Posts made in January, 2010

{Color Therapy} Fieldstone by Benjamin Moore

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 21, 2010 in Color Therapy Thursdays, Featured Articles, inspiration, Kitchen, Real Rooms | 0 comments

Looking for a chic way to update your kitchen? How about painting your cabinets a COLOR?  I’m really loving white walls in spaces, but with colored trim, moulding, cabinets, ceilings, etc. lately.  If I had the guts to re-paint my house, that is what I’d do…but I need to add the architectural details first so it wouldn’t look so BORING in white!  I saw these kitchen photos and thought that it was such a calming and chic color scheme, I just had to share it to give a little inspiration.  So without further adieu, I give you the Texas kitchen of Sally Wheat (which has been all over blogland, I know, but I had to file it away here in my little corner of the web!).

The cabinets are painted ‘Fieldstone’ by Benjamin Moore, a mid-value warm gray that is just so perfect with those marble countertops.  A great example of how to inject some color into your space without painting the walls an actual color.

I love the casement window, the gorgeous Farmhouse style apron-front sink, the polished nickel faucet and cup pull hardware, and the decorative brackets on the open shelving.  Notice how the cabinets’ hinges aren’t showing?  It keeps the look of the cabinets less busy (or you can try white hinges with white cabinets, and metal pulls).

White subway tile with white grout is always a good choice.  I love the open shelving to show off her great crystal and white glass collection.

And here is the wide angle shot of the whole space.  How about those industrial pendants?  And that plate wall?  If you click over to see the whole house (see the link below), you’ll see that the homeowner/designer loves to mix vintage/traditional pieces with modern elements and trends for an eclectic look, and she does it well.

Want to re-create a kitchen like this?  Try these items:

Polished Chrome Bridge Faucet, Overstock.com: $174.99 (it used to be $109.99 – always check for specials!).

Polished Chrome Bin/Drawer Pull, eBay.com: $1.70 each (eBay is a GREAT place to buy cabinet hardware).

Fisherman Ceiling Lamp, Pottery Barn Kids: $89.00 each.  (But PB should know – clear light = clear bulb!)

DOMSJÖ Double Bowl Sink, IKEA: $312.98 (this one is HUGE at over 3 feet wide!)

And this is their single bowl version, 25″ wide: DOMSJÖ Sink bowl from IKEA, $185.99.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this kitchen!  Have you seen it before? What do you think of painted cabinets? Would you rather stick with wood or white?  Let me know!  Happy painting!

{Images via Cote De Texas of Sally Wheat’s kitchen. Click here to view the entire home!}

I could live here – could you?

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 19, 2010 in Architecture, Design, eco-friendly, Exterior, Featured Articles | 0 comments

File this post under “Things That Catch My Eye So I’m Going To Share It/Save It Here.”  As usual, I just couldn’t help myself.

Because I could totally live here.  Exactly how it is.  Black paint, cement walls and floors (if they’re heated, of course), giant windows, an amazing patio space, giant beds, built in bunks, a view to die for.  We even love that it’s underground.  It is located in a little odd place – I’d rather be out all alone in the middle of nowhere, but my husband and I completely agree – we could move into this house just how it is and live perfectly happy.  How about you?

Is that a heated outdoor tub I spy? (Above.)

The living room furniture even looks somewhat comfortable, which is a necessity in my house.  But where is the TV?

I had to double check for a bathroom picture, just to make sure I liked it all, but it did not disappoint.

If not to live in then to vacation in…right?

I’d love to see a floor plan…

What do you think?  Are you attracted to the slightly quirky, modern aesthetic of this Swiss Mountain House, or does this look do nothing for you?  What style of design would you categorize yourself as your favorite?

{Images courtesy of Trendir via SeARCH and Christian Muller Architects via Gizmodo, via Abitare}

Knock Off Wood

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 19, 2010 in DIY, Featured Articles, handmade, Kids Rooms, Kitchen, Likely Favorites | 3 comments

In case you’ve been living under a rock and don’t read Young House Love (or follow them on Twitter or Facebook) then you might have missed their post on the FABULOUS website/blog by the name of Knock Off Wood: How to Build Knock-Out Knock-Off Furniture.  Hey…there might be one or two of you that are coming to my little ‘ol website and haven’t browsed theirs recently…right?

