Tag Archives: home decor

nursery inspiration

12 Jan

I am in full swing nursery mode over here. I love home decor and design in general so the project of working on baby Glodney’s room is an insanely fun one for me. I bet every parent enjoys building the baby’s nursery though. It makes their impending arrival feel even more real. The room we are turning into his nursery is currently our office- we will be leaving our desk behind though so baby G will have to learn how to share until we move to a larger home one day. Even though we call it our “office” the space has never felt finished and it’s purpose has always been ambiguous. I never actually work in there! Let’s just say…it has needed some loving for quite some time. As I mentioned in a previous post we spent most of our holiday break cleaning it out.

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Looks like a terribly fun holiday project, huh? We made a big dent but there is still some work to be done. I’m hoping to get the last of it cleared out before the painter comes this Saturday. I’ve settled on light grey walls for the baby’s room. If you know me then this color choice will not come as a surprise. Grey is most definitely my favorite color. It goes with everything! I love the way it looks with white and I love the way it looks with bright pops of color- both of which I plan to incorporate into his room. I also love ethnic rugs and baby animal heads. Let’s hope the animal heads don’t scare the shit out of the little guy. Here are some of my inspiration photos…

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The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

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View More: http://kristinsarna.pass.us/esti-nursery

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The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

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The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose

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bedroom accent wall

28 Aug

 

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Painting a wall a dark shade of grey in our bedroom has been a project in the works for a while now…I’ve personally been brewing on it for almost a year. But as I mentioned in a previous post, Brian needs a little coaxing into anything to do with change- something very difficult for an impulsive person like me to understand. If I had my way that wall would have been painted a year ago- actually, probably the very day I had the brilliant idea. It also probably would have looked like crap because impulsive people like me tend to take less time and care painting walls in their home. But because marriage is all about compromise…I introduce to you…our new perfectly painted accent wall!

Originally, I wanted every single wall in our house to be painted a light shade of grey. But luckily (because my husband isn’t impulsive) I’ve had time to think about it (as well as many many many hours to pin various colors on pinterest) and ended up changing my mind. My new plan involves many different shades of grey throughout the house and one moody, dark and sexy accent wall in our bedroom. Considering, I am obsessed with the color grey (I’m guessing that is clear by now?) I knew the accent wall had to  mostly “read” grey but I also wanted it to have hints of blue & green.

After many months of persuading, I was finally able to get Brian to agree to paint the wall. To tell you truth, I think he was just tired of hearing me talk about it.

Last weekend Frank, Brian and I paid a visit to our local paint store in search of the perfect color for our accent wall.

At least Frankie looked excited.

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Once we got home with the paint it was decided that Brian would paint the edges and I would paint the center with the roller. He’s better at the details.

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After the wall was finished I literally watched paint dry. I was a woman obsessed.

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Isn’t it strange how different the color looks in every photo?? It is such an interesting color. It’s grey in one light…blue in another…and sometimes it’s green! I’m pretty darn happy with it and I love the way pops of color look against it.

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the paint color is rocky coast by benjamin moore

 

 

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fridayyyyy

19 Jun

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{my little buddy with his little buddy hanging with me as I put my makeup on this morning}

What are you guys up to this weekend? Our weekend is shaping up to be a nice one. Tonight we will most likely stay in with Thai food and netflix- we are such creatures of habit. On Saturday morning I want to make a visit to the paint store to pick out a new color for the wall behind our bed. I’ve been inspired to paint it a dark green or blue color- idea 1 , 2 & 3. It’s a floating wall and almost exactly the length of our bed so I imagine it will look like a giant headboard amongst all the white walls in our room. Does that make sense? It does in my head. Saturday afternoon we are going to a dodger game with a big group of Brian’s family to celebrate a 90th birthday. I can’t remember the last time I went to a baseball game. I’m not a huge baseball fan but I am a fan of dodger dogs and spending a summer afternoon outdoors with family. Sunday morning I’m sending Brian off to get a massage (his father’s day gift from Frank) while I tackle a dessert recipe for the father’s day bbq we are having for our two dads that afternoon.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend and happy fathers day to all the pops out there!

