Chase Your Winter Blues Away!

Today is the second dreary day of winter that we have had here in Northern Ca, and, I have been pretty sick the last few days. I thought about my best friend Florence and all of her awesomeness and how she can make any day, even a homework day become a fun event by adding simple little things like good music, champagne and a fire. I wanted to brighten my mood and decided I was going to put together a board of my favorite items and ideas that can brighten any rainy day! I thought I would share them with you! Many of the items have a normal cost and a suggestion of where you may be able to find something similar to get the same look at a less expensive cost.

1.  Add colorful and playful pieces to your home! This is bright and funky deer head and can be found on Etsy.com. I just adore the colors and no animals were harmed to create this. 
2.  Cheerful graphics and sayings are perfect to have around your home. This "Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes" poster is $25 from mysoti.com and is the perfect decor for Valentines Day.  Cupcakes are so gosh darn cute they make everyone happy.
3.  I just love this Revlon nail polish. It's called Pink Nude and is perfect for both day and evening wear. The subtle rosy color would look good on many skin tones. This can be found at most drug and makeup stores for just a few bucks.
4.  Make your desserts look extra special on this Kensington Cake stand that is on sale for $39.99 by Zgallerie. Family and friends will appreciate the beautiful presentation and it will make the most amateur looking foods look divine. Similar ones can be found at Homegoods, Ross and Marshalls.
5.  Bring fresh and colorful flowers into your space! The wonderful aroma, sunny colors and touch of life add brightness to a dark and dreary day.
6.  Entertain with these beautiful green stack-able wine glasses that are only $2.95 by Crate and Barrel.
7.  People will love eating off of these sassy and sophisticated plates also by Crate and Barrel for $5.95. Both the plates and the wine glasses will go great with spring and summer decor as well!
8.  This scarf is so adorable and I just love the pom-pom trim around the edge. It's a soft yet cheery color and is only $11 from H&M.com. For my European readers this is from the UK site however, similar and just as beautiful ones can be found on the American H&M site.
9.  Add mood and ambiance to rainy days by lighting lots of candles. These mercury glass Glacier Pillar Candles are $20 from Zgallerie.com but many silmilar ones can be found for $2-$10 at Michaels, and Homegoods.
10.  Find a reason to celebrate the days you were given. Host a hot cocoa and s'more roasting party by your fire! It's a perfect way to kill the chill and catch up with your family and friends now that the holidays have calmed down.
11.  I enjoy a fire almost every night. It helps to save on heating costs, it's romantic and we just love the crackle in the background. If you don't have a fireplace, consider a vent-less wall mounted ethanol fireplace, that burns a gel that doesn't emit toxins or smoke. These were created and approved to add to your home without doing any major demolitions to add a fireplace. The one shown on my board is from amazon.com and is $350. I have found and purchased some for clients for under $150 on overstock.com. If you don't have an extra $150 laying around don't fret! Check out fireplace for your home on netflix, and stream it live to your t.v. It totally looks real, burns for an hour and even has a fantastic crackle sound to go along with it. 
12. Bring a touch of exotic-ness and warmth into your home with an Ikat patterned pillow. This one is $49.95 from Zgallerie.com but I just ordered some gorgeous ones (that I am so excited to get) for half the price off of etsy.com. I just can't wait to share them with you! Ikat is really popular at the moment, but is a traditional motif so it will look great for longer than just this season.
13. Forget walking around puddles, jump right in with these fabulous polka dot boots. They are called Chooka Womens Posh Dot Rain Boot's and are $40.94-$69.95 from endless.com. They have handsome looking mens boots as well!
14. Check out this fantastic umbrella!!!! I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THIS! It is the Fulton Pagoda Walker Umbrella from johnlewis.com which is a European site. It is around $38 American dollars.

I hope you are enjoying your day! What do you and your family do to add cheer to your winter days!

How to Make a Moss Monogram

Howdy! I am enjoying a lovely yet productive day and hope you all are enjoying your weekend as well! I wanted to show you all how to make a moss covered monogram/ wreath. This would look good in any style home, rustic or contemporary, and is very simple and easy to make. It takes about 45 minutes to create (an hour and a half with a coffee and champagne break). Moss looks great during any season, I use it year around, but it looks particularly good for spring! It adds a touch of freshness and brightens up any room, door or vignette.

I accidentally deleted the picture of the Styrofoam before I cut it....I am sure you get the right idea. Oops!

The things you will need to create this are:

- A large piece of flat Styrofoam that is about one inch thick (found at your local craft store)

- Two packages of sheets of super moss ( also found at your local craft store)

- A glue gun

- A good knife for cuttin'

- A cutting mat (I highly recommend this for projects so you don't cut your table, floor, carpet etc. A thick piece of cardboard will do. Cutting mats can be found at your local craft, framing or art store)

****Optional- A piece of ribbon of your choice (I used upholstery webbing for a sofa, it has a great look and is only about 78 cents a yard at your local fabric store.)

