- So dreamy…
Grey or gray is an achromatic or neutral color. The first recorded use of grey as a color name in the English language was in AD 700. Grey is the British, Canadian, Australian, Irish, New Zealand and South African spelling, although gray remained in common usage in the UK until the second half of the 20th century. Gray is the preferred American spelling, although grey is an accepted variant. Gray became the preferred spelling in American English around 1825.
These days I am seeing gray everywhere in home decor. I love it mixed with almost every color. Gray is the new brown, black and taupe! It’s not as warm as brown or taupe but it complements other colors really well. It is not a spotlight color it lets the other colors shine. It can make a room feel really modern, country, shabby chic, romantic or traditional depending on what you pair it with. Plus there are so many shades of gray, from blue grays to warm grays. You can’t go wrong. Not feeling brave enough to try it out yet? Then start collecting your favorite looks on Houzz.com or Pinterest and start off with a small space. How about the bathroom or laundry room?
- So many great color combinations!
Target has a great new concept that they just launched. They’ve taken items from some popular stores and have curated and collected them for Target shoppers into The Shop. Much like their designer lines that they carry now, these items are available online and in the store. They have a great selection, Polka Dog Bakery, Privet House, Cos Bar, The Webster and The Candy Store. I really love Privet Shop which carries home decor items and hope they expand their collection. I plan on visiting my neighborhood Target and buying that awesome green pillow! Now instead of spending a million dollars at Target I can spend $2 million. My cart is always overflowing even if I just go in for detergent. Good thing everything is so reasonably priced! Now if Target could just give Simon+Kabuki a call all would be good in the world! 
When I graduated from college and moved out on my own (a really long time ago!) my mom bought me an antique armoire for my bedroom. I decided several years ago to paint it white and loved how it turned out. I also had an antique rocking chair that I recently decided to reupholster and paint white. Most everyone knows that I do not sew! The nice thing about reupholstering chairs is that you only have to be good with a staple gun, which I think anyone can handle! I only needed a small amount of fabric and the nice thing about this chair is that I can change the fabric often since it is easy to do. I sanded down the chair and wiped away the dust. I used a flat white paint (leftover from another project) and gave the chair two to three coats. After it had dried a few days, I took sand paper and just sanded all of the edges to let some of the wood underneath show through and give it a shabby chic feel. I may finish it off with a semi-gloss clear spray, but I haven’t decided on that yet. I am happy with the way it turned out and it was a pretty fast project, only a couple of hours total. I was able to easily squeeze it in to a Sunday afternoon.
My painted armoire.
Before
Stapling the fabric to the cushion. I removed the old fabric first.
My new rocking chair!
Remember this?
My little “work room” had become a place to put crap so I decided to reorganize. I took all of the furniture out so I could get a fresh perspective on the space. Then I noticed that I hate the carpet that’s been in there for 10 years. So I tore it out. Then I had crappy plywood floors. Then I figured since the carpet was torn out I might as well paint. Now it looks like this.
My new favorite room.
It was important to keep the desk clear of clutter so I have a place to do projects and wrap gifts, hence the industrial shelving with baskets so I can see that I already have a hundred spools of ribbon before I run out and buy another one.
Necessary components of gift wrapping.
I wanted a place on the wall to pin up inspirations and momentos so I made a pushpin board out of cork squares. I layered some burlap with a sheet of gift wrap that was too beautiful to use on a gift. The “wallflowers” are from Target.com, they’re super easy to put up and come in other shapes and colors.
Waiting to be covered with pinups.
Burlap valance. Yeah, I made this.
I didn’t really need a curtain on the window but I wanted a nice finished look. So I glue gunned sewed this valance out of burlap and used some Simon+Kabuki white patterned cotton fabric for the panels.
My effin’ home office project is finally almost done. I still have one blank wall that needs some loving care but I’m taking a little break to give my addled brain a chance to air out and come up with something supercute. And hopefully easy.
I haven’t even finished my super sassy pink home office project (it’s 90% done, stay tuned!) and I started another really awesome/shitty home improvement project. It’s awesome because when it’s done I will have new floors throughout my house. It’s shitty because my house looks like this right now.
I live in a shithole.
