New Additions to Our Home from the Talented Artist Patricia Palmbos!

It has been a lovely Memorial Day weekend spent with my family! Gorgeous weather, cooking out, farmer's market, brunch, and lots of walking! I also have some new additions to our home thanks to my parents. The chair I talked about repurposing before is finally done. Also, a new pillow for the bed. Take a look below.

This is the before shot of the chair. It was very cute, but a bit traditional and didn't quite go with my home decor. I spent a weekend with my dad repainting it to be a glossy black.


Then it arrived this weekend after my mom, extremely talented woman that she is, reupholstered the cushions in this geometric print fabric I picked out.

Little miss Wiggles always has to get in on the photos!

Here is a photo of the roman shades in our bedroom that my mom also made that I posted on a blog earlier.

Now there is a gorgeous pillow to match that just adds a finishing touch to the bed and makes it look more cozy. The best thing is there's a different pattern on the other side of the pillow. How cool is that!

One thing for me is that I will pretty much never be "done" decorating my place. It is an ongoing fun creative process and a great place to try new things. I hope you find some ways to update your home for the summer by making new pillow covers, recovering a chair, or even just adding a new vase with some beautiful flowers. Never stop creating and updating and keep it fun!

Memorial Day Weekend Chicago Style!

Have a fun Memorial Day Weekend! If you're in Chicago come check out the Randolph St. Market Festival for some great vintage/flea market finds. I hope to get there myself. It will be a beautiful weekend. It's that time of year to start making it to Farmer's Markets and Flea Markets. I just love summer!

More Baby Rooms!

After adding the adorable baby girl room ideas I thought I would finish the week off with a boy's room and a gender neutral room inspiration. The best thing about decorating a baby room is that you can have so much fun with it and try something completely unexpected and colorful.

My absolute favorite idea from this room is the stripe painted ceiling! How fun is that. It is so bright and colorful but doesn't overpower the room because it is only on the ceiling and the black chalk board wall and black furniture accents keep it all grounded. I really love the cozy faux fur rug on the floor too. See, you don't have to have everything be cutesy babyish. You can use something that is sophisticated and move it to another room eventually as your child gets older.

This gender neutral room is so adorable! Again a faux fur blanket here thrown on the side of the crib. It adds such a cute and cozy touch. There are more cute baby things here like the polka dots, giraffe, and other accessories on the shelves but it still has a lot of things that could grow with your child. The paint color is fun and the roman shade, chair, shelf, and throw are all something your child could use as they get older as well.

I just love this shelf! So funky and modern and has some great closed storage as well as open for some cute items you want to display.

This is actually an Ikea dresser that was transformed into a baby changing table by putting some edging to the top, painting it a nice soft white, and adding a cushion.

Baby Room

So many of my friends and family members have been having babies or will be soon. I just saw my cousin's new baby boy, Karter, and he is such a cutie. It has inspired me to post my personal favorite baby room decor inspiration that I may use someday for my own home.

The thing I love about baby rooms nowadays is they aren't so cutesy anymore - unless that's your thing of course! But you can go more modern and do something that will most likely grow up as your child grows up with only having to make a few changes here and there. It will save you time and money AND is much better for the environment if your child can take their furniture with them someday. So throw out all those old rules and have some fun with your nursery!

I adore the dresser here and is definitely something you could either use in a different room later on or your child could take it with them someday when they move out. I am also inspired by the gorgeous wallpaper on the walls. Very bright and colorful but not babyish either. It gives it a fresh look.

Here's my take on the inspiration room.

Fun wallpaper from www.anthropologie.com. Perfect for a baby girls room.

I have been wanting this Eames rocking chair for ages and the black would be a perfect color with the bright, busy wallpaper.

Now here is the investment piece from Grange Furniture, located in the Merchandise Mart Chicago. It is from their vintage collection and would hold up for years to come.

A pink Eames molded plywood elephant! What little girl wouldn't love this!

A simple white Kendall crib from Pottery Barn would fit perfectly in this room.

Last but not least the Talulah the Toucan George Nelson clock. This would be so cute with the wallpaper.

Hope you've enjoyed and if you are expecting have some fun trying a little unexpected touch to your nursery.

Modern Bedrooms

I'm feeling inspired tonight to post my favorite bedroom decor images due to being ready to fall into bed for a good nights sleep! I have been wanting to make my bedroom a bit more cozy and these are giving me some ideas. Hope this inspires you to have sweet dreams tonight. Feel free to comment on which one is your favorite!

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Waterworks

I have just recently begun working as a design intern at the Waterworks showroom at the Merchandise Mart. It has been an awesome experience so far and I have learned so much about bath and tile. I have also discovered how well known Waterworks is for their bathtubs by discovering them in Elle Decor and House Beautiful.

Here is the Waterworks .25 bathtub in Elle Decor.

Here it is again in House Beautiful - sculptural and modern.

This is the gorgeous Candide bathtub in House Beautiful. This one embodies the beauty of classic French boat tubs.

This I haven't found in a design magazine just yet but it is my personal favorite. One of my favorite things to do is take a bubble bath with a glass of wine and this tub would make it even better! It is completely handmade using the artesian methods and tools as the original 19th century designs. With so many products out there today why not get something that is a work of art!

If you'd like to check out more of the amazing craftmanship go to www.waterworks.com.

Latest Projects

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! It was a crazy weekend traveling and then started a new design internship, which I love, but trying to get back on schedule. I wanted to share a few projects with you I've started. Just a preview since there is more work to be done, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

Here are some before and afters at my brothers place. I will be adding more to this wall but his travel photos in frames really spruced up the empty wall in the dining room. The frames are all from Ikea, believe it or not, and look great!

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AFTER

This is a preview of my weekend project at my parents home. My wonderful dad helped a lot with the painting of the chair. My mom will be helping with the reupholstering. Although the chair is really cute as is, it is a bit traditional and I wanted to modernise it a bit. So the frame is now a glossy black. Stay tuned for the new fabric for the cushions!

Book of the Week: Midwest Modern by Amy Butler

One of my favorite things to do is go to a book store and head straight for the design section, find some new decorating books, grab some coffee, and enjoy! One of my favorites is Midwest Modern by Amy Butler. I loved this one so much I bought it.

Amy Butler is an artist and designs beautiful fabric patterns. The book talks about her life and gives great ideas for decorating your own home.




This is her living room. I love the floor cushions which are covered in fabric of her design. The best thing is there is a "how to" in the book to make these yourself!

This is her studio. It just looks cozy, welcoming, and like a fun place to work. I dream of having my own studio to work on my decorating projects, which will hopefully turn into a business one day. The desk is another farm style table! Gotta love that!

She talks about how she gets inspiration and great items from her home at flea markets. I love, love flea markets and antique shows and loved that she gets inspiration there too.

A fabulous flea market find!

She also includes information on many clothing patterns and, my favorite, this fun bag! I discovered this great fabric store in Chicago called The Needle Shop that sells her fabric and patterns for a very reasonable price!

www.theneedleshop.etsy.com

You can also purchase from them at this website.

Here are pictures of their friends Lake house. I just love how their all sitting at the end of the dock with their feet soaking and drinking wine. Can't get a better weekend than that!