A Delightful Design: M. Interiors

I love supporting other female business owners, so it’s no surprise that today’s post features my bloggy friend (who feels like a real friend) Abby of A Delightful Design.  So far I’ve referred several friends to Abby, before even getting a chance to hire her myself. But I promise you, when we close on our new house Abby will be the first lady I call!

Abby’s interior design company, M. Interiors, is based in Michigan—but the best part of her services is that she works worldwide through e-design services. Good thing! It’d be horrible for those of us non-locals to miss out on her fabulous talent.  She’s been published and her work was even featured on HGTV!

Mood Board

After Picture- amazing, right?

She offers services ranging from full decorating (for local clients) to Ask The Expert. Visit Abby’s website for more information. If you needed more convincing for this lady’s talent, take a look at some of the inspiration boards she’s created. Genius!

House Hunting

Mr. SE and I are gearing up for another round of house hunting. Fingers crossed that our Nashville house sells sooner than later (send me an email if you know anyone who's looking). Denver has some great older houses with lots of charm, something that our first house just didn't have since it was built in 2005. Don't get me wrong, we loved living in new construction, but this time around we're looking for something a little different. Here's a preview of some of the cuties we'll be looking at:

Does anybody watch that show Property Brothers on HGTV? I'm addicted, and it even makes me wish (like 35%) that I lived in Toronto and could be on the show. I have dreams of buying a nasty (and cheap) old house in a great neighborhood and fixing it up. The only problem would be that I'm not a contractor, nor do I have experience in construction. However, I watch a TON of HGTV and my dad owns a construction business. Girl's gotta dream, right?

Le Sigh- making an old house have an open floorplan

Oh, just soaking in my antique claw foot tub

Living Room Update

Decorative Pillow

Aside from ticking stripes, there's another pattern that's hot hot hot this season- Ikat! This fun print is defined as a fabric in which the yarns have been tie-dyed before weaving

In a Room

Texture Close-Up

One of my birthday gifts this year was a gorgeous rug from Pottery Barn. I'd been eying this rug for awhile, and Mr. SE made it happen. The neutral tones, and natural fibers really compliment our living room. I love how the color looks against our warm wood floors and dark brown couches. The texture is chunky and thick, and it looks great layered with the leather of our sofa and love seat.

To add with the room update, I'd been crushing major on a new lamp. Our table lamp was oiled bronze and narrow, with an outdated shade. My mother in law gave me a gift certificate to HomeGoods, and the old lamp is now history! Our new lamp has a gorgeous gourd shape, and a classic drum shade in linen. The gourd is white w/a gold overlay.

Because the main pieces of our room are neutral, I can really punch up the fun with decorative accents. One of my favorite ways to add color to a room is through throw pillows. They're inexpensive, and easy to change around. Luckily, my mom is quite the seamstress and recently sewed us fantastic designs for almost every room. Obsessed doesn't cover it.

I'm head over heels with Ikat pillows right now. I love how beachy, summery, and fun they are. In shades of blue and tan, they're so soothing. Here are some of my favorites.

A Pair of Pillows Packs a Punch

Vivid Ikat Pillow

Bright and Cheerful

Bright and Cheerful

What do you think? Are you on the graphic pattern bandwagon too (quatrefoil, chevron, ikat, trellis)?

Crafty Weekend

We had a super relaxing weekend, and both of us were able to make significant dents in our to-do lists. My list was more fun and crafty, while Mr. SE continued to finish working on his media center. Side note- I cannot wait to post a picture of the finished product. It looks fantastic!

I worked on my yarn wreath and finished covering the whole wreath form. Now I just need to make the felt flowers and learn how to tie a pretty bow. Perhaps I'll watch a YouTube tutorial for that one. Also on my crafty to-do list is my office. I love the preppy, upbeat palette we chose of white/navy/kelly green. It's been super fun to decorate! I decided to re-cover my computer chair, since the toile that my mom did in college doesn't match anymore. Granted it is blue, but it's more shabby chic then preppy and modern. I went with a bright white and navy striped fabric to compliment the green and white graphic print decorator's table cloth that's nearby. Here's an "in process" cell phone picture. Please scuse my office mess- it's tax time.

The process of covering the yarn wreath is time consuming, but I found it therapeutic to just stop and watch TV while I wound the yarn around and around. I watched several episodes of Bethenny and Nate Berkus. There's always a bevy of Nate on our DVR, since I record the show every day. He had the most creative idea that I just had to share-- make a shelving unit out of tables cut in half and secured together. I mean, seriously? How cool does this look! I love how this unit is painted a dark teal, and it kind of reminds me of the new guest room that John & Sherry did. What a great way to take cheap Craigslist finds and make them something special and unique. I think this would be cool for our bonus or guest room, for a funky feel. What do you think?

Cheeky in the Kitchen

While daydreaming about all things home, I found these dish towels that tickled my fancy. They're inexplicably southern and make a welcome addition to a boring oven handle. Wouldn't they make for a great hostess gift?!

All of the towels are from House8810 and they're only $10.

