My Dream Home

After envying multiple styles, and designers I thought why not put them all together and create my dream home. After all, those photos I've saved into Pinterest need some good use. They are my inspiration for future design projects and transforming my home.

Via Pinterest

In my dream world I would live in New York City amongst all the rich and famous, and fine shopping. The hustle and bustle would be too much to take in all the time though so we would need a weekend home in The Hamptons. Here lies my Hamptons dream home.

Pinterest

This is my gravel driveway that you would use to enter my estate. Do you like the Mercedes convertible I drive now? It doesn't look overly large does it? Oh wait, the trees are blocking a huge portion of the home on the right.

Pinterest

Ok, here's a much better view of my enormous getaway. I must hire someone to clean this place. I can't be cleaning on the weekends when I'm suppose to be relaxing by the pool with my family and famous friends. Barefoot Contessa even agreed to come over and throw a dinner party for us one night. We go way back!

Pinterest

Back to the entry way. This is what awaits you when you enter through my painted front door. The shell lamps remind me that we are near the beach without a beach themed home.



Pinterest

A large kitchen with industrial quality appliances is in order if dinner parties are occurring. A cook needs a fabulous kitchen to create masterpieces. White and gray marble paired with white cabinetry makes it airy and fresh. I picked the lemons from the tree in my backyard.


Lonny Mag

Our family tends to spend most of our time outdoors, but we often sit in our living room for family game night or to catch up on our reality shows. I love my yellow coffee table. Surprisingly, my orchid is still alive!


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The tv can be quite distracting in the living area, so when we are in the mood for a good book we curl up in the library. I added pops of pink and ceiling to floor green drapes to add impact.

This is the hall outside of one of the guest rooms. I wanted an over sized piece of artwork to play with scale and add color.

Lonny Mag

This is one of several rooms for guest to retreat to. It's a soft palette with feminine accents and touches of gold. I left several magazines and decor books for their reading pleasure.

Here are the other 2 guest rooms:



Lonny Mag

The children seem to migrate to the room above because they get their own personal bed to slumber in. That was my reasoning behind the 2 twin beds. Also, I'm not a fan of bunk beds.



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This guest bath has a double vanity for him/her. I chose a claw foot tub and plum accents. I kept with the light cabinets and classic gold hardware.  Fresh hydrnageas from the garden give off a sweet aroma.

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This bathroom has a more masculine feel. The walls are covered in a striped paper and the floors boast a patterned tile which is easy to clean with kids and dogs. As a matter of fact, Lily gets bathed in this shower.

Lonny Mag

Baby A's nursery is so simple, but elegant. She stands in her crib and looks at herself in the mirror. Don't worry, it's mounted very well and won't fall! That's her favorite riding toy next to her crib too. She loves to honk the horn.



Decor Pad

Our master retreat is very spacious and includes a sitting area. My favorite part is the capiz shell chandelier. There's also a lot of natural light and a view of the garden.

I carried the aqua tones into the bathroom along with an ornate gold mirror and chandelier. Hubby tends to junk it up by piling his clothes on my vintage Louis chair. Men!

Pinterest

My clothes on the other hand stay nice and tidy in my crisp, white closet. My newest Louis is resting comfortably on top of my cashmere scarf. The winters here are chilly!

Pinterest

This is our back porch where you can find us watching the sunset and enjoying a glass of wine with our pals such as Gwyneth, Nate, or Oprah. They are regulars at our home.

I'm glad you stopped by to see the tour of our modest weekend abode. If you are in the area look us up.

Thanks for Another Award

I adore fellow bloggers like Jess from Balancing the Dream that read my blog and find it award worthy. It makes what I do feel very worth while besides the fact that I'm having a blast blabbing daily about things I love and feel passionate about.

Here are 7 more things you don't know about me:
1. I was born in Austin, Tx
2. The first time I went to IKEA I couldn't get out fast enough. Hated it. Boy has that changed!
3. Thrifty is my middle name.
4. Quacamole is what I crave. I can eat it by the spoonful.
5. My toe nails are painted plum right now because I'm so over summer and ready for fall!
6. Starbucks is a ripoff in my opinion, but I still go there. I'm too lazy to make my own coffee drinks at home.
7. I need a vacay to Fiji!

