Category Archives: Design

Giant Geometric Maple Leaf

June 27, 2013

I hope all my Canadian readers are feelin the love this week. I’ve got a inexpensive, go big or go home, maple leaf for your wall. It’s just like my heart and shamrock.

Using 12″ scrapbook paper in red, maroon, and white, I cut out right angle triangle. Start by cutting the full sheet of paper into four 6″ squares and then cut those squares in half diagonally. For this Geometric Maple Leaf I used 2 pieces of white and 3 pieces each of the red and maroon. Then I simple used glue dots and attached them to my wall in a random pattern. Well, I actually copied the pattern from my free printable Canada Day bunting.

Come back tomorrow, because I have one more fun Canadian printable.

Design

Canadian Style – The Hudson Bay Blanket

June 25, 2013

This is my Canada love week. Yesterday I shared a free printable bunting for Canada Day. I hope you printed yours off. And today I have a fun round up of some great Hudson Bay Blanket finds. Some of these are a little unexpected and put a unique spin on this Canadian classic.

Pocket Knife // Mid Century Chair // Twin Beds

Bunk Beds // Sweater

Baby Tee // Knitted Baby Blanket // Wing Back Chair

Seriously, how fabulous is that wing back chair? I pinned a lot of these ideas a long time ago on my Oh Canada board. And I have my little piece of a Bay Blanket, that I’m still trying to decide what to do with. I’ve been planning an ottoman of some sort for Riley. Someday I’ll get around to making something out of it. Just so many projects and so little time. So, do you share my Bay Blanket love?

Design / Find

House Plants

May 29, 2013

Well, I have to admit, I’m not the best with house plants. Truthfully, I haven’t invested in any that are very big, because I’m afraid they just won’t last. But, I really like plants and would love to have some in our living room or dining room. I’ve been doing a little research and I’ve found a few that I really like in the homes of some of my favorite bloggers and designers.

photo source: Making it Lovely

This first one is a Bird’s Nest Fern in Nichole’s (of Making it Lovely) living room. It’s a nice size and I like that it’s not terribly tall. It could be nice on a table or bench against a wall.

photo source: Making it Lovely

This tall, handsome plant is a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree also in Nicole’s home. I’d love one of these beside the windows in my dining room.

photo source: Emily Henderson

And this last group of well styled plants is in the home of Bri Emery (of Design Love Fest). Emily Henderson recently teamed up with Bri to makeover her living room. It is a fabulous space with beautiful splashes of color. But, I think it’s the plants that brought the room to life.

Are you a house plant kind of person? Can you recommend any plants that are easy to care for and look beautiful all year long?

I’ll be going to my favorite local nursery this afternoon, and I better be on the look out for some stylish pots as well.

Design

Opposites Attract – His and Hers Nightstands

May 24, 2013

Yesterday I shared my thrifted dresser makeover. Today I’m sharing how the finished piece looks in our bedroom (I need to update the home tour pictures now). I ended up painting the new nightstand the opposite of the other one in our room.

The truth is Lonnie and I are really opposites. If you know us in real life, you would agree. I am a total extrovert and Lon is an introvert. I am the emotional roller coster and he is the straight, steady and stable rock I need. He truly is a person who is intrinsically motivated, I really don’t know anyone else like him. But, we do have a lot in common and have very similar interests. We are both adventurous and like to take risks and we have similar senses of humor, but our personalities couldn’t be more different. And yes, I do most of the talking, but Lon wouldn’t be a good listener if he didn’t have anyone to listen to. So, these nightstand are really symbolic pieces of furniture. They have things in common and are really quite similar when you break down the parts, but they also stand alone as unique pieces with their own personalities. Ha, that was fun (and kind of corny).

I didn’t need to shop for any new accessories for styling the top of his nightstand, we have plenty of those from our world adventures. I bought these antique spice jars in Yemen, when we lived there. They probably originally came from India, but through trading, have ended up in the Middle East. The framed insect is from Papua New Guinea (where I grew up and we lived when we were first married) and the little elephant is from Sri Lanka (where my parents lived and we visited).

When I got new bedding (from West Elm, no longer available), some of my living room pillows made their way to my bedroom. I made the Deer Pillow and the one with the quote, and the graphic one was a Target clearance purchase.

So, there it is, two thrifted nightstands, now with their own personalities.

Design / etc.

Window Shopping – Camping and Outdoors Decor

May 14, 2013

Yesterday I shared a little family video from our Spring Break camping trip to Joshua Tree. We are gearing up for Summer and camping is on my mind. I love decorating and accessorizing Riley, and I have a vision. It’s a slow process though, firstly because I’m picky and want to do it right, and secondly because it has to be on a budget (like almost free budget). But, I recently was checking out some of my favorite online shops and I found a few dream pieces for my trailer. So here’s my finds, and wouldn’t this be a great start to a little boy’s camping/outdoors themed bedroom?

Squirrel Nightlight // Camp Bedding // Pendleton Pillow

National Park Canvas // Away We Go Print

Smore Pillow (Land of Nod – no longer available) // Teepee Print // Bear Pillow

Design / DIY / etc.

My Good Looking Chair

May 6, 2013

I am beyond excited and totally in love with my new chair. He is just so handsome, I kind of want to name him. We don’t buy furniture very often and he was an investment, so this little guy is going to be part of the McConnel family for quite a while. Over a year ago I sold the green chair that used to sit in that corner of my living room on Craig’s list. And ever since, I’ve been saving my pennies to get this West Elm Sweep chair. I got it in performance velvet in the color Shadow.

