Frette

Hey everybody! Long time no post; sorry for that. I know I shouldn't apologize for not having posted recently, but I always feel bad when it's been a large gap of time. Anyway, how was your Christmas? Our's was great, and we're gearing up for a little New Year's celebration here at the house.  Unfortunately, my phone was stolen over the holiday, so I have no pictures to share from it. Major, major bummer! I am currently impatiently waiting for the replacement phone to come through from insurance (of course my new phone is on backorder). 

But, all that to say our Christmas was great. Very busy and very festive. The holidays can get so crazy, but every time I feel like we're a little TOO busy, I remind myself that it's great that we have so much going on and so many events that we can attend. AKA people that want us around. ha! 

Frette.com reached out to me recently and asked me to check out their line of bedding. They specialize in luxury linens - something I think we can all appreciate! I know after the holidays I was excited to get back to my own comfy bed. There's nothing like your own bed, is there? 

I'm loving the Hotel Classic bed set:

Ah, yes, I wouldn't mind a set of these for my bedroom, in either black or gray. So classic and fresh! 

I also love the "Analogy" set:

Very similar to the other set, but more architectural in the way that the lines frame the bed. 

I also love their luxury towels and bathrobes! I don't know about you guys, but I pretty much always buy white towels. They always match everything, and they always seem clean and fresh for after showering. Do you buy patterned towels or simple white ones? 

Speaking of bathrooms, guess what? The cararra marble countertop is in in the guest bathroom, and its WONDERFUL. I love it so much. I will post pics of it soon! That bathroom is looking great now - I'm so glad that I participated in the BLACK + DECKER Big Finish challenge -- it actually got me to do something that iIve been wanting to do for over a year. And I learned a little about countertop replacement, too. Always fun to learn something new.

Alright, I guess that's it for now. Everyone have a happy and safe New Years Eve. I will be back soon with pics of the bathroom and some exciting work news. 

Christmas 2014

I thought I would do what I always do, and show you guys my Christmas 2014 decor! I didn't really do anything too different this year... maybe a little less than last year even? It's funny, I always start small... just the tree... and then a few times throughout the holiday season I'll go back up to the attic and drag out more. I didn't hang the lights/garland on the shelves this year, and I wish I did! It looks less festive, but I haven't really had time. I hung garland outside with lights, and that was as far as I got... and I did that at like 8pm last Friday night. It's been such a busy holiday season with work and social things. Anyway! Onto the decor.

Here's the living room. We put the tree to the right this year, since the vintage fireplace is in the left corner. For some reason, the top of our tree lights went out the other day. Not cool.

a little Christmasey combo on the coffee table. I got that bowl at anthropology recently and I love it. 

I also got that candle at anthro and it smells like a fireplace... it's wonderful. 

new Christmas bowl.

I hung our stockings again below the tv on the shelves! 

these are handmade and I bought them at a cute little store in my hometown last year. Unfortunately the store closed soon after that, so I'm happy I got the stockings (and lots of other good things) there.

cozy vintage fireplace and blankies!

I have a few Christmasey things sprinkled into the shelves. The vintage angels towards the top, and my nativity scene at the bottom. This nativity is special because it's very similar to the one my family had growing up. Apparently I'm missing a sheep and three wisemen (sold separately of course, haha). Mom, remember this... 

Vintage things on the console! My mom found those cute little turquoise deer this year.. aren't they super cute and unique?! There's a pink one too, but she wouldn't stand up on my uneven console surface :)

I love that tree in the back because we had one just like it in our house when we were little and so did my Nana. Mine needs a light up stand, though! It's missing that - I think my mom got it at a yardsale. I need to work on finding a light up stand for it! One of the little baby trees (far left) is vintage, one in the middle is from Walmart (I scored big there this year for Christmas apparently) and the gold one is from Target a few years ago. Those little Walmart ones are only $1. I bought a few of them! 

My neighbor gave me her tree trimming leftovers and I made a bunch of little arrangements in green jars. I tied a piece of black and white striped ribbon around this one and put it in the powder bathroom. Just a touch of Christmas! And I bought the balsam fir Christmas candle at Target this year. It smells great, plus the green is Christmasey and matches my pineapple painted wall :)

plopped a few sticks from the yard into my large glass vases and hung white ornaments on them on the kitchen table!

