6.29.2011

Design Blogger Series #7: What Would You Do?

For the seventh  Design Blogger Series: What Would You Do?,  I invited four very talented interior design bloggers. As you will see, they have very different personal styles which I think makes this series so fun.

Andrika King from Nursery Notations, Rashon Carraway of Mr. Goodwill Hunting, Danika Herrick from Gorgeous Shiny Things and Will Taylor of Bright.Bazaar were asked to design a space around Beeline Home’s Hourglass Table by Bunny Williams.bunny williams hourglass table beeline home

The stunning, timeless table features a marble octagonal top on a pedestal base of hand applied reeded wood in silver leaf. It’s a statement piece in any space.

nursery notations inspiration board design girl
{Andrika King from Nursery Notations}
“I'm a proponent of purchasing items for your children's rooms which are quality items and will grow with you and the child through time. Although the Bunny Williams hourglass table is not practical for a toddler room it makes a wonderful side table with plenty of table space beside a nursing chair in a nursery.  I paired the table next to a quality timeless chair design by George Smith in a bold graphic pattern.  Since the chair and the opaque rug by Custom Cool have bold patterns and color I chose white furniture with clean straight lines.  The dresser from Bunglow 5 is the perfect height for a changing table and offers plenty of storage and can transfer to any room of the house. The decorative insert panels of the classic Savannah crib by the New Traditionalists would be painted fuchsia to play off the fuchsia in the chair.  Since there is such a collection of pattern and design in the furniture, lighting and accessories in the room, for bedding I would suggest simple white 100% cotton or linen sheets.  No decorative skirt or bumper needed. As for the walls, paint them a soft white, and if you need some color, the ceiling in a barely there turquoise would be gorgeous. Thank you for having me!” – Andrika

* Simplified Bee’s favorite thing about Andrika’s design: Thrilled she designed a nursery around the hourglass table and love the mix or bold pattern, oh and the Savannah crib with custom panels in fuchsia too!

mr goodwill hunting design seating room
{Rashon Carraway of Mr. Goodwill Hunting}
“Bunny Williams's hourglass table is the perfect spot for a casual yet refined afternoon of chatting. I paired the table with cool blues {chairs, painting} and a hit of red {chevron pillows} to prevent the area from being one note. There is no need to sit at a table and not have yummy treats, so a nice soft batch of orange vanilla spice cookies from Sweet Ambs seals the deal. Care to join me?” – Rashon

* Simplified Bee’s favorite thing about Rashon’s design: The fun pop of color and pattern in the pillows and those gorgeous cookies! First designer to include food into their design… Rashon is always thinking out of the box – love it!

gorgeous shiny things blog design reading nook
{Danika Herrick from Gorgeous Shiny Things}
“Thanks so much for inviting me to participate! I had so many ideas for this table. To narrow it down I pretended it was going into my own house. I decided to create a reading nook... a place to unwind, catch up on my ever growing stack of shelter magazines and maybe a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. I choose the table in the gold base to add a bit more warmth and added Restoration's Copenhagen Chair in Natural Linen. I would use the blue vintage wallpaper framed in large panels as artwork. I added a Boucherouite rug, orange lamp, and a patchwork pillow to amp up the color. And finally, I loved the round Kansai bookshelf from Anthropologie. It could store all my reads, neatly organized using chunky quarts bookends to add that extra glam factor, AND it acts as a room divider/ partition to create my nook.” – Danika

* Simplified Bee’s favorite thing about Danika’s design: Her use of bold color, pattern and texture – love the unexpected round bookshelf!

I saved prop stylist, Will Taylor of Bright.Bazaar, for last because he has amazing graphic design skills and put together a very stylish board. Typically, designers send me their product links and I create the boards so that they have a similar look and feel. In this case, I loved what Will put together and didn’t want to touch it…
bright bazaar design beeline home hourglass table
{Will Taylor’s product links: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight}
Will has created a colorful and vibrant scheme to go with Bunny William's Hourglass Table. Jonathan Adler's Ravello mirror has been chosen to add interest to the wall, whilst a lamp from the same range links to tabletop to the wall space above it. Joining the lamp upon the table is this trio of vases from Habitat, which were chosen as they call upon the textures and colorways within the rug. Finally, the Claude Walnut Gossip bench sits alongside the table as it serves both style and function: keep the tabletop clear by filling the doors, and admire the accessories upon it from the color-matched turquoise seat!

