Cozy spring decor may sound a bit like a contridiction, but it’s perfect for this time of year.  It’s still chilly outside, but you’re craving spring!

I love seeing light and bright interiors, with a touch of warmth from a cozy blanket or throw.

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I think we can grab inspiration from all around us, especially from nature.  When things are kind of bleak outside as they are now, it’s nice to recall the colors of green grass against the blue sky.  I think blue and green go so well together, from aqua and olive to kelly and sky blue!

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I have an obsession with black lampshades:

{Desire to Inspire}

{Elle Decor}

{Decorpad}

I think they add a little drama to a room, and who doesn’t want that?

I had a basic Ikea floor lamp in my living room just begging for some drama so I decided to recover it. Below are step by step instructions.

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With Thanksgiving coming  up, there will be lots of family, friends, and food.  From elaborate to simple, you can create a pretty table to enjoy it aound!

Oranges with clove initials for placeholders are pretty and smell wonderful!

Cream colored pumpkins with cute placecards attached are easy to do and a nod to the traditional.

For centerpieces, something as simple and easy as candlelight is made a little more special with the addition of some dried citrus slices glued to the bases of the candles.

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Plaid has been all around lately, everywhere I look!  I love the traditional and casual cozy feel of it, plaid just seems to warm up whatever space it’s used in.

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Melissa, aka the Lil Bee, and author of the Feather Report has just announced a new app for your iPhone!  Since she does a much better job explaining it than I ever could, I’ll let her do the honors:

Dearest friends, bloggers, and colleagues,

I have a little announcement to make…actually, a big announcement (I hope)!  Some of you have been following my blog, featherreport.blogspot.com.  It’s a site that offers daily style inspiration for NYC girls, based on the weather forecast.  Fashion + Weather = Feather Report.

After a lot of hard work, trial and error, I have launched Feather Report: the iPhone application!  So, what does this mean?  Well, if you have an iPhone, or if you’re thinking about scooping one up, you can now think of Feather Report as your personal style consultant no matter where you live or where you’re traveling.  Here is the scoop…

• Using a GPS weather tracker, Feather Report serves up a new outfit to your iPhone each day, based on your specific location.
• You can shop all of the looks directly from your phone.
• Outfits are categorized based on body types, occasions, and weather patterns.
• You can search for outfits based on your individual needs. So, let’s say you’re a Curvy Cathy, going on a Date Night, and it’s a Hot Mess outside. Plug in that info and voila! An outfit emerges, just for you.
• Plus, you can store your favorite looks, get weather forecasts for your upcoming travel plans, and score the inside scoop on deals & steals from amazing stores.

If you have an iPhone and would like to download the app, you can do so here: http://appshopper.com/lifestyle/feather-report.

If you don’t have an iPhone but want to check out Feather Report, just visit my blog, http://featherreport.blogspot.com. In the coming weeks, I’ll have giveaways and updates, so check back in regularly.

And if you love love love it?!  Tell your friends, tweet it, FB it, email it, blog about it… whatever it is you do, I would greatly appreciate it:)

Thank you so much!!  I’m a little scared to think of what a big undertaking this will be, as I will be creating all of the looks each and every day, but I’m super excited to be taking the leap and doing something I love.  I hope you’ll love it, too!

Melisa
xo

Do you have an iphone?  What are your favorite apps?

One of the nice things about having a house is the fact that we have the space and are able to have friends and family come and stay with us.  But as of late, and especially after the wedding,  our guest bedroom had really become a no-man’s land full of things that didn’t really have a home.  It certainly didn’t reflect a welcoming feeling.  With 3 sets of visitors coming to visit and stay with us this fall, I decided that it was high time to do something about it.

But here’s the thing:  with budget being a huge issue, I needed to re-use and re-purpose what I already had and make it work.

Armed with 2 gallons of paint (that I got on sale over Labor Day!), I got to work.

Here’s an embarrassing view of what it looked like before:

It wasn’t pretty!

I decided on a wall color, thanks in part to Mrs. Limestone and her own guest bedroom, and also decided to paint all the furniture an antique/off white so that it would look less mis-matched.

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This was the response I got a couple of weeks ago while shopping in New Orleans with one of my friends.  We had stumbled into a vintage furniture store, and they had a pair of  Brno chairs by Mies van der Rohe.  I, having studied him and them in some of my college design classes, was excited.  It’s always so cool to see things like this in “real life”.  My friend, however, was taken aback by the price tag – over $2500 for the pair!  To me that wasn’t a surprise, knowing what true liscensed furniture like this is worth.  And so a dialogue was started.

Most people who buy pieces like this consider them like functional art.  They are beautiful in form, and are timeless in design.  These pieces will never go out of style.  Not to mention that the true licensed pieces are so well built that they will last you a lifetime.

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A couple of months ago I stumbled across a new design blog that totally rocked, Kelly+Olive.  With great tips and ideas to “steal”, and a design manifesto that really hit home with me, I was an instant fan.  Their blog is so inspiring, I instantly wanted to run out to buy some spray paint to transform some of the ugly things that have been hiding in the  garage!

I also wanted to know more about Lauren and Courtney from Kelly+Olive, so what better way than a little interview?

1. How would you describe your style?
C: you’d think i’d have an answer for this by now!  i love white, and bright color, i love graphic pattern, i love modern clean lines, i love vintage, especially mid-century.  what style is that?  you tell me.
L: for me, i think the best description would be something like…flea market modern? i love the old and handmade and wacky, anything with an interesting history. but i also bold graphic lines and strong modern furniture…i walk a line between living in a cluttered thrift store and a sleeker mod pad.

2. Who or what are some of your biggest influences?
C:definitely really influenced by scandinavian design, and not just ikea!  i read over a hundred blogs, so it’s pretty hard to pinpoint who exactly.  i’m definitely influenced by lauren too…she helps me put some humor in my decorating!
L: that’s so funny because I was going to say the exact same thing about courtney … we really have a symbiotic relationship here!  and how did we live before design blogs!?!?! we’re no longer subject to the tastes of the big shelter magazine editors. I love looking into the homes of ‘real’ people with style and creativity and seeing how they solve their design dilemmas and make their homes their own.
C:  oh, real homes definitely.  apartment therapy house tours changed my world.

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Hi!  I am a small but comfortable round backed side chair with caning under my graciously curved arms.  I am small enough to be moved around the house as needed, but I can still offer enough comfort to a guest through a long football game.  Yesterday, I was living in one of the coolest consignment shops around.  My crime?  My outdated upholstery and old patchy finish.

But my new lady took me home with the hopes of turning me into the real beauty she knows I am!  With a little paint or stain, and a new, less strange fabric choice, I know I can look as gorgeous as some of these former wallflowers-turned-beauties:

*above 3 images from Again and Again consignment shop

With a little paint or stain, old furniture in good condition (and lamps, for that matter) can be turned into that unique one-of-a-kind piece that’s also budget friendly!  So stay tuned for my “extreme chair makeover”!!