Woohoohoo!

Happy Happy Birthday to the

BEST friend a girl could ask for!!!

There is no one else I'd rather talk to

eighteen times a day!

i L.O.V.E.you!



so it's a really old picture...we are still 29...again... :)



Rachel :)
due to this national holiday, my super great
before and after will be on hold until next week

A Helping Hand

A few years ago my mom gave me a "helping hand." It's a light pink, replica of an antique glass hand. I love it! In the kitchen, bathroom, nightstand, or anywhere else you can put it, it gives me a little spot to drop my rings, bracelets, and watch when I have to wash dirty clothes, dishes, or smelly smurfs. Cute. Easy. Purposeful. That's what I like.

Speaking of dirty clothes...come back Friday for a super great before and after!

Rachel :)

Modern Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a couple. They were married two years when they bought their first sofa together. The one thing they agreed on was no flowers. When the young wife went furniture shopping without her groom, she came home with not one, but two red floral sofas. The groom loved his young wife so much he never said a bad word about the red floral sofas she loved. They lived happily ever after...or for about seven years until the red floral sofas had run their course and the young wife decided she didn't like them anymore...

I am sure you all have heard this story before. You love. You buy. You live. You have declining feelings about the purchase you once loved so much...When Mr. T and I moved into our old house a few years ago, we knew it was time to let the red floral sofas go. We went back to our original rule, no flowers, but added a new rule this time: neutral. It is a lot easier and cheaper to change a throw pillow than it is an entire sofa. We chose a tweed fabric with pale blue, gold and grey woven colors. When you step back it looks more like a wheat, but the colors are subtly there. Our pillows are solid blue with blue and gold fringe. I am always on the lookout to add more pillows, but never seem to find exactly what I am looking for.

I had a cut and paste session this morning. Here is what I came up with:

original pillows

decent

hmmmmmm

roof!

makes my eyes hurt

Mr. T is NOT a fan of animal prints...or flowers

Yes, I know this is completely bootleg, but I am not near techy enough to cut and paste in the computer. I can however scan a picture! While I'm still undecided on pillows, I do know that when I see them, I'll love them. At least for a little while...

Rachel :)

My Vision...

I posted some pictures of built in book shelves that inspire me.  I am moving toward having every room in my house furnished in a neutral pallet and accessorizing with pops of color.  I absolutely adore this room done by Windsor Smith.

WS Rooms in a Box

I'm going for having all white, clear, or silver odds and ends but I LOVE how she has grouped the books!  I am also a sucker for Ikat (which I just learned how to pronounce: ee-kot).

I think this sofa from Ikea looks so comfortable.  It's slipcovered which means it's washable!  For $599, I'm sold! There are also about 6 other pieces that match it.

When I toiled in commercial real estate, I spent all day long looking at jewelry on the internet.  Now that looking at jewelry is my job, I spend the majority of my day looking at pillow covers on Etsy.

Here are a few pillows that will go perfectly in my dream den.  Or is it a living room?  Or a family room?  Whatever...the room with the sofa, tv, and fire place!

Pillow 1

Pillow 2

Pillow 3

Pillow 4

Pillow 5

Pillow 6

Here's the funny thing.  As I added pictures and drafted this post I realized that I long for the brighter colored pillows.  I started out loving pillows #3 & #4.  Now I realize that they are too subdued for me.  My new favorites are #1 and #5.  My favorite color is blue.  I wear it in every hue. I'm a poet and didn't know it, too.  It's my happy color. In the past I've decorated with it using lighter more subtle shades of it.  Going forward I'm looking for the royal-est of the royal, turquoise the shade of the Caribbean, and blue the color of the sky on a beautiful April day! 

I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere!

xoxo

Marlene

Spring Fever

Ol' Mother Nature has been pulling some not so funny tricks with the weather lately.  When it was 80 degrees and sunny I immediately switched over my closet and said "adios" to all of the black and grey.  Now, it's rainy and 50 degrees and I'm ready to wear sandals and dresses.  Did I mention that I HATE being cold (except when it's August and I'm ready to wear sweaters and boots)?

I went on a shopping binge last week.  I have been searching for the perfect pair of tan wedges that are versatile enough to wear with dresses, shorts or jeans.  I found them!  

Frye

Fortunately, I happened to have a 20% off coupon for the store for my upcoming birthday.  