 This was hard to get a pic of, but on the console table in the kitchen, I did a candle grouping with a few candles I already had and then the new white and gold ones from Target this year. 

I love those white and gold target ones, but have you guys noticed that they are basically sold out everywhere of the taller version? I can't find it at any Atlanta Targets! boo! I also got those little geometric gold tea light holders from Target this year. 

I put a bunch of my vintage santa stuff on my kitchen shelves, including some santa mugs and baby santa mugs. I stole the idea to put christmas tree springs in them from Shannon! hi Shannon!

I got the white bottle brush trees from Target this year, and the baby ones are also from Walmart this year. 

I love it! I wish I had time to do a little more, but, ya know how that goes. 

I am off to do some more painting... I have SO much to finish up before tomorrow.. yikes! I need to make ornaments, make some treats, and prepare to do a progressive dinner Friday night. On top of my normal workday. Oh, and exciting news.. our marble countertop for the guest bathroom gets installed tomorrow morning... woo! 

Treetopia White Tree Mystery

 This year, Treetopia reached out to me about participating in their White Tree Mystery contest. I was supposed to choose from an assortment of their pre-lit white trees, and then decorate it and show you guys. Easy and fun. I love white trees anyway, and my old one has seen better days, so I was happy to get a new pretty one. Plus my old one wasn't pre-lit... pre-lit trees are the best, am I right?!

The "contest" part of this post is that you guys are supposed to guess which tree I chose for my bedroom, and whoever guesses correctly first is entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card to Treetopia. So, which tree do you think I chose?!

Here are pictures of my tree!

I wanted to go with a light, natural, slightly bohemian look to match the rest of our bedroom. I made a bunch of ornaments because, 1. I like making ornaments, and 2. it's cheap :).

I think it looks great within the scheme of the rest of our room, what do you think?!

It's so pretty at night, too!

I made a fun pom pom garland. All I did, was buy this bag of tan pom poms from Hobby Lobby, and string them onto some yarn that I already owned. I used a thick needle, and the pompoms just stay where you place them, because the yarn is so thick.

(poms)

(yarn. I found it at a thrift store. I think they're the best colors.)

I started out using white string, but it didn't show up well enough on the tree. So, I found that yarn and used it instead. Plus, the pom poms stay on the yarn better than they did the string!

I found these glittery ornaments at... wait for it... Walmart. I never go there, but couldn't find any cute ornaments anywhere else and popped in. These were only 97 cents. I bought three and wish I'd bought more!

The wood slice ornaments were also some I made. I found the slices at Hobby Lobby, and hot-glued mint green yarn on for the loops!

The wicker bell ornaments were in my stash of vintage ornaments that were actually old family pieces. I had 6 gold ones and 6 basket-colored ones in my stash. I love them on the tree in our bedroom, because we have so many natural elements in there.

I bought these frosty glass balls at Hobby Lobby along with the black and white string. I tied the string onto the ornaments and hung them up. I love the B&W string on that tree in there! Looks cute with my Ikea pillows.

Probably the most intense ornaments I made, are these fabric tassels. Not hard, just took a little while. I found some old fabric scraps, and cut them into long strips. I looped them in the middle, and wrapped yarn around the tops. I hot glued the ends down. Crispy and burned fingers, but I think they turned out cute! 

For my star on top, I used neon pipe cleaners to make an easy star. I actually made this a few years ago for this tree. 

The gold/glittery balls are also from Walmart. 

What do you guys think? I love it!

So, don't forget to enter my easy contest. Comment in the comments section and let me know which tree you think I chose? Treetopia will let you know if you are the winner!

Stuff.

Here's a little life, according to my phone, lately.

Treetopia recently sent me an awesome white Christmas tree which I will be blogging about soon... and there is a contest to win, so that's good news for you guys. Anyway... I assembled the tree and it's really pretty. I made some ornaments for it the other night...

It's in our bedroom, so I made ornaments that match the bedroom.

I can't wait to finish it and show you guys!

this is my shelf in the bedroom right now. Looking festive with some Christmas tree trimmings in a vase.  I found that cute starburst thingie at Hobby Lobby, when I was looking for ornament-making supplies. Isn't it cute? It was only like $8. 

Jordan and I went to see the lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens last night. 

