Our Lovely Home II

{Inspiration: Modern Gray + Texture}

Jen of Jen Loves Kev, posted the most unbeleiveable update of her bedroom. She actually drew the tree pattern, projected it and traced over with paint. I'm not sure if I'll have time to go this far, but I've seen some lovely wall decals that might achieve the same effect. What I love about this room is that a lot of the furniture and deco items are similar to mine (yay Ikea). She has a rather nice, neutral textured room with little pops of color.

I have two different duvets that I primarily use - both are white - one has little green flower embroidery. I like to keep my duvet simple so I can change up the bedding look with different cushion covers & sheets. For paint, as with the master bath, I will use Gray Expose. If I end up painting the tree detail, I'll use Downsprout.

Our Lovely Home I

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, we are in escrow for our very first home! It has been an exhaustively difficult process, purchasing a short sale home in an economy & real estate market that is unprecedentedly bad. We are due to close any day now, which makes deciding paint & flooring a priority. I more or less know what I want to do with most of the house, but I was rather stumped on the master bed & bath.

{Inspiration: Nature + Home Spa}

I love gray as a modern neutral. Bamboo, rocks & plants are a great way to bring the relaxation of the outdoors, indoors. Plus making the bathroom more 'spa-like' adds a luxurious feel to the everyday.

We plan to eventually redo the bathroom cabinets & hardware, but for now we'll have to live with the beechwood cabinets. I wanted to create a color palette that works for now & later. My current bathroom furnishings are chocolate brown bath rugs, white waffle weave towels and bamboo & glass accessories. I plan to remove the giant half wall mirror & replace with two small mirrored wall cabinets - one for each of us. One of my pet-peeves is having a cluttered bathroom counter, so underneath the wall mirrors, I want to install a 4 inch glass ledge for all my perfume bottles and smaller items. As far as paint goes, I want to do Gray Expose as the main color in our bedroom, which flows into the bathroom. Then, for the wall with the mirrors, use Sassy Green. The Fired Earth color is the color of my bath rugs (I couldn't find a picture online). We'll probably do some sort of neutral off-white tile as well.

More chalkboard love

I'm seeing chalkboards everywhere now. It's so beautifully vintage, I just love it. Such an interesting way to incorporate the shade of black into the wedding color palette. This clever bride used chalkboards as a table centerpiece. Looks so pretty with the mossy greens.

image from Style Me Pretty

image from Rowan's Room

Lovely table notes adorned with ribbon

image from Olive Rue

Chalk tags with twine - cool idea for place cards

image from Pretty Pretty Paper

I love how images & gorgeous calligraphy is used on this rustic chalkboard. Elegant.

Something blue

I've been on the fence for months over whether to purchase a beautiful bridal bag from etsy, use the silver beaded bag I found at Kohls or just use an existing clutch from my extensive handbag collection. Although the Kohls bag was a steal at just $15, it had the same problem the other white bridal clutches had - not enough color statement. I'm basically in head-to-toe white, so I feel like I need some color. Plus, a lot of the etsy seller bags range from $60-$90 and at this point I'm not sure if I want to spend that much for a bag.

{Bridal Clutch}

I found this rather regal looking clutch on ebay - for $15 including shipping. It's weird, I haven't purchased anything from ebay in years. It's royal blue pleated satin. I hope it's as beatiful in person as in the pictures. It reminds me of Rose's blue velvet dress from the film Titanic. It has a vintage feel & I love the color!

Silent movie

image from Kiss the Groom

I love signs in photographs. They remind me of a silent movie, playing out in front of you.

Dance like you mean it

For our grand entrance into the reception, I'm thinking some sort of fun dance entrance might be in order - incorporating our wedding party like in this video. They look like they are having so much fun.

Inspiration board contest

Style Me Pretty is having an inspiration board contest based on wedding dress designer's 2009 collections. The challenge was to pick one dress and design a wedding around it. I choose this lovely dress from Vera Wang.

