Ideas for a Teenage Girl's Bedroom Inspired by ~ P O T T E R Y B A R N

My beautiful daughter Grace and I spent hours on the internet, more specifically on Pinterest, looking for inspiration to redecorate a teenage girl's bedroom, and let me tell you it was exhausting!!! So much to choose from regarding gorgeous rooms, but the style that kept recurring in our search of what we liked best is that of Pottery Barn. On one hand, who doesn't like Pottery Barn? And on the other...not everyone can afford their beautiful bedding and furnishings, including us. Naturally the next best thing to do was to let PB be our inspiration. We loved the bright florals along with the clean color and lines of the furnishings,  So right at the end of August Grace picked out her bedding, and after Thanksgiving she and I painted over the old purple strips with a soothing blue color from Benjamin Moore aptly named Crystal Blue. I was so proud of Grace picking such a pretty color...she gets all kinds of kudos for the color choice!

Here is how Grace's room has been painted since she was age four...ten years ago. Gosh that went fast! 

Yeah I think she was ready for a fresh updated look. 

The following pics contain some ideas we would like to incorporate into Grace's new bedroom design.

I love all of the bookshelves around the bed and the idea of decorative baskets under the bed. Lord knows teen girls need lots of storage! 

  What got my attention in this next room is the stencil or decal work around the window. We opted on white shutters instead of any curtains or drapes, so this idea would really work great in Grace's room.

 Pottery Barn

Another Pottery Barn item we fell in love with is this adorable furry desk chair. And guess what...I found one just like it at Home Goods for only $79!!!

So away went the hot pink and distressed painted furniture, and covered all of it in a crisp white. The four poster bed was a ReStore score for only $24, the bedding is from Macy's and the faux window shutters are from Home Depot. The cute little "G" pillow was a fun find at the Christmas Tree Shop.

This is a pretty good start but we still need to finish her desk area. Since Grace is so into art, I'd like for her to create a gallery wall of her framed artwork next to the closet, which is just opposite of the foot of the bed. We did pick up some fun items to organize her desk area over the past weekend.

Hoping to wrap this project up soon so Grace can really enjoy her new space. Then it is on the much needed laundry room makeover.

Wishing you a great rest of your day and don't forget to stop by tomorrow evening for our 101st Share Your Style link party. The fun starts at 7pm EST!

XO

Make Your Own Pottery Barn Inspired Nautical Candles

A couple weeks ago I received in the mail one of those little Pottery Barn catalogs for summer. As I flipped through the pages knowing that I most likely couldn't afford any of their fabulous merchandise, I came across these pretty lanterns. What caught my eye was not the actual lanterns but the candles they had inside of them.

I immediately thought that this look for the candles would be easy enough to recreate and place around my home for the summer months. As it turned out...I was right!

All you need is as follows...

Pillar candles of any size and color you choose (faux candles are an excellent choice too)

jute twine, natural or white

a glue stick

hot glue gun

staple gun

scissors

starfish, shells, anything that reminds you of the sea

To create the simple wrapped look you will need scissors, the jute twine and glue stick. 

Rub the glue stick on the surface of the candle and then just begin to wrap the twine around the candle pushing the twine layers together as you go around. Believe it or not the glue does adhere to the waxy surface of the candle. Cut the jute when the desired amount of coverage has been achieved, and then you can go ahead and hot glue whatever little nautical item you'd like to the twine itself.

To create the pretty nautical knot you will need 4 to 6 pieces of jute cut in equal lengths. Make sure the are long enough to cover half the diameter of the candle when the loop is formed. It is OK if the pieces are a little long because you can always cut off the excess.

For a 5 1/2 inch pillar candle I decided to use a total of 6 pieces of jute. Form a loop using 3 pieces together, and then with your staple gun secure the loops of  of twine to the candle.

With other 3 pieces of twine, create another loop and thread it through the first loop pulling it somewhat taut, and then secure the six end pieces of the second loop with your staple gun.

And the final look is...

I think these would really make adorable end of the year gifts for teachers too.

Wishing you all a wonderful last weekend in May! 
Here we come June!!!

XO

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Our Colonial Christmas Dining Room

Good morning my friends and happy 3 days before Christmas! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful weekend. I did get some last minute shopping done, a little Christmas present wrapping, and still managed to squeeze in a couple holiday movie classics. I also started working on my table for Christmas eve which I host for my family every year.  Last week I shared with you my sister Kim's Romantic Christmas Dining Room. This week I am sharing with you our Colonial Christmas Dining Room

To achieve the colonial vibe I went back to some of my books I picked up while in Williamsburg last year. A common thread in colonial Christmas decor is the use of  lots of fresh greens and the display of fruit throughout the house.

I started by mixing things up a bit in my dining room. I decided to bring down a mirror from the upstairs hallway to place above the buffet. The blue and white plates I had hanging over the buffet were rearranged to flank the mirror, and then everything was adorned with tons of greens.

The centerpiece is just a large glass candle holder placed in a large white serving bowl which was then filled with faux apples and pears, a few pine cones and more clippings from our yard.

For the place settings I used a simple wicker mat topped with a sparkling silver charger, and then I used an assortment of white dinner plates.

The napkins were cinched with a silver ring and than a spring of arborvitae was slipped in to add some Christmas color.

The salad plates are these darling Christmas plates I picked up at Walmart for only three dollars each. I love the barn scene, it is so indicative of the area where we live. Red barns are everywhere!!

I alternated the red barn plates with the other pattern Walmart had which is this cute little woodland scene.

As you can see a traditional plaid tablecloth was used and then it was topped off with a pretty red and white table runner I purchased at Pottery Barn a few years back.

The plaid table cover was a bit short for our table and the material itself has the tendency to easily move about on the tabletop. So to remedy both issues I purchased a 9' X 6' painter's drop cloth for roughly $10, washed and ironed it, and placed it on the table first, under the paid table cloth.

Fresh greens were added to the top of our breakfront and then I made my own arborvitae garland to drape above the window. Pretty red bows accent the evergreen wreath and on each of my brushed nickle wall sconces.

And that is our dining room ready to go for Christmas 2014!

I hope these last few days before the 25th are going well for you preparation-wise, and that you have time to relax, enjoy family and friends, and reflect upon the reason for this most glorious of seasons!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

XO

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