Newly Painted 'Beach House'

Hi friends,
Thanks for joining me today. How was your week? What are your plans this weekend? Any special plans for Mother's Day? Last weekend: We had a successful Barbie Birthday Bash for Bryce's 6th birthday. She had a great time and I think her girlfriends did too. I actually had fun too! We had a wonderfully cool time at the North Carolina Zoo. This week was spent running errands, doctor's appointments, and dentist too. Not very exciting but real life stuff.

I am very excited to share my newly painted home office with you. My husband finished painting the ceiling last weekend. We chose a blue Valspar paint called 'Beach House'. It's a really soft pretty blue. It has really changed the whole vibe of the room to a much more brighter, calmer, bigger space. No more coffee brown paint in there. I love the change! See what you think.

Before:

After:

 Here are more photos of my current 'in progress' home office:

Honestly, I did tidy up my office a bit before snapping these pictures to share with you today but it's still very much a working space:

A few more shots to share:

I also took down the old curtains that I had personalized with a stripe of green and blue fabric and just added one new inexpensive panel curtain that is all white from Target. I need to purchase another panel curtain for the other side of the window. The Target that I visited only had one. I really LOVE how the curtain is pooling on the floor. What a difference from the old Ikea curtains I had in there that were about 5 inches too short. I think with the curtain pooling on the floor creates a breezy luxuirous mood. Don't you?

Here's the break-down of what I've done in my home office since we moved in a year ago:

1. Replaced the old dining room ornate bronze light to a white basket light from Ikea (on sale too). I sold the old light on Craig's List.

2. Added an inexpensive white cotton rug also from Ikea that I painted blue and green stripes down the middle.

3. Added the fabric underneath the plastic topper on my desk to add some interest. It was left over fabric from the pillow in the room and I used it to cover the two stools in the room.



Here's what is left to do:

1. Purchase another white panel curtain from Target (less than $20).

2. Considering painting wide blue stripes on the white panel curtains with chalk paint to create a beachy vibe.

3. Add more art work to the room. I am thinking about two big pieces to flank the white shelf piece.

4. Do something with this fabric called Cotillion Seabreeze Stripe that I just ordered a swatch from Calico Corners:

I have to admit, I love working in my home office. My favorite part about this space is the huge window that faces our front yard. I made certain not to cover an inch of it with the curtains because I love the natural light streaming in. I also love the colors of blue and green in the room, especially the fun pops of bright green. I haven't regretted for one minute that we have given up our dining room so I can have a home office. I simply love it!

Thanks for joining me today friends. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. My daughter and I will travel to Virginia to spend the weekend with my mom and dad for Mother's Day. My husband and son will travel to Charlotte, NC to spend the weeekend with his momma. I got my Mother's Day present early, tickets for my daughter and I to see the musical Wicked over Memorial Day weekend. We both can't wait! It'll be my third time seeing this wonderful musical (the first time being in NYC and the second time we won front row seats to the show in Philly). I've been playing the music for my daughter so that she is familiar with it. She loves The Wizard of Oz movie so hopefully that will translate well. Her first musical was two years ago seeing Mary Poppins with my mom and I. I hope to share my love of musicals with my children. It's definitely a love that my mom inspired in me.

Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com

Current Projects

Hi friends,
How are you? How was your week? What are your plans for the weekend? We have a Barbie Birthday Bash for our almost 6 year old, going out to eat (which is a huge treat after our week and a half of family dinners) and church. We are thinking about heading to the NC Zoo too. That's a weekend that I am looking forward to.

I wanted to share some current projects that are 'Under Construction' in the Brewer household:

1. New Paint Job: My home office is currently getting painted. The tray ceiling is left to tackle- the first level will be white and the tippy top will be blue. Don't you think my painter is doing an awesome job? (Thanks Honey!) It's going from a dark coffee to a blue called 'Beach House'. (I'll do a post about it and share it with you later when it's completed.)

2. New Curtains: Because my home office is looking so amazing so far with it's new paint job I am inspired to get some new curtains for this room. The current grommet curtains were simple white curtains purchased at Ikea and I sewed a strip of striped green and blue fabric along the edges to personalize them years ago. I have a new fabric swatch coming in the mail from Calico Corners (we don't have one near us in Raleigh, NC) that I am considering. Maybe I will sew some new curtains or possibly paint stripes on white curtains. What do you think?

Inspiration curtains-

3. Wide Stripes: I am really digging wide stripes right now. I just scored this fun gold stripe pillow for our family room. I have two more on backorder in a different color coming next month from Pottery Barn. Can't wait to get them and share them with you. They are super casual and have a beach house vibe to them.

4. Magnetic Chalkboard: My son's room was recently painted by my painter (hubby Steve) Valspar's Shark Loop (we love this shade of blue...it the same blueish gray paint that we have in our master bedroom and bathroom). Steve is adding a magnetic chalkboard to one of Brayden's walls. I can't wait to have it completed and share it with you. I think Brayden will love using it for years to come. The magnetic chalkboard will be on this blank wall:

Well, I think those are our most pressing current decorating projects. I still want to purchase a new coral white chandelier for our bedroom and soft porcelain blue panel curtains for in there too. Plus our laundry room needs some TLC but that will have to happen later. Also, our daughter keeps reminding us that we promised to 'Spice Up' her room. We're also considering having our dark wood kitchen cabinets painted a creamy white by a professional sometime in the future (we are too scared to tackle this one ourselves). But all these projects take time and money so for now they'll have to wait.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Happy decorating & living,
Megan
megan@cottagebluedesigns.com

New signs

Hi friends,
I wanted to share with you today a hallway that has been very neglected in our house. Our hallway on the main floor off of the garage that leads to our guest room and guest bath (right off of the kitchen) needed some help. I found two fun very inexpensive signs at Marshalls over the weekend that I just added to the hallway. I am liking the way the colors (black and white) play off of some the artwork we have nearby. I also like what the signs say. Plus, having a 4 and almost 6 year old in the house, we're supporting their reading skills. Bonus!

See what you think:

Here are some other signs that I found on Pinterest which I really love too:

Take care everyone. I hope you are well. Thanks for joining me today. It's a gorgeous day in Cary, North Carolina today, I need to get outisde now and get some fresh air and sunshine!

Happy decorating & living,
Megan