Fab Furniture Friday with Arte Styling

Kelly Berg at Arte Styling is one very cute and colourful lady. So it’s no surprise that her bedroom is a colourful and cheery space, complete with a fab piece of furniture made for her by her dad…

Yep, Kelly’s dad made her this amazing green dresser. Here’s the proof :-)

Such a fantastic shade of green – and I’m not just saying that because it’s a kelly green ;-) The colour is Benjamin Moore #566 Bunker Hill Green. I have no idea what the Canadian equivalent is. I don’t understand why BM US and BM Canada have different colour names and numbers. ARGH!

Anyway, Kelly selected two different styles of hardware for the drawers, both from Belmont Hardware in San Francisco. She loved these rectangular pulls…

But there were only four left and the dresser has ten drawers. She found these round pulls in the same finish…

And the combination of the two different pulls looks great!

I like the bun feet – a bit unexpected on a dresser.

Kelly, your dad is one talented guy!

If you’d like to read more about Kelly’s dresser, check out this post over at Arte Styling. And while you’re there, be sure to take a look at Kelly’s pretty bedroom. Here’s a little peek for you…

Thank you Kelly (and Kelly’s dad!) for sharing your beautiful dresser with us :-)

If you have a piece of furniture that you’ve built, repaired, refinished, repurposed, reinvented, or otherwise done something fabulous to, send me some pictures and the story behind it, and I’ll feature it in a future Fab Furniture Friday post.

Happy weekend!

You know what they say about the Early Bird

It gets turned into a light fixture, of course! How cute is this little guy?

Image via Design Milk

He’s the Early Bird Light by perch! I just read this blog post over at Design Milk about the redesign of this cute little light. Originally available in black and white…

Image via Interior Design

…the Early Bird Light is now available in a variety of colours as well.

Image via One Sydney Road

The light comes out from the top of the wings, the end of the tail, and the bottom.

Images via perch!

I think a flock these little birds hung together in the corner of a room would look awesome!

Image via Design Milk

Worm not included ;-)

Life was so much easier before computers

ARGH! I’ve been working on a new blog post for hours, and no matter what I do, it refuses to upload. I’m beyond frustrated! I don’t have the time or patience to re-write the whole thing, so it’ll have to wait till tonight when my computer geek hubby can help. I have a three strike policy when it comes to technical problems – after the third unsuccessful try, I throw my hands up in the air and yell “BRIANNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

So to fill the blog post void for now, here are a few of my recent pins on Pinterest…

How cool is the wide black & white striped fabric on these wing back chairs? Traditional meets contemporary.

Image via La Dolce Vita

This is a bit over-the-top, but there’s something about the glossy turquoise walls with brass metal trim that I really like.

Image via Jordan Guide

Speaking of turquoise… I don’t know how functional this kitchen is, but it’s definitely bright, cheery, and pretty.

Image via DigsDigs

A seriously dark & dramatic bedroom. I like it!

Image via Houzz

I’m crazy about pretty much everything in this hallway – the dark ceiling, the light fixture, the crown moulding, the hardwood floor…

Image via Houzz

Oooh-la-la!  This whole bedroom is fab!

Image via Houzz

Pretty coastal-inspired living room. I like that the artwork above the fireplace echoes the glass bottles on the mantel.

Image via Decor Happy

Beautiful blue (and hydrangeas too).

Image via Tumblr

A soothing colour palette, pretty fabrics, cool artwork, and a light blue ceiling – I like!

Image via Marcus Design

OK, that’s all I’ve got for now – I’m all blogged out for today!

Fab Furniture Friday

Lately I’ve been thinking less about decorating and more about furniture. More precisely, refinishing furniture. I’ve seen so many fantastic furniture makeovers floating around the blogosphere, and I find the more I see, the more ideas I get for doing my own furniture makeovers. Not that I have any on the go at the moment – my $1,000,000 table and $2,000,000 chairs took me over two years to finish, so I really need to take a break ;-)

So, I thought I’d start a blog feature that’s all about fab furniture makeovers. And seeing as Friday starts with an F, I decided to make Friday my fab furniture day. So here it is, the first installment of Fab Furniture Friday featuring five fabulous furniture finds. OMG, that’s way too many F words {but at least I didn’t use THAT F word ;-) }

Possibly my very favourite furniture makeover ever – I’ve posted it before, but it’s so fab that it needs to be posted again. By Janell at Isabella & Max Rooms (and also the founding editor of House of Fifty magazine). Janell turned this:

Into this:

Click here for details.

