking it down into smaller chunks will help with my focusing issues. Ha!

Kitchen Update

This was on my list last year and never made it to the top, but a few updates
to give it a more modern feel, our remodel was seven years ago and it just needs a refresh!
This will be first...

  

Make new Bar Stool Slipcovers

I made mine two years ago and am so over the fabric. A tutorial is way overdue, it was one
 of my first diys and when I tried to put it together realized how many steps I'd left out.
I haven't found the perfect fabric yet, but something with a little pizazz ...

Entry
Paint, a fun ceiling treatment and diy flush mount light.
I found this inspiration on Pinterest and to my surprise it turned out to be that of
Erin @ Design Crisis, she was in the One Room Challenge with the amazing
turquoise dining room. I'm a tad behind the times, she did this in 2009!

Erin @ Design Crisis

Living Room Gallery Wall
Do you remember the collection of frames I found at Goodwill months ago?
They've been on my wall - empty for almost two months!
I'm still debating (story of my life) between a black and white collection

bhg.com

or something fun and colorful like this collection Jennifer @ The Pink Pagoda posted.

Upholstered Bench

So, in my Christmas Tour behind the bar cart was one of my favorite Ikea pieces I hadn't told
 you about yet, the Songe mirror! :) I love the bar cart for entertaining during the holidays but
 it's not practical for us the rest of the year, an upholstered bench where we can drop
our bags and backpacks is, and a large bold pattern is on my radar.

A June Wedding
If any of you noticed a few wedding pins you may have wondered what was up, my
 nephew is getting married in June and I'm excited to be helping with the decor, of course
 we'll be going for stylish and inexpensive!

Landscaping - The Boxwood Project

We added a lot of boxwoods to the landscape last spring and this winter
replanted some of those that were in pots on our deck to give us a look similar to the
photo below. We still have a ways to go to get this classic look I'm going for.

Black Paint
I'm smitten with black paint, and not yet sure where it will end up but these ideas on my
Black Paint Pinterest Board have me itching to do something, so it's only a matter of time!!

Clients
I'm so fortunate to have a line up of wonderful clients that patiently waited until the new year
to start on some projects, and also a few that waited until after the holidays to complete rooms
 we had in the works ~ I can't wait to show you the fun before and afters.
 Fingers crossed a couple within the next 2-3 weeks.

I have a huge list of simple diys I'm anxious to share with you,
 one on the schedule for next week in fact!