Living Room Details-Details

I've gotten a lot of emails from lovely readers asking about our living room paint colors and where I bought our living room furnishing and decor. So I've put together a little shopping list for our living room.

Let's begin with our entry way.

Wall Paint color: Woodrow Wilson Putty, by Valspar White Shevles: Home Goods found on clearance { they once were a place green, read more about it here } Frames: Kohl's & Target. Letter: Burlington Coat Factory. Rug: Marshall's

Shopping tip: Buy frames that come with gallery style mattes which will enhance the look of your photos.

Wall Color: Woodrow Wilson Putty Valspar. Curtains: Ikea Vivan Art: 'Keep Calm' poster by esty seller Pressureless Framed in Ikea Ribba. Art: Artist Pol via Imagekind. Framed in Target frames found on clearance $ 7.99 each. Armless Chairs: Overstock, Yellow & White Pillows: Keywest fabric Silk White Pillow Covers: Restoration Hardware. Pillow Inserts: Crate & Barrel

Shopping Tip: For interesting & affordable art work check out Etsy & Imagekind.

Coffee Table: Coffee Tables Galore Side Table: Target { Clearance, $ 19.95! } Vases: Clear Glass Vase thrifted, Blue Vase Ikea, Small White Vase Crate & Barrel Large Bowl: Pier One Imports TV Stand: Wal-Mart. Flat Screen TV: Sears Owl: Ross { painted it white }

Shopping Tip: Check out Wal-Mart & Target for stylish and affordable TV Stands that resemble pricier options C&B and Pottery Barn.

Basket: Target. Large Jack: Home Goods. Framed Date: DIY Art project, Ribba Frame Ikea

Bookcase: Expedit Ikea Candle Sticks: Thrifted 

Yellow Tray: Thrifted.  Vase: Thrifted

Shopping Tip: Check out thrift stores for vases and old tray that just need a little love and updating.

Paint Wall Color: Breezy Sherwin Williams. Pillows: Target. Middle Pillow: diy. Art: diy project. Sofa: Scandinavian Designs Side Table: Target.Lamp: Pier One

Shopping tip: Buy a well made sofa that will last for years that comes with a warrant on the cushions, there's nothing worse than a sofa with flat cushions.

That sums up our living room details, hopefully I haven't left anything out. Let me know if your have any questions! What's your biggest shopping tip?

Tween Room Must Haves

While our son is at his Grandpa's house this week, Mr CLH and I have been working on a little diy building project. Hopefully it will be done soon and I can share! One hint, its a great way to add more storage and take advantage of wall space.


A couple of days ago, I came across an article on Style At Home.com { love them } all about designing a stylish tween rooms on a budget. They have some great makeover tips for parents.

Study Time


1. A desk is must in tween space, as kids adjust to increasing homework and school projects. The desk should provide plenty of storage, and a comfy chair is a must and a desk lamp.


CLH: I've been stalking Craigslsit in hopes of finding the perfect desk for him. I really wanted a great vintage desk that will grow with him as he gets older. I'm crossing my fingers that an amazing desk I spotted on CL yesterday will be mine. I spoke with the lady late last night and hopefully the desk isn't too large, she has to measure and will call me back today. Hopefully it's not bad luck to share they one I found. It's an old teachers desk, solid wood.

{ image via Craigslsit Seller }

His chair for his bedroom and desk just arrived a few days ago - its very chic and modern touch his room. I found an old school desk lamp a few months back, but might go another route and sale this one in a yard sale?

Bedroom Hues


2. Wall Color, now that your kid is older let them choose a paint color or give them a selection of paint colors you can live with to choose from.


CLH: After talking about colors with my son, he opted to go a medium dark grey. I'm so glad he went darker, the color makes his room appear larger and takes a on a more mature vibe.

Decor

3. Bedding, ditch the themey bedding ' think Hannah Montana & Sonic ' Let them make their own bedding choices, but remind them they add can more personality thought art and funky pillows, other decor items etc.


CLH: My son has had pretty neutral bedding for quote sometime { when he was three he had Clifford Bedding! Love Clifford } I bought him a comforter set from JC Penny's that had his favorite colors - red & blue. The bedding is very 'boyish' with stripes and looks great with his grey walls. I don't plan on doing the 'mathcy matchy' look and will throw in some solids into the mix

{ via JCP}

Art

4. Allow tweens to choose their own wall art. Suggest they display their own art or create their own art for their walls helping them express creatively & individuality.

