Home…be Inspired

How to Create a Cozy Reading Nook for all ages

As you may recall from this post I'm in the process of sprucing up the "trench benches" next to the fireplace in our family room.  This is what it looks like at the present time but usually the fireplace screen is there but I took it out for a good dusting. A few posts back, here,  I showed you some inspiration photos I've what I'd like to do with this particular space and those photos had many different styles of sitting nooks but todays post is about creating my vision or mood for this space, specifically the nook under the window just right of the fireplace.

As usual, I browsed my local World Market to see what kind of items I could use to put in my cozy reading nook.  World Market has a variety of products that can cater to many different design styles, whether your a Boho Chic kind of girl, or a Modern Farmhouse woman or if your like me Beachy Cottage chica. You can find what you need it's a one stop shopping place.  So how am I going to go about designing my Cozy Book Nook?  Let's get started on the Vision.

The first step is constructing a cozy spot for you to sit your bum down and relax.  A nice big fat cushion needs to be brought in as the base. I plan on having a local upholster make me one since my "trench bench" has odd dimensions.  Then I'll bring in lots and lots of colorful and soft throw pillows for extra comfort.  Picture #4 is the  red Suzani embroidered lumbar pillow, I chose this particular pillow because it has a colorful embroidery pattern which gives the space some texture and dimension, as well as bringing in some fallish colors.  Picture #6 and #7 are velvet lumbar pillows in a teal and ocean blue color, a perfect fit my beachy cottage and the velvet gives the spot a bit of texture and warmth to the nook.

Once you got the cozy part down, you'll need some lighting depending on what you'll want do in the nook you can engulf yourself in a good book or watch the rain fall on a rainy day.  In Picture 8,  I fell in love with this aged Zinc Ethan Sconce perfect for when the sun goes down and you need some good reading lighting.  If the fireplace is not blazing {Mr. Incredible has this little rule that he only lights a fire when it is raining} so if a fire is not going I'll light some candles  and I've been eyeballing the Newport candlesticks for some time seen in picture #2. They are painted a beautiful distressed robins egg blue color, add in some white candles and your all set. I only use white candles in my home because I like the soft glow they emit. World Market has many types of wax candles or some "faux" ones if you'd prefer. 

Next, every space needs a bit of art work and I think the Bicycle Wooden Art {not shown, you can find it here} or the Bus Wooden Art {Picture #1} that says, "Not all who wonder are lost" would be a perfect addition to the empty space to the right of the window.

What's a book nook without books?  If you have small children World Market has plenty and their Golden Books that remind me of when I was in first grade and learning to read, I still have a few from that time.  I also like the classic children books,  Black Beauty, Pipi Longstocking and of course The Wizard of Oz {as seen in Picture #3}  Have you seen the chalkboard book covers..OMG...cute!  I have a ton of children's books I keep in crates in the garage, as a teacher I  love to read all kind of great books to my class.  If I'm not reading childrens'  books during school I try to pick up good book to read during the school breaks or I most likely will be browsing my many shelter mags such as Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens or my new favorite HGTV magazines and I  like all my "reading" material corralled in one spot.  The Grey Kubu wicker basket {Picture #9} is so PERF for my reading nook!! 

And the last item every cozy reading nook needs is a comfy cozy blanket .  I liked the red chunky chenille throw blanket {picture #5} at World Market as it ties into my red and blue color palette in the family room and will accent the red in the Suzani lumbar pillow, not to mention its made of chenille, bliss.   

That's it!  How I created a vision for my Cozy Reading Nook.  This nook is perfect for all ages, my teenage girls or their magazine reading Mama. 

************I am a World Market Ambassador but all of these opinions are my own.*************

 

The Drudgery of Laundry

 

I'm not one of the lucky ones that has a designated laundry room or space...mine is in the garage, glamorous I know, you be jealous.  But I can browse the internet and covet beautiful laundry spaces, IF I was so lucky to ever have one.  The only place I think we could ever manage to fit one inside our home, would be a hall coat closet...then we would have to relocate all those jackets...But my girlfriend {{she is the one with the to die for kitchen}, got a leak in her downstairs area where her laundry is and we have been having fun  thinking together what we could do to organize her space a bit better...I've pulled these images from Pinterest I have a Laundry Room Board there to help her see what we could do.

