House Plans

   Are you thinking about building a house or want to dream about it?  Me, too!!!  Then check out these house plans!  Better Homes & Gardens has a "Find Your Dream House Plan" that's fun to browse.  You can order the plans, take to a local home builder, and in about 4 months you have a move-in ready home that's totally customized by you!  You can head over to Pinterest to gather ideas for your new-build!
   I've been obsessed with Pinterest ever since I joined, which (to those few who may NOT actually know) is an electronic pin-board.  I use it mainly for interior design/home decor inspiration, recipes (most of which I will never ever get around to making), and traveling ideas.  So check it out and let your creative juices flow!

London Calling!

Sitting here in this gloomy snowy weather makes me think of London (considering most of the weather there is pretty gloomy).  Granted, Londoners get rain and I'm looking at snow...but tomato, tomahto.  So I'm posting pictures of some of the gorgeous London architecture for some Friday inspiration!  In case you're wondering, I traveled to London in the summer of 2011.  Hard to believe it's been nearly two years!  This makes me want to go back, and just travel in general to go & see someplace new.

 The Abbey in Bury St. Edmunds

 Look at that beautiful ceiling tile! (A little blurry--sorry)

 Arched columns and beautiful ceiling

 The crooked houses of Lavenham

 Cambridge

 Cambridge

 Cambridge & The River Cam

 Wellington Arch, London

 Kensington Park, London

 Part of The Tower of London

 Tower Bridge

 Westminster Abbey -- where Will & Kate got married!!  Such a gorgeous church!

 Westminster Palace (Parliament & Big Ben)

 The Abbey in Bury St. Edmunds

 Buckingham Palace I know you all know this! :)

 Part of Dover Castle & The English Channel

Look up, look down

   Spring is quickly approaching us, and peoples' mindset is spring-cleaning and refreshing their homes.  And, as I'm sitting here trying to figure out about what to blog, I remembered an issue of ajchomefinder from February 19, 2012.  Even though the story is a year old, the information is still current.  The cover story, "From bottom to top," talks about ways to re-vamp your home by zeroing in on the ceiling and the floor.  Often, these two are the most overlooked aspects of a room or house. 
   New flooring can re-energize a space and add re-sale value.  Laminate floor is OUT!  What's in?  Dark!  Darker stained hand-scraped wide-plank (think 5") hardwoods (solid & engineered), LVT, tile, patterned carpet, and plush (texture/cut) carpet.  When it comes to tile, bigger is better.  18x18, 12x24, & 24x24 offer a more updated and modern look.  And guess what??  Bigger tiles can make a room look bigger!  Shocking, right??  The longer lines push your eyes out.  It is a HUGE misconception that you can only have big tiles in a big room and small tiles in a small room.  Now, you do have to pay attention to scale and proportion.  For floor color, the trend is darker, for all materials.  (I love darker woods with white trim work)  Look for darker tiles, luxury vinyl tiles, and wood-look luxury vinyl planks.  For carpet, we're seeing more patterns and solid color textures.
    Think of the ceiling as a 5th wall.  Don't be afraid to paint it.  Go dark to add a cozy feeling, or go light to brighten it up.  Use the wall color on the ceiling so your eyes travel upwards & extend the space.  Try adding some shine with a lacquer or glossy paint.  Maybe that sleek shine isn't your style.  Maybe you don't want a white ceiling, but you want a little something up there with color.  Take your wall color & add a little bit at a time to white paint until you achieve the color you're after.  Maybe you want a little action going on up there.  Try wallpaper.  Whether it's dramatic, subtle, or textured, it's sure to zap some life into your space!  Add some great texture with a paneled ceiling, either painted, stained, or left it's natural color and sealed.  The above picture is from Two Story Cottage, and I found it through Pinterest.  The picture below is from Armstrong.

Parade of Homes

Hi all!  The hubby and I just back from the VHBA Parade of Homes.  I did take quite a few pictures and was able to talk to a couple of builders.  A lot of earth tones still out there; a little bit of black, and more grey than I was expecting.  Which is very refreshing.  The last house I walked through had the grey color scheme going on.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in that house, but I will describe it to you.  White kitchen cabinets and trim, grey granite with black veining and a little bit of reddish-purple.  The hand-scraped hardwood floors were HGTV by Shaw, and had some grey in the brown Hickory stain.  The carpeting on the stairs was a pattern, which is very popular in the carpeting industry, but a lot of people are afraid of patterns.  (These pictures may be a little out of order, and the interior shots may not be right under the house from which they came.)

