Lucite Love

I've been loving anything lucite and acrylic lately. That's probably why I chose this ottoman to go in our formal living room for the One Room Challenge. I just adore the lucite legs! I love that visually lucite doesn't take up any space, but at the same time adds a little bit of glam!

Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams

Kira XL Square Ottoman

I've also been on the hunt for another bench for this space and thought I would share all of my lucite and acrylic bench finds...

I think I may have to add this one to the space. I think it would fit perfectly and the price is pretty amazing. I think it would be fairly easy to recover too if you wanted a different fabric! It also comes in a beige color that looks like it might lean a little towards a blush color.

Modern Acrylic Bench

This is a fun acrylic bench with the popular Mongolian fur, and it's faux which is nice.

Another great price for this one too!

Mongolian Bench

I love the legs on the this one and it's a nice classic black.

Classic Bench

This is a fun bench and I'm guessing it's super soft. There's something really appealing about the oversized texture.

Woven Bench

A pair of these would be amazing! Love the acrylic x-style bench.

X-Bench

Just had to share these fun finds. I think they just look so amazing in spaces so I'm attaching a few interiors so you can see them in a space!

Always pretty at the foot of the bed!

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A pretty X-Bench

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Shown in a more masculine room design.

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Here's a room with the Mongolian style bench.

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What do you all think of the acrylic? I just adore it! There are so many ways that you can style it, and it is truly a versatile material.

One Room Challenge Fall 2016 || WEEK FOUR

It's hard to believe we are on week 4! Ahhhhh! I'm sure a lot of people involved in this challenge are much better at planning ahead and already have their spaces finished. Why don't I do that??? Maybe I like to make it more exciting for myself, and by exciting I mean stressful with a side of nail-biting anxiousness. Even if these challenges are a little stressful the really fun thing is that there is a very supportive community out there (thank you all), and they all know exactly what you are going through. You should go check out some of these other amazing participants over at
Calling It Home.

Ok, on to the current situation and happenings here in our formal living room. So...most of the big pieces of furniture have arrived. Yay! That part I planned pretty well. Although, I am still waiting for the console. Boo! Anyway, here's a sneak peek of the pieces that have gotten here...

The Sofa

(My husband actually picked it out! He has pretty good taste!)

We chose the Kennedy sofa from MGBW

The fabric has a nice subtle sheen to it and a very pretty texture.

The Chairs

These are my favorite. They are really beautiful in person. The delivery guy even said they were good looking chairs. I don't think he liked anything else because there wasn't a peep about any of the other pieces he unwrapped! Ha!

I love the dark gray with the brass. These make me so happy!

Avery Chair MGBW

The Ottoman came out great and the lucite legs are my favorite part!

The cats also approve!

Kira XL Ottoman MGBW

The final piece to arrive was our dining bench. I was a little worried at first about picking a pattern, but going with a tonal one felt a little bit safer. It's nice to throw a little pattern into the mix and I love how it came out.

Finley Bench MGBW

Ok, on to one of the biggest challenges for me... the rug. The rug has been driving me bonkers. What I thought I wanted changed about 10 times. So here is the one I started with on my design board.

WHITE RUG

It just ended up being too light. It was nice in person and I loved the subtle gray stripes, but it just didn't work for the space. Plus, my husband said he felt like the room was getting too feminine with all of the light colors and this rug was just too much. 

So, this was definitely a contender...

ABSTRACT RUG

Loved the abstract pattern, but the grays were a little too cool and didn't quite match the other pieces. It was super plush and soft. Beautiful rug in person and totally recommend! 

I also found this rug because my best friend is thinking about buying it...

I love the pattern, but not sure if it really fits the space. This is an awesome deal for the size. So affordable and it looks like it gets great reviews! Definitely a great option if you don't want to spend too much. 

GEOMETRIC RUG

I think I may need to get this for a front door option.

Ok, so this may be the winner. I'm living with it for a little while to make sure, but here is where I'm at. It has a nice pattern in light gray and dark gray stripes. I like that there is a pattern, but it is subtle enough that it won't take away from the furniture which is the real star. The stripes also lend themselves to a little bit more of a modern feel.

STRIPED RUG

It's also super soft! I'm really thinking this might be the one. Finally!!!

Now, I just need pillows, accessories, my console, and a bunch of other things to finish off the room!

Better get to work! Thanks for stopping by!

Be sure to check out the 20 featured designers here! So good!

