Sneak Peek at the Southern Living Idea House

More of this match made in heaven ~ Southern Living and Ballard Designs. :)

Don't you love checking your inbox and finding surprises?  I was so excited to have emails from both Ballard Designs and Southern Living about their partnership in the Horseshoe Bay Idea House.  Southernliving.com is featuring 101 design ideas from this gorgeous home, along with more videos:

http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/idea-houses/idea-house-kitchen-00417000074824/

So everyone take a peek!  Can't wait to hear your thoughts and favorite ideas and features from the 2011 Southern Living Idea House. :)  Happy looking!



Match Made in Heaven

Just back from travelling and now I've got to catch up, but first I gotta share this good news! I don't know about you, but when I heard that Ballard Designs was teaming up with Southern Living magazine to decorate the 2011 Idea House it was like hearing that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged!  I've been a Southern Living girl my entire life and a Ballards Designs stalker (and outlet shopper) for most of my adult life.  To me this is an entirely logical (and exciting) partnership.

This year's Idea House is located in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, a gorgeous lake front community in the Hill Country. If you've never been to this part of Texas, you're missing out... book your trip asap!  In the meantime, we'll all be poring over and dog-earring the pages of the Idea House, right?

Because I'm a floor plan lover:


Look at all the courtyards!

Southernliving.com has some peeks at the construction process. Loving the use of salvaged wood in this house... seen on the dining room ceiling here.


Click over there to check it out if you haven't received your SL issue yet... the blue doors are divine!

AND, you can shop all the fabulous Ballards pieces they used in the Idea House HERE
.
Like...


This yummy Suzanne Kasler Seaglass lamp (did I mention I heart her?).  And...




This delish Ogden Mirror...  love the dreamy ocean blue. And...




This gorgeous and versatile Padova Accent Table (she's on my wish list!).  And...




These sweet little Bird Giclees (set of 6).  I'd love these for my family room Lighten and Brighten project!

Okay, but before you get to shopping, how about a $10,000 room makeover from Southern Living and Ballards Designs?   Click HERE for the details... in addition to the room makeover, you can win a trip to see the 2011 Idea House! I know I'm entering!  Now, should it be the master bedroom, the dining room, master bath....?

Happy Decorating, Idea House Drooling, and Sweepstakes Entering. :)  You're welcome!

My Purple Room {Home Office Update}

I've searched high and low for an image of the inspiration room for my purple home office.  I don't know where mine got off to, but it certainly wasn't digital!  It dates back to the '90s when I visited one of the Southern Living Idea Houses with my mother... the year was 1995, because I remember leaving two babies at home with dad and grandad while Mom and I went galavanting around Georgia on a girls' outing. :)  Funny how you file memories away like that...how old the kids were, what your hairstyle was, even what outfit you were wearing.  Anyway, I digress! 

The room in this particular Idea House-- Crabapple Cottage in Alpharetta, GA-- was a mudroom/laundry room:  transitional space between the home office and kitchen with laundry facilities, storage, hooks, even a door to the back deck. 

John Tee, Architect, exclusively for Southern Living

See it tucked in there, between the office and kitchen?  In this case, it also had beautiful brick flooring and vibrant purple walls.  I was sold.  I knew I wanted a purple room.  My mom was tickled, remembering how purple had always been my favorite color... back to kindergarten when I had this marvelous purple dress with smocking that I wore for picture day.  I vowed that someday I would have a purple room like that one.

Fast forward to 1999 when I bought my current home.  There was an wonderful large space off the kitchen with a huge bay window that was called the dining room.  My first project in my new home was to paint this room a vibrant purple.  I had saved my issue of Southern Living magazine and spent hours with various paint chips, trying to approximate that fabulous color.  I think I got pretty darn close with a Behr Paint called Crowning (regal-sounding isn't it?). This room was flooded with light for most of the day and I knew I could get away with that saturated color without closing in the space.  The extensive white moulding in the room made it even more possible.

