Mimosa In Aqua

What a Beauty! Even more the reason to love Z-Gallerie!

I love Craigslist

I got this nostalgic American farm table and four ladder-back chairs with woven cane seats for $25 on craigslist. It needs some TLC.

I got this about a year ago because I wanted to take it on as a DIY project. Its the only thing beside my BBQ grill sitting on my back porch. Here is my inspiration:



(via)



When I think of the outdoor living space, I want it to be an extension of your home interior. But I want to think of this as a vacation retreat at home.



House Beautiful

Colors that come to mind are turquoises and yellows. I have always adored this Jonathan Adler mid century dining room. The yellow painted Chinese Chippendale chairs are like sunshine. It makes me happy.



Off White



Blossom Yellow

 So my plan is to do a distressed finish on the table in a off white and yellow for the chairs. The off white shown above is Farrow & Ball's Pointing and the yellow is Forsythia Blossom. I am going to take the existing woven cane off and have it redone after its painted.

Tonic Living

I love this P Kaufman fabric called Tempo Mambo. Doesn't the name just say retreat!?!?! I would like to make a seat pillow with this fabric. 

Paint Strokes

I used to paint all the time. I love painting, but I can never find the time to put myself into that mindset because I can loose myself in time and phase everything out. Here is some canvas art I dug up after cleaning out a few things from the garage.

For me the human body is so dynamic and so beautiful. Especially a women. She is nurturing and sensual. She wears her heart on her sleeve.  She is able to love blindly. She gives all of herself to everything that she loves and does not hold anything back. The color of her heart sets the mood for the rest of her surroundings around her. Her beauty is more than skin deep. Her eyes do not lie.

Savvy Shopper: Apples to Apples?

Being a savvy shopper means you have to compare apples to apples. I do not want  to pay a penny more then I have to. The Internet serves as instant gratification for me because I can shop all kinds of different retailers right at my fingertips.

For me its price then style. I want to see how much I can save. See how the stats line up on similar items like these:   

 

Don't forget to find any coupons or codes before you make a final purchase. Happy Savvy Shopping!

Wish Shopping

I am claiming right now that some how some way these wish lists will become my reality!

When I am wish shopping...I appreciate Z-Gallerie’s furniture because it has the perfect balance of classic, modern, and glamour. Their accessories sparkle and are bold with trendy colors. They carry the best art hands down! Their website’s homepage is always enticing and comfortable. I always want to jump right in. Most of this represents my Z-gallerie favorites:

When I am wish shopping...I appreciate West Elm especially for their easy living look. The catalogs represent a lifestyle that is rustic, organic, and practical. Their bedding and rug collections are one of my favorites! Most of this represents my West Elm favorites:

I am claiming again that some how some way these wish lists will become my reality! I find that repetition is a good practice. Smiles, hugs and kisses!

What's My Personal Style?

My personal style is a mix between modern, rustic, and glamour. I am more attracted to the comfortable side of modern with classic appeal. Natural materials like the glass, warm grain of wood, rough or polished stones, and aged or shimmering metals are my favorite accents.

I love dark wood finishes whether its on the floor, walls, or furniture. I am not afraid of color. I always like to add a pop of color to any room. What really gets me going is painted distressed accents like side tables and consoles.

I like to go against the grain and do the unusual or "think outside the box." A perfect explanation is an idea of the juxtaposition of a rustic setting accented with modern glamour like in the current issue of Elle. This will visually explain my personal style.



Mm Mm Mm!

Elle Decor

How classy are royal purple sofas with a medley of monochromatic throw pillows then topped off with a pop of plush white on a slip covered head sofa with contrasting royal purple throw pillows.



Elle Decor

And the star of this show is a grand classic stand alone tub finished in sparkling silver metallic!



Decor pad

 Check out those pair of tall white pillaring candles in the antique spiraling candle holders on top of a sleek shiny glass top coffee table that is sandwiched in between the aged wood beams on the ceiling and a handsome zebra hide on the floor. 

New Beginnings Continued...

July this year will make three years that we have been in our humble abode! My husband and I always mention how much we love our home. This is our first home and both of us worked very hard to get here and still are working very hard to keep it.

It was brand new built in 2007 by a local builder in a brand new subdivision. My husband is the one who actually found the house. He even viewed it two times before he even took me to view it. We were originally looking to build. I was already in love with another model that we viewed during the Parade of Homes. I was just going to tweak a little bit had we decided to build of course. But I gotta say he really had to talk me into our current home. It was mostly because I was going to be able to get exactly what I wanted. It did not take long for me to come around being that it was move-in ready!

