She’s got curves….

So lately I’ve been making weekly trips to a thrift store I found. While I was in the mist of helping my SIL find a sofa I was making bi-weekly trips to the store and kept finding things I was falling in love with. Of course since they were all at amazing prices all of my favorites were quickly going home with other people.

While my SIL decided to go another route and left empty handed from our thrift store trips. I found a little number that I knew would look amazing in my new office.

I didn’t pick it up on the first day. I wanted to go home and sleep on it. Really see if I had to have it. Well I did so this time instead of going back and simply seeing it gone I called ahead of time and had them put a HOLD sign on the piece.

The latest object of my affection has to be my new/old wing back love seat. It has curves in all the right places, which helps it look more feminine and totally perfect for a stylish gal’s office.

Of course now my main problem is what to get it slipcovered in!

Do I go with stripes:

Or do I go with my animal instincts and get zebra :

Or do I go with a touch of bamboo ?

Or maybe I should go with some florals?

Or do I go more neutral and simply get a linen?

Originally I wanted to with this fabric, but at $30 a yard (I need 12 yards for the loveseat) it’s so not going to happen. I love that it a has a neutral base with the white and black toile, but then has punches of colors that I could use throughout the room. I’ve been searching for something similar and have come up empty handed.

I love color and mixing patterns and since the floors and walls in the new office are pretty neutral I wanted to have fun with my fabric pick.

Click here to see the current look of the florida room aka my new office. The walls are still the same. I love those stripes. The floor is getting a little redo with a faux wood floor in antique oak and the slipper chair and bench are no longer going in there. Oh also you can see my inspiration for the space is Rory’s pool house, which is full of different colors and patterns.

Any ideas?

What are your favorite online fabric resources? Please share.

I’m off to continue painting the trim. So not enjoyable. I have three doors, 2 windows and a staircase to do today along with putting my living room back together and sanding a bookcase that needs to be stained.

I’m tired already.

Weekend Recap: paint, paint and a winner!

Hello Loves,

Totally exhausted from the weekend. It was paint filled! When we moved into our house it had recently been painted. Of course I wanted all new paint colors so we re-painted, but left the trim as is. Well of course now the trim is showing it's age so I decided it would be super fun to fix it all. Ah! Along with taking my office apart and changing it into a guest room instead since my office is moving to the florida room.

Let's just say my whole body aches, I have paint everywhere and my living room is waiting for me to just get out of bed and start painting the trim. Luckily I cleaned everything and taped all the tirm last night. Plus my Mom( who is a teacher)just finished her school year last week so guess what she get's to do today....that's right..come over and help me!

Of course I also had to go into Queens yesterday and help my SIL paint so it really has been a paint filled weekend.

So even though my hair even hurts this morning I was super excited to wake up this morning and pick a winner for the amazing storage bench give away

A huge thank you to everyone that commented. I truly wish I had enough benches to give one to everyone! Hopefully I'll be getting more give-away for you in the near future.

Without further ado!

Random.org picked number 112!



Congrats Christina from Down and Out Chic (One of my favorite daily reads!)

Can't wait to see pictures of it in your home!

Ok off to paint I go and I'll be back later with a new purchase for my office!

xoxo,

Camila

IN HER SHOES: BROOKLYN BRIDE

This coming January I’ll be married 4 years! Ah it is going by so quickly yet it feels like I just had my wedding the other day. Perhaps because this lazy, no longer a newly-wed still has her wedding dress hanging in the closet. Oh I don’t have the heart to bring it to the cleaners and have it sealed in a box  so that when I eventually have a daughter she can look it at when planning her wedding and go, “ Mom, seriously? I’m not wearing that!” I rather have it hang in my closet and occasionally try it on… (Ok, yes Jon has come home and found in my dress…I wanted to get my money’s worth.)  Or perhaps I just need to get my you know what in gear and just drop it off at the cleaners.

While I loved everything about my wedding I always think about what I would have differently. Especially with all these amazing wedding blogs full of all that eye candy. I would change everything! Wouldn’t it be great to have a big wedding bash every year? My wallet so couldn’t handle it, but a girl can dream.

It was in my dreaming of a what-if wedding that I found the work of  Vané Broussard from Brooklyn Bride.

