Gallery Wall

While Cynde was here we worked on another one of my Pinterest-inspired ideas - a gallery wall.

Here are the inspiration pics...

This one...

These...

This Black and White Wall

I already had a few framed black and white photos so I decided to go with a black and white gallery wall. I had a coupon for Michaels that I used to buy some more black frames.

Cynde helped me arrange the frames on the floor first...

We started putting them up...

Then kept going...

Until we had this!

You can see I had a few frames left over that didn't quite fit. I still need to fill in a few holes on the left side and the bottom.

I ordered some of my photos in black and white to fill the frames. Here is how it looks as of now!

Now for a peek at the rest of the foyer. I need to add something above the desk and I'm still debating whether I want to leave it open or closed.

A peek into the den and a view of the basket lamp :)

xo!

Living Room Inspiration

I'm having a hard time focusing on the job at hand (picking stain colors, kitchen sink, light switches, etc.) when I'd way rather be imagining how the room will look when it's finished! I'm no design expert, but I have lots of help in this department.

I want to go in a different direction than our last living room. We used a lot of greens and deep reds. Super warm colors (and I loved it, just think something lighter would look good in this house).

Obviously I can't buy everything at once, but I'm going to at least start with paint and rugs and see how I can build from there.

Pinterest has been such an awesome place to find inspiration.

I'm hoping to put a sectional sofa in our living room - doesn't it look great in this one? As much as I spill things on our sofa I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to get a cream one, but I bet it wouldn't show dog hair!

I just LOVE so much about this room - the rug, floors, wall color, bar stools, lamps. Ah. Someday.

I also like the feel of this room - although the floors are a bit too light for me. Neutrals with the green pillows.

In all my searching around online, I also came across this blog and fell in love with this shelving. We're going to do a modified version so we'll have a good spot for the TV (since I just can't get on board with placing it above the fireplace but I'm OK with putting it beside on a slightly lowered shelf).



I was at HomeGoods the other day (thanks to Katie I have some motivation to shop in there!) and I saw this rug. I want a more neutral one I think for the den, but this one has the neutral background and lots of color as well to work off of. Wouldn't it be great for my dining room? I hope so because I bought it yesterday!

HomeGoods is so inexpensive - I love it. What about these lamps? $69 and $49. Yes please. The only problem now is I have NO idea what I need so I didn't purchase either one of them :(

On a different note - the lake is still flooding. Wind and waves caused more damage earlier this week. Matt is convinced we can get out to the lake house at some point soon but I'm not letting him do this.



The good news is that the water is forecasted to go down. Hooray!

Happy Wednesday everyone - xo

Kitchen Update

Hooray hooray! We ordered our kitchen cabinets last week!!! Here is a rough picture of what it's going to look like when standing in the dining room, with the exception of a few changes made last minute (the counter will cover the cabinetry on the peninsula too).

Ahhhh space. It's going to feel so good when that wall comes down.

Other than ordering the cabinets, we made our first kitchen purchases.

The hood - we had to have the dimensions so we could order the right sized cabinetry above it. I love it.

This clock - I bought it at IKEA (more on my trip to IKEA later).

The next step is to finalize the countertops.

I'm in love with soapstone. Who wouldn't love it? Just LOOK! (Found here.)

I'm also in love with butcher block countertops from IKEA. Check these out. I'd like to use those on the 2 separate countertops and soapstone around the sink, etc.

I also have to consider lighting. Who knew that so many decisions would need to be made?

I love the industrial look of these pendants from Barn Light Electric. I love almost anything from Barn Light Electric!

Or perhaps something like this? Too bad Matt thinks they look like restaurant heat lamps. Oh well.

Good thing we both love these pendants from Pottery Barn.....Check them out here.

I also love that chalkboard wall.

We have many decisions down, many more to go. I'm taking it one step at a time.

Kitchen Inspiration

When we thought about buying this house, part of the deal was making sure we could afford to do some renovating afterwards. The biggest thing on my list was the kitchen. Let me clarify before I start posting about the renovations, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing.

I'd never heard anything about the different styles of cabinets, custom vs. stock options, types of countertops, lighting, the "triangle" working area, AHHHH. I've found the decision making sometimes pushes me over the edge.

Anyway, my mom recommended I start by finding pictures of kitchens I liked and work from there. I typed "kitchen inspiration" into google and got started.

I'm sad to say I've been saving these forever and have no idea where I found them! Most I found as I said above on google images with searches like "kitchen inspiration," etc.

I also think it'd be really cool to have a chalkboard wall...that door is pretty amazing too.

After I spent a few weeks looking through the pics, I found a few similarities. Looks like I'm going with white kitchen cabinets and some type of dark/wood countertop :) I have been able to move forward from there and we actually have a design now - I'll share at some point. If you have any other great ideas be sure to send them my way!

Decorating with Grass

I LOVE this idea I found over on re-nest today. Even though my sugar mold is currently sitting in a box somewhere, I'm inspired to dig it out and look for some of those super cute clay pots and grass on my next Lowes run.

My friend Liz also sent me a super fun planting idea she found on Design*Sponge. Another project on my list for when I replace that light fixture in the hallway.