The "Forgotten" Photos : Decor

 The following pictures were taken by my friend, Jessica Waymeyer.  She is mucho taliente (is that a word) and she took some of the behind-the-scenes picture at my wedding.

All the decorations were designed by my friend, Briana Tejada of the new Thread and Sow!  Check out her site and get her to do your next event!

d th

 

Pinteresting Wednesdays

I have had a serious lack-of-posting disease lately.  I just haven't had much to blog about. :(  It may also be due to the craziness of May!  Mother's Day, Emily's birthday, and wedding showers!  Every weekend seems to be busy lately and my wallet is empty from all those presents.  Next year, more sentimental gifts. 

I do have a few little projects I've been working on recently.  I may post some of those soon.  Jenn has encouraged me to dip into that "creative...pool...?"  Ha. She is so artistic! 

Well, to ease myself back into posting I will just do a little "pinterest-ing" for you. 

Here is what I have found recently:

I used to not even like gold jewelry, but in the last year or so, it has really grown on me.  And these are so fun!

I seriously wear my hair like this all the time now.  I felt "bun challenged" for years and now I finally feel that I have a grip on it.

I really want to try and ink drawing like this sometime soon.  I love the lines!  And it reminds me of Aslan of course!

Brick walls...oh brick walls I love you.

"Healthy" peanut butter cookies.  My favorite. Oh yes please!

Did you know quinoa (keen-wa) is a complete protein even though it's a grain??  And it's pretty tasty too, in my opinion.

And I think I may try this today.  So summery! So fun!

Heh heh....

As always, you can find all the links for these pictures on my pinterest, http://pinterest.com/manderstee/.

Have a good rest of the week!

The Friend Files

Crystal Sanford

Crystal sent me a pic from one of our high school staff retreats.  She is the blonde on the right with the super chic orange shoes.  ;)
I used to say that Crystal is full of surprises.  She still is, but now I'm used to being surprised!  ;)  She really is one of the most fascinating people I know.  You'd just have to meet her to know what I mean.  She lives in a really cool house somewhere in Hollywood and she is great at decorating, flower arranging, cooking, basically anything creative.
She's also a really sweet and really funny girl.  And she owns a cute dog named Sailor.

Learn a little more about her.  I'm sure if you asked her to expound on any of these answers, you'd get a really interesting story.  ;)

Love you, Crystal!

What is your full name? 

Crystal Joleen Sanford

What is your favorite book?  Why?

The Bible, because it is the Living Word of God.  I also like obscure old books with fun titles like 'Try and Stop Me' by Bennett Cerf

Where is your favorite place to eat in the greater L.A. area? 

Tough question... right now i would say Forage in Silverlake and red Hill in Echo Park

Have you ever left the country?  Where did you go?  What did you do?

Mexico, family trip; Germany, business; Italy, business; France, business; Uganda, missions; England, fun.

What is your dream job?  Are you doing your dream job right now? 

To be a Wife, Mother, and Homemaker.  Not yet  ;)

Who do you look up to?  Why?

My mom, for her courage; my California mom, for her wisdom; and so many more...

What is the craziest thing you have ever done? 

Start my own business.  I guess sky diving too, I didnt really think that was crazy but my mom did.

What is the first concert you ever went to?

Cant remember, either LeAnn Rimes or The Dixie Chicks

What are you thankful for?

Salvation, Hope and Eternal Life found only in Christ, wonderful friends and my little spotted pup, Sailor

If you had a baby elephant, what would you name it?

Peanut

 

Pinteresting Wednesdays

I haven't done one of these in a while probably because "everyone" is on Pinterest now and it's not really necessary, but I will.

I don't know what I think about the whole colorblock thing in general, but I really like this sweater.  Mabye because I like boyfriend sweaters in general.  They're so comfy!  Or maybe this particular colorblock situation is just not as extreme as many.

I have never thought to do this with frames.  Especially in the kitchen.  I really like it.  I've also seen this with bookcases.  I want to try it.

I think I'm actually going to do this to my hair when I get home today.  We'll see how it turns out...

Beautiful.  Like a dream.  I could stare at this for a long time.  I would love it for my room.

Speaking of rooms, hello??  Would you look at that??  Don't you want to go there?  Now??  It looks so cozy and nice!

If I have time I may watch Roman Holiday when I get home.  You know, after I do that thing with my hair.  All before 6:30.  I get home around 4:30....hmm....

Aren't you so happy that Spring is finally here?

:)

 

New Living Room!

My mom and I decided on a look for the living room.  We are going with white and navy with some brown, pink, and grey pops.  She found some inspiration from a Restoration Hardware catalogue and then she liked one of the color schemes I came up with a few days ago.

I think it would be fun to cover a wingback chair in the Ruthie floral print.  And then I would cover some pillows with the other two fabrics along with some navy blue ones.

