it's friday, I'm in love: TOMS + Jonathan Adler

Somebody pinch me. This can't possibly be true. My favorite Designer and my favorite shoes, together, making unbelievably fabulous shoe-babies together? Dreams really do come true.

Officially launched this week, the new Jonathan Adler collection by TOMS is everything you would hope to see from Adler. Bold colors and patterns, just in time for spring. I just bought 2 pairs of TOMS...and I wish I had known, because I would have waited for these. Here are a few of my favorites. Shop the full collection at TOMS.

All photos courtesy of TOMS.

For a daily dose of fabulous, follow @jonathanadler on Instagram. For a daily dose of Henry & Max and whatever food I'm making, follow @pinkpenguin9.

mmmm...coffee!

 

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine

 

Martha Stewart's camp recently posted on Facebook that novelty coffee mugs were the bane of their existence (or something to that effect). Grown ups should only have a nice set of white mugs. Throw all the other mugs out.

 

Foolishness!

 

While I do have a set of grown up white mugs hanging the wall in my kitchen, I also have a stash of mismatched, happy mugs in my cupboard. And you should too. Pick up one of these beauties and get your caffeine on. Happy brewing.

home ec: getting rid of cat smell

This post is gross, and I hate that this happens to me, and hate if it's happened to you. 

Cat pee is one if the most foul stenches on God's green earth. That ammonia smell permeates everything, stains, but the worst part...it LINGERS. Long after the damage is done, you're left with the odor. It's nasty, and it must be stopped. 

Meet Ally. Better known as "Al Moans" around these parts, because when she wants something, she doesn't stop moaning about it (women. Am I right?)

getting crafty: felt doll (with pattern)

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I have reunited with my childhood best friend. Jill and I became besties (before that was even a word) at the age of 6. Aren't we adorable? We were basically inseparable through elementary school until I moved away after 5th grade. I only moved 25 or so miles away, but these were the days before cell phone and email, so we lost touch.

Fast forward to a few years ago, Jill and I reconnected when both of us had our first babies within 6 weeks of each other. Olivia was born in February 2011; Henry in April.

This past weekend, Jill invited us over to Olivia's 3rd birthday party. I was super pumped. A special friend deserved a special present. I asked Jill what Olivia wanted (and what Jill didn't want any MORE of), and she suggested a doll. Bingo.

house tour: part 1

Photo by Emily Mulkey Photography

There are exactly 2 ways to give a tour of your home. The Tour of Bragging (oh yes, we commissioned this thing, it's a one-of-a-kind that thing, and this cost an arm and a leg).  Charming.

Then there's the Tour of Apologies. This is my personal favorite. Designers often fall victim to this method because we assume (rightly or not) that everyone expects our houses to look like the cover of Dwell at all times. And maybe some people's do, but mine doesn't. There are 3 reasons for this:

1. Sometimes after a 9 hour shift of designing for everybody else, and then coming home and taking care of the family, I didn't feel super inspired to do it for myself. I was, however, inspired to sit on the couch, watch How I Met Your Mother, and drink whiskey. Or wine. Or both. 
2. Designer's clients (and our tastes) usually have bigger budgets than we do. 
3. And my favorite reason, because we actually live here. And living sometimes means messy. Living also means compromise (like having an ugly baby bouncer seat in your living room when you swore you never would because it buys you 15 minutes of peace in the evenings).  

organizing out of control dresser drawers

Here's the scene: you planned your whole outfit around wearing that one grey cami which you just KNOW is in that drawer somewhere. You pull everything out, give up, and then find it right on top of that very same drawer the next day. 

Sound familiar?

Ok, how about this one. Your toddler insists on picking out their own outfit. They dig and dig to find that one red-jake-the-neverland-pirate-shirt-not-the-blue-neverland-pirate-shirt. He finds it. And all of the other previously folded shirts are now in a pile resembling Jabba the Hut (or Pizza The Hut for my fellow Spaceballs fans).

The solution - organize your drawers like you pack a suitcase (or how you should pack your suitcase if your not already). My good friend Dawn is the Dalai Lama of packing. It's an art. She taught me everything I know. I was once able to pack 5 days worth of clothes, coats, shoes, and toiletries into a carry on for a business trip to Chicago. In December. I even had room to bring back goodies from our Lincoln Park shopping extravaganza. It was my masterpiece. 

So the drawers. Here's the secret. 

STOP FOLDING YOUR CLOTHES. 

