Room Envy

How amazing are those two chairs?!

Nautical

Lovely breakfast nook

Another beautiful nook I'd like to escape to. Would be even more awesome with a few floating shelves for books.

From Keri Russell's home. Love the modern meets rustic feel.

Lovely built-ins

Russell Brand and Katy Perry's home. Such a great common area

Perfection. Can I have those stairs too, please?

So cozy and beautiful while remaining totally functional

All images via my Pinterest here

Beautiful on the Outside

I love looking at pretty home exteriors

Beautiful door colors

Side porches=love

Love the shingle siding and big front porch

Craftsman style is my favorite

Cute and country

So pretty for a beach or lake house

All images via my Pinterest here

I'm Gonna Get Pinched...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm going to have to scramble to find something green to wear today. Don't want to get pinched!

St. Patrick's Day is my favorite of the lesser known holidays and has been for many, many years. No, I've never drank green beer. And I went to college in Columbia, SC which has a St. Patrick's Day party to rival Savannah, GA, but I never managed to attend in 4 years. Yes, I'm lame. No, I love St. Patrick's Day for another reason.

John Mayer. Take a listen if you've never heard this one before...




*Swoon* I love John Mayer.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from this half Irish girl!

Window Wonderings

There's a little nook in our living room.  On one side of the nook is the side of the fireplace and on the other side is a narrow window (pardon the lack of photos, camera is dead, charger is missing). It would be pretty simple to build a little window seat there, and with a hinged top it could even provide storage space for extra blankets and pillows.

This image was my inspiration:

via

I'm totally in a soft grey/blue phase right now. And this photo is speaking volumes to me. It's making me want to build my own little window seat right now to relax in and enjoy.

Favorite DIY finds of the Week

So I've been homebound this week after having an outpatient surgery, and what better to do than catch up on all of my favorite blogs and find tons of new ideas. I have a few goals for my home that I would like to complete this year and there is never a shortage of inspiration to be found on the net. After lots of time spent reading, I've compiled a few of my favorites. I swear, if I can be half as talented and original as some of these DIY bloggers, I will be one happy lady!

(Click on the photo to get the original post!)

Kristi at Addicted 2 Decorating made this beautiful sunburst mirror. Can you tell what it's made from? Wood shims from a home improvement store! Beautiful and genius!

Michelle at Prudently Painted Vintage gave her own version of  board and batten. If there is one DIY project I never tire of seeing, its Board and Batten. I plan to use it in my dining room and can't get enough of all of the different ways people make it work beautifully in their homes.

Kimba was inspired by some other great spring wreaths she saw, and made her own version of a spring wreath using fabric flowers. So cute and chic.

 

Cindy did a fabulous side table makeover from a Goodwill find for only $20! Inexpensive projects that pack a lot of creative punch are the best!


Did you have any favorite projects this week? Or maybe you made something fun? Do share :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving/loved seeing Black Swan!

Saw it last night and it was so intense. If you are into psychological thrillers I would definitely recommend it.

I'm loving that we are getting our house appraised this week so we  can move forward with our refinance. We chose a 15 year loan so we can knock some major principle off, which will help us down the road when we choose to sell.

I'm loving Netflix!

Hubs and I have been watching Netflix through our Wii and we have been having fun spending time together and watching hub's favorite (and my new favorite) show, 24. We are on season 3 so far!

What are you loving this week?

What's your sign?

Saw a few different funny/cool/exciting things in the news recently.

Verizon is getting the iPhone 4! I'm mostly just happy for Verizon, because I'm a loyal Verizon customer and I thought Apple was pretty lame for only using AT&T, but I might be too chicken to try the iPhone. I LOVE my CrackBlackberry. Anyone else made the switch to an iPhone from a different type of smart phone? I wouldn't want to pay full price for the iPhone (my contract isn't up for awhile) and then turns out I don't like it.

 

Apparently, all the zodiac signs have changed because of the tilt of the earth and I'm no longer a Virgo, but now a Leo. I feel a little betrayed for some reason. I've always been a Virgo and now they (whoever "they" are) go and change the whole sign chart.  Go here to check out if your sign has changed as well. Let me say, I've never believed for a second in astrology, but I thought it was kinda crazy how they can just up and change it.

The beautiful (and future princess) Kate Middleton attended a wedding this past weekend and now people are calling it a scandal because of, get this, what she wore to the wedding. There was the whole conversation about whether or not it was ok she wore black to a wedding, whether she was even wearing a bra, and, *gasp*, a plunging neckline! I think she looked gorgeous, as always.

Got to love crazy new stories.

Top Two Tuesday: Strange Addictions

1. I am ADDICTED to the Gems game on my Blackberry!

The only problem is that hubs is addicted too! We take turns playing levels and we are both pretty good at it. If one of us is every bored, you will find us playing this game.

2. Multi-tasking the computer and television

I'm doing this right now! My attention span has become so short that sometimes I will get antsy if I'm watching TV without being on my laptop at the same time.  Its so bad. I play on the computer (mostly blog reading) and listen to the TV. I can watch a whole episode of a show without even looking at it too much. This is just proof that our society is too "wired." We depend on technology so much that we can't focus on one thing, which is, I believe, the cause of my strange addiction.

Share your strange addictions over at Taylor's blog!

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We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Wishing you the happiest of New Years from the Oakes family