What's Your Style?

I came across this HomeGoods Style Finder quiz on one of my favorite blogs, The Mustard Ceiling. (Elizabeth, the author of this blog also helped me design my blog.)

I finally got around to taking this quiz and the results? I am Earthy Casual. I do think that is correct. I don't know what the other options are, but this seems to fit me quite right. I like my home to be casual and comfortable and I love having natural, earthy elements in the home.

This is what it says for me:
"You're interested in creating a welcoming home where people feel comfortable and happiness flourishes. You appreciate the warmth and individuality of natural materials and handcrafted things and are inspired by colors and forms from nature. You love mixing up different textures and are sensitive to the tactile qualities of objects. Your style is grounded and solid, not flighty or frilly. And you are never taken in by the trend of the moment.
You value order. You feel happiest if your home is well organized. You understand that when your house is in order, your mind feels clearer. Rather than a lot of meaningless objects or overly-designed items, you are happier with a few well-placed things. Your home is your respite from a busy life. Try to avoid letting things into your home that you don't really love."

After reading this again, it really does nail down my style. I am definitely not frilly. I don't take into the trends too fast, I move a little slow in that direction. Other than color on an object, I think texture is a very close second when it comes to what attracts me to something. I love me some texture. Objects that I find I am drawn to are reclaimed wood, sisal/seagrass type rugs, flokati type rugs, cashmere, silk or linen drapes, baskets, metal, seashells, driftwood, wicker, and anything a little aged.

I also love me some order. Some of my friends comment on how my house is always in order but believe me they don't know how fast I can scramble and throw things into the laundry room and shut the door. I can move like the wind, when I want to.

I do feel most happy when things are where they should be and are easily found. I hate the feeling of trying to find something when you are running late and the thing you are looking for is not where it should be. When life can be so chaotic with having kids and just life in general, it is nice to come home to a clean and organized home. It does put my mind at ease and it is the one thing in life I can control. Well, I can control it but I don't always have the energy to control it, if you know what I mean.

The Happy Home Colors chosen to my style are these.

These colors do fit me. They are not colors that are currently in my home, but some of them are colors that I will be changing to as I redecorate the house room by room. Right now, my house I would describe as being more on the Autumn side of colors. Lots of beige, brown, rust, green, and mustard colors. I am now wanting more light spring and summer colors. Whites, blues, greys, and navy. I don't know if my tastes are changing or if I am just trying to bring more calmness into my home through color. I little of both I think.

My Design Challenge was Light. This is SO true. That is part of why I need to go lighter in my colors around the house. We live in a wooded neighborhood, sort of in a little hole and it gets pretty dark in the house. So, I really need to lighten things up around here.

My Happy Place is Outside. Which is also true. One of my favorite things about our home is our backyard. We don't actually have a yard, it's a deck and then a huge hill. But the hill is filled with plants and flowers. I love sitting back there in the summer on my chaise lounge, listening to the birds. It is a quiet neighborhood and it's very calming back there.

So, take this quiz. I am really curious if you find your results fit you. Are your results dead on or are they a miss? Take the quiz and let me know.

At the Half Way Point

 I think it's time to fill you in on what's been happening this week at my house. If you've been following along, you saw this post about us removing our windows on one side of our house. Mission accomplished!
The removal, re-framing, and installation of the new windows went rather fast I must say. It has been so fun to see the transformation thus far. It is still far from complete, but I think I can envision the end look.

We got some nice breezes through the house that day for awhile. Luckily, no curious furry creatures though.

Oh, did I forget to mention we had a leak in the seam of the window that was going into the drywall and side of house? Lots of dry rot and lots of moisture ants! Good times! I am glad we did this project and found it and it's all taken care of now.

If you haven't been to my home, I know this picture may look like the wood it 3/4 up the wall but that is our fence in the background.

The windows are in! Love them.

The door is gone! My husband has gone to this area a few times now to go out the door to take a look at the side of the house, only to be reminded, there is NO door.

This has been my favorite change so far. I can now be at the sink doing dishes or prepping for dinner and have the window open. The simple things really.

Some of the siding had to be removed due to the window installations and the dry rot. The new siding does not match our existing siding, so the whole side of this house will have to be resided. Fun! That means it will have to be painted. Double fun! My husband and I will be doing the painting ourselves. Triple fun!
Some of the deck also, had to be removed due to getting at the dry rot. More on that project later...
Overall, I am happy with the look of the new windows but it's definitely something to get used to. It is also a lot darker in these rooms now, which we were expecting anyways, We will see what it's like when everything is sheet rocked and painted, and if it's still too dark we may possibly put in skylights farther up on the roof to let in more light. I am hoping we won't have to do that but we'll see how it goes.
That's the wrap up on our exciting week. I will keep you updated on the progress later.