You must  just go on there and let yourself get lost in her world for awhile. You can see photos of real couples weddings, engagement shoots, the perfect wedding bands, photographers galore, stunning invitations and even purchase a stylish ring pillow handmade by Vané and available at Bklyn Pillow.

Now with all that you must think that Brooklyn Bride is her full-time job, right? No, she is also an Interior Designer by day. Of course after falling in love with her blog I emailed her right away and asked her to be part of the In her shoes series.

She said I DO (ok she really just said yes) so sit back, relax and enjoy a view into her life.

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7:35a Alarms don't wake me up anymore, so I have to depend on my darling husband Chad to drag we out of bed to start the day.  Hop into the shower to wake up, quickly dry off so I can start checking emails.  Of course there's no time for breakfast once I realize its almost 8:30a and I still haven't dried my hair!

9:30a By now I've escaped the crowded 2/3 subway and made my way into the office.  We work at my bosses loft in Tribeca with a beautiful view of the Hudson right outside the window!  I catch up on some emails and make my way through the oatmeal from Jamba Juice that I picked up on my way in for breakfast.  Breakfast of champions!

9:45a Today we're heading up to the D&D Building (aka Design and Decoration mecca) to pick out some colors for a custom rug we're designing, but in the meantime, I've got some drafting to do.  Most offices use AUTOCAD for drafting, but since we're on a Mac based system, we use Vectorworks, which is in some ways, a bit easier.  Have to call my upholsterer about a headboard and email the client with the new price...yikes, its expensive! 

11a We're off to the D&D!  While I love the D&D, it can be pretty intimidating...its a lot of upper east side looking designers dressed in Chanel...not that there's anything wrong with Chanel!  With 17 floors of showrooms to check out, it can get pretty exhausting as well...you always need to come with a game plan so you don't burn out.  Thank goodness some of the showrooms have chocolate to keep your sugar up! 

11:43a We head over to the Martin Patrick Evan showroom to check out our poms and pick colors...ahhh, so many colors!  We ended up picking what we needed pretty quickly since we brought our fabric samples to go by...looks like the design should be pretty cool and we'll stay within budget.

 

12:20 Ghislaine (my boss) and I head to recharge with lunch at the Astra cafe up on the 14th floor.  There are gorgeous views of Manhattan from there!  My cobb salad is deelish.  We work out a couple of schemes for a room we're having some issues with, then head back to the showrooms.

1:00p All of a sudden, we're really itching to check out some trims, so we head to Kravet to see what they have.  Not as many modern ones as we'd like (why does no one make hip trim??) so we move on to Donald Sutherland (great colors in their windows) and F. Schumacher.  We'd got a few key places we always check out since we know they have bright fun colors that we always infuse to designs.

2:20p Exhausted, we head back to office...there's tons of traffic but the sun has finally come out after days of rain and gloom! 

3:00p I start catching up on emails and starting a frantic search for knobs.  How could we forget the knobs?  Ug, I hate when that happens.  I send over some options to the client...hopefully she'll like them enough that we can just order them right away.  The millworker wants to be able to install them ASAP. 

3:45p Get a call from our other cabinet maker, he needs the dimensions of a garbage can we're using in a pullout for the custom kitchen.  Of course I can't find the dimensions on the info sheet I have in the project binder, so do a quick online search. 

4:58p Waiting for stock call from Anthropologie on knobs...they really do have a great selection of glamorous looking knobs and pulls!  Client says we need to find something sleeker...trying to check Simons Hardware, Mockett, Sugatsune....ug there's NOTHING!

6p Finally, I head home...exhausted of course!  Going to the D&D is really draining...they don't teach you that in grad school.  Waiting for the subway to get home is annoying...why can't they just come on command?  Thank goodness I've spent the day in my comfy Tory Burch Reva flats :)  They're a lifesaver.

6:35p I collapse on the couch to catch up on personal emails and blogs with the news (read: Access Hollywood) on in the background - I can't even THINK about cooking dinner!  Thank goodness Chad feeds me :)

7p Gotta take a break to frost the mother's day cookies for the lovely ladies we're seeing on Sunday.  The rest of the night is spent doing that, checking more blogs and emails (they never stop, its like a second full time job!), make sure my posts are all ready to go for the next day, and crash at 11pm. Tomorrow's another day. sigh.

