Thinking About 2011

Hi Everyone!! I took a little blog vacation for the past two weeks: due to an quick getaway with my husband to NYC { loved how how Christmas-time felt in NYC } As well as spending quality time with my family and planning some big projects for our house in 2011! 


I wanted to say Thank You all for reading Chic Little House, your feedback in comments and emails is one of the reason why I love blogging and sharing whats going on in our little Rancher! 

{ via here }

Here's a small list of items Mr. CLH and I plan on checking off our to do list in the coming months. 

• Master Bedroom done by Jan { yep its in the final stages of being done! }
• Start working doing something with our third bedroom aka the forgotten room
• Paint our kitchen Cabinets & Crossing fingers new counters 
• Talking a slew if mini projects: think crown molding, new light fixtures, mini bathroom updates etc. 

Summer's Mood Board

My friend Summer { she just started a cooking blog check it out here } and her family recently moved into their first home in Southern California mid September. Summer and her husband have decided to turn the large living room into a formal living room & dining room combination. The have an office in the home that will be the family room and dinning room in the eat in kitchen will be the breakfast nook. I love when people make the house there living in work for their needs. 


Recently she asked me to put together some ideas for the formal living room { she has a formal dining room table she is currently refinishing } based on her inspiration. She wants a room thats comfortable and elegant and a little posh done on a budget. Here's how here space currently looks, next year they plan on replacing the carpet with wood flooring and re-doing the baseboards. I think she should paint her fireplace white, she still undecided. 

{ dining room area }

{ living room area}

Here's the inspiration room she sent me, a room she adores!  

Here's the mood board I created for Summers formal living area based on our conversations about the space.

Comfortable & Elegant Mood Board

1. Lighting: For a pretty pop of elegant color the Robert Abbey Lamp ( $207) from Lamps Plus would look amazing in her living room. These table lamps are pretty, but pricey. My suggestion to Summer, shop her local Marshall's or Home Goods and look for a lamp in a similar shape then spray paint the lamps Celery using Krylon Spray paint

2.  Paint & Drapery : For her wall colors, I love Painters Chalk from Martha Stewart Living it’s the perfect beige undertone that will amazing in all types of lighting. For Drapes, I like the Suzanne Kasier Linen Mineral Fabric from Ballard Designs ( $32 per yard). To save money, I suggest Summer order the fabric swatch and take it to her local fabric stores and find a similar fabric for less.

3. Furniture: Her splurge item for the Living Room is the Square Tufted Ottoman (perfect for additional seating) with caster feet from Ballard Designs. Summer would love a settee for seating. I recommend she looks in local thrift stores and on Craigslist in her area to find a vintage sofa or settee that see can have reupholstered in cream fabric. I think she will able to find an amazing piece! I checked out her local CL and have found some amazing settee options, that need some TLC. Summer also mentioned she would love a pretty dresser or sideboard in her formal living space. I found the one below via her local CL for only $ 100. imagine how amazing this side board will look after its been painted a crisp white.                                                                                                                        

 

4. Side Tables: Summer can opt for one or two side tables of the Lauren Accent Table from Home Decorators would look darling in her living room. Again this might be another great find from a local Thrift Store or CL 

5. Accessories: The Acacia Tray from Crate & Barrell would be great addition on top of the square tufted ottoman. I also love the Porcelain Ikat Bowl on top of the sideboard along the 3-Candle Hurricane Candle Holder for ambiance, both are from Nate Berkus. To add some more pretty to the décor this simple pretty Pebble Bowl from Z Gallerie would also add extra eye candy to her living room

6. Pillows: I adore these modern Greek Key Pillows from an Esty seller – gold and white will looking amazing on a vintage settee. I also adore the P Kaufman Brissac Jewel fabric from Fabric.com, a pillow made from this fabric would be amazing and would add some pretty color in the room! 

7. Hardware: When Summer finds the perfect sideboard / dresser for her room, I would update the hardware with these pretty knobs from Anthorpologie and simple elegant pulls via Restoration Hardware. The knobs add extra interest and go so well with the room!!

I had a great time putting this mood board together for Summer!! Lucky for me Summer loved the mood board and after already started shopping local thrift stores for finds. She found the adorable side table below for her living room area. For get this only $7 bucks, what a steal. 

What do you think of the Mood Board for Summers Space?

