Friday Flickr Favorites week 2

Front Door Ornament, Hollywood Vintage Tropical Architecture 023, originally uploaded by Ron Gunzburger.

Front Door Ornament, Hollywood Vintage Tropical Architecture 023

Buzz Lightyear BBQ planning

I am working on my little soon to be 4 year old's party that will be days after we move in!
Yeah, I'm crazy!.. It'll be fun and chaotic!

Here's my inspiration board/planner in it's first stage. It's very hard for me to keep things simple when it comes to party planning. I like to have the theme carried throughout the invitation, decorating, activities, menu, cake etc etc

i wish whimsical cakes was close to us to make this amazing Toy Story cake!

The ugly post

Pardon the appearance while I do some moving planning! This is what i'm pricing.. moving boxes.. no swooning over here today!

loveeeee

via fragment freaks on ebay

via target

Friday Flickr Favorites week 1

For my first week of Friday Flickr Favorites,
I have selected a gorgeous illustration called Teatime by Kate Doodles.
See it at Flickr here and see her other work at her etsy shop and her blog

stairs (a new concept)

I want to do something with the stairs. Paint the railings white and also do a runner.
Here are some inspirations:

Pamela Anderson on her sisal lined stairs.
I like sisal with white railings. Lining the stairs is safer for the kids.

via apartment therapy- love these stairs! gorgeous! Just had to share!

via sanctuary (I love the family wall here too)

above 2 via shoot factory

via apartment therapy
this is such a cool look! lovely!

via desire to inspire via flickr

there's my wall railing painted white

Exterior painting..

I've just added this first picture of "the house" to the sidebar. Choosing the exterior paint color including the trim is another "white paint" post! Boring but very important. As soon as the painting stage is over, there will be more exciting decisions than shades of white!!
So, I think the shingles will be Benjamin Moore Brilliant White and the trim, shutters and front door will be a nice glossy Benjamin Moore White Dove.

Benjamin Moore White Dove

white front door for sure

via country living

We're just looking at the door here, the beautiful fresh white door with silver knocker, pull and lock.

To do list...

I'm going to sit in the sun in my hour of peace while kids are at the beach with grandma and grandpa and work down the to do list:
- schedule kids physicals before starting new school
- cancel cable
- find new pediatrician
- get last moving estimate
- get 3 house painting estimates
- arrange cleaning for new house day after closing
- arrange cleaning apartment day after move
- plan a 4 year olds birthday party for weekend after we move in!
- make next to do list

Happy Tuesday!

i heart white hardwood floors!

via Sactuary

via Sanctuary
This is one of her kids rooms. I obsessively looked at every page of Sanctuary the other night. Stunning!!!

white rooms book by Jordi Sarra. I don't have this yet, but it's on my wishlist!

via BHG

via BHG

can't remember where i found this!

Ian Schrager's Delano Hotel Miami via NYT

via apartment therapy

via concrete and honey via Living Etc from house of photographer Paul Massey..
see rest of house at concrete and honey.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.... I love white painted wood floors.. High gloss is beautiful as much as matte scuffed shabby look. The house has fairly new natural hardwood floors throughout so I don't think I'll be taking my can of paint to them just yet but I do love this look so much! I might have to test it out in one room!

Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Interiors coming in October.. counting down the days!!!

See you in NYC in October Rachel!

Front door makeover

via flickr

via flickr

via flickr

via flickr

via decorology

via tiennieknits

A front door can really create an impression for the home.. like the wrapping on a gift or the cover of a book.
The front door of the house currently is dark green with a very dark oiled bronze scallop shell door knocker... This is not what the cover of my book would look like, so the front door color will be one of the first jobs. The shingles are light gray and of course I would prefer them white, but that is a bigger job for the "later on" list. Although there are so many fabulous color directions to go with this, I think I have to go with bright glossy white! (surprise surprise) .. and a stunning new silver knocker??

buy white paint- sounds simple doesn't it???

simply white, snowfall white,

alpine white, moonlight white,
i wish i may, i wish i might,
narrow it down to the white that's right!

When we close on the house, there are several rooms that I want to paint. Most of the downstairs is in great shape and all white and newly done so I am happy with that. The bedrooms however are all different colors, yellow, blue, green, pink. Basically the upstairs needs a clean sweep of white everywhere. So there are several billion shades of white (and that's only Benjamin Moore) I'm going with slightly warmer shade of white.. the cooler shades with undertones of blue can make a room feel cold. I like trim in a higher gloss and a shade darker than walls for a slight contrast. Colors however undecided so far!

Check these articles out: Southern Living- Getting the right white can be tricky here and Choosing the right white by 2Modern Design Talk here

and if you thought you'd seen it all, take a look at this the ben Color Capture app for iPhone. Love it!!!

The beginning of a blog, a new era, home #2

t w o, originally uploaded by claude....


Welcome to my new world with a white picket fence. My husband, 3 year old son, 2 year old daughter, little shih tzu and I are leaving our 950 square foot apartment in NYC for a new home in a small fishing town. In about 6 weeks, we are making the big move. It is incredibly exciting and emotional! Follow me on the journey of change as i journal about leaving the city, decorating a gorgeous new home, learning about gardening in my lovely new yard (that should be interesting), cooking up new recipes and doing craft projects with the kids. xox

*image via flickr