The first thing you do is write your monogram on your piece of  Styrofoam, I just traced my large "B". You can print off an image of your letter or freehand it and it works just as well. It does not have to be perfect because it will be covered with moss. Cut or tear your sheets of moss and just start gluing it to your piece of Styrofoam making sure to be very generous with both your glue and the amount of moss you use. You do not want your moss falling off of your monogram and you also don't want the moss to be sparse and be able to see through to your Styrofoam. 

Once you're done, you can set it on a table, hang it on a wall, door, mirror, chalkboard, anywhere! 

If I weren't renting this apartment the door above would be black or red.....I love traditional black or red doors!

The one above is for in a guest house at a winery. 

Love you all!

Linking up to:

 

   

Fabulous Find- Wine Cabinet

Hey ya'll! I am so enjoying this spring-like weather! It is making me want to create a ton of spring vignettes, I have to keep reminding myself that it is only January!

Anyhoo, recently my husband and I picked up an old sheet music stand. It appeared to be able to fit bottles of wine perfectly so we snagged it up and decided to convert it into a fabulicious wine cabinet. It was only $50 dollars and hardly needed any work done to it. All we had to do was add a little latch to it to keep it closed and I made a few small changes to make it our own. It also fits perfectly in the very small space on our "B"ee wall. By the way, I can't believe I am still messing around with this apartment a couple weeks before we leave.....

I purchased little chalkboards from Joanne's Fabrics (3 for $1.70ish) wrote the regions of where our favorite wines come from and hung them on a burlap ribbon to label each rack.

I also painted the wood trim on the boards gold to bling them up a bit. I love mixing rustic with glitz. Hence the giant crystal-y wine stops.

I topped it off with part of our silver collection. A winners cup as a wine bucket, a goblet for a vase, a little cup my folks got us to hold wine stops and openers, and a vintage looking ice scoop. I love using mix matched pieces like this in vignettes. We also used our old Italian blue wine jug to add a pop of color. This jug was purchased from a yard sale for just a couple bucks. Similar ones are sold at Pottery Barn for over $100!! Score one for me!

The ice scoop above is from the Barn of Pottery.

 I used a left over crystal door knob that matches the one on my other bar that I had left over. I added it to the existing metal work that is covering up old key holes.

By using a colorful towel I can switch the color theme anytime I want for under $3. This one was purchased on sale at Cost Plus World Market.

  Old cups like these were used on ships and have monograms on them....I am a little koo-koo for monograms if you haven't noticed.

Stay tuned....a tutorial on creating a moss monogram (I'm up to it again) wreath.

What kind of winter cleaning, decorating are you working on????

Until next time,

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Winter Coffee and Tea Date

Winter is the perfect time to have a friend over and sip tea or coffee by the fire. I had my dear friend Emily over the other day, and wanted to show you an easy way to make a coffee date seem a little bit more festive. 

I found these adorable wooden snowflake sticks that I used for stir sticks from the dollar store. They are perfect for the wintery month of January! I placed the mugs on a beautiful tray that I got for my birthday from Cost Plus World Market, I believe it is from India. The antiqued silver tray gives it a glamorous yet rustic look. I added a flower in an antique vinegar bottle, a little green vintage looking glass votive and a plate with homemade Italian cookies. I threw on some jazz music and we had a lovely afternoon. If you don't have time to set up a nice spread do something simple like this. 

Check out my stellar new marble and mahogany coffee table from 1929. I was so blessed to be able to make a trade to get this! I painted it black and distressed it so it will go with the rest of my home. 

All it takes is an extra five minutes to make something just a little bit more special. 

Off to some serious designing!

Coming Next:

Wine Cabinet Reveal!

A Fabulous Find!

When I went up to visit my family in the mountains we went thrifting at a bunch of fantastic and funky little shops. All of them were filled with rustic treasures from the past. I love imagining the family that used to own these treasures and how they used them. Here is one of the awesome items that I found, a vintage, rustic scale. I love the green and cream background, and have decided to use it as a pedestal. I will use it in table-scapes, and as a flower stand. Here it is!

Can't wait to show you the rest of the goodies that I found!

The Last Two Weeks

Hey everyone! I rarely do "personal" posts that don't really involve design, but feel making a huge move calls for one. My husband and I have been soaking up the last two weeks with our precious family and friends before we leave our California home. It has been a whirlwind of emotions, laughter, crying, etc. As much as I love design, these are the most beautiful things in my life. These pictures are of some of the people we love and some of our favorite places in California that we have adventured to. This is my  inspiration, this is home......

Until next time.