Friday Find: Lady Jayne Office-To-Go Totes and Giveaway

As a busy mom, school volunteer and design/organization consultant my schedule changes daily. To keep organized while on the go, I love these chic Busy Totes by Lady Jayne. The compact tote comes in stylish prints to suit your personality. It includes three coordinating file folders and a note pad to keep you beautifully organized.

One lucky Simplified Bee reader will win a Busy Tote courtesy of Lady Jayne. I would pick pink & preppy white houndstooth - Lilyanne pattern. What about you?

Here's how to enter Simplified Bee's Lady Jayne Busy Tote giveaway:

• Leave a comment & let me know which tote you'd prefer (include email and pattern subject to availability).
• Extra Entry - become a new Follower of Simplified Bee™ Blog (by adding yourself to the follower group on the sidebar) or follow Simplified Bee on Twitter.
• Extra Entry - mention this giveaway in a post or tweet and leave a comment letting me know you've done so.
• Please post a separate comment for each extra entry.
• Entry period closes at midnight PST, Friday, March 5, 2010 and the winner will be announced Monday, March 8, 2010.

*Note: The winner will be drawn randomly using Random.org, notified directly via email and listed back at this post using first name only.

Lady Jayne paper goods and gifts are available online at Traylor Papers.

Good luck and happy organizing!

Design Tips For Styling a Living Room

Recently, Canadian House & Home published a great blog article, Styling a Room by Michael Penney. I completely agree with Penney; It's the layers that make a room and pull it all together visually. In the before photo above, the living room has some nice design elements, but is unbalanced, uninviting and lacks a focal point.

The after photo below (via Country Living), shows what a little styling can do. As Penney points out, a few design elements haven't change including the sofa, wing chair and wall color. Here are some principles and elements of design that come to play in this redesign:

Define the Space
The most obvious addition in the room is the striped area rug. In addition to anchoring the furnishings and defining the space, it also brings needed texture to the space. When purchasing a rug, it is important to find one that is large enough so that all your furniture fits (it's okay if the back half of a chair or sofa are not on the rug, but the front half should).

Establish a Focal Point
New drapes, parallel furniture arrangement and artwork in a vertical pattern emphasizes the room's architectural window and creates a needed focal point in the room. However, I would have added the same drapes to the adjacent window for a more balanced look. This leads me to my next tip;

Create Balance Through Scale and Proportion
The original room also had too much visual weight or mass. In the styled room, one wing chair is replaced with a lighter Windsor chair. Mixing materials can also help balance a room. In this case a metal coffee table takes the place of a wooden one (too many wood elements in the before room). Equilibrium is also achieved by the parallel furniture grouping.

Build Color Harmony
Pulling from the room's wall color, solid yellow and green throw pillows are added to the sofa creating a more harmonious color palette. However, I would recommend at least one textile print for a pillow, window treatment or chair that pulls all of the primary colors in room's palette together. Galbraith & Paul's Donuts pattern in warm would be a good choice for this living room.

What elements of design helped you pull together a space?

Easter and Springtime Decorating Ideas

Springtime blossoms and sunshine are just around the corner. Many will be celebrating the joys of Easter by hunting for eggs and hosting a Sunday brunch with family and friends. Here are some festive decorating ideas to help you welcome Spring and the Easter holiday in style.

This is an easy, inexpensive way to dress up a woven basket with silk flowers and leaves. Just need a hot-glue gun for this project by Martha Stewart.

Fill those darling Easter baskets with decoupage eggs. It is a fun way to create keepsake eggs without having to be an artist. Simply cut small images from magazines, scrapbooking supplies or old greeting cards. You can also download some here.

These vintage Easter images are available on Etsy for only $2.75 and would also be adoable on eggs.

These eggs are slip-cast from pure white clay in the same dimensions and smooth texture as a real egg, making it quite the little piece of "trompe-l'œil." Each is hand stamped in black ink with the word, phrase or text of your choice. Another great option to help fill your Easter baskets. Available at Paloma's Nest on Etsy.

These darling farm animals from Williams-Sonoma are fudgy brownies in a white chocolate shell. Perfect addition for your Easter baskets.

An Easter tree is a delightful way to decorate a buffet, console or dining table this Spring. The branches of this tree by Martha Stewart features egg and carrot ornaments hanging from loops of silver thread, as well as pipe cleaner baskets filled with Easter goodies. Learn how to make it here.

These DIY sweet blown egg bluebird, bee and dove ornaments would also look darling tied to a small potted tree or bare branch. Here's how to make these decorative eggs with wings.

Can't seem to find the time to DIY? Pottery Barn Kids has an adorable Easter tree and sweet egg ornaments featuring classic scenes from Beatrix Potter's Tale of Peter Rabbit™.

This beautiful cotton/linen tablecloth features an intricate Jacquard pattern of woodland bunnies, leafy vines and blooming flowers. It's vibrant green would work well with almost any springtime color palette. Available at Williams-Sonoma.

Show off your beautifully decorated Easter eggs in these antiqued tin rabbit egg cups. Perfect to add to a tablescape for Easter Sunday brunch.

These hand-painted ceramic carrot dishes would add a bit of whimsy to your table setting. Perfect to hold jelly beans, condiments or use as place markers for an Easter brunch. Available at Gumps.

The personalized Beatrix Potter™ chair backer by Pottery Barn Kids is a festive way to store Easter surprises, decorate the Easter table and let everyone know where they are sitting.
 

Are you ready for Spring?

*first image courtesy of Country Living

Many Thanks for the Blog Awards

This is long overdue! Simplified Bee has received some very sweet blog awards. First, Nikki {most-talented calligrapher and paper designer} at Lovely Scribbles gave me the "Kreativ Blogger" award. Then the lovely gals at Chic Coles {very stylish design blog} nominated me for "The Fabulous Sugar Doll Blogger Award." Many thanks ladies! I am honored.