Loveable Home Features:

(In order of priority)

Open Floor Plan

Large Kitchen w/ Island

Two+ Full Bathrooms

Cathedral Ceiling

Large Bedrooms

Master Suite

Breakfast Bar

Formal and Casual Dining Spaces

Outdoor Living Space

Semi Private Backyard

Two-Car Garage

This year is the year that we inject our personality into our home. Just as I declared in my resolution to make my house my home. Home improvements so far has been in the main living area of the house. We added recessed lighting in the living and family rooms. We did a couple of recessed directional lights in the casual dining area and three pendants over the breakfast bar. We also painted the foyer, formal dining, living room, family room, kitchen, and hallway. Our next improvements are going to be in the kids bedrooms.

Been Too Long

It's been too long to wait for our walls to be painted. We painted only the main living areas and kitchen so far. I feel like I am in a new house. Here is what the walls looked like before. The original color was a off-white that had some peach hues in it. This is a view of the hallway entrance leading to the bedrooms.

It took me two weeks to find the perfect color. I new I wanted a taupe color all along. I had a collection of taupe paint chips that caught my I from Benjamin Moore to Wal-mart. I had a few samples made and painted big two foot squares on several walls in different areas.  I was feeling a color called Sidewalk Square, but it ended up having more grey in it than I wanted. I needed something more on the warmer side of grey with more brown.

So after a couple days of seeing the Sidewalk Square on my walls I went in to work and fell in love with the perfect Taupe on a feature wall in our office. Our department had been recently relocated into another area of the corporate office. There is a feature wall in my supervisors office that was painted in a warm taupe. My supervisor actually found the paint color. She was smart to use a Martha Stewart technique of dipping a paint stirrer into the paint and keeping it. The only thing she did not do was write the paint color down on the stick. But she knew she found it at Porter Paints. So I was on a mission to find this paint color.

We had no luck finding the actual paint color after searching through emails . But wah-lah! We had a small glimmer of hope after the maintenance department found a Porter Paint invoice for one gallon of Soft Taupe #6746-1. I went to the nearest store to take a look and it ended up being a bust. It was no where near what was on that feature wall. So I had them mix a quart of paint from the dipped paint stirrer. It ended up being very close. But honestly a little too expensive for what I wanted to pay per gallon.

With the dipped paint stirrer in hand I went to my local Lowe's and had them mix it using their spectrum. It ended up being dead on. I had a quart of the custom paint mixed and brought it home to paint my two foot square. Perfectamundo! Love it! Here is what it looks like. That's my oldest daughter Bri in her purple attire of course!



Niles Purple and White Vista Armless Chair

After living in our house for two and half years now, we are finally putting paint on the walls. Right now I am venturing into the kid's room designs. My oldest daughter Bri is turning twelve years old  in March. She is a "tween!" Yes, that is an a official term in the kids furniture retail  industry. What I do know is that Bri loves purple! She gets it from her momma! I came acroos this is a very cute accent chair at Overstock! Click here to see! Definelty something to consider for the price. This is a great room inspiration starting point! I am going to have to see what she thinks.

Resolution = The Whole Me

The only resolution I have is to focus on  me, myself, and I starting from the inside out! Here are the most important parts of me that make me whole:

Part One - Make my body my temple!

1. make healthier food choices
2. exercise more
3. treat myself to the spa

Part Two - Make my mind more at peace!

1. focus more on what I have rather than what I don't have
2. focus on the future and not the past
3. meditate more to flush out all negativity
4. do more of the things I like to do

Part Three - Smile from the inside out with my soul

1. recognize the beauty in those that may rub me the wrong way
2. spend more quality time with my family
3. give more to others through time or charity

Part Four - Make my house my home!

1. organize everything
2. decorate with the five senses in mind (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste)
3. make one house purchase every pay day

I only have one life, one body, and one soul. I am going to make them worth my while as I dwell here on earth!

New Beginnings In 2011

So I have started a blog...yeah!!!! This has been a long time coming. I decided to just do it and stop making excuses. I am so happy to become a part of something that I have admired for so long. I just had to get that off my chest!

New beginnings means a whole bunch of different things for me in 2011.  I promise to share them all. The main one right now is getting this blog going. So with that said, here is what I would like you to know about me...

I am a 31 year old  loving Wife of a beautiful husband and  loving Mother of four beautiful children. I am an Interior Design graduate working as a Visual Merchandiser for a furniture retailer based out of Florida. I am the second oldest of six siblings, where my twin sister is fourteen minutes older than me.

The Sister Sophisticate will serve as an extension of my own self when it comes to my design on life.

"Life is what you make it!"

With this blog I will be able to capture that essence by sharing my passion, values, and interests. I hope you will enjoy sharing with me!

Happy New Beginnings in 2011!