happy nordic homes

Do y'all remember waaaay back when I decided to quit looking at such a wide range of design stuff? Because it was confusing me. There was just too much variety and too much volume. So, I pared it down... and, honestly, I think it was one of the best things I could have possibly done.

Once the extraneous stuff was weeded out, I was able to focus.

I'd say very few people truly have original style. Those that do stand out. For most of us, personal style is a conglomeration of other people's ideas... aesthetic influences that have slowly built up, like layers, over time. Then, there's our own experience, too. Slowly building up in the same way.

Some of the influences are personal. Our grandma's kitchen. The house down the street with the jar of marbles we loved. The gorgeous crystal chandeliers in (too) expensive anniversary getaways. Others don't really have personal meaning, but something about them resonates with us more than most. They stick with us. An art exhibit one Sunday afternoon. A magazine article with colors that stayed with you for days. A movie set.

I'm beginning to believe that we get our truest personal style when we just let these influences all crash together and then settle down in their own places within our homes. Or it could be said another way. When we stop and think too much or play it safe too much or try too hard to make the (sometimes very disparate) pieces come together neatly... we goof it all up. There's a place for analyzing (like when a lot of time or money is involved)... but there's also a place to step back from all that and just go for what looks good.

That's not a scary thought to me anymore.

It makes no real sense that I should have a huge affinity for Scandinavian family homes. Danish & Swedish, in particular. I'm very clearly neither one. There's zero presence of either in my real life world. I have no personal experience with the land or the people. But, when I see just the right Scandinavian home online, there is just something about it. (And you immediately know it's Scandinavian, too. There's such a developed aesthetic). They are bright. Cheerful. Very, very kid-friendly. And the homes - although designed - seem to be designed for real life. They feel like... like... little blonde kids eating homemade pancakes for breakfast on vintage Danish dinnerware while watercoloring at a table with a colorful polka dot oil cloth cover in a white room with INCREDIBLE light while wearing striped tights, pirate hats, and no shirts.

That's exactly what they feel like.

A little bit crazy, but very fun and completely gorgeous eye candy.

I love it.

And I want some of that in our home. Maybe we already have a little... but I want to highlight it... maximize it.

Of course, you know I've already analyzed room after room after IKEA-filled room. It's what I do. And I've tried to figure out how on earth I could mix in some of that with my pretty traditional, suburban American style. How I can help it all make sense?

But... I'm done. I'm moving on now. I'm not going to try to really make sense all the time anymore. I'm going to trust that it will come together. That it will work. Let it all crash and settle. I mentioned I was feeling comfortable about our own style at this point. It's good. I have a few definite ideas, even a few things already rolling. Beyond that, we'll just have to keep moving forward and see where we wind up... have a little fun!

Like a happy nordic homemaker.

These are the rooms & families I'm pretty much stalking right now. I follow them on Instagram and I've just about pinned Johanna's entire house. I'm loving the steady influx and I want to share! Happy overdose coming your way...

Source: aprillaprill.se via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: aprillaprill.se via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: myscandinavianhome.blogspot.ca via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: aprillaprill.se via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: madebylon.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: madebylon.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: aprillaprill.se via Jacci on Pinterest

Do those rooms make you want to be there? They totally make me want to stay for hours and hours.

What about you? What would you say have been the biggest influences on your personal style? Are there are any new influences that have really inspired you lately? I'm really excited to have discovered more about myself this way. And just as excited about how that will translate for our home :)

Handmade Home

Hey, guys.

You know how in Monday's post, I elaborated on the "unexpected FUN" part of our design style? Well, after I wrote that post, I started thinking more about the other elements of our (still very much developing) style that I've listed in the sidebar. I enjoy little exercises like this. They help me think through my preferences and ideas. They give me a more concrete direction. Anyway, I took a good look at my sidebar list and thought for a bit.

It got me thinking about what "personal... with details from the heart" means for me. I said I wanted it, but what would that actually look like in our home?

Partly, I think I mean including our past in our home. Sentimental items, photographs, things associated with fond memories. But, I also mean handmade things. Things for our home, made with love, either by our own hands or made and given to us by those we love. I particularly want this element to come through strongly in Baby's nursery, but I'd like some of it in other rooms as well.