Mapping Out the Wine Country

For our Anniversary in September we spent the weekend in California's wine country { Napa & Sonoma } we had a blast tasting wine and soaking up the local scene. While we were there, we saw a Wine Map of California. The wine map details all the wine regions in throughout California in a modern colorful way. Being wine lovers we decided to buy a Wine Map for our home. Mr CLH & I love having artwork in our home that's meaningfull to us. I bought the California Wine Map off of Amazon.com { love getting free shipping when you spend $25 bucks! :) }

Instead on spending lots of money for a custom frame, I bought a large poster size frame from Ikea that included a matte. The matte color was dark beige, so I spray painted the matte white. I used my coffee table was a workstation.

As you can see from the picture below, the poster frame I bought from Ikea is huge! Compared to our coffee table :)

I place the poster on top of the matte and used double sided tape to keep the poster in place. My sliver candle holders doubled as extra hands while working on this project.

I placed the map on the wall, where on our large mirror used to hang before being moved into our dining room. Here's how this spot looked a few months back.

Here's how the same spot looks now in our home. I'm loving the California Wine Map looks in our living room. It's such a pretty addition! I love looking at the map at looking at other wine regions we have yet to visit in California, and thinking about future trips.

What type of Artwork do you love to have in your home? How do you save money on framing costs? 

 Click here and here for orginal artwork ideas for your home.

New Obsession

My latest obsession is Vintage Pyrex, I've been lusting after the Vintage Pyrex for quite sometime. But first a little update on my Black Friday shopping. While I didn't score those perfect mirrors very similar to the ones from Little Green Notebook { kicking myself for not snatching them up the minute I saw them } I did my score my first piece of Vintage Pyrex for $ 1.99 !! Thanks to the Black Friday deal at our local Salvation Army. I'm in love with this bowl, the detail on the side is flawless and the prettiest shade of turquoise. The bowl is called Amish Butterprint.

I checked out Ebay to see if I could score dome more Vintage Pyrex, they eBay sellers have a huge selection of Vintage Pyrex. Right now I'm really into finding the vintage mixing bowls. Here are a few sets that caught my eye.

I wish Pyrex would start making this darling bowls and bake ware sets again!! What's your newest obsession?

Holiday Cheer

I'm so excited to start decorating our home for the Holiday Season! Last year we did a little holiday decor and I made a simple white feather wreath we kept our holiday decor to a minimum. This year however, I'm all about celebrating the season! I have Three Holiday Craft Projects I want to tackle for Christmas. 

- Holiday Project One -

First I want to make a pretty outdoor wreath for our front door to greet family and friends. I really want to make a wreath that sparkles and pops against our red front door. I love have pretty green wreaths look, but plan on creating a monochromatic wreath full of detail. These wreaths from Martha Stewart Living truly inspire me

As you can see both of these wreath are so pretty and monochromatic, I adore the last wreath and love its pretty bow! The gold truly pops from the front door. Hopefully I can come up with something pretty with pop for our front door :)

- Holiday Project Two -

Along with creating a pretty wreath for our front door, I also want to make some garland for the two front windows outside & pretty garland for the inside as well. I love the snowflake garland so pretty and simple. 

I also love ribbon garland, I've made a ton in the past using wired ribbon. It came out so pretty, but the colors are all wrong for this years tree and decor. Hmm....maybe I'll be making two types of garland this year for the inside of our house.

- Holiday Project Three -

The last project I really want to tackle asap for Christmas is making my stockings for my family this year. Leave it to Martha { again } to give me so many great ideas for DIY stockings. I love the wool felt icicle stocking. So pretty and simple and perfect. 

I also like the sweater stockings perfectly charming, they look so cozy. 

Now i just need to head to the fabric store and see what I can find and maybe a nearby thrift store for gently used sweaters that can be turned into a stockings. I'm so excited about making my family stockings,  this holiday project is long overdue.

I'm so looking forward to this weekend, we will be decorating out tree and i'll be working on craft projects all weekend!! I so can't wait to share all the other things I've be up to while getting over this nasty cold bug!! 


Do you have any Holiday Craft Projects you want make this Holiday Season?

{ please note all pics all from Martha Stewart Living.com }

Goodwill Black Friday Deals

I popped into our local Goodwill on Saturday night { yup, I spend my Saturday nights shopping for deals } Mr. CLH house was with me so I considered it our mini date night! As you may remember I've been on the hunt for the perfect dresser for our 3rd bedroom, I want something similar to the dresser I scored on Craigslist { seen here } Anyways while I was there I noticed tow pretty long mirror with lots of detail, I could tell the the mirrors once were attached to a dresser. I fell in love with it, plus it was a mere $ 14 bucks, my husband on the other hand didn't care for it. Against my better judgment I didn'nt buy it! On the way out the store I saw Goodwill's Black Friday deals! Yup, Goodwill does Black Friday! The whole store will be 1/2 off! I'll be there first on Friday morning hoping no one scooped up the mirrors, there's two so the odds might be in my favor. Sadly I took no pictures, but Jenny from Little Green Notebook found a similar mirror she redid for a clients home. Here's the before, yup a basic dated looking mirror.

