Tuesday Musings: Moroccan Wedding Blankets

Tuesday Musings just doesn't have the same ring to it. Does it? How are you darlings?!?! I am so sorry I was absent yesterday. Call the truancy officer. I will never do it to you guys again. I missed you all so much. It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but we have finally arrived at our final destination for good. A couple of things. 1. The boy graduated from law school this weekend with top honors. I could not be more proud. Seriously. 2. We finally packed up our last things (and were forced to leave some) last night and headed home to our new home for good. Richmond. 3. How in the hell is Blogfest going? I feel so out of the loop. I hope all of you are having a FAB time! Let's get to it. 

So remember my master bedroom debacle? I had three aesthetics that I was toying around with, but I have finally arrived on the winner. You all have already been clued in on the plan for the headboard. I have decided to go the route of understated glam in our bedroom. I want all whites, creams, golds and silvers. Anything glitz, glam and metallic. Really.  I want to keep the bedding simplistic and versatile with go to staples but also add an accessory with a twist. What might that be? The Moroccan Wedding Blanket. It is non-negotiable. It is happening. I love the pattern, texture and old world feel it brings to a space. It is so whimsical and brings such a special feel to anything it touches. For purposes of ease, I shall name it the MWB (Moroccan Wedding Blanket). But in effort to not be as annoying as Rachel Ray, I will not repeat the actual meaning of the acronym every time I mention the acronym. Promise. 

Look at this amazing boho glam space. I love the mixture of whites,creams and metal. The bedding is everything I am going for. Look how gorg that blanket is. You cannot deny. 

{decor pad}

Another beautiful MWB at play here. It is such a subtle accessory but doesn't it add so much character here? Loving all of the animal print/fur at play here. For serious. 

{bit o honey}

Ahhhnn. None other than the fabulous JA at play here. Shocker. Another gorgeous MWB I shall steal. This one happens to bring a little more brown into the room but is nonetheless fabulous. Who is loving that leopard print bench? I could use it as a mock fainting couch. I am such an improviser. 

The Parker Palm Springs by Jonathan Adler

Lovely space. Lovely florals. Lovely Moroccan. It is the perfect compliment to this feminine space. Instead of using this as an accent at the end of the bed, they used it on the ENTIRE bed. Too much? Never. 

{decor pad}

I have to say. This MWB seen here, may be my very favorite. If anyone has seen ANYTHING like this...I mean ANYTHING, please let me know. It would be treated as an emergency. 

{Lonny}

Lovely MWB on a daybed. 

{Lonny}

What a fun, bright and eclectic space. Obviously a musician resides here. A very stylish one. I am pained that a guitar and a plate of apricots are covering up that glamorous MWB. Shame on them. 

{pinterest}

Another fabulously feminine space. Another fabulous MWB. Is anyone else loving that chinoiserie wallpaper as much as I am? The Asian details are killing it. 

{luuux}

Gorgeous neutral space glammed up with a MWB.

{laviva home}

So do you see what I am talking about? I cannot resist. Cannot. I have a few that I have my eyes on. One in particular from my girl crush Amber Lewis from Amber Lewis Design. Obsessed with her. Need this piece from her collection once I have $395 bones sitting around. I might die without it. 

Moroccan Wedding Blanket 2

Some other fabulous pieces that I have my greedy eyes on are these awesome vintage MWB's by Red Thread Souk. It is an awesome store that has amazing exotic carpets, blankets and home decor. My new obsession. 

Vintage Moroccan Wedding Blanket

Vintage Moroccan Wedding Blanket

Vintage Moroccan Wedding Blanket

Vintage Moroccan Wedding Blanket

Needless to say, it is going to make our master bedroom perfect. So if I don't get one soon, I may very well tantrum. Sigh. Love you loves! I will never leave you again!

Lindsay Cowles Part Two: Special, Special Offer

Big news. Big, big freaking news. For those of us who were not soooo lucky to win the Lindsay Cowles giveaway, have I got a special weekend treat for you. Prepare yourselves. Are you sitting down? My girl Lindsay has been so gracious and giving that she has offered special pricing exclusively for Sadie + Stella readers. O.M.G. I am clearing out my piggy bank as we speak. How much off you ask? Let me just tell you. She is offering 50% off of her 11"x14" prints, which makes them $37.50 per print. And also, she is offering 50% off of her 16"x20" prints, making them $60.00. This fantastic offer will not last forever, so we better get on it. Offer expires on May 25, 2012. Shipping will apply. Just saying.

