New Lamps

When my sister-in-law, Annalisa Thomas, started Oilo I think the original idea was to have all the prints available in all the colors.  But that turned out to be very expensive.  So they have a lot of samples that they don't actually sell just sitting around their office.  I asked if they had anything in aqua that they would be willing to sell me and they actually just gave me these two lamp shades!  I love them.  They add some great personality to the space, and I love that they are the same color as Olivia's crib set!

Aqua Cobblestone (only available for purchase in taupe)

They also gave me several yards of an aqua stripe fabric they didn't end up using.  Trying to decide what to make.  Should I cover her chair or make a play blanket or both?

PS if you check out her website, notice the cute baby in the blanket and changing pad pictures.  That's my baby!!

Olivia's Mobile

Its been a long time since I wrote this post!  And I've changed almost everything I thought I would do.  But not this.  I fell in love with this mobile on Elizabeth's blog and finally got around to using the tutorial she posted here.

It was a labor of love, that's for sure.  I first cut out all my circles using two small nesting bowls from IKEA but after it was assembled, I decided that they were far too big for the dowels and spacing.  It just looked terribly jumbled and the circles didn't have the scattered look I was hoping for, they all just kind of laid flat against each other.  Soooo, I cut all the big circles into smaller ones, and the small circles became the big ones.  Make sense?

I re-cut them one day during Olivia's nap and restrung the whole thing while my husband and brother watched a fight.  My sister-in-law and I chatted and she worked on grading papers.

Two weeks after it was finished I finally got around to hanging it, and would you believe that I was too short to reach the ceiling even with a step stool!?!  So a few days later my husband did it for me. 

 Still so much to do in this room, but I think I'll be sad when its done have plenty to do in my own room when its done!

Paint Colors

That is what I googled just now: paint colors.  I wanted to look at some paint options for my parent's bedroom and the first website that pulled up was Valspar.  Click, click and I'm hooked!  Look at all the colors palettes you have to chose from!

I love how clicking on a color brings up a room and shows how the paint would look on the wall, along with other colors that will compliment it!  You can also save your color to your "my projects" tab.  So I saved a few different blues to compare and see which ones my mom and I like best.

I started with Cool Whites because my mom's inspiration room are lots of blues and whites.  Here were my three favorite:

 Next I looked at the Neutral Blues and picked these three:

Now that I see them all together I know that Blue Whisper, Sea Side and Dreamy Clouds are out.  They all have too much green in them for the look we're going for.

So try to be productive today, but I know if you're like me you're going to want to just sit and click on paint colors!

I think Air Kiss is my favorite.  We'll have to see if my mom agrees!  Which one is your favorite?

*Not a sponsored post

Ideas for Mom's Room

My mom agreed to let me re-design her room this summer, but on her last visit to Salt Lake, she expressed some concerns.  My mom and I have very different styles, and she needs her spaces to feel personalized, unlike me. I like very geometric patterns and modern designs.  She told me she doesn't want any art work that isn't meaningful.  She used to have a whole wall of her room dedicated to our school art work!  My dad hated it, but I think if I could format it right, I could create something along those lines that both my parents would love.  Gallery wall, anyone?  So here are some ideas to sell my parents on the idea:

I love the pops of yellow in this design.  My mom's room is going to be light blue and white, so I wonder what color I could pop in there that she wouldn't object to!

Source: girlintheredshoes.com via Amy on Pinterest

I love the stripes behind this collection.  I would really love to do some light blue and white stripes behind the gallery collection in my mom's room.

Source: google.com via Allison on Pinterest

Of all the gallery walls I'm posting, this one feels the most personal to me.  Do you think its the variety of styles being shown?  It feels like its taken years to collect these pieces.

Source: nattybydesign.blogspot.com via Alana on Pinterest

And then if I have time, I want to do something like this down my mom's stair case.  Seriously, the woman cannot get enough picture frames in her life, so I'm thinking gallery walls are the way to go for her!

Source: iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Another one of my mom's loves is thrift store shopping, so I'm going to start collecting frames that I find there and probably spray paint them all to match the room and let her fill them with whatever she wants!  That will keep her busy while I'm painting her head board hot pink!  (Totally kidding, mom, totally kidding.)