I’m just itching to give this room a much more modern look and feel. This chair is the starting point. The next step will be painting the walls. Right now it’s a tan/beige color, kind of boring, but practical and neutral. It’s been this color for almost 10 years, it was the first room we painted in the house. And as boring as beige is, I think I’m going to stay boring and paint the whole room a crisp white. Our dining room is a dark charcoal grey and I think this would be a nice bright contrast. What do you think? I love color, but I think a white backdrop will be a fresh way to showcase colorful pieces like my green and gold geometric pillow.

Design / DIY

DIY Gold Polka Dot Lamp Shade

March 27, 2013

I’m enjoying Spring Break. We’ve been far from cell reception, camping in Joshua Tree National Park. We’re in San Diego for the day before we head out again for a few more days of camping in Anza Borrego State Park. I managed to get to the important places yesterday like West Elm and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

But, I wanted to share this easy DIY I did for the girl’s “new” room. The full tutorial is over at Land of Nod‘s blog, Honest to Nod. I made this gold dot lamp shade to go with Denali’s fabulous new sheets.

Design

Small Space Book Shelves

March 20, 2013

Today the girls’ new room is being revealed over at Land of Nod‘s blog Honest to Nod. But, I’m making little improvements all around the house. It’s Spring, so that means Spring Cleaning. I’ve got the organization bug something bad these days, how about you?

Our little 1920s bungalow is little. The bedrooms are not super spacious, so we need to be creative with storage and furniture placement. My two older kids are avid readers (thanks to their father), and although we mostly check out library books, they do own a lot of books. Finding space for them without having a huge bulky bookcase was a must.

So that Dylan could enjoy his bigger picture books and have them on display, I put up 3 Ikea picture ledges to act as book shelves in his room. We have the longer version of these in our hallway and I often rearrange our family pictures there. These offer great, low-profile book storage (and they come in both black and white). And with IKEA prices, this only set me back $30. They only take about 4 inches of the room and absolutely no floor space.

I was able to fit quite a few books on these these ledges. This whole stack fit nicely on the shelves. Aren’t you impressed? I am.

Design / DIY

Giant Geometric Wall Shamrock

March 4, 2013

Well, I had to do it. Here’s the St. Patrick’s Day version of my Giant Geometric Wall Heart that I made for Valentine’s Day. Green is my favorite color, so I think this guy is going to stay on my dining room wall for quite a while. Plus, it should bring me some good luck to have a giant shamrock in my home, right?

For this shamrock, you’ll need 10 pieces of scrapbook paper. I used mint, forest green and metallic gold. You simply cut each piece of paper into 6″ squares and then cut those squares diagonally to make triangles. Each piece of 12″ scrapbook paper will give you 8 triangles. To make the shamrock shape, you will be making 3 hearts (like my giant geometric heart) and then adding a stem that is 3″ wide. I attached the triangle to the wall using glue dots. I tried double stick tape, but with the texture of my walls, it didn’t want to hold well.

It goes perfectly with my Green and Gold Geometric Pillow. I am really loving this mint and gold combo for St. Patrick’s Day.

What do you think about my “go big or go home” holiday decorations? I’m having fun with it, would you put up something this big on your wall? If you do decorate for St. Patrick’s day, what does it look like?

Design / Find

Window Shopping – Toddler and Tween Shared Bedroom

February 21, 2013

Most of the time, I love my little 1920’s California bungalow. But, recently I’ve realized our tiny home is not ideal. The problem is that my daughters, Denali and Olivia, have to share a room. This doesn’t seem like it would be a big issue, but there is a big age gap between them. Denali is 11 (going on 16) and Olivia is just a year old. I want them to have a space that is appealing and organized for both of them. I don’t want the room to look like a nursery, or on the other extreme, like a mature teenage space either. The room does have furniture, but really no defined style. The bedding, rug and walls are grey and light pink and I do love that color combo. But, beyond color, there isn’t much else. I’m struggling to give my toddler and tween the space and design that they each need. I want their room to be a place that they both love. We need function and funk folks.

I put together an inspiration board of fun pieces that I think could help bridge this age gap in design. I think The Land of Nod has beautiful pieces that will provide my toddler and tween with the unique and quirky style that I’m looking for.

Flamingos Print // Gold Dot Sheet Set // Fur and Glasses Print

Grey Herringbone Pouf // Storagepalooza

White Leather Chair // In the Loop Grey Duvet Cover // Amethyst Print

They both have vintage beds. Denali’s is a full sized metal frame from Lonnie’s Grandparent’s farm and Olivia’s crib was my Jenny Lind crib from when I was a baby. Obviously our house is also old, but I think the space needs a splash of modern and playful. Denali helped me pick out the prints, she particularly loved the Flamingo and Cat prints. And I LOVE the gold dot sheets. There is something both classic and fun about polka dots. I think they’ll look great with Denali’s grey bedding. I also would love to get Denali the beautiful leather desk chair. It’s sleek and modern and she just has an old stool for a chair at her desk now. The Land of Nod has a well curated catalogue. It’s such a treat to flip through the pages, there is a sense of nostalgia and the creative touch of artists.

Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to attempt to makeover my Toddler and Tween’s Shared Bedroom. I’ll be sharing what I find along the way and what works in this space. So, stay tuned for more. Do you have a space in your home that has to serve two functions or accommodate multiple people?