* Simplified Bee’s favorite thing about Will’s design: I love turquoise and so my eye was drawn to the mirror and lamp immediately, but I love how the striped rug pulls the color scheme.

Don’t you just love what these designers have created? One common thread in these designs is the use of the hue of blue; They all selected a shade of blue as part of the color palette. They also all selected fabulous seating options. What similarities or differences do see?

Also, a big thank you to Andrika, Rashon, Danika and Will for participating in this series!

xo,

6.26.2011

Sneak Peek at West Elm Fall 2011

west elm fall 2011 favorites
Okay, I know summer is just starting, but thought you’d like to see what is in store for us at West Elm this fall. Loving the global inspiration, indigo tones and focus on natural materials.

west elm blue white pottery fall 2011
West Elm Indian Coffee Table wooden fall 2011

“This season, we’re expanding two ideas that bring the most exceptional and distinctive aspects of our globe-trotting aesthetic to our customers. Our unique Discovered pieces are  one-of-a-kind objects of desire found in our global travels while our small-batch Limited Edition items are rare and unusual pieces from around the world that have been crafted exclusively for us.” 
– West Elm

west elm fall pillow collection 2011west elm fall art collection 2011
Some items have already hit the store’s floor. The entire collection however, will be available July 19, 2011.

What do you think?

6.24.2011

Buzzing Bees… Stella & Dot Jewelry Giveaway!

stella and dot bee necklace giveaway
A Simplified Bee reader and new Stella & Dot stylist, Crissy wrote me a few weeks back asking if I’d be interested in giveaway this bee necklace. How could I pass up the opportunity to give away such a darling necklace? Thanks Crissy!

stella and dot giveaway
I’m also loving Stella & Dot’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection. Some of my favorites are above.


Here’s how to enter to win the Pave Bee Pendant Necklace:
• Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Stella & Dot item is. {provide your email if I don't have a way to contact you}.
• Extra Entry - become a new follower of Simplified Bee's Blog, Twitter or Facebook Page.
• Extra Entry – become a follower of Crissy’s Twitter or Facebook page.
• Extra Entry – mention this giveaway in a blog post, FB link or tweet, then leave a comment letting me know.
• Please post a separate comment for each extra entry.
• Entry period closes at 9 pm PST on Friday, July 1, 2011. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.


Happy Friday & good luck!

6.22.2011

Stylish & Organized Linen Closet–Before & After

stylishly organized linen closet
Over a long holiday weekend this spring, one of our big organizing projects was to purge and stylishly rearrange the linen closet. I typically do this kind of work for clients, but this time it was my turn!

Although the closet didn't look up to my standards, it functioned fine. I think this is one reason why it took us so long to get to it.

linen closet before
As I mentioned, our “before” closet was functional, but needed a coordinated look. So out came all the items. The shelf liners were removed and the shelves were painted a crisp white. To add a punch of color we painted the back wall a fresh green  that coordinated with a trio of canvas striped bins we already had.

organized linen closet stylish simple
While my husband was painting, I organized all the supplies into groups and then housed the items staying in the closet into bins or baskets. Each basket received a labeled tag and were arranged on the shelves based on how frequently they were used. We had most of the supplies for this project. I only needed to purchase the top three bins and for those I selected a solid beige canvas so that it didn't compete with the stripe, but was a different texture than the baskets.

We are much happier with the way the our linen closet looks today!


Organizing your clothing closet? 
Here are some tips on making your closet functional and beautiful.


Happy organizing!

6.20.2011

Laila Ali’s Designer Nursery Room for Baby Girl

As seen on Project Nursery, Little Crown Interiors recently completed a beautiful nursery designed for celebrity Mommy, Laila Ali. The sweet “Hope” crib by Newport Cottages takes center stage in this pink and aqua nursery.