 This house had such beautiful woodwork!

 This house (above) contains the mast bath pictured below.

Dark cabinets!  Love the contrast from the marble-look laminate counter tops.

 This shower has tile on the ceiling.  I think this is the first time I've seen this.

 This is very contemporary with the black vessel sink.

 Lower lever bar.

 My favorite room in the house: a sunroom off of the great room.

 Such a cool backsplash!  See?  Geometrics are in!

 I love this patterned carpet!  It's fun, contemporary, still somewhat subtle, and totally livable!!

 Looks like tile, but it's not!  It's LVT (luxury vinyl tile), and it's softer & warmer!  This is Armstrong Alterna.  LVT is one of the hottest flooring materials today!

I love walking through new construction houses and seeing what finishes are being used!

Choosing colors because of your Zodiac sign?

I came across this, and thought it was fun & light-hearted that I just had to share.

Decorating with Astrology from HGTV

The article recommends colors with which to decorate based on one's Zodiac sign.  These are not hard and fast color choices, but just some suggestions.  (It's hard to tell whether Zodiac personalities are always exact or more like generalizations.)  And if you don't like the colors chosen because of your sign, no worries!  Pick another sign, ha ha, or just go with the colors you like.  Or look to your closet for inspiration.

DIY & Simple Switch-outs

So, after my last post, I got to thinking.  I could write about what's trendy for days!  Maybe even weeks!  So where to start?  How about home accents, a little DIY, and simple switch-outs.  Metal finishes are still popular, but it's gold metal finishes that are taking the lead!  We all know metal finishes add sleekness, shine, and a contemporary vibe to any room, but it's the golds that add richness and warmth.  I know some people don't like the gold, while others don't like the silver.  So try switching a silver out for his gold counter-part.  It could be a lamp base, drawer pulls, trays, vases, frames, drapery rods; I'm sure the list goes on.  I've been thinking about spray painting a floor lamp base to gold.  Right now it's silver colored, but it looks like nickel's ugly cousin.  It's got that cheap dorm-room finish.  But I bought the lamp because it was inexpensive & it was silver to match my much-nicer-looking nickel finished table lamp bases.

This is said lamp.  I still haven't decided whether to paint the base or not.  The reason why I had thought about it is because of the lamp shade I painted.  Yes, I painted that!!  Cute, right??  I love how it turned out!!!  There were two colors in the running, and I couldn't pick: coral or emerald green, like the 2013 Pantone Color of the Year.  So, while in the acrylic paint aisle at Hobby Lobby, I bought both.  But once I got home, my "coral," which looked exactly like the coral I had envisioned, was pink, much to my dismay (even though it's called Peony Pink).  Everyone knows lighting plays A HUGE FACTOR in determining color.  Long story short(er), I didn't want to go through that again, and decided to do the multicolored chevron.  But, I just KNEW in my heart and my head that a gold base would look super sexy & sleek with a coral chevron stripe!  And that's probably because it's a warm color paired with a warm metal finish.

 

So the lamp shade combines the DIY aspect & simple switch-out (not to mention that chevron stripes are super trendy right now).  The lamp shade was your standard basic white that came with the base.  I must admit, I did not come up with the idea myself.  So, adhering to blog etiquette, here is the link to Pomp & Circumstance Blog, where I found it.  I found it through Pinterest, and that led me to her blog post.  Other popular prints that are hot now (some in the fashion industry, too) are Ikat, trellis, and other global/tribal patterns, animal print, geometric, & modern floral prints.  An easy way to introduce them to your space is through fabric.  Toss some pillows on your furniture or frame some fabric pieces in fun color-coordinating frames.  Invest in an area rug to throw some pops of color down on your floor.  And yes, you can add a rug on the carpet.

     

These three I found on the Hobby Lobby website. 

      

These three are from Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Hope this gives you some courage to try some DIY or simple switch-outs!