CLH: Framing Tabari's art has been on my to do list for far too long, fearing custom mattes and framing prices. I'm so glad I recently discovered custom mattes are actually affordable. I plan on framing Tabari's art using stock frames { found in the cheap at thrift stores and using Micheal's coupons } We'll also go shopping for posters he wants in his room. With one condition, they have to be framed! They just look cooler & nicer that way.

I like the collage look on the wall above the bed. Old records framed look cool and make a nice headboard alternative.

{ image via Sunset }

Do you have any tips on updating a kids room into a tween space ?

Sons Tween Bedroom: The Right Hue

I mentioned a few months back that I would be re-doing my sons room taking him from adolescence into his tween years. Here's a reminder of the room plan of my sons room. I love saying the word tween makes me laugh { tween definition: a youngster between 10 and 12 years of age, considered too old to be a child and too young to be a teenager }.

With our master bedroom re-do on hold while we await fabric swatches for our headboard, I thought I start tackling his bedroom. The first thing we { Tabari & I } wanted to changed was his bedroom wall color. I made the mistake of painting his room baby blue, thinking I was painting his room a more mature blue, Wrong. The color was awful and left me defeated, and I left his room along for last year plus. I love that paint is one of the quickest ways  change the look of a room. We both agreed gray was a the perfect color to paint his room. He likes our bedroom color, but wasn't a 100% sure, so I bought a sample shade of the darker gray paint hue so he could pick.

The top paint color is Montpelier Ashlar Grey, the bottom color is Woodlawn Colonial Grey { our bedroom color} He choose the darker color.

Here's his room before we began painting with 90% prefect of his stuff removed from his bedroom. It's hard to see how awful the his bedroom color was. Since he has a small room, the blue color only empathised how small it is.

There his is playing on his Nintendo. I had to remind him recently when school starts no TV in your room! During the school year he's only allowed to watch TV during the weekends.

One plus is his room is the walk-in closet. I'll be selling his toy storage in our upcoming yard sale, and replacing it with a new storage solution that's more his age and will hold his Lego's and other toys better.

Here's his new room color now, I really love the color he choose. It's a darker gray that actually makes his room look larger. The new color is a huge improvement! In the picture below the color looks like a grey/beige. It's a grey color with beige undertones, which I prefer over greys with blue undertones.

The best part of painting his bedroom this time around, was him helping me! This is how we spent our afternoon on the 4th of July. After his room was painted, Tabari went though all his toys, stuffed animals and old furniture and decided what he waned to keep and sale. This week he'll be at his grandpa's house, and I'll be working on some mini projects for his bedroom.

What do you think of the new grey color? Have you have any paint mishaps in the past?

Dail V for Vintage

I wanted a fun phone to replace our barley used land line phone in our kitchen, I mean we never use the phone Ever. We don't even have call waiting on our house phone, so I thought a vintage phone would look cool and be fun. E-bay answered my phone wants: cute phone to sit on the counter, vintage, rotary and fun color & must able to plug into the phone jack.

I found so many great vintage phones on Ebay. When I first started looking I thought I wanted rotary wall phone. Then quickly realized we don't have much wall room in our kitchen wall once we install subway tile { in the future} . After looking though all the phones, I quickly fell in love with a the perfect vintage rotary phone.

Here's my vintage phone, its a Yellow Princess phone from the early 1970's. I absolutely love the phone and bought the phone from the parents of the original owner.

The phone was used by her daughter and sat in the hall closet for the last 25 years. It's in perfect condition, their daughter lost the original yellow cord and they replaced it with the white cord { 25 years ago } I actually like the yellow phone with the white cord. The phone dial on phone lights up at night, when it makes/receives phone calls. 

What ever angle I look at the phone I love it. Last night it was fun to teach my son how to make calls on the phone. When I was really little around 5 we lived in the country and a had an old hanging kitchen wall phone but it had bottoms. I remember my grandma & grandpa had a rotary phone, I loved playing with it.

I love the glossy look of the phone and its weight, it has a nice heavy feel to it. The coolest thing about our princess phone is the ring. It's has a vintage ring...brrring brrring.  I think our bedroom might be in need of a princess phone too! Love it!

What do you think of our new { to us } Princess Phone, isn't it darling? Are you a fan of vintage phones? or do you prefer newer more modern phones?