Kitchen: Inspiration

It’s finally happening. I have a game plan on how we are going to update our kitchen and my goal is to keep it within a $2000 budget. After contemplating all different kinds of options, I decided we are working with what we have as much as we can and doing a little DIY action. I have to finalize the paint colors, but I am thinking black cabinets, white paneled backsplash, and butcher block countertops.

Here is what I have in mind:

from here

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Run to this estate sale!

If you live in Atlanta, go to this estate sale tomorrow! Check out these pictures...I want everything!

Because it's almost Friday...

and I just watched Sunday's Mad Men last night.

This is amazing.

I seriously cannot believe the series is almost over.

Pretty in Pink

I have been obsessed with tracking down blue and white ginger jars lately and after I hit the jackpot on a complete blue willow china set two weeks ago, I decided it was time to cease the obsessesive blue and white buying and redirect my focus.

We need artwork badly and I am really loving florals right now. I am not sure my husband with be thrilled about flowers, but I think I can sneak at least one of these into our house.

Here are some of my favorites from Etsy:

Jennifer Ou

Caroline Mint

Susan Magdangal

Stephanie Ryan

Yao Cheng

Met Gala

Ah, Vogue Prom. Tricky theme this year..."China: Through the Looking Glass" 

My top picks (images from here) : Keri Russell, Bee Shaffer, and Alexa Chung

 

Island Alternatives

I have found myself obsessing over kitchens that have tables in them instead of built-in islands. I am striving to never have a casual kitchen table and only using our dining room table for every meal. Part of it might be that we do not have room in our kitchen for a table. One issue with this is that Joe and I still eat appetizers in the kitchen while cooking and the same goes for when we have friends over.

I love how Bailey used this table in her kitchen. (Serious faux pas using this picture again, I know!)

Also, here Steven Gambrel uses an amazing reclaimed wood table as an island.

I love this tonal gray kitchen that belongs to Jimmy Stanton from Stanton Home Furnishings in good ole ATL...I am hoping to accomplish something like this in our kitchen one of these days.

Unfortunately I saved this picture to my phone one day and I don’t know where it came from, but I do like the use of an island and dining table in this open kitchen.

Save the Bees

This print by Hannah Rosengren on Etsy is beautiful and I am all about saving the bees!

I will be trying to incorporate all of these into my garden now and I think this print would look really cute in a kitchen.

Run to The Roosevelt!

Part of my daily grind (aka job) is booking travel and the majority is to NYC. Since I did live there for almost four years, I know the ins and outs pretty well, though I am not as in tune to the hot spots like I used to be. Anyways, our people like to stay at The Roosevelt Hotel, for some odd reason, and I received this in my email box yesterday afternoon:

I must have been bored, because I actually read the newsletter and came across this gem regarding their 90th Anniversary:

"There's a lot in a name. Names hold power, tradition, history, and meaning. We at the Roosevelt are proud of who we are, as well as our namesake. That's why for our 90th anniversary we invite guests with the last name Roosevelt to book one night for $90 here at our hotel through August 31st, 2015."

Well, by golly, I think they may be sold out all summer. 

Seriously? Quite a promotion they are offering there...

Capsule Wardrobe

I won’t lie. I struggle with this blog a lot, because I don’t want it to make me a materialistic person obsessing over all of the pretty things I could buy to make my house look like a magazine.

Instead, I am striving to make meaningful decisions and purchases. I am purging like a crazy person. I want my house to look like that magazine, but my reason is that I really don’t want the clutter in my life. I want to simplify and not have to worry so much.

So a few weeks ago when The Everygirl featured Caroline and her Spring Capsule Wardrobe (below), I immediately decided I was jumping on board. Caroline’s blog, Unfancy, is fantastic. I could go on for about 20 minutes about why I think the blog, her wardrobe, and most importantly her approach to blogging are inspiring!

I have started the purging process and it has proven to be much more difficult than I thought and I really have not allotted enough time to really tackle it, but I have started and more importantly I feel like I am getting more creative about wearing what I have and what I need to add to condense my wardrobe and start my first capsule collection. My goal is to start with summer. I desperately need summer clothes too.

I am approaching the capsule collection not because I buy clothing unnecessarily, but because I have been in a serious style rut for a few years now and I need to hit refresh on my wardrobe. Additionally since I am obsessed with decluttering, this seems like the perfect opportunity to purge my closet and attic!

Country Mouse

This post is way overdue. I have been obsessing over these pictures of Bailey McCarthy's farmhouse, just like I do about every one of her projects. They are all pretty fantastic, it is kind of insane. I dream about living on a farm one day.

Brasserie Gabrielle

Thanks to the time difference from Atlanta to Paris, I got to wake up and look at pictures of the Chanel FW 2015 Ready to Wear show the other morning...a little late getting around to this posting.

I am dying over the tan and black slingbacks all of the models were wearing...granny chic to the max. Also, this whole Brasserie set is amazing. Karl does it again! Here are my favorite images, all courtesy of style.com.

Have you seen this house?

Seriously, I enjoy trying to decorate my house on a budget and it is definitely thrilling to find a great piece for a great price, but if I could hire an interior designer and Kelly Wearstler was out of my budget (still) then I would hire Lindsey Coral Harper. Holy cow look at these pictures from House Beautiful!

Pray to God

YESSSSSSSSS.

These girls need to make a new album ASAP. 

Container gardening

I mentioned briefly in the past that I dream of having a beautiful garden and a perfectly landscaped yard. I know this is probably not the normal dream of an almost thirty year old, but I have always admired perfect flower beds and lawns. (Also, I am pretty sure I am sixty-five in a thirty year old's body.)

I am quickly learning that keeping your lawn perfectly green and flower beds free of weeds is much harder than I would like, but I am going to keep working on my skills and I am hoping to master container gardening. Here are some of my favorite container images:

Unfortunately I am going to have to do something temporary and plant the daffodils and tulips in the fall for next spring. I am hoping since I am thinking about it now, next year the containers will look like these pictures. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

heat resistant: 1 / 2

daffodils: 1 / 2

tulips: 1 / 2 / 3