What Makes You Happy?

I stumbled upon another quiz from Homegoods. Remember they had the stylefinder quiz awhile back? I was earthy casual.

Now, after taking this new quiz, I am Set Sail and a touch of Boho. Again, I find this pretty true to my style. I love beach/summer looks (earthy) and though I don't think I really decorate with boho inspired decor, I do love block printing fabrics (boho), a new love of mine.



via Chic Coastal Living

This photo seems to bring in the mix of the two.

So go and take the quiz and tell me what makes you happy!

Family Room Possibilities

I am working on changing up my family room with our remodel and new windows. We are currently repainting the area, and will be installing new carpet.
As much as I would love to get a new sofa, I have to keep my brown leather ones for a bit longer.
Here's one idea I have for the room, but since I change my mind constantly this is not the final decision yet.

 

I have never made an idea board before, and I think I need some help. I will have to ask my 13 year old. Ha ha.
What I really love are the curtains, and I have already ordered those. I am waiting to get those up and then decide how I want to proceed. The only thing about this that I am hesitant about, is that it doesn't look too different from what the room looks like now and I wanted to do something a little different.
What do you think?

White Rooms

I believe you are either in the camp of  "yes, painted white walls look fabulous" or "white walls are boring and so are you." Well, I belong to the camp of white walls look fabulous! If done right, I don't think it's boring at all.

 

While looking at my inspirational photos I've pinned on Pinterest for my living room and family room, I see a very strong connection. Almost all my pictures are rooms painted white. There's something about it that feels very calming, very clean/fresh, and it just makes all the furniture and accessories in the room pop, instead of fighting with the wall color for attention.

 

Along with our little remodel we are doing with our family room and eating area with reframing and new windows, we are also repainting and I've decided to go with the white. I really want to brighten up this home since we lost a lot of natural light getting rid of the very large windows/skylights, and I really feel this is helping.

 

We are getting closer to being done but with these high ceilings and lack of time on our hands, it's been a slow process getting the painting done. Pictures will be coming soon. I hope.

In the meantime, here are some of my inspirational photos that I love.

 

 

 

What do you think? Would you paint your walls white, or do you have white walls?

Blog I Follow: Classic Casual Home

Another Friday is here, and another blog I would like to share with you is Classic Casual Home.
Mary Anne writes a great blog, and I love her style as well. She describes her style as classic and casual with hints of french inspired accents.

Here's a look at some of her beautiful rooms in her home.

 

 

 

 

It's it gorgeous?! Her style is a great inspiration to me. I love her ceiling beams, ceiling planks, and how all her decor just pops off the light colored walls. She really pulls off the classic style with casual ease. Her home looks relaxing and comfortable to be in and so pretty. Be sure to check out her blog!
Have a great weekend!

Nautical Beach Home Inspiration

I am not quite ready to say goodbye to summer yet, so I thought I'd show you one way that I would decorate my fictional beach house in my head.
There are many ways to decorate a beach home. There is a warm tropical vibe, red/white/blue nautical vibe, woody/earthy vibe, clean, crisp white vibe, etc. You can go literal with your decor or you can use subtle textures and colors that note the beach or coast.
I personally like the subtle hints and not so much the in your face "beachy" themes.
Here is a way to decorate a beach home in the nautical style. While I wouldn't consider this example subtle by any means, it still isn't seashells, and anchors all over the place.
Enjoy!

All photos were taken from my Pinterest boards, here and here.

A Coastal Town Getaway

Last week, we took a quick local trip to escape from our home remodeling project for a bit before school started back up for our girls.
After a ferry ride and a long drive, our first stop was Seabrook, in Pacific Beach, WA. This was our first time here, and we had a GREAT time. If you are ever in this neck of the woods, we highly recommend it. It's the cutest, cape cod-like setting. Beautiful homes and cottages to rent, an indoor swimming pool, bike rentals, and a quick walk to the beach. This is also the home of last years, Coastal Living Ultimate Beach Home. Sadly, it is not available to tour anymore but you can rent it. The Novogratz are in the midst of designing a home next door however and it will be done Spring 2013. I definitely don't want to miss the tour of that home!
Here are some pictures of our trip.

 

 

 

 This is the only shot I got of the Coastal Living Ultimate Beach Home.

I loved how they used oyster shells in their landscaping, instead of bark.

We truly lucked out on the weather. It was beautiful.

Below are shots I took of our cottage we rented.
It was perfectly decorated. Loved the black and white decor!

One of my daughters, posing on the front porch.

My pictures don't even do this place justice. I really would love to visit Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, or the Hamptons some day, and I really felt this may have come close to the feel of those east coast towns. We will certainly be back. To see more info on Seabrook, look here.

Next, we drove down to Oregon and visited the towns of Seaside and Cannon Beach. Again, we really lucked out with weather. It was a lot of fun strolling through the towns, playing on the beach, and making a bonfire on the beach at night. I didn't take much pictures of this part of the trip, but here are a few beach pictures to enjoy.

We are so glad that we made ourselves take a break from the home projects and get out and enjoy some of this summer. It truly was a great mini vacation.
Now it's back to reality; girls are back in school, soccer season has begun and daylight hours are getting shorter. I am also going to crack down and work on my design course, and I am excited to start.