Master Bedroom Bedding Continued...

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

This is kind of fun. {Inmod Design Studio} has a website where you can go in and design your own duvet cover. They have a lot of different fabrics in different colors to use as your base fabric, so it can be as luxurious or as cheap as you want, and then they have a few patterns you can choose from that they embroider onto the duvet cover in colors that you choose. It's pretty fun, and I think it's really well priced for being so custom!

These are their examples. They're pretty modern, but with different colors, or a different pattern, you can tone it down quite a bit, or spice it up...whatever. Pretty fun.

Kitchen Pick-Me-Up

Layla at {The Lettered Cottage} really enhanced the look of her kitchen by doing this one simple thing.
Her cabinets used to look like this - plain old cabinets. So, first she painted them black. But they were still pretty plain jane, right?
She decided to just build up the tops of them with boards and molding. Like so:

The end result is so awesome! It looks so great! And it wasn't a huge thing that she did. Just a little wood, and a little paint. I love it.
Speaking of loving it, I love open shelving in kitchens. Displaying everyday things is really charming. I really like these little baskets she has sitting on her shelves in there. She has little burlap chalkboard tags on them to label them as different catch-alls - something almost all of us need in our kitchens.
Well done!

Fabric Toys

I've been wanting to make some balls and cubes like these that I found at {Restoration Hardware Baby and Child}. The square looks easy enough, just some fabric squares sewn together into a cube, but the ball looks tricky. I didn't know exactly how to go about doing it. Well, The Purl Bee just added {photo galleries} to their blog, which I totally looked at - a lot of great ideas, by the way... And I came across this tutorial for making {fabric beach balls}. They are so cute! Exactly what I was looking for. They have templates you can download and everything. Thank you, Purl Bee!! I plan on putting some kind of jingle bell inside them so they make a sound when shaken. Now, if I can just figure out where to find that cute plush fabric, I'm set.


Ok, I just came across this {cube tutorial}, and I guess it's not as easy as it looks to make one. This is a really good tutorial, but I'd just change the size...Thanks Moda Bake Shop!

Word Book Continued...

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

{Maya Road} makes these chipboard books. There are two different sizes that they make. On their website, the 3"X3" is $3 and the 5"X5" is $3.50. A pretty good deal if you ask me. I checked on their website, and they sell their products at tons of stores near me, so hopefully it's the same deal there so I don't have to pay for shipping. It looks like they have plenty of pages, and says they are acid free...so they're picture safe. I think to make the book, I'll just print my pictures on paper and then decopauge them onto the book that way...but I'll probably talk to a scrapbook store associate to see what they suggest. To be continued...

Party Poufs

These would make such a cute decoration at any party, I think. I saw these on {Daisy Pink Cupcake}.
They look really easy to make, but just in case, here's a {tutorial} from Martha. They actually are easier to make than you would think...{Martha Stewart} tells us how - with tissue paper and pipe cleaners or wire. I love the scalloped edges to make them look prettier. Cute.

Design Consultations

I have always had a passion for both interior and exterior design. As a child, I used to draw floor plans of dream homes and furniture and proudly show them to my daddy who built homes! Playing house was more about setting up the house, the decorations, and the furniture than it was about actually playing... As I grew older, this passion grew as well. I didn't have a hard time deciding what I wanted to go to school for. I was thrilled to complete a bachelor's degree in Home and Family Living with an emphasis in Interior Design in April of 2008. I'm a stay at home mom right now, but I'd love to assist anyone who is interested in design expertise. I can easy assist you "virtually" by doing anything from answering simple questions, to revamping your entire space. Nothing excites me more than helping people improve the quality of their lives by improving the quality of their spaces. I always treat every design dilemma like it's my own and work hard to resolve all the issues, but I tailor the design to your taste and budget. If you'd like my assistance with a design-related issue, you can take a look at these different types of consultations I offer. My consultation prices are for one room/area only. Once I receive a notification of payment from Paypal, I'll contact you. I love this stuff, and I can't wait to work with you!! Please email me with any questions at brittanyvstaley@gmail.com.

1. Single Design Question - $5.00

This covers any question you may have that can be answered in about a paragraph. If you need advice on where to purchase something, how to hang something, which color to choose, how to use something, or just need an educated outside opinion on something, choose this option. Feel free to send me pictures if you feel the need. I'll answer your question within 1-2 days.

