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Friday Guest Blog Interview: Jen of IHeart Organizing

June 1, 2012

Happy Friday! I can’t believe it’s already the end of the week, four day weeks are just the best. Today I have a great interview to share with you from a very lovely blogger. Jen of IHeart Organizing joins me to answer PDB’s usual four questions, and as she does so she weaves in her favorite decorating and organizing tips! Topics that she’s quite well known for these days (have you spotted her over at BHG? she recently showcased one of my very favorite office spaces). And this idea is one that I hope to copy for Liv’s room very soon!

I love to be organized – there’s something about it that just feels so satisfying, whether it’s the planning, the process or the triumph when you actually go looking for something and you find it immediately! But staying organized is not my forte – I can go weeks and even longer ignoring painfully obvious piles of to-do. So reading Jen’s blog for me is inspiration! A breath of fresh air.

But without further ado… jump on over to read Jen’s interview and to peruse a few of her favorite home pics. Continue reading →

Dining Room Update: Curtain Call Part 2

May 30, 2012

Yesterday I posted on my curtain dilemma. Six great designs but how to decide which one? Or are any of these right for this space? These are the questions that keep me up at night.;) (But hey, that’s far preferred to the usual spreadsheets or parenting quips, so I say bring on the design conundrums).

I couldn’t help but throw together a rough photoshop version for each – sometimes a visual is all you need to get the brain juices brewin’. Here’s the space as is right now (boo for capturing the seam of the pendant shade, now in every. photo.):

Here’s that lovely Tilbury in Lapis that I’m sure I’d be 100% head over heals for if I didn’t have some sort of suzani/ikat print for curtains in the guestroom and in our bedroom:

I’ve always loved this Thomas Paul print, but when it was featured as curtains (hadn’t though of that!) in May’s BHG issue, I fell for Perch all over again. Bah, beautiful!

Here’s a modern print that I really dig. I love that the pattern immediately updates the space but that the colors still play nicely with the slightly muted palette we’ve got going on in the dining room. The catch? I’d have to make the curtains out of an Orla Kiely duvet cover!

Cannot go wrong with a classic suzani like this Ubud by Iman Home Fabrics. I’m leaning least towards this one at the moment, I think the weight of the fabric might drown out too much natural light from the space.

Such a fun print! Is that bright yellow too much of a pop or just right? Dahlia by Thomas Paul:

One more Thomas Paul print that I love. Botany features an illustrated pattern similar to the Perch above but with just florals. The nice white background is soft and perty

Can you guess which one I’m leaning towards? Do you have a favorite? The right fabric might not be any of the above *sigh*, but then again maybe I’ll just have to sleep on it…

Read the full dining room story by starting here: curtain call part 1, newly styled bookshelves, a buffet-over, upgrading the lighting, the before.

Dining Room Update: Curtain Call

May 29, 2012

Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day! Our neighborhood hosts a parade, pick-up basketball games and relay races every year – it’s a big deal around these parts – and we loved it all. Plus, there’s nothing like waking up on Monday morning to realize that you have another day of weekend, another day of family fun. Despite all of the sunshine and relaxing, I’m reminded of what the holiday really stands for and I’d like to offer a big thank you to all of our service men and women. Especially those readers who have family members serving us today! You might remember that Kevin served in the Marine Corp and that I think the world of the sacrifice that you all make as families.

Back to that post title. Curtains! The dining room could use a splash of color near the windows and while we have white wood plantation shutters for privacy (from the previous owners) I can’t help but that think this is the perfect spot for bright curtains that will compliment the color of our buffet:

The room gets an okay amount of light. Nothing drastic, just enough to light the space during certain times of the day but not enough to keep the room from feeling fairly dark on a regular basis.

For that reason I’ll probably have to stick to something light and fresh in here rather than a thicker fabric with darker details (like the fabric I chose for the bedroom), fabrics that I am inevitably more drawn to.

Here are a few I have in mind:

Orla Kiely – Lichen Flower Blossom, Thomas Paul – Dahlia, Thomas Paul – Botany, Tilbury – Lapis, Iman Home Fabrics – Ubud, Thomas Paul – Perch

I love each of these for so many different reasons! I have a few reservations that some of these prints will be too dark (such as the Iman Ubud or Tilbury in Lapis) in the space while a few of the lighter, whiter ideas might not have enough eye popping detail (Thomas Paul’s Botany). I’m hoping that I might find the first Orla Kiely in a fabric (I’ve seen it out there before… but linked to the wallpaper) and I do love that dahlia print! Is having too much suzani or ikat print a bad thing? I’m using it alot in the house these days but I still love these Tilbury and Iman patterns.

Kim Cornelison’s dining room from the May 2012 issue of BHG has really inspired me, and seeing her Thomas Paul Perch curtains has confirmed how much I love that fabric:

I could not find this image online for the life of me, so here’s a snapshot of my BHG magazine. Hard to see in the above photo but flip open to page 38 in your May Better Homes & Gardens for a great injection of inspiration – if you don’t have a subscription I highly recommend :).

Here’s our window near straight on:

The shutters are closed to prevent a serious washout of the window, but see what I mean about fairly dark? Dark furniture and those dark branches in the corner do not help. Right now I have a sheer tan on the windows (and I’ll probably reinstall the curtain rod 6″ higher – we thew this guy up over four years ago) and I’m ready for something new!

Here’s a cool little tool I’ve been using to get a better curtain visual of several of my Calico Corners fabric choices: www.CurtainsMade4You.com (and possibly a great resource for those of you who prefer to have the curtains made by the professionals!). It’s a sister site to the popular Calico Corners fabric store.

Oooh, that Tilbury Lapis is a good one!

Still on the hunt though… Maybe I should try something completely out there on the opposite end of the color wheel, or maybe I should go peruse my local Joanns for a bit of variety. We’ll see what we find!

Read the full dining room story by starting here: newly styled bookshelves, a buffet-over, upgrading the lighting, the before