Another year Wiser...

My friends, I am alive!  I swear to it!

I've just been so incredibly busy in the last week, between travel for work, birthday celebrations, and my obsession with Downton Abbey (I'm almost fully caught up on the current season). I have hardly had two seconds to think about my little CupHalfFull.

Anyway, today is my birthday, and I don't know what it is about birthdays, but I love them.  Getting to indulge a little - treating myself to a donut and a full-fat latte (none of that "skinny vanilla latte" nonsense this morning) and wearing bright red lipstick to work.  Just makes the day feel a little more special when you put a little effort into getting ready :-)

I had a hard time turning 28 last year - don't ask me why.  Perhaps it was the idea of finally entering my "late twenties" but I was in a serious funk.  This year, I am excited for 29.  It is my last year as a twenty-something, and I feel really content at where I am in my life.  I live in a beautiful city, with the love of my life.  We have a fabulous apartment in the most gorgeous neighborhood I can imagine.  I have a wonderful new job that fulfills me, dear friends who are always there, and the most loving, encouraging family a girl could ask for.

28 ended up being a good year, but 29 is going to be the best year yet - I can just feel it.

Here's hoping I blow all my birthday candles out tonight!

I promise, I'll be back in action very soon, and my little blog will not go neglected :-)
xo

Gold and Glass

As we work on our home, and make changes to existing furniture, I've learned a lot about what I thought I liked, what I actually like, and what I really REALLLLY want.

I've mentioned before that the coffee table and side tables in our living room were a Craigslist purchase. A few years ago, I bought them from some guy selling the set at wholesale prices out of a storage unit somewhere in the East Bay.  It sounds more shady than it was - I brought a friend, and he had his 7 year old daughter with him, so it all felt fine.  No creepy killer lurking in the shadowy storage facility.  

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure how he was able to sell brand new furniture at wholesale costs, but at 24 years old, I was stoked to get a coffee table and two side tables for ~$100.

Here they are in all their glory... a little matching trio.

Don't get me wrong, they've definitely served their purpose, and I don't hate them, but I'm completely over the matching look, and all the dark wood (well, faux wood) is a little overwhelming.  I don't have immediate plans to get rid of them, but I've definitely started thinking about what I want to eventually replace them with.

What I'm really loving right now, is the look of clear glass, clean lines, and a gold metal frame.  Visually, the clear glass doesn't take up a lot of space, and I am into gold in a big way!

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This gold end table is perhaps one of my favorites - not only does it have a little shelf underneath to hold a few things, but detail around the shelf is amazing, yet still really clean and simple.

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I am also loving this side table - against the landscape wallpaper (which is fabulous in it's own right) the metal-work on the side is detailed without being overbearing.

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What I love most about these two side by side glass tables is that they are simply styled, and allow you to see the great graphic rug underneath!  A big complaint I have about our coffee table now, is that it hides a big part of our rug... which I love!

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Moving onto gold and glass etageres... this is an Ikea hack! I couldn't believe it myself, but this shelf was less than $100, and all it took was a little gold spray paint to look like a million bucks.

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This one is NOT an Ikea hack, but a pretty good inspiration for one, eh?  I love the symmetry, muted colors in the styling, and how the gold really pops against the concrete wall.

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Everything about this photo is love - the Thibaut Thibaut Tanzania Wallpaper is TO DIE FOR, and while this gold and glass etagere will set you back about $4K, it's so pretty to look at.  Isn't the greek key scrollwork amazing?  I think there is something about a bit of gold and a bit of animal print that says fabulous all the way!!

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What a surprise, more animal print and gold... love this coffee table - especially with the orange Hermes tray, and orchid.  Not exactly functional, but oh so pretty...

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Small space living all the way - love that this living space also serves as the dining room (and office).  This really just brings home my point about having a glass top table to maximize space visually.  And those striped curtains?  LOVE!

Musical Curtains

So this isn't TOO exciting, but I wanted to share a few updated shots of our living room, after playing musical curtains the other weekend.

Since hanging the chevron curtains in our bedroom, the creme colored silk panels that had been in the bedroom, made themselves a new home in the living room with the other silk panels.

AT LAST we have four panels hanging along the row of windows in our living room!

For pretty much everyone except me, the change is nothing you'd even think twice about, but for the longest time, these windows just had a single curtain flanking each end.

These aren't great photos, but they're evidence that it was a bit bare:


See the empty space between windows?  It just sort of bugged me, and felt unfinished...



Here is a better picture to illustrate how "empty" it felt to me......


Obviously this snapshot is from a long time ago... before the new rug moved in with us.  Don't you agree that there was something missing?  It just needed a little something extra...

And now it does...

I think it makes the room feel larger, and more complete, and since we get direct sunlight in here ALL DAY LONG, I think the curtains really help soften and filter the light.

Here are a few more pictures since I know you're as excited as I am... NOT.

Side note... the room is really neutral as of now since I wanted to simplify and de-clutter after all the excess of Christmas.  Now that we are getting closer to spring, I've got my eye on some brighter colors and fun patterns for the pillows, so the room will feel a bit more awake after all the neutral colors of January and February.

And, that's it!  Just wanted to share the little update with you all!  Happy Wednesday!

Updated Bedroom Photos

So after looking at the photos I'd posted of our bedroom last week, I was cringing... not that our bedroom looks awesome by any means, but it doesn't look THAT bad...