Here are the available pieces that we can kick, scratch and bite over.

11"x14" prints available:

Southern Moonlight

A Day in the Life

Feather

Rapture

Kapow

Available 16"x20" pieces:

Stay Awhile

Spring Melody

Tiger's Eye

Tide

Independence

Kapow

Southern Moonlight

Rapture

So if you are interested, and how could you not be, you can email the lovely Lindsay at lindsaycowles@gmail.com or you can email me at sadieandstella@gmail.com and I will get your information over to Lindsay in a frantically fast manner. What are you waiting for?!?!?

Chow: Loving Hamburgers like Hamburglar

I am totally going to play Jekyll and Hyde here. Last week I was ALL about the health. This week I am all about the clogged arteries. I could not love red meat anymore if I tried. Let's be honest. No matter how much I try to abandon the bad habit, I cannot. No judgment. People, I am from Kansas City. The love for red meat is in my blood. Summer is almost here, which means grilling out and lots of summer fare. Ahem. Hamburgers. Duh. I seriously am looting any hamburger recipes I can find just like the Hamburglar.  From sliders to Big Mac's. The old fashioned to the new and unique. You name it. So increase your calorie intake with me. Shall we? Don't make me be a closet Hamburglar. Do not make me do it. 

These are friggin' amazing. Chipotle mayo makes the world go round.

{Sliders with Chipotle Mayo}

{Big Mac Recipe}

{Best Old Fashioned Hamburgers}

{Burgers Smothered in Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Sauce}

Just so you are aware of the gravity of the situation, this was posted on a light post outside of our house. Stuff is getting real. How do they have such an accurate depiction of me????

Have a fabulous burger filled weekend my lovers! 

S+S DIY: Nailhead Runner

The boy and I are quite the problem solvers lately. Upon our move, we realized Stella was going to have some trouble with our new found staircase. They are wood, slippery and really are treacherous for anyone. It took one fall from her before she started approaching the stairs with trepidation. Any of you all that know us, know that Stella has us completely whipped. You know the song "Whatever Lola Wants. Lola Gets?" Well insert Stella into the chorus and you have our household.

The boy, once again, started thinking of a quick, affordable (like a true guy) and efficient solution. If this law gig doesn't work out for him, I seriously think he could have a future in interior design. His solution landed us in the carpet aisle of Home Depot. I swear, we should start becoming spokespeople for the Home Depot. Since we have moved into our house, we have been to the Home Depot on 14 different occasions. Peeps. We have only lived in our house for 6 days. Count it. Anyhow, his genius idea was to have a runner cut out of one of their large reams of carpet. Good. But not great. I was thinking, thinking, thinking how we could zsush this runner up to make it look unique, expensive and not drab. Wait for it. Wait for it. Nailhead. You got it. Nailhead. The solution to ANY household dilemma.

DIY Nailhead Runner

Materials:

Home Depot carpet cut to runner dimensions

Nailhead Tacks

Hammer

Tape Measure

That. Is. It.

Believe it or not, I took a before photo here. The treacherous stairs seen below. This is equivalent to Mt. Kilimanjaro for Stells.

Step 1. Measure and lay the carpet evenly down the staircase. A tape measure comes in handy here as my eyes tend to deceive me always on what seems to be the true middle. Once the "middle" is found, secure the rug in with nails on the backs of the stairs. 

Step 2. Once the rug is secured on the steps, begin to measure where you want the nailhead to adorn the steps. Since this is a dark carpet, the nailhead really stands out. The boy had to take this project into his own hands. Again, my nailhead slowly started to creep into a diagonal formation. Not cute. To insure the nailhead was evenly space, he made a make shift ruler out of masking tape. Laugh. But it works. 

Again, the finished product. Stella's peace of mind is worth every penny to us. Every $17.00 this project cost us. I am not even kidding. Not even. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "a penny saved is a penny earned." And every penny saved during this project will be invested into all of my 372 remaining projects.  Simple, budget friendly, designer look solution. We could not be happier. 

Loves!

Can I get a winner, please???

So. So. So. I am green with envy and full of jealousy (lovely imagery, I know) while announcing this winner. What I now know for certain, is that I will HAVE to buy some Lindsay Cowles pieces for myself. They have to live in our house. It is non-negotiable. So on to the fun part for you all. The winner. 