Examples:

What color should my paint, curtains, bedding, etc. be?
How I should I hang this (fill in the blank)?
What am I missing in this space?

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2. Written Consultation - $25.00

With this consultation, you will send me a couple of photographs of your design dilemma. I will type out a detailed description of what I would recommend. In my evaluation, I will include such things as color choices, resources, and the reasoning behind all of my suggestions. I'll get this back to you within a week after receiving your photos and questions.

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3. Photo Consultation - $40.00

This consultation is for those seeking full design inspiration. For this consultation, you will send me photos of your dilemma, as well as a written explanation of what you are struggling with and wish to accomplish in the space. This consultation includes the creation of a floor plan if needed for furniture arrangement, and "photo drawings" for you, using the photos you send me. My goal is to create a design direction for you to be inspired by, so that you will feel confident about the way your space has the potential to look and feel. I will provide a detailed description of my suggestions, including any recommendations on installations, materials, resources and color choices, as well as any other information I feel is necessary to help carry out the design the way I portray it in the drawing. This will be completed within 1-2 weeks of receiving your photos and questions.

To View Examples of Rooms I've done,

{Click Here}

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Testimonials

Brittany-Where do I even begin?! First, I told you before that after the living room didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped, my design self-esteem took a huge hit and I've been really afraid to do anything else. Your help gave me the biggest confidence boost I could ever have hoped for! The pictures you make and the floor plans you send are so incredibly helpful! I can't tell you how amazing it is to look at a picture of our room and be able to see how our design idea will actually look! It's incredible! It was SO wonderful to hear that I actually have done some good things and that I chose good paint colors. Also, I can't tell you enough how helpful it was for you to tell me not only WHAT were the issues, but WHY and HOW to fix them. I feel like I've been enlightened. :) Some of the things you brought up I already knew subconsciously were issues, I just didn't understand WHY. And I didn't know HOW to fix them. But hearing from you that my inner-designer was on the right track, that I did a lot of things well, that other things were almost there and just needed tweaking, and that it's not going to take a complete remodel to fix my living room gave me the biggest confidence boost ever. I can NEVER thank you enough for that!!! I am definitely printing off your email as a reference for when I decorate in the future. It is full of so much wonderful information and has already helped me understand so many of the little mistakes I made and how to correct them. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! I feel like I'm back in control of my home and that I'm not terrificly far from having the room of my dreams. You're amazing! I always hoped (but never quite believed) my house could be as beautiful as what I see in magazines. And I'm thrilled that you've provided me an easy step-by-step process for turning my rooms in the rooms of my dreams. Thank you, thank you!
-Jaclyn

Tutu

I love these for little girls! This one looks especially cute with the ribbons mixed in with the tulle. They are surprisingly easy to make. {Design Mom} shows us how.

Felt Cupcakes

Restoration Hardware Baby and Child sells these amazing little {cupcakes}. For $35 they come with this 6"x6" box to keep them in. I think they're adorable. I think I might try and make them someday...

Office

I really like this office space. It's really pretty, but still functional. Love how they hung these pictures, too. I think it looks really cute coming down from the shelves like that. The other thing I really like is that it's not just an office with desks and computer gear. It's a sitting area too. They have this couch on the other side of the room so people can come into the room and have a place to sit also. The only thing I might change would be to face the desks toward the couches...if possible. It's really nice, though.

via {Simply Grove}

Master Bedroom Bedding Continued...

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.

I really like this Master Bedroom designed by Candice Olson. Minus the dark brown. I like things a little bit lighter. If that were a cream, I'd think this room was perfect for me. I do LOVE the french blue accents, though, and I'd add more of those probably. The bedding she made for this room kind of reminds me of this bedding by Kas, sold at {Bed Bath & Beyond}. It's pretty expensive, but with a coupon...not TOO bad...still kind of bad, though. :) I noticed it's made with just stripes of fabric sewn together kind of like this {stripe quilt} idea I already posted about. Maybe I could just make one...and then I could make it a little lighter and add some blues... Last time I went to the home fabric store, I was disappointed to find out that none of the fabrics are big enough to make a duvet cover out of, but if I did this stripe idea on the top and then just backed it with a flat sheet, it could look pretty good. ...To the fabric store again to see which is cheaper: Bed Bath and Beyond or Home Made. To be continued again...

White Party

I always like a themed party, right down to the food.