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What fun! Though I have to agree with Vané  that the D&D is a little intimidating. A big thank you to Vané  for participating and giving us a glimpse into your world along with a peek at the shoes you wore to conquer your day!

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend. Don’t forget to enter the give-away! You have until Sunday, June 28th at midnight EST to comment!

You sweet thing…

A HUGE thank you goes out to the team at Casa Sugar for showing me a little love and featuring my DIY patio chair project!

Sending huge amounts of virtual sugary love your way!

 Image via HWTM blog

What’s black and white plus FREE?

I have always loved what a dose of black and white can do to a room…

Even the smallest dose can make quite the impact and turn up the glam in a room…

 

Stripes tend to be one of my favorite ways to add a dose of black and white into a room. They just look so fresh and new yet classic!

Luckily for you all I’m not the only one that thinks everyone should have a touch of black and white in their home.

Images via Lynn Morgan Design

The kind folks over at Bedroom Furniture emailed me to let me know about their store. They carry everything from Platform beds, headboards and even mattresses.They were even sweet enough to let me pick out a give-away item for my readers.

The site had a lot to choose from, but of course the one item I found had to be over my budget. So I just sweetly asked if pretty please I could have it and they said YES!

So here is what I picked:

Skyline Furniture- Storage Bench, which retails for $158.99!

You all know how I love to just hide things instead of all the messy cleaning. This little bench can help you do just that plus it will look great at the end of your bed, near your entry way or simply as a perch for your little furry friends to get a better look out the window.

I also love different choices so this bench comes in a variety of fabrics that you can pick from in addition to the black and white houndstooth featured above.

  

I also know that not everyone enjoys black and white so you also have the option of picking from:

Or if you are feeling really adventurous you can pick the Velvet Leopard or as I like to call it Steven Tyler PJ’s. (I’ll let you comment twice if you know what movie that line is from!)

Here is what you have to do to enter the giveaway:

1. Since it’s a special give-away for my readers make sure you are a follower and/or subscribe to this blog.

2. Leave a comment and let me know what fabric you would pick and where it would go.

3. Don’t forget to leave your email address in the comment so that I can get in touch with you if you win!

4. If you decide to take a guess and let me know what movie the line, “Steven Tyler PJ’s” is  from please email me (cpavone0107@gmail.com) your guess. If you’re right I’ll let you know and you can then go back an  make an additional comment.

This give-away will end on Sunday, June 28th by midnight EST. I will pick a winner Monday with the help of Random.org.

***If you would like to spread the word about this give-away on your blog that would be great! If you do so email me and let me know and you can enter to win twice! ***

Remember anyone can comment. You don’t need to have a blog to do so!

GOOD LUCK!

Pinking of you…

I’m normally not a huge fan of pink. Yes, I love it on my book covers, toe nails and even the occasional cupcake, but in decorating terms it always screamed nursery to me.

That was my thinking a couple of years ago, but now I can’t get enough of pink. I don’t have any of it in my home so when I saw the chance to use it on the patio chairs I jumped at the chance.

That though was not enough. I was dying to use a pale barely there pink shade in my SIL’s living room. It got vetoed, but I’m a sore loser so here are some fabulous rooms that perfect having that hint of pink!

Image via Southern Accents 

Image via Domino :(

Image via Simply Seleta 

 Image via Kelly Interior Design

 

 Image via Frou Frou Fashionista

So, are you tickled pink? Do you love it light and airy or bold and bright?

Take a seat

Last week I showed you some of my most recent trash to treasure finds that I recently found.

One of the first items that needed immediate attention was the patio chairs.

Here are the frames after I took all the mesh out of them:

 

Pictured below is the mesh seating that needed a good cleaning and a little re-vamp.

I then went out to IKEA and picked up 2 and a half yards of this fabric:

 

I also made a quick stop at Walmart and picked up some cans of spray paint for the chairs. I wanted pink and Jon didn’t so I went and got…..

Pink! What can I say with a name like Ballet Slippers how could I not. I didn’t want to be a totally horrible wife so I got 2 cans of Ballet Slippers and  2 cans of a more neutral shade called Pebble. Since we have 4 chairs I figured we could compromise and make 2 pink and 2 pebble.

Here is a shot of my chair with it’s lovely shade of pink:

Turns out spray-painting is not as easy as it looks and I ended up getting a lot of drip marks on the chair I did and Jon had to take over and save the day! Thanks Sweetie!

