she said, he said.

there is one part of the master that got left out.  in print + in reality.  and its this lovely little light fixture.

isn't it just the most amazingly hexa-penta-octa-whatever you call it?!  um, I KNOW.

well there was someone who didn't quite agree, and since he shares our home, and well built our home, i have to give him a little credit + take his opinion into consideration too.

let me explain why i loved it for our bedroom.  it was a marshalls special, first of all, and you know i loves me some marshalls.  ok lots of marshalls.  ok marshalls as often as i can justify stepping foot in the store.  its from the ralph lauren home collection and the suggested retail was something ridiculous like $450.  ya.  uh huh.  and we got it for $150, thanks to the eagle-eye spotting of my very good friend.  so needless to say it was a great deal in terms of high quality, high style lighting pieces.  but mostly, i just loved the look of it!  the modern geometric shape with the classically glamorous pale gold color....the sleek connector pieces....the exposed bulb position in the center....

i thought it would be such a fun sculptural item to hang either centered over back of the bed....

....or off centered over by the shelf + chairs in the corner.  see that space there dialing 1-800-HOT-PENDANT?  yep, to my eye, that corner was calling ralph's name loud + clear.

it even played so well off the side table bases.  see?

and don't forget the fun diamond like shadow that is cast over the bed [see above picture].  that would have been a fun tie-in as well.

but i have to give the hubs props, because we do pride ourselves on doing decor as affordably + diy as we can, and saving every dollar that can be saved.  so to allocate $150 on one light [plus the cost of an electrician hard-wiring it] when the room is already looking quite swell....its true, we really can live without it. 

barely.  

ok no really we can.  i just might sniffle from time to time thinking of all those sexy angles + that sultry sheen.   but who knows, maybe the hubs saved my life.  it was an extremely heavy pendant + who wants that crashing down on their noggin as they dream the night away?  not i!

+ + + 

ps. emily, are you listening?  this fixture would look amazing in one of your spaces.  better make a trip to michigan asap.  just sayin'.  oh + thanks for sharing your talents with us each week on secrets from a stylist!

the master!

i feel like our master bedroom now glitters + winks at me each time i peek down the hallway at it.  see it there through the doorway, saying hello?  enticing you onward?  beckoning you with its come hither throw pillows?

bla bla bla; ready for pictures?  i thought so.

here we go!

you likes so far?

so the colors in here ended up being a story of neutrals....white + a bit of black, grey + a bit of gold, silver + a bit of brown.  with a dash of mustard + eggplant.  you know, to keep things yummy.

you might recognize some pieces that migrated their way in here....but there are also a few new friends that joined the MBR crew.

we moved the lack coffee table from the sunroom to the end of our bed....and the white eames repro chairs have taken up residence in the corner.  along with the silver garden stool from our bathroom.

but the circle du soleil happening above that arrangement is all new.  as in, handmade by +the new house+ crew: the hubs and myself.

here are a few more angles of my new favorite item in the house.

so how'd we do it?  its actually an idea out of a recent countryhome issue, from the authors of home from the hardware store.  i guess it never hurts to step out of your usual comfort zone....seeing as i'd normally never be perusing a country style magazine.  but it worked out for me this time!  basically it involved cutting down concrete form tubes....the hubs handled that part....and wrapping them in woodgrain contact paper.  and making up an organic arrangement.  and screwing them together, and hanging it up as our new wall art slash functioning shelf!

i. am. in. LOVE.

the fact that we made the piece with our own four hands + it was cheap + looks so totally unique + modern....well....enough said.

now while we heavily debated craigslisting our bed [love those new verbs nowadays, ehhhh kids?] + getting something more sleek, in the end, i'm really happy with the warmth + height + structure that it gives to the room.

see those fun diamond or hex-like shadows on the ceiling?  i actually never notice them myself in person but i'm loving them in the photo here.

i'm not sure the effect translates here in pictures, but the room just seems to glow with warmth + calm.

did you think warmth could happen with gray?  i'm telling you, it can!  this particular coverlet came from meijer of all places....our twenty-four hour grocery store, for you out-of-towners....and the basketweave sort of stitching and dove gray shade both look soft + inviting....vs. cold + stark like you might expect with gray in the boudoir.

the lamps, which i've mentioned before, have an almost molten appearance.  like liquid light.

and the curtains which we plucked from ikea seem to mirror the dimply waves of the lamp bases.  [i'm talking about the pattern, people!  i KNOW the wrinkles are there, i'm just pretending i don't need to iron them]

even the lampshades want to get in on the swirly fun.

the bedside candle is a voluspa i picked up from a local boutique store at the mall for a great price.  i love their art deco-esque candle tins and i lurrrrrrve this particular scent: blanc suede.  its like there's a faintly cologne scented tuxedo jacket draped nearby, fresh from a glorious evening black-tie affair.  or so my brain tells me, as i drift off to sleep.

lets see, what other details haven't we covered?

well the other art in the room was switched out with our hall canvases, since the grey worked much better than uber bright citron yellow. 

the throw on the lack bench [a tj maxxionista find] adds a little more luxe, and its working as an in-between while i hunt down the perfect bench cushion fabric.