This dress is very whimsical & enchanting. I recently watched the teaser trailer for Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, so I thought it would be fun to do a modern & classy wedding take on the Alice theme.

{Modern Alice Wedding Theme} entry by me. click image for details.

Rustic cake stand

{DIY Rustic Cake Stand}

This could be very cool. My pretty cupcakes all lined up on a natural pedestal. Instructions via Once Wed.

Lovely afterthoughts

In the process of planning a wedding, you make a lot of choices. There is so much inspiration out there, that it's easy to get overwhelmed by very simple choices. Like my fiance said, "None of these things are going to alter our experience of the day." That's what I'd expect a guy to say. Nevertheless, I love the details I've selected thus far, but I still feel the need to share recent things I've come across. Because these would have worked too. And for those of you who follow because you like what I have done, it's just more inspiration to draw upon.

source: Oh So Beautiful Paper

A mix of modern & vintage art deco design. Kind of like me. I love old & new. In my invite design process, I also found that this same lovely gray hue was the perfect accent color to the vivid chartreuse green.

source unknown

My MOH sent me this cake photo. If I were having cake, this is a pretty impressive one. I some how captures my whole color scheme. The perfect olive shade with various black & white textures and patterns.

Gifts

{Project: Crafted Vintage Bracelet} inspiration: brass & pearl bracelet with charms

Making jewelry out of vintage bits & baubles is my new favorite hobby. It's almost like putting together a puzzle. Plus, it's an affordable way to create one of a kind gifts. All of these pieces cost about $40, including shipping.

These are the components that I ordered from various etsy sellers to make bracelets for my flower girls. I plan to deconstruct the vintage bracelet, using various strands in conjunction with the antique brass links. I will finish off with the bow charm & olive Czech glass stones.

For my bridesmaids bracelets, I will do the same with the pearls and ornate brass chain. The charm will be these beautiful patterned bows and dangling cabochon locket.

Chalkboards

I've seen a lot of weddings lately, particularly the rustic/vintage-themed type, use mini chalkboards in conjunction with other table decor. I'm thinking of placing a mini chalkboard next to the escort cards that says "Take a seat". One thing - chalk sure is hard to find in the store these days. I guess it truly is vintage.

Getting glam

{Hair & Makeup Trials}

Ugh. Okay. Not really what I envisioned, but it was okay... until about half an hour later, one by one, the bobby pins starting falling out. By the time I got home, the curls were frizzy, flat and falling out. To quote my fiance "It's kind of a mess." But this is good. I know what I don't want. That's the point of a trial.

side view

rear view

Plus, the instability of my hair just made me want to take it apart- which has me thinking... maybe I should just wear my hair down. A slightly fancier version of my daily style. Once I took all the pins out, I played around with my hair clip and veil, just to see how it looks. Honestly, I like it. But I still have some time to make up my mind.

My makeup however, looked awesome. I told the MAC artist all the things I don't like (black eyeliner, rosy colored shadows, liner under the full eye) and he did all of those things to my face! Strangely, I loved how the colors photographed. I wanted something that looked natural & dewy - a look that would emphasize my features instead of cover them up with too much make-up. Although, don't let the "natural look" fool you. I'm actually wearing A LOT of makeup. So much that my fiance was a little surprised when he saw me.

I even had him apply false lashes. I'm officially addicted. I just love how they photograph.

Fun

image source

Such a fun, adorable idea - a constructed photo booth wallpapered and framed. I bet guests had a ball posing for pictures this way.

The future

We are supposed to close on the house this week. It's strange, I've been in 'wedding mode' for so many months now and suddenly I've been bombarded with new home decorating decisions. We need to replace the carpet and paint first thing. It's hard to decide which flooring and paint you want to live with for several years in just one week. But blogging about stuff helps me think, so perhaps this blog might have some posts in its future about two people in love, decorating a home together. Also, I saw this just now. I'm seeing my life in 3 years. At home, with a child. Freelance editing and blogging for a living from home. Sounds good.

