I want to live here

I just died over this all white outdoor space.  This room.  Is bananas.  B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Truth: Our Yard Is Ridiculous

When I think about our lawn, I die a little inside.  It's in such a sad state, and there is no real hope of that changing any time soon.  Bad pesticide that turned our sod brown in conjunction with the entire back yard not having anything but straw on it is killing me.  In the last 2 months, we've bought a refrigerator, dryer, bed, couch, alarm system, garage door opener, wood blinds, bathroom mirrors, bathroom light fixtures, a chair, a cruise for vacation and...I know I'm forgetting one...oh yeah, a house.  We paid cash for everything except for the house and we are spent.

 It will probably be sometime next year before we do what we really want to with the yard (wraparound deck, landscaping, fence, etc), so until then I will continue to mourn my ugly rose bushes that I didn't want planted in the first place.  We are such bad neighbors! ha I hope the HOA doesn't come after us for being the ugliest yard on the block.

Sneak Peek - Master Bedroom Dressers

I have one more dresser to go, but it will have to wait until visiting family comes and goes this weekend. Don't worry!  You'll get a clearer view of both pieces when I'm done!

Get Inspired: Photography Part 1

Hello, my name is Rachel and I am a blog stalker.  

I've said this before, but I really believe that inspiration can come from pretty much anywhere.  It can also cross boundaries.  A photograph of a couple in love, for example, can not only inspire me to be a better engagement session photographer.  It can also inspire me to decorate with color!  Take these next two photos.  The first is from Jeff Newsom, a photographer based in California.  I am in love with this image and have looked for the opportunity many times to try something like this.  Holy awesomeness.

Jeff Newsom's image not only inspired me to think in more layers as a photographer.  It also stretched my design aesthetic.  When I saw this image for the first time, I noticed how amazing the magenta, robin's egg blue, yellow, eggplant, orange and creams were together.  Looking at how his image had SO MANY colors but still felt cohesive made me think.  Who says you can only have a few colors in your room's scheme?  Muahahaha.  Mad scientist laugh.

I LOVE breaking rules.  Maybe I'm rebellious.  No, not maybe.  Definitely.  But I am in heaven when I see this next image from Anthropologie and how many different bold colors contribute to it.  The trick will be making it not look too busy.  I think with neutral furniture and walls, it will be a balanced space.  My living room is the target for this ambitious color idea and I am PSYCHED!!!

Now, if I can only finish that darn master bedroom, I'll be able to start this new amazing project. :)

Curtains for the Master Bedroom

HUGE sigh of relief.  Buying curtains was way harder than I ever imagined.  Probably because I'm so dern picky, but I had no idea how hard it would be to find exactly what I wanted!  Here's what I was looking for:

108" or at least enough length for floor to ceiling plus a little puddling on the floor
chocolate brown
blackout curtains
linen or brushed silk
anything but grommets for the hooks
white painted wood curtain rod

And here's what I ended up with:

108" - sooooo hard to find, btw
white opaque curtains with chocolate sheers
not blackout
white canvas, brown linen
pole pocket top
chocolate brown wood curtain rod

I think it turned out OK, but I will definitely be pickier with my next curtain purchase for the house.  Honestly, I just got tired of looking at store after store and finding nothing!  Everyone seems to only carry 7 foot drapes, but I've always heard on design shows and such that if you want your space to look and feel taller/bigger, you should hang them from floor to ceiling.  Our master bedroom is not all that large but it has great height, so I thought it was important to play on that.  

The other thing that threw me was budget.  I only reserved $150 for drapes and rods.  Call me naive.  The ones that I really wanted were $500 per drape.  There was no way I was going to double my entire room's budget for curtains, but compromise is suuuuuuch a dirty word.  After two weeks of searching with no luck, I finally surrendered and went with something else but I still went over budget.  I spent a total of $285 including the rods (which is GREAT compared to a lot of stuff out there).  It's just fabric, though!  Why is it so dern expensive?!

One thing that I DID love in the end was the curtain rods.  They are sleek, not too modern, and a perfect contrast to the white canvas.  Finials are sooooo gaudy normally, but I love the simplicity of these.

OK so I have a question for you - how do you iron your curtains?  We don't have a steamer and the instructions say low iron...but a low iron does nothing.  I'd love to know what all you curtain experts out there are doing!