It's not really showing up in this house, yet, though. So, it's kind of hard to explain exactly what I mean. I turned to Pinterest and did a few quick searches. One of the homes I searched was Lindsey's from The Pleated Poppy, because it has a lot of handmade loveliness.

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Now, like the Swedish rooms in my last post, these photos are not exactly what I'm going for. They are influences for one part of the whole. The handmade, crafty part :)

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Lindsey's home is creative and happy, but it's still very orderly. I don't do well with a chaotic, crafty space. I admire photos of rooms like that sometimes, but I couldn't live with it. I'd just want to dust it all of the time... which there's no way I could... and it would feel dirty to me. Because deep down, I'm a freak like that.

But, like I said, Lindsey's rooms are tidy and ordered. So, no one has to know about my neurosis.

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

We like to do crafty stuff. I've always been into something or other creative. I use to cross-stitch a lot, then I quilted for a bit, crocheted, I've sewn for a while now. These days, my girls are getting in on the crafty action. They use up my fabric! And, as you know, we all love to paint and draw a lot.

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

So, there's lot of craft stuff around. And we homeschool - so there's school stuff around, too. (Lindsey also homeschools, by the way). I hide most of it away, but some of it needs to be out. And, it's cheerful stuff. It's us.

Source: thepleatedpoppy.com via Jacci on Pinterest

I like the feeling of this house. It's very welcoming. Unassuming. Comfortable. Personal. Like I said, not completely what I'm going for, but part of it is. This house is how Lindsey makes a handmade home. My home will be different, because I'm me... not Lindsey :)

Source: lifemadelovely-blog.com via Jacci on Pinterest

A great resource for crafty, handmade home ideas is Home Made Lovely. A new house tour is featured every week or so (I think). Now, just to warn you, these are some seriously crafty homes. Like... Craft Weekend in every room. Most are way too much for me. But, here and there, an idea pops out. And maybe I'll make something like it one Thursday night for my Mama Night. Another personal little touch for our home.

The tricky thing is knowing how much is enough and how much is too much with this kind of thing. Worse case scenario, though, I can just give something as a gift if it's too much for the house. Or store it away to switch out with something else when the mood strikes. There's really very little risk with handmade details, because they're often so quick and inexpensive. Things like quilts and afghans, though... not so much. They take serious time. I'm finding I prefer to buy those vintage, instead. They're still cozy and welcoming even if Aunt Etsy makes them instead of me. If they get used often, they soon become personal, too.

I'm not sure, yet, exactly how all these little elements are going to come together to make a cohesive whole. Can granny square afghans, Swedish-inspired painted rocking chairs, and glam swing arm sconces happily coexist in a room with a traditional Persian-esque rug and modern, graphic pillows?

I think so.

I hope so.

We're still rooting our home in tradition. The big decisions are still by and large classic. The first layer is still the same. I'm just getting excited about playing around some with the rest. I spent so much time and effort researching and defining and considering for the first layer because those choices were expensive and permanent. There wasn't much room to make mistakes there. But, choices like pillows and wall decor are much more forgiving. It's okay to make mistakes with them (ahem... living room bookcase). It's part of learning what works. And what doesn't.

Part of making this home our own.




(photos used with permission from The Pleated Poppy)

Swedish Happy

Happy Monday, everybody! Did you have a nice weekend? Ours was good. We needed to relax a little. Sam has been working cuh-razy hours. He still worked from home some on Saturday. It just wasn't the weekend to try to tackle much on the room. Poor man needed a break! We did get a little more painting done. But, that's about it. Not much progress to report.

So, today I have a design-type post instead of a progress-type post. It's been a while since I've written about what's inspiring me these days. I thought it might be fun.

We're getting to a decent foundation in a number of rooms, and it's time to start working on layering and adding color. I've noticed this past year, as I've looked for examples of strong color accents in otherwise neutral spaces, that I keep being drawn to Scandinavian rooms. In particular, Swedish. Not necessarily Swedish design (which tends to be quite modern), but the happy, family-friendly, comfortable, Swedish art of making a home.