Pink Hope Crib Newport Cottages Baby
Above the crib, hangs a large stretched canvas photo of Muhammad Ali holding his infant daughter Laila. Flanking the artwork are petite mirrors by Pottery Barn Kids.

sweet damask fabric blue green pink
The sweet crib bedding was custom made using exquisite Love Bird Damask print in shades of soft pinks and mist blue by Carousel Designs .

celebrity nursery room for baby girl
A custom, stylish and down right functional nursery rocker and cube ottoman are tucked into the room’s corner. In bubblegum pink, a changing table by Newport Cottages is centered between dreamy floor length puddle drapes in white.

wooden wall monogram nailhead detail
A studded monogram by Little Crown Interiors also hangs in the nursery and adds another personal touch to the space.

chandelier ceiling medalion nursery room
If the nursery wasn’t sweet enough, the gals at Little Crown Interiors finished off the room with a gorgeous chandelier.


For more nursery room inspiration, please visit baby boy nursery rooms, gender neutral nursery rooms, or baby girl nursery rooms.

6.19.2011

Happy Father’s Day

cb2011
fathers day quote dad

Happy Father’s Day!

xo,

6.17.2011

Friday Find: Chic Trash Cans from Waterworks

chic trash cans from waterworks
There are certain products that are essential to keeping a house tidy. The waste can is one such item. In addition to being highly functional, trash cans can be very stylish. Here are a few examples of beautiful waste cans from Waterworks… almost too pretty for trash!

If you are looking for more trash can inspiration and options, you are in luck. This month I started as a contributor at Houzz, a community of home design enthusiasts from around the world. They have asked several bloggers to curate products and create ideabooks. My latest ideabook is a Wastebasket Round-up. {smile}


Also, I am happy to announce that prov3130grl was the winner of the Bon Ami Green Cleaning Kit giveaway. Congrats!

Enjoy your weekend!

6.15.2011

Our Backyard Chicken Coop

baby chicks yellow brown
Back in August of 2010, I wrote an article on Keeping Backyard Chickens and discussed the idea of our family raising backyard chickens. Well this spring, we brought home two baby chicks that were hatched at the kids’ school. Their names are Fluffy and Chipmunk. It’s likely that Chipmunk is a hen, but not sure about Fluffy.

For weeks they lived in a small box in our home. At about nine weeks {when fully feathered}, the chicks out-grew their box and moved outside to their new coop.

doc woody diamond deuce
Originally my husband wanted to make the coop from scratch. Knowing how much time he has one his hands {wink}, I encouraged him to drop by a nearby feed store. He came home with a chicken coop designed by Doc Woody that only needed to be assembled. {smile}

doc woody text
This Doc Woody guy knows his poultry and we got a smile from his bio on the back of the box.

backyard chicken coop small
Here is the coop built and in our backyard. We hope it is secure enough to keep the raccoons out.

backyard chicken coop doc woody
The large galvanized barrel houses the birds’ water. We still need to hang it.

backyard chickens in coop
Here are our happy chickens in their new coop! We are crossing our fingers for some eggs in a few months.


Any advice on keeping backyard chickens is welcome!


6.13.2011

Interior Design Tips for Maximizing a Small Living Space

I'm thrilled to announce that Michaela of Michaela Noelle Designs and an interior design student will be a summer contributor here at Simplified Bee. Earlier this year she wrote a great article on Color Psychology in Interior Design. Today, she will be giving us design tips for small spaces. Thanks Michaela!




I'm so excited to be here sharing on Simplified Bee today. I adore Cristin- we had the chance to meet a few months ago and she really is such an inspiration to me.  Today, she's asked me to share my take on easy ways to maximize a small space.  This past school year I lived in a very tiny apartment, and while I couldn't make any serious changes because the apartments were owned by the school, I sure spent plenty of hours thinking about what I'd do if I could!  That's just how the designer brain works...always thinking of how to improve a space (: 

Let's dive in!


Top Ways to Maximize Your Small Space:

1. Lighter is Brighter.  Soft, neutral colored walls always makes a space appear larger.  While an accent wall here or there is a great idea, darker colors tend to impose on a space, making it feel smaller.  Some smart color choices would be light blue, beige, light gray or a pale yellow.  Add brighter colors in smaller doses like pillows, curtains and art work, if you wish.

Young House Love

House Beautiful

2.  Consistency.  Having a uniform floor running throughout your small space is a way to trick the eye into thinking the space is longer or wider.