 things that have been making me happy recently…

a massage I got this week that put every other massage that I have ever had to shame. SHAME!

this weeks project 30 q&a– I loooooved Liz’s words. Did you read it?? You must! She’s such an inspiring soul

these guided meditations– I’ve taken to doing the three-minute body scan every morning

red/orange nails and toes

an afternoon movie date with my little brother. It’s hard to pin him down (he’s a very busy 20-year-old so when I do it’s quite an accomplishment

buying some new books

work…I’ve been loving my clients recently

watching orange is the new black

pink peonies (they will probably be on my happy list every week until I can’t buy them anymore)

the podcast mortified…so funny

white chocolate peanut butter cups

having Taline and Liam over for dinner

a long hike in temescal canyon with my girlfriend Devon. I haven’t done that trail in ages- so pretty!

this quote…“You will always be too much of something for someone; too big, too loud, too soft, too edgy. If you round out your edges, you lose your edge. Apologize for mistakes. Apologize for unintentionally hurting someone–profusely. But don’t apologize for being who you are.”– Danielle Laporte

my husband…always my husband

this Tracy McMillan ted talk about marrying yourself…

What’s been making you guys happy recently???

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home decor – patio

30 Mar

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Considering it is officially spring, our patio space has once again become my focus. Let the outdoor living begin! Our loft was designed to be an indoor / outdoor space. It’s one of my favorite things about our home. When we bought the place the previous owners were nice enough to leave behind an outdoor couch, coffee table and a slew of planters- which was amazing because we had zero outdoor furniture when we moved in.The only problem…none of it is really our style. Our loft is very modern and all of it is rather traditional looking. Because of this I have been wanting to give the patio a makeover. The only things we have added over the last two years…a few bright green planters (which Brian has begun planting his dream garden in), a grill, an umbrella & Franks “special” patch of grass.

Current patio space…

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My new vision for the patio…

modern furniture with bright pops of color!! Oh and a designated garden area for my love.

Here are my inspiration photos…

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home decor – current entry / kitchen / dining room

2 Feb

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When you live in a loft space the functions of a room tend to blend together- say hello to our entry way, kitchen & dining room. It happens to be one of my favorite spaces in the house. I know, I know…but I don’t really cook? Doesn’t matter…it’s still one of my favorite rooms. It inspires me to want to cook!

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The only bummer about our kitchen space was that it came with very little dining space. Make that no real place to put a dining table. A bit of a bummer for somebody like me who loves to entertain. So, one of the early changes we made to the kitchen was replacing the tiny marble island counter top with a much larger wood top that we had built. While wood can be a bit harder to maintain we decided it was the right choice because we wanted to warm up the space. It can feel a bit sterile with all the stainless steel. The bigger island can now accommodate up to eight stools around it, converting it to a functioning dining table. The only problem is…we still haven’t bought the eight counter stools. Baby steps, right? I do have my eyes on these puppies though from a company my friend, Eric works for- I pretty much want all of their pieces. I think that would be the last thing on my list of things to-do for the kitchen space- buy stools. That takes us to the nook that was I guess was designated for a dining table- I only know this because the previous owners had an overhead light hung above it. If it wasn’t for this, you would think it was a walkway. It’s tiny. We currently have a credenza there that holds china. It happens to be the piece of furniture that Brian bought (without consulting me) while I was away at my bachelorette. Lucky (for him) I like it. Scratch that…I love it. It fits perfectly into the space. On top of it sits a lot of my favorite things from our trip to Nepal…a singing bowl (yes, we take it out nightly…only kidding), a photo Brian took of a local woman harvesting rice, a stone head & two sets of bells…one meant to be placed around the neck of a water buffalo and one meant to be placed on a door. Oh, and one of my favorite photographs from our wedding day. The only change I still want to make to this space is painting the walls.

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Lastly, we have our entry space. Which is in need of some paint on the walls as well. I’m thinking grey! Oh, and some cord removal. I hate seeing those things dangling down.

