Luxe for Less - Parsons Desk

I heart a Parsons Desk, it's really a great piece of furniture that can work in any home from traditional to contemporary.  It's a sleek, chic table with clean, straight lines. It also can work double-duty as a versatile entry console or office essential.

The Parsons Desk can also be very expensive but West Elm (l love this store) has a Parsons desk for a reasonable price of $299.

But Ahem, I love a good bargain and Overstock never disappoints.  They also have a desk comparable to a Parsons Desk and guess what it costs $170.  Love it!

Design Inspiration - Christopher Peacock Kitchens

Kitchens can be beautiful pieces of art when designed with care and innovation and no one does it better than Christopher Peacock.  His kitchens are beautiful and inspiring.

This is the ultimate transitional kitchen, it blends the modern and traditional very well. It could have been really traditional due to it's shaker inspired cabinets but with two toned cabinets and pendant fixtures adding a modern touch, it's the ulitmate transitional space. Below is the another look at this stunning transitional kitchen.

I could see this kitchen in a rustic or contemporary setting.

Isn't this a beautiful white kitchen, this is truly timeless.

The mix of materials white and wood cabinets, marble countertops and butcher blocks and glass tiles makes for a beautiful kitchen.

With just a touch of red accessories this white kitchen is striking.  Doesn't the red knobs on the range look great?

Here's a look at a new trend in kitchens, creamy grey and wood.  Isn't it lovely? Below is a close up of the kitchen cabinets below.

Luxe for Less - Slipcover Sofa

While looking for a sofa for my bedroom makeover I fell in love with this Pottery Barn sofa.
The sofa is beautiful but costs a whopping $2,000 on sale.  I know, is that a sale?

Browsing through Ikea, I found a comparable sofa for $400.  Can't beat a $1600 discount.

Bedroom Makeover III - Ikea As-Is

I'm currently in the process of redecorating my bedroom.  So far I've painted and added lighting.  I've been searching for a sofa and although I do have a membership to Direct Buy and can get furniture at great prices, I'm always looking for a bargain.   During one of my visits to IKEA, I discovered this section called AS-IS. There is a little sign but you can really go through the entire store and not see it since it's off the side.

  It was while browsing the AS-IS section where I saw a sofa that looked  like the Pottery Barn sofa on my bedroom mood board.   The only thing was that the sofa was missing seat cushions and the price was $99.99.  I thought about it and decided against buying the sofa, and when I got home I started to kick myself about leaving the sofa. The next day during lunch I hightailed over to Ikea and Thank God the sofa was still there.  I know it was waiting for me.

After paying $108 (the tax man must always be paid), I nearly had to pay $50 to get it delivered, but the Ikea guy shoved it in my little SUV (ok the back was open and the sofa was sticking out).  Those Ikea guys are great!  Remember I was at work so I had to go back to work and park in the parking deck with sofa sticking of the car.  Folks were staring but after snagging my sofa for $108 I was doing the happy dance in my head so I didn't bother me at all.

It was also raining that day, but what's a little rain when you can a great bargain.
Can you imagine all the stares?  hahahaha

After dragging the sofa out of car and into my room, you could see that the slipcover wasn't in great shape.
Since the sofa was a slipcovered sofa, I bought a slip cover for $50 and I plan to get foam and batting to stuff the seat cushions.

I think I got a good deal especially since the regular price for IKEA sofa is $399 and the Pottery Barn sofa is $2,000.  What do you think?

etsy finds

Whenever I'm searching for unique items for clients, I like to search through ETSY.
You never know what you'll find and it's a treasure trove of many things.
Here are some of my recent finds that I wanted to share, all from Etsy's site:

Found this fab pillow through Red Door Home. The pillow is a 16" x 20" , made with off- white burlap and gray velvet roses, with a down insert cushion. We'll be using this pillow as a focal point on the twin bed of the nursery room I'm decorating (see older posts for full story). Our color scheme in the nursery is gray, white, pink & brown.


Next is a darling and treasured gift from Happy Haven!!!!
I had blogged about these great pendant necklaces a few months ago & have spread the word about this creative artist. Each pendant is made from Scrabble pieces. As a token of her appreciation, Happy Haven sent me this precious pendant I love to wear. (robin's nest , so appropo, because of the jvw home logo)
Happy Haven has LOADS of ALL types of pictures and sentiments on the pendants....It's a must see site and I LOVE them for gifts. Thank you Happy Haven for making my day .....I will treasure the sweet gift forever & ever!