The fabric then needed to be cut to size, pinned, and then run through the sewing machine. This was a little awkward, because I was attaching it to the mesh backings the chair already had and it was a bit stiff so it took a little push to get through the machine.

Now for the finished product:

Close up of the fabric and pink frame:

This project was super inexpensive.

Here is the breakdown:

The chairs were:  FREE

2.5 yards of fabric at 8.99: $22.47 plus tax we’ll make it $24

6 cans of spray paint at $2.59: $15.54 plus tax we’ll make it $17

So for around $41 bucks I got a brand new patio set!

Oh I so love it! I’m still waiting to finish the rest of them. I have a pebble frame finished with fabric as well and most of the sewing is done  for the other 2 chairs except for one seat bottom. Of course the sewing machine decided to stop working Saturday evening and I have no clue what is wrong with it!

Hopefully we can play around with it tonight and figure out what is wrong and finish up the rest and then I’ll post a picture of the completed project!

On the sewing front this project was supper easy. I used no sew hew tape to secure the fabric on when I was having problems pinning it and then just rain it through the machine. The lines came out straight enough. You can't really tell where it goes a little oh course.

On to a new sewing project!

Bird Brain

I’m completely exhausted from this weekend. I was in charge of hosting Father’s day this year and It was a lot of hard work due to all the rain. Rain meant no BBQ, which meant an actual meal, which meant a very cranky Camila by dessert time.

So, this morning it’s taken me a bit longer to get into the swing of things. I’m having problems thinking hence my blog post title, but in addition to all that I actually do have birds on the brain.

Since I finally have furniture in my dining room my brain has been overworked these last couple of days trying to figure out what wallpaper I want to use in that room.

My original thoughts were to go with F Schumacher's Chenonceau in Bisque:

Pictured is the pattern in Charcoal.

I love how the pattern is a great mix of traditional and modern and it seemed like the perfect fit for my home. I was practically sold when I realized one of the birds in the pattern was a peacock and I have a soft spot in my heart for them since my married name Pavone, means Peacock in Italian.

I was pretty certain this was the route I was going to take, but then in looking at my inspiration files I came face to face with my all time favorite room that I think sums up my design style pretty well:

 Image via Domino Magazine. Designed by Miles Redd, Photographed by Paul Costello

I have not been able to get that wallpaper out of my head. It’s perfection. It would go amazingly in my house and add a little additional touch of vintage.

I tossed and turned all night trying to figure out who makes that paper. I searched and searched and couldn’t find any info, but I’m leaning towards thinking it is de Gournay hand painted wallpaper. Totally not in the budget. I was distraught until I remembered another image I loved from an old Martha Stewart living issue that had a similar vibe.

I then also remembered the same paper had been used in an old issue of Domino:

 So don’t need that huge butterfly, but the paper is absolutely beautiful!

The print is called Birds and Butterflies and it’s from F Schumacher, which means yes still a little pricey, but more doable.

I can’t seem to find it on their site so I hope they are still making it. I’m setting up my to the trade account with them today (yay!) so I’ll have to ask and find out.

Have any of my readers seen any amazing wallpapers like the ones above that I must see?

I’m open to suggestions!!

Don’t play with Matches

Image via Good Housekeeping

Oh boy talk about a room in a bag!

Today I’m off to see my SIL’s new apt. She moves in July 1st and has asked me to help her with the decor. Since this is her first apt it has turned into quite the family affair and I’m having to deal with a MIL that excitingly told me that the kitchen plates were peach and blue and how great it would be to paint the walls peach, and get peach and blue curtains, etc.

Ah deep breathes I tell you people. I burst out laughing told her I was going to blog about her and now everytime I pick out anything else for dear SIL I make a joke that I hope she likes it even though it won’t match the kitchen plates.

Do you have anyone in your family/friends that loves to match and finds it really hard to part with all the matchy-matchy?

Me and my MIL literally got into a discussion of a piece of art for the kitchen that contained red not matching the red coffee maker.

Deep breathes.

