Life Lately per Instagram

Summer has been flying by and this blog has definitely been taking a back seat.
Thought I'd share some pics of what's been going on lately in no particular order...

Spending time eating al fresco, and hosting a few small dinner parties.

With all my favorite shows being on hiatus for the summer, I've found a few new favs and some old ones returning.
The Bachlorette is on of my guilty pleasures, along with Pretty Little Liars, and a lot of shows on Bravo.
Super excited to watch the Bachelorette finale tonight, and inviting a couple of my girlfriends over to watch with me so we can talk to the tv together!

OMG! Took both my 14 & 12 year old daughters to the One Direction concert in Seattle. My ears seriously rang the whole next day! I think some damage was done. Sorry, what?
Apparently the new way to show you like a song is to scream a blood curdling scream in the highest pitch you can. If you clap like me after a song, you.are.a.nerd! 

Still working on my dining room, and living room and adding things to my new shelves. I am loving the way these rooms are turning out and can't wait to show you when they are both done.

While daughter #3 was away at camp, I had to say goodbye to this sweet this girl's room and paint over the flowers, birds and butterflies. You will be missed. :(

So, while she was gone I had to bust out some quick painting. The ceiling was painted a fun turquoise color, the walls white, and a fun green stripe was added. I will do a post soon on how to make a (new to me) way to make a super straight line on textured walls.
Also, excited to share this room when its complete. Loving it so far....

Girls did a golf camp, and we did a family night of golf. Love this shot with my daughter trying to photo bomb us!

We've done a couple soccer tournaments, and have one more this summer on our list.

Got new pillow cases for the living room, and absolutely love these! Will show room soon....

Spent a little time at the beach with the girls and their friends...

Daughter # 2 and my husband went on a little adventure this summer....

And a little sneak peek of a chair I will be redoing for said daughter's room above... Well, I will be painting the wood, and have a professional redo the fabric.

 

 

So, that about sums up my summer so far. Hope yours has been going well too. Any fun projects or vacations lay ahead of you in this final month?

 

 

I am a bit obsessed with Instagram lately too. So fun seeing projects other bloggers/ designers are working on and seeing into their lives a bit with family photos, and vacations. Feel a little bit of a stalker.

If you'd like to follow me, find me at Steward of Design on Instagram and follow along! 

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What am I doing?

My self-confidence has taken quite a hit this weekend. I never thought I was AMAZING at decorating. I like to think I do okay, and it is something that I have a huge passion for and think about quite a bit. After this weekend, I am sadly thinking maybe I am not good enough.
I bought these shelves for my dining room, and I absolutely love them! What I pictured in my head turned out a lot different once they were put in the room.
Maybe you can help a girl out?!

So originally, I wanted them flanking the window.

 

I still kind of like this layout, but didn't think about the drapes, and those will be behind the shelves and I think that will be little off. I could do a roman shade though. I posted these pictures on instagram, and was told these shelves looked too wide for this wall.

So, option #2.

 

I liked the idea of the shelves facing out as a focal piece, but put them on the left side to even things out. The only problem I have with this layout, is if I do drapes on the french doors, the drape on the right will go behind the buffet. Will that be wrong? I could do a roman shade on those, same fabric I choose for the window?

Or option #3, which I don't have a photo of but I could put buffet back on left wall where it was originally with mirror above it, and put the shelves flanking the french doors, but I would have to do roman shades on the french doors if I do that as well.

 

 

Here are my ideas for the rest of the room.

 

 

 Possibly, adding a smaller rug for a layered look about the natural fiber rug, I have in there now. To bring in color and pattern.

 Doing white linen curtains or oatmeal color.

Changing out the shades for these linen shades from Pottery Barn.

 

Bringing in blue/white ticking stripe slipcovers for either all 6 chairs or just four, with 2 of woven chairs like these for the end of the tables, to break up all the black and dark colors.

And adding white serving dishes/platters/bowls to the shelving, maybe my cookbook collection and other little knick knacks.

 

I know it will look better when all the elements are brought into the room, but right now I am freaking out a little. Please tell me that I am not the only one that has done something like this. I just imagine that all interior decorators know exactly the right thing to do at every moment, and they never get stuck on ideas. Please tell me even the more experienced of them still have moments like this, where they questions what they are doing!

What would you do?



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It's curtains I'm afraid...

I suddenly realised it's half term next week and I was meant to have made some curtains to take up to York for my brothers kitchen. Gah! I hate making curtains. The maths makes my head spin.
Here's the fabric I chose.

The floor still makes my heart skip a beat :)

Very colourful. I'm hoping they will tie in with his kitchen that he replaced last year.
The straight lines are very helpful for cutting. I've done one curtain and there are two more to go...

Do you see our curtains in the background? They are Laura Ashley (via ebay) and have had the hems pinned up since we got them. My excuse was, I didn't know where the flooring would come to, so I couldn't shorten them. Well, the flooring is done so I have no excuses left now.
They're coming down and being washed and shortened from the top so I don't have to faff about with the hems on the curtains and the linings. Tedious job. But not as tedious as making them from scratch.

I'm also thinking ahead to the dining room makeover that's on the horizon. We have some electrical work to do first, then more wood flooring to go down and then I can sort that room out. I've got some cream curtains stashed away and I'm thinking of replacing the pencil pleat curtain tape with this:

Sorry this is a truly awful picture

Smocked curtain tape! Isn't that pretty? I have to figure out if it's right for the curtains I have; I read that it's best for lightweight curtains and mine aren't. And I'm hoping it's easy to use...

Also thinking ahead to the dining room, I would love this:

  

French style furniture. But my husband says no. We are sticking with chunky pine but painted. It'll work with what we've got, which is a large pine bookcase/ dresser that will be painted. I did replace that with a french style dresser that I painted but I couldn't get half as much in it so it had to go. It was 99p from ebay but my books didn't fit into it as it was more of a display cabinet.

The french one

So that bit the dust. The pine one came back in.

 A bit of primer adhesion experimentation has occurred...

We also have:

...but with grungier legs and a paler top, but it's too long for the room (we were going to take a wall down but not anymore) so I've been tracking down a shorter one.
It's a bit ridiculous, the amount of furniture that passes through this house. We moved in with 3 tables, one is now in the garden and two were sold. We bought another, decided not to keep it, bought another (the one we have now that's too big) and last week bought a smaller one that's too small. You'd think we don't know how to use a tape measure! I think I'm guilty of repeatedly finding something lovely at a bargainous price on ebay and convincing myself it will be fine. When it's not.

I want to get it right and have furniture that fits the room (it's not big) and is worthy of the new flooring! Thank goodness for ebay. It means a mistake is not a costly mistake! Luckily it's all secondhand in the first place so I'm not losing money.

I'm also thinking of a plate rack like this in the dining room.

 I have some pretty plates just waiting.

Seeing as we're drowning in tables and chairs at the moment, and everything has stopped for curtain making, I've done nothing more with my Ikea step stool. Sorry.

Perhaps after we return from Yorkshire for half term? I'll take my camera so I can show you my brothers curtains in situ.
IF I finish them.

Happy half term!

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