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home decor – current bedroom

3 Sep

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Despite there still being a list of things I want to do to our bedroom, I really do love the space. It’s so bright and cheerful! I have a huge crush on the floor to ceiling windows- I fell in love with them the minute we walked into our loft. Don’t worry we have black out shades that come down when we sleep but the minute I wake up in the morning those shades go up. Not pictured…the sliding glass wall that opens up out onto our patio, making the bedroom an indoor/outdoor space- which is amazing during the summer months. I also love the simplicity of the room. I’m not a fan of clutter or televisions in bedrooms. Haven’t you ever heard that a happy marriage relies on not having a tv in the bedroom? HA.

With all that said there are a few things I do want to do to our bedroom…

– Paint the walls light grey. Honestly I want to paint every room light grey. To me home decor heaven is grey walls + clean lines + white + ethnic rugs + pops of colors.

– We need a beautiful piece of art above our bed. As I mentioned in another post the talented and generous photographer, Jennifer Harr sent us a landscape photograph of The Painted Hills in Oregon that I’m thinking might be perfect over our bed.

– as you can see from one of the photos above Brian has a headlamp next to his side of the bed. Sadly, this is what he has to use to read at night if I want to go to bed considering the only lighting in the bedroom is the track lighting above. The wall our bed is against isn’t large enough for two end tables and a bed. Poor Brian is camping in our bedroom! Pretty ridiculous, huh? I’m thinking we need to have two fabulous wall lamps installed on each side of the bed to remedy the situation. I will miss how cute Brian looks half-naked in a headlamp though.

– lastly, I think the space needs a bright colored ethnic rug (no surprise, right?!)

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home decor – current office space

27 Aug

One of my goals this year is to finish decorating our loft. We bought and moved into our place shortly after getting engaged, which was the start to a truly crazy year. Planning our wedding definitely took center stage as well as got first dibs on any extra funds. Weddings have a way sucking all the energy out of other parts of your life. We have done a few things since moving in…we bought a new sectional couch for the living room, a new bookcase for the office, Brian bought three pieces of vintage furniture while I was away on my bachelorette (thankfully, I liked them. Well, the vintage theatre chairs are still growing on me) & we replaced the small marble slab on the kitchen island with a custom-built much larger wood top to accommodate more people.

Other than that we’ve done very little- we haven’t even painted the walls or hung all our art yet! It’s time to give our home a little love. Each week I will show you the current state of each room in our house, as well as inspiration photos for what I want for the space. Our home is not terribly large so the “unveiling” will move rather quick. I thought I’d start with our office space because it makes me the most crazy. It has become the room where all the crap we don’t know what to do with ends up. Doesn’t everybody have one of these rooms? In preparation for taking photos of the office for this post I was about to clean & organize (kinda like everyone does before their housekeeper comes to clean) in fear of judgement. But then I realized I would be giving a very inaccurate view of our office space. So I decided to shoot it (Brian obviously shot these photos:) just the way it is.

my current work space…

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Brian (and Franks- HA!) current work space…

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bookshelf wall…

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overview…

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Things we want to do…

  •  Get rid of the couch…although I really do love certain things about it…especially the color! It has also become Franks daybed (you can pretty much guarantee you will find him cuddled up there when you get home) I’m not sure who’s going to miss it more when it goes. But we need to say goodbye to it to create more space for the desk we plan to build.
  •  Speaking of the desk we want to build…we want one long industrial looking wood/iron desk that takes up the whole wall and will serve as both of our desks. We go back on forth about what we want to have above the desk…a huge corkboard wall (could be fun, right?) Art? Shelving for storage? Any other ideas?
  •  Once my work space is moved to the large wall we will have a built-in cabinet left and half a blank wall. We go back and forth about what to do with this space. One day we hope it houses a crib (yes our future 1st child will have to share a room with an office. Problems with loft living! Luckily, not forever!) but until then what? Maybe move the bookshelf there? Maybe a fun colored reading chair?
  •  Regarding the bookshelf wall I think the bookshelf just needs to be organized better. I am convinced that we could probably donate half the books and still live a fulfilled existence. I think I might organize the remaining books by color. I always thought that that method made the shelf look like a piece of art.
  •  I’m not quite sure what to say about the wall under the large window. It’s rather offensive to the eyes, eh? Clearly, needs to be streamlined. But where will I put the vision boards!! HA.
  •  I also think the room needs a fabulous ethnic bright-colored rug. I’m pretty obsessed with ethnic rugs and think every room needs one.
  •  Lastly, I want to paint the room Boulder Grey by Ralph Lauren, a color which I’ve used before and simply love. It’s the perfect grey.