Source: brightbazaar.blogspot.com via Jacci on Pinterest

Sometimes Swedish homes go too modern for me or too eccentric or a bit too minimalist. But, when I see a Swedish home that resonates with me, it really resonates with me.

The background is almost always pure white with some degree of black and gray in the mix. High contrast neutrals create a canvas for all the high energy color and pattern that get added with subsequent layers.

Source: familyliving.se via Jacci on Pinterest

And these homes are certainly not short on vivid, bold color. It's pretty daring, really. They use pure hues... no muddy, nondescript shades. Red. Green. Blue. Pink. Yellow. Clear, bright color. I know the colors are thought out and planned, but they seem so beautifully nonchalant in the finished effect. They're "loud", but at the same time they aren't. More like a huge smile and heartfelt HELLO! than like a jarring yell. They are exceptionally friendly when piled altogether in a white room.

Source: familyliving.se via Jacci on Pinterest

These homes are lovely to me. Ordered, but not uptight. Graphic, but not in your face.

Source: familyliving.se via Jacci on Pinterest

They take risks, but the risks are fun-loving.

You get the sense that they made choices based on what made them smile, not based on rules or someone else's aesthetic. Or, even, what would look best. In the end, it turns out that what made them smile magically just kind of wound up looking best. It's all rather accidental looking.

Source: pajaritos.tumblr.com via Jacci on Pinterest

The rooms are very personal and laid back. I love the lights up year round. We kept our living room snowflake lights up until the beginning of March this year because I loved the twinkle in the evenings. Why not have indoor lights year round if they make you smile?

Source: familyliving.se via Jacci on Pinterest

I love this photo above. How fun!

Source: familyliving.se via Jacci on Pinterest

And wow. That's some serious yellow. I don't know that I could handle it in a main living space, but maybe in a laundry room or half bath? And look - it's paired with bright red!? But it somehow doesn't seem too much. It just seems happy. I think it's all the white giving your eyes some relief.

Right about now, those who have been reading this blog for a while are scratching their heads and saying "wuh??" - because these rooms are not really like those I've mentioned before as inspiration for this house. They're really different, actually. Not at all in line with Things I've Loved For Over A Decade.

But, I'm okay with that. Because most of the ways color is used in these rooms can be very easily changed. A blanket. A painted chair. Curtains. Flowers. Accent decorations. This is not major longterm commitment to bold color... the color isn't (often) on the walls or the sofa or the flooring. It shows up in ways you can play around with, you know? Ways you can easily change and actually have fun with.

In our sidebar, I've written that our (evolving) style is "firmly rooted in tradition... but with an element of unexpected FUN to keep it from becoming too stuffy or formulaic." I do not plan on making any of our rooms look Swedish like the photos in this post. But, these rooms are one of the primary influences behind the unexpected fun component I would like our home to have. Like lights up year round. And the kid's art. And a chalkboard wall. And party decorations that I never take down.

Those things all make me smile. And help me not take this house or myself too seriously. That's also part of making the house welcoming and comfortable, I think. It's not so serious and self-important.

What do you think about the photos in this post? Could you see some of this fun, light-hearted style working with a traditional backdrop? Or is this all just way too much for your tastes?

nice, comfy skin and current inspiration

Back in the day, when we first moved into this house and started this blog, Sam and I spent a lot of time thinking through our design style. We were making fairly permanent (or at least difficult to change) decisions regarding this remodel, and we wanted those decisions to be informed and well thought out. So, I read and read and read some more, and we considered each new choice carefully.

That was time well spent.

Now, almost three years later (3 years? craziness!), I'm to the point where I don't feel like I have to agonize over every decision. The house has some momentum now. A pretty clear course marked out. I feel confident in it. Confident enough to play around more with the less permanent stuff - to throw polka dots on the mantel if I feel like it. To put a vintage tablecloth out if I want to. The foundation of each room is carrying a cohesive mood to allow for all of that without a completely schizo result. Finally.

Not that we're necessarily nearing our finish line. But, the progress is tangible. The house is more pleasant on the whole. It's brighter. More functional. More orderly. More cheerful.