{ via LGN }

I love how the mirror turned out once it was painted a dark moody grey. So pretty! All the detail on the top of the mirror now looks amazing.

{ via LGN }

{ via LGN }

Most likely the mirror will be hung at the end of our hallway, I the hanging the mirror there will make the hallway look larger and hopefully bring in more night since its parallel to our front door.

Is Goodwill on your Black Friday must shop places?

Random Goodness

My mind had been all over the place lately, I'm blaming it on my nasty cold I had last week ( still have a runny nose ) Anyways I thought I;d share some random goodness. I came across the blog Good Bones Great Peaces a few months back, and I'm obsessed with this blog!! The blog features and amazing mom and daughter design duo. They always have so many design tips and ideas to share. I always look forward to seeing what they are up to. Here's a before of a little table they recently re-did. 

I so need a little side drop table for our third bedroom! I love the finished piece. Anyways if your unfamiliar with their blog, check it out stat! 

Of course the holidays have also been on my mind a lot ( mainly Christmas ) were going to upgrade our wimpy apartment Christmas tree with a pretty tall one, which has me thinking or ornaments. I wanna splurge a  little this year, I really love the these mercury glass pear ornaments from West Elm. They are just so pretty. I also saw tons of pretty ornaments at Kamrt, so i'll b e stopping there too! 

Food has been on my mind too! I watched Jamie Olivers Food Revolution TV show a couple of times are was impressed by his commitment to teach Americas simple healthy recipes. After reading a ton of reviews about his new book on Amazon.com { same name as the TV show } I'm going to buy his book. I really want to learn how to roast a chicken in a simple healthy way.

I've also been patiently waiting for Hulu to come to our Roku player. Hulu is  free online site where you can watch a ton of your favorite TV shows and old school movies. We currently watch Netflix and check out upcoming movies on Flixster via Roku. I so can't wait to watch TV shows via Hulu Plus instantly though our TV for $ 10 a month. Can we say good bye, Dish Network!! That will save us $ 30 bucks a month, we don't watch that much TV so I doubt we'll miss it. 

On my mind a lot is finding the perfect dresser for our third bedroom, because I want to buy some pretty knobs and pulls for it! I just love love Marmama knob { top }and the Urchin Test Knob { bottom } both from Anthropologie 

I hope I didn't bore you all with my random thoughts! Hopefully I'll have some pictures to share with you all Wednesday about what I've been up to!

Sick Again

Hi everyone, I mentioned a few weeks back that I was feeling under the weather. Well just when I was regaining my energy and feeling back to normal, bam I catch a cold! I'm taking the rest of the week off my blog :( to get better. I do have some great posts lined up heres some hints: Our Bedroom Projects, New Artwork and more.

{ via here }

I'll be back Monday and will be catching up on a ton of blogs over the weekend. 

Petite Seats

Over the weekend I was shopping at West Elm and bought some new bedding { more on that soon! } anyways while I was there I sat and on their petite Sutton Sofette. But I'll just call it a settee, oh how love its size its so perfect and modern. I just adore the settee, and truth be told, I've been wanting to put one in our third still unseen bedroom. Our third bedroom has a sliding glass door that lead out into our back yard, hopefully in the Spring it will be replaced with French Doors. Until I get around to cleaning out our 'junk room' sometime in the next few weeks, lets dream a little shall we?

{ via West Elm }


I also like this settee in a fun circle print, subtle yet stylish. 

{ via West Elm }

I also like the Marcel Mini Sofa from Pottery Barn, not as much as the clean lines for the West Elm settee 

{ via Pottery Barn }

Now for some further lusting, I adore how these settees look in homes. More on the feminine side as far as the shape goes. 

{ via House & Home }

{ via here }

I pretty much like the entire room below!! The tufting on the settee is divine. The blueish secretary desk is a amazing, the drapes the fabric on the chair the area rug!! Wow I just love how well the colors live together.   

{ via here }

Of course the ultimate dream would be to purchase and amazing settee off my beloved Craigslist for next to nada then have it reupholstered in amazing fabric and make then make some pretty pillows for it. Unfortunately I've been coming up empty handed on my local Craigslist. 


What piece of furniture have you been lusting after for your home?