What I Heart Today: Good Advice

You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20. Well in hindsight I would have had a much better plan for backing up my hard drive. My hard drive crashed :( Data is not recoverable :( The last time I backed up my data was December of last year. Parties I designed for my Etsy store...gone, pictures of my daughter's first birthday...gone. I am one sad panda.

Don't be like me, make sure you have a backup solution in place. My husband is a computer guy (he kept telling me to backup my data I just didn't listen), he works for Microsoft. The solution he recommended for me was a product like Carbonite.com which is an online backup service that runs about $60 per year, it will backup your data whenever your're online and store it in the cloud. By the way I am in no way being compensated for this post by Carbonite, I'm just telling you what my husband told me.

So, in the meantime while I work on getting a new hard drive, please standby!

What I Heart Today: Love Letter Designs and Kiki's List!

I've got a hot tip on a few great things today! I just discovered two great new blogs and one of them is doing a fun giveaway.

The first new blog is Style Temple, she has a great idea for design and runs a fabulous Etsy shop called Letter Love Designs. Look how fun some of her stuff is!

My second great find is Kiki's List who is hosting a giveaway from Letter Love Designs! I've got my eye on this beauty if I win.

Check them both out and enter the giveaway while you're there!

What I Heart Today: Rug Resources

I was chatting with a mom friend of mine last week about where to find great rugs when you have no free time to do it. I shared some really great online resources that I thought you might also enjoy. Here's where I look when I'm rug shopping.

Shades of Light (I just ordered this rug from them)

 

West Elm

Overstock

 

Calypso 

 

Urban Outfitters

These are just a few of my go to resources, and a few of my favorite picks. Are you trying to source a rug you've seen online? I'd be happy to help, email me (whatiheart@gmail.com) and I just might know where you can find it.

What I Heart Today: Living Room Update

It's official, my living room update has begun. But before I share my first update with you I wanted to share my living room before pictures with you (bear with me there's quite a few pics). Keep in mind one of the challenges in decorating is often times having to work with some of what you already have. For instance the couch and two chairs are staying whether I like it or not. The media console is definitely up  for replacement.

 

Just bought the "LOVE" print from Made By Girl

 

Well that's my living room in all it's mis-matched glory. Time to put the design smack down on it! I bring to you my first update, which I literally spent hours trying to decide on, two new pillows!

I think they look great. I also ordered this rug but unfortunately it's on backorder until 11/31!

 

Now to tackle two more pillows, window treatments, media console styling, a desk in place of our "bar," and something on the wall with the flat screen TV. And all before baby is born in January. I have my work cut out for me.

  

What I Heart Today: Painting

Just enjoying a little painting inside today on this rainy Monday. Hope you're having fun too!

What I Heart Today: Fall Inspiration

Just wanted to share a few images that are inspiring me to snuggle into fall.

 

(via)

 

(via)

 

(via)

 

(via)

What I Heart Today: More Shopping Finds

Just wanted to share a few more things I picked up yesterday on my shopping trip.

This is one of my favorite finds yesterday, great Dwell Studio pillow from Goodwill (don't worry I washed it as soon as I got it home).

 I also forgot all about the halloween decor I picked up at Pier 1. Aren't these spider webs cute? They're placemats that I got for $2.95 each but I hung them on my door.

I also picked up this cute little pumpkin (still working on the console vignette).

That's all my treasures from my shopping trip!

What I Heart Today: Successful Shopping Trip!

I did some fun shopping today without my little one in tow (which makes it that much more fun!). It was a pretty successful trip so I thought I'd share a few of my finds with you.

I just ordered these pillows off of etsy from KimoleyDeco:

 

and when I was at Joanne's today I found 18x18 pillow inserts on sale for 50% off, $12.49 each which I think is a total score.


While I was at Joanne's I browsed the home dec fabrics and found two really great prints in consideration of my daughter's big girl room:

 

The first fabric reminds me of something you'd see by Jonathan Adler, whom I absolutely love! The second fabric has me thinking about this great DIY headboard tutorial from Danielle Oakey Interiors:

 And last, but not least, I came across this great chair at Pier 1 for $269, unfortunately it didn't come home with me :(

What do you think?