More us.

But this "us" has come about through a variety of "thems". By that, I mean there have been a few definitive sources of inspiration that have helped guide us to where we are now.

As I mentioned in my last post, I like to give credit where credit is due, and since at times I may experiment with an exact copy or close to exact copy of someone else's idea, giving credit is only right and good.

In no particular order, here are the women whose work and homes continually inspire and challenge me...


urban grace interiors via pinterest


Erika McPherson Powell. Here's her blog, Urban Grace Interiors. Everything Erika touches is instant gold. It seems like it, anyway. Her style is more exacting, more polished, more professional, more well-funded than my own, but I look to her rooms to help me work in touches of comfortable sophistication. They're real rooms, but with a designer's mark. She challenges me to work with finishes, pattern, and texture to get the feel I want in our spaces. And she gets the old house thing. Her photos of hardware make me melt. Oh, and the color green. Erika made me fall in love with green.

Source: Uploaded by user via Rachel on Pinterest

Lauren Leiss of Pure Style Home. Lauren has this incredible signature style. Her rooms, even when fundamentally different, all have a little something that is just her. Her eye is incredible. Lauren, like Erika, is a professional designer and her rooms reflect that. They're a little too "designed" for my personal style - a little too magazine perfect. But that's what she does so well! The inspiration I take from Lauren is mostly philosophical. She has great things to say about authentic spaces and being comfortable in your own skin. Her own home is nothing to sneeze at... I'm interested to see how it continues to evolve as they add a third little one and as her children get a little older. Lauren also helps me think through pattern, texture, form, and scale - especially concerning neutrals.

Source: megduerksen.typepad.com via Laura on Pinterest

Meg Duerksen of Whatever. Meg's is easily my favorite blog right now. She's not a designer. She's like me. A mom to five kids, staying at home. But she has this fabulously huge, gorgeous old house in Kansas. Everything at Meg's blog seems generous. Her style is a little more cluttered, funky, and flea market shabby than my own. However... however, I love it in her house! Meg challenges me to add color - bright color - and to not think too hard about what I instinctually love. Or take it all too seriously. If it makes you happy, why not put pom pom trim all over your wall?! There's a part of me that has always resonated with the Megs of the world. If I were going to list out a few Meg-like things I've loved for over a decade, they'd be pom pom (we had it on curtains in our previous house), silver plate, quilts, polka dots, and kids' art/crafts. She's the inspiration for letting life smile through our rooms :)

Source: ashleyannphotography.com via Joy on Pinterest

Ashley Ann Campbell from Under the Sycamore. Ashley is an amazing woman, amazing mom, and amazing photographer. Her style is very feminine, much more feminine and lacy/scrappy/crafty than my own. But, Ashley inspires me like no one else when it comes to capturing my home, family, and days with my camera. I'm still learning. Her posts, her photos, are just beautiful to study. I do, from time to time, take inspiration from her home or crafts, too. But, mostly, she challenges my phototaking.


apartment therapy via pinterest


Apartment Therapy. Hands down, the best thing about Apartment Therapy is the house tours. Real homes, real people, real life... usually in a small space. Right up my alley. I love scrolling through the tours, looking for bits of inspiration and ideas that fit within our aesthetic. Fancy talk for stuff that will work in our home and make it better.

There are other sources, too. Pinterest, Google searches, sometimes Lonny. But the ones I've mentioned in this post are the Big Guns. The ones I really feel like come together in bits and pieces in my mind to make our home what I want it to be.

Rockstars. Every one of them.

Thanks for the inspiration, ladies!

neutral and classic doesn't have to = boring

After I had such a grand time putting together a clothing look the other day, I thought it would also be fun to illustrate the same principle with a sofa. With the clothing post, I shared how I might wear a very traditional, classic, pinstripe shirt from Banana Republic in a way that felt up-to-date and a little bit fun. Here, for a sofa, I chose the furniture version of a classic button down. A neutral sofa with great lines.

Like this one. The walls in the room would be painted Benjamin Moore's White Dove in a flat finish. Gray sofa. White walls. Neutral floor. Boring, right? Hold on...