One Room Challenge Fall 2016 || WEEK THREE

So, it's week three of the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling It Home. Be sure to check out all of the goodness happening with the featured participants here and the guest participants here. So much good stuff to take in! Today I'm sharing the updates that are going well, not so well, and what's not going anywhere. So, the good news is that all of my furniture pieces I was whining about in my previous post are supposed to be arriving in the morning! Hallelujah! Now, let me get to manifesting my console here on time. 

Here is the room currently empty. I love it with all of the natural light streaming in. Definitely my favorite room in our house.

My fiddle leaf fig also came today! It's bigger than I thought I would be, but I love it! I don't think I've ever had a plant I can't carry over to the sink to water. I hope I can keep this one happy. Baxter looks really confused as to why there is a tree inside.

So, the next part is explaining what's not going so well, or not going anywhere...well, the going part may be more like going to back to the store. Picking a rug is driving me bonkers. It would have been good for me to start this hunt awhile ago, but that wouldn't have made it a real challenge now would it?! Some day I will learn! Ahhhhhhhhhh! Ok, so let me try to explain where I'm at. Before I get into some of the ones I've tested out I just have to say...Why is it so difficult to get samples of rugs? How are you supposed to order something online when you've never seen it in person? It's not like a 9 x 12 rug is an easy return. I finally decided to see if I could order the smaller size of some of the rugs I've been interested in and then return them after deciding. This has worked out fairly well unless there is no small size :( Ok, on to the rugs I've looked at.

The light colored rug below is the one from my original design board...

White Rug

So, here's what I have to say about it...I love the gray linear stripes weaving throughout the white color. I really thought it would lean towards more of an off-white color. It has a nice soft texture, but not overly soft. It a nice choice, but way lighter than I thought it would be. My husband said it was "too feminine." It was already on the way out, and it is a shared space, so this one is gone. The other rug was just way to close to my sofa color and it didn't have a nice sheen like the original picture. It's fine for a basic rug, but nothing special. 

Here are some other options I looked at from Crate and Barrel. I do love that you can check out samples for $15 and then they refund your money when you bring them back! Finally! I just wish they had more neutral choices. The top one was my favorite out of the three, but just not what I had imagined for this room. I think they are a little too casual for this space.

Crate and Barrel Rugs
1. Presley Neutral  2. Quinn Slate  3. Curtis Flint Grey

Moving on to some rug samples from an actual carpet/rug place...The order time was going be too long, but I thought maybe I could find them online. Here are two I brought home for consideration.

Gray Rug

This was a nice tonal gray patterned rug. It had a really pretty sheen, but the gray just didn't look good with our walls.

So this last one on the top was one of my favorites. It has an overall abstract pattern. It also has very pretty sheen that makes it look lighter in one direction and darker in another. So much better in person! See the entire pattern below.

Abstract Rug

It's a really cool abstract pattern, but it's very hard to tell what this rug looks like until you see a sample. It really is very striking in person. This one was so close to being the one, but the grays are just too cool.  I feel like I would have to change my accent fabrics to accommodate that and it would really would ruin my whole design plan. I'm just not willing to start over at this point. If you have cool grays in your space and want a more abstract contemporary rug, please buy this. It really is beautiful and so soft. To my dismay, I still don't know what my lovely new furniture is going to rest upon. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect and will be sharing what I've found next week!

One Room Challenge Fall 2016 || WEEK TWO

ORC hosted by Calling It Home

Today is the beginning of the second week of the One Room Challenge (ORC) for all of the guest participants like myself. If you are new to my blog and wonder what the ORC is please click the link above and it explains this fun and crazy challenge in more detail! You can check out all of the amazing stories and inspiration of the other participants here. Ok, sooooo here is where I'm at on my list. I will run through most of the pieces I'm thinking about getting, have already ordered, etc....

First up, and one of the biggest pieces.... THE SOFA

I have already ordered it, and I am supposed to be getting a call any day now to set up delivery.

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CALL??? I'm like a teenage girl checking my phone constantly. Well, that actually happens all of the time, but this waiting is brutal. There are some things I would like to wait on until I get the furniture, but I don't want to run out of time. WHERE IS IT??? Ok, let's 

move on.

PAIR OF CHAIRS

These are ordered, but also arriving with the sofa. These will be in more of a dark warm gray, than pictured below. Why aren't they calling??? Ok, enough whining... #firstworldproblems

OTTOMAN

Ordered, but same as above... This piece will actually be in an off-white large weave linen. I love the 

lucite legs!