What I Heart Today: Furniture Painting Tutorial by Mouse House Creations

Remeber my post last Christmas about these gorgeous wreaths I bought from Mouse House Creations on etsy?

Well Haley at Mouse House Creations has a great post today about how to paint furniture!

Go check it out.

What I Heart Today: Good Design - Lace in Home Decor

This week my good design post wasn't hard to come by, that is if you believe in majority rules.

Good design means something different to everybody, my personal design style is simple with pops of color and pattern. Alot of people prefer something more traditional, like a page out of the Pottery Barn catalog. But if you're a Pinterest user apparently this is the style you prefer:

This image, from the Roost blog by Marissa Waddell, is my single most repinned image and it still continues to be repinned daily. What do people love so much about this image? I think there's something really inviting about the way the photo was styled, it's not one of those sterile images from a home dec magazine of a room that looks like nobody lives in, this looks lived in. I also think the focal point in the room, the large lace art, is bold yet still soft and feminine and that's pretty hard to achieve with a piece that large and commanding. It doesn't hurt that the color scheme is simple and easy on the eyes.


I'd love to know, what do you think is so appealing about this image?

What I Heart Today: parties i heart

Check out the latest addition to my etsy store, printable chevron art!

What I Heart Today: Banquette Seating

Someday I'm going to gut my kitchen and start all over from scratch. And when I do you can bet there is going to be some form of banquette seating involved.

I heart banquette seating, there's something about it that's so inviting, it makes you want to sit and sip espresso for hours on end. I don't know about you but in my house our guests all inevitably end up in the kitchen, and we have one of the world's most uncomfortable kitchens (someday I may even share it so you can see what I mean). Right now we have a tall, oblong table with bar seating, but it is so uncomfortable and sterile feeling. This is what I'm dreaming about...

 

(via sketch42)

 

(via made by girl)

 

(via elledecor)

 But the two I love the most are these.

  

(via bhg)

 

(via palmer weiss)

For now there's no gutting of my kitchen in the near future. So you know what they say, fake it till you make it. I've thought of getting a round table and adding this settee.

 

(via urban outfitters - no longer available)

Oh and I would for sure pair it with this rug.

 

(via urban outfitters - no longer available)

Anyone else out there dreaming of banquette seating?

What I Heart Today: Lace

Have you noticed that lace seems to be a huge trend in design these days? Pinterest is totally awash in lace. Of course it's always been big in bridal, who can't help but swoon over a gorgeous lace dress?

 

(via Allure Bridals)

But more and more we're seeing it in mainstream fashion. It's usually a little too delicate for me to pull off but I might be able to rock these boots! The dress, definitely not now at 22 weeks pregnant. 

(via Pinterest)

 

(via Pirates Prevailing Taste) 

But what I'm really enjoying, and could totally pull off, is lace popping up in home decor.

 

(via Roost) 

It's also popping up in party design!

 

(via flickr)

 

(via weddingbee) 

What do you think? Does lace appeal to you?

What I Heart Today: Love

Just a little something I whipped up this weekend as a wedding gift for my cousin.

Happy Monday!

What I Heart Today: Good Design - Paiges of Style

I've been a blog follower of Paiges of Style for at least a year now. Paige and her family are just about the cutest thing ever. And her parties are to die for. Apparently she's also an interior designer (would love for her to feature some of her work on her blog). You've got to see her latest party featured on Hostess with the Mostess! She's even got a tutorial on her blog for how she made that adorable photo envelope liner. I'm definitely inspired.

What I Heart Today: Missoni for Target

...just wish I could actually get my hands on a piece of it. I was really hoping to get my hands on this scarf, but no such luck. Basically the entire line is sold out online and in stores.  Have you heard about the mayhem yet? The Missoni for Target line went on sale Tuesday morning and people were lined up outside the store waiting to snatch it all up.  And guess where a majority of it ended up? eBay. As of the writing of this post there were over 38,000 listings on eBay for Missoni for Target. I say boycott all those people who went to snatch it up only to sell it on eBay. Karma will come back around for them.