Her laundry room is the color of the first picture, sea glass blue with lots of white trim.  She put in a butcher block table with shelves that she got from Ikea, it will come in handy for folding laundry.  I think having those fold-away laundry racks would be handy to have up on one of the walls as they can be handy to hang clothes or for sweaters that need to be hand washed and drip dried.

I love those pendants that would be great for extra light and that little farmhouse sink is adorable.  She has those lights come to think of it over her kitchen island.  She definitely needs more shelving, not sure if she would like closed cabinets, I think open shelving would be really nice.

Something like this would work great or maybe something more rustic or industrial....

I love these DIY Wood Plank Shelves with industrial pipes...I think it would look great! 

Since it was my friends Birthday I wanted to give her a present that was practical and would help get her organized in her new Laundry room to help take the Drudgery OUT of doing laundry.

I first found these huge mason jar drink dispensers at Walmart....

They were about $15.00 a piece and I found them in the picnic section towards the front of the store. 

I debated weather to hang chalkboad tags from the dispenser or make my own labels I wanted to cover up the "cold drink" embossed label on the jar.  I ended up making my own labels on the computer but you could pick up these tags at World Market too if you wanted to go that route. Go HERE if you want a tutorial on how to make labels in Microsoft Word.  In the picture above I just traced my shape that I would use as a template for my labels to glue on my jar.  I used glue dots to adhere the labels to the jar. 

Sorry for the blurry picture...I printed out then used my template to cut out my shape.

Here they are all ready.....don't they look pretty? Better than those ugly plastic jugs they come in.

I got the cute wooden clothes pins in the white drawstring bag from World Market as well as the Lavender linen spray.  The canvas laundry bin came from Homegoods, I loved it's little saying on the front.

Speaking of lost socks...does that not DRIVE you crazy when you can't find the pair to the other sock....it drives me INSANE in the Membrane!!  Really it does....this is a cute idea.....to put in the laundry room...

or this one...

 Or I might adapt this sign to say, "Clean and Single and ready to Mingle"...hee hee. 

 I added an antique wooden washboard to the bin and made a Happy Birthday tag.  I hope she enjoyed her gift and as soon is she is done with her Laundry Room Makeover I'll be sure to get over there and take some pictures of it.  She has a beautiful home and I'm sure the laundry room will be a place that will take out the drudgery at least a little bit our of doing the mundane of Laundry.

Painting My Built-In

During this time of the year when the girls are back at school I try to tackle some projects around the Cottage on Cullen.  Lots of time I start projects but it seems to take me forever to get them completed as this is our "busy" season.  With both girls on the Volleyball teams at their high school and Club Soccer on weekends my days are super busy.  I've also started to get off my butt and walk a couple of times a week and to eat with more of a conscience {being aware of what I put in my mouth}. I've being trying to lose weight spurred on by my Doctor so it is not always easy for me to fit everything in a day and the blog gets neglected.  I did start to repaint my built in bookshelves and they are almost finished. I just need to resand the doors, repaint them and buy new hardware for them.  When we moved into the Cottage on Cullen their was graffiti all throughout the home {the previous homeowners were disgruntled that the home was being taken over by the bank in foreclosure}.  So the bank came in and sprayed everything with a white primer including all of the hardware. Since the built in bookcase originally had and oil based paint and was now painted in water based paint it has started to peel in several areas throughout the Cottage on Cullen.

 
Our built in bookshelves are the wall that separate our kitchen from our living/dining room by a pocket door on one side and the entryway hallway.  Mr. Incredible would like to tear down the whole wall and put in an island to open up the space, I'm not so convinced because I love my Built in very much and it is one of the features that say "cottage" to me.

But on the other had it would really open that space up so when I'm cooking in the kitchen I would be more connected to the living areas of my home. I really enjoy styling the built-in and have several of my favorite things showcased like my aqua mason jars or my shell collection.  Beacause of it's white backdrop it is easy to change it out seasonally.

I've been browsing the internet for styling inspiration to see what direction to go.  Do I want to go more sparse with a one or two items per shelf or do I want to load it up with books and lots of pretty things? I have a model sailboat I got from my friend's yardsale that her father built and I want to display that, so I'm leaning in that direction, it is navy and white and navy is trending right now.

