Totally Inspiring Room

The living area in a project my Isabel Lopez-Quesada via ECLECchic.

This living room is by Spanish interior designer Isabel Lopez-Quesada. This is my second time featuring her work on a Totally Inspiring Room post and I’m sure it won’t be the last! Her rooms always seem supremely livable and effortlessly chic at the same time. Definitely something I find totally inspiring… not to mention that I’m totally in love with the blue/purple/pink/coral scheme. See more of the project at the blog ECLECchic or see more of Isabel Lope-Quesada’s work on her own website!

Happy Tuesday, all! Until next time…

Strange Librarian…

I totally admit that this is out of left field. To be honest I was planning on going in a different direction when I started playing around with the Etsy Treasury tool… but that green scarf had “crazy, scary, sexy librarian” written all over it and the rest is Etsy Treasury gold. Well, I think so anyway!

My inner Halloweenista has stepped out into the October night!

Prelude to Halloween? Maybe… Could just be insomnia. Check out the treasury and tell me what you think. Until next time!

Totally Inspiring Room

Magenta + campaign dresser = the sexiest combo ever!

I saw this vignette on the website of artist Lulie Wallace and it totally rocked my world! I love how the magenta color on the campaign style dresser just pops off the soft pistachio green. The folky still life and glam gold + animal print chair add extra dimension to the tableau, don’t they? See it featured in Society Social’s “The Manifesto Magalog” along with some other cool girly and glam stuff. Until next time!

The Drawing Board…

I’m terrible about projects sometimes… You’ll remember how a few weeks ago, I showed you the lamps I bought that I wanted to do the neon + neutral bottle wrap project on? Well, when I went to Lowes to pick up the masons line (neon yellow and pink nylon) and twine to do the project, I didn’t like it! So now, I’ve got to back to the drawing board on that lamp project. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it now. I definitely want to paint it because brown is not a color I’m fond of (even though the brown on my lamp is a dark, glossy chocolate brown and not at all ugly). Since I’m bankrupt for a solid idea for the lamp, I’ve decided to try and do some planning for the desk I bought a while back:

Craig’s List desk.

It needs serious work! At first I thought that I wanted to do a standard white or ivory paint job on it but after seeing this room by Kimberly Ayres design (thank God for Google image search, btw! I actually first saw this picture on a blog without a photo credit and it took me ages to figure out who designed the room).

The main inspiration for my CL desk find is this room by Kimberly Ayres Design.

High gloss mint would look great on my desk, don’t you think? I think it would look awesome. I’ve been gathering paint chips for the perfect shade of mint green. Today I started looking for drawer pulls because I don’t really like the original pulls. I found these at Anthropologie:

Sardinia Knob, $12 each at Anthropologie.com.

I’m hoping to find some decent sized unpolished square brass backplates for the knobs to sit on. I think that’d look nice on the flat edges of the drawers. I’ve also wanted to use some of the metallic fine papers from Paper Source to line the inside of drawers for a while… I’m thinking this marbled gold would look good:

Gold on Natural Marble Fine Paper, $6.50 per sheet at Paper Source.

Well, that’s my wish list for my desk project. I’m hoping to find some inspiration for the lamp project soon as I think I’d like to tackle the smaller project first. Any suggestions for my lamp?

Totally Inspiring Room

I saw this room while I was surfing Pinterest. I followed the links to La Dolce Vita’s blog where it was shown as part of the This Or That feature. The home office belongs to Lauren Gold of Nate Berkus Associates and was featured in the July/August issue of Lonny last summer. The whole apartment is amazing but this office just… Wow! Right?

I’m off to work now. I’m trying my hand at fashion tomorrow. You’ll have to let me know if I’m hopeless with that. 🙂 Have a happy Tuesday, everyone!

Totally Inspiring Room

Better late than never, today’s edition of totally inspiring room is brought to you by the happy, colorful genius of Palmer Weiss. The mix of new, old, color, playfulness, and unstudied elegance is just right. This is another room I could walk into without changing a thing.

Happy belated Tuesday, all. See you tomorrow… hopefully much earlier!

Totally Inspiring Room



Not sure where I found this… surfing as usual. What do I like about it? The soft, feminine, comfortable vibe. Nice touches include: the pastel violet lamp on the nightstand, the old world settee, the oversized floral above the bed, and the sweet, drapey shade on the window. Yeah, soft and lovely. Definitely something to aspire to. Though if I’m honest, I know I’d have to throw some edge in there somewhere… like a high gloss dresser in dark olive green. Right now olive green and pale violey with gold accents is totally rocking my boat… but I digress!

Check you tomorrow, peoples, when I reveal my painted lamps (sans shades). Until then!

New Projects

I have a dream… that one day this will be glam not ham.

Now that the chair is finished, my plan is to start work on some new projects for the next couple of weeks.

Project #1:
I bought four IKEA Lack tables to do this project from SpaceSays. Basically, you use the tops from two tables to make a cube and then decorate the edges with office tacks. I’m thinking of upholstering them as well. A little batting, a little fabric. Maybe an animal print or an ikat?

Project #2:

Someone really did a number on this IKEA Klubbo table… I’m going to do another number on it. But better.

Another IKEA table, this time the Klubbo coffee table. I found this with the veneer almost completely peeling off the edges for $20. It is going to replace my mom’s Lack coffee table (the larger sized one with a shelf below) in the living room. I’ll be removing the peeled veneer, priming and painting it in Krylon’s high gloss Cherry Red and painting the legs gold. Cool, eh?

Project #3:

Lamps should not be this color. Ever.

I bought these two lamps from a big box clearance section. The medium brown tone of the wood is a no go. Instead I’ll be spraying on high gloss black paint and putting on new shades. I’m leaning toward a black shade with a gold lining… really going Glam with it.

Project #4:

The dresser… holding my lovely A Giannelli horse head bookends and Design*Sponge @ Home.

The Simmons dresser. I’ve had this for a while. I’ve vacillated wildly on what to do with it. At first I thought I’d just strip it and clear coat it. Then, I decided maybe a two tone finish similar to the original finish would be good. Finally, I thought a high gloss bright would be the best option. Actually, I wont be doing any of those but I think the idea I did come up with will be pretty and unique!

Project #5:

The armoire with the doors off…

This tall Asian style armoire was a ReStore find. Originally, it was meant to house a TV and related components. I disassembled the turntable and removed the upper door with a view to converting it into office armoire. Now I’m thinking it will work out better as a bar. I’m still not sure what direction to take as far as color goes… any suggestions would be much appreciated!

So, that’s what I’ve got on my plate in the coming weeks. Now that my arsenal of tools and helpful friends and family are coming to my aid when I need them, you should be seeing a lot more DIY around these here parts!

I hope you’re having an awesome Wednesday! See you tomorrow!

Totally Inspiring Room

Soft, serene, and utterly feminine yet simple… today’s room is an I inspiring, restful retreat. I love the gray, gold, and simple white linens mix. No harsh, distracting colors or patterns, just the kind of simple elegance that defies sleepless nights.

I hope you’re having an awesome day! I got my gift from work: an Android tablet. Not top of the line but it’s one more tablet than I had yesterday. I love IKEA! Until tomorrow!

Totally Inspiring Room

This guest room is by Elizabeth Dinkel and was designed for a show house at the Greystone Estate, an (at the time) unoccupied mansion.  The colors: aqua, gold, white with little hints of chocolate brown. The vibe is feminine and elegant. I imagine any guest would be happy to stay in the soft and pretty room.

Happy Tuesday, all! I’m on the mend. Really! I’m so glad to be able to breathe through my nose again. It’s the little things, right? Until tomorrow!