Inspired: Apartment Therapy Home Tour

While eating my breakfast this morning and perusing my usual blogs, I came across this great home tour on Apartment Therapy. It has given me lots of motivation for some of the errands I have to do today. Take a peek.

(all images via Apartment Therapy)

Something about the simple decor on their side table makes me want to spruce mine up a bit. I think it has to do with the fact that their chaise and side table at the same height, just like ours. 

Great pillows. Nuff said.

I'm love, loving the mix and match of bright patterns in their daughter's room. I'm feeling I need to add some extra texture to the nursery with the colors I've been using. 

And this chalk board painted wall is such a great idea for any kid's room. Maybe once our girl gets a little older she'll get her own chalk board wall. 

I always love an all-white bathroom. The pink picture is the perfect, subtle pop of color.

I've been wanting to paint our front door a bright color for some time now, but have yet to bite the bullet. 

For the full home tour, see Sarah & Clay's Playful Yet Elegant Home at Apartment Therapy.

Ruffles

I've always loved the Waterfall Ruffle Shower Curtain from Urban Outfitters, but not it's $79.00 price tag.

I love anything ruffled really. 

Check out their Ruffled Duvet Cover,

and I'm very seriously considering purchasing their Ruffled Laundry Bag for the baby's room.

My sweet husband got me a UO gift card for Mother's Day and while perusing their website I found this orange ruffled shower curtain for half off - only $39.99! 

I've been looking for a way to spruce up the guest bathroom, and this pop of color is the perfect fit. The rest of the bathroom pretty much has a white and beige theme going on. It still needs some work including a fresh coat of paint on the walls, some sort of art on the wall about the toilet, and replacing the 1990's countertop. 

Here are two before pictures of how the bathroom looked before. 

Well my order arrived the other day and it took me no time to rip open the box and hang the new shower curtain. I apologize in advance for the terrible lighting in these photos. Since we live in a townhouse and the guest bathroom is right in the middle of the second floor, we get little to no natural light in this room. 

In case you are curious, here is a shot of the counter in the bathroom.

The milk glass shoe is one of many pieces that my grandmother has given me over the past two years. 

The picture on the left is my gorgeous mom from 1979. And the picture on the left is my maternal grandmother. I adore both pictures. The little jar was part of a set of 4 jars with missing lids I snagged in the Ikea "as-is" room for $1.99. The white dish is from Pier One.

The guest bathroom is where I shower, so that's why I opted for a more girly feel. For me, it's roomier than our master bathroom (ok, roomy for a townhouse bathroom) and I can shower and blow dry my hair and not worry about waking up Jordan in the morning.

These shower hooks were in the clearance shelf at TJMaxx. Love them!

These gorgeous detailed towels are part of a set that my aunt gave me for a housewarming gift. I love the floral detail on a simple white towel. The rest of the set is in our master bathroom.

I'm happy to say that the orange of the fabric is almost more of a peachy-coral orange, than a bright construction cone orange it appears in the above pictures. Here is a shot of the curtain in the sunlight. It's pretty close to the picture that UO had on their website, if not a tiny bit lighter.

Since I was on a roll with ruffles, I also picked up this Gingham Ruffle Pillow in black on sale for $9.99,

along with this Ruffle Stripe Pillow in orange, also $9.99.

A sucker for letters and anything monogrammed, I had to grab myself some letters, too.

Left: Wire Frame Letter                                                                  Right: Industrial Stencil Letter

I'm still playing around with a home for each. I was limited to which letters were available. Most of the ones I was looking for were out of stock, so I opted for D's on both. Once they come back in stock I plan to get a few other letters.

Someday if I can figure out how to get some decent lighting I'll take a few real pictures and a more detailed look at the guest bathroom.

To The Max

Maxi dresses in lots of fun patterns make me very happy.

Bring on summer!

Design Your Own Fabric

Check out this great post over on BabyCenter where John and Sherry from Young House Love talk about the custom fabric they designed for their daughter Clara's first birthday party. Using her own handwriting, Sherry created this print of her daughter's name which she customized with colors, duplicated for the layout, and sent over to Spoonflower to have created. 

photo courtesy of Young House Love

Isn't that the coolest idea? John and Sherry used the fabric as a backdrop for pictures during the birthday party. But it would be just as great to create your own throw pillows or curtains (or anything really) with this fabric. 


Some of the details Spoonflower lists on their website for creating your own fabric:

• no minimum order
• $18-$32 per yard (or a swatch for $5)
• made of premium natural fabrics
• uses eco-friendly textile printing
• weekly fabric design contests

I'm itching to create a fabric of my own although I haven't decided what design I want. I may go the same route at YHL and design a print using our little one's name. I will definitely be relying on a carefully selected font as I hate my own handwriting and can't write in cursive to save my life. I also like the idea of creating some sort of abstract floral design using the same colors I used for the pom-pom project: pinks with gold and splash of teal. Maybe I could even incorporate both ideas into the design. Some abstract design with her name laced into it. 

Check out Spoonflower and take a peek at some of the fabrics that have been made. You can even order someone else's designed fabrics.

Things I'm Digging: Fishtail Braids

Pregnancy hormones and prenatal vitamins have kindly graced me with ever-growing locks. My hair is probably the longest it has been in some time. I officially have mermaid hair! (That's what I call the length when your hair is long enough to cover your boobs.) While I don't want to cut it, summer is coming quickly and I need to find an easy solution to the heat. 

Enter the fishtail braid.

source unknown

Having been born with stringy, stick straight hair, I have always relied on braids to add the thickness and texture I've craved to my locks. When I was in grade school I was the girl who always french braided every one's hair for them. I've worn some form of braids in my hair for years now. Whether is be a low braided pony tail, a thick braid of my bangs, or a few simple tiny braids in the side of my head. Fishtail braids have always caught my eye as being one of the prettiest, simplest looking hairstyles, and it wasn't until last summer that I finally taught myself how to do them.

I prefer a messy tousled braid over the perfect, tightly braided version.

Moni Souris

Melissa McKenzie


Even many celebs are sporting these trendy tresses.

Angela Simmons via The Weave Bar

Mattieologie

Fergie via Stiletto Chic

Mary-Kate via Nona Ellin

Here are some other great, bold braids that are hot this season if the side-pony fishtail doesn't work for you:

whowhatwear

I see myself sporting lots of braids this summer.