DIY Sunburst Mirrors (using SHIMS!!)

I've been trying to step away from the Pinterest lately (old habits die hard). My motto in helping me conquer the beast is "10% Inspiration, 90% Perspiration." (I talked a little about this in my Alt panel.) But apparently I need to come up for air more often, because there is some magic happening in the blog world that I was completely unaware of.

Look at all these GREAT sunburst mirrors made from those cheapy packets of shims from the hardware store! Most of these finished mirrors are really quite big (22 - 40" in diameter) and the supplies cost less than $30! What the WHAT.

Natalie Roe and her sister, Rachel, emailed me a link to their version HERE. I love the staggered edges.

346 Living

This Old House (do I like this one. Or not...)

Westerman Family (love the gray stain!)

K Sarah Designs (I love how big the mirror is on this one. It feels a little more functional than decorative. PS, love the styling.)

Momtastic (I'm more of a gold sunburst mirror type gal, but I really like this white painted version! And how pretty does it look hanging on top of the canopy curtains? Really cute.)

Did I miss any of your favorite shim sunburst tutorials?

Art Love - Betsy Podlach

I wanted to pay homage today to an artist whose work I find to be completely and utterly mesmerizing...

I feel beyond lucky to own an original piece of this artists work...

and count it as a purchase I will never do anything but be incredibly thankful for.

That pink hat and those haunting eyes...heaven in my books.

Here's Ms. Ophelia....as I like to call her...in my living room...

I adore her.

She truly is enchanting and makes my entire living room come to life.

I wish I could show you in photos the real beauty that is her face...hard to come across in pictures...her eyes seem to follow you as you move around the room...but not in a spooky way...in a moving/soulful way.

A look through Betsy's portfolio, and one can start to see how incredibly arresting her work really is...

 Most of Betsy's work is large in scale, which makes it even that much more captivating...you can see more of her gorgeous portfolio HERE.

Doesn't get art just give you goose bumps?

Does me.

xo

 i hope y'all had a great weekend!!  my dad's b'day is wednesday so my fam came to visit us for a night and we had an early b'day celebration.  we had an oyster roast, drank lots of good wine, had family game night, and laughed a ton......mostly b/c taylor picked out mustaches for us all to wear...and we really thought it was funny (well everyone but walker)!!

*images found here

Designer Spotlight - Commune

Good Monday morning peeps.

I had a cray-cray weekend...lots of good fun but I'm sort of oldish, and 3 days of fun in a row means an equal number of recovery days.

So....the party recap will have to wait and for now, I'm going to shower you with pretty portfolio pictures.

I might not even write anything...though I know (thanks Blog Podium;) that not presenting your point of view is bad blogging, I'm just not sure I have the energy to really think clearly today...And besides, I do sometimes think that pictures speak for themselves...and thanks to Commune Design, I can use that excuse to inch my way out of thinking this morning.

Ha.

So let's get to it.

I'm sure you've all seen this facade...

...which PS, will be the colour scheme of my yellow house once my bank account recovers from #pkg...which might be never but one can dream;)

Anyhoo...I know most of you have seen it...along with this one...

...the stair side of it that is...I've never seen the shot of those farking fantastic dining chairs.

Well it turns out that both these shots come from inside the same house and thanks to Commune, there's also this 'good as good gets' pretty...

...which PS, makes my knees buckle...if ever I longed for a giant leather chesterfield, it's now...thanks to this.  I'm also digging the slightly gimmicky movie light- totes works in here... partially because it's beside a pretty leaning mirror, which as a rule, acts like super hero in any room...I'm of the belief that a large mirror (preferably ornate) instantly rescues any space/makes it waaaaaaay more resistant to evil ugliness...I think the same thing about gorgeous antique carpets...want one...or 5.

Here's the dining room...

It's a little moody glam to float my personal boat but I certainly wouldn't throw it out of bed for crackers.

I'd also happily shack up with most of the homes/rooms in Commune's portfolio...like say this beauty...

...it feels like the man/bearded version of the pretty girl chesterfield room above...all moody and dark...handsome.

Same with this one...

...black walls and yellow office chairs...perhaps a little buzzy as a colour combo but most definitely arresting in its entirety.

And on the flip side of the coin...i.e. back to the girly end of the spectrum...i.e....my favourite feminine pink/ornate/maximalist side....the Juicy Couture showrooms...

I will tell you that my brain is hurting from thoughts of the things I'd love to do to my house, thanks to the inspiration above...starting with an Aubusson/Persian in every room...and a giant hunting painting that's framed in gold for my yet to exist office...you know the one...it's coming as soon as I maybe...you know...get a job or something.

I'm also thinking that lacquered pink something must probably find a place in my abode...perhaps in the master closet...hum....I wouldn't mind a dash of the plaid wall to wall carpet either...SJ's room?  Along with the Perroquet paper...are you reading this Meredith?

So...it seems as though I can't simply give you pretty pictures...apparently my brain is just too damn tangenty (god I love made up words...see...another tangent) to every let that idea slide.

As always, I digress;)

You can see more of Commune's pretty HERE.

xo

Custom Black Out Roman Shades

Every decorator has a favorite thing to see installed. I think mine is a toss up between new pillows (they really can transform a room!) and new window treatments. I was so happy with the way Joanna's roman shades just transformed her bedroom!

The white linen fabric with the cheery yellow trim has such a brightening effect on the room! The shades are also super functional. You know I am a big fan of making shades out of mini blinds and also glueing fabric on top of matchstick blinds. Both are great methods, but for this project I knew we needed something a little more permanent and hard-wearing, so I had my seamstress make the blinds. We had them blackout lined, which, beyond looking great and giving the linen a nice weight/drape, it's so nice for blocking out the city lights at night or the morning sun which always comes too early for us parents!

Custom shades are not inexpensive (that's why the DIY method can be great to keep around for some projects), but if you are using the shades every single day, I think the extra cost is justified. Joanna lives in a prewar apartment and her windows are extra, extra long so the cost was a little more than standard windows.

I had these exact shades priced out at the Shade Store for comparison to my work room, and they quoted me $650 per shade. Yikes! My seamstress did BOTH shades for several hundred less than that. So again, ask around. If you look on craigslist for a great seamstress, you can get custom work for a lot less than you might expect.

PS The mustard yellow vintage trim completely makes these shades for me. We bought the trim at JEM in Tribeca for just a few dollars a yard. They still have some left if you'd like to stop by and snag some for yourself!