 
Well, hopefully by the weekend I'll be able to share the repainted and restyled Cottage on Cullen built-in bookshelf.  I know you've been waiting with bated breath to see it, {Haha}.  I'm also looking into a barndoor for the other side of the room. I found a rustic, peeling with yellow paint door at an antique store that I think I may buy it if it's the right price and is the right size.  Then I think the Cottage on Cullen Living/dining room will be pretty much done except for removing the non-useable air conditioner that is such and eyesore sticking out of the wall!  I hate that thing, it is sooooo ugly!  At least I'm making progress....Rome was not built in a day, they say.   Have a great weekend!!  

 

 

Gallery Wall : Check that Box

For the longest time I've been wanting to do a gallery wall. Well, I got the push I needed...my father-in-law sent us a big ol' box of pictures of the family.  Lots of Mr. Incredible's grandparents and great-grandparents and of him when he was a youngster.  I had a few boxes of pictures of my family too.

So the time was perfect to put it into motion.  I was a bit hesitant because as you can see we have painted panelling behind the couch and it's not like you can change your mind later on and move the pictures and fill the holes with spackle and paint over it.  Nope the hole is there for good unless you want to rip down the panelling but I like the panelling. 

I had some left over painters' paper so I pieced together three strips and with blue painter's tape. I put the whole piece up on the wall to see if that was about the size of the gallery I wanted.  Then I collected my frames and pieces I wanted to use.  I wanted it to be pretty cohesive in color and types of frames.  Shades of white, distressed, and a bit of metals.  I had most of the frames on hand from my book shelves and if I needed more to fill in I went to Michaels and used my 40% coupon on them or I hit TJMaxx, where I found several on sale.  I must say I moved them around a lot for a few days to see If I was satisfied with the placement.  As I added the pictures to the frames I changed my mind on where they would go.

When I thought I was happy with the look I traced around all of the artifacts and frames.  This was probably the most laborious of the project was to measure where the nail would sit on the back of the frame.  I marked the whole with a circle then it was time for Mr. Incredible to do his thang.

He hammered the nails into the circle marks and then we ripped the paper down.  You can see in the above photo the slight outlines.

There is a lot of history on this wall, it's amazing.  The oval picture up top is my great grandmother on my Mothers side when she was 15 in Mexico, it's from the 1800's.  The picture on the lower right corner is my father-in-law and my husband's mother at their Prom at the same high school my girls go too!

Finally, I can now check mark that box of my long list of " Things To Do".  Next....painting the kitchen cabinets........

Menu Planning

How many of you "fly by the seat of your pants" when it comes to planning and cooking your family meals?  Do you ever feel that little bit of anxiety around 5:00 p.m. when the husband is due home any minute and you have no idea what's for dinner?  Honestly, I start to get in a bit of a panic if I have no idea what I'm cooking for dinner and Mr. Incredible will be home shortly.  He gets up really early and is out the door by 4 am!  Yes, I said 4am!!  He comes home tired and HUNGRY....

evident by exhibit A.

I recently painted a wall in the kitchen with chalkboard paint and Mr. Incredible has left me a message in case I need to be reminded....{yes..we need to attach a doorbell-ringer-thinngamabobby up there with all those wires sticking out, looks tacky}, he spells it out plain and simple First FEED the HUNTER....

Do you use Menu planning to help with your grocery shopping?  I used to use the All Out Of by Knock Knock notepads to help with my grocery list, as I ran low on something I could mark it down or if someone else in the Cottage on Cullen used the last bit of shampoo they would mark it on the list.

 

I liked the Knock Knock version, especially because it had a magnet on the back. I could stick it up on the fridge and it was accesible for everyone, but I found that it was missing something, a place where I could write down the weekly menu so when I went grocery shopping it helped as a reminder of why I needed a certain item.  I went on an internet search and here is something I found similiar...

 It reminded me of the one from Knock Knock....you can go here to download this one if you'd like.  I used this one for about a month.  This blog had a ton of free menu printables in every design you could think of, all were free. If you too are going to join me in the Menu Planning venture you've lots of choices.  