Flash forward another five years and I realized that my favorite room in the house was also the least used and enjoyed room in the house.  We simply didn't use a dining room-- at least not often.  So I made the radical decision to make that space my home office/study and move the dining room into was a little-used front living/music room.  A couple of factors in my decision to flip flop the spaces:

• My purple room with the bay window got the best light of any room in the house, with it's southern exposure and big windows.  I wanted to spend time in this lovely space, but I still had things to accomplish-- a household to run, bills to pay, etc.
• Its location right off the kitchen would keep me in ear-shot of my young kids, who were either in the family room, kitchen, or down in our basement playroom.  I could be in there working and still be in touch.

Home office now... I know-- it's a mess!

I didn't want to be confined to the traditional definition and location of spaces in my house.  I wanted my house to work for me.  Since then, my home office has become our hub.  I work there, write there, read there, run the household from there, and relax there.  My husband and children work and do homework and projects there -- even escape there themselves to watch a favorite tv show from time to time.  What was once the LEAST used space in the house is now the MOST used space in the house.

With regards to my precious purple on the walls, it has stood the test of time.  While my friends and family thought I was bold, capricious, and a little nutty in my choice of wall color, I love it as much today as I did 12 years ago.  Even if the decor and furnishings need some updating, my purple choice has stood the test of time.

Choose colors you love, that speak to you, and don't listen to the nay-sayers when you do.  It's your space, your home-- you should love the space you're in.
Don't let traditional designations of space in your home hem you in. Think about how you and your family will most use the space and make those rooms function accordingly.

Just another example of making our home our personal sanctuary, blazed with our individuality. 

How about you?  Have you repurposed a room to work better for your family?  Or have you bucked the trends and gone with a "crazy" color on your walls that you love?

Don't forget to enter the first Mondays in March giveaway HERE.  You could be the lucky winner of this beauty.

Happy Decorating!

Holiday Decorating Tip: Including the Kitchen Sink

Christmas with Southern Living 2009

Another winner... this easy-to-do garland of little packages across your kitchen window!  I think this would be just as cute across a powder room mirror or the headboard on your guest room bed.  Here's how:  small boxes wrapped in scraps of your gift wrap (maybe even a few decorative gift bags) and attached to twine or heavy ribbon. Use each package's ribbon to attach or hot glue. Festive, easy, and budget friendly, too!

Holiday Decorating Tip: Advent Garland

Christmas with Southern Living 2007

I can't resist this wonderful idea, so even though we are three days into Advent, I had to share!   Get your kids to help you snip scraps of giftwrap or holiday cards from last year and glue onto little gift bags.  I always save little bags throughout the year (you never know!), but you can purchase them inexpensively in bulk from your craft or discount store.  Each bag will be numbered (1-25, or 24 depending upon your tradition), filled with a small treat or surprise (candy, a small ornament, a coupon for dessert before dinner, a crazy straw-- you get the idea), and attached to a length of twine.  You can use ribbon or clothespins to attach them.

detail, Advent Garland

Great idea for a kitchen or breakfast room, or even a casual family room.  Happy Decorating!!

Holiday Decor Tip: Packages on the Porch

2009 Christmas with Southern Living

Your front porch is the gateway to your home, so during the holidays don't neglect to decorate it, too!  I love the idea of stacks of wrapped packages on a covered porch.  Choose empty boxes in a few different sizes and wrap with coordinating or complementary papers and large ribbon.  Notice here that only the top package has a big bow.  Use them as pedestals for smaller lanterns (using flame less pillars of course), or nestled among your planters. 

Coming soon:  A tutorial on how to make a moss-covered package-- one of my favorite, super easy decorating touches for the porch.

If you're keen on the lanterns pictured here (and who wouldn't be!), the red one can be found at jeremiecorp.com and the dark metal lanterns are from Pottery Barn.

Great look!!

Countdown to Halloween...

Are you into Halloween decor?  Do you stretch spider webs across your shrubbery and use jack o'lantern lawn bags?  Are there mummies or tombstones in your yard?  What about inside?  Bats hanging from your chandelier?

