I chose the framed wall art because I was immediately inspired by it. 

The butterfly, turtle, and bird pieces spoke to me the most and seemed to be best placed in a nursery for a little girl.  I imagined painting the frames in two different shades of pink and then creating a completely glam and girly nursery with pinks, purples, greens, yellows, and whites.  I love how it turned out!

Calming Aloe paint from Benjamin Moore provides a neutral but slightly green backdrop for all the flower-inspired elements of the room.  A curvy crib with romantic lines is the perfect place to sleep with green houndstooth and pink polka dot fabrics to make it a little more fun.  Clothes and diaper changing happens on the beautiful purple dresser which is made even more romantic with a glamorous chandelier and colorful art that reads, “Breathe & smile.  It’s a brand new day!”  The sitting area in the room is designed around this beautiful floral rug.  A purple custom loveseat is the perfect place to rest and the tufted storage bench is great for putting feet up as well as for storing toys, like the bright sock monkey.  A classy mirror and ruffled curtains tie everything in for the ultimate girly and glam nursery, fit for a much-loved princess.

After making this inspiration board, I decided I want this room!  I’d take out the crib and add a queen sized bed and be ready to go.  I’d even keep the sock monkey!  Although I don’t think babies should grow up too fast because they are only young once, I see nothing wrong with decorating in a fun, more mature way!  There’s never anything wrong with a fun, feminine, and floral bedroom in my book!

So what do you think?  If any of you participated in this blog party, let me know – I’d love to check out your spin on these West Elm products.

To join the party or look at the other entries, head to Pewter and Sage for instructions and the party post itself!

I have been thinking a lot about how I am going to decorate my apartment next year when I am living on my own in a studio.  I really want something new and fresh, but I also want something that will last me a few years without me tiring of it.  I am also looking for something I can use in my room at my parent’s house if I ever want to switch things up a bit.  I love redesigning rooms, so I have found the key to my room designs has to center around the ease at which I can affordably change the room with just a few switcheroos.  For a bedroom, I have decided the best way to do this is to stick with very neutral bedding and a basic color scheme, maybe with one main color other than neutrals, and switching the room’s feel by buying a few sets of inexpensive sheets and changing them whenever I need something new.

I have designed a room to explain what I mean.

I went with a very neutral but still fancy bed with a tufted headboard, a white nightstand, a white comforter, a gray rug, a neutral striped bench, and some concave mirrors for above the dresser.  The only pops of color are the blue lamp, the blue dresser, and the art which has a few colors to draw upon.  This bedroom could easily be recreated DIY-style by making the headboard, finding a nightstand and dresser and painting them, buying inexpensive white bedding and a neutral rug as well as some kind of seating.

The fun of this room is the ability to mix it up with the sheets listed along the top of the image.  Each one makes the room look a little different.  The way this adds to the room is by letting the sheets show when making the bed by folding them over the comforter, or even folding the comforter down farther than normal and letting the sheets take center stage.

• Floral – A more feminine but still sophisticated look.
• Gray Stripes – A masculine look that is still a bit fun but very sophisticated.  It goes with the stripes on the bench.
• Damask – Very elegant but fun because of its blue color.
• Green Stripes – A summery, playful look with a cabana green and thick bold stripes.
• Dots – Some adults love polka dots, but this room could also be easily recreated into a more elegant children’s room with polka dot sheets as well.

Some other ways I thought of to mix this room up from time to time is by switching out the art.  The art I used is from Vintage Printable which is completely free, so changing the art is very easy because all you need to do is print it!  Also, I limited the amount of accessories in the room so that you could imagine a person taking different accessories from around the house to mix things up from time to time.  Adding some throw pillows and a blanket of different colors can also bring in more color, which I posted about a while back..  The possibilities are endless!

What do you do to mix things up in your bedroom decorating?  Or, perhaps you are not like me and you actually like your decorating months and years after “completing” a room?

I had a vision of the perfect Valentine’s Day over the weekend that would work for a romantic dinner for two, a plentiful meal for a large family, or even as a buffet-style dinner for a Valentine’s Day party.  Seeing as I’m a Minnesotan, I have had just about as much as I can take this winter, and the snow doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, in fact it just keeps on falling every day.  All the snow had me dreaming of a summertime picnic filled with bright, happy colors, and warm rays shooting down from the sky.  Unfortunately, unless I’m willing to have a picnic full of frostbite, this vision will not be able to become a reality for at least a few months, but I decided to create a Valentine’s Day tableau that involves bringing the outdoors in.

I started it all out with this quilt (which is over 50% off right now), but I imagine many people have a quilt or blanket of some type they could use to drape over the table.  I suppose you could even do it in the floor like a real picnic, but I’m imagining all of this on a table.  In the center of table, there would be a pretty flower arrangement in a birch vase to bring more of the outdoors in.  On either side of the flowers would be a globe glass vase with candy hearts inside. In the center of the table as well, or in front of each guest’s plate would be a 4×6 white frame with black and white heart photos (I used this one, this one, and this one) or black and white photos of your kids or you and your significant other.  The real showstopper would be a beautiful cake with lots of fruit to make it really feel like a picnic on a glass cake plate. 

