Inspired home: Dark and Inviting

 I'm drawn today to these images from interior designer, Abigail Ahern  book, A Girl's Guide to Decorating. There is a rustic, regal feel, with a cooling urban atmosphere in her home. (Her sister Gemma's home is a dark beauty too). The dark and neutral tones and textures feel so homey to me right now.

In her recent blog post, she talks about figuring out your decorating style. She says,

"I follow my heart and my subconscious and although hard to define its a funked up, idiosyncratic tour de force (can I say that about my style)? For some of us it can be over whelming its visual overload out there what with cool interiors stores, magazines, galleries, blogs, fab bars and so on. Pull back and try to analyse what appeals what pushes your buttons or makes you heart beat a little bit faster – tear out images from magazines, flag blog images you respond too and before long you will have a folio that begins to build a story of how you want your space to look. Its worth noting anything that shouts Ta Da when going through images as this is what turns a space from ordinary to extraordinary. It could be a super sized lamp on a tiny desk, a beautiful patterned rug skimming a floor oh and remember it takes time. A simple fact you can’t define your style if you haven’t invested time in knowing what’s out there its as simple as that."

 Apartment therapy describes her book as, "Abigail Ahern's rooms are dark and seductive as photographed for her book, A Girl's Guide to Decorating. These rooms wrap you up like a cozy blanket when you're reading on the sofa late at night."
 

Inspired Home : Little Glowing Lights

 Catherine of Little Glowing Lights has a warm, colorful, flea market style Australian home. In her interview with Victoria of sfgirlbybay, she shares some of her favorite pieces, books and haunts. For me, I adore the white walls, the random garlands, the mix of florals and stripes and the use of little vintage chairs, and the picnic table. More photos of her lovely home can be found here on Design Files. In her interview there, she states that her main consideration really has been a modest budget  – ‘I have decorated my flat with a very small budget and not buying very many brand new pieces at all. Most pieces have been hand-me-downs given a lick of paint or bargain finds. In the future I would like to splurge a little bit more.’  Love it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homefront: White Slipcovers and Touches of Aqua

I've talked about my slipcovers before, but never really showed them to you in much detail.

I love how versatile they are, I can change my style throughout the year by simply rotating pillows and pillow slipcovers, adding maybe a throw or whatever. By changing out simple accessories in your home and maybe art on your walls, is a good way to take you through different seasons, or to change your scenery every once in a while. I rotate most of my decorations throughout the year. I prefer decorating with only one or two colors at a time, right now, it's aqua and a soft green.

Even though I have a busy and active family (that enjoys snacking on the couch) and little boys that enjoy writing on the couch with yogurt and ink pens... I find it surprisingly easy to take care of.

Before I had slipcovers, the boys ransacked the couch cushions on a daily basis, my bones hurt just thinking about how many times a day I put those couches back together. This was my life pre-slipcovers and pre-bungie roping my kitchen chairs to the table legs in our old apartment. (I also bungie rope my fridge and oven shut ;)

I wash the slipcovers about every 2 weeks with detergent and bleach, though I will be switching to maybe borax or oxiclean since bleach can gray out whites and deteriorate fabric over time.

I made a baking soda and water paste and applied them to stain spots, let it sit for about 30 mins or so, then added the slipcovers to the wash with some detergent, about a 1/2 cup of baking soda and a tad of bleach.

They come out great and if there is a stain that doesn't come out (which is inevitable), it usually fades after additional washes.

Really, I love the casualness of them, how much better I feel that I can just clean them (I'm a little ocd about unwashed couches... really you wouldn't lay on a mattress without a sheet, would you?) and how versatile they are. It's more affordable than buying a whole new couch set as well.

The slipcovers I have are the Pottery Barn box pleat in white. They don't always carry them in white, so I found mine on amazon and ebay. The sturdiness of them are nice because it helps keep the tucks better than a stretch type slipcover. I have these Surefit covers in taupe too, and though I love them, they do come untucked easier. I've read, that rolling up a magazine and tucking it in the tucks help them stay in place better.

For more slipcover advice, I turn you to Holly from In the Fun Lane. She is the queen of living with white and has some great slipcover advice. Here she talks about maintaining a white home, and here on how to pick the right premade cover.

You can also make your own slipcovers as shown above from Nester. Pink and Polka Dot helped Nester make hers here... it really is just like piecing a puzzle together and sewing it. Using white duck, denim or canvas are great choices because they clean well, are comfortable and crisp, sturdy fabrics. 

Pink Polka Dot has a good tutorial on slipcovering a chair here and writes some great advice about making your own slipcovers.

I'm joining Pink's Slipcover McLinky party as well as Emily's Chatting at the Sky, Glimpses of Home party today, can't wait to see what everyone elses!