Granted the pics from last week's post are great "before" shots, so any "after" will be much improved, but still... I wanted to document how the room actually looks before making headway!

White, white and more white... not too exciting, but clean looking at least!

Yep... the bed is officially off-centered from the mirrors that we'd originally hung above our queen size mattress.  And yep... I didn't even realize it until I started taking these pictures... awesome.

Side note here: that faux fur throw is THE WARMEST little thing - I LOVE it!  We sleep with all the windows open, because I like it to be really really cold in the room, and cozy in bed.  Am I crazy or is does anyone else do that too??

 And the curtains... I clearly need to figure out how to take better photos when there is direct light from a window, but at least you can see more clearly how they look - pretty sweet, right?

And another photo facing my closet (and the bathroom door - it's just on the other side of my dresser)

Finally, the TV on it's miniature stand, and the gold shelf that is about to go on Craigslist... like TONIGHT.  I cannot wait to get rid of that thing.

Once that open shelf is gone, there will be ample room for a longer, taller TV stand / storage unit.  I had been thinking a crisp white would look nice with some gold hardware, but now I'm reconsidering... maybe a pale aqua, bright yellow, or even something more fun like orange.  Am I getting carried away???

and... THIS is why we need a bedskirt!

See Kris' huge board bag that he packs his surf boards in when we travel??  See the extra toilet paper?  Yeah... NO ONE needs to know what all is under the bed.

I think that buying a bedskirt just shot to the top of my list of bedroom priorities...

Bedding Decisions

As you know, the bedroom has been on my list for a little revamping for a looonnnggggg time.  And I've been saying for months that it's "next on the list", but I swear to you, this time, improvements are on the way.

And I mean, SOON.

We've got the new bed, some new curtains, and the new rug, so I'm going to get motivated to start finishing the room out.  Here's a shoddy picture little reminder of how the curtains are looking now with their crisp navy and white wide chevron stripes:

If you recall, we got a new rug which arrived several months ago, but I've never photographed or posted.  Of the three options I was going between in this post, I went with option #3:

It was the "safe" choice since the pattern wasn't too crazy and the colors were the most neutral, but it's been a decision that I've been very happy about - here are a few pictures from the day we rolled it out... just before our bed was delivered!

I am SO thrilled with the quality.  It's really plush and soft - you can really see the quality in this up-close and personal shot below:

So now with the neutral rug, the new curtains, the new bed, and white bedding, I feel that we need to add some more color and pattern into the mix.  I definitely want to incorporate the navy from the curtains into the bedding, and here are a few options I've come up with:

Bring in some BRIGHT Colors:

I really love the Santa Maria Fabric from Lewis and Sheron fabrics - it's bright and fun, without being juvenile.  The pattern has a good dose of navy, and I love that using this fabric on the Euro Shams would bring some life to the otherwise neutral space, while tying in with the striped pattern for the shams and curtains.

Kris isn't 100% sold on the bright colors - I think it's because of the pink - but a punch of color would really wake things up - don't you think?

Stick with Navy and White all the way:

Staying with a navy and white palate will allow me to bring a more wild (literally) print into the mix. There is something about a little kick of navy zebra that I am absolutely LOVING.  It's just enough animal print without being "safari" and I think it could be really fun.

Mix in A LITTLE color and fun patterns:

I love Ikat, but I'm afraid that the Kalah Blue pattern I'm so in love with is too creamy colored to work with the pure white bedding (swatch below).

The "polka dot" ikat fabric with the pale grey background makes the fabric choice more deliberate, and while the Kalah Blue fabric won't work on the bed, I have other plans to make it work in our house elsewhere.



So those are the three options I came up with first... but then I started second guessing (shocking, right?) and started thinking that maybe a combination of these three might be what I need...

I could take the preppy striped fabric from the first mock, and the "polka dot ikat" from the third mock and pair those together...

Could this be the winning combo??

Or do you feel like I haven't hit the jackpot yet with ANY these combinations? Should I look for other options???

What about Lime Green?

Or what if I used some of the Chaing Mai Dragon fabric from Shumacher??

DAH!  I swear I will make some decisions!

Apart from my indecisiveness, you may have noticed a few other changes to the bedroom set up in these mocked up photos.  I want to get some large mirrors - either oval or rectangular, to mount behind each nightstand, and take the place of windows.  I also want to add a headboard, to anchor the bed, and create a visual point of focus for the room.

As of the day our new bed arrived, this is how the bed pretty much still stands today:

Excuse the washed out photo - this was taken at night with all the lights on.  Since this photo was taken, the poly fill Euro shams have been replaced with down Euro Shams - a HUGE improvement (and you know how I love to chop my pillows).  We've also gotten a white duvet for the down comforter, and it looks just like a hotel bed - no more freshly-taken-out-of-the-bag-super-wrinkly-down-comforter.

Here's the official list of to-do's for the bedroom:
  - New King Shams
  - New Euro Shams
  - New Bedskirt (this is SO necessary to hide all the crap under the bed)
  - Mirrors behind nightstands
  - Headboard
  - New TV Stand
  - Get rid of gold shelving unit
  - Art behind the TV
  - Find a new home for the quatrefoil mirrors
  - Additional Lighting

That list looks longer than it sounds in my head...

I'll keep you posted on progress (and decisions!)