I'm serious. Ditch the fold and start the roll. Rolling clothes in your drawers does three things:

1. Gets more into your shallower drawers. 

2. Keeps things from getting wrinkled. And most importantly,

3. You can see everything you own all at once.

No more digging for the charcoal grey tights, kiddo sweatpants, striped onesie, the list goes on. 

Go from this:

To this:

In about 10 minutes. And to speed up the bedtime routine, I roll the sleep pants/shorts right in with the shirt. No more searching for the matching pants. Not like it really matters in life if your kid is wearing coordinated pajamas, but it's nice once in a while. 

As a bonus, use this opportunity to purge things that no longer fit, are damaged, or you haven't worn in a year. One organized drawer will give you the amazing zen feeling that because you've conquered this drawer, everything is gonna be fine. 

Another bonus, in my humble opinion, rolling clothes is a lot less tedious and painful than folding. It makes laundry day (which is every day around here) a bit more bearable. 

Cotton candy, sweet as gold, let me see that laundry roll. 

MAY I INTEREST YOU IN…

homemade dog shampoo

how to remove lipstick from your carpet with homemade carpet cleaner

getting rid of cat urine mell

the down and dirty guide to cleaning bathrooms FAST

mint: your post-valentine nausea cure

All the pink hearts, love, and chocolate have you feeling a little queezy? Here's some fabulous minty finds to soothe your stomach. 

1. Women's Twill Shorts from Old Navy

2. Mint Studs from Fossil

3. Magical Thinking Industrial Chair from Urban Outfitters

4. Oh Snap Leather Journal from Urban Outfitters

5. Gloriosa Mug from Anthropologie

6. Crumpled Trees Wallpaper from CB2

7. Trendig 2013 from Ikea

it's friday, I'm in love: with my le creuset dutch oven

Friends, if you really like to cook, you need to beg, borrow, and steal for one of these. This is my 5 quart Le Creuset Enamel Cast Iron French Oven. It is, by far, the most versatile piece of cookware I have in my kitchen.

If you've never cooked with a cast iron Dutch oven, you need to. It takes a bit longer to heat up than standard metal cookware, but it retains heat and cooks food much more evenly. Much less chance of burning than thin metal pots and pans. They come in a variety of sizes (I have a couple), but the 5 quart is my favorite. Large enough to handle roasting a whole chicken, but small enough not to be totally cumbersome.

This is my go-to pot for roasting meats, making large amounts of sauce (like my homemade marinara), soups, and it is your BEST friend if you are making risotto. I make an epic risotto (brag alert), and this is the only way I'll cook it.

Sidebar - if any of these recipes sound yummy, drop me a comment and I'll include the recipe in an upcoming post.

One day, when I find that giant bag of money with the dollar signs on it, I will buy a kitchen full. I'm grateful that I already have a pretty great collection as it is that I have accumulated over the years.

The most difficult decision you will face with cast iron cookware is committing to a color (first world problems). This was the first piece I bought, and went with basic white. I also added a couple of pieces of bake ware and tea kettles in white. Then they discontinued white. Of course. I've since added a couple of pieces in their signature and original color, flame. A gorgeous orange hue. Thankfully white goes with everything, so it doesn't look like a total accident.

The single major downside to Le Creuset is the price. At full price, this baby will set you back a cold $275.

"But Tara, I could buy a full set of pots and pans and then some for that price."

Calm down.

Yes you could. But hear me now. Never pay full price for Le Creuset. They run specials online and in store all the time. Williams Sonoma also carries them, and they run sales all the time. Le Creuset also has outlet stores (hallelujah) that carry them even cheaper. And the best way to find them - stores like Home Goods, TJ Max, and Tuesday Morning get them from time to time. Be patient, wait for sales, and do some digging. You'll be glad you did.

There are a number of other manufacturers that make similar cookware. Some are more expensive, some less. I started with Le Cresuset, and I'm going to stick with them. One, because they have been doing this since 1925 and seem to know what their doing. Two, because they have always worked great for me. Three, and most importantly, I'm not going to switch and start rebuilding my collection. It's like when I had 200 VHS tapes and then discovered that I needed to switch to DVD. And then Blue Ray. It's exhausting.

Tonight I'll be roasting up a chicken with Vidalia onions in my pot and will share the recipe next week. Happy Friday!

mexi-orzo pasta salad

Being at home with my boys is amazing, but there is one perk I really miss from my working days. Free lunch. I was fortunate enough at my job that I ended up with a free lunch nearly every day. It would range from nice client lunches at a restaurant to sandwiches or pizza at a company sponsored lunch. I definitely became spoiled and almost never had to think about what I was going to do for lunch each day.