I confess, I'm a mimimalist when it comes to Halloween decor... a nod here and there to the occasion is all you'll find at my home.  But I love to decorate FALL.  I shared a few ideas for outdoor decor with pumpkins last week, so here are a few inspirations for using pumpkins for your entertaining needs and indoor decor.  Feel free to add a spider or two if necessary. :)

Images from BHG.com, Southern Living, Willow House, and about.com

October Outdoors

I couldn't resist sharing all these wonderful ideas for decorating your outdoor areas with pumpkins.  If these images don't inspire you, you need a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice latte, a sunny but chilly autumn day, and a sprinkling of fairy decorating dust (although the latte alone may do it!).  Enjoy and then go load up on some pumpkins!

Photos from Southern Living, Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens

Transition Your Containers

September is looming and it's just a tad cooler outside.  Just a tad.  I realized this weekend that the containers on my back deck that I so lovingly planted and watered at the end of spring really took a beating this summer in the 95+ degree heat (for weeks on end) and my own shameful neglect.  But my budget is stretched from back-to-school, and it's too early for pansies, so what's a girl to do?  Start researching how to rejuvenate those sad, sad pots.

I hit the jackpot on southernliving.com with these beautiful and inspiring images and easy tips to take my back deck from dried-up drab to dazzling for the next several weeks.  I'll post some of my own photos from my container makeover in the next couple of weeks, so you can hold me accountable!

Pull out your tired summer annuals and replace them with late blooming perennials, such as Mexican sage bush.  Your replacement plants should be large and mature since we're out of growing time for this year.  Make sure you add a variety of textures and colors.  Suggested plants include ornamental peppers, mums, crotons, lambs ear, and creeping fig.  Consider adding a small shrub into a large container, especially if you can transplant it into your landscaping later on.

When you're planting your container, start with the tallest plants in the center, mid-size plants around that one, and finish off with a trailing plant at the outer edge.  Containers with a collection of several different plants should be the focal point in any grouping.  Sound it with smaller containers filled with one plant selection to avoid "busy-ness."  To keep your look cohesive, use pots that are consistent in type (such as terra cotta) but varied in size.

I'll be working on my own after Labor Day and am envisioning Indian summer evenings surrounded by beauty.

Photos by Ellen Ruoff Riley for Southern Living.

Blueberry "Delish"

Hello, friends! I'm still catching up after being in Texas visiting family and friends.  We had a great time and I'll share a few things from our trip soon, but in the meantime I'm reposting this blueberry salsa recipe from last summer, so I hope you don't mind.  Try it out and leave me a comment letting me know what you think.  It's a favorite of ours and the blueberries look awesome right now!

If you are an avid Southern Living reader, you have probably seen this Blueberry Salsa recipe before (it's been around a long time!), but I decided to share it today, as it's a tried and true favorite in my household and at my parties.  Plus, with blueberries at the height of their season, this is an economical crowd pleaser to whip up for your next gathering. Try it with chips or as a garnish for fresh fish off the grill.  Your guests will envy your gourmet taste and prowess!

Enjoy this sweet summertime taste!

Blueberry Salsa

2 cups fresh blueberries, coarsely chopped

1 cup whole fresh blueberries

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

2 jalepeno peppers, seeded and minced

1/3 cup diced red bell pepper

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl.  Serve immediately or cover and chill up to 8 hours.**

**I prefer this chilled, when all the flavors have had time to mingle!

Recipe from Southern Living, July 2010 (most recently).  Click here to view other fabulous blueberry recipes!