I'm passing on this award to these awesome blogs so go check them out:

1. A Sense of Design

2. BDG Style
3. Cove and Grey 
4. Delightful Order
5. Desire to Decorate
6. Just a Touch of Gray
7. Third Floor Design Studio
8. A Blondes DIY Life

Makeover Monday {The Mustard Ceiling}

It's Monday again. Funny how that keeps happening! Elizabeth from The Mustard Ceiling is here sharing part of her fabo home with us. She has a great eye for style and is a great DIYer!

Hi, A Lived in Home readers, I'm Elizabeth visiting from The Mustard Ceiling.

I'm excited to be here today to share with you our dining room makeover. My husband and I bought a 1950's brick rancher when we moved to New Mexico in April, 2008.

Since then, we have been working on transforming every room in our house to make it our own .

We started with our dining room...and boy has it seen some changes.

It was the first room we started renovating when we moved in, because it was the worst.

Here is our dining room now:

This is what it looked like when we moved into our home.

I have to admit, I was not a fan of the rustic, green barnwood wainscoting...so
the day after we moved in I told my husband it had to go.

He built the wainscoting, which drastically changed the look and feel of the room.

After he built the wainscoting, we painted the room SW Dovetail gray
and moved in our furniture.

This spring, I decided the room needed a little more color and I started adding pops of coral.

I started by designing and sewing these burlap drapes trimmed in coral.

I still felt like it was missing something...
so I DIYed a coral ikat print for the chairs...

and added fresh artwork.

Thought I was finished, didn't you?

Nope, two more changes were in order:

1. I made a tailored table skirt to turn my hand me down sofa table into a buffet table



and

2. changed the artwork...
(can you count how many times it has been changed in this post alone?)

When I look back at where we started, I can't even believe it is the same room.

Hopefully, this room is finally finished, I am pretty sure it has had a full-blown identity crisis.

But, I have to ask...is a room ever really finished?

Thank you for having me today Megan!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm back from a quick, but fun girls trip. We stopped by our favorite eateries, and came back 5 pounds heavier. What can I say, I LOVE food!

While catching up on my favorite reads today and checking out blog parties, I found some amazing work from fellow, talented bloggers. Here's what caught my eye this week.

An inviting entry way from PB&J Stories. She did a great job styling the console table. I'm crushing on the A/Z book ends! Do you think she found them at Home goods?! Hum...

Design Board from Balancing Home

Aren't these colors great together? The duvet caught my eye in the new fall roll-out at West Elm, so I'm glad to see how someone utilized it in a bedroom design board. The citrine curtains are stunning and a contender for my mom's dining room.

Chevron DIY from The Tall Chick Blog

Who doesn't love chevron prints, and especially painted on a wall?! This tutorial is very detailed and great to follow if you have the urge. PLus, how fun and eclectic is this room going to be when it's complete.

ABC Gallery Wall from TheLetter 4

I've seen several versions of ABC gallery walls, but this one hits the jackpot. The layering makes it so visually appealing. Adorable idea for a nursery or kiddos room!

Those are just a few of the fantabulous ideas I saw this week. Does anyone have any big plans for the weekend or big projects they are attempting? I put my cleaning gloves on today and made sure the casa is spic and span. Next, I think I'll repaint a chair and frame some new, cheap art that I'll be sharing next week. It's all about chairs... Come back to see what I mean. 

Have a great weekend!

Gone Today

I left town on a mini girls road trip. There's a good possibility that  shopping, good mexican food, and friends will be involved! Don't fear though, I will return tomorrow for the Weekend Wrap-Up. Come back then and see what's been happening this week.

Shadow Box Art

Do you get tired of store bought art and look for alternative ways to add color and interest to a room? I certainly enjoy pieces that not everyone will recognize or own. Here lies my shadow box art that I recently completed.

My latest project is to get our guest bedroom in order and looking welcoming for guests. That's where the new art went. The room still has a long way to go though! This is a very small start.

I started with 2 shadow boxes from IKEA that I purchased for $9.99 each. The shells were collecting dust in the cabinet so I decided to finally use them.  

The pink fabric spices up the box and was selected from Jo Ann's. A 1/3 of a yard was plenty.

I covered the back of the mat with a sheet of white paper, then the fabric. In case I decide later to reuse the mat, I can peel the paper/fabric off. I used a glue stick to adhere the paper and spray adhesive for the fabric. Once the fabric was attached, I used a blob of hot glue to attach the shells. Carefully, lay the contraption face down into the shadow box and close the back. That's it! Easy peasy! It took me about 10 minutes total and less than $15. What a quick and inexpensive way to spruce up a space!