budget-friendly headboard

what a great upholstered headboard from U.O. with all the fixings (ie. nailhead trim, great shape, & wallet-friendly). there is only one catch or i'd be ordering it up for my master bedroom....it only comes in a full/queen. and seeing that we just invested in a king so that our whole fam could sleep in the bed w/ us (babe and golden), this won't do. but for the other people in the world who are without kid, dog, and still enjoy smaller beds to cuddle w/ their significant others, this would be a great addition to any bedroom!

*and with some classy bedding(maybe a dark coverlet-chocolate or slate gray, w/ monogrammed euro shams, light throw at the bottom of the bed), you could really dress this up and no one would ever know that it didn't put a dent in your wallet buying it

what a table....

oh my bad, female leather chair....won't this table look smashing by my beautiful, ivory leather piece of work! a perfect masculine match...and look at the cost of this little diddy.....pretty darn good if i say so myself....go get you one!

the female leather chair....

so i am helping a dear friend of mine with a house that she and her husband are building....and let me tell you, they LOVE leather. it's something i struggle with b/c while i think that leather is good looking in a chair, i tend to steer away from it for sofas. however, i have opened my eyes to the idea of it a little more b/c to their defense, they have two small children and think its the best for spills and clean-up. so with that said, i have been on a quest to find beautiful leather....and here my friend, is exactly that!

its funny b/c domino just featured an article on leather and my friend called me out on it, saying "see shannon, they say leather is back".....this is the leather that is back: classic, beautiful, feminine leather! who wouldn't want two of these chairs in their house(besides kevin)?

*in case you are wondering, i did find a sofa i think is nice in leather....if you want to see what i suggested, here it is!

red wine is definitely cool....

as if drinking wine wasn't fun enough, add this wine holder to any kitchen/dining room and you have really got something to talk about. i love the sporadic hole placements for the wine bottles! i don't know if i could keep the wine bottles in there...we tend to drink what we have at the house! but empties could display well too!

white canvas....

i love it when i run across designers that totally excite me....its like drinking 3 cups of coffee. i just get an adrenaline rush that makes me love design and what i do. i just crave cool houses and creativity and love the people out there delivering it. i just want to create inspiring work for my clients that they will love and grow with and yet is affordable and classic and totally them.

this picture is classy. it's totally tasteful yet has a flare of funk with the accented red chairs. and of course, i love the white canvas that the furniture is against...the walls and the floor just draw your eyes directly to the furniture. its kind of like eating off white plates...the food just looks prettier and taste better for some reason.

oh beautiful throw....

sometimes you just need a little zebra in your life and if you are an animal rights activist, a zebra skin rug just might not float your boat. but this gorgeous nina campbell throw would excite just about anyone. its a little pricey but for lambswool and for a fabulous design statement, it's worth it! hey, put it on your xmas list...let someone else splurge. and with animal prints taking a huge leap back into style, this gets you right up there with the other trend followers.

library light reinvented....

where most people would look at this light and see something that needs to be used when reading, i see this fixture with a whole new outlook. i love taking this traditional light and throwing it in a nontraditional setting. place two of these above your kitchen window and it would make great task lighting. you could also use this as a bathroom fixture over your mirror....who says you have to use the same old sconce with frosted glass? or it would look great on the wall next to your window seat (and i guess this would be slightly taking it back to its original purpose but we'll let it slide). spacing these around a room (like at eye-level) or mounted them on the tops of bookshelves also make a dandy use for this extremely functional light. but in order to achieve these nontraditional looks, you need to make sure you remember to review this with your electrician. they will have to install electrical wires in these not-so-typical places. this is something that you definitely want to think about when you are building a house and make sure to point out during your electrical walk through...another great reason why working with a designer can be a real plus...

hello, YELLOW

don't be shocked when you start seeing a bunch of yellow pop up in furniture and fabric trends....it was hot in fashion and now its heading our way in the design industry. this is definitely a bold color so use it as an accent piece...kitchen chairs, pillows, lacquered side tables, etc. this acid yellow is fun and can definitely liven up any household... be on the cutting edge and try this less mellow yellow!

