Sickness and Bedrooms

Sorry there was no Etsy stuff on Friday.  From Wednesday to Sunday I only left my bedroom a few times. One of those times was to visit my doctor who did 4 different blood tests and a few different swab tests. By the way, have you ever had to have an influenza test?  It is truly the worst medical test they can put a person through. They take this swab which was basically a 12" long Q-tip and shoved it up my nose, pass my sinuses and into my skull to say hello to my brain. I think they were testing my brain matter to see if it had the flu.  It is the most uncomfortable test. My mom kept telling me to go to my happy place. Let me tell you, there is no happy place for this type of test. I heard rumors they are going to start using it as torture in all the new spy movies. I'd give up Daniel Craig in 2 seconds.
Surprisingly, after torturing me to tell Craig's secrets, I did not have the flu. I had strep. A prescription for antibiotics and orders to stay in bed for at least 48 hours I was back home in bed the ENTIRE weekend.  I watched movies, slept, watched Hulu, slept, took my meds with food every 12 hours, slept and slept some more. My body and my bed have now become one. And as I sat, laid and basically just lunged around my bedroom I really wanted to redecorate. Maybe redecorate isn't the right term. I want to decorate my bedroom. So I began a search. And what did I learn...

1. I don't like 4 poster beds. I don't want to have to deal with drapery. I don't think it makes the bed or the room more romantic.  And really the "posters" are just a waste of wood.
   
   
2. I don't want my room to be too feminine. I am not a girly girl so I don't want a lot of lace or lavender colored walls. I don't share my bed with a man right now, but someday I will. As I looked at photos of some super girly bedrooms, I instantly felt sorry for the dude who has to sleep in them.
   
   
3. I don't want to look like I am at the beach when I live in the mountains. I like the beach as much as the next person, but I am not doing one of the many "nautical" themed rooms I see on every design show (probably not any theme for that matter).
   
   
4. White is nice, but it isn't always right. I think white can be done well, but I would be afraid to sleep in an ALL white bed or live in an ALL white room. Touches of white - OK, but the entire room - I'd be the first kid to scuff up the walls or get spaghetti sauce on the duvet cover.
   
   
5. And ultimately, I am a simple girl. Just a few pillows, clean lines with a little splash of something unexpected or a pop of color and I am a happy clam (ignore the nautical reference).  My bedroom should be true to my style even if (occasionally) I like the other designs.
   These are little more like it...

My favorite

Photos found on Better Homes & Gardens

Love Affair with Gold

It is amazing how our opinions change. As I get older, am exposed to new ideas, different people and just learn more about myself I find it interesting how things I used to hate I now love.  I was struck by how much gold I have been wearing.  I used to hate gold.  Gold anything.  Gold jewelry, gold frames, gold dinnerware, anything gold. And yet as I look back at last week I found myself wearing a new gold shirt I got for Christmas, gold earrings (several times) and necklace I purchased several months ago and I was even tempted by some gold heels I saw at the store Saturday.  Sadly, I did not purchase the glittery goddesses for I have a strict "no shoe buying" rule for the next few months (I may have gone a little crazy this last year on shoes), but I was very tempted to say the least.  Call it a trend or call it infatuation, but I have found myself in a love affair with the color gold.  I actually prefer to say that my taste buds have matured.  So what better to help a recovering addict then to post some on my resent gold obsessions.

Can't wait to hang this Easter card my mom had framed for me

 (The card was my Grandmother's)

These gold based cups and carafes from Design Within Reach

Bowl from Tse & Tse

These are true shoe love

Anthropologie Measuring cups, really

Love local jewelry artist Katie Waltman

This necklace is on her Etsy shop

Just saw this today on Creature Comfort. So want this journal

Last but not least, my Grandmother's gold frame board.  

She used to have all the grandkid photos hanging in it. Someday, I will have the perfect place to put it.

Etsy Find Just for All the Reds

How about a little something different for this week's Etsy find, something just for all the redheads out there.

Check out the red hair on this plate from Betty Raspberry.

(First saw this here)

Love this print from Peggy Wolf Design

And this one from Multiple Personality

Pillow Talk

Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas. What did Santa bring you? I got a rice cooker. It is pretty sweet and it makes delicious rice...yum.

So today I wanted to share some pillow talk. No, I'm not talking about the classic Rock Hudson, Doris Day movie (but I do love that movie). I'm talking pillows. Beautiful, fun, decorative pillows.
I don't make my bed very often. I'm not one of those "I'm just going to get back into it" types of people, it is simply that I am always running late in the morning. Making my bed falls somewhere down the list below eating breakfast and folding my towel which almost never happens. Even if it my bed is not made very often, I do enjoy a crisp freshly made bed with all the pillows to put me in girly heaven.
Check out these lovelys which will hopefully put you in a similar heaven (maybe not girly if you are a gentleman).