In the end I choose this one from Target called the Menu Organizer. I thought it was simple and the grey matched my new grey painted kitchen, plus it had the magnetic strip on the back.  Perfect...

Since I got a red and grey thing going on in my kitchen these days...I cut a piece of polka-dotted scrapbook paper to cover the purple top....

Now it hangs on the side of the refrigerator....next to my big-numbered red rustic clock by World Market.  I love it's big numbers so I can see how long I've been cooking something, the eyes are not what they used to be.

As long as it does not catch fire we will be in good shape. {do not look at the half-painted wall behind the stove and the half-painted side of the cabinet....I have plans when it cools off, the temperature has been in the triple digits, too hot to paint the kitchen cabinets at this point in time}

Why menu plan? Well, Menu planning for me makes me feel organized and like I got it going on in the Homemaker department. Really, what it does for me...is I don't have to be last minute freakin' out what I'm doing for dinner.  I create my weekly menu on what is on sale at the grocery store or if I have a coupon, that is what drives my menu usually. But lately  it's been so flippin' hot..have I told you how hot it's been...in the triple digits...Oh I have...gettin' Alzheimers...that I've been creating recipes that either use the crock pot, making salads or grilling on the Barbeque NOT turning on the oven. 

Normally I'm a casserole type gal so I'm looking forward to fall so I can start pulling out my favorite fall recipes out..like Curried Chicken and Vegetables  or Chicken in a Basket or 3 Soup Chicken {I'll have to post that recipe, that is one of our family favorites}.  Then I write down what's for dinner on the weekly Chalkboard Menu Board so I know what I'm cooking, what needs to be defrosted the night before and the "Hunter" knows what's dinner.  What are your tips for successful meal planning? I'd love to hear your ideas and what you do to help with the trimming the grocery budget? To me the less I go to the store the more money we save because, I can not for the life of me, go into the store and come out with one item...nope it is NOT going to happen eva.  

 

Charging Station

In our old house this vintage desk which I bought from a good friend, {one of my fellow Scrapanos..Hi Pam!!} was in MacKenzie's room.  The bedrooms in the Cottage on Cullen are a bit smaller so we can not fit as much furniture in them, so we had to relocate this desk.  I LOVE this desk because of all the vintage details on it; the bowed belly, the curved legs, the painted hardware.

I was not willing to part with it under any circumstance, see what a beauty she is! Kenzie has a vanity in her bedroom which she uses A LOT, well she is 13, and does her homework on the dining room table so she did not need it in her room being that real estate was in short supply. 

Not only did the desk turn into a Family Command station, I turned the main drawer into a Charging Station.  I really dislike wires hanging all over the place.  We do have a ton of outlets in the kitchen and everyone would be charging there phones, cameras, ipods, you name it and cords would be all over.  Not only that I have teenagers in the house and this year I've had to clamp down on the hours they were spending on their phones and or ipods.  Yep..everyone needs to unplug themselves and plug into the charging station before bed.

This outlet which was smack dab in the middle of the wall became part of a solution...who'd a thunk?

I took some wrapping paper but in hindsight I should of used contact paper it's sturdier but I had it on hand and it matched my  kitchen rug.  I'll have to search online for a contact paper company that has more of a selection then Home Depot has.

Mr. Incredible cut a whole in the back of the desk at the same level as the outlet...which worked out perfect. We inserted a surge protector and the computer cord inside the desk.

Now that the liner is in...I needed to pick up my fasteners from my local office supply store.

I wanted the patterned paper to show through so I used clear clips by Command.  I use a lot of their products for hanging wreaths or garlands and I like that when I'm done with them I pull the tab and off they come.  

I pulled the little velcro squares from Scotch and put them evenly on the back of the surge protector.

Then I put the other side on it and pressed down the power strip to the paper.

To corral all the excess cordage I used the clear fasteners to keep them from going all over the place.  I repurposed bread ties {because I am a cheap} and used a sharpie to label what cord goes to what device. Now we have a place that does the job without a jumble of cords and wires all over the kitchen.  This project only set me back about $7.00 for the fasteners everything else I had on hand. Go HERE  or HERE for some colorful versions on labeling and organizing  your electonics. Go HERE  if you'd like to see another DIY variation on labeling your cords.  Now no more playing guessing games on what goes with what.  