I can't wait to show you the finished project!  Although it probably won't be for awhile.  ;)

Grey Rug - Fallon Collection Fallon Grey Contemporary Area Rug - $203 available on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Fallon-Collection-FAL1003-Contemporary-5-60/dp/B004E30XQA
Blue Curtains - Sanela - $69.99 for a pair available on IKEA
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90172105/
White Lamp - A similar one can be found at www.finehomelamps.com Astrid White Lamp - $305
Brown Coffee Table - This one is from IKEA.  I couldn't find the same one on the site, but their is a very similar one available.  Hemnes for $119. 
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80176284/
White Couch - Similar one available at IKEA.  Karlstad - $399. 
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S09840535/
Pool Picture - "Chateau" by Jeremy Kohm.  Available on 20x200.  $60 for a 11"x14" print.
http://www.20x200.com/artworks/2606
Wingback Chair - Available at the The Bed and Chair Depot.  I'm not sure on the price.
http://www.bedandchairdepot.com/wing_back_chairs
Chair and pillow fabrics - L&S Fabrics.
 http://lsfabrics.com/

Decorating Fun

So to give credit where credit is due, I totally stole this blog post idea from one of my favorite design sites, Little Green Notebook.  And I used fabrics from the same textile company that Jenny did, L&S Fabrics.  But I thought it would be a fun little challenge to try and dream up some rooms.  Also, we recently got wood flooring in our living room and we are trying to decide on a new color scheme in there, so I thought this might be helpful for my mom to look through. 

So here are my "dream" rooms:

I think these would be pretty in a bedroom.  I would use the floral print as big pillows on the bed with a white duvet.  The funky yellow pattern I would use for curtains, and then the blue ticking I would use to cover a chair or a bench at the foot of the bed with the ikat as a pillow.

The next one I would call, "College Prep."  Not too original there.  ;)  Obviously, I think these would work well in a dorm room, or a young graduate's room.  The solid blue would cover a fancy chair and the deer head print would cover a little bolster pillow to go with it.  The latttice I would use for curtains and the floral print would cover pillows for the bed.

Would it be crazy to use the following prints in a nursery?  I hope not, because I would!  I'd use the blue bird print for curtains, the brown check print on a cozy rocker with the crazy stripe print as a pillow.  And I'd use the red and brown damask as bumpers..?...whatever those things are called inside the crib.  ;)   

These I could see in our living room.  My mom and I both really like red.  I would love the solid red on a couch with the small blue print as pillows.  The top floral I would use for curtains, and the bottom floral...maybe as more pillows?  I'm not sure on that one, but I like the combo.

Next set up: "Jungle Fever."  I'm killing you with the creativity, right?!  Heh heh.  Again, I would see these in a living room.  I can be a little bit chicken with crazy prints so I would keep the jungle print on some pillows.  I would cover an ottoman or pouf with the brown lattice print.  I'd use the damask print on curtains, and the stripe I would use to cover a chair...I think.

I haven't done a dining room or kitchet yet, so I'll imagine this last set in a combined kitchen/dining room.  I'd either cover some chairs or upholster some with the lattic fabric, then I would use the stripe to cover a cushion on a built in bench and then add some pillows with the fun bird print.  And I would make some pretty Roman shades with the floral.

So there you have it.  What would you do??

DIY: Refrigerator Word Magnets

Almost a year ago now, I'm guessing, I pondered over the idea of joining the Etsy world.  I came up with a few things I might sell, some better than others.  One of the not so good ideas was making and selling refrigerator word magnets.  I actually followed through on making these.  I made a TON.  And then I decided not to sell them, so they are still covering our fridge.

I just think these are so fun!  People come up with random, funny sentences or phrases.  So I thought I would give a simple DIY on the ol' blog today.

First I bought magnet sheets at Office Max.

Avery Ink Jet magnet paper to be exact.

Then I got out some Mod Podge...

and some sponge on a stick thingy's...

and then I cut out a ton of words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs from magazines that had fun fonts or crazy words and I mod podged them onto the magnet paper with the sponge on a stick.

The most tedious part comes after the mod podge dries...cutting out each individual word!

As I cut out the words I separated them into little baggies by type of word such as, adjectives, nouns, verbs, conjunctions...etc.  You don't need to do this if you're just going to keep them yourself.  Unless you want to know how many you have of each type of word.

Don't forget to cut out lots of a's, and's, the's, in's, for's, to's, you know...those kinds of words that you use a lot.

That's it!  Pretty simple.  It just takes a long time.

Have fun making crazy sentences!

DIY: Olive Green Drawers

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I love interior design.  And if you know me persoanlly you probably know that I love to fix up old furniture! 

Well, the other day at work, my wonderful boss, Rita, brought in an old little thing of drawers.  It almost looked like it belonged on top of a desk.  She was going to put it on the volunteer table which is basically a giveaway table, but first she asked me if I wanted it.  I almost passed it up but then I gave it a closer look.  I loved the rounded edges on the drawers and the old handles and it had a retro 50's feel.  So I took a chance..."on an unknown kid."  (Excuse me, random movie quote.)

Of course I had to blog about the process.  ;)

Not all the pics are great...so bare with me.

For some reason not all my before pictures downloaded, but here is a close up of what it looked like before:

Of course, I sanded it down first.

These drawers used to hold silver, so they had this weird fake felt inside.  I tore out the silver holders...

.

...and scraped out the fake felt.  This was the longest part of the whole process.  And I should have been wearing a face mask.  It came off like fine powder.

The mix of the powder with the wood chips was not the nicest thing to inhale.

I bought some nice already mixed olive green paint from Lowe's.

I taped up the handles because they were super hard to remove.

And I lined the drawers with some laminate paper also found at Lowe's.

Not a perfect paint job, but I don't think anyone will notice.

I stuck the drawers back in...

and Voila!  All done!

Here it is in my room.  ;)  A new pedestal for Woody!