Then, earlier this afternoon, while the children were seriously engrossed in pretending to be Hannah Kearney, Julia Mancuso, and a handful of other winter Olympians, I putzed around on Etsy. I know I said I wasn't really a navy girl. You'll have to forgive me. That was before I found these. Maybe just one.



And to really get a serious pop of pattern and color, two of these one in each corner, with the navy fretwork pillow from above set in front of the left one :) I didn't realize I liked dragons so much, but this Schumacher fabric is super, super fun in very small doses. Like two pillows. These 3 pillows seem very happy to me.



Then, if I were really feeling spunky and if, say, it were the dead of winter and I really needed a boost. I might be coerced into using these on the windows (but without the tiebacks).

With white walls, I might be able to handle the orange :) They seem a little scary, but worth trying out. They're only curtains after all, and one of the best things about a neutral space is how much room you have for experimentation.

These green ones would be a little safer. Blue and green are possibly a tad too preppy and expected, though. I do think they would look wonderful with crisp, white walls and a mostly neutral room. Polo, anyone?

They both seem pretty dramatic for everyday, all year. I'd probably stick with the white window treatments most of the time. The colorful curtains are very fun, and I might like them for a little while (especially at those awesome IKEA prices), but I'd be far more likely to stick with the white window treatments and just add some apricot-colored flowers and some green McCoy vases, instead. Or, OR, I could just try to really keep the accents extra traditional and classic, like with blue and white transferware, and - who knows - maybe the orange would work.

So, put all together, our neutral living room would wind up something like this...

Hmmm... that's actually not all too much boldness is it? I kind of like the complimentary color scheme when it's on this neutral background. I like the multiple shades of blue and the flowers being a slightly lighter tone of apricot/orange than the curtains. It looks kind of Suzanne Kasler on a much less Kasler-y scale.

Interesting.

Or it would look like this...

Kind of boring, isn't it? It needs something. Those flowers are too blah now that they aren't echoing the curtain color anymore. Let's make them red.



That's a little better, but I think the curtains need to be more vivid - closer to kelly green. Eh - I'm not feeling the green curtains.

Now, what about if I just left the curtains classic, fresh white like the walls?



What do you think? I think the crispness totally adds to the look. White curtains are like a deep breath for me. Plus, the colors just pop out more with all that white. But, I do think the room needs something. It's just a little too safe. It needs something unexpected.

It needs - Madeline Weinrib.




That's it. That's perfect. That rug actually makes my heart palpitate.

If you have a moment, maybe you could check out my list of defining characteristics for our style in the sidebar. It's definitely still developing, but do you think this pretend room seems to line up with those elements?

P.S. I couldn't help it. Sam's working late - so I did one more :)



All I'm really changing in these is the rug and the curtains. Nice illustration of how easy it can be to get a completely different look with just one or two changes when you have a neutral base. Thanks for your thoughts, guys!

defining our style: one of the BEST things i've done so far

Since moving into this house 18 months ago, Sam and I have been continually trying to get a better handle on our personal aesthetic as a couple and - taking it a little further - as a family. We've given up trying to find a nice & neat label by now; none of the concrete styles really seemed quite right. But we are, bit by bit, getting a more defined idea of what we want in our home and what fits.



Back in December, I mentioned that part of our difficulty with narrowing down the nearly endless styles in current design has been that part of me is drawn to part of nearly all of them. I see beauty in lots of different looks and I enjoy the mood created by many different types of rooms. (At least I was able to conclude from this observation that we're working toward some sort of eclecticism). But, I want a degree of order, too, and I want our home to feel cohesive and not all over the map. I want serenity, but I want fun. I want comfort, but I want a little formality. It's kind of an elusive balance, I think, because it's deeper than just following some formula like "3 different textures, 4 colors, 1 bold pattern" in a room. It's really about getting totally comfortable with who we are and what we find beautiful and comforting in a home.


There can be a lot of personal, introspective thinking in design.