I'm super happy with my new Family Command Center and the Charging Station.

The NEW Family Command Center

A few weeks back, I had a post on Sprucing up my {office/family command center} Space as I was promoting the Cost Plus World Market "Spruce up Your Space Sweepstakes".  I've been diligently plugging away on this paticular niche in the kitchen prior to the promotion due to the fact we put in a dutch door {the current door needed replacing because the window became broken and I took that opportunity to finally put in the dutch door that I have always wanted} which consequently is having a domino effect in the kitchen.  

 Kiss, kiss dutch door, how I love thee!  I love to open it when I'm cooking and let the breeze in or when I'm at the computer when everyone is in bed and all is quiet and want some fresh night air, oh heck it's open all the time, Nothing says beach cottage more than a Dutch Door.

Here is the space after I painted it Sea Haze by Benjamin Moore, I went with a greenish-grey because the tile on the counter is a light grey and the grout is a teal color.  I would really like to put in a new counter {possibly butcher block, cement or carara marble} and farmhouse sink but at this time it is not in our budget, but paint is cheap and makes a HUGE difference in the kitchen so we will start there.

See that outlet over there...that ended up being a "blessing in disguise"...I was NOT happy it was there, and wondering who in their right mind puts an outlet in the middle of a wall?  Well I came up with a solution..I'll share it in the next few days.

We have moved the computer from the TV hutch/cottage bookshelf to the current location on the desk.  Before if you were on the computer, you had to be hunched over because the hutch area was actually for a TV cabinet {built in the 50's} NOT a computer hutch and IF your back became tired from all the hunching you walked like the hunchback of Notredame for the next week.  We decided to use the laptop on the dining room table and when it ran out of juice we had to replug it in and the cord that was attached to the plug in hutch was an accident waiting to happen, someone would most likey trip over the cord and all hell would break loose.  So this is now how  The Cottage on Cullen Family Command Center is. Can I get a whoop, whoop!  Yea MOM! The cute tricycle red wire tiered tray is for all the paperwork that needs attention, papers to be signed, things that need to be read and then filed away.  

Slot No. 1 is for the parents of the Cottage on Cullen, slot No. 2. for daughter #1, slot No.3 for daughter #2.  It makes it more organized, so I don't have to sift through all the paper to find what I need, If daughter #2 says, "Hey Mom, where is my permission slip to go to Disneyland, did you sign it?" I know to look in that tier or they can look for it themself.  It works for me and I'm the boss.

Tada! The menu/memo board.  Here is where I post weekly the menu for each nights' dinner.  No more "what are we having for dinner MOM?"...they already know and I already know I have all my ingredients to make whats on the menu because I planed the menu {more on that later}.  I like it because I can look and see what I planned for that nights dinner and can get out the chicken to defrost the night before for Cheez-It Chicken on Thursday night or defrost the hamberger meat for Tuesday's Taco Night.  

I used my chalk markers to label each box with the days of the week and added the entree and side dish. I can clip recipes from magazines and add them to my Memo board if I choose to go "old school" {not my pinterest board}.  For some graphic interest I added the chalk banners, got the idea here. My originally idea was to paint the whole wall where the Memo board is in Chalkboard paint but I wanted to repurpose the memo board that I used in my old house in my craft corner.  But yesterday I DID paint a wall in chalkboard paint!!!  Lots to share with you in upcoming posts.

Do you like my new Family Command Center, do you have an office space or Family command center..I'd love to see it, please send me an email at [email protected] or leave a comment.

One more thing I'm so excited to announce that World Market will be partying at the very first Pinterest Party on Monday, August 26th at 1PM PST (4PM EST). World Market will be partnering up with two fabulous designers Kate Riley of CentsationalGirl and Justina Blakeney of JustineBlakeney.com to share ways to Spruce Up Your Space for the fall using World Markets' new fall collections. Plus, World Markes is giving away (5) $100 World Market gift cards during the hour.

Hope to see you all over there this coming Monday at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard  time and see what fabulous items the designers will be pinnng onto their designer boards.  You saw HERE what Centsational Girl did?  The girl has got it going on!   