This one from {Amy Atlas} looks especially lovely to me.

Very elegant.

I love the hydrangeas and how all the food is compartmentalized.

It would make a really pretty bridal shower. In fact, that's what it was!

Cute Bean Bags

I like this idea from {The Purl Bee}. These are really cute bean bags. Can you tell why?? They're jelly bean bags!! I mean, if you're going to make bean bags, they may as well be jelly bean bags, don't you think? This is her tutorial for how to make the {jelly bean bags}. And here is the tutorial for how to make the {drawstring bag}.

Quiet Book

So, I've been wanting to find a good pattern for a Quiet Book and I was searching online and found this awesome blog: {How to Make a Quiet Book}! This lady is taking us through a step by step process to making a quiet book with all these awesome pages. It's awesome and I'm totally becoming a follower.

One other site I found with instructions was {How to Make an LDS Quiet Book} from the Idea Door.
I really like their idea for the cover - how it just buttons shut.
Future Project!

Finished Nursery Letters

To see the origin of this post, click {here}.
Well, I've had these up on the wall for a long time, but our paint needs to be touched up, so I've been waiting to post this finished product. But, I don't know when I'm going to get around to it, and these pictures are pretty good, so here they are! To hang them on the wall, we found out that they sell those teeth (that are on the back of a lot of picture frames) in a package with 1/2 inch nails included. These worked perfectly, but our letters are 3/4 inch thick. If you got thinner letters, I don't know what you'd do. So, my husband put the teeth on the backs of all the letters. He first stuck a tack in where he wanted the nail to go and then nailed them on. He did this because I was so worried about those nails ruining the front of the letters. But they didn't. Some of them called for two teeth just so they'd hang level. And then he hung them on the wall. This was by far the hardest part of the whole project! He ended up drawing a line on the wall and then measured how far down the teeth were from the top of the letter. Then he put nails in the wall the same distance below the line so they'd all hang in a straight line. It would totally be easier to hang the letters at different levels, but for some reason I wanted them straight. Sorry hun! If I were to do it again, I'd trace the letters on a piece of paper, mark where the nails went, tape the paper to the wall, and nail through the paper. Then just take the paper off the wall. That would have been WAY easier!! But, we did it the hard way. And I think they look awesome. However, they do look a little bare on the wall all by themselves. I'm trying to decide if I should put a shelf below them with little boy things on it, or if I should hang pictures around it. Don't know what to do. But, I'm sure I'll come up with something! Next time I have a baby, I'm really going to try to get all this nursery stuff done ahead of time! It's way easier before they come...

Kids Artwork Display

I saw this idea on {Ohdeedoh}. I don't really like the look of kids artwork on display because, let's face it, it looks messy. Well, all you have to do aparently is frame it in a cute way. I love these animal cut-outs that show their fingerpainting art! The one in the middle is just a frame of a finger painting, but the ones next to it are mats (or why not just paper?) cut in the shape of animals and it makes that finger painting look awesome, doesn't it? I'd just hang these up in their rooms. It might be fun to do them in other shapes too, like sailboats or flowers or really anything. Then, you just switch out the artwork as they make it. Great idea!

Bracket Ideas

So, if you haven't already noticed, I'm an organized freak show. I love things that make anything more organized than it already is. This is such a great idea from Martha, again. {Here} is the article for this one. And {here} is the article for this one. Can you imagine a drawer so nice!?

Play Kitchens

I adore this playroom! I love it so much! It is so cute. I love the red retro kitchen. I would have loved this when I was a little girl! Potterybarn has such good things. But they are quite a pretty penny, aren't they? On the cheaper side, {The Land of Nod} has a shopping center and a white kitchen and {Target} has a pink retro kitchen But neither of them have that beautiful red one. I guess most kids wouldn't know the difference, though.

On an entire other note, Kirsten from {KirstenCan} made her kids a {play kitchen}. After giving her old one to a thrift store, her child asked when they were getting it back...uh oh. This is the result: It's really cute, huh...she did a great job.
And the great thing is she tells us all how she did it.

Here's another homemade one from {Ohdeedoh} It's pretty cute. And Dawn tells us how to make this one, too.

This one I found on {Daisy Pink Cupcake}. I wish I knew where it was from but I can't find it. Maybe you could make one to look like this. It's really cute. And the table and chairs are cute with it, huh.

And one more idea: This homemade kitchen looks awesome!