Apartment Therapy

3. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.  Hanging mirrors is a great way to visually maximize space, as it reflects light and enlarges the depth of perception.

Danielle Oakey Interiors

4. Let There be Light.  Smart lighting choices found in fun pendants, chandeliers and other ambient lighting will help keep the space light and bright, thus making it feel nice and spacious.

House Beautiful

5.  Tuck it Away.  Perhaps the most important way to keep your space feeling larger than it is, would be storage.  There are so many creative ways to keep your clutter out of sight.  Vertical storage in bookcases is a great space saver.  It's also a fun way to add personality- decorating your bookshelves.  Other storage options include ottomans, buffet tables for your eating space, or a dresser for your entry table.  If you don't have a linen closet, a dresser is a great option! No one has to know what's in those drawers (:

Apartment Therapy

Pinterest

With some of these tips implemented into a small home or apartment, you're bound to fool your guests when the guess your square footage. Hope these helped! Thanks again for having me, Cristin!


xoxo,

Photobucket

6.11.2011

San Francisco Design Blogger Meet-Up–July 21

San Francisco Design Blogger Meet-Up July 2011
It’s high-time we all meet-up! If you’re a design blogger and live in the San Francisco Bay Area {or will be in the area}, we’d love for you to join us at Closet Innovations in the San Francisco Design Center on July 21st. 


Feel free to spread the word! Also, space is limited, so please RSVP soon to showroom.idg@gmail.com. 


Hope to see you there!

6.10.2011

Friday Find: Recycled Leather Notebooks

recycled leather notebooks colorful
I’ve been on the lookout for a simple notebook for work and I found it! Made from recycled paper and leather, these notebooks from Kate’s Paperie come is a rainbow of yummy colors. I am leaning toward Tangello for summer. What color would you pick?



6.08.2011

Green Cleaning Kit Giveaway from Bon Ami

Although spring cleaning projects are coming to an end, routine cleaning is a year around task. When cleaning my house, I use products that are nontoxic, natural and contain simple ingredients.

simple natural cleaning ingrediants bon ami
Bon Ami is one of those products. I’ve been using Bon Ami’s Powder Cleanser for some time and love the results. So when Bon Ami asked if I would like to try out some of their newer products, I was thrilled.

bon ami cleaning kit giveaway
One of the products I tested was a “cleaning cake.” It was released in a limited edition to celebrate Bon Ami’s 125thanniversary. I love this product! It took grime off our stove that most cleaners couldn’t remove. The cake’s strong but simple formula is not only effective for many of today’s household tasks it’s all natural. While not typically what you’d expect from a “cake,” back when Bon Ami was first created household cleaners came in these little bars and were commonly referred to as cakes.

I would love for you to test it out too and here's your chance! Bon Ami is giving away a Cleaning Cake along with their Powder Cleanser and All-Purpose Cleanser to one lucky Simplified Bee reader.

Here is how to enter:


• Leave a comment. {provide your email if I don't have a way to contact you}.
• Extra Entry - become a new follower of Simplified Bee's Blog, Twitter or Facebook Page.
• Extra Entry - mention this giveaway in a blog post, FB link or tweet, then leave a comment letting me know.
• Please post a separate comment for each extra entry.
• Entry period closes at 9 pm PST on Wednesday, June 15, 2011. The winner will be chosen by Random.org.


Bon Ami is also doing a sweepstakes until June 12th on their Facebook page to win a free spring cleaning for you and a friend of your choosing. www.facebook.com/bonamiclean


Happy cleaning & good luck!

6.06.2011

July 4th Craft – Handmade Rocket Garland

july 4th rocket garland diy
Fireworks, backyard barbeques and flag waving parades. Yep. It’s almost here and we’ve been doing a little July 4th decorating.  

july 4th rocket garland how to
Brenda of alphamom’s 4th of July Confetti Popper Rockets inspired me to make our own patriotic rocket garland. She has a great step-by-step tutorial, so if you are interested in doing this project, head to her blog.

rocket garland 4th of july diy
It was an easy craft that the kids enjoyed. Our rockets however, do not include confetti or “pop” – too messy for this mom! They sure look fun in the window, but we hope to hang them outside if the weather dries up!