It's also about being totally comfortable with knowing what our style is not. And this is where I left off last December. I had come to terms with the fact that several styles needed to be cut out of my blog list and magazine browsing. I knew I wasn't a traditonally cottage gal or that we aren't a "coastal" or "beachy" family. These styles can be strikingly beautiful, but they just aren't us. I went through my list of blogs and removed the ones that I knew for certain were not helping me define my style. In fact, several were confusing it. This editing of input has been, without a doubt, one of the best things I've done so far to clarify our home's design direction.

*That sounded way too serious. Put another way, I just mean that getting rid of the styles that definitely weren't us really helped me focus in on styles that might actually help me gain clarity.*

(Lauren Liess' home)

Shortly after this culling of blogs, I added Lauren Liess' Pure Style Home to my reading list. I thought it was worth while trying to get a few new blogs up for a trial period to see if they were helpful or not. Lauren has most definitely been helpful. In fact, I'd say that her blog has been one of the most influential for me in the last 6 months. This post on undesigned spaces and this recent post on truth in design, in particular, echoed thoughts I had had but also took those thoughts beyond my current level and challenged me. Those posts made me think and Lauren's killer approach to design inspires me without confusing me with a style that doesn't fit us.

Now, I'm realizing, it's time to make a few cuts again. Not that I won't ever read the blogs I'm about to cut. I just know that I need to step back from lots of varied input for a time - just until I know I've found my feet. I've spent 12-18 months looking long and hard at lots and lots of inspiration photos/articles from all kinds of angles. Now, I need to get a tighter vision, and that means a conscious editing of input.

The blogs I'm removing (but, sometimes, still reading because I feel some strange emotional attachment to a couple, in particular - I *like* these bloggers!) are really wonderful blogs. I mean really wonderful. But they are muddling my thinking in one way or another. My first edit has been so profitable that I really think the next step is a necessary one.

Caitlin Creer Interiors

If you're still trying to figure out your own personal (truly personal!) style, I'd recommend first spending plenty of time looking, looking, looking at lots of rooms from lots of sources. That step was critical for us. But, then, when you start to get a solid idea of where you are and are not heading with your designs, consider editing your influences - for a time - to help get a clearer direction.

That's where we are at this point. So, every design blog that's listed in our sidebar right now is there because I think it's helpful in further defining our style. Some are not design blogs, but are just blogs that I enjoy and that have something to do with making our home. Some are up there "on trial" - I'm checking them out for a bit to see if they're helpful. If you think you might have a personal style similar to our own in some ways, I encourage you to check them out. You might find a new one that you really like :)

Erika McPherson Powell, Designer

Here I am, all snuggled up on the couch and munching away on a frozen chocolate Whip with my trusty laptop. Children are snuggled and snoozing. Sam is playing indoor soccer for an hour or two, and the house is - get ready for this - quiet.

I felt like it was just about the perfect night to write that post I've been promising. The title doesn't keep many secrets :) Tonight, we're taking a closer look at Erika McPherson Powell of Urban Grace Interiors.

If you aren't familiar with Erika, her work, or her blog, let me introduce you! This is Erika :)

via My Home Ideas

Isn't she super cute? She strikes me as one of those moms you'd see at the playground, hanging out and looking all carelessly chic in her jeans and tank - and killer shoes. You know, those size 4 moms with great hair ;) From her blog posts and from a few brief email interactions, she also strikes me as totally genuine, natural, and truly sweet. And did I mention the woman's got style? Here, take a look...

I love this room. Just like Erika, it has a pulled-together, chic look without trying too hard. After I planned on writing this post, I was delighted to discover that these clients of Erika's had their home featured in Southern Living's February 2010 issue. It just hit newstands and I snapped it up. The photos of this room, in particular, fascinated me and gave me a whole new appreciation for the design. I won't scan them here, though - you'll have to sneek a peek next time you're at Barnes and Noble. Incidentally, if you've been reading for a little while, you know I've sort of adopted "timeless character" as my catch phrase for our home. I had to chuckle when those exact words were part of the Southern Living title for Erika's article - "New House, Timeless Character".

A month or two back, I decided I really needed to edit the design influences that were cramming themselves into my head. Swedish, Belgian, French, Farmhouse - yeesh! I went through my blog reads and nixed the ones that really didn't match up to my own (barely, barely defined) aesthetic. I decided to quit looking at IKEA catalogs, books on cottage style, and - this one was a little hard - even House Beautiful. I had gleaned what I could from all those resources for the time being. I needed to focus. I set out to find images that really encapsulated what I loved in a space and to discover designers that "nailed" the look I wanted.

Enter Erika.


At about the same time that I decided on this edited path, I wrote down my current thoughts on our aesthetic and posted them in my sidebar. This was before I had really taken a good, hard look at Erika's portfolio. When I did go through it, photo by photo, I was struck by how much her rooms reflected my own goals for our home. Although, let me be the first to point out, Erika is a professional designer. So, try as I may, I just won't turn out the same caliber room, regardless of what my sidebar says. That's pretty much a given. It's easy to look at something someone has already done and tell yourself you could do that, too. It's a whole other ballgame when you actually have to do it - and do it on your own. Suddenly you realize that the pros make it look so easy because they're pros! :)

Plus, I don't have the coin her clients have.

Erika's rooms inspire me without distracting me from my own design direction. That's nice. Here are a few more photos...

via My Home Ideas

High contrast neutrals. The dark photo frames and the medium-dark tone of the painted bench against the light walls provide exactly the kind of contrast that I love to see in a room. This bench illustrates another point I recently made about avoiding too many new purchases in our home. I don't want our house to look canned or formulaic. It would have been really easy to grab a standard bench from Pottery Barn for this area and call it a day. But, instead, with Erika's direction, her client took the time to really find a one-of-a-kind, vintage piece for her home. The green paint gives it that extra element of character and charm that just isn't going to come straight out of a stockroom. It's classic.

Here's another example, from Erika's portfolio, of that same principle. Same home, too (did I mention that the Southern Living article has lovely, lovely photos?). A brand new, mass-produced side table would've looked fine here, and would have certainly been easy to come across. But, a little patience, a little time, and there's a table with personality and timeless character. Honestly, a table like this needn't be any more expensive than a newer one, either. Depending on where you look, you may be able to find a solid wood, vintage side table for roughly the price of a similarly sized table from Target! I love that Erika doesn't design solely with to-the-trade pieces. I mean, the girl even trash picks! In an article with My Homes Ideas, Erika says, "I still find myself doing things I remember them [her parents] doing when I was a young child -- stopping to pick up furniture, frames, or lamps out of someone's trash, hitting up the local antique shows to check for new items (antique shows and flea markets are my choice of entertainment), gardening, etc." You have to love the down-to-earth approach :)



Are you beginning to see why I really like the homes Erika designs? It's because I like the basic foundations of her aesthetic - the thoughts behind the rooms.




White. Lovely, bright, perfect white. The dark wood anchors it all and gives that interesting element of contrast, again. I think, too, the white has a feminine feel that is balanced by the heavier, more masculine wood tones. This is one of my favorite rooms in Erika's portfolio.

At the risk of really beating a dead horse to, well, to death - I have to share this excerpt from Erika's website that pretty much sums up her commitment to timeless style (how many times can I type "timeless" in one post?) Here's the quote: "Erika’s style is both modern and classic, an ideal just-right mix of old and new that is forever timeless (apparently, at least once more!). Reluctant to define herself by one certain look (or place), one thread runs common throughout all her projects: impeccable attention to details. Considering the architectural bones of each project is a source of pride for Erika. She has commented, 'Ignoring the architecture would be like a dressmaker making a dress without a proper fitting'. This level of details is what her happy clients have come to expect." Can I tell you that I nearly jumped up and down with glee when I read that? All this time and work to change our mouldings, doors, windows. I feel like we must not be too far off the right track when I read something like this :)



So, that's a little of Urban Grace Interiors. Such great sources of inspiration. It's obvious that Erika has worked hard to study and develop her talents. She's been able to work alongside some highly respected names in the business. She has training, experience. Are you wondering why I bother drooling over her rooms when I'm a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom and wife with zero background in interiors?! :) Well, the short answer is that I think we can all come at design from our own starting points. I'll just learn what I can, when I can, and hope to at least come close to my goals and not waste money on poor decisions. By taking the time to observe and really learn to see, I feel like I can learn something, even if I don't know everything. Really, I just get tickled when I feel like some of my thoughts and directions are validated - like I'm not totally out to lunch. Erika's designs push me along in my own thought process. It's encouraging to be able to say that I've found a designer who regularly hits on an aesthetic that resonates with me and whose thoughts align with my own.

