My Fiddle Leaf Fig vol. 2

We went from this~

To this~

I really don't know what happened.  We watered them properly and they got great filtered sunlight.  Granted, they were from Home Depot, not a nursery, and they were cheap.  The leaves did have some dead spots on them when we brought them home.  Eric thinks they were doomed from the start.  I'm so disappointed...to the extent that I obviously can't bear to just throw the wretched things out.  Has anyone else completely failed to keep a plant alive?  Any pointers?

I was just checking out some of the recent additions to decorpad.com and came across a new-to-me designer: Sally Wheat.  Sally is a young talent based out of Houston.  I hope to see more of her work in the future!  Here are some of my favorites~

You know I love those Amanda Talley prints above the fireplace!

And, my favorite room... 

Some of the same fabrics as my living room and love the layered rugs!  If only I was so chic!

And, that's the chandelier that I've been eyeing for my dining room for months now. 

If only I could save up the extra money to buy it!

Curl up by the fireplace

After returning from a very warm vacation, these 30 degree temperatures in Dallas are quite chilly!  Makes me want to curl up in front of the fireplace.  Here are a few I wouldn't mind having in my home~

{all images via decorpad.com}

Tunnel Vision

I try to check decorpad.com once a week to go through all of the new images.  One particular room caught my eye this week~

I love how clean the room is.  I also love how as you look back through the room, the design tunnels as the two sets of lamps point the eye to the center of the kitchen.  The room is very traditional, yet the design gives it a very modern, clean feel.  And, you now I love an open floor plan!

A Fresh New Year!

This time of year, as I put away all of the Christmas decorations, I long for a clean space, fresh and calming space.  I think we tend to automatically turn to white when we think of fresh and calming.  White can be a bit harsh and stark at times, though.  All of the "whites" in our kitchen and living room are actually a bit warm and favor an ivory more than white.  Here are some spaces that make great use of ivory.  Aren't they all beautiful?

{all images via decorpad.com}

My Flocked Christmas Tree

Last week I told you all about the journey to my super flocked Christmas tree.  It was a lot of fun to decorate, and I'm excited to share it with you today~

I layered a $9 roll of loose weave burlap from Lowe's around the base of the tree as my tree skirt.  I love how it looks!  I also had a friend ask whether you could buy real and fake flocked trees.  The answer is yes.  Most flocked trees that you see are fake, but mine is a really tree that I had custom flocked at our local garden center.  And, to answer a reader question, it does shed some but not bad at all--it's neater than a real, unflocked tree!

How did your tree turn out?  Have you ever had a flocked tree?



Traditional Living Room Challenge

A good friend of mine recently moved into the new home that she and her husband built.  Eric and I went to see it for the first time a few weeks ago.   Her living room is an open concept with the kitchen.  It only has one solid wall on which their TV is mounted.  They have a natural stone fireplace in the corner of the room.  The walls are a warm beige with dark handscrapped hardwood floors. She mentioned that she might want to do a leather sectional, and my wheels started spinning.  She has very traditional taste and loves, loves the color red and other warm tones.  Quite a challenge since I love all things turquoise.  I played around for about an hour tonight and this is what I came up with~

**This is my first time building an Olioboard, so please forgive how amatuer it is.

Henry Sectional by West Elm

Carlisle Upholstered Armchair by Pottery Barn

Fringed Hand Loomed Rug by Pottery Barn

Holbrook Coffee Table by Home Decorators

Sidney Storage Drum by Home Decorators

Wavy Table Lamp by Robert Abbey at Lumens.com

Leonzio Mirror by Uttermost

Schumacher Bleeker Pillow in Absinthe by Etsy seller Lab Designs

Schumacher Celerie Kembel Betwixt Pillow in Spark & Ivory by Etsy seller Lab Designs

Schumacher Chinoiserie Chiang Mai Dragon Aquamarine lumbar pillow by Etsy seller Aurelia6311

It's certainly not professional quality, but it was a fun little game for me!

