Books

These pictures are from Restoration Hardware (by the way their source book just came in the mail and I can't believe how huge!  It is a novel!).  Anyway I was excited because I love to look through their magazine for ideas and inspiration  (not because I plan on purchasing any of their furniture - if I had a small fortune maybe I would).  What caught my eye in these photos (and many others I have seen) are the collections of white books on the tables.  I especially love the ones below that have numbered spines - so cool!  Books come in really handy when decorating tables, they add needed height or weight to objects and don't look out of place while doing it.  Once my sofa table is done (hopefully very soon!) I knew I would be needing books to arrange the accessories on it and since none of my books look this good I had planned to maybe cover some in white or some kind of patterned scrapbook paper.

Then I had an idea to get some books from the DI (in other words books I don't care about) and paint the covers white.  I felt like that would be slightly easier and free since I already have numerous cans of white paint.  It worked like a charm.  I was looking for some big books and found these two for $4 each (I was hoping they would be cheaper but they are two of the biggest books I could find there so maybe some smaller ones would be less).

The reason I wanted big books was to stack them under this pretty little accessory.  I always wished it had just a tiny bit more presence and height and the books solved the problem!  Yeah!

I think I'm going to get a couple more!

My wheels started spinning and I decided to paint these decorative books too.  I know they are cute already, but like I said I need some for my sofa table and these colors weren't working for me.

So after painting the small one white I used my stencil from my dining room and stenciled the cover.  You could create so many cute books with paint - stripes, chevron stripes, a stenciled bird or crown on the cover, etc. etc.

If you already own plenty of books and it doesn't make sense to buy more at the DI then I would still use scrapbook paper to cover them up and make them pretty!

My sofa table should be my next post and I'm excited to get some books and other pretty's on it!

Field Trip - Adrien's House

My friend Adrien recently built and moved into this beautiful custom home.  I was glad I brought along my camera for the tour so you could all see this great house!

The entryway has this large chandelier that makes such a great statement when you first walk in the house.  It is similar to one that Restoration Hardware sells but this one was cheaper.  You can find it here (along with some other great furniture that are Restoration look alike's  - but for less!)

The entryway wall color is Restoration Hardwares "slate"

Love the horizontal stripes of molding in her mud room.

 Below is the entry to the Master Bedroom, the cute light is from overstock.

The Master bath.  The glass links chandelier is from Zgallerie.

One of her girls bathrooms, notice the cute anthropology knobs.

The Nursery - I love the design she picked out for her doors.

Another girls room and bathroom

The living room on the main floor has a great open feeling since it goes up 2 stories.  It has this great coffered ceiling and a pretty open view to the upstairs.  The blue paint color is Benjamin Moore's "adagio."

The fireplace and built-ins look so pretty in crisp white.

The Kitchen - notice the pretty blue glass tile backsplash, definitely adds some sparkle!

Loved this Restoration Hardware light fixture hanging outside above the patio table.  It might sound silly but my favorite part of the house was all the different (and pretty) light fixtures.  It is probably one of the last things people think of when decorating a home (if they even think about them at all)!  But that is what makes this house so unique.  Great light fixtures have the potential to take your home to a whole new level - and in this house, they did just that.  They add class and style.  You can see the special thought and detail that was put into each one and it makes each room special.

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Safety Pins Decor

I have always thought these safety pins were cute from Ballard Designs - the set of three is $35 (plus whatever shipping charges may be).

Recently "Real Deals" in Bountiful started carrying some similar ones so I grabbed a couple and hung them above my baby changing table.  Someday I may move them to the laundry room.  The large one was $11 and the smaller one $6.  I think they are pretty cute!

Field Trip - Jill's House

My friend Jill recently moved into the Cadence Model home that was in the "Utah Valley Parade of Homes" this summer.  You can go to their website here to see all the pictures and I have included a few here as well.  They really did a nice job of including some great trim work into this home - those details go a long way in giving this house WOW factor!

It's hard to see in this small photo but this living room has a great tongue and groove ceiling 

(click on the photo to make it larger).

Love the backsplash in the kitchen, it adds some great texture.

The Master - (again notice the great detail on the ceiling)

The Laundry room has some great floor tile that looks just like wood.  It is made by Arizona tile and is called "Misingi Suber."  I love it so much, I think I'm going to use it either in our downstairs bathroom or Kitchen when we finish the basement.

The loft area

Again check out this link if you want to see more photos!

Restoration Hardware Knockoff Furniture

In a previous post (click here to see) I decided to create a knockoff of a beautiful console table from Restoration Hardware.  The columns have arrived and I got some wood from Lowes for the top and bottom portions of the table.

While I wait for Matt's help in nailing and screwing it all together I have been testing out stains on the underside of one of the wood pieces.  The trick to getting a great look is using different layers of stain, watered down paint, or glaze.  I just kept trying different combinations and layers until I found a look that I liked.  I hope to have it done soon and I will post the final results.

In the meantime I was surprised to find this knockoff table from tevaliving.com, it is a very similar look to Restoration hardware's but it is only $540 (Restoration's is $1300).  Mine will end up being just over $400 so I guess I am still saving some money but in the future I think I'll be checking Teva Living's website before I attempt to recreate a piece of furniture myself!

I had to include a picture of this awesome side table also from Teva Living, it's $295 and I am in love with it!  I don't know where I would put it but it is very tempting!!!!

White

For the last few weeks I have been collecting white serving pieces to go in the hutch in my kitchen.  I found most of the smaller pieces at the DI for $0.50.  They would usually only have one or two white pieces so I went in every week to get some more.  For the larger pitchers I went to Taipan, I was surprised they had quite an assortment there and they were only $5 each.  So now my cabinet pops a little more with all the white inside and it only cost about twenty bucks!

Before:

After: