New items in the shop!

I have added a great collection of new items, with a bit of an Asian look, to my shop after the giant birdcage storage piece sold. (Yea!)

Here's a look...

Who doesn't need a glass Buddha head!

I love, love, love this pair of twin sized headboards. They are also cool for wall decor!

Is there a cooler chair out there than this lime green moire file side chair?

French Provincial style? check. Parquet top? check. Generous size? check. Time to buy? Absolutely!

Pretty double candle sconce with mirror!

Neutral no more- adding color to your home interiors- part 2

The second part of my adding color to a neutral interior space address a family room/den area. (To see part one of the series click here). In this typical neutral cream to taupe space, I have chosen complimentary colors to accent the space in blue and red-orange. As in the previous space, I have used olioboard.com to create the space. This color palette can take a room to an Americana space, Eastern influenced space, or can go quite modern. I have gone with a hybrid of Eastern and Americana.

With the simple addition of changing the accent pieces I have taken the ivory walls, sisal rug and cream sofa to a brighter, polished finish with blue wing back chairs, on trend patterned pillows with blue and white, tones of orange red in the lamp bases and a bronze Brown cut work bowl with a blue lining. Could this space go further to add color? Surely, but for the color timid, this is a great start by adding small changeable color pieces and practically neutral blue chairs.

If you are interested in any of the item's on this board, I would love to tell you more about them! Simply drop me an email at LaurlSelf@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you.

Neutral no more- adding color to your home interiors, part one

I recently had the pleasure of teaching a community school class on adding color to your home. I would love to share some of the information from my research here in a multi-part series.

With the help of my new best friend Olioboard.com, I was able to create this mood board to add color to a neutral room. Neutral spaces seem to be all the rage on home design TV shows, but they lack some zip in real life. In fact, studies show that your brain has a hard time distinguishing edges in a space where the colors are close together. By adding color to a space, you can break up the larger areas of the same color with visual interesting pieces.

Cool greys and creams can create a soothing space, but too much of a good thing it not always good! I have chosen a taupe, cream and teal color palette for this living room and created additional visual interest by adding elements in a lighter version of the teal. I choose to layer natural elements over room with the addition on tree form based table, faux bois drum table, sconces with a limb look, and bamboo look to the shelving as well as a floral pillow and pillow with nests printed on them. The formal sofa with the french lines is made fresh with the fabric and painted wood in a similar color. And though the space reads a modern due to the light teal pieces and the lines of the West Elm wing back chair, the space has classic elements with the sofa, patterned wall paper and classic lines of the storage piece. Because I love some sparkle on a space, I have add the Bourgie lamp from Design Within Reach. Want in item from this board or want to know more about it, just drop me a line at laurlself@gmail.com and we can chat!

Eco-Chic at Home- The Boy's Nursery

Boy's are all about being on the move. So, today I am looking at decorating a nursery for a boy with the concept of movement. Layering on the component of green design, we will be looking at buying local, handmade and recycled. Maybe people think about being green as simply recycling, however when you think about green in a holistic way you see that it is about the conservation of thing. Buying items that have a longer "shelf-life"maybe as a conversion item, buying items that do not cost a lot in fuel to get to you, and buying items that come from something that can be grown again easily or that used to be something else are all ways to look at the concept of green. So, antiques are green, and so are items made by local artisans! Here are a few great designs that follow some of these ideas!

All items can be found of Etsy! The first items in the list is from a member of one of the Etsy teams I am a part of and called Alabama Accents. This team is doing a promotions drive and featuring one team member a day

BronstarDesigns on Etsy brings us this great growth chart all about easy modes of transportation! I love the clear color palette of blue and red!

.

Movement can also be about the air and unseen forces! This Modern Mobile- The Supernova in Deep Red by The Wonderland Studio is a great contemporary design that adds color and movement into the nursery.

What a great vintage scooter from LilAndLou! Not only would this be a great early mode of transportation, but it also brings some history to the nursery. Because of the narrow profile, under 6 inches, it would also make a great wall piece. So, you have a recycled piece that is wall art and functional once your little mover gets moving! What a great way to celebrate green design.

These fun little bicycle pillow can add repetition into a space. Repetition is a great way to add pattern without creating visual clutter. Soft artwork is great for little hand and chewing mouths! These organic bicycle pillows comes from BirdMafia on Etsy.

I love mixing moderns with vintage, especially when the larger piece can grow with the child. This Bamboo storage cabinet would be great for storing books and toys now and a TV later. Because the piece is made of bamboo plywood the piece is strong and from renewable materials! This piece is from MaddoxStreetStudios and the only problem with getting this piece home if that you might want to keep it for yourself!