"What We've Learned" at Velvet and Linen

It's Monday already and time seems to just be flying by!! We had a perfect chill weekend - just what we needed and now I cannot wait until school's out for the summer!!  (My husband, Dave, teaches...  and it's quite possible that teachers love summer vacation even more than the students.) 

{Brooke & Steve Giannetti's dreamy treehouse-like bedroom}

Today I'm guest blogging over at one of my favorite places, Velvet and Linen, for Brooke's new series "What We've Learned." 

{Brooke Giannetti}

I'm a huge fan of Brooke's.  I love her style and a project of hers never fails to drop my jaw.   She and her husband- renowned architect Steve Giannetti- have been featured in numerous publications/ magazines and are amazing.  They are such an incredible team and seriously every project they do is perefection.  Check out one of the latest-  the family's kitchen garden:

Is that not awesome???!!   ahhhhhh love it! Anyway, head on over to Velvet & Linen to read my post on "what we've learned."

Hope your weekend was fun and I'll be posting the finished shed/ playhouse pics this week!
xoxo,
lauren

A Perfect Porch

I'm a bit rundown/sick today (will be fine after a low-key weekend) so I don't have a post in me but wanted to send you over to Michele Ginnerty's blog My Notting Hill today.  She did an awesome post on our friend Anne Hardock's beautiful screened-in porch and gardens.  You will not be disappointed and having been there in person, it's really one of the most special places ever...

{Clematis from flickr}

Check it out Anne's porch & gardens here and have a happy weekend!!

Guest Post: My Life As a Movie

I was so excited when super-talented Alaina from  Live Creating Yourself asked me to be a part of her fun series "My Life As a Movie."

It was such a fun/ silly post to do but kind of eye-opening!  Since writing the post (a couple of weeks ago) we've made some family-business decisions in our family for quality time.  (Will fill you in as soon as I can ! ;)  Go check out Live Creating Yourself for the full "movie."  For the "soundtrack" scroll down a bit & hit "play" on the Youtube video before you start reading ;)

Also, the blog is "finished!" (You can check out all of the links at the top of the header:  "ABOUT" "INTERIORS" (Which is my professional website/ services) "MUSINGS" and "PROJECTS" (Which are typically before & afters).  Jessica Nell Graves at Front Porch Studio sent us this!!

Also, if you haven't gotten the chance, please check out the gorgeous nursery Marianne Strong designed in the previous post!

 

Before & After Guest Blogger: Marianne from Haven & Home

Hi Pure Style Readers, I am so happy to be here!!! Lauren was one of my very first blog friends, she is such a genuine, sweet person and I am thankful we met in this crazy blog world!

Okay, so on to the before and after. I decided to do a nursery I have been working on that is almost finished. This client wanted a tranquil nursery that was more on the refined side than funky (those who know me know I love both). Before this room was a "catch all" room with horrible carpet and an u-g-l-y ceiling fan. I give this description because I really don't have good before pictures (that I can use without risking my life) other than these:

*Before we get to the After I should say these pictures are taken by me and it is not styled (I ran out of time), so please excuse the lack of photography skills. Here is the After (what was I saying about lack of photography skills? ahhm, dark dark picture):

We looked at a lot of different options for color including white but this room is SO dark and gets zero natural light so we went for cozy with a blue on the trim and subtle stripes on the ceiling.

Here is the other side:

On thing I love about this room is the lighting- the mirrored hanging light, the floor lamp and the aged blue lamp on the dresser:

The crib bedding we had made. We both loved the the blue fabric on the outside of the bumper and loved the idea of a linen skirt so for a more custom look we added the blue again at the bottom. I wish you could see the inside bumper fabric, it is a pretty diamond (and yes all washable).

The stool is actually from Ikea, we had it monogrammed and added the ribbon along the bottom. The shelf we had made:

Since this room is very small we put the changing table in the closet and painted it one shade darker than the trim color.

loved these hooks to hang the curtain to hid the closet, the electrical covers look similar.

One more:

I hope you enjoyed the nursery- there are still some minor things missing but I really love the way it turned out. Thank you Lauren for having me as a guest blogger, I have enjoyed being here!
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Marianne!!!  This is one of the most beautiful nurseries I've ever seen!! It has such a sophisticated feeling and is fit for a princess!!I love the touches of blue throughout and all of your gorgeous custom touches.  Amazing work- I love it!!!

To check out Haven & Home and see more of Marianne's gorgeous work, go here.

xoxo,
lauren

10 Minute DIY Botanicals

We pretty much finished with the playhouse/ shed this weekend!!  I still have a few things to find- namely baskets & storage- but it was so much fun using cool things we've collected over the years to accessorize the shed.  (Does "accessorize the shed" sound ridiculous or what?)  Anyway, I'll take pictures once I've gotten the final things on my list but I thought I'd share one of the easy projects I did for the walls of the playhouse.   Christian & I picked leaves/ branches off a few things from our yard and I photocopied them on our scanner/copier to make quick& easy botanical prints.