We have been wanting to replace the floors for years but you practically have to move out and we’re doing a large area – all of the living areas, hallways and a bedroom – so my dining room is in my living room right now and there is a bed on top of the pool table. The guestroom is full of the bookcases that used to be in the landing at the top of the stairs. Did I mention there are nails/staples/dust everywhere? Ack.
The project officially started when I asked my husband, ” When would be a good time to tear up our house and spend a buttload of money?” and he replied, “How about when I’m out of town and don’t have to live in it?” I thought that was a brilliant idea so I called the contractor and said that if they could start the following week about 1 hour after I got on a plane for a business trip then they got the job
That plastic really helped keep the dust out of my underwear drawer. Not.
I know you were expecting a picture of David Beckham! Hah! I wish. The eye candy I am referring to are the wonderful ways to use color. There are some great color trends this year and you can easily adapt them to your home decor, clothes and jewelry. I’ve already talked about Pantone’s new color Tangerine Tango but there are plenty of other trends that are sure to be a hit.
Blue Skies – The color blue is not going away. Chocolate and blue was a hit for a really long time in home decor. The latest combos have blues mixed with taupe, green, and greys. Giving the overall feel a softer more mature vibe. Great for master bedrooms. Blue is very soothing and these new pairings are super sophisticated.
Sunshine – When you need some energy and excitement what better color than yellow to brighten your day. Yellow can be used as a subtle wall color to brighten up a room or use it sparingly but boldly. I love yellow mixed with other strong colors like black or grey. Yellow is warm and nurturing and is bound to bring you good cheer.
Grass – The color green is a happy color. I love it when it is used as a pop of vibrant color in an otherwise monochromatic scheme. Green also has a very earthy feeling to it. Reminds us that nature is nearby. Even just adding green plants brings a room to life.
Sand – I think there is a theme here! I love all white or off-white. It is so crisp and comfy. It may be unpractical for a lot of areas in your house especially if you have kids or pets but a a beautiful overstuffed, slip-covered chair or all white master bedroom is to die for.
If you’ve come this far you deserve a prize. This was the hardest picture to choose, too many good ones! You can also check out these very funny clips that my daughters found for me from Ellen’s show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4yDNWlvK6s and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In9XbjyCbnY
I still need to paint the ceiling in my little home office because I can’t possibly live with the current color (cream). I started to paint it last night with a color I picked out solely because it was called “Burlap” and I had fantasies of burlap floor to ceiling curtains in there. In reality the color should have been called “Peachy Puke.” So I went for my 11th trip to the hardware store and picked a different warm grayish color and went to work on destroying my shoulders, neck and back.
I’m almost done with the serious grunt work and I get to do the fun part next. My biggest priority when I design a room (or yard) is how I want to feel when I step into it. I want to feel a little euphoric, ambitious yet relaxed, and like I’m in my own domain when I walk into my little home office. It doesn’t need to impress anyone but me, but I’m a tough customer. Here are some of the ideas I’m perusing (you can click on http://pinterest.com/simonkabuki/home-office-ideas/ to see close ups of these photos).
my inspiration board
In order to avoid buying furniture that doesn’t fit well, or moving stuff around until the floors are scratched and the freshly painted walls are scuffed, I always draw a scaled version of the room with pieces of furniture I’m considering putting in the room. I do this on my computer but it would be just as easy to do it with cutout pieces of paper. Here’s how the desk I want would fit it in the room:
same desk, two different positions
My desk used to be under the window on the back wall but it limited how I could use the flat surface. I like the idea of it in the center of the room so it can be a more like a work table when I need to wrap a gift or glue gun sew a dress.
Stay tuned for part three: I Finished My Effin’ Office, Now I Want to Host a Party In It
We have several fabrics (In the Meadow, Nesting and Juicy Blossoms) out right now through Quilting Treasures. It is always exciting to see what beautiful projects people make with our fabric. For each line we design, we also design a quilt pattern. Quilting Treasures takes our pattern and makes a quilt for display at the shows they attend. The quilts in person are amazing such great craftsmanship. They usually send the quilt to us so that we can take pictures and admire our pattern work. But alas we must send them back. I really wanted to keep the In the Meadow quilt for my daughter’s room. Would have gone perfect! Next up from Quilting Treasures is our Cuddlebumps line. Cute and colorful creatures perfect for any child’s room.
Here are links to our current fabric patterns, you can download them for free. Happy quilting.
Juicy Blossoms
Nesting
In the Meadow