We have loads of family birthdays/Valentine's/Easter & other celebrations within the next few months. Found these precious tags from Scrappinren Creations for those special gifts:



Oh, had to share some cute tags I bought before Christmas for gifts from Queen Bee.And also these precious ones I had bought for Christmas, but you can use them all year, from Beach Cottage Studio:

Next, while searching for items for my guest room, I found this sweet sign from Susie Harris. Bienvenue means "welcome"! The new guest room will be featured on my blog later this Spring, as it develops.


A charming, French inspired ,burlap pillow for that texture in the room, from Petit Coterie:
A sweet journal also, from Queen Bee. Remember Queen Bee also made the cute topiary, etc. tags above.
We'll turn this book into a guest book for the guestroom. I adore dogs and will have some dog accessories/art in that room:

Next, while shopping for BFF gifts, I found these fab purses. I love the size of these sweet lil' purses because they're great solo for special ladies luncheons, nights out, or even just as a small bag to use within your large daytime bag....a great way to stylishly organize your stuff in that large purse!:

All of these bags are constructed so beautifully with pretty coordinating fabrics on the interior. Tulip Couture has created this cute clutch:


(i had to snatch this one cuz i thought, again, it was appropo for the jvw home logo!)

Someone special is going to receive this for her gift soon ....I adore this one....
artistically created by Aileen, and titled "Tea Party" purse:
Loved this fabric (yellows/grays/sagey browns are a hot color mix this Spring girls)....created by Viabella....

Continuing along with my Etsy finds.....
....found these great linen thumbtacks from Pretty Originals.
I'm redoing my office and these will work great on design boards for the wall. They can create these into magnets or thumbtacks, whatever you'd like. Next I found some great fabrics for pillows. I'm considering making these into unique pillows for an upcoming auction. Both fabrics are from the talented , creative, fellow Austinite ,Laurie Wisbrun of Scarlet Fig. Some of Laurie's fabrics will soon be licensed and sold through Robert Kaufman Fabrics! Congrats to Laurie!
Hope I've inspired you to check out Etsy today. Etsy is full of many creative artists with unique finds from all over.
Time to work on "fish camp" and the "nursery" (see older post)! I'll feature what's happening with both projects soon.
Our own addition of a new master bathroom, bedroom and design studio is taking shape.....pics to follow!

Make it a great day , smile & hug someone,

Kitchen Remodel in Progress - Part II - Lighting

Lighting is an integral part of any room. Whether you’re doing a remodel or just a small update never overlook how lighting will impact the space. When I moved into my house I inherited the most interesting kitchen which was large step down from my former kitchen. No granite, no instant hot water, no beautiful faucet... awww I'm just tearing up thinking about my old kitchen.

Here’s a look back at the way my current kitchen was when I moved in. Beautiful wasn’t it?

Since I’m on shoe string budget (broke) for this kitchen remodel, I wanted to make sure that I can at least have a decent looking kitchen since I was going to spend so much time in it.

After removing the wallpaper and painting the kitchen, it’s slowly coming together but I had a major issue with the lighting. Not only is there a large florescent fixture there’s also the space lights that even made the florescent fixture look great.

It took me a while to decide what fixture to replace it with and when I saw this light I knew it would be a perfect fit for the kitchen. Here’s the finished product, it's so much better what do you think?

"Hey Mickey, you're so fine!"

Just returned from our "adventure" . We took our youngest to Walt DisneyWorld (WDW) ! Had an amazing time & although it's truly a "working" vacation, we're so glad we made the trek. When I say "working", I mean that you are up early and moving constantly til the sun goes down. Last time I had been to WDW, was 16 years ago, when I took my 2 older kids there. On this past trip, we spent alot of time in Epcot which we loved. My youngest is about to turn 11, so he appreciates this part of the park as much as we do. Epcot is so amazing because you get to visit so many countries in one park! My personal fave areas are France, Italy and England. Amazing how Disney has recreated all those areas in a park! I HIGHLY advise all readers to go there in January. Last time I went was in March which is also nice, IF you time it before or after Spring Break. (keeping in mind Spring Break schedules vary around the USA)
Most locals there will tell you the best times to go are AFTER New Year's and before March. The weather was great (luckily we had just missed their freezing temps) and the lines are less crowded during this time. We also had just bought a newly released guide: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010 by Bob Sehlinger. The guide was an amazing handbook for information.....very up to date and great advice. The guide tells you where to eat, times that are best, which rides will make you feel too queasy, advice on how to navigate each park, etc.. Highly recommend this book. We ate incredible meals because of this guide....it was invaluable!
I highly recommend also for you to visit the story behind Walt Disney at Hollywood Studios. We watched a short documentary film about his life and it's a great story. Amazing man with such a gift to us all.

