rug / blue chair / pillow / desk chair / shelves / bookends, similar / elephant head / fox print / fashion print / coral from One Kings Lane / decorative bowl

My office was due for a bit of a makeover after being here for a year. My old chevron rug had gotten so dirty, probably because Oliver lived on it during the winter and his puppy days, and the corkboard behind my computer was starting to peel away from the wall. Rather than making a few updates, I ended up, sort of accidentally, changing a lot more than just those two things.

The result is a workspace that I love coming into each day! It’s bright, fun, creative and inspiring — all the things a designer needs, right? One of my favorite additions was the velvet blue loft chair that sits in the corner, it’s the perfect place to curl up and read emails over coffee before I’m ready to really start my day. I was a little disappointed that my rug’s pink was much more magenta than it was advertised online, but I’ve gotten over it and come to love it quite a lot.

If you work from home, or even if you don’t, I think it’s important to have an inspiring & beautiful workplace. Especially when you start counting just how many hours you spend there each day! What makes your work space special?

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Lately, I’d been wanting to make some changes to my office, I wasn’t in love with the decor that I had originally put in there and decided it was time to make some updates. A new rug was in order and I soon realized that my corner was missing a nice seating area.

After some browsing, I came across several rugs that I loved at Lulu & Georgia. It was tough choice, because seriously all of their rugs are gorgeous! I wanted something that I knew I wouldn’t get sick of in a year. The old rug was chevron and it had overstayed it’s welcome. I ended up settling on the Sabine rug and I’m in love. It’s busy, but it adds so much color and action to my little office. Thankfully Oliver loves it so much he’s decided to NOT make it a chew toy — you can imagine how excited that makes me.

So rug down, not time for seating. I was worried it might get too crowded, so I dragged in an old club chair to see how it fit with the size. Perfection! It made the room cozier and more finished-looking. That chair was red, so I started searching for an inexpensive one that was more my taste. I came across this velvet one at Target and knew I had to have it. I have a serious velvet addiction right now. I love the modern, clean lines of it! Choosing a color was harder. I wanted blue, but someone had left a review that called the blue ‘cookie-monster blue’ and that scared me a bit. I ended up ordering swatches of the navy and a light grey. Both were great, but I ended up going with the navy. It was not at all cookie-monster blue, but also not as deep of a navy as the picture shows.

It came last week! I did have to assemble it myself, but you know how I feel about tools, so I was okay with it. I guess that’s what makes it less expensive. I threw my Arianna Belle pillow on there and the room is feeling very complete. Oliver’s been testing the chair and gives it his approval. I keep catching him napping in there!

I ended up calling these two items birthday presents to me. It felt better than just splurging on my office for no reason. I couldn’t be happier with them both! Now please tell me I’m not the only one who buys birthday presents for themselves?

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Last summer, this was the state of our outdoor space. Junk left from the last tenant scattered across a stained wooden deck just wasn’t going to cut it in a city where the weather is nice enough to allow you to actually be outside.

This year, I decided to make it fully functional. The budget allowed for it, and naturally, I wasn’t going to turn down a project!

A few months ago, I had the grand idea of painting the floor. It was way too cold then to attempt the project then, but this weekend, I finally got around to it. Although the stencils were cool, the space was small and I didn’t want it to get too busy. Arleigh and I settled on a simple, thick black and white stripe and I’m loving how it turned out! What do you think?

It was such a simple process. I used Porch & Patio paint from Home Depot in bright white and black. Simple enough, right? I painted the whole patio white (2 coats!) and then carefully went around the edge with a paint brush. After that dried overnight, I laid down tape every 3rd piece of wood and painted black. I went back again and filled in the black edges. After the paint had dried for a few hours, I removed the tape and then let it set overnight before moving the patio furniture back into place.

The patio furniture itself is from Home Depot last year. They don’t have this exact set anymore, but they do have a other good options. I also really love this one and this one.

It really makes the patio seem like more of an extension of the house rather than an outdoor space and I love that. I’m hoping overtime the paint gets a little worn and shows more of the wood. I think it’ll give it a really cool look, but for now, I’m super happy with it!

I see a lot of patio parties and happy hours in my very very near future!

The best part about this DIY project was that it was simple and cheap! The only items I needed were paint and tape. I already own all the other painting supplies, so if you don’t then there might be a few more items you’ll need, but not many.

And now for a few more shots from the project…

Oliver gives his look of approval too, and clearly that’s important!

My new succulent. It’s looking much healthier than my last one!

And one last shot of the fox taken with my new 20mm lens that my parents sent me for my birthday! I absolutely love it. It’s a fixed focal length, just like my 50mm, but captures a wider angle. And I love the distortion it created in this one. Looking forward to taking this puppy (the lens, not Oliver) to Europe! Thanks mom & dad!

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You may remember that I scooped up these beautiful vintage club chairs back in January. Back then they were a little stinky, green, faded, snagged and needing a little a lot of TLC.

Since it was a bit of an investment, I took my time picking a fabric, which was hard because I tend to be a wee bit impulsive when it comes to decisions like these. I even ordered multiple fabric swatches before ordering the proper amount — go me! I think it paid off too. I might have chosen a different color based off the internet’s representation of colors. I landed on the shadow grey performance velvet from West Elm. It’s super soft and feels very sturdy and durable. A few days after the fabric arrived, my sweet little chairs were picked up and delivered to Covers Unlimited for their big makeover (thanks Jess for the suggestion!).

details: soaking up the comfiness / close-up of the tufting / my new plant / painted nails (seriously a miracle and needed to be documented)

I have to give a a big ole thank you to Cary at Covers Unlimited, they were amazing to work with and dealt with my indecisions on whether we should leave the back cushions attached or unattached and what type of legs to put on them. Eventually I was able to decide and then they were done in just a few weeks!

Imagine how thrilled I was to open my inbox on Monday to find an email from Cary telling me my chairs were finished! They were delivered the next day and are now sitting happily in my front room. I’m currently testing the pink ikat pillows from my bed on there now. What do you think?

There was a little bit of fabric leftover, so I think I’ll sew myself some pillows to put on the couches to tie the whole room together. As for now? I’m going to go catch up on my favorite reads over a cup of coffee while sitting in these beauties!

I do feel like I should apologize for acting like a proud mama to a pair of club chairs. Can you believe this is only a few of the 68 pictures I took? #embarrassing

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Several months ago I shared some a collection of bookshelves that got me thinking about what to do with mine. These bookshelves in particulars had back their backs painted a different color than the wall. What I loved most about these was how they made the items sitting on the shelves really pop.

before

After painting the entire living room from green to french grey, I had painted the back of the shelves white. Unfortunately the white didn’t make the shelves all that exciting. I eventually decided that I’d try out this darker paint trend I kept seeing on Pinterest. I picked up a can of dark grey paint and got to painting.

At first I was a little concerned that they were way too dark. Yet after they dried, I knew it was a good decision! All the items sitting on the shelves popped rather than blended in and it makes the room feel far more complete.

This is by far my most favorite room in my apartment and it just continues to get better! Speaking of getting better, my vintage chairs were picked up yesterday and will be back in here before I know it!

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