Dining Room So Far

Sharing pictures of your home on your blog is way harder than I thought. We all look at design blogs and Pinterest all day, loving the perfectly designed and put together rooms of professional, fabulous designers. 

A professional, I am not. Not even close. 

Many of those photos are staged, just been cleaned and combed over for imperfection. So instead of sharing pictures of my "perfect" home, I would rather share ones of my ever changing, always a little messy one. And are rooms ever really "done?" Probably not. 

With that said, I will show you some pictures of the dining room so far. I have done nothing but move what we already have to the new space. 

The picture above the fireplace will most likely be moved to above the buffet. I love the idea of using that fireplace during holiday dinners. 

Those hideous drapes will be coming down. For some reason the previous owner put them up all over the house for showings. Now they are just a pain to take down, then patch and paint the wall. 

The extra built-in unit on the left was a nice addition for storage. The light fixture was from our old house. one of my favorite purchases. 

The table, buffet and break front are family heirlooms from the 20s that I was lucky enough to be gifted. The chairs are new, but I still have two of the original. I have been looking for fabric for awhile to reupholster them in, still searching.

I think one of these rugs would warm up the space and add some visual interest with a pattern since the wood floors and furniture is essentially the same color. Something in a light trellis, maybe. 

Since we live in such a rural area now, some faux taxidermy feels necessary. I LOVE this shop on Etsy. They have many different animals ($120) and it can be customized in different colors. Mint antlers seem perfect.  

The room needs paint, but I am actually kind of obsessed with wallpaper right now. I am thinking of painting below the chair rail white, then choosing a patterned paper to go above. These are my current favorites. Something traditional, yet slightly contemporary. 

I love hearing your input on what you like. Not quite ready to get after this room just yet, but I think I am on the right track. What do you think? 

xo

Erin 

Surprises, Sunrises and a Nursery

You might not be hearing from this girl for awhile. Last weekend the little babe I have been anticipating to come in three weeks decided to grace us with his presence early. He arrived just after dawn on Monday and has been filling up my days and nights with so much joy that I hardly (a bit of a stretch) notice how little sleep I am functioning on. Even with so little rest, sunrise with my little guy in his nursery is my favorite time. 


I wanted to share pictures of the nursery so you can see what I put together for the little man. This being one of the few posts you will see from me for awhile, I wanted to make it a good one. 


We always knew it was going to be a boy and I wanted to create a modern, yet cozy space that would be inviting for him and comfortable for us. The room started as an extra room used only a few times for overnight guests. 

I loathe that fan. It was the first thing to go. 

It is a good thing that I went through that whole nesting phase early, as the room has been done and it was so nice to come home to a finished room. 

The walls are painted Bunny Gray from Benjamin Moore, which is a pale gray but also changes to a light blue in certain light. The chevron rug is from Dwell Studio, which along with the glider from Room & Board, is one of the first pieces I picked out. What is great about the glider is that is wide and deep and covered in a soft, short velvet. Big enough to stretch out and super comfortable for Dad. The brown leather Moroccan pouf is from a store on Ebay and the initial pillow is from Jonathan Adler. We already had this twin bed from Crate & Barrel and turned it into a day bed with lots of pillows. 

The white furry pillow and the navy corded pillows are from Crate & Barrel. The white pillows and soft gray pillows are from Ikea. The chevron pillows are from WillaSkyeHome and the striped pillow is from ModernMarvelousHome, both on Etsy. 

I am completely obsessed with the animal prints from The Animal Print Shop by Sharon Montrose. 

The black out curtains are from Pottery Barn Kids and do a really great job of getting the room dark during nap time. The curtain rod is from West Elm. 

The dresser is from West Elm, shelves are form The Container Store and the changing pad is by Nook. The glass containers filled with pacifiers and toys was something I had seen on Pinterest and loved. I also love that I found a place for my White Sox bobble heads on the top shelf and a mini version of the trucks used in the family business.   

The crib is Sparrow by Oeuf and the bedding is Pottery Barn Kids. I love the modern crib with the simple, preppy stars and stripes. The Love poster is by MadebyGirl, one of my favorite print shops and blogs. 

It is so fun to share this project with you and a great send off for me into a nice long break to take care of my son. 

Thomas Michael is the new love of my life and hopefully I will be back soon to share more about life after baby and how my world has changed. 

Until then, lots of love. 

xo

Erin 

Best Way to Choose a Paint Color

I spent the morning playing with this fun tool from Sherwin-Williams, Chip It. You simply give the URL of a photo and it will give you paint colors to coordinate. How fun to use when starting a design project in your home? You can use any image that inspires your space and it will give you the perfect color palate to follow. 

You can use your favorite look from Fashion Week...

A favorite bedroom with a pop of color...

An outfit that you have your eye on...

The dressing room you are obsessed with...

Or a photo of your favorite place...

You can actually add it to your toolbar much like Pinterest so you can Chip It whenever you stumble across something you love. This makes picking colors a whole lot easier and so much fun. 

Happy Chipping! 

xo

Erin 

Bringing Back the Photo Collage

Remember the good old days when you would take pictures, bring the film or disposable camera in to be processed and pick up the images with so much anticipation you could hardly contain yourself? I miss those days. I miss them more for the the fact that I had honest to goodness pictures around to frame and pin onto a photo collage. 

And though those days are long gone, there are some creative and chic ways to bring back the photo collage, just like the days of dorm room living. 

Check out this amazing piece by photographer, Annie McElwain. 

She simply pulled some of her favorite images and made a collage for her home. I love the scale, the different colors and I am sure she gets so much satisfaction seeing her work in this fun way. 

And though your work may not be professional, you certainly have some fun images to display. Not to mention this helps you decide how to display all the amazing photos you have from that trip to Europe, your three year old growing up or even wedding pictures. 

I found a couple of options to make this work for us that do not have access to a professional photo display designer and printer. Snapfish offers a 20 x 30 that you can make yourself. Choose the pictures you want and the background (skip through the cheesy themed versions) and simply order. 

If you are an Instagram user (If not, and an iPhone user, visit your app store and start playing), this service is perfect. Printstagram will make you a 20 x 40 poster with up to 400 images from your Instagram app. They also have some other fun printing concepts to check out. 

I need to seriously start using my Instagram, because I am obsessed with this homemade art. For sure an upgrade from my beloved college photo collages still hanging out in my basement (priceless). 

xo

Erin 

Getting Etsy with Antlers

I am loving these painted antlers from MadebyCassandraSmith on Etsy. 

The pop of color and metallic paint give this otherwise already great addition to a vignette or bookshelf that much cooler. 

Could make a fun gift for someone that loves unique pieces for their place. Or just for you to enjoy on top of your favorite collection of vintage books. 

For those DIY'ers, with some paint, painters tape and a little time, this could easily be done by you. Great way to create a fun project with a flea market find. 

PS: They are all "naturally shed" antlers, so no worries on where they came from. 

xo

Erin