Moi with Luke....having a grand time at the Animal Kingdom.



We met up with my niece , her handsome hub, and her precious boys at the Rain Forest Cafe. (they have an amazing Caesar salad at this cafe!)

Ah Paris! My personal fave......pics don't do it justice. But Disney has created each country so beautifully and when you're in each country , you FEEL like you're truly over in Europe.

If you haven't been to Disney, it's definitely a "must see". Just go the stress-free route and visit on the "off season" and read the book I mentioned.

I'll be posting more pics of Fish Camp within the week....hope you'll stay tuned!


All the best,

Home Tour - Living Room

Awww, the living room. When I was growing up it was one of those rooms you couldn't sit in because it had the "good furniture". We also had plastic on the sofas so it was definitely not a comfortable room. Nothing is ickier than sweating in 90+ degree weather on plastic couch. Trust me it's not pretty.

When I moved into my current home I knew that I wanted the living room to do double duty and it had to be a room that was actually lived in. My daughter & I love reading so I knew that it had to function as the library as well the living room. With some patience I created a room that I think that suits both needs plus it didn't cost a lot.
The room cost me less than $1500
Chairs & Rug - Overstock - $520
Sofa - $100 (from a furniture clearance center)
Side tables - Walmart - $130
Pillows - ZGallerie and Marshalls - $80
Book cases - Target - $160,
Lamps - TJMaxx - $50
Bowl Ikea - $30
Accessories - Home Goods - $30
Mirror- $50 - Consignment Furniture Shop,
Window Treatments - Linen and Things - $120
Coffee Table - Z Gallerie - $200

The sofa above cost me $100 from a furniture clearance warehouse.  Couldn't pass up that deal.  The sofa does have a some damage on the leather but a throw pillow covered up that little issue.

The chairs were purchased from Overstock and the pillows are from Marshalls. The chair is a comfy place to hang out with a book or a glass of wine.

The room can be viewed from at least three places in the house and calls you in have a seat.

Fresh flowers also gives a room an extra touch.

The lamp gives off such a beautiful glow and the best thing was the price.  Here's a look back on my little lamp DYI project that produced these lamps.

The mirror was a great find at a furniture consignment store.

Doesn't this IKEA bowl look great on the glass table with some cheap Christmas ornaments?

Home Tour - Dining Room

My dining room is the least used room in my house.

It's really sad especially since it was a must have when I was looking for a home. Now I know it's really not a must have, but should have been a maybe. I just knew that every Sunday I would dress it up and have beautiful dinners. Ha, Ha, Ha, well that didn't happen. Oh well you live and you learn.

I've lived in my house for two years and only used the poor room two times after I purchased my eat-in kitchen furniture two months after I moved in. We then dropped the dining room like a hot potato and we're now happily eating all our meals in the kitchen. The problem is when I used to walk through the dining room, I always felt as if I was short changing the dining room plus it was a storage room for my lights for two years. Every time someone new came to visit or to work on something in my house they would always ask me if just moved in.

Now that all of my lights have been installed (I've never been happier to turn on my lights, I’m sure the electric company is happy) the room looked bigger and empty and started screaming "HELP ME". So during our "NO SNOW" snowstorm in GA, I decided to finally work on the room and although a room is never really finished I do like the way it looks so far. Makes me want to throw a dinner party.

The absolutely best part is that the room only cost me less than $700.

What you do think?

Room Breakdown

Wall words - Target - $15

Table - Raymour and Flanigan Clearance Store - $80

Parson Chairs - American Signature Furniture - $120

Chair Covers - $40- Linen and Things (very sad that they bit the dust)

Curtains - $120 - Linen and Things

Orchid - Home Goods - $40

Chandelier - Overstock - $150

Mirror - Home Goods - $80

Lanterns - Ikea - $15

Below is the way the room looked when I moved in the house. I think it's a good change, don't you?