Source: alittlesassybutohsoclassy.tumblr.com via Linsey on Pinterest

Its like everything I've ever wanted to be all rolled into one. . .

Yesterday at the end of my interior design class, two of my students presented me with a special portfolio page.  I have been teaching my students how to make professional portfolio pages for five years and so its a huge representation of who I am.  To have them make me my own portfolio page to keep was so awesome!  No one has ever done that for me before!

And it was a picture of Architect Barbie!  I didn't even know they made one of those.  To say this is really special feels like a big understatement!!

And on the back of every portfolio page is a description, so here is what they wrote for this one:

 There are no words.

Nursery Changing Table

Have you ever noticed how ugly things tend to collect junk?  Its true.  I submit the following for evidence:

It not that this changing table was ugly, but it didn't match the rest of Olivia's room and I knew I was going to paint it so. . .  we just sort of threw everything on it.  The only solution was to make it pretty so that the temptation for junk collection would be gone.

I started by sanding it just a little to rough it up.  In the past, I've been way too uptight about this step.  I wouldn't prime it until it was really really sanded and it took forever.  Not this time.  I spent maybe ten minutes scuffing it up and then wiped all the dust off.  Oh, I also removed the drawer and the hardware.  I decided to keep the drawer off, I liked the look better without it and it wasn't the smoothest gliding drawer.

 I used painters tape to cover the hardware.  I used a little exacto knife to cut the extra tape off.  Here's a tip: Make sure your blade is sharp of this will be the most frustrating step of the project.

And I also covered the wheel.  Next time I would wrap them in plastic bags and tape them down.  The wheels got some paint on them.  No biggie, really.

Primed, painted and drying:

 

And then it sat in Olivia's room (after sitting in the hallway for a week.  Spray paint fumes don't go down without a fight!!) and started collecting junk again!  Oh no!  So I knew I had to get some storage and soon.  My mom and I searched a few places and then we went to IKEA to get some simple brown baskets.  I was going to get four of them.  I liked them, but they just seemed too boring.  And then, wah lah!  IKEA also had these blue pails that matched Olivia's bedding almost exactly!  So I got two of each. 

I'm still trying how to arrange them.  I did one on each shelf, kitty corner.

Or both baskets on top, and the blue pails on bottom.  I'm kind of leaning towards this. . .                        

Now, we don't actually change Olivia on this changing table.  Someday I'll get the changing pad I want from Oilo, but lets be honest, it will probably for another baby by the time I get around to it!  So in the mean time, I set it up with one of my Oilo pillows and a duck Olivia got from her great-grandpa in the hospital.

So the room obviously needs some art work now. . . but what do you think?

Olivia's Nursery Plans

I've been struggling with how to arrange the furniture in Olivia's nursery, so the other day I sat down with some graph paper and colored pencils and really had too much fun putting some ideas down on paper.

The rug is from Urban Outfitters and exactly what I've been looking for!

Don't pay any attention to my ugly art work in this pic!  I'll make something beautiful for the space, but for this drawing I just needed a filler.

 Elevations and floor plans are a great way to visualize how a space is going to look.  If you're interested in having me draw some up for your space, shoot me an email at kimmisue22 @ gmail . com (remove spaces).  I'll do a floor plan and elevation combo for $20, I just need a few measurements from you first!

I really could just sit and do these all day. . .

Room & Board

I just got my new Room & Board catalog in the mail yesterday and here are a few of my favorites:

I am just loving blues and aquas right now.  And mid-century modern?  I've loved it since before it was cool (I watched a lot of I Love Lucy as a kid)

Cylinder lights, yes PLEASE!  And their fabrics are all super yummy, if only I could afford one in each color. . .

The Seville chair was inspired by Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona collection.  I have ALWAYS wanted a Barcelona Chair.  It used to be the background on my computer at work, before I was married and had a cute baby.  My students would make fun of me.  Someday. . .

The Sabrina Chair.  In lime. 

This throw.  I need more color in my bedroom and I've been thinking about chartreuse.  And I think I need this throw.