Bow ties

I love bow ties on little boys. I think our ring bearer would look adorable in one of these darling designs - made specifically for boys ages 3-12.

bow ties from Me and Matilda

Illuminated

{Firefly Lantern}

Such a cute idea. A rustic pomander kissing ball filled with LED lights. Since I'm having 2 flower girls, I could give one of them a traditional flower petal basket & the other this pretty orb.

Accepted

So, I think we're buying a house. This house. The 2 banks that owned the home finally accepted our offer and my fiance met with the realtor & the home inspector today. It's very exciting, but at the same time, all very grown-up. I know that the offer being accepted is only the first step in a series of steps that will be taking place very soon - paperwork, new floors, paint, moving in. It's crazy. I feel like all these changes are ushering us into a new chapter in our lives, and honestly I love that we're doing it together.

The invitation

{The Invitation}

Here is the completed invite. I've assembled 28 so far - just 32 more to go! I also made address labels. Since my envelopes are black, I pretty much have to affix an address label. I wanted something elegant, so I converted the microsoft word label template to a photoshop document & added the damask border.

Flat Card Tutorial Supplies: Flat cards (6 1/2 x 5") Double-sided adhesive tabs 1 1/2" wide ribbon, cut into 9 1/2" long strips accent ribbon cut into 13" long strips box cutter or rotary cutter cutting surface (I used a magazine)

Using your box cutter or rotary slicer, cut (2) 1 1/2" slits in your flat card (top & bottom). Designate one of these cards as a 'template' so you can reproduce with ease.

Thread the wide ribbon through the slits

Apply two adhesive tabs on one edge of ribbon & firmly press to the back of the flat card. Repeat for the second edge. The two edges of ribbon should overlap.

Thread the accent ribbon through the slits. Finish with a bow.

Lined Envelope Tutorial

Supplies:

8 1/2 x 8 1/2" embellishment paper Double-sided adhesive tabs paper slicer

Use a contrast color piece of card stock. Place your envelope over it & trace around the edges. Subtract about 1/4" from the edge & trim your card stock with the paper slicer. This will serve as your template. Place the template over the backside of the embellishment paper & trace the edges of the template.

Use the paper slicer to trim the embellishment paper according to the trace lines. Insert the liner into the envelope & fold the liner to match the crease of the envelope. Affix 3 adhesive tabs (left-right-center) to the top of the liner & firmly press the top of the envelope to it.

The programs

{CD Ceremony Program}

I've been very busy embossing the covers of the paperboard CD booklets. I'm not going to sugar coat - this project is very time consuming. But I feel that it's worth it and honestly, I like doing arts & crafts. I embossed using black stamp ink, clear embossing power & my custom rubber stamp found here. I finished it off with olive seam binding ribbon from Caramelos

Inside insert. Printed on clear vellum paper - Love, acoustic poem

Ceremony program insert. Parent's names & wedding party inserts printed on white paper

CD song list printed on vellum paper

We haven't finalized the list, but this is the starting point

New favorites

My photographer just posted some new goodies on his blog of a vintage-inspired wedding shoot. Loving these images:

All images by Ryan Bethke Photography

see more from this wedding here

Love is sweet

{The Great Favor Debate}

Ugh. I really need to stop reading other wedding blogs because I keep seeing all these super cute ideas. I am really loving these hand stamped muslin pockets for favor bags.

Plus, they are inexpensive & you can customize with your own stamp as I've done here:

If I do the muslin bags, I think it would be cute to stuff them with chocolate covered orange sticks. Our venue in Redlands used to be an orange packing building, so I think this would be a cute way to add a touch of detail & history.

Or, if I stick with my original black & white little favor bags...

I could stuff them with these customized M&Ms. You can add your own text & pick your own colors (they even have my colors). Although they are a bit pricey - 7oz for $7 or 5lbs for $58.