Sweet Little Dress!

I made the cutest dress for my daughter, Ella, yesterday.  I used a simple pattern from Leila and Ben called Sweet Little Dress.  It's a fairly simple pattern and I decided to add to it a little by adding two tiers to the dress.  I was so excited to show it to her.  Unfortunately, she was NOT in the best mood at the time and decided before trying it on that she wasn't going to like it.  Here it is...

Please ignore the pink leggings (couldn't get her to take them off), the granola bar wrapper on the floor, and the dog leg in the picture.  As you can tell by her face, she was not happy.  She thought the elastic around the neck itched.  I was so sad, but my older daughter, CeCe, decided she wanted the dress.  Hopefully she will wear it.  I think it's really cute don't you? 

I used the leftover fabric to make a skirt that hopefully Ella will wear.  It's pretty cute too...will look really cute with a white tank and flip flops in the summer.



Chair Restyle In Progress

I really needed a couple of occassional chairs for my living room and was so excited to fing the following pair at a Sleepy Poet in Charlotte.  It is a great place to find inexpensive furniture and accessories.  Anyway, I was on a major budget and saw these chairs for about $30 each.  I loved the lines and love the idea of using different styles in the same room:

As a side note, after I bought the chairs I discovered that Candice Olson refurbished the same style chair in one of her recent episodes of her new show Candice Tells All.  I LOVED they way they turned out.  You could tell the quality of the upholstery was very good.  I am hoping to make the same improvement with mine.  Here are her chairs:

My first idea was to paint them a dark charcoal gray and cover them in this fabric from Calico Corners called Stockholm in Sungold:

However, I was so inspired by the latest issue of House Beautiful, "The Power of Pink" issue (especially Ruthie Sommer's home...you gotta check it out...when I win the lottery I want her to design my house) so I changed my mind and, even though I love the yellow and still want to use it somewhere, I decided to use pinks and turquoises in the room.  (I'll show you the room when I am done).  So I am still going to paint the chairs charcoal gray and I am going to use this fabric (also from Calico Corners) called Shalina in Ivory/Raspberry.  Looks much better in person:

And I am going to cover the backs in Chanda Stripe in Multi and maybe use it for the cording as well.  I just have to be careful not to make is too cutesy:

I'll be sure to post the final product along with more projects from my Living Room.  Hopefully, I won't change my mind again or I am going to go broke buying fabric!

Happy Birthday Mom and Happy Valentine's Day to you all!!!!!!

Sofa Dreamin'

My current living room sofa is a Charleston Sofa from Pottery Barn...
  
Although this sofa has and will continue to serve us well with three young kids (we can put the whole slip cover in the washer), I am dreaming of the day when I get to pick out our new sofa.  My husband is the practical type (which is one of the reasons I love him) and says we need to wait until the kids are a bit older and less likely to destroy a new one.  Did I mention we have very large stick figures drawn in black Sharpie on one side of one seat cushion? 


Anyway, forever the dreamer am I.  Here are a few of my favorites for the future:


Petrie Sofa from Crate and Barrel.  I just LOVE the sleek and simple modern lines. 

Here it is in a few rooms (thanks to Apartment Therapy)...

I love, love this room by the way...

I also love the Bedford Sofa from Williams Sonoma Home.

It is much more traditional than the Petrie sofa.

It sure is fun to do a little "virtual" shopping!!!

Welcome!

After spending countless hours (DAILY) reading other design blogs, I am so excited to share my own thoughts and ideas.  Now if I only had someone to read it!  But still, I am so excited to post my thoughts, ideas, projects and design inspirations on this blog.  It may take me a while to get going but I am excited about the challenge of a new endeavor!   Until next time...