The placemats used would be simple white ones as well as white Corelle plates.  I incorporated some blue with vintage teal salad plates and more pink with sweet heart cocktail plates to be used for the cake.  I kept the silverware simple while making the drinkware fun and colorful (also practical if kids will be using these, but you could easily switch these out for wine glasses).  Everything is complete with a simple white pitcher full of a fruity drink or some ice cold milk.

To me, this would be the perfect Valentine’s Day dinner setting.  I would probably have to keep my back turned to the window to really believe for one day that it is warm enough for a picnic, but I have a pretty vivid imagination.

What about you?  What would your perfect Valentine’s Day dinner look like?

Note: I moved the comments link to the bottom of the post because it is easier to find there. Look for it below the “share/save” button.

I started with this great solid wood buffet for $150.

In my imagination, I painted it Benjamin Moore’s Fuchsine.

Then I found this solid oak round pedestal table that can be extended into a long oval for $300 with a set of five chairs, which I did not include in the design plan.

This table would be painted Benjamin Moore’s Oxford White, or any other white that would look good with the rest of the items.

Here is the complete board:

To the buffet, I decided to add depression pink square glass knobs to make it even more feminine and glamorous. 

The artwork for the room is a free vintage print from Vintage Printable which brings in the blue that I wanted to add as well as being really unique, gorgeous, and my favorite part – free!  I brought more blue in with this insanely gorgeous blue rectangular rug which I think goes really great with the fuchsia of the buffet.

Above the table would hang a gorgeous yet affordable crystal chandelier, and around the table you would find some light blue/gray parsons chairs to add more glitz.

To keep things simple, the only other element I added was an ornately carved mirror to bounce light around.

I would gladly add all of the elements to a dining room of my own, but I know any man I know would steer clear from this place.  I think it’s a bit too bad that I love such feminine decor because my boyfriend, San, stays ten feet away from anything that even slightly resembles a curve or anything with even a speck of a jewel tone.  I’ve got plenty of time to talk him out of that, though. I’m hoping to do an inspiration board in the future blending his and my styles to see what will happen and if it can actually be done.  We’ll see.

In the meantime, what do you think of this room?  Do you like the color combination or does it make you turn the other way?  Does your style lean more towards the feminine or masculine side of the spectrum, or do you fall right in the middle?

I tried to stick with fairly inexpensive items, but I figure if I had a house and decorations, I would already have many black, white, silver, and blue decorations so I would be able to pull something like this together fairly easily.  I am imagining this all on a beautiful long dark-stained wood table.  Here is the breakdown of everything I chose:

1)  Black Chargers – These would be used under the plates on the sides of the table, but not at the heads of the table.  These are very simple except for their curved edge which makes them a little more glamorous and fancy.

2) White Plates – Keeping it simple with plain white plates for all dinnerware.  Many people have these on hand already.

3) Icy Blue Chargers – These special blue chargers would be used only at the head of the table.  These don’t scream Christmas, so they could be reused for New Year’s, birthdays, and any other special meal.  Someone could even use these as a tray on a coffee table to hold remotes or as an accessory in everyday decorating.

4) White Placemats – I want the table to be exposed, so instead of a tablecloth, I went with placemats and a runner.  I figure white placemats would do the trick and would be easily reusable throughout the year.

5) Blue Napkin Holder – A blue napkin holder fastened around plain white napkins would be the only thing on top of the plates.  I like simple tablescapes, especially when there will be lots of food because people don’t have to struggle moving decorations around.

6) Lace Table Runner – For a little more fancy decor, I chose a lacy table runner with some black and tan to add a more natural element as well as some more curves to match the chargers.

7) Slightly Detailed Flatware – I wanted silverware with a little detail but not too much.  These were perfect.  Of course,any simple silver flatware would have worked that a person had on hand.

8) Placecard Holders – If this dinner was for a party, these shiny placecard holders would fit perfectly.  They could be used to hold pictures or Christmas cards when not being used for a dinner.

9) Black Candles – A series of black candles along the table would pull in more black and add drama.

10) Small Mirrored Frame – These would go under the black candles to reflect the fire burning.  These are normal picture frames and could be reused as such or under candles once the dinner is over.

11) Silver Ornaments – I would use the ornaments in the middle of the table to add more reflection of light and to make the table seem more fitting for a Christmas dinner.

12) Turquoise Votive Candle Holders – Between the black candles with the mirror underneath, I would place these votive holders, so there would be many candles lit and a very low and simple centerpiece so guests could see and talk to one another easily.  I love candles at Christmas time, so the more, the better.

13) Wine Glasses – I would keep all stem and glassware very simple like these glasses without any embellishment.

14) Blue Carafe – For water, I went with this gorgeous blue carafe because it fit everything perfectly and could easily be reused throughout the year at dinners and parties or even as a vase.

There you have it!  I can’t get enough of this one.  I love that everything could easily be reused and many of the elements could be replaced with something a person already has on hand.  It’s glamorous, but simple and puts a minimalist take on a Christmas tableau without having too many clean lines.  What does your party table look like at this time of the year?  How do you incorporate everyday items into your holiday decorations each year?