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365 til 33

30 Jul

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If you’ve been following along with my blog since the beginning then you know that I come up with a list of goals to tackle each year. The first year,  365 til 30 my goals included driving across the USA, learning French, learning how to tango, going camping, spending a week at Tassajara, Learning how to cook, volunteering, getting a French bulldog & publishing my writing. I was pretty damn successful that year in accomplishing my goals. To the point of obsession actually. Accomplishing those goals before turning 30 was all I could think about for 365 days. Brian was very happy when that year was over. HA. Over the last few years I have continued to create a list of goals…doing so helps me focus on the things I want from my life…a framework if you will.

365 til…33!

Travel

Every year you can pretty much guarantee that one of my goals will be travel related. I am a travel nut! Seriously, why can’t I just travel the world and get paid for it? (Is anybody listening? I’m totally available if you want to pay me to travel) During 365 til 30 my travel goal was to drive across the country (check!)…during 365 til 31 my travel goal was an overseas trip (Brian and I went to Hong Kong and trekked Nepal!)…365 til 32 my travel goal was again an overseas trip but this time for our honeymoon (we took a month off and went to Vietnam and Bali) This year my travel goal is much simpler, all I want to do is take a road trip with Brian. I love road trippin’ with that man. Actually, it was on our first road trip together that I knew I loved him. We were only a month into dating when I asked him if he wanted to take a road trip to Santa Fe with me to visit my friend Chantal. He must have thought I was crazy. Who would want to sign up for that many hours in a car with a person you’ve only been dating a month? The answer to that question is ME! And him I guess Brian as well because he said yes. Luckily, it was a total success. This year I’m thinking a road trip from LA to Seattle. My ideal stops along the way would be….Big Sur, San Francisco, Ashland, Eugene, Portland, Olympia & Seattle.

Learn

This year I am dying to learn more about photography. For a girl who appreciates a beautiful photograph, it is a crying shame I can’t shoot one as well as I’d like to. Especially when it comes to this blog, I would love to post higher quality photographs. Well, I guess I do sometimes but sadly they are not shot by me and instead by my photographer husband. With that said, I will be signing my ass up for a photography class as well as making Brian teach me all his tricks. He even has an extra Canon Rebel camera waiting for me. Winning!

Writing

You can also pretty much guarantee that one of my goals each year will also have to do with writing. This year it is travel related. I want to publish my various travel (road trip, Hong Kong, Nepal, Vietnam & Bali) essays. Wish me luck!

Health 

I want to go vegetarian for a month. Ever since my gallbladder surgery a few months ago I have had the hardest time with my digestion. It’s been driving me crazy! I’ve decided that meat might be the culprit. This coming from an Irish gal who loves a good steak. Sigh. I thought what better time to test out vegetarianism then now! Oy…I’m scared. Any vegetarians out there want to offer some advice?

Home

Decorating our new home has been on hold for a bit now…between shelling out money for our wedding and honeymoon we have been neglecting our home. The space totally deserves more! I plan on decorating with the help of pinterest and my very talented interior designer mother. So here we go…one room at a time.

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the mirror

20 Jan

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So, you know how I mentioned that Brian and I would be tackling a few home projects this weekend? Our biggest task being sanding a mirror down so we could repaint it a bright coral and transform our entry way. Transform it, people! Well, it didn’t really go according to plan. Actually, I would say our home looks worse from this weekends activities rather than better.

After spending Saturday morning at Home Depot (I hate that place in general, but on a Saturday..kill me) we returned home with sanding equipment, new hanging hardware, tape, paint & paint brushes. We were ready to tackle the mirror project! Considering, I have never sanded anything before I was unaware of how difficult it was and quickly learned I was going to have to put some serious muscle in to it. I also learned that this project was going to take much longer than I originally anticipated and that gloves would be required (I hate the feeling of dry dust). Once suited up with yellow kitchen gloves, I joined Brian to sand.