Now, on the other hand, I'm home for lunch every day. The good news is I can make time to cook a healthy lunch meal. The bad news is, I typically forget to think about food until I'm mad hungry and end up eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Don't misunderstand me, PB&J is quite possibly the greatest lunch food of all time. The problem, though, is that for 480 calories for a PB&J on wheat + 200 calories for BBQ chips (because, let's be honest, I'm not eating celery on the side) I could have eaten a much larger and more nutritious meal for the calories.

I'm trying to be a bit more intentional about what I'm eating for lunch and also being realistic with myself about how much time I'll have to whip something up. My strategy is creating dinners with leftovers for the next day and/or making lunches that will last me for a few days. That way, I don't have to run straight for the JIF.

Monday night was Taco night at our house, so Tuesday I had a lot of left over fresh ingredients on my hands. And I HATE throwing away food. I started digging around in my pantry to see what I might be able to whip up with my left over half avocado, 1/4 tomato, 1/4 red onion, and cilantro. I found some orzo and garbanzo beans. BINGO. Here's my recipe for Mexi-Orzo Pasta Salad.

The Goods:

• 1/2 lb orzo pasta
• juice of 1 lemon
• olive oil
• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• S&P - pinch of each (to taste)
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp. chopped red onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 avocado, cubed
• 1/4 cup tomato, chopped
• 1/4 c crumbly cheese (feta, goat, or queso fresco)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

How to:

1. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook orzo according to package directions. Do not overcook. Al dente is what we're going for here.
2. Whip up the vinaigrette. In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Drain orzo and add warm orzo to the vinaigrette. Do not rinse pasta.
4. Add all other ingredients. Stir.
5. Refrigerate if you want. I don't have that kind of self control.

This made 2 hefty servings for me. For a normal person, it would feed you for 3-4 days.

Another delicious variation - basil, artichoke heart, sun dried tomatoes, feta. Yum.

home ec: Bar Keeper's Friend- the cheapest cleaning product that you need in your arsenal

I'm a big fan of making my own cleaning products. Baking soda, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and Dawn dish detergent can be combined to clean nearly anything in your house. There are still, though, a few ready made cleaning products that I will spend money. Bar Keeper's Friend is one of them. 

 

 

This is, by far, the best and cheapest off-the-shelf cleaning product in my arsenal. The stuff is amazing.

I first discovered it about 7 years ago. My in-laws had bought us a nice set of pots and pans. After just a couple of uses, they started to get cloudy, filmy, and coated with black residue after sautéing. I tried all kinds if things to get them looking like new again, to no avail. We didn't have Pinterest back then to give us the answers. Olden times they were.

We eventually went to Williams Sonoma and asked what they recommended for their million dollar pots and pans. They handed me a can of Bar Keeper's Friend, and my life has never been the same. Let's see it in action. 

Here's an actual pan from my cabinet, after cleaning with regular dish soap. I didn't doctor this up for the purposes of this blog, unfortunately. It just looked like this. You can see that all too common residue that gets left behind after cooking. Here's how it works. It's very complicated, so try and keep up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Shake the stuff in your pan.

2. Put some water in it. 

3. Use a scour pad (this is a Scotch Brite) and apply some elbow grease. This may just be a few seconds or up to a few minutes depending on your stain/grime level. This pan took about 2 minutes to clean.

 

 

4. Rinse (add some soap if it is something you'll eat off of).

 

Tada! It's like magic powder. 

It's not just for pans either. Here is my sink yesterday morning. Lovely. My dishwasher likes to spit up everything in the garbage disposal that someone (me) forgot to run before letting the dishwasher go before bed. Grody. That's marinara sauce from meatball night. It soaked into my semi-porous sink for 10 hours before I discovered it. Good morning indeed.

 

This took some elbow grease. I shook on the BKF, made a paste, and let it sit for a bit.

 

Then, scrub, scrub, scrub for a few minutes.

 

 

Then rinse.

 

I would have needed to replace this sink out if I didn't know about BKF. So it basically saved me $200. Well, $197 if you count the $3 for the can of the magic stuff.

Spots on chrome bath fixtures? BKF. 

Soap scum? BKF. 

It also comes in a handy dandy gel too. I stick with the powder, though, because it's $1 less and I'm cheap like that. 