Ooh La La

I am proud to be an Arkansan.  I may live in Texas, but I'm not a Texan.  I'm an Arkansan.  I love to feature fabulous talent from my home state.  At the top of the list is Bear-Hill Interiors, a Little Rock-based boutique and interior design firm.  Here is one of their projects.  Don't you agree that it's completely divine?  And, the fact that I'm in love with purple right now makes my crush that much stronger.  Check it out~

{all images via Bear-Hill Interiors}

A Little Friday Happy

I love this room.  Are you surprised?  I didn't think so~

{via Alice Lane Home}

As this room would suggest, I hope you all have a calming weekend with touches of perfection!

My Fiddle Leaf Fig

There are some things in life that only a design junkie would get so excited over.  One of those is the Fiddle Leaf Fig.  It's been featured on many blogs including some of my favorites, Abode Love and Cove & Grey.  I've loved the Fiddle Leaf Fig for sometime. 

Some house plants are plants are cheesy and some are perfection...adding the perfect touch of design and life to a space.  The Fiddle Leaf Fig does that for me.  Last week another of my favorite blogs, Knight Moves, featured her new Fiddle Leaf Figs, which were found at a Dallas-area Home Depot.  Fortunately, it only took two Home Depots to find mine!

I recently located a fig at one of our local nursuries; they wanted $100 for it, though.  Thankfully, Home Depot was much more reasonable at only $35/plant.  Now to find the perfect planters for them...I'm thinking I'd like a large woven basket like one of these~

{via Wisteria}

{via Pottery Barn}

{via Crate and Barrel}

Except that all of these are too expensive.  A trip to Garden Ridge may be on my agenda for the weekend!

Evolution of a Living Room

UPDATE: Two commenters asked for the sisal rug source.  It's actually from CSN--now Wayfair.  I can't find the exact rug, but I think after a 20% coupon and free shipping I paid about $160 for it.  My kitchen and dining room sisals are from Overstock.  The Overstock rugs are acutally heavier.  I will order from them next time, and I recommend them more.  Overstock rug links here and here.  I wouldn't hesitate to buy either of these again.

We moved into our Texas house in July 2009.  This is a listing photo of our living room in our Arkansas house.  It was cozy~

Then we moved to Texas where everything is bigger.  This is the same furniture (plus, the previous owner's leftover gold panels) in our Texas house circa Christmas 2009.  Ha!

The first thing we did was order a set of club chairs at the beginning of Crate & Barrel's fall 2009 upholstery sale.  The husband and I agreed that he could choose the chair, but I got to choose the fabric.  I did steer him a little, but he ultimately chose the chairs.  We ordered our chairs in September.  They showed up in the middle of Janaury. 

Lesson #1: If you order custom furniture from Crate & Barrel, be prepared for to wait. 

Lesson #2: Don't make decisions that make your husband hate Crate & Barrel. 

Then I lost my mind.  I decided I wanted I wanted a modern club chair.  I chose Bassett's Fleming chair, which I still love; however, instead of getting the fabric I originally chose, I decided the room needed some flair and chose a loud fabric.  Sometimes when the husband is suddenly in a buying mood, I make stupid decisions.  The chair arrived...  I loved the chair, but it completely clashed with the kitchen paint and rug.  Now they had to be painted and replaced.  Boo.  Dumb me.

Lesson #3: Never order a loud fabric pattern without seeing a fabric swatch in your room and thinking about it for at least 3 days.

Lesson #4: Don't paint your kitchen sage green when blue is your favorite color.  You'll only have to repaint it a neutral later.

Next, I ordered a set of framed prints from art.com...they're currently for sale on Craigslist.  No joke.  Then I worked from home one day with David Bromstad's color splash on in the background.  Suddenly, I decided that I needed color.  Enter the accent wall.  I also bought a new coffee table.  It was on sale, though.