Designer Spotlight: Urban Grace Interiors

Erika McPherson Powell started her design company, Urban Grace Interiors in 2005, based in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

I have been a fan of her blog for quite sometime now.I really love her style.

She has been featured in many publications and she currently designed the 2012 Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House in Florida. ( I will post later about that project, it's gorgeous!)
Here are some pictures of her work.

If you'd like to see more of her work, go HERE. But be sure to check out her blog, it's definitely one of my favorites.

Have a great weekend!

This Has Been a LONG Time Coming

Construction has officially began in our house today and I seriously couldn't be any more excited.

Here is the situation.

This is what our family room DID look like.

As you can see the skylights above have been a pain in our arse, for quite sometime now. When we moved in, there were blinds on the upper windows and below but they were showing their age and falling apart, so after a few years we removed them. We had a company come out and we ordered new blinds, had them delivered but when the company-contracted installer came out, he was not going to install them in fear of breaking our glass. Since the blinds on the uppers had to be installed into the metal seams. I didn't blame him. So now we were without blinds.
We then had someone come out and install UV/Privacy film onto the windows. But this did not help with the heat. The windows began to fail one by one and we decided we had to bite the bullet and just rip them all out.

 
Not sure why a door was installed here, and we never use it except to get some air into this side of the house, since NO windows on this side of the house open! But the new windows will open, and there is no need for this door. So BUH-BYE door!

Even into the kitchen, these will be removed and new windows installed.

The current bay window will be changed to a regular window. (After we recoup from this project, financially, we are onto the kitchen remodel, whoo hoo!)

The bay window that will be removed and it will all be flush on this side of the house.

I can only imagine how different it is going to look in a few days. So happy to have windows that will open, and let air in during the summer. The old windows were aluminum and were not very energy efficient. Super hot in the summer, and super cold in the winter. It will be nice to get blinds up again too. My husband is super excited not to have to clean the tree debris off our upper windows all the time. It really is going to be a great thing all around.
I will show you more pictures along the way. Stay tuned!

And the Winner is......

Wow, this season sure did fly by. Now, I may have to resort to reading a book on Tuesday nights.
This week's challenge and the final challenge was to work with real clients and design to adjoining rooms for them and present it in their mock TV show.
Britany went with the idea of Picture Perfect Rooms for her show title, and set off to design a living room and dining room.
Here is what she designed.

I really liked the printed grasscloth wallpaper, the trim work on the wainscoting, and I liked the colors she chose.

Again, I liked the colors and how they traveled into the dining room. I liked the pieces she chose and the wall art.

From this angle however it seemed a little plain, like maybe it needed curtains and maybe plants. Overall, I think she did a very good job.



Danielle chose Shop the Room as her show title, and also had to makeover a living area and dining room.
Here is her work.

Danielle added the owner's art work space into the dining room and added more practical storage for her.

While this is not my style at all, it seemed to fit the owners and their style.

Danielle collected the owner's personal artwork and made a gallery wall.


***SPOILER ALERT!!!****

The winner is........(drum roll)  Danielle!

While I think I may have thought at one point or another that it may be Danielle, I really thought it was going to be Britany. I have a feeling we may see more of her however on HGTV.

I will be anxiously awaiting to see what Danielle does and creates on her own show. Congratulations Danielle!

All pictures were courtesy of HGTV.com and you can go here for more pictures.

Fun New Wall Art

I finally got a art piece to put up in the girls' bathroom. I found it on Etsy, from The Wheatfield shop by Katie Daisy. Her shop was down today, but here's her profile and please go back to her shop at another time because she has some really great pieces!
Here's what I got.

I really love it in this bathroom. The colors are great and I love this quote.

In another note, who's watching the final episode of  HGTV Design Star tonight? I can't wait to see who wins!



Designer Spotlight: Sarah Richardson

One of the many designers that I have a huge design crush on is Sarah Richardson. I have followed her renovations of many houses on HGTV, and love her style! I love her personality and the way she and Tommy interact with one another. I like her so much on TV, I really hope she is as sweet and cool in "real" life as she appears to be.

Sarah now has her own furniture line, paint line and has a column for the Globe and Mail. You can read her articles here.

This is just a tiny snippet of her work that I love.

To see more of Sarah's work, visit her website here.