Bedroom Benches

Hi friends,
Thanks for joining me today. How was your week? What are your plans for the weekend? We have all of the Brew Crew back together this weekend after pops traveling for work again this week. It's a pretty normal weekend for us with ballet/tap lessons, a birthday party, and church. We are looking forward to seeing some of Steve's relatives for dinner Saturday night.

Lately, I've been dreaming about how to spice up our bedroom. We have done a lot of work in there since we moved in but it's still not finished.

Steve and I stayed at a beautiful resort hotel recently that had a lovely linen bench at the end of the bed perfect for sitting on to put shoes on. When our room was 'turned down' while we were downstairs having dinner I noticed that the extra bed pillows were placed on the lower portion of the bench which I thought was a fantastic idea. It got me thinking about bedroom benches. I did a little online shopping for bedroom benches and haven't found one that I'm totally crazy about yet.

Here are some inspiration pics that I found online of bedroom benches. Do you like any of them?

The bench in our resort hotel was similar to this one:

I love, love, love this entire room! I think the French doors are awesome and the light fixture! Oh, if I could talk my husband into getting rid of our big brown ceiling fan! The colors are perfect!

 Is that a boat on the ceiling???

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com

Spring Clothes

Hi friends,
Thanks for joining me today. Maybe it's the warmish weather that we've had in the Raleigh area of North Carolina that has been getting me in the mood for spring. Maybe it's my desire to 'spice it up'. I've worn my winterish clothes now for a while- that's kinda a joke because it hasn't been cold here in North Carolina at all this season and I've been traveling to South Carolina for work (of course, it's even warmer there!). Any-hoo, maybe it's just me wanting some new clothes. Yeah, that's probably it! I have to share with you I used to have this dream that my father owned a department store and each morning before school I would go into the store to pick out my outfit for the day complete with shoes, jewerly, purse...you get the idea. Sounds pretty materialist, doesn't it? I know.

I was looking over my "Style" board on my Pinterest page and noticed that there's a direct connection between the clothes I like and the rooms I like. See if you agree:

How about for you? Do you notice a correlation between the clothes in your closet and the colors in your home?

Happy almost spring to you my friends.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com

It's time to spice it up!!!!

HI friends,
Thank you for joining me today. How is your week going?

Guess what? It's time to spice it up! I am so happy that I get to share my fourth and last rule for decorating today: Spice it up!!!! Anyone who knows me, I mean really knows me, knows that I like to spice it up! My kids know I like to spice it up! They say, "Mommy, can we spice up my room?" I am a person who gets energy from an envrionment that is different.

It's amazing how a simple, inexpensive change in my home can rejuvenate me. I spice it up frequently by:
-changing furniture arrangement in a room
-moving one piece of furniture or artwork or accessory to a different space
-swapping out pillows
-changing out a light fixture or adding a new light fixture to a room
-adding a new plant or accessory to a room

I can't express how much I love change! It inspires me. I know not everyone is like me. Some people really love constancy. They buy furniture they like, they hang up artwork, and they arrange their room and it stays that way for a long, long, long time. That's okay. Actually that's wonderful if that's what makes you happy. When I say it's time to spice it up it's for the people out there like me who feel rejuvenated taking a risk and spicing it up.

Honestly, some of my favorite decorating pieces have been pieces that I wasn't quite sure about and tried it out anyway and ended up loving it. That's what today's post is about: taking a risk, trying something, and maybe loving it. Why not? Give it a try. Swap out some artwork from one room to another. Rearrange the furniture in a room. Buy some new pillows for your favorite room. Get a new small rug for your entryway. Repurpose a piece of furniture by recovering it or repainting it. I can't wait to hear what you decide to do. Go for it!

Here are some of my favorite pinnings from http://www.pinterest.com/ that are inspiring me to spice it up:

Love the sweet bench at the end of the bed:

Love the seahorse picture and the rattan blue painted chairs:

Love the colors and open shelves:

Love the mix of wood finishes:

Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com