Bogus

Alright I have to do a design star post. Now I like Antonio, I think he seems like a cool dude, he's handy, and he designed some cool spaces this season. But I think it is completely bogus that he won. I think both Dan and Lonni's designs in the last two weeks were far better than Antonio's. I think Antonio won solely because he's very different than anyone else on HGTV, which I get, but if the winner isn't really going to be based on design then they cannot call it design star. Lonni's designs tended to remind me of Candice Olsen and Dan himself reminded me of David Bromstad, this, I believe was their downfalls.

Lets start with two weeks ago.

Lonni's Bedroom:

Antonio's Office

Dan's Nursery

I'm sorry but Antonio's room really fell short for me. He definitely had some cool elements (the clocks, the map), but overall it just didn't have that jaw dropping effect. Lonni's bedroom on the other hand I thought was absolutely beautiful. I love the patterned wall and the seating area looks extremely comfy. I would be on cloud nine if my bedroom looked like that. Dan scared me for a little bit - themes in rooms scare me. But he really pulled it off (atleast I think so), the boats hanging from the ceiling were kick *ss. So nonetheless when they sent Lonni home, I was peeved to say the least.

On to last nights episode. Dan and Antonio made over whole homes.

Antonio's Home

Dan's Home

I'll admit I was not really smitten with Dan's redo of the daughters bedroom (last picture). But I think all the other rooms in that home rocked. I really loved the counters he chose for the ktichen. Loved the mirrored doors that hide the tv over the fireplace. And I must give Antonio lots of credit for his living room. Cutting that cabinet in half and framing the fireplace with it was awesome, and the overall room is very rustic eclectic looking and I like it. But the rest of his house did not do a whole lot for me. And it would have been a very good possibly that if I walked into my bedroom and the walls were that green color there would have been tears (and not of joy). So to say the least I was very bummed when they named Antonio the winner.

Rant over. I will now get back to my daily HGTV marathon.

I should also apologize, I feel like these last two posts have been real negative nancy's. I'll stop. I swear.

This is how I feel today...

(Images from Jupiter Images, Mitchell Dyer Photo & guffjournal.blogspot.com)

This morning started off badly. Last night was my last day at work with one of the best friends I have made there. She is moving on to bigger and better things, I am happy for her but sad I won't be seeing her as often. So when we walked out of work together this morning I was already slightly down in the dumps. I came home and slept for a little while and then left to go pick up these babies:

You would think this would make me happy. But on my way I had to pick up my husband from work (these nightstands - that I will be using as end tables) were not located in the best of areas so he agreed to go with me during his lunch. There have been numerous unsuccessful attempts at picking these up already and today was finally the big day. Well of course, my luck, that during the 4 hours I was away from the loop they managed to close down many streets that I needed to take to pick him up in prep for lollapalooza. I ended up hysterically screaming at him on the phone and in the car - the high pitched kind of screaming that I don't think even my dog could hear. I'm also pretty certain I used the phrase 'I hate my life' while crying with tears rolling down my face. Seriously, what is wrong with me. Well we got the nighstands, I returned him safely to work, and returned myself safely to my home.

When I returned home I decided it would be a great idea to return the call to the delivery company that is supposed to be delivering our dining table next week. I am so excited to finally have a table again (I'll touch on the 'again' part of that sentence in another post) and could not wait to set up the delivery. Bad idea. Apparently this particular delivery company requires that you give them a 2 DAY WINDOW for the delivery of your item. I thought this was absolutely ridiculous, we have had many items delivered since we moved and not once has anybody requested a 2 day window.

The big problem is that we are leaving for vacation next week and we are leaving on tuesday night and they are requiring we be here tuesday and wednesday because they don't know what day their driver will arrive. If we cannot tell them we will be here Tuesday and Wednesday then they will not be able to deliver the table for another two weeks. And if we tell them we will be here those two days and they don't get here until wednesday our table will go back to where it came from and we will be charged a redelivery charge. A lot of yelling ensued on my behalf after this (I really usually try to be polite to customer service people but today I could not keep my cool). After about 5 minutes of useless arguing I hung up the woman. I got absolutely nowhere and I will have to trying calling Horchow tomorrow morning. I then continued onto check some of my daily's on my google reader and found myself crying at very unnecessary things.

So maybe it is the fact that I only slept for 3 hours after 12 hours of work last night. Or maybe it is just one of those days. Either way, I'm settling in for the night with this.

And this.