Find your state at Always Fits via Design Mom

Shop Dirtsa has the cutest pillows.
Check out the color blindness and scrabble pillows

Loves these pillows from Third Drawer Down Which you can see if you stay here

The "i" is my favorite part of this pillow from Pillow Factory

Throw away boring white pillow cases and get these Urban Outfitters pillows

Pantone, For the Love of Color

For the color obsessed these are freakin' awesome.

Pantone Folding Chairs

 Pantone Shopping

And if that wasn't enough take a vacation to this swanky Pantone hotel where you eyes can ogle over color in every room.

Pantone Hotel

Chicken Coop

It seems having your own chickens is the new trend around Salt Lake City, but can you blame people, I saw Food Inc. The SLC is also making it easier to raise chickens within city limits by reducing the regulations on these feathery friends.  What a cool city we live in. 

I wasn't completely sold on the idea (visions of nasty chicken coops and stepping in chicken poop dancing through my head).  Then I saw this chicken coop. Now the idea of having fresh eggs everyday is a little more appealing.  Dwell always come to the rescue.  They posted this article about the beautiful coop and now I am sharing it with you, along with my plea that we convince my landlord to let us build one of these beauts. 

Architects Mitchell Snyder and Shelley Martin

No Carve Pumpkin Ideas

BBR is really getting into the spirit of Halloween this year. We have been doing craft after craft decorating our house. I for one am not good at carving pumpkins although I love cleaning them out. There is something fun about getting that squishy, stringy, slimy pumpkin guts between your fingers.

So I have been looking around for alternatives to carving a pumpkin.

Painting Pumpkins with Style



No cleaning out guts for this carving

Glitter Pumpkins - go crazy with different colors!

Not Even a Real Pumpkin

papier-mache pumpkins

Forget the knife - Traditional Painted Pumpkin Faces

For the True Artist - Gold Gilded Pumpkins

For the Kiddies - Dress Up Pumpkins



Just Add Ribbon Pumpkins

Masquerade Pumpkins

Sew Pumpkins

Sew Pumpkins Instructions

Have fun with halloween pumpkins without dressing up in the "don't-care-if-they-get-slime-on-them" clothes and putting down layer after layer of newspaper.

Create It: Candy Corn Garland

Every 6 months me and my sisters get together to do a little craft. This year my mom and I came up with the same idea, triangle flag garland.  We each had a little different idea of what to do, but since I don't have kids (she found a cute garland for a kids room), we opted to do a Halloween garland.

Candy Corn Halloween Garland

Step 1: Gather supplies

You will need:

• Burlap fabric
• Template (make your own)
• Orange, yellow & white paint
• Paint brushes
• Twine
• Sewing machine
• Newspaper

Step 2: Cut out triangles

Create a template, but cutting out a piece of thick paper into a triangle.  Your triangle can be whatever size you want.  Ours were about 12 inches from bottom to tip.

Using your template cut out burlap triangles.

Tip: Use straight pins to hold the pattern on the burlap.  I could only cut out 2 at a time, but if you have better scissors you might be able to do more.

How many to cut?  This depends on how long you want the garland and if you are going to space out the triangles.  I did 2 different styles.  I made one where the triangles were touching and 2 others that had about 6 inches between.  A great idea is to lay out the triangles along the wall or mantle you will be hanging them from (don't forget to leave room for draping).

Step 3: Paint

Candy corns have 3 colors in order from bottom (thickest part) to top (thinnest point): Orange, yellow & white. Be creative here.  My sister did a lot of white.  My mom wanted each candy corn to look the same.  I wanted to use bright colors while they opted for rustic colors.  You can also be heavy on the paint getting a more solid color or you can be light so you see more burlap.  Don't worry about perfection.  It looks good with a little variety.

Don't forget to put your newspaper down so you don't make a mess on your table.

Step 4: Dry

If you go light on the paint they dry very quickly.  Most were dry before I finished painting the next one.  But make sure they are completely dry before you throw them into the sewing machine.

Step 5: Sew candy corns to twine

Using a zigzag stitch sew the triangle to the twine.  I made 3 garlands of different lengths, on the first one I sewed the twine to the back of the triangles so it would be hidden, the next 2 I sewed it on front.  I preferred the front, but either looks good.

Step 6: Love your creative self & Decorate

You are finished, now find a hallway, staircase, mantle or wall to decorate with your new candy corn garland.

Drap along a table edge

Hang from the ceiling