Lesson #5: Don't order online art if you question it at all and it's not returnable.  Really, don't buy anything that's not returnable or feasibly returnable.

Lesson #6: Color Splash looks good when David Bromstad does it.  Not so much when you do it yourself.  Just say no to the accent wall.

Lesson #7: Don't buy something just because it's on sale.  Find what you want and wait for it to go on sale instead.

And, this is the point that I called Emily.  Her immediate instructions: (1) paint the brick on the fireplace; (2) paint the accent wall back to it's original color; (3) start looking for a rug; and (4) buy a console table to put behind the sofa--bring the sofa further into the room to make it cozier.

Lesson #8: Hiring a reasonably priced interior decorator or commissioning an online design board will only save you from yourself.  In the long run, it's much cheaper than contining to make design mistakes. 

So, I got my paint brush out and un-color splashed myself.  Then, Bob Villa--no wait, it was just my husband--built a huge console table for me.  Love him!  Then, I took myself over to Overstock.com--why do they try to call themselves "O.com"- it's not their name--and ordered myself a rug (with Emily's approval, of course).  Although in the end, I changed out the rug, it made such a huge improvement in the room.

Next up was the great debate.  To paint or not to paint.  That was the question.  I said yes.  He said no.  After not so subtly sending my husband random pictures of painted fireplaces for 2 months, he caved.  I also painted the interiors granny apple green.

Lesson #9: Persistence is key.  This applies to all aspects of life.  Everyone eventually gets tired of listening to you whine.

I had the sunburst mirror in my entryway.  We moved it to be the centerpiece of the mantle.  It was too pale, though.  Enter spray paint.

Lesson #10: Diamonds are a girl's best friend.  Spray paint is her second best friend. 

Next, I added some dramatic lamps to the console table to frame the living room wall.  I knew what print I wanted, but I was waiting for it to go on sale.  See Lesson #7 above.

Then, the polka dot chair moved up to the game room and our old Pottery Barn Brooks Chairs got moved back downstairs (or as my husband would say, they got called up from the minors).

Next, I added my bamboo blinds.  Love them.  No lesson learned other than I love them.

Then we finally bit the bullet and ditched the carpet.  Some people like carpet, some don't.  Some warned that it was dumb to add more wood with three dogs.  I didn't listen.

Lesson #12: If you keep your dogs' nails clipped, there is no reason you can't mix dogs and wood floors.  You will have to sweep a lot, though.

So, then I was at that point.  The fork in the road, if you will.  This was a good living room, but I wasn't in love with it.  Do you settle or marry for true love.  I married for true love.  Time to keep tweaking the room. 

Then came the art~

The room still seemed too heavy though.  I have no way to describe it other than "too heavy."

After lusting for banded drapes for months...seriously, months, I broke down and ordered the fabric and had them custom made.  This was a huge deal for me.  Made me feel more adult than signing mortgage papers did.

To make the room feel even lighter, I sold my impulse purchase coffee table and my rug on Craigslist.  Becuase they were in such great shape, I made enough off of them to completely cover the cost of my new coffee table and rug. 

I have sisal rugs under my dining table and my kitchen table.  I love them.  And, I love that they're cheap.  I ordered another for my living room.  I wanted to layer my rugs, so I ordered a cowhide from Cowhides International.  I've ordered from them before and love them.  You can choose your exact cowhide from their website.  If you've got questions, call and they'll pull the rug and answer your questions for you.  And, they're the most affordable source for good cowhides that I've found.  Love them. 

I knew I wanted a gold metal coffee table.  I couldn't find one in my price range, but I found this silver one at IO Metro. 

Lesson #13: Spray paint is now a girl's best friend.

Then, I added this awesome Schumacher Zimba pillow from Etsy seller Lab Designs~

So, here we are today~



How did your living room evolve?  Did you do it all at once or was it a slow, progressive effort?