Photo by Beth Dreiling Hontzas

Hydrangea Heaven

This summer is the first in several years that my hydrangeas actually bloomed.  I suppose years of the South's drought kept them in hiding, even though I managed to keep the foliage alive.  But the right amount of water and dappled sunlight revived them-- blooms and all-- late this spring.  I had almost forgotten how much I adore their delicate colorful showpieces!  I clipped several along the way to brighten my kitchen island or powder room sink.  I sadly clipped the last seasonal bloom last week.  Our heat wave has taken it's toll and no matter how hard my soaker hoses are working, even their leaves are wilted by the day's end.  I'm wishing I had photographed them while they were blooming, but I naively thought it would go on and on.  So for my homage to hydrangeas post today, Southern Living comes through with these beautiful images.  Click here to see more images and instructions on how to root and share your treasures.

What's your favorite summertime flower?

Nikko blue...I love the sculpture nestled among the blooms.

Tokyo Delight... the contrasting petal shapes, sizes, and colors, all in one bloom fascinate me!

Photos by Joseph De Sciose

Bubbling Over

I love a good glass of champange.  There's something so festive about popping the cork, the shape of the glass, the bubbles, it just screams "CELEBRATE!"  While I love drinking it by itself, I also enjoy a good champagne cocktail.  Check out this inspired champagne infusion bar from Jenna over at EAT DRINK PRETTY... I love the idea of the party guests mixing their own cocktail-- bellinis, mimosas, etc.

A few tidbits to keep in mind about champagne:

• 
  
  One bottle will yield about 5 average size servings.
• 
  
  The best champagne for mixing would be a Simple Brut, which is dry with little to no sweetness (the sweet will come from your mixer).
• 
  
  Extra Dry is not dry-- it is the sweetest of the champagne family.

Doesn't this Sparkling Champagne Punch look refreshing? 

1 12-oz can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed.

4 cups white cranberry juice cocktail

1 750-ml bottle Brut champagne (try Extra Dry if you prefer a sweeter taste)

Garnish: fresh mint sprigs

Stir together lemonade concentrate and cranberry juice cocktail in a large pitcher.  Cover and chill at least one hour or up to 24 hours.  Stir in chilled champagne just before serving.  Garnish if desired.  Yields about 9 cups.  Note:  you can substitute club soda for a non-alcoholic version.

From Southern Living, June 2008.  Photo by Jennifer Davick.

For more champagne cocktail recipes, head over to thatsthespirit.com.

Cheers!

Red, White, and Blue

To get you in the Independence Day spirit...

Beach Bags over at Cottage Coastal Store

Festive dessert-- layer sorbet and vanilla ice cream, garnish with blueberries

Patriotic porch-- photo by Laurey Glenn at Southern Living

Colorful centerpiece-- photo by Robbie Caponetto at My Home Ideas

Tip of the Week: Take It Outside!

Before it gets too hot, dine al fresco with your family!  You don't need a special occasion to set a pretty table outdoors.  Use a potted plant or two as your centerpiece and pull out the stops:  placemats, napkins, glassware (or deckware).  Pieces you already own will take on new life in an outdoor setting!  Mix and match your dinnerware to have some fun, but keep it simple so you can enjoy the scenery and the company. As you see here,  House Beautiful showcases lovely table settings in the great outdoors, as does Southern Living.  Visit their websites for simple inspiration without spending a dime.  Light a few citronella candles to keep unwanted guests at bay and enjoy your new dining space!

Tip of the Week: Get Your Yard Party-Ready!

Now that the weather is warmer and the pollen season is winding down, we all look forward to outdoor entertaining.  But how do you get your yard to go from drab to fab for your festivities?  SouthernLiving.com has some excellent suggestions to accomplish just that.  Need instant color?  Purchase packs of annuals, set them in your flowerbed and mulch or pinestraw directly around the container.  Once your party is over, you can pot or plant them properly.  Guests using your rear or side entrance?  Clean it up with fresh pea gravel around the stoop and add a small simple seating area to make it more inviting.  No room for chairs or a bench?  How about a good size container with trailing ivy and some bright annuals.  I also suggest myhomeideas.com.  They provide a project calculator and other tools to keep you on track. Check out these ideas and more before you hit the nursery and home improvement center!
Outdoor - Home Makeovers - Photos - SouthernLiving.com