IN HER SHOES: SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

You all know my obsession with the South. Especially my desire to move to Birmingham, Alabama and hang out with my favorite ladies: Marianne, Brooke,Jennifer and Paula. During one of my many rants about wanting to hang out with these ladies another fellow blogger left me a comment to let me know that she to was from Birmingham, AL. With that comment I was introduced to Rhoda of Southern Hospitality and my oh my is she a force to be reckoned with. She has many, many, many, followers and her readers love her for her amazing before and afters and all of her thrifty finds.

I knew I needed to learn more about this Southern Belle so I asked if she liked to be part of my IN HER SHOES series since she runs her own home based decorating business. She was sweet as pie and replied that she would thrilled to join in on the fun.

So sit back, relax and take in a day with Rhoda.

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7:00 a.m.

Get out of bed. I normally don’t sleep much later than 7 ever. I knew that this happens as you get older and it’s totally true. If I had to try to stay in bed until 9 now, I could not do it. I’m usually awake and ready to get up by 7. Wash face, put in contacts, and make the bed.

7:15 a.m. Say hello to hubby, he’s usually been up for 2 hours by now, working in his office at home. We spend a lot of time together each day, he in his office and me in mine. Works out great like that. Go in the kitchen and make myself a yummy cappuccino every morning.

7:30 a.m. Usually start my morning with a devotional book and my Bible. I don’t always do this first, but I try to go in my guestroom for my quiet time for about 30 minutes before I get on the computer.

8:00 – 9:30 a.m. Get my breakfast of usually Raisin Bran and Go Lean crunch mixed with fruit and get on the computer to check emails and the morning blog post that I’ve scheduled from the night before. Make sure the blog has posted successfully. Yay, it has. Read any comments. Start going through my Google reader to check my favorite blogs. There are too many of them and I am forever behind on that.

9:30 a.m. Get ready for the gym and leave by 9:50 a.m.

10 a.m. Step class at the gym for about an hour and then ½ hour of weight lifting. This has been part of my routine for many, many years and I love staying in shape. This gives me the energy I need for projects around the house.

11:30 a.m. Leave the gym and stop by Publix for my Monday stock up on their sale items. Look for the mystery coupon item for the week and be sure to pick it up, as well as buy one, get one free sale items. That’s the way I shop Publix.

12:15 pm Come home, unload groceries and fix something for lunch. This day it was a fresh tomato sandwich from our garden. My hubby has really gotten into gardening this year and now we are being rewarded with fresh tomatoes.

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm Blog surf and visit more people on my reader as I eat lunch.

3:00 pm – Finish up a Before and After project I’ve been working on, a small nightstand painted white to add to our master bathroom. Put it in place and take photos for the blog post I’ll be doing on it.

3:30 pm – 5:00 Continue working on an Inspiration Board for an online client who wants help with her familyroom. Do some online shopping and pull together items for a Polyvore board to show her. Start typing up some detailed notes to share with her about her room. Send the board and notes out on Tuesday.

5:00 pm – Start work on dinner. Have left over roast from the crockpot from an earlier day, so I make mashed potatoes out of red potatoes and steam up some fresh broccoli.

6:00 pm – Hubby and I sit at our breakfast table and have dinner together, catching up on the daily news.

6:45 pm – Kitchen is cleaned up and I’m back on the computer for a little while, finishing up the day’s items.

7:30 – 8:00 pm – Close down the computer for the night, take a shower and put on PJ’s for an evening of reading magazines or a book in bed with hubby. TV is on and normally we catch a few DVR’d episodes of Law and Order, but on Monday night we finish up the 20^th anniversary edition of Lonesome Dove, a favorite for both of us.

10:30 pm – Lights out and beddy-bye time.

And my main shoes that I wore Monday and most everyday. My New Balance Cross Trainers. Since I’m at the gym 4-5 days a week, these are a must for me.

Hope you enjoyed my exciting day. Ha! No really, I don’t have a lot of stress in my life and that’s OK with me. I put in 30 years working in Corporate jobs, so I’m really enjoying this pared down and non-stressful lifestyle we have now. My hubby is my biggest supporter in allowing me to do what I want to do. He was the one who wanted me to stay home and start my own business and I wouldn’t be here now doing this if not for him.

Thanks for including me in your feature!

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A big thanks to Rhoda for joining in on the phone. As always let me know if there is a special lady you would like to see featured. Or perhaps there is a fab man you know that would love to take part in an IN HIS SHOES post.