Inspired Interiors: Design Love Fest

I discovered the most amazingly beautiful blog the other day, Design Love Fest. Bri's home, photography and outfits are adorable. Take her home for instance. Everything I am craving at the moment, style, creativity, color, neutrals, natural light is present. There is an energy that is both relaxing, yet energizing. Eclectic, mid century modern, mint, aqua, pink and white, golden, metallic accents, black and white geometric patterns, poufs and funky chairs... Shall I go on?

Homefront: Living Room Split in Two

Well, we have been here a few months now and I have not actually shown a photo of this whole space aside from small glimpses here or there. Our one living area downstairs is both long and narrow, and we needed to create a few functional spaces here, a play area/computer area and tv area, so I split the room in half. My sis took these photos while she was visiting for Thanksgiving (hence the pumpkin decor), but as of a few days ago, I have already changed a lot of this around and put up our Christmas decor.

I still have some painting of furniture to do, lots of things to put up on walls and those two recliners fabric are in pretty bad shape, so that will need to be dealt with eventually, but so far it is a charming little home that works for us and is ever changing. I have restyled it now into three areas instead of the two shown here, so that will be fun to photograph and post about, but I can enjoy the metamorphosis through these images.

Homefront: Thanksgiving Mantel

My mom and I have been eyeing these lovely Thanksgiving statues at Hobby Lobby for a few years now. She is so pretty! We have Cherokee in our blood, so we love little Native American touches here and there.

 A "mantel" doesn't have to be over a fireplace!

My mantel before. Pretty, and a little plain. I wanted to add more personalization. The orange glitter pumpkin is the jack-o-lantern from my Halloween display, just turned around. Thanksgiving decorating is really just borrowing from Halloween and adding a bit to it. The 'styling' began with the two paper wrapped pumpkins. I was going to spray paint them gold, but thought it would be too bold, so instead I lightly handpainted them a metallic gold color so details can still peek through.

  

Then, I took that gold paint to the wreath and the cute little pilgrim sign, just to add some glint. I always have some sort of artificial flowers and such laying around, so I made a quick little floral display. My tutorial on making quick and easy floral arrangements here.

 I recently taught a Thankful/Memory jar idea the other night. Tutorial HERE!

 

Inspired Interiors: Charmaine's Lovely Living Room

Sadie and Stella features the gorgeous room of Charmaine's from My Best Friend Craig
The look is very clean, modern and designed, yet it is still comfortable and has a neutral enough background to easily be transformed when the fancy strikes.

 This greek key mirror was a craigslist find!

The hallway, what a perfect place for a striped wall.

I'm loving the look of layered rugs, and what a neat table. I'm loving the built in bookcases, the touches of lucite, and those matching chairs.

On it's own, the fabric on this seat is dated and kind of hideous, but it is perfect when paired with a seamless brass table and eclectic elements. I love the simple touches of hot pink in this room. Be sure to read the interview and to see the shocking before photo!

Inspired Interiors: Albertina's "Fearless" Living Room

LALALALA-Love Albertina's home as featured on Little Green Notebook!! The colors, the elegance! Visit the link for source info.

One thing I am lacking is framed family photos. I saw this photo above and have been collecting metallic frames to create a similar vignette.So, I suppose I need a sofa table too! I want to be able to pick up a frame, trace the smile and hug it when I feel so moved. For me, I'm trying to distance myself from so much art, and get back to the basics of family photos.

I would love to paint a lovely portrait of my children.

Inspired Interiors: Classic Living TV Room

 

I got lucky when I came across bryn alexandra's post. She showcases a home she was working on that is very similar in concept to what I am trying to achieve. A tv room, with separate nooks and seating areas, storage solutions, gray couches and a huge square ottoman (ours if a coffee table about the same size), that has a classic, modern feel with some pizazz. The flooring is also very similar to ours.

Plus, I want to hang my curtains higher to give this room height, since the room is long and narrow with low ceilings. But then the crtains would be too short. I was toying with the idea of sewing a black edge on the bottom, and her design realizes that look for me in a setting that is similar to mine.

I love the use of blues, blacks and grays with neutral whites. Even though this post is a few years old, it is still a classic styling that gives me some great ideas. She has has some good ideas on getting started along with some 'progress' photos of this room to see how it came together.