Here's the unfortunate part.  I was wearing jeans and asked if they had a dress I could try on to see how they would look.  Of course they had a dress...and a belt to go with it!  See where I'm going with this?  I tried and tried to find a picture of the dress ( I couldn't simply take one because my camera is still broken) but it turns out I may have purchased a one-of-a-kind!  This is the belt:

Elise M. Collections

I would like to say that I stopped there.  I didn't.  Instead, I stopped at Hand In Pocket on the way home.  Remember the Best Little Black Dress EVER and how H.I.P. always has EXACTLY what I need?  That day they had the exact tank tops, cardigan, and skirt that I wanted needed.  

This tank is so amazing that I think I'm going to order it in every color they make

Michael Stars

Hand in Pocket

I bought this entire outfit except for the belt, which I'm kind of regretting as I write this post.  I got the cardigan in 2 colors-light teal and white.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???

I'm really happy with my purchases.  I still need to fill in with some cute tops and I really want a cute chambray denim skirt like this one from Old Navy

 Old Navy

They don't have it in my size online, but I'm about to start calling around town (jewelry biz is a little slow, can you tell?)

I know not everyone sees the change in season as an opportunity to reinvent their closet.  Some people approach it with reason and buy a few things to fill in.  What key pieces will you be buying this spring?

XOXO,

Marlene

From Coat Closet to Cloffice

Spring is officially here which has lead to fruit basket turnover at our old house. We have done away with the wonderful sewing closet that Mr. T built last summer. I'll post more about that later. There are two other closets we have, both of which were terribly packed and full of...stuff! We took some time, sorted and condensed, and were able to move what we needed into one closet. The rest of the stuff was packed and put into our newly organized attic while some things were packed and sent to Goodwill. It was a super easy decision on what to do with our empty extra closet...turn it into a cloffice!

I wanted a space for my sewing and other crafty supplies. Brainy Smurf and Smurfette wanted a homework area. Mr T wanted a spot for the family computer so we would leave his office alone. Ummmmmm...that's a lot of stuff crammed into a 4 foot x 2 1/2 foot space...watch out! We had to dig deep for this project and we were on a serious budget. I started shaking paint cans, trying to find the one with the most in it. We settled on Restoration Hardware Silver Sage. It's the same color we have in the Master Bedroom, but we didn't have to buy paint! I also had left over chalkboard paint from this project. We recycled the the wood from the former sewing closet and I managed to find a few old cans of stain and polyurethane in the shed. We were set!

 

before

 

 

We started by taping out the chalkboard area and cutting in with the wall paint. Mr. T put in side boards for the desk to lay on. He measured and cut the old desk, then I sanded and stained. We wanted to leave the old shelf in the top of the closet along with the old iron clothing rod. When we were ready to put it all together, the desk went in first, then the shelf, and the cubbies up top. I went through all of the items in the previous sewing area and had to get rid of a lot of fabric. No worries though! I saved what I needed and got rid of the fluff! The cubbies and top shelf are devoted to my sewing machine and supplies, fabric, and craft paint. The desk is just for the kiddos. I mounted a bulletin board with their practice schedules on it along with some fun family photos. There is a hanging organizer on the opposite wall with plenty of notebook paper and rulers. I keep a pencil jar stocked with sharpened pencils for homework. Under the desk I have a large drawer set on wheels filled with scrapbooking materials. In the center is a woven basket with wrapping paper, tissue, and gift bags. On the right side is a 3 drawer organizer with more sewing supplies. All of this is super organized, but hidden with a skirt I made for the desk. Our new area is family friendly, super organized, and we love it!

top of the shelf...all of my sewing stuff

Mission accomplished!!! Sewing closet + homework desk + family computer = one very efficient space = one happy family!

Rachel :)

 

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

I have a friend I'll call Memily (I promised her I would withhold her name so her husband doesn't get mad).  She loves designer sunglasses and I swear she has gotten a new pair every Christmas for the last 3 years.  This year she got a rocking pair of Tom Ford glasses.  I've been coveting them and trying to figure out how I can score my own pair without having to pay $285.00.

Tom Ford Jennifer sunglasses

I am a sucker for big black shades. Here's where the story gets good.  I went to the mall last week (imagine that) and passed one of those sunglass kiosks.  The glasses were 2 for $25 or 1 for $15.  I stopped dead in my tracks and here's what I saw:

They are so close!  The lenses are kind of purple but I can live with them for a while-especially for $15!

We had dinner with Memily and her husband last night.  I ran up and showed her my glasses (I had already told her about them) and she started whispering, "No! Put them away!  You're going to get me in trouble!  I always cover for you!"  I know her husband, though and he wouldn't care if he could have saved $270.00.  He wants his Memily to have whatever her heart desires.

 She did accused me of trying to switch our glasses during dinner, though...

XOXO,

Marlene