Jill at Live. Like. You. bought this old desk:

And gave it a serious colour makeover – love the orange and the hardware. And the turquoise chair and white ceramic dog are pretty fab too :-)

And I have to share some fab makeovers by my friends and TBBs, starting with Donna at dh designs. I love the Celtic knot detailing and the curvy front on this dresser that she found on Kijiji:

The dresser now has a new look and a new home in Donna’s master bedroom.

Click here for details

More Celtic knot prettiness from Lisa at Lisa Goulet Design. She started with this dresser:

And then painted it and embellished it with Celtic detailing and crystal knobs.

Click here for details

And the final fab furniture makeover is from Maureen at Maureen at Modecor Muses. She made over this vanity that used to belong to her grandmother.

Doesn’t it look fantastic in blue, especially against the gorgeous red wallpaper?

Click here for details

If you’ve taken an old piece of furniture and given it a fab makeover, I’d love to see it and share it with my JAX does design readers. Click here to send me some before and after pictures of the piece and the story behind it, and I’ll include it in an upcoming Fab Furniture Friday feature.

Happy weekend!

Opposites attract me

A big thank you to Aubrey at All Things Bright and Beautiful for asking me to participate in her How To Make Your Home Your Own series last week. I was so overwhelmed and touched by all the positive comments about my home, and I discovered so many wonderful blogs I didn’t know about as I made the blog rounds to thank everyone.

Whew, that was an action-packed week! I was on holiday last week and spent most of it at the cottage. We had a little family reunion on Saturday with way too much food and lots of chatting and laughs :-) Between the partying and the swimming and kayaking and everything else going on, I managed to squeeze in a little bit of magazine reading. I came across two totally different bedrooms that I really adore. First, this bedroom designed by Bories and Shearron is featured in the July/August 2011 issue of House Beautiful:

How yummy is that glossy dark blue ceiling? It’s painted Hague Blue from Farrow & Ball, and it just lifts the room to a whole different level. It gives the room a cozy feel, and love how it reflects the mirror and artwork behind the bed. The shade of red on the red blanket is perfect – a real, true, gorgeous red. And the artwork above the side table is great, especially the photo of the plane.

And then in the June 2011 issue of Livingetc, I saw this bedroom:

I cannot begin to tell you how much I LOVE that bed! I’m a big fan of upholstered beds, and this one is just so gorgeous. The big & bold floral fabric is fantastic, and I love the shape of the headboard. Like sleeping in a big hug :-) And the colour palette is just so pretty and relaxing – well, except for the bright yellow curtains. They kinda work, though.

Which bedroom do you prefer?

Bright and beautiful things

This was the bright & beautiful sunset at the cottage last night…

It was amazing how the sky changed from gold to bright pink in a matter of minutes, and the glow of the light was spectacular.

And speaking of bright & beautiful… I’m honoured to be guest posting at Aubrey’s blog All Things Bright and Beautiful today.

Click here to read about what makes my house my own. And while you’re there, be sure to read this week’s other guest posts. Anne posted a beautiful dining room on Tuesday, and Jessamie shared a nursery with lots of great DIY ideas on Wednesday.

Some colourful eye candy

William Diamond and Anthony Baratta of Diamond Baratta Design create some of the most over-the-top and colour-packed rooms I’ve seen. Here’s some colourful eye candy for you, starting with a very blue bedroom. Love the subtle plaid effect on the wall.

I really like the blue & green harlequin fabric on the chairs, as well as the colourful & fun throw cushions on the sofa. The view isn’t too shabby either!

Speaking of views… what do you think of the ocean mural in this dining room? Would you do something like this in your home? I might.

Is there any colour that ISN’T in this entryway/staircase?! I’m really diggin’ the chandelier. Way too over-the-top for most houses, but this one really fits the space perfectly.

And now for something completely different – how’s this for a pretty kitchen? The windows are awesome, and I just love the blue ceiling.

I couldn’t write a post about colour and not include some purple :-)

Gorgeous window and architectural detailing in this blue living room. Check out the equestrian-inspired fabric on the sofa and chair.

And blue mixed with glam. Looks like a little peek of an orange ceiling.

And speaking of colour, here’s Bohdan Genagra talking about his take colour…