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Sigh…I truly hated sanding. Every five minutes (alright two) I would huff and puff and complain to Brian about how much my arm hurt. He lovingly responded a few times, but then began to tune me out. Leaving me with no other option than to make up random excuses about why I had to go inside for a break…I had to feed the dog…I had to pee…was that my phone ringing? After awhile it was clear to both of us who would be finishing the sanding of the mirror that day. Brian finally called it quits at 3pm. The mirror was nearly striped but would need a bit more work before we could get to the fun part…PAINTING.

The next morning…I sucked it up, suited up in my gloves and poured myself a strong cup of coffee to help  Brian finish. An hour later it was finally time to paint!

We readied the outdoor area…taping paper down to the coffee table we would be painting on and unwrapping the paint brushes. When the area was ready Brian began to tape the mirrored edges and it was then I heard… “FUCK!”.

What?! What happened?!? I said calmly.

I peered over to where he sat and saw coral paint  (ooooo, that is a pretty color, I thought…really not to orange) pool out of the can and on to our cement patio and outdoor couch cover. Then I thought, SHIT and then I thought, thank God it wasn’t me who dropped it. The coral paint was not only all over our patio it was also spotted on Brian’s arms, clothes and shoes. I stood there with my mouth agape. I wasn’t even sure how best to help. It was bad.

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“Honey, what are you doing!? Grab the paper towels! Hurry!!”, he yelled.

I ran as fast as I could to the kitchen and when I returned with we tried our best to sop up as much coral paint as we could. It was then I noticed that with each step Brian took his paint covered shoes were spreading coral paint all over.

“Take off your shoes!” I said trying my best not to laugh.

Actually, It took all my might not to laugh in that moment, not because I wasn’t sad by the fact coral paint was seeping into the cement on our brand new patio, but because situations like this just make me laugh. I looked up and saw Frank peering out at us through the sliding glass doors…with a look that said…you fools…you fooooools.

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Thankfully the paint was water based and we were able to make good progress in cleaning with hot water and a sponge. Do we still have a pink circle on the patio? Yes. But, is it lighter? Yes. Maybe an outdoor rug is in order?

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As you can imagine, we decided to call it quits after the coral paint debacle. Not only because we were low on paint but also because we were both feeling a bit defeated.

Damn you mirror, Damn you. Until next weekend.

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around these parts…

16 Jan

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the above picture has nothing to do with this post- I was just compelled to share the cuteness with you all.

I could not be happier that the weekend is almost here. It’s been a bit of a blah week for me. Not for any specific reason..my head space has just been BLAH. I think I might finally be coming down from the high of the wedding. I didn’t really have a chance to mourn that it was over because we went straight into the excitement of the holidays. It was a joyful few months and I don’t think I was prepared for it all to end. I’m not saying that life can’t be joyful after the wedding…I’m just saying I’m a little sad it’s over.

Despite my blah mood, I was able to make some progress with a few of my goals this week.

I worked on a travel essay about our trip to Nepal, which I plan on submitting as soon as I finish it (hopefully this weekend).

Brian and I finally settled on our honeymoon destinations- Bali and Vietnam here we come. I just LOVE having a trip to look forward to.

I have my very first date with my little sister, Briana set up for this Sunday. I still have no idea what to do with her…must come up with something…soon.

We’ve also made a lot of progress with our home this week- we picked paint colors, met with a furniture builder and found two killer pieces at the rose bowl flea market this last weekend- a fabulous new turkish rug and mirror for the entryway. The mirror is currently white but I plan to paint it coral this weekend!

Other than the thrilling activity of painting the mirror coral this weekend…I plan to do a bit of cooking (paleo cauliflower soup), reading (finding your own north star), writing (travel essay), organizing (the clutter that has developed in our cabinets is crazy…I was almost killed by a falling juicer the other day) and taking a few walks on the beach with my pup and husband.

Hoping that I will have a little more umpf next week!

On another note…did you see the new header on the blog?! I love it. I just die over Frank’s regal pose. Thank you, One Part Gypsy for creating such a fabulous header for me.

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