Seaside Blue Kitchen Backsplashes

Blue backsplashes give such tranquility to a kitchen.  Perfect for a summer cottage on the water.

Images: AtticMag, Country Living, Southern Accents

Fantasy Vacation- Loire Valley

With no vacations on the horizon, I'm taking matters into my own hands and having a pretend vacation.  Staying in a rental cottage in the Loire Valley.  Visiting castles, eating outside at cafes, touring vineyards...

Full-On Thanksgiving Planning Mode!

Time to start planning!  Loving the first picture until I noticed there is a BIRD sitting in the middle of the table.  Looking at that might make me skip the turkey....

I need an easy idea for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Think I might go with hollowing out my sugar pumpkins from Halloween and make 4 tiny flower centerpieces (a smaller scale of the last photo below)  Recession tablescapes!!!

Images:  Southern Accents, Martha Stewart, Southern Living.

Cottage Crushes

Some cottages I have crushes on...

Images: Martha Stewart, Lampsplus, Country Living, Southern Living, Hometown Tulsa

Bunk Rooms- Decorating Magazine Device?

You can't open a shelter magazine these days without seeing a bunk room.  It's one of those things that you admire, mainly because it is so not practical in real life. 

Who has the need for a bunk room? 
1.  The Brady Bunch
2.  Extremely rich grandparents who have a summer house in the Hamptons and lots of young grandchildren (because there's NO WAY you're getting a 16-year-old to share a bunk room with 6 of her little cousins). 

That being said, here are some beautiful bunk rooms.

Images: Cottage Living (sigh), Traditional Home, Southern Living, Cottage Living, Coastal Living, Country Living, Pottery Barn, Southern Accents

Kitchen Tables

I love the idea of kitchen tables- they should be informal and the space should convey the warmth of family gathering at the end of the day to reconnect and share a delicious meal.  For some strange reason, I gravitate towards wood kitchen tables.  Which makes sense because that's what I own.  Of course, it's currently covered in not one, but TWO plastic tablecloths to protect it from a two-year-old and his difficulties with getting a cup to his mouth without spilling.  And his newfound discovery of the fun of gurgling out anything liquid. 

This blog seems to be my outlet for not being able to do all the things I want around my house while my children are small.  Some day (??) I will be able to show off my wood table again and take the sheet off my buttercream sofa..

Images: BHG, Country Living, BHG

The Look for Less (or...boy, am I cheap)

Thumbing through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog over the weekend (my 2-year-old saw the Pirate Bed and wants it.  It's $1,600.  So I made him an eyepatch out of construction paper instead) and saw their new collection of Peter Rabbit accessories.

Which made me laugh, because I have the same thing in the baby's room.  Let's do a cost comparision. 

Pottery Barn:  2 prints at $34/each and 2 frames at $29/each = $126 total

Colette:  8 prints on Ebay at $17 and 2 frames (with a coupon) at Michael's crafts at $10/ea = $37 total

Yes, my prints are off-center and badly lit, but I'll drown those sorrows with the $100 I can use to get my hair highlighted.

Images: Pottery Barn, moi.