Kitchen, Organizing the Garage and a cute girl and her shorts

I'm kind of all over the place right now...I'm at a bit of a standstill in the kitchen.  Mr. Incredible has been working all kinds of crazy hours the past few weeks and I need him to help me install a "three pronger outlet thingy" behind my desk in the kitchen {where in all reality I should be making all my Menu planning} so I can hook up the laptop there. Perfect to look at all the great recipes I've been pinning at Pinterest.

There is the outlet...I also need to finish painting the trim...all around the kitchen..but I don't need him to do that but I want to paint a chalkboard wall on the other side of the kitchen behind the refrigerator and I need help moving the appliances.  

So as I've been in a "holding" stage I decided to record all the paint choices we have painted in the Cottage on Cullen so far...I've dipped them in the paint and after they have dried with a sharpie wrote the color, the maker and the room it was painted in.  

Then I'll drill a hole in the end of the stick and tie it with some twine and hang them in the painting cabinet...I also keep the paint chips in my Home...be Inspired book, it keeps all my ideas about decor for our home in one area but have a lot of ideas on Pinterest too!  I love that place!!  

As you can see I have a lot of beachy colors going on..blues, greens and greys...in our color palette.  

As I've been organizing all my "craft crap" this girl has been getting her craft groove on... 

She is learning how to sew.....she watched a tutorial on youtube...and made

these old pair of jeans into....

shorts.....

with the cutest bows on the back pockets! She was so proud of herself! Looking good girl!!  I'm sure you'll be getting lots of orders from your friends soon....

It has been YEARS In the Making...seriously

I have always been interested in home decor for as long as I can remember.  My mother always had a knack for Country Style decorating as well as my aunt and cousin...so I guess it is in the genes. 

This big ol' binder with all of my clippings from magazines and catalogs that I created years ago.  Nowadays I use my Pinterest design boards to guide my "design eye".  What I've noticed throughout time my taste as not changed all that much.  I have always loved a romantic-country-beach style.  What also has stayed the course is my LOVE of the color blue...it has vacillated between the shades of blue but blue has held my heart for a long time.  Sometimes I'd pair it with yellow or red and now lots of white.  I see green creeping in as well but always blue weather it be chambray, jean, robins egg or turqouise.

As you can see this is sort of where my blog title came from {the title of my binder}...each room in the house as a it's own tab and section with plastic sleaves in each section so I can just tear out a picture from a magazine or catalog and slip it inside.  I can also keep paint chips and receipts in it.

Here is the bathroom section....

I bought the exact sconce called the Clara Sconce from PB on the top left hand corner, we used it in the bathroom of our other home.  It is too small for our current bathroom so I'll reuse it in another area..I love it too much to get rid of it.  The sconce that came with the house is the one we'll use...I don't LOVE it but I don't dislike it either. It will tie into the carrera marble nicely.  I have always been attracted to small wooden cabinets, I think they are charming.  I'm recycling one I found on the side of the road for our bathroom.

Sea Glass {tiles} are something that I really like but was afraid it might be too trendy, I wanted something that has been time-tested.  I'm sure Sea Glass will make an appearence in the new bathroom but not as a tile backsplash or counter. 

Here is my Binder Bathroom Design section.  As you can see in the picture on the right side, shuttered windows and beadboard wainstcoting...yep..I think it is timeless and perfect in a cottage like ours.  When we looked at our current home, before buying the master bedroom's windows all had shutters on the windows but when the house actually when up for the sale the band had them removed {along with the pergola}, I was bummed about that.  I had shutters in my room as a little girl.  Our nursery for our girls had shutters....so keep a few around on my mantel as a nod to my love of shutters.  I'm planning on using the fabric as a curtain in there instead of shutters.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to paint the wall more of a taupe, a silver gray or griege.   We went with a silvery blue...but I thought it was more of a greenish gray...the light is deceiving.   It may get a redo....but not now.  I do hope to have it all ready for it's FULL reveal by next week.  We still need to hang some things and it's been rainy here in So Cal, not too great for taking pictures.   So what do you think?  What do you do when you hone in your "design eye"  to decide how and what you want to do when you need to give a facelift or a total gut job on a room in your house?  What sources do you use? How do you locate those resources? Do you use a designer?  Inquiring minds want to know.