This was my favorite part! It was a whole big circle of these lights and they danced to music. It was so cute! I definitely recommend going to the lights there if you are around ATL. They had lots of fun things there too, including s'mores stations, hot chocolate/spiced cider, a and DJ (HA).

Right now, Im working on a mural project for a huge apartment building that's being built on the belt line, near the Masquerade here in Atlanta. I am doing three large murals (it's the same project I did all this art for back in the summer). I started on my map mural yesterday. I'm doing  a large map of Atlanta, with lots of famous landmarks. Here's the beginnings of the Fox:

kind of fun! Plus, it'll be super professional with a plaque and an artists' statement ;)

lastly, I'll leave you with this photo:

my family went to Bryson City, NC this past weekend. This was our view of the Smoky Mountains, out of our cabin. Beautiful, huh?! 

Have a great day! Oh! The contest for the BLACK + DECKER Big Finish has been extended.... so if you want to enter and haven't, you can do so HERE. 

My countertop is IN PRODUCTION! How exciting. I can't believe I'm actually getting this done. It's actually very exciting for me. They came Tuesday to measure, and sent this over yesterday for me to approve:

it looks dark here, but again, this is the actual slab:

so it's pretty light. 

exciting! I'm not sure when it'll go in... they're supposed to call with an install date today. 

BLACK + DECKER Big Finish Update

I'm just popping in for a quick update... I slept in a little because I have been sick, and am headed out the door to go to work! As you know by now, I am in the BLACK + DECKER Big Finish initiative to finally finish one room that I've been wanting to attack. 

The shower curtain and the rug from Urban Outfitters came in this weekend... I love them! 

so cute. It's dyed cotton. Probably won't last a lifetime, but since cost is an issue, I am happy with only spending $38 (from the Cyber Monday sales) versus $100+. 

(do you like my socks and slippers? ha)

I will most likely change out the art, too. Just for something different.

Overall, I like the new changes a lot. So much happier and more "me"

and remember where we started? 

the new countertop is going to be awesome, too. Unfortunately, unless something super crazy awesome happens, it won't be in by the 10th. But, the cararra marble slab has been selected, the contracts have been signed, and they are coming out to measure for it tomorrow morning. Cross your fingers that it happens REALLY SOON. Of course I am being very impatient. :)

And please, don't forget to CLICK HERE for the all the BLACK + DECKER Big Finish info. Some people have said it's confusing... I think if it's confusing, it's only because it's really easy... all you do is have to click on that link, and it will take you to the website where you can enter their contest to win $10,000 cash, and one of several nice prizes from BLACK + DECKER. You can enter through December 10th.

Thank you to BLACK+DECKER for sponsoring this post and inspiring me to FINALLY finish this room!  

Paisley Stenciled Master Bedroom

Yesterday, I completed this master bedroom for a long time client that I did some stencil work for a few years back. She and her cute family are building a pretty house and they close on it soon. I came in to do some stenciling in the master bedroom, and will be back Monday to do some stenciling in the little girl's bedroom. 

Anyway, I used a stencil I haven't used before-- the Indian Paisley Motif stencil from Royal Design Studio. My client selected the color and the stencil -- I just applied it. We decided to do them a little closer together than RDS did their's, just  because the stencil is small, and we were doing it on only one wall. We wanted it to make an impact! 

Check it out...

I love the soft wall color in here. It was a rainy day, so hard to capture pictures, but the paint I used was a metallic from the Ralph Lauren line at Home Depot in Oyster (Btw, glad that line is back, but I am sad that the Martha Stewart paint line is gone. I loved their metallics!).

by the way, their light fixture is a fan/chandelier combo. Cool huh?

And also, because I couldn't resist, I wanted to show you guys the cutest chair ever that came in for the client I am helping do a little decorating: 

AH! It's from Furbish, and I love it. It came in last night, so I went over to check it out. So cute! This room is going to be great - hopefully I can show y'all pictures when it's all said and done. 

Just a reminder, if you haven't checked out the BLACK + DECKER Big Finish, don't forget to head over here to check out the contest (enter for a chance to win $10K, plus an assortment of awesome prizes, and the chance for your project to be featured on a big screen in Times Square in NYC). 

My shower curtain and new rug are set to come in tomorrow! Yippeeeee.

Have a great weekend, everybody!