Bathroom Makeover

Mr. SE and I are in the middle of updating our master bathroom. Luckily, there isn't anything wrong in terms of functionality- we're just bringing it into 2010. We have white cabinets and nickle hardware. I'm going to do a full reveal once we're all done. But here's a sneak peek.

Have you done any home projects lately? I'm on a big decorating and updating kick right now. Lots of room previews to come!

picture from Lowe's.com

Mom Cave

(Pottery Barn, le sigh)

Meet my dream desk. Now that the wedding is over, Mr. SE and I are settling into life as a married couple. Life that includes trying to cook healthy meals and turning our new house into a home. Our master bedroom, living room, and kitchen are perfection. Now I'm focused on the guest bedroom, office, and our bonus room. The bonus room will be a real kick to the wallet (hello projection screen and sectional), so I'm working on the office for now.

I've seen a lot of features online lately describing "mom caves", and that's exactly what I have pictured for this room. I'm thinking a crisp, white desk and a corner with a large armchair and a standing lamp. Nothing fancy. Some wispy curtains, and this room will be perfection. I'm looking forward to having a place where I can read and relax.

Do you have a special reading nook in your place? And what do you think of the "mom cave" idea? The man cave has really taken off, and I'm sure that's what our bonus room will end up being. So what's wrong with having a room for the lady of the house to relax in?

(Centsational Girl)

Welcome Home

{picture from her Etsy shop}


Mr. SE and I are starting to settle into our new home, and it's slowly hitting me that we actually own the place! The first couple weeks felt like we were staying at a friends' place, or at a hotel. Every morning I wake up in our spa-like bedroom and it feels like a dream. I can't hardly believe how much we've accomplished since I moved here a year ago (May 26th to be exact!).

As the inside of our home is taking shape quite quickly, the outside has been a little slower to come around. Mr. SE has taken to the lawn mowing and weeding, while I've focused on the pretty accents. One of my first purchases was a pretty wreath, because a home looks so inviting with a wreath on the door. Some of my more recent purchases have been through my love, Etsy.
My mom is a huge fan of Uppercase Living/Wonderful Graffiti, and I knew I wanted some for my house. Mr. SE and I initially wanted one of those metal house number plates, but the price tag quickly turned me away. Enter Etsy seller PiccadillyPeddler. I purchased this super cute house number decal from her shop for only $10. It was super easy to apply, and I just love the way it looks.


Our door is cream, and the decal is black. Go over to Etsy and get one for yourself- this is a price you can stomach for an adorable welcome to your home! What do you prefer- working on the inside or outside of your home? Let me know your favorite little project that made a big difference!

Before and After: Part I

I'm a sucker for before and afters. We'll DVR tons of shows on HGTV, just so I can fast forward to the end and see the big reveal!

Seeing as our new home was a foreclosure, we were lucky that there weren't too many things that needed fixing. The hardwoods are beautiful and just needed a wipe from my Swiffer Wet Jet. We went back and forth on replacing the carpets that were in the rest of the home, but decided against that $4,000 price tag (for 1300 sq feet!) and went with Stanley Steemer instead. I can't sing their praises enough. They're locally franchised, so every location will be different- but the folks in the Nashville office were fantastic! They went back and forth with me about dates and times since we had so many issues getting to closing. The service was impeccable and our carpet looks brand new, and the price of $185 was music to my ears.

We hired a painter to do every single wall and ceiling in the home. Bobby was honest in saying that our trim wasn't in bad shape, and that we could save money by not having it done. What? Someone wanted to actually charge us less?!? We chose 4 colors to use on the walls (all from Behr): Ryegrass, Harvest Brown, Rhino, and Pensive Sky. All ceilings and closets were painted white.

Sorry for all the word vomit- but I thought you might want some explanation for my disgusting length of absence.

So which before and after do you want to see first?

A. Kitchen

B. Living Room

C. Master Bedroom

D. Guest Bedroom

E. Bonus Room

I've created a poll up on the right. Vote for your choice, and I'll post the first pictures tonight!

West Elm

The lovely Budget Savvy Bride, of whom I am lucky enough to call a real life friend, and I were recently sharing our love for West Elm. As fate may have it, we've ended up choosing very similar decorating styles in our homes. When Mr. SE and I signed up for mail-forwarding we started receiving lots of new catalogues offering discounts from various home decorating stores. West Elm has really caught my eye- it's calming colors, organic fibers, and at a price less than Pottery Barn make it hard to pass up.

This is the first room featured in their new catalogue. It's so relaxing and serene. I'd love to settle into this daybed with a great book! Doesn't this room make all your worries go away? *le sigh*

Closet Dreaming

If you follow me on twitter, you already know that our offer was accepted on the house. Friends, Mr. SE and I are going to be homeowners very soon! While the house is in great condition (according to our inspector), there's still some cosmetic changes that we'd like to make. This weekend you might just find us at the local Lowe's. Ps- it's way better than Home Depot. Oddly enough, the previous homeowners took all wire racks out of the closets. Problem? No. Opportunity? Yes!

Here's some closets I'm dreaming of....

Does anybody else get super excited at the chance to re-organize their things? The beginning of a season is a great time to take inventory of what you have, so you know what to shop for. Loves it!