You can find it at your grocery store. It will be on the bottom shelf because it's not flashy or expensive. Always the brides maid (or bar maid), never the bride. You can also buy it at Williams Sonoma (more expensive) and World Market (less expensive). 

Of course, follow package instructions and don't try to wash your dog or baby or anything with it. 

Anybody else out there use this? Success stories? Please share!

pint sized design: moonrise kingdom

Semi-controversial opinion warning. I don't think kid's rooms should have "themes."  There, I said it. Themes are too limiting. Your baby is born, and you have a teddy bear themed room. A year later, it feels to baby-ish, so you have a Mickey Mouse room. Two years later, it's Spiderman. Then whatever new movie Disney has released that every small child is obsessed with. This creates a perpetual cycle of re-decoration and throwing away money.

Good design never truly goes out of style. Seek out pieces that can evolve as your baby grows into a big kid, and eventually into a *gasp* teenager. Although with a 2 year old and 3 month old, I can't begin to conceive of a time that I will have two teenagers, people keep telling me that it will happen.

Kids rooms deserve to be less stuffy and formal than other rooms in the house. Let the expensive pieces be timeless and rotate in and out less expensive accessories and toys that are more age appropriate and fun. The $250 plastic race car/princess castle/pirate ship bed seems cool now, but you're just one growth spurt away from letting it go for $25 on Craig's list.

What I suggest (to anyone who will listen) is having inspiration for a room, rather than a theme. You need a concept to drive design decisions and to help everything work together. So here's an example. I'm currently Jonesing on Wes Anderson films. Can we all agree that Wes Anderson is the bomb? The combination of the super-dry humor, awesome soundtracks, and beautiful cinematography is beyond inspiring. If anyone is looking for a gift idea for me, it would be the complete collection of Wes Anderson films. Just sayin.

I think I could design an entire perfectly vintage house inspired by his movies. Since I don't have the money to build a new Wes house, a mood board will have to do. Please enjoy the following child's room inspired by Moonrise Kingdom. Spoiler alert...there are more of these Wes boards coming.

 

Where to buy:

1. Land of Nod
2. IKEA
3. Best Made Co.
4. Urban Outfitters
5. Best Made Co.
6. H&M
7. Anthropologie
8. Land of Nod
9. Urban Outfitters
10. Anthropologie
11. Urban Outfitters
12. CB2
13. Pottery Barn Kids

it's friday, i'm in love: with my new boyfriend (watch)

My parents are two of the most loving people a girl could hope for. Since my new stay at home momma lifestyle doesn't afford much room in the budget for non-necessities, my mom insisted on getting me a little gift to celebrate this new phase in my life. What a woman. 

When Henry was born, my hubby gave me a beautiful vintage anniversary band the day I went back to work, and my parents gave me a sapphire and diamond (my birthstone and H's) the day he was born. Since jewelry is something I rarely buy myself, and it lasts longer than clothes, technology, or other junk, it seemed fitting for this occasions. 

Allow me to introduce my new boyfriend- the Fossil Boyfriend chronograph watch. 

Back in 2010 when I was great with child, our firm won the Fossil Headquarters project and in 9 very short months, designed, documented, and built one of the most gorgeous projects for one of the best clients out there. I have always loved Fossil's products, but that process showed all of us in the studio how creative and authentic their people are.  All the more reason to continue giving them my business.

Things I love about this watch:

• The gold tone is perfect. Not too flashy. 
• The classic chronograph look will never go out of style
• The bands are interchangeable! 
• The price is right. At just $125, it looks way more expensive than it actually is.

 

Fossil was having a crazy sale when we bought the watch a couple of weeks ago, so I managed to get 2 of the 3 extra bands for free.  So far I've been loving the metal band, but will likely switch to the silicone ones once we enter the hot, humid Texas summers. 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. If you don't have a boyfriend, just go buy this one.  It'll keep you warm at night.

XOXO

who here likes cleaning? oh right. nobody.

Yeah, me neither. Cleaning is the worst. I was raised in a house where cleaning wasn't a very high priority, so I never really learned how to do it the right way. This is a post about a cleaning routine for those of us who were not born and bread to love cleaning.  If that's you, then read on!

I was once featured in my high school year book because of both my messy room and messy locker. OK...This is embarrassing, but this post is about coming clean, so here it is.

Please note the awesome lava lamp, CRT computer monitor, and abundance of dried flowers from boyfriends past. Y2K. Good stuff. Also, I think I basically look the same. I'll call that a victory.  Last note about this image - at least one of the blog followers was featured in this article with me, but I did not include your image to spare you the shame. You know who you are.