So anyway, on to the furniture plans!  I love these…the carpentry obsessed blogger behind Knock Off Wood is Ana from Alaska, who posts plans, step-by-step instructions and even videos to copy or be inspired by your favorite catalog store’s more expensive furniture pieces.  Plus she’s a mama to a toddler.  Impressive, Ana…impressive!  Here she is in action, oh, just working on a kitchen island.  No big deal…

For instance…have you ever been shocked (like I have) at how expensive a simple bookcase could be?  But they look so easy to build!  And Ana says that they are – this Cameron 3-Shelf Bookcase is in her ‘Fast’ category…but it is on ‘Special’ for $239 EACH at Pottery Barn Kids if you’d like to just buy your own.  No thanks!

{image via Pottery Barn Kids}

And her plans are very nicely illustrated using Sketchup – and did I mention that they’re FREE?  Click here for the plans to make your own ‘Inspired by the Cameron’ bookshelf.

{Image via Knock Off Wood}

And for you more advanced woodworkers, how about your own tiered bookcase, like the Apex from West Elm?  She has a plan for that.  But if you want to buy it, it costs $449 online.

{Image via West Elm}

You can find anything on her site…from coffee tables to beds to picture frames to…

…PLAY KITCHENS!  I was sooo excited to see these EASY plans to make fridges, ovens and sinks for little girls.  Her 3 year old’s room is seriously decked out!  Maybe if I start now I can get something done before Harper’s 2nd birthday (it’s in August, hehe!).

Or you could buy this set from Land of Nod for $448, plus tax and shipping…I do love the chalkboard paint, though!

Or this retro set from Pottery Barn Kids for $699…

And how cute is this ‘Town’ plan?  I need to get Glenn to get building…or have him show me how to use his tools a little better than my current skills.

Thanks for the inspiration, Ana!  And for making building things so simple for rest of us!

{images linked to sources and via Knock Off Wood}

Kid-Sized Design

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 18, 2010 in Baby Stuff, Featured Articles, Nursery, videos | 0 comments

If you’ve been following my Tweets or the Likely Design page on Facebook, you might know that I have a fun new (real life) design project in the works — a daycare playroom!  So in my search for some inspiration for this project, I clicked my way over to HGTV and saw that runner-up Design Star Dan Vickery’s new online show has debuted!  It’s called “Kid-Sized Design” and there are only a couple of web-isodes up so far but after seeing Dan’s celebrity nursery design from Design Star I was curious.

Remember this room from Design Star? So sweet and cozy!  I really thought it was finished well.

Those boat-mobiles were very creative!  I could see why they decided to give him a show about designing for kids (well, really for adults, right?).

And here are a couple of shots from rooms from the show…

A little sparse (rug? more storage furniture? teeny tiny side lamp? they couldn’t change out that ceiling fan?)…but at least it errs on the side of not enough furniture instead of too much.  And the main feature of the episode was that storage valance above the window, not the room itself.

Better, but I’d like to see more.  There are a couple of 4 minute videos to watch, and you might come up with a couple of good ideas from each, but I’d love to see the floor plans, resource lists, etc.  The “Dan Cam” (which is right in his face) is a little strange, but it’s only the intro and ending.  Here is my favorite video from the bunch:

Dividing a Shared Kids’ Room

And here are links to the rest:

Boys’ Room Headboard Storage

Girls’ Room Window Treatment

Kids’ Room Design Tips

Nursery Design Tips

So, had you forgotten about Farm Boy Dan and his online show? Me, too, but I’m glad to see he’s back and working on something fun like kids’ spaces!  Plus he does have the design education that others lacked, so I’m sure he’ll bring it.  And if that doesn’t work out, he always has his modeling…

{images via HGTV.com}

My version of a growth chart

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 18, 2010 in Baby Stuff, Creativity, Featured Articles, inspiration | 0 comments

Last December, Glenn and I (ok, mostly Glenn) painted our kitchen cabinets white.  It happened to be on the day that our daughter turned 4 months old, and so we decided to immortalize the day on our living room wall.  We rolled a little of the low-VOC paint on her little foot and stamped it up on the wall by the front door.  I love seeing it as I dash out of the door, and everyone likes to comment on it when they come to visit.

Strangely enough, later in the day my dad called to tell me that his mom had died that morning, so it’s also a nice way for me to think of my Grandma from time to time.  Miss you, Grandma M.!

So what did we do on the 1-year anniversary of that day?  Well paint another footprint, of course!  Now we have 2 growin’ footprints on our wall from when Harper was 4 months and 16 months old…and I’m hoping that this giant new footprint means that she’ll be tall – just like her daddy’s family!  But then again I’m only 5’3″ with a size 9 foot…I know…I’m a hobbit.