All images VIA

On the Hunt for a Good Rug

I've been mostly focused on Olivia's Nursery.  I guess its because I know soon she'll be too old for a nursery, so I better get on it!  I wanted a rug for the space, since you need a big open area for babies to play, but I didn't want it to look bare.  So here are the things I was looking for in a rug for her room:

Large, at least 5x8
Under $100 (hey a girl can dream, right?)
Chevron pattern (what can I say, I'm obsessed!)
Aqua/brown color scheme
Durable/low pile

SOOOO. . . when I read this post on Anna's Dear Friend blog, I looked at it more closely at this rug (it had been pinned to my Chevrons, So Hot Right Now board for a few months at least!) and realized it pretty much fit the bill!!

Large: Its 5x7 (for all I know rugs don't come in 5x8, most that I saw were 5x7 or 6x8)
Price: $74 (and with a tax return on the way, I can justify a small indulgence, right?)
CHEVRON PATTERN: Its like it was meant to be!!
Color: Aqua and cream.  They list it as blue, but Olivia's bedding is a very blue aqua and it looks great in the picture.  I'll have to make a judgement call when I see it in person I guess.
Durable/low pile: Its like a thick canvas, so its perfect for little knees crawling on it.  

Hello pretty rug, fancy meeting you here. . .

Source: urbanoutfitters.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Chevron Pillow and Olivia Nursery Update

You know I've been loving on Chevron for a while now.  And you know I've been working on planning Olivia's nursery for a while now.  And so, I thought I should just kill two birds with one stone, and make something Chevron for the Nursery!  One of my favorite design bloggers, Tiffany @ Living Savvy, did a review of her 2011 projects and of course the chevron pillow jumped out at me!  Tiffany actually has a LOT of awesome pillow ideas, if you need one or twenty! 

So I headed off one night after O was in bed, JoAnn 40 % off coupon in hand and picked out this fun stripe:

Source: joann.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I love how it compliments the Aqua bedding I have, but its not too matchy matchy.  Oh and in case you looked back on my nursery post, I have decided to go with an aqua and brown color scheme, instead of the pink and yellow.  Once I started getting stuff in her room, it just sort of went that way.  It happens sometimes.


Anyway, back to my pillow.  My fabric has nine stripes before it starts over and so I had to draw nine stripes on a piece of paper.  My brain just could not figure out how this was going to work with out something in my hand to move around.  I 'cut' it on the bias and it didn't take me long to see that those two pieces were never going to make a chevron pattern, so I 'cut' one of those pieces on the bias going the other way. . .

. . . and figured out how to match those up.

So I cut half of the fabric into 6 inch strips going one way, and the other half of the fabric into 6 inch strips going the other way. 

Then I matched them up to create the chevron pattern.  I do not know a better way to do this than what I did.  I don't know a better way because I'm not a freaking mathematician, which is what it would probably take to figure out a formula for making a chevron pattern out of a nine stripe fabric.  So by the time I matched the stripes, there was a little bit  of waste, and I could just barely make my fabric square 19" long.  It was 21" wide, so I cut off 1" from each side to make it an even square. 

My first try at sewing the stripes together did not go well.  I had to unpick them.  Because the bias of a fabric is really stretchy, I found the best solution to be carefully matching and pinning each stripe.  I also did a stay stitch (with bias use a large basting stitch) to keep the bias from stretching, which didn't seem to make that big of a difference to me. . .

I like to make my pillows with a flapped closure on the back so I can change them with out ruining the pillow (and with out adding a zipper.  I struggle with zippers.)  I decided to check my fabric stash and sure enough there was a drop cloth I had used for a tree skirt back in November that was perfect for the back of my pillow.  I used a scrap of the stripe cut on the bias to sew a binding on the edge of the flap opening for a little added interest.  (sorry, no picture right now)

And since this pillow was made for Olivia's Nursery, I threw Baby Bear into the mix.  I think it turned out great!!

 And Olivia doesn't like it when a camera and Baby Bear get together with out her, so she had to jump in and get in on the action.  Check out the best pictures here.

Thanks Tiffany for the inspiration!!