Thankfully, I went to college and things got remarkably better. Living with someone else and an influx of new friends and visitors meant that I had a bit more motivation to clean up my act. Nobody would have ever known the pig sty I came out of. Dorm rooms are small, thankfully, so it was pretty easy to keep the place presentable. 

Then I got an apartment with roommates, which increased the square footage of space to clean, but there were more helping hands. But let's face it, the cleanliness bar is set pretty low for college students. 

In 2005 Steven and I got hitched and he moved into my apartment for a few short months, and then we moved into our first together apartment in Dallas. Here's where the rubber met the road. I was working full time, he was in law school full time, and cleaning fell WAY down on the priority list. We would wait until things got pretty bad (or people were coming over) before we would do much about it. There's nothing like the 10 minutes before someone comes over to get you moving. Thankfully Steven split the housework with me down the middle. He's awesome that way.

We pretty much carried on like this until Henry was born in 2011. We were in our first house by then, so even more space to clean.  This was our typical cleaning "routine."

• Daily: clean the pots, pans, and dishes from breakfast and dinner.
• Saturday morning: hate our lives. Spend 4 hours cleaning the house and curse the entire time about how much we hate it and how we would rather be doing fun things together. And at the end, it only looked OK.
• Several times a year: frantically clean the house because my in laws were coming. My mother in law is out of this world and one of my best friends, and possibly the only person I know who truly doesn't mind cleaning. Her house always looks amazing, so I want mine to at least look presentable when she gets here. 

Fast forward to present day. I now have two kiddos, and I'm staying at home. Praise The Lord, I actually have some time to clean the house outside of Saturday morning. I've implemented a cleaning routine, which makes life so much easier. 

Disclaimer- I tried to implement a cleaning routine last year. It lasted one week and then epically failed. For the life of me, I just couldn't bring myself to scrub a toilet after a 9-10 hour work day, cooking dinner, bathing a child, putting him to bed, while being 8 months pregnant. Hats of to the ladies and gents out there who work 40+ hours outside of the home and have a clean house. You should write a blog post about how the heck you do that. 

So here's my cleaning routine.  There are things I do every single day, and then a special activity for each day of the week. 

Daily: 

• Make beds
• Do a load of laundry, start to finish, and out it away 
• Clean kitchen counters and put away dishes
• Sweep under the high chair
• Wipe down dining table and high chair
• Pick up main living areas

Weekly:

• Monday- bathrooms
• Tuesday- dust
• Wednesday- vacuum
• Thursday- mop
• Friday- grocery shop (yes, this is not a cleaning activity, but the way I do it with coupons and meal planning, it sucks up a day)
• Saturday- vacuum main living areas. Wash sheets. 
• Sunday- rest

With 4 of us in the house now, I'm a convert from "laundry day" to "laundry daily."  I really dislike folding and putting away clothes. If I have a giant mound of laundry, I'll just let it sit. And sit. And then eventually you can't remember which pile is clean and which is dirty, so I would end up washing the whole dad gum pile again. Small batches that can be folded and put away in 20 minutes makes me much more likely to do it. For more laundry tips, check out one of my previous posts.

Things I like about this system:

• If I find a spare 15-30 minutes, I know exactly what to work on. I don't waste 5 of those minutes figuring out what to clean, or cleaning something that is less urgent, or, let's be honest, doing nothing. 
• My house looks fairly presentable at all times. If someone drops by, I don't have to stress about when the last time the bathroom was cleaned. I know that everything looks pretty good. 
• I get a DAY OFF from major cleaning. I don't feel like I have to clean on Sunday and can relax and enjoy my family. When you're a stay at home momma, there is a sense of guilt that you should always be doing more or the house could always look better. This helps me ease that nagging feeling. 

Downside:

• Your whole house isn't ever really spotless at the same time.  If you're a total neat freak, this system is not for you.  But you also probably aren't reading my advice on cleaning. If you've made it to this point, then you're more like me. And that's why we are friends.  And I think you're pretty. 

I have not taken this to the full Type A Planner level of adding monthly tasks into the mix. I know, for instance, that I should clean my microwave, clean my oven, dust my baseboards, oil my cutting board, etc. once a month. But for the life of me I can't bring myself to schedule it out. It's just too rigid for me and I know I would burn out. So I just do those things as they need to be done and I have the time.  I'll add them to my weekly goals (another post for another day) and tackle them when I can. 