Now it's my turn to say a few things about myself {gulp}. So, here are eight things you might not know about me:

1. Growing up, my family had Standard Poodles - mostly black, but one white called Bodie {named after a ghost town in California}. This photo is not of Bodie, but looks just like him! Photo source.

2. In the morning I enjoy drinking a cup of loose leaf English Breakfast tea with milk {organic}. Lovely photo from stylist, Selina Lake.

3. Recently I read the Twilight series and have seen the movies {yes, I am a Mom-pire}. Team Edward.

4. My favorite TV show at the moment is GLee. Defying Gravity was my favorite song from last season.

5. Before launching my home organization and design business, I was a high tech marketing professional and specialized in event planning for years. {presently living the dream} Photo credit here.

6. I am obsessed with designer furniture, textiles and accessories {okay this one you may have already known}. This gorgeous bedroom was created by one of my favorite designers, Kelly Wearstler.

7. Lake Tahoe, Nevada will always be home. {great place to visit anytime of the year!}

8. Friends, Family and Faith - what life's all about.

Now here comes the hard part of selecting other blogs for these sweet little awards {so many wonderful blogs out there!}. Here it goes:

Style Files

Deliciously Organized

Design Esquire

Everything LEB

Caitlin Creer Interiors

Laura Casey Interiors

Velvet & Linen

Things That Inspire

Please feel free to pass along and many thanks for continuing to inspire me.

xo,

Friday Find: Tribal Chic Kilim Storage Cubes

These tribal chic "Kilim" cubes not only look great, but provide extra storage and seating. A matching pair would make a great addition to your living area and could serve as a coffee table, sidetable or tucked under a console. Printed in a red or brown Southwestern jute fabric, these cubes are available in 18" square or 16" square. The larger cube has brass nailhead trim and a hinged opening for storage. Available at Horchow.

Do you like this look?

San Francisco Indochine Style: Leslie Lundgren Design

San Francisco Peninsula-based interior designer, Leslie Lundgren worked hand-in-hand with her San Francisco client who has both French and Vietnamese ties to create a look delicately blending the two. The result is a stunning, sunlit Pacific Heights flat in a luxurious "Indochine" style. Furnishings and decorative items were either family heirlooms, picked up on travels aboard or in San Francisco's China Town.

Lundgren used a traditional French palette of vivid yellow, jade green and coral red. Here in the living room, the walls are painted in Benjamin Moore Dalila 319. Two antique Louis XV armchairs in jade green mohair are placed in front of an antique Italian desk with exquisite marquetry. Atop the desk sits a sweet antique French mantle clock. A large Louis Philippe walnut armoire makes a beautiful backdrop.

Opposite the Louis XV chairs Lundgren places loveseat sofas in a warm coral velour fabric by Clarence House. Throw pillows in an Italian "fortuny-esque" fabric adorn the sofas. The floor to ceiling drapery fabric and silk tassels were purchased at Bouchara in Paris. A Chinese red lacquer trunk is converted into a coffee table and stands over a gorgeous silk and wool Chinese art deco rug. A beautiful French 1940's wheat motif brass floor lamp is placed in the corner next to the sofa. The focal point of the room however, a large scale Chinese ancestor painting, is a family heirloom.

In the dining-family room, a limed-oak pedestal table is surrounded by reproduction Louis XV chairs. The worldly tablescape includes an Argentinean silver pitcher, Point a La Ligne candles and a 1970's green vase made by a family friend. A collection of blue and white Delft plates are mounted on the wall.

In the family room, Lundgren brilliantly mixes color, texture and old & new by placing a zebra rug from Cost Plus World Market at the foot of a Chinese moon face traditional red lacquer armoire.

Lundgren creates a delightful bedroom retreat with a beautiful canopy over the bed in English Chintz fabrics. Fresh sunflowers and a green Tole Lamp add just the right decor to the red bedside table.

Lundgren's sophisticated East meets West style is evident in this design and perfect for the culturally rich city by the bay.

Leslie Lundgren Design * leslie@maisonmondiale.com

I don't know about you, but I'm still drooling over those antique Louis XV armchairs in jade green mohair!

*photos courtesy of Leslie Lundgren Design

President's Day and Michael S. Smith Interior Design

Last year President Obama and the First Lady selected Santa-Monica-based Michael S. Smith to transform the private quarters of the White House. Michelle Obama said, "Michael shares my vision for creating a family-friendly feel to our new home and incorporating some new perspectives from some of America's greatest artists and designers."

Over his distinguished career, Smith has designed homes for Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Cindy Crawford and his work has been showcased in two best-selling books from Rizzoli Publishing; 'Elements of Style' (2007) and 'Houses' (2008). His style has been characterized as a blend of “European tradition and American modernism.” In celebration of President's Day and Smith's appointment to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, here are some beautiful images from his portfolio.

Happy President's Day!

*images courtesy of Michael S. Smith

Friday Find: Galbraith & Paul 2010 Spring Collection

It's no secret, I love Galbraith and Paul textiles {see a former post here}. Each pattern is hand block printed in their studio on a variety of ground cloths including Shantung Silk, Cotton/Rayon Velvet, and five different linens. They print to order, so color substitutions and custom colors are possible.

Recently Galbraith and Paul released their new 2010 Spring Collection. It includes Seville Medallion, Seville Tile and Small Star textile patterns rich in texture and color. The color palettes are earthy and range from shades of blue, green, yellow, orange, red and gray.

My favorite color combination is their Seville Tile in China Blue/Midnight, Seville Medallion in China Blue and Small Star in Midnight {shown above left to right}. Wouldn't this look amazing in a bedroom or living room?