NumberNineteen

New Spring Pillows for the Living Room

This warm weather has put spring fever into my bones, making me think of bright colors, flowers and everything light and airy.  Even if it were to snow tomorrow, I think that I'm officially in spring mode and I won't be able to break free of it until summer!

I've been growing weary of my living room throw pillows.  I love cozy reds and beiges for fall, but I've had the same pillows since we moved in.  They are starting to look a little tired.  Or, maybe I'm just tired of them.  In any case, new spring pillows were in order!

I found the prettiest floral pillows at Target, which go perfectly with the blue gingham covers that I made a few summers ago. 

I really love how the flowers are embroidered to bring out their details.

I can't decide if I want to keep the monogrammed pillow on the sofa.  It's one of the original pillows and I'm torn between "I had it custom made!" and "I've been looking at it for 5 years".

While wandering around the web, I found these other gorgeous similar pillows:

This is the lighter version of the ones that I purchased.  I didn't see them in my Target, but they are available online.

Pottery Barn's appliqued pillow would look good into the summer...how about in a beach house?

Speaking of perfect beach house pillows, how about this coral pillow from Wayfair?

Or, this one from Joss and Main?

Back from my fantasy beach house to my real house, I really like this embroidered pillow from Wayfair.

Here is another one from Birch Lane that would be a great accent.

Window shopping from my couch is one of my favorite activities, if you couldn't tell. 

Stay tuned for my next post.  I finally have an "after" for one of the rooms that I've been working on forever!

New Lights in Our Kitchen - Ballard Designs

I'm so excited to share the latest addition to our house -- kitchen lighting!  We (Glenn) put up the lights last week and we can't get over how much they have changed the room.  The kitchen feels more complete, almost as if we had a plain dress previously and added the perfect necklace to finish the outfit.

 

We didn't have any fixtures put in by the builders when we built the house, as we weren't thrilled by any of their choices.  Instead, we asked that they install the wiring so that we could choose something to our liking down the road.  I searched & searched but couldn't find anything that I loved. Finally, about a year ago, I spied the Remington Chandeliers in the Ballard Designs Catalog.  

 

We are lucky enough to have a Ballard Designs store nearby, so when the time came to order the lights, we ordered them in person.  If you have a Ballard store in your area, I highly recommend a visit.  It was so nice to see things in person and get a better idea of size and texture. And, if you have your order shipped to the store, you don't have to pay shipping, which was a nice savings.

We are so pleased with our new lights.  They are perfect for our house -- the right size for our space and traditional without being formal.

Caught My Fancy -- February

Hey there! After a bit of a lull in writing I have a bunch of posts ready to go, but I really want to share a few things this weekend that are high on my list right now.  My fancy at the moment is all about spring and looking for the positive....

Penn State Dance Marathon - My hometown, my heart.  Penn State's dance marathon, known as THON, the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, is happening this weekend.  Students raise money all year, culminating in a 46 hour dance marathon, all of it benefiting children's cancer care and research.  Since it's inception, students have raised over $136 million for the kids.  Check it out and consider giving to this inspiring and wonderful cause.

 

Principal's Snow Day - This probably qualifies as teacher humor, but I cannot help myself from sharing.  Gerry Brooks is an elementary principal who posts the funniest YouTube videos about working in education.  My favorite is his "Bear Protection Products" video, but the snow day one seems particularly timely for February, even though we haven't had one single snow day this year.

Paper Source Garden Party Collection - Moving on to spring (if we aren't gonna get any snow days, we might as well just move on to spring)....When I opened my email from Paper Source earlier this week and saw their Garden Party collection, I thought "I want to live in this pretty papery world!"  Tea scented erasers! Paper Flowers! Garden Party Journals! I'll take one of each!

Loft's Spring Collection - I'm going to tell the truth, Loft's clothes haven't been thrilling me the past few seasons.  This spring, however, they are back!  I'm loving their florals and feminine details, especially the gorgeous blouses.  I don't need any clothes right now, but I may just have to pick up a few tops anyway ;)

I'll be back later this week with a few fun decorating tweaks that I've made recently!