the mustardy gold scarf on the chair adds more warmth + color + ease.

and on the refurbished dresser, an eclectic mix of gold, silver and the aforementioned purpley eggplant.

were you astute enough to notice the jaggedy ann candle going on in the photo above?  yes my tb candle had an encounter with a one year old, and you can see who won.  and you can guess who cried.  ok it was more of a screamy yelp....a strangled screlp sound....but thankfully no one was injured and it still sortof works as a decorative item. 

so thats how things are looking at the moment, with a few things yet on my checklist.  such as the bench cushion, and a touch more artwork.  i dig that this necklace sort of describes the whole space: clearly contemporary with a mixture of metals, light and dark, hard and soft, and ok i'll stop now.

hoedown lowdown: fourth + final

you all ready for this?  duhduh..duhduh duh duh..



ok 90's music aside, lets get down to the last of the dirty deets!

i knew for party food i did not want to be stressed + running around coordinating the timing of a meal for everyone [we anticipated about 30 guests, a mix of adults + kiddos].  and i thought a mid-afternoon time slot would work well for attending church in the morning while giving some evening time for family relaxing as well.  so naturally a snack concept was born.

let's peek at where more of that patterned hobster lobster paper ended up.  on menu boards!

i really wanted the mix of cowboy + indian to be everywhere, so again i juxtaposed the 'painted' looking paper with the fun + funky, modern-western looking paper.  and the cork squares were a couple of spares i had on hand....again from the back entry corkboard diy project we'd made last year.

i love all the variations of red + blue going on here....with a few itty bitty pops of teal....and white + grey to anchor everything, like the kitchen colors.

for the other menu board, i made a games menu.

again....more paper scraps, leftover cork, and junk drawer pins.  and i bought a few bandanas for less than a dollar each to scatter about as decor, as well.  while i had horseys from cracker barrel and hula 'lasso' hoops from canada to play with, illegal jarts for the arrow throwing + more hay hoops for the ring toss....by far the best game of the day was tumbleweed bowling.  its amazing what you can do with six empty gerber snack containers + some 'tumbleweed' spheres from target!

this particular board was hiding another little arrangement....a pop of color, if you will.

POP!

i bought cherry + raspberry for two shades of red, and grape for blue.  and stuck them floral-bouquet style into a leftover ball from the foyer filter foof i'd made.  the vase + books i snagged from around the house.

speaking of pops....remember this teaser?  

yep, those happened.  and all the time spent taste-testing + pop-sticking + chocolate-dipping was oh so worth it for the final result.

that birthday cake be poppin'!  i did rows of chocolate with chocolate frosting + yellow cake with vanilla frosting, all according to the instructions on bakerella's lovely blog.  

much thanks to ms. bakerella for such an amazing idea....it made the whole food display, of that i am sure!

its hard to pick a favorite, but i think i love the red + white + blue ones best.  

no, the smooth chocolate.  

NO, THE RED SUGAR SPRINKLES!  

ok i love them all.

for the base, i used a large styrofoam rectangle and for a modern pebble-bed effect, i used more navy beans that were sitting around in the pantry.  and ribbon, pinned tight around the perimeter for a sleak, trim modern effect.

as for the rest of the food....i made a crunchy toffee chex mix [thanks dawn for the recipe!], and had apples + more candy to complete things.

cute cupcake liners for scooping smaller amounts of candy into....love the uneven striping....

another tumbleweed that must have blown in from the street....

i chose dishes with star motifs as another subtle western reference....

and blue striped dishes to play off the color scheme....

and lined up fun red cups + straws for milk.  because every cake pop needs a milky companion!

now before you pop an eyeball straining to see those garlands in the background....allow me to explain.  about the time my husband was ready to lock me in a closet to stop the decoration rampage, i managed to sweet talk him into helping me hang up a photo wall to commemorate the little man's big first year. 

i used yarn + tape + push pins + some of the past year's favorite and most meaningful photos.  and was teary + TIRED + ecstatic when i viewed the result.  ....yes it was 11 pm the night before, y'all, and this mama was whipped!  

but to see all the printed photos in a flickr-esque mix of streamer-y strands of color, in a perfectly imperfect arrangement, contrasted with our gallery-wall-for-a-day....well....i was really kinda verklempt.  

it was so delightful to see how the colors worked + the garlands echoed the fireplace banner as well.  and if you're wondering how the photos look so neatly strung along the line, it was the hubs who suggested using loops of tape to hang the photos....for minimal possibility of damage to each picture + also for a nice clean garland effect.

and since we used the spacing of the ikea wall art hangers [on the insistance of the hubs, naturally], all the push pin holes will be hidden and it was a minimally invasive project.  if you squint your peepers again for a second, you can see how the top row showed the mini man's growth photographed from week one to month eleven.  compared to a sock monkey.  of course.

+ how to finish another long winded party post?  why with the party favors, naturally!

some mod round cherry-sour candies with a little name flag on each.  hopefully a little za-za-zing to finish the day on a memorable note.  just for the kids VIPs, you know.