{Honeysuckle}

I thought it would be fun to see how much I remembered (or actually forgotten?? eek) from 7th grade and attempted labeling parts of the plants.  (Way more fun than looking online to see the correct answers ;)

My lovely neighbor Melissa alerted me that the plant below (labeled by me "Unknown Weed") is actually Virginia Creeper.

We have a few more to do today & as soon as I have photos of the finished project I'll post.  Also, I've been getting the hang of facebook and have posted progress pictures (sneak peeks ;) of the shed project on there.  I'm starting to really like facebook because it's really easy to just post a photo and a little blurb so will definitely be using it to post in-progress photos of jobs/ projects. 

LINK TO FACEBOOK PAGE

Hope everyone had an awesome long weekend!!

xoxo,

lauren

ps-  Tonight's the last episode of 9 By Design so be sure check it out on Bravo!!!  Here's a clip:  CLIP

Also, thanks so much to Laura Trevey at Bright Bold Beautiful for the supersweet post she did.  Check it out here.

Go Figure.

We've worked so tirelessly to get the inside of our house feeling good and now all we want to do is go outside. 

Summer's here (ok, maybe not really, but it totally feels like it) and it's time to break out the sprinkler for the little guys to play in!!  I found this awesome vintage (I think) set of black iron outdoor patio furniture this week at Lucketts and I can't wait to bring it home in our truck today!!  It's really not at all like this one from High Society below (it has  much straighter lines)  but its' the first thing I thought of (and my husband too--  poor guy has an awesome memory & I've been filling his head with decorating!!) when I saw the set. 

It has kind of a modern retro-chic feeling that will work really well with the exterior of our {not-so-pretty}70s house.  Here's a photo of it when we first moved in last year. (below)  Enough good things haven't  been done to it yet to warrant an "after" picture.  (But we have moved the neon playset into a less conspicuous area until we can get the wooden one we're after, and the tree debris & drain pipe are gone.)

...The back and sides of our house are still beigey/ "nude" (I love to say that about our house...  it cracks me up) while the front is now a rich gray.  (Still??  Yes, still.)

{My little fern hanging on for dear life}

...  I know the neighbors much just love us...  but hopefully they won't think we're as worthless as we look once we paint the sides & back of the house as SOON as Dave off of work for the summer.  (High school English teacher :)  I can't wait!!  (Both for summer vacation and a fully-painted house.)  

Anyway, the patio set is kind of a combination of these (in black iron) but doesn't have pillows that we can use:

{vintage set}

{image from Maas Brothers recoating...  It has a simlar 'X' back but with a large "O" in the center which is almost exactly the same as the caged lantern in our front entry.  (see photo of entry a few pics up)}

{Crate & Barrel via Hooked on Houses...  It has similar straight, spare lines but it's black. }

I LOVE its size (a massive 3-seater sofa, a chair and a chaise!!) and it has awesome lines, but the paint is peeling off and of course we need to have cushions made.   I can't get the High Society cushions off of my mind but might  go with a solid fabric and do pillows.  (I wouldn't be going pink out there...  but possibly an enlarged "grandma" floral...  I'm also thinking about orange as I love it with the gray on the house...)

We've also got plans to work on the shed/ playhouse this weekend...

Below is a photo of the ceiling all primed & ready for paint...

I set up a Facebook Page for Pure Style Home last night & posted a couple more pics of the shed as it is now.  I'm not quite sure how to really work facebook yet but hopefully I'll get the hang of it.  I'm thinking I will post little updates & progress on projects there.  Not as exciting as "voila" before & afters but I know some of you like to see behind-the-scenes & "progress" pictures.

LINK TO FACEBOOK PAGE

Hope you have a happy Memorial Day weekend & get a dip in a pool!!!  If you have some time, check out the new facebook page & send me some thought/tips/ideas!!  (I'm so slooooow with computers/ technology!!)  I'd love to know what you'd like to see on there.

xoxo,

lauren

All around the mulberry bush

As you might remember, we moved into our house about a year ago...  One of the funny things about first moving into a house (especially in early Spring like us before the leaves are out) is that you don't necessarily know what kinds of plants & trees you have on your property.  This past year it's been so great to watch the place bloom around us & to find out what everything is.  One of our favorite "mystery trees" that we saw when we first moved in turned out to be a mulberry tree!

{Mulberries}

And we love to eat them!!  (Things just taste better outside & especially when they're from your own yard, don't they?)  It's so relaxing to head outside at the end of the day & pick mulberries.  I love that we don't have to do anything at all to keep them alive (because my thumb is the blackest of blacks.)

{Christian's getting so big -will be 3 yrs old in July- and can reach the lower branches}

{yum! yum!}

...After we pick them we head to the backyard to the adirondack chairs to relax & enjoy the mulberries ... and forget about how messy our house is, the work that needs to be done, and the craziness of daily life etc.

They're not the cleanest of foods...

{Mulberry-stained hands, feet and face}

...But they sure make us happy...

Chores, work, messes and "things" will always be there... 

Think of what you can do with the people you love to take a quick break from it all.

Savor all the little moments you can.

simple      happy      beautiful      living.

xoxo,

lauren