My love and I had a weekend jaunt in Chicago recently. We saw Billy Elliott on stage, ate embarrassing amounts of food, and soaked up as much cable TV in our hotel room as physically possible. Of course, I also forced A. to walk with me to Anthropologie, just because.

We cruised the sale racks and I found this awesome A hook. I love letters. And I have been needing a hook on which to hang my various bags.  It works perfectly on our pantry wall by the garage entry!

There are lots of cutsey hooks on the Anthro site. Check ‘em out!

Have a most wonderful Monday, loves!

{Courtesy of Elle Decor, tipped off by Jen}

Hope your Monday is cheery {and filled with polka dots!},

To make up for her shenanigans I will tell you an exciting story. On Monday I was perusing the Pier1 website and stumbled across this table on clearance for $180.

I have been searching for something to replace our dining table for months now.

My main issue with ours is the layout – notice how the legs are not at the corner, but set in slightly. This makes it extremely hard to fit two chairs on the sides. It irks me. I have been picturing a round wooden table for the space, but I was intrigued with the shape of the above-pictured table and I’m a sucker for a clearance sticker. I called our local store yesterday and found out they did, in fact, have only one in stock. And, since it was a floor model used for displays, she would sell it to me for 50% off the clearance price. Score!

I rushed out of work and skipped happily into the store. Unfortunately, in person the table was underwhelming. And it looked a little small to seat two on each side, so no problems were solved. I wandered around the store dejectedly for awhile and consoled myself by ogling these beauties:

Confetti Dinnerware. I’m a sucker for polka dots, and I’m pretty sure these match my kitchen curtains.

Cute little flower bowls

Scalloped serving bowl. This is stunning in person. They had it displayed with hand towels in it, and I think it would be lovely in a guest bathroom. Or, you know, anywhere in my house….

I jumped at this mug. Unfortunately it says “tea time,” and I will be consuming tea NO time soon.

It is oh so me, though.

I think I need these chalkboard jars. I want glass canisters to replace our current set, how cute would these be?!?

Glass candlesticks are always classy, in my opinion.

There. I feel better already. Hopefully the New Year will bring more successful bargain hunting

Cheers,

… in my head, anyway. (It’s actually from here.)

I’m not going to show you what our actual office looks like – it’s just a small step away from embarrassing, and I wouldn’t want you to feel bad about judging me.

One wall is the fabulous Sherwin-Williams Baked Clay color that we used for the red wall transformation in our living room. The wall with the window is tomato red. Like, super super tomato red. And the other walls are the soft Nomadic Desert beige that is our base color throughout the house.

I chose these warm colors because I love orange and red…and I think it must have been cold out. My darling A. surprised me by painting the office while I was on a business trip. I came home to the redolent smell of paint fumes and a gleaming, red-orange office.

We never got around to properly decorating it, and lately I have been itching to finish it and move on with my life. I used to walk into that room and soak up all the warm-glowy goodness.

And now…now…I might hate it. It seems smaller than it should and  overwhelming red. I keep finding photos like this (from Apartment Therapy), and coveting the light walls and breathy, soft light.

This article showcases a lot of gems, some a little too modern for us to pull off, but full of ideas.

While I can’t exactly replicate the brick wall in this office, I’m starting to dig the idea of pulling in color through art and furniture rather than through the walls:

This is probably more likely to happen (and yes, sadly, the antlers too…), but I think “messy chic” would be a good step away from the suffocating red:

Do you guys have any ideas? It’s a small space, but I really think it could be a lot more beautiful and functional with a little light gray paint (don’t kill me, honey), a painted desk, and some white frames.

And maybe some antlers.

Love,

We do and there isn’t. So we will all just have to suffer through.

While J is searching for the perfect nightstand, I am on the hunt for a dresser. NOT just any dresser. It must be one that looks like this:

What is this style called? For some reason I have “Queen Anne” in my head, but I wouldn’t put money on it. So far, Craiglist has failed me. FAILED. As have all the local thrift stores. I still know what you are thinking – Why on earth would she want that? It looks kind of dated and blah…..OMG, K, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

I know. Creepy, huh?

Well, lovelies, I need this dresser because I am dying to turn it into something like this:

Michelle’s transformation:

Before

After

Nichole’s transformation:

Before

After

Do you see what I mean? Oh, the possibility!

Do you have one of these?!? I will buy it from you. And then G will come and pick it up (somewhere out there he is saying Uh, what?!?! I know, it’s an uncanny ability). Come on, let’s make a deal.

That’s my kind of hunting.

Love,

Well, after weeks and weeks of hard work, it now has transformed into this! :

I’ve been busy, okay?

 BUT, I have been going crazy over some cute accent tables/nightstands from Target.com, and I think I may be close to honing in on a nightstand for my side of the bed. Baby steps, people, baby steps.