Kitchen Island

if you don't go to antique stores or flea markets than you are truly missing out. i fell in love with big daddy's antiques ; there is only one problem....its in LA. but if you are looking for inspiration or just something different, check out his site (i assume its a "he" since the store is big daddy). and if you fall in love with something like i just did, you can always email "big daddy" and see if they ship. the only problem is that you might pay a whopping fee to get it here from cali....but none-the-less, it shows you that great things do exists and gives you instinctive to find something locally.



but for now since i am stuck home (baby is napping) while my hubbie is at the beach w/ the dog, i will envision this industrial zinc work table as a kitchen island (and boy does it make a great one). the kitchen would have white painted cabinets, my beautiful carrera marble counter tops (honed of course), simplistic, white subway tile as the backsplash that would extend all the way up the wall, a farmhouse sink, and my lovely zinc island with pendant lights hanging above......



and you know what else if fantastic about using this found piece as an island, the bottom shelf is great for storage and an eye-catcher for displaying cool things....find some woven baskets and keep kitchen supplies in there, or put your "all-clad pots" down there, or vintage mixing bowls, or your red wine collection....


this zinc island also saves a heck of a lot of money that you would spend having an island built and nobody else will have the same one as you.....priceless :)

hip accent table

i love this table. i think it would make a great table in between two linen club chairs or as a side table by a velvet sofa. its just different from your regular, indonesian dark-wooden side table found in a lot of your local shops. it has a cool vibe to it. i love the idea of mixing it with different elements...placing a funky, glass lamp on it or using dark fabrics for your upholstery would look amazing next to this light wood.

cool bathroom.....

what a funky bathroom...i love the mixture of old and new. living etc called this "rustic modern" and i love the play of those words together as well as the actual outfitting of this bathroom. i guess there are things i love more than others in this space....i love what the actual sink sits on....an old table reinvented as a bathroom console is very clever (a little more interesting than purchasing the whole kit and caboodle prepackaged), the sink and faucet look amazing on the wood (the knob on the faucet is extra cool), and i love the propped up mirror. i think the walls are interested...i would love it against an old, exposed charleston brick wall more :) ! and the naked light bulb could be replaced with something a little more finished but still keeping with the simplistic nature of the room. all in all, the combination of rustic and modern make a great bathroom.....don't be afraid to mix and match....the possibilities are endless and the look will be a style all of its own!

*on a separate note....poor, poor britney...unfortunately the combination of her vma routine left my mouth wide open saying "oh no she didn't".........

great web find

i love this chair and think that everyone needs something fantastic like this in their home. two of these chairs would be amazing as occasional chairs in a living room. i could not believe how well priced these chairs are. if you are in the market for something like this, you can find them here.





i can see the room now...an all white palette....benjamin moore dove white(OC-17) would be amazing as the wall color, light floors, sisal rug layered with a zebra accent rug over top, a classic- line, slip-covered white sofa with turquoise and orange accent pillows, a metal and glass coffee table with a wooden bowl filled w/ iridescent, hand-blown glass balls, a weathered mocha leather chair with a white cashmere throw tossed in it, and these beautiful elliptical side chairs flanking the all white, brick fireplace.....these are cool chairs....

Pagoda Chandelier

do y'all watch "Flipping Out"?? the last show was last night, but it was about this neurotic LA guy who flipped houses and the people that worked for him. i could not have dealt with jeff as my boss but he did immaculate flips and has great taste....

one of the scenes last night inspired my blog for the day...it was at ryan's house. in the dining room he had three pagoda chandeliers hanging over his table. it looked so amazing. so i googled pagoda chandeliers and found this one on ebay...it has great potential. i would paint it chocolate brown or black or red...i would love to have three small pagoda's over a long, rectangular raw/ drift wood table. so cool.....or if you couldn't find a couple of these, you could just get this vintage one and use it over your table, or in the foyer, or in a powder room.

another take on the grouping idea that i love are the copper pendants that design w/in reach has....hanging two of those over a table would be a show stopper! or doing a group of lights/ lanterns at different heights would be neat....

Headboard dilemma??

i know i was suppose to be doing something crazy and exciting on this labor day weekend but its raining outside, my husband's fishing (or attempting to), and the baby's sleeping...so i decided to write a blog. i hope y'all are doing something a lot cooler than reading this on your labor day weekend!

anyhoo....i love this idea of a stenciled on headboard. i think its a great way to give the look of a headboard w/out the commitment of having to actually purchase one. its fantastic for the budget friendly, yet stylish 20/30 year olds. don't you think it would be great in a guest bedroom? and i love how they paired it w/funky bedding...if you decide to do this, explore the bedding at anthropologie and pick out an accent color for the walls. paint the headboard a shade lighter or darker than your wall color and to really spice it up, do the paint sheen in pearle and it will give luster to the headboard. when you are tired of this headboard or you have enough money in the piggy bank to actually purchase one, all you have to do is repaint the wall! to purchase this stencil go to http://www.stencil-library.com/docs/asseenin172.htm .