(Update- I started this post two days ago, saved it and forgot to publish it. Since then my sister has kindly agreed to come over on Wednesday and wait for our table if need be. I called the delivery company back to inform them of this and this is part of our conversation:

Delivery Company Lady: "Well as I started explaining to you yesterday before you hung up on me..."

Me: Mouth open wide, "uh huh". Part of me laughing - part of me wanting to throw my phone and that woman threw my windshield.

Nonetheless we should have a dining table, finally, next week. All is good)

Lou Lou Ghost Chair Giveaway!

When I saw this giveaway over at Mrs. Limestone's blog I had to do a post on it to increase my chances of winning this itty bitty ghost chair! I don't have an itty bitty one of my own (not yet at least). But it will be an awesome piece to have in advance for my future little one's dream nursery. Here are some great images of the Lou Lou Ghost Chair in action.

(Images from pointclickhome, projectnursery, and moderndesignblog)

Then there is this image which I absolutely love from Terri Smith Photo.

This photo is reason enough to need this chair!

How did I miss this?!

Alright, so lately I have been very swamped (work, family, friends, weddings, life, etc.). I've been slacking (clearly on my own blog) but also on keeping up with some of my favorites. I haven't felt very well over the past couple days but today I was atleast feeling well enough to pick up the computer and try to catch up. That is when I found this and this over at Pink Wallpaper.

The author came up with - what I believe to be a brilliant idea - 'Featured Fabric'. Each week she will post a fabric that you can buy from her at a discounted price. I will surely be checking back weekly and am so sad I missed the first two installments. I will not let it happen again.

I need fabric for numerous things which I don't really own yet but hope to someday. We need a tufted ottoman for our living room, some footstools for our entryway, a chair for our office/guest room, drapes for our living room, and something to reupholster my favorite living room chair with.

I have been eyeing KWID's imperial trellis for some time for at least one of these projects. I would have to go with the java and cream combo. But here are some of my favorite images in other shades:

(first two images, Summer Thornton's home via Apartment Therapy)

(Brown Design)

(Brown Design)

(Style Court)

(Decorpad)

But I must say I loved the Windsor Smith fabrics posted on Pink Wallpaper as part of her feature. I especially loved this one:

There is just something about Gray and Brown that gets me every time!

Hello Mrs. Limestone

Brooklyn Limestone is the blog that really introduced me to the whole wide world of interior design/renovation blogs. Mrs. Limestone has extremely wonderful taste and it is so fun to tune in everyday to see what project in what room she is working on. As much as I love the things she does in her home I think my favorite posts of hers are the ones that include the invites she designs/makes. Today's post was no exception. Take a look at these.

I'm pretty certain that this is an invitation my husband would get just as excited as me about.

Here is some more of her work from older posts:

I think the last ones are my favorites.

Here is the website for her design stuff: http://www.sonicstefdesign.com/index.html

Just awesome.

Daybed Envy

I have been on the hunt for the perfect daybed for our 2nd bedroom/office for months now.  There are some options I've been debating, like this one from west elm in white, or this onefrom ballard designs.  Both of these are good options but they come no where close to the awesomeness or beauty of these:

Palmer Weiss

Amanda Nisbet

Eileen Kathryn Boyd

Mary McDonald

Decorpad

Domino

We did purchase a daybed for our living room that I love. Unfortunately I just don't think it will be big enough for us to use as a guest bed in our second bedroom.  I will post pictures when it is finally in our home and hopefully some readers can help me decide where to put it.

Max Azria's Home

Ok, I know that this home has been posted on a few blogs already but I can't help myself but post it here as well. I love the use of metallics and bright pops of color throughout the house. It's really very amazing. Plus I am pretty positive that I have found my new living room inspiration!

I absolutely love the pale gray walls, the classic pieces - sofa, ottoman, coffee table - All mixed in with bright orange, deep brown, and pops of silver and bronze. To me this is the perfect mix of traditional and modern- love it! I have been scouring over how to mix gray and brown with bright colors and I think this room has nailed it. Now I just hope I can do something similar in my own living room.

I wish I had a spare room in my home to decorate in this black, yellow, and white. Gorgeous!

I've always wanted a library with floor to ceiling shelves that require a ladder to reach the highest books.

I'm very jealous.

I have no idea what is going on here with this tree trunk/waterfall but it looks cool.

Amazing ceiling.

I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I did. What a beautiful couple and a beautiful home.

All images courtesy of Harper's Bazaar.