NEED ART? TRY GOODWILL!

I’ve been trying to figure out what to put on this wall for the longest time now. While on one of my weekly trips to Goodwill, I found a fun colorful piece of art that I thought was perfect!

For $15, I figure it was a great deal. The only problem is that now I have another place in my house that I think it would work much better!

So maybe I’m back to square one….But for now, I’m happy!

****Edited***

Karen left me a comment and said that the art reminded her of the Kim Parker's work. Guess what, it's signed by Parker! I did a search and found the same piece on Overstock for $226.99! Thanks Karen!

Have you found any great artwork at a thrift/second hand store lately?!

BLACK FRIDAY: Ishka Designs Inc.

Meet Anishka Clarke and Niya Bascom

The designer and photographer behind

Ishka Designs’ creative team consists of the duo, Anishka Clarke and Niya Bascom. After working a decade in finance, both in Jamaica, and Wall Street, Anishka quit her successful and award-winning finance job to pursue her real passion, interior design and Niya has over fifteen years experience in photography, shooting unknowns to celebrities, products to interiors. Ishka Design Inc. is based in Brooklyn, New York with a satellite office in Kingston, Jamaica!

While Anishka’s design aesthetic leans towards minimalism, you would never guess given the how warm her rooms appear

I recently became “friends” with Anishka on twitter shortly after the whole “Nate Day” experience and I’m so glad I did! I’m a huge fan of her work and I hope to meet her in person one day! She is very talented and that was proven when Ishka Designs was featured in the latest issue of Rue!

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite spaces designed by Anishka

Swoon!

You can find Anishka:

Website

Blog

Twitter

Happy Friday!

DRESSER MAKEOVER

Hi guys! Today I’m busy painting a dresser.  Remember this one?

 

Yeah, she’s in the process of getting a little makeover!

I’ll also be updating the hardware

I’m thinking these would look great!

 

Depending on how long it take my pulls to arrive, I should have a pretty little makeover to show you soon!

What are you working on?!

SAY WHAT CRATE AND BARREL?!

 

Have you guys seen the the Dwell Studio fabric used at Crate and Barrel?  They’ve used it for window treatments and on furniture pieces.

 

I love the pieces they have, but I think I would still buy my own Dwell fabric from fabric.com and some stitch witchery or hem tape to make my own curtains.  And as far as the furniture pieces, a run through the Goodwill will get you a nice chair with great bones to have reupholstered!

Oh, and have you seen the bedroom that Emily designed using a mixture of Dwell studio fabrics?  Just fabulous!

 

Happy Wednesday!

BLACK FRIDAY: Karen of Hammocks & High Tea

If you haven’t heard of Hammocks & High Tea, I suggest you climb out from under your rock and pull out a magazine! It’s the amazing product line by Karen Young. Consisting of tea towels, sachets, totes, and pillows to name a few, Hammocks & High Tea has something for everyone!

I had the pleasure of meeting Karen in New York at the HGTV luncheon and she is such a doll, not to mention FUNNY!

Her products have been featured in many magazines and also featured on the Nate Berkus Show. They were recently featured in the latest issue’s of House Beautiful and Better Homes and Garden (in which I always give her a shout out on twitter whenever I see a mention!)

“Inspired by my grandmother (the embodiment of fusion with Scottish-Portuguese heritage), Hammocks & High Tea offers products that express a modern sensibility of what is commonly known as tropical design.”- Karen

I love the colors and patterns she uses in her collection. I actually have plans for her drawer liners!

You can find Karen here:

Website

Blog

Twitter

Happy Friday!

PLANS FOR THE KITCHEN

As you can see, my kitchen is very small.

Because of that, I must do all I can to maximize the the space.

Starting with the table and chairs, I originally planned to paint the table and find new chairs.  But the base of the table (I don’t have a picture, yet) is so “fat” that it just takes up too much visual space.  I prefer a table like with a base like this one:

Though the same style, the base is a lot thinner. And as for chairs, I like these

And I’ve seriously been thinking about a window seat in my kitchen.  Have any of you seen the Ikea Expedit bookcase turned on it’s side and used as a window seat?

(The above images were found on Apartment Therapy)

I think it’s a cool idea and would totally work as seating for the boys.  And it’s a major plus that I can place baskets in it to store different things like toys and school supplies for homework. 

Using a window seat might just make my idea for short drapes at the window make more sense to some of you

 

And of course I’m still using these table cloths that I found for a great price at Target!

I’m going to do a part two to this post so I can talk about the rest of the plans for the space.  What do you think so far?!?

Happy Thursday!

THE KITCHEN

I could have come up with a better title for this post, but I couldn’t think of anything quick!  I realized that I didn’t show you the kitchen painted Accessible Beige.  I’m not completely finished with this space painting wise, but I’m not going to start back until close to spring.

 

As you can see, I’ve already been sampling colors for the cabinets…

 

With the terrible light I’m getting these days, it’s hard to get a good picture of the color of the walls.  Here is a before picture

and after

As you can see, Accessible Beige leans towards gray in different light.

Tomorrow I’ll share with you the plans for the space, then on Friday, I’ll highlight another fantastic woman for my Black Friday feature!

Happy Wednesday!

 

BLACK FRIDAY: Niki McNeill Edition

Hi guys! I’m sure that you already know February is coined ‘Black History’ month, and after a conversation with my son the other night, I decided to do a feature on my blog highlighting different African American artists.

This feature not only will include well known artist, but some that are not so known about that are just as fabulous! You may also realize that many of my highlights will consist of women. Why is that? Because there is always a time to highlight a woman!!!

The first highlight for Black Friday is of fellow blogger

Niki McNeil

Niki is the writer behind the blog Single Bubble Pop. She is also a graphic/web designer

And on top of that she really is an artist. She currently has a feature on her blog called “What I Wore”, where she illustrates her outfits

She can also do it for you!

Oh yeah, did I mention that she is an interior designer? Yeah, she is just all around fabulous!

Niki McNeill is a very nice person and I’m happy that she allowed me to feature her for Black Friday. I’m currently working with her on a few design projects for myself and I must say that she is nothing less than friendly as well as professional (and as you can see, TALENTED)! Thank you Niki for being such an inspiration to me. You really show how anyone can do it all if they set their mind to it!

You can find Niki on

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Blog

DEAL ALERT

Emily blogged about her kitchen nook makeover and it was fabulous!

What stood out for me was that she used short drapes on her windows.

 

After reading the comments she received on the post where she questioned the use of them, surprisingly. a lot of people would rather have a root canal than hang short curtains in their home!  I have a small eat-in kitchen and in the area where the table sit, I have a double window and I plan on using shorter length drapes at that window due to my three boys and their sticky fingers!

 

Here is the deal!

Have you seen the Dwell Studio line of table cloths at Target?  Well I snatched up two of them for $9.98 each!

The plan is to use these table cloths on the window for drapes! They do measure 60x84, but I want them to be short just like Emily’s!

 

What do you think, would you hang short drapes on your window?  Or do you prefer floor length?