Before & After: Rast Hack

After taking care of some business online today, I decided to treat myself to a surf of my favorite design blogs and came across this amazing IKEA Rast hack by Kelly of Hello Boudreau via Jenny of Little Green Notebook. I can’t stop looking at the pics! This is, in my opinion, the best Rast hack I’ve seen yet.

Kelly started out with this…

…and ended up with this! Sweet, no?

Check out more pics of Kelly’s project at Hello Boudreau: Ikea Rast Hack. For extra credit check out more of Jenny’s picks for best Rast hacks at the top of her post.

Until next time!

Put A Lid On It

My new hat. Cute, huh?

I bought a hat at Target the other day. It is a summer fedora but I couldn’t pass it up because I love hats. Frequently, however, hats don’t love me back… They are too small or the wrong shape for my face or some other weird thing. This hat fits perfectly and looks good on me, so how could I pass that up? Plus, since it’s off season I got it for a mere $3.88 + tax. Can you beat that?

While I’m happy with that purchase, what I really went in there for was to see if I could find some Fall/Winter accessories so I could stay warm during these chilly seasons. One small problem: I was totally underwhelmed by Target’s offerings this year. That really bummed me out because Target is my go-to place for fashionable, reasonably priced accessories.

So… I had to start looking elsewhere. I admit that so far I’ve only looked online. But I’ve found some stuff that is funky and fun enough for me to be happy with! Here’s what I found:

Kate Spade NY 'Big Apple' hat and convertible mittens @Nordstrom.

I really love the tinge of color on the edges of Kate Spade’s mitten/trapper hat combo and it’s a wool blend so it’s probably super warm. Honestly, the $80+ per piece price range isn’t too terribly realistic right now, so…

Old Navy's 'Color Block' & 'Super Soft Sweater' cold weather accessories.

Old Navy comes to the rescue! All of these pieces are $15 or less… and prove conclusively that I love green! While I do like these pieces the set I found online that I love the most is this multi-color set from Kohl’s.

'Zigzag' slouchy hat and infinity scarf @Kohl's.

I really like the ribbed chevron on the Zigzag set, don’t you? Well, the search continues… Where do you get your cold winter accessories from?

Have a good weekend, everyone! Until next time…

Fall Foliage

I love this pretty fall colored dress with an oversized Calla Lily border print from Anthropologie, $$178.

Technically, Calla Lilys aren’t foliage but they are one of my favorite flowers with their creamy, white, sculptural lines. I came across this amazing dress while flipping through the new Anthropologie catalog. I love the colors (SO fall/autumn) and the lovely drape. I think this would make a great dress for a cocktail party…

Until next time!

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!

Autumn Lights

The inspiration piece: a print from Volume 25.

I apologize for the late post everyone but I worked today and, honestly, I had not prepared a post beforehand! So here is something that I’m quite proud of, that I’d like to share with you (in case you haven’t seen it): my second Etsy Treasury!

Photograph of Versailles by Amanda Kay Photography.

OK, OK. Maybe I shouldn’t be so excited… but I just discovered the amazing amount of fun that can be had putting a Treasury together. And this one is getting such an awesome response…

Gorgeous macro of (one of my favorites) a hydrangea by Chez Jolly.

Check out An Autumn Full of Light for yourself and let me know what you think!

Two more days til the weekend and some quality chair makeover time!

Got Rug? (The IKEA Edition)

If you’ve been following me for a bit, you know that I’m really picky about rugs. I find that lower end rugs tend lack the kind of style that I crave in a floor covering. So yesterday, after I got off work, I headed over to the textiles area at IKEA. I have to admit that textiles has become my favorite section at IKEA these days. They’ve got some really great stuff this year (a plethora of totally on trend items in purple/lavender being chief among them… but I digress). Anywho, I’m decided to see if they’d put any new rug styles up yet…

Whoa. I was struck by three styles in particular:

Gandrup rug (78″x118) IKEA – $299.

Graphic, black, gray, cream, and gold rug featuring stripes overlaid with an abstract daisy pattern. Love the chic color combo here! The really cool thing about this rug is that the color and pattern are crisp and clean, not murky or or muted like some IKEA rugs can be.

Broager rug (63″x94″) IKEA – $249.

This rug looks like a really cool gray in my pic (because of the lighting in the store) but is actually a warm, gray-brown with ivory flower sprays in the pattern. It is really lovely and soft in person. This would make a great choice for someone who wanted something with a feminine but clean edge to it.

Skoghall rug (78″x118″) IKEA – $249

The last rug is not offered in a colorway that I would usually get but it was so pretty, I had to share it here. This one has a rich, milky orange red (it literally reminds me of tomato soup) with a gorgeous abstracted flower pattern in a low contrast brown/tan. The tag says it is red/black but it definitely looked brownish tan in the showroom. The pattern on this is so beautiful! I wish they offered it in a cool colorway… like green and blue. Still, if you’re doing warm tones in your house this would be an awesome choice.

Have a great week! I hope your Monday is like a Friday! See you tomorrow. 🙂

Thrift Store Score: Headboard

I picked this up last week and already have a buyer coming by to pick it up on Friday! My first sale… I’m so excited.

Pretty cool, huh? It’s a vintage, black, chinoiserie style king size headboard. It’s in excellent shape. If I owned a king size bed, I might consider keeping it myself, it’s so good looking. Except I’d maybe paint it and have upholstered panels put in place of the caning to give it a softer, more coordinated look. Something like one of these:

Weathered gray and Pierre Frey’s Petit Parc…

Or black and any color of Kelly Wearstler’s Imperial Trellis…

Red and F. Schumacher’s Alabaster Chiang Mai Dragon…

The possibilities are endless! That’s my news for the day. Hope you’re having an amazing Wednesday! Happy hunting for your own thrift store scores. 🙂

Rustic Elegance

I am totally in love with gray right now and I’ve always been a fan of mixing luxe items with rustic or industrial pieces. So, today I bring you some of my favorite recent finds in gray, both industrial and luxurious.

From top left: Foothill Wool Rug, $700-$1500 – Decorarugs.com; Bubbled Beverage Dispenser, $298 – Anthropologie; Spool side table, $199 – Crate & Barrel; Wood Alphabet by Bookhou At Home, $50 – Etsy; Piecrust Dinnerware in Cloud, $12-$20 – Anthropologie; Bachelor’s Steel & Wood Cabinet, $1245 – Clayton Gray Home; Ceramic Stallion, $99 – Z Gallerie.

Totally Inspiring Room

So, I’m doing another inspiration room this week! I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share this gem of kitchen with you:

Lindsay Reid’s Pasadena cottage kitchen from the June 2011 issue of House Beautiful.

This room is so elegant and simple. I love the dark gray cabinets, the coolly linear backsplash, the warmth of the textiles on the window and window seat… and the complete lack of upper cabinets. I’ve seen some really beautiful kitchens but I think this one is definitely vying for first place on my list of favorites.

What do you think of this kitchen? Love it or hate it?

Soft Touch

Its a soft, gray, rainy day here in Charlotte today. I was planning on putting these pics but the soft, muted colors seem especially appropriate given the melancholy Springs weather.

Here is a serving of rain washed colors for this not so sunny spring day:

Soft pinks, gray, and white dominate this set. (Sources: unknown, Domino, Elle Decor, unknown.)

Washed out bluish gray and Sterling rose lavenders create a moody ambience. (Sources: unknown, Domino, unknown, Champagne & Macarons blog.)

Soft gray-browns, white, and silver. (Sources: Mallory Morrison Photography, Greige blog, unknown, Elle Decoration Australia.)

Have a great Friday and a (hopefully) sunnier weekend!