Not to mention that it's just a huge bonus when that designer has such an adorable baby. I just had to fit her in this post somehow :)

All images, except where noted, are used with permission courtesy of Urban Grace Interiors. Quotes are taken from a recent My Home Ideas article. It's a great overall introduction to Erika's thoughts on design, and also features more photos of her work.

Mama's Thursday Night Out

Since around February of this year, Sam has been literally sending me out of the house to have some time to myself on Thursday nights. I'm a fresher Mama afterward, much more prepared to love on my family and home the way I want to. Alone time is a funny thing - it can go the entitlement route where it's all about me, me, me (which I do not want), or it can really be a way to love my family (which I do want). It helps so much that Sam really encourages this time. He knows it's good for all of us, too :)

Tonight I had a little less time out than other Thursday nights, but it was still restful in its own way - and cold! Brrr. Have I mentioned my feelings about winter, yet? By the way, I just had our little point and shoot with me. I know my photos are never great, but tonight you'll need to be especially patient with my less than stellar photo journalism. Thanks. First off, I ran over to Target...

I'm such a paranoid nerd about germs this year. Wipe down my entire cart with disinfecting wipes? Why thank you, Target management, I think I will!



I was there to pick up a few supplies for our church's holiday shindig, Thanksmas, and also to nab a few more curtain rods. What do you know! They were on sale :)



I know I promised photos of the curtains, but it doesn't do a whole lot of good to have them washed and dried if you don't have the hardware, yet. I took the only 4 rods they had left in that style. Still need one more. And I need to iron a total of 10 more panels. Fun. But I was able to get those four curtain rods for less than $60! Yay.

After Target, I headed down the road to my usual Thursday night stompin' grounds - Barnes and Noble. I pretty much beeline right to the interior design section.



Although the holiday editions of several magazines caught my eye, tonight I had an itching to look at some architecture. If you haven't figured it out by now, friends, let me tell you a little secret... I'm a nerd. A big one. I'm always happy if I'm learning something new :)

So, I sat down with two books, a piece of Pumpkin Cheesecake and a decaf peppermint latte and got down to studying. A reader asked last week if I really feel like I learn from taking notes. Totally. Not so much at the time, but I feel like it helps me remember what I've seen and reactions that I've had to what I've seen. Over time, my notes are beginning to come together into a cohesive style and a plan. I've been adding to my notebook for about 10 months now and also saving a lot of images on my computer. Tonight's agenda, though, was architecture. Namely, woodwork.

Look! A Black Door in a book about period houses! So very affirming :)

Sometimes I write down bulleted notes. Other times I draw little pictures of photos that inspired me in some way. Some of the things I jot down are actual ideas that we could implement some day. Others are pipe dreams that will probably never make it off of the paper and into our home. But, in my little notebook, experimenting with ideas is easy, non-committal, and free :)

It's a lot of fun to think about all of the changes we're going to be making to this house. In a way, though, it's intimidating, too. That's especially the case if I feel like I have to make decisions without much confidence in my choices. By the time this whole thing is said and done, we will have spent thousands of dollars. A lot of money. I want to do what I can to form educated ideas of what I want so that our money is put to good use. And not only money - but work, too! We're pouring a lot into this house, and I want it to last for a good, long while. I've probably studied 15-20 large books this way over the last 10 months, and plenty of home magazines, too, in an effort to make good decisions with our home. I'm not suggesting that everyone do the same. Not everyone needs to! It's not all work for me either, though - I think it's fun to read and think about this stuff! :) I'm a student in my heart of hearts.

Told you... a nerd.

I usually close Barnes and Noble down. I did tonight, too. Then, I ran over to the grocery store to get some ingredients for my Thanksmas dishes and headed home. A quick blog post and that's it! Mama's Study Night is over until next week :)