The winner is the fabulous Amanda Hill from REcycled Consign and Design. Congratulations Anna! Please e-mail me with your contact information so I can get that over to my girl, Lindsay. And just for the record, I am soooo jelly. 


Thank you to all who entered! And a huge thank you to Lindsay Cowles and her talented self!

Favorite Room Feature: Small Shop Studio

Well aren't you all in for a special treat today?? Hmmmm. I am not sure if you are aware of Erika from Small Shop Studio, but you should be. Remember my obsession with Hollywood Regency dome lighting? Erika is partially where this obsession originated. That greedy girl has not one, but two of these fabulous lamps. I loved it so much, I had to hack it. Erika, your style is truly an inspiration. Unique, fun, colorful and glamorous. Today she is sharing her favorite space, her daughter's room. What a lucky girl she is to have a creative mom like Erika. Here she is!

Hello everyone, it's Erika from small shop! I am so honored that Lindsay asked me to visit and share my favorite room. Over the past few years, I've had so much fun decorating my daughter's room, especially because it continues to evolve as she gets older (and ahem, has more of an opinion!).

One piece that I added after the initial petrified-of-everything parents stage, was this "For Like Ever" poster over her crib. It was becoming quite clear that my daughter had some spunk, and I thought this poster had lots of personality, just like her.

The love seat in her room is one of my favorite spots. I continue to add more and more pillows to it! The initial design inspiration was the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Honolulu Zoo, both in Waikiki. I wanted to give her a piece of my homeland, without being too literal. So her room is filled with various animals and patterns — the flamingos especially remind me of the Honolulu Zoo, where they dominate the entrance. A special memory for me!

Continuing on with this inspiration, the mirror I added above her dresser (that used to serve as a changing table) felt a bit Regency to me, and a little Asian (my daughter is 1/4 Japanese, so she's a little Asian too).

The tray — tropical in pattern of course — used to hold her diapering essentials. Now it holds a few items important to my family: a photo of my grandparents (from the last night I was with my grandmother before she passed away), and a kokeshi doll (my daughter was born on Japanese Girls' Day, and it's a tradition to give these as gifts).

Her reading nook has become quite a hodgepodge of items, but well-loved all the same! My grandmother's crocheted blanket hangs on our reading chair. And the nightstand we bought vintage for $20, stripped and painted bright yellow — it took me over a year after she was born to find the right piece but I'm so glad I waited!

Lastly, one of our dogs, Maya. The dogs aren't actually allowed in the bedrooms -- and definitely not on furniture -- so this was a special treat, just for Sadie and Stella! Woof!

Hope you enjoyed this little tour!

Image #1 and #3 by Jennifer Daigle Photography for the Glitter Guide.

Our Dressing Room Reveal

I promised. You asked. I am delivering. So as I mentioned yesterday we have some how, some way, taken it upon ourselves to not only design, but also implement our very own dressing room. I have come to realize something. I am probably the worst blogger in the world as I did not take before pictures. Trust me on this, the room was lame with a capital "L". I am talking lime green walls and nothing else. Nothing. Awhile back, the boy had mentioned that he envisioned this room being our "dressing room" and I agreed with him. Never did I imagine what he was imagining. I was thinking a few make shift rolling racks and maybe a dresser. Thank God he was on his A game. We went to Home Depot and casually entered the storage and organization area. He started barking off dimensions for the shelving units as I sat there puzzled. He then explained in detail his vision of the space. After I came to realize the kind of scale we were talking here, I ran with the idea. Of course at that stage, it became "my" idea. Of course. I knew I wanted it to resemble a boutique, and a boutique it resembles. You be the judge.

Disclaimer. I don't know why I insist on disclosing this on all posts with my photography, but you must be aware. I am a horrific photographer. Don't worry. I already know this. Bear with me. 

Sooooo. What do you all think? Isn't he a genius?!?! If you all are curious what was used, email me and I will let you in on ALL of our secrets. This really is an achievable project for anyone. As we talked about yesterday, let your clothes do the accessorizing and decorating. I am a huge fan of color coding everything. Not only for organization purposes but also for aesthetic purposes. How gorgy does it look?!!? I am a happy girl. Project #1 out of #385 is complete.