George Nelson Block Clock!

It's up... and isn't it beautiful? I think we really made the right choice- we love that it's stylish & bold but still somewhat understated.

CSN Stores was, as usual, awesome to work with (you can read the original post for the review here)! I used their price-matching system & couldn't have had an easier, faster, more painless experience. Plus- their customer service rep I dealt with was great too! I was really surprised with how fast it shipped (a week before they expected!). When the clock came, it was packaged really well- surrounded in fitted styrofoam. I'm always concerned about packaging (I've gotten some pretty beat up boxes in my time), and it's such a relief to open a box and see that the store cares as much about extra care that I do (or maybe they're as untrusting of the shipping companies as I am).

The clock itself is everything I hoped it'd be! The size is perfect- it's small enough to incorporate flawlessly into our picture wall, but unusual enough to still hold its own as a focal point. The colors are swell too- muted enough to work well in almost any decor I think! I'm always worried about clocks running slow (we have one elsewhere that does this all the time)- but the block clock hasn't shown any signs of that yet! It's slick, stylish, and efficient- just lovely! Overall, the whole experience was great- everything from making a choice on what to get (so many options!) to the ordering & actual product. Just look at how great it looks up on that wall- that alone ought to say it all! :)

DISCLAIMER: I received this product greatly discounted. The opinions, descriptions, and thoughts presented in this and related posts are entirely my own, and I received no other compensation.

The Formerly Blue Desk

One of my favorite pieces of furniture is a vintage (formerly) blue desk that came from my great-grandfather's farmhouse. My mom & I had always planned on refinishing it- the faded teal had been peeling and chipping more and more the past few years, but I just now got around to freshening it up!

We painted it a nice glossy white with chartreuse rings around the knobs. Nothing too fancy, but it's the perfect little punch of color & brightness we needed! :P Moral of the story: don't be afraid to make your furniture work for you. As long as your piece doesn't have major material value, go for it!! I feel like I've added a new layer (our layer) to the history of this piece- making it our own but not forgetting the layers of paint below...

As you can see, the little stool got a bright blue coat of paint on the seat too. We're really happy with how the room is coming together, and that floor is the only thing left to go! More to come...

Pelmet Boxes

I absolutely love the pelmet boxes I made for the bedroom! To make them, I followed Jenny's basic tutorial here. I highly recommend it- quick, easy, and a great way to punch up your windows!

That pop of color & pattern gets me every time; isn't the fabric super-cute? It's Melissa Bombardiere's Belbird Design (hand screen printed by her in Australia)! I fell for it as soon as I saw it, and while it was originally intended to upholster side-chairs, I wanted it in a higher profile place. Melissa's fabrics are all so wonderful! Her patterns are full of bold juicy color in slick, retro designs- you can check out her shop here.

Warm Weather Bedding

No doubt about it- summer is here! Now that we don't live in Texas, we've been doing our best to keep the AC off whenever possible. It's quite nice to sleep with the windows open at night, but our duvet/comforters are just too hot (even the light one)! So, we went out & snatched up this chic, light quilt from Dwell Studio for Target...

Love it!! It's the perfect weight, looks great, and it's super-soft. We tried to find a simple white quilt (I love all-white bedding in this room), but the ones we found were more than we wanted to spend or looked cheaper... so color & pattern it was!

*Pouf!*

I totally took up the DIY pouf tutorial over on Design*Sponge...

After a long, miserable struggle with the sewing machine, I'm really happy with it! The pups seem to like it too, and even the Booman has been 'recovering' on it (much to the dogs' dismay).

I really recommend this tutorial, if you're considering it. It wasn't difficult at all & is a great, fun little way to add a pop of color! Here's hoping I can just keep the dogs from chewing off those buttons! ;)

Technicolor Sheep!

Perhaps my favorite part of our bedroom is now complete:

The sheep are back... in full color! And since I'm a big fan of humor in decor, I fully approve of their antics. Here's a before & after to see how they transformed:

I did love the 'before' bedroom scheme, but it was just way too dull during winter- we needed some color... and color we got! I do prefer the white lamp in the before, but it's currently found a home downstairs. You can also see some sneak peaks in this pic of other new bedroom additions... more on those to come! :D