So that's my cleaning routine. Do any of you have a system that you like?  If so, please share!

kim's living room

I "met" Kim like I've met so many of you. In the spring of 2011 I was a first time momma and facing new challenges each day. I downloaded an app from The Bump that housed a forum for moms to ask and answer questions of each other. It was awesome. Since new moms are up at all hours of the day (and night), you could ask a question anytime and have a dozen responses within 20 minutes. A lot of the other moms started about this new-fanged app called "Instagram." I joined up and found Kim and have been following her ever since. 

Recently Kim reached out to me asking for help with her living room. She and her hubby had just finished remodeling their basement and moved all of the toys downstairs for their two little kiddos. The good news- less kid stuff in the main living room. The bad news- the room now looks kind of empty. Kim lives outside of Cincinnati, and I'm in Dallas, so we are designing via technology.

Here's how the room looks today.

Kim is basically a rock star. She's a mom of two and a full time oncology nurse. Her busy days haven't left much time for musing about design. She and the hubs are on a budget (aren't we all?), so she needed a plan that they could implement on over time. The final design needed to look amazing when it's eventually complete, but it needs to look good along the way as well.

The request: a mix of old and new, inexpensive without being cheap, durable, and kid friendly.  Kim's oldest daughter (an amazingly feisty, determined red head) sometimes requires the assistance of a walker to help her get around, so soft edges and plenty of clearance are a must. And her youngest is a typical toddler boy, bound and determined to destroy everything in his path. Yeah, I can relate to that. 

So, drum roll, here's what we ended up with. Sorry in advance that the photos aren't a bit bigger.  Blogger hates me and will NOT let me re-size them for some reason.

The first step was addressing the floor plan. The room is really large with a tall ceiling, which makes even the existing pair of overstuffed sofas look small. They are spread too far apart for coziness or conversation. The solution here is to create two major zones. The first is the true family and TV watching area with a sectional sofa, upholstered large ottoman-style coffee table, and floor poufs. Super kid friendly and inviting. Sectionals are great that way. They are just begging for you to curl up on them with a blanket. The second zone is for the grown ups. Two big armchairs for good conversation, good coffee, and curling up with a book.  And lastly, a catch all area by the front door for all the essentials you need a place for, like keys, shoes, and such. 

The large ceiling height makes the wall a pain in the rear to repaint, so we are working with the existing wall color. It plays nice with the fireplace, so that sealed the deal. I kept with a fairly neutral palette, focusing on textures, tonal patterns, and metallics for interest. This will help the space look great as Kim adds new pieces over time. 

Since the kids have a separate room to play in (destroy), we could make things a bit more "formal" up here. The sofa is a bit more tailored than the existing sofas. Still comfortable, not stuffy, but more grown up. The large rug under the sofa anchors the acting group to keep it from feeling like it's aimlessly floating in the room. A pair of inexpensive wing back chairs (another classic look) nest in the new seating area by the window. The deep indigo blue acts both as a neutral and a color, because indigo is just cool like that. 

Now for the fun stuff. More traditional pieces, like the media console, contrast with more contemporary elements like the metallic side table. And who can resist a gold star burst mirror!? Not me. The gold color is repeated in the window treatments, art, and accent pillows. 

The result?  Kim is thrilled, her husband approves (major victory), and now they have a road map they can roll out over time. 

Here's the info on where to buy. And by the way, none of these companies pay me to promote their stuff. They just have great stuff.

1. Hamilton library table, Home Decorators Collection
2. Velvet nail head curtains in horseradish, West Elm
3. Industrial empire bookcase, Home Decorators Collection
4. Britany garden stool, Home Decorators Collection
5. Strandmon chair and ottoman in vintage blue, IKEA
6. Barometer reading lamp, IKEA
7. Geodesic table lamp, West Elm
8. Sole mirror, Home Decorators Collection
9. Crewel stripes pillow cover, West Elm
10. Diamond dot crewel pillow cover, West Elm
11. Printed Essex ottoman, West Elm
12. Sylvan console table, Home Decorators Collection
13. Granger nesting tables, Pottery Barn
14. Hemnes media console, IKEA
15. Bubble knit pouf, West Elm
16. Carslile sectional, Pottery Barn
17. Chrysanthemum rug, Home Decorators Collection
18. All art, art.com
19. Accessories, West Elm

If you have a room that needs some inspiration and you'd like to be featured on the blog, drop an email to simplycraftedblog@gmail.com. These mood boards are a great and inexpensive way to get a design plan for a room or your whole house. 

A special thank you to Kim for letting me share this design with all of you!