Here are some fabulous little numbers to consider – help me choose the right one! Keep in mind that A’s nightstand and the matching dresser have a dark finish and are sort of solid/masculine.

This glass beauty fulfills my girly longings, but is it too girly?

As long as I’m we’re pretending – here’s this sort of expensive pretty little thing:

This is probably more of a fit, but is it too quirky?

Or should I be headed in an…organic…direction:

This metal barrel type is sort of a nice mix of hard and soft. What do you think?

I should probably just have K pick one out for me, but then I’d probably end up with this:

What’s your vote?

Happy Friday!

Okay, so I know I’m waaaay behind the times, but I just figured out how to use polyvore to create inspiration rooms/boards, so I thought I would share. So … pretend that this is news to you

This is an example of what you can do with polyvore:

Just Playing by homageblog featuring Old Navy

I think I deserve that Anthro couch (and the standing floor mirror, for that matter). Don’t you agree?

Anyway, I put that together in just a few minutes. As I browsed the galleries of designs, I realized that some people out there have major polyvore talent. Check out these amazing creations!

315Sem título by maria cecilia on Polyvore.com

tropic retreat by Victorianvelvet featuring DIEGO PERCOSSI PAPI earrings

un po di relax… by noemi91 on Polyvore.com

Aren’t they incredible? I wish I could spend all day designing rooms for my house. If only I had known about this when I had the flu. I could have been making room art instead of forcing A. to watch my old X-Files DVDs all day. It was a bonding experience.

Anyway, do you use polyvore? Share your creations with us! I can’t wait to play with this tool even more.

Happy Tuesday, my darlings,

What’s so great about it? Well, like everything at IKEA, it’s relatively inexpensive, plus it stores a TON. Here’s mine:

Clearly we’re very literary. Note the full set of encylopedias I stole from  my parents to fill it out. Does anyone even use those anymore? I’ll just say they’re vintage….

Here is a a better view of the top. We painted a darker shade of yellow behind the shelf to highlight it. Also, because G LOVES painting stripes. Yes, that is G’s guitar that I stole and decoupaged. Don’t feel bad for him, he has replaced it several times over…

I knew I must have it when I saw this image in Domino magazine (I love how it’s used as a room divider. Yes, that is the technical term):

Here are some other images I’ve stumbled upon:

Pretty in {front of} pink {source}

Lovely in a feminine office

Featured on Design*Sponge

I wish I could figure out how they hung the picture….{source}

Where do you keep all of your treasures? {Don’t worry, we’re not into theft….}

Love,

Hello, lovelies! I apologize for the tardiness of this post. It’s all I can do to get through the day – it’s so bad, I’ve been sleeping in my car at lunch. Yes, I’m that girl. Feel free to point and laugh, I’m too exhausted to do anything about it.

Anyway. G and I desperately need a sofa update. If I wasn’t sure before, spending three days on it this week has erased all doubt. Behold my sad, slipcovered mess:

We have been the proud owners of this piece for over four years; G’s parent’s generously donated it to us after our wedding so that our apartment wouldn’t be completely empty. It has served us well, but has obviously seen better days. So what’s the hold-up? Well. We are stuck in a battle of form (K) vs. function (G) vs. cost (Both. We are cheap, I admit it. Plus, our hopefully soon-not-to-be-hypothetical children will likely dump juice all over it. Or worse). I won’t even tell you how long it took us to find the man-chair. The perfect sofa is proving to be my decor holy-grail.

Here is my dream piece – the Milo Sofa from Anthro.

Everything about it is perfect…..except the price. That, and G doesn’t think it looks comfortable AT. ALL. (Though I don’t know why he cares – he resides full-time in the aforementioned man-chair). I was going to put together a selection of knock-offs, but I can’t find them. Help! Find me a sofa, I beg of you. This one needs to be put out of its misery. (And, let’s face it, so do I).

Hope your lounging spot is plush,

The post is perfect timing as it showcases my current obsession – burlap! (Well, one of my current obsessions….I never seem to get over them….I just add to the list – paisley, chocolate brown, grey and yellow, stripes on walls….) I know burlap is a strange thing to be obsessed with (feed sack, anyone?). However, once you get past its humble origins you can begin to appreciate its natural texture and open yourself up to all kinds of possibilities.

For example, here are some of my favorites from DIY Showoff post:

Bridget’s cute banner

Chic table runner at Project Pretty

And I can’t wait to steal this idea from Creative Little Daisy – I have the perfect item for it!

I’m in good company - Freckles Chick loves it, so you know I do too!

I adore the ruffle on this stool

You can use it on upholstery

(Country living agrees)

It’s a unique way to wrap presents

Oh so fabulous as a throw pillow (but maybe not to sleep on…)

Dresses up a cork board

It even works as wallpaper!

What do you think – are you ready to dive in and cover your space with burlap? What unconventional decor items do you love?

Happy Monday!