DINING SETTEE

You've heard this story before. We selected a different fabric which I'm showing on the chair below this piece. I love the curve of this settle and am excited to see how it looks with our round table.

Fabric pattern for piece above

CONSOLE TABLE

This has recently been ordered, but may not make it in time. I think I would be fine for the reveal without it, but really would love it if it made it in time. I think I just waited too long. I've loved this piece for a long time, but hesitated to spend the money. My sweet husband told me for my birthday that I could get it. I kept looking around thinking maybe I would find something a little cheaper, but nothing. Long story short, I should have just ordered this to begin with, because nothing compared and now it may not come in time. Ugh :(

RUG

I'm still deciding on this one... EEK.... I know there's not much time left. Why is it so hard to get rug samples??? There are so many great rugs, but I don't want to spend that much sight unseen. Especially when I need at least a 9 x 12 size, which is not easy to return. I finally ordered the smallest size of two that I was interested in and will send them back to buy the bigger size once I decide. This is frustrating, but I'm not sure what else to do. Ok, on to the actual rugs. My husband and I both wanted something simple and a little more modern looking in here, so we chose to go with more solid rug choices with a little texture or slight striation. Here are the contenders so far...

My favorite before seeing them, and it's the pricier one! Of course! ( I hear my husband's voice saying those words)

I do love the texture on this one and hope it is just as pretty as the picture!

FIDDLE LEAF FIG

This baby has been ordered. I have wanted one of these for a long time, and am really hoping I can keep it alive. I ordered from a local nursery and I think it's coming from somewhere down south. There aren't too many to be found here in the Midwest. I'm always jealous of the people who went to their Home Depot and found one for $39. After looking for many weeks, I realized that was just not happening here. Anyway, I still need to get basket, or container to put this beauty in.

ACCENT PIECES

I've been doing a lot of research, but have not narrowed it down yet. Here are some of my top picks. It would be so nice to order all of them and just return the ones I didn't want to use, but that's not happening, so I better make some quick decisions! Any favorites?

1. Gray geometric stool

2. Gold side table

3. Gold and gray octo table

4. Nesting tables

5. Acrylic mongolian stool

6. Black and white table

7. Linen geometric stool

8. Gray garden stool

9. Gold garden stool

I still have lots to do as far as accessorizing, but I don't even want to think about that right now. I think a trip to HomeGoods will be happening soon!

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE FALL 2016 || WEEK ONE

 

It's hard to believe it's already that time again! Wednesday officially kicked off the first day of Calling it Home's newest One Room Challenge. For those of you new to the One Room Challenge, or the ORC, it is an event that happens twice a year and is put together by the incredible Linda of Calling it Home. The event starts with a group of 20 talented designers selected to transform a room in a short six weeks. The rest of us get to be guest participants that start a day later. It's a little crazy, stressful, but so fun to be a part of! You also get to meet some great people along the way that can relate to all of your blood, sweat and tears. Things don't always come together perfectly, but that's just a part of it. My last challenge proved that point, but in the end you get a fabulous new space and lots of beautiful eye candy to look at from your fellow participants! So here's where I am starting...

 

Our formal living room

 

 

This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. I love all of the windows and light from the two story ceilings.

That being said, I'm not in love with the furnishings. It's all nice stuff, but nothing that really represents our current style. The taupe color on the sofas just doesn't go with the gray walls. I also wanted to create more of an open conversational setting with chairs and a sofa.

 

 

 

I love the wall sconces, but the fireplace tile needs some major love.

 

 

The formal living room also shares space with our formal dining. We are keeping the round table and chairs, but adding a settee and some other decorative touches to tie it all together.

 

 

 

I thought I would share a little throwback photo showing the floors before they were re-stained...

 

 

I don't miss those yellow floors! On to the good stuff!

Here is the new plan for the living room...

 

 

 

Lots of neutral goodness! The main pieces (sofa, chairs and ottoman) have already been ordered. I hope they come soon! So here is a rough breakdown of what I'm working on...

 

1. New Sofa

2. Two chairs to flank fireplace

3. Ottoman to replace coffee table

4. Small accent table between chairs

5. Console table behind sofa (still deciding...)

6. Add fiddle leaf fig or greenery

7. Black and neutral fabrics for pillows

8. New settee to add additional seating at dining table

9. Figure out fireplace tile

10. New neutral rug (still deciding...I need to hurry it up)

11. Lots of cool decorative accents and artwork

 

Whew, I better get to work! Lots to do before next Thursday.