Hello again!

Unless you have been following me on Instagram, you are probably wondering where I have disappeared to this time. Some of you have even been so sweet as to message me to make sure I am OK (read: I didn't check myself in to a hospital following the One Room Challenge Linking Event reveal). Well--I am OK, and...I got a job! Mama needed some money to decorate the rest of this house! So I beg of you to bear with me as I find the balance between working and blogging, but rest assured--shell and chinoiserie isn't going anywhere!

So, let's move on to today's post, shall we?

I cannot believe we have already reached the end of May! I was so flattered in the beginning of month when the Suburban Bitches asked me and Kari Joy to join them and their fabulous friends Commona My House, Rosa Beltran Design, and Life on Virginia Street for the month of May in their A Year of Change challenge.

Each month, these ladies pick the same project to complete and showcase their unique approaches and talents in their reveals. The year began in March when they used Cutting Edge Stencils for a stencil project, and in April they challenged each other to revamp a piece of furniture. Their goal is to demonstrate that completing these little projects can make a big change.

This month's challenge was to take it outside and tackle an exterior project in anticipation of this summer's outdoor entertaining. You can see the Suburban Bitches' reveal here, and be sure to check out  Commona My House, Life on Virginia Street, Rosa Beltran Design, and of course Kari Joy, as well!:

As for me, I decided to give my garage a facelift.

In my first post, I discussed how one of my pet peeves is when you drive up to a house--such as ours--and all you see is garage:

I cringe.

So in an easy and affordable effort to treat this big blemish on the face of our home, I planned to add a pretty plant between the garage doors, some lanterns above each door, and place window decals--yes, decals--on the doors themselves. My goal was to demonstrate that these three little changes could make a big difference for the curb appeal of our home.

And I failed. Miserably.

The plant was no problem--easy peasy lime squeezy (because I bought a little lime tree).

The lanterns turned out to be a little more involved than I thought they would be, as apparently electricians are expensive! Really expensive. So I nixed that and planned to simply mount decorative lanterns instead. That was until I gave-up altogether following the decal disaster...

Perhaps the smallest change that would have the biggest impact on my garage was these these window decals which I spent $125 for on Etsy. The decals promised to be an easy and affordable (check and check!) way to turn standard garage doors into charming ones.

Case in point:

Man do I wish I could say those doors are mine, but alas...

The directions warned that the doors must be clean in order for the stickers to stick to the surface, so we had our home power washed. And then we hosed and scrubbed (with Clorox wipes) for good measure:

But the stickers didn't stick. At. All. After some swearing and perhaps even a tear (a moment we did not capture on film), my husband and I surrendered to the stickers and have decided to explore stencils. At least I know who to turn to for stencil advice ;-)

So the only semi-successful part of this project is my little lime tree, which seems to think it is the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree (but still looks a lot better than my second Fiddle Leaf Fig...).

So here is my pathetic "after" photo, which I still consider to be a before photo:

I promise to keep you all posted about the progress of this ongoing project. (Settle down--it's not that exciting!).

But in the meantime, in an effort to redeem myself, I scrambled to complete another outdoor project for my post.

I was so inspired by Simple Stylings' One Room Challenge Linking Event deck reveal that I decided to follow suit by attempting to create that same, ethereal look in my own backyard.

When we first toured our home, I fell in love with all of the limb-y trees in the backyard, which I like to think is quite Twilight/The Hunger Games-esque, even though we are smack in the middle of a giant subdivision:

Anyway, the privacy is nice, especially considering all of the time we hope to spend outdoors now that we are no longer in New England!

I immediately imagined hanging little lanterns from the tree limbs to create a twinkling canopy under which we could sit and socialize. Because these trees are set back a bit from our house, there is no electrical source nearby, so instead of strung lights, I took to making mason jar lanterns:

I filled them with little, twinkling LED votives:

And hung them from the trees!:

We also finally set-up our fire pit, which was a wedding present (from--you guessed it--my brother-in-law/the best gift-giver in the world!) that has been sitting in its box since we got married almost two years ago:

Next stop, s'more town! And perhaps Lowe's to get some outdoor furniture to place around our fire pit...

Nothing crazy, albeit a little project that made a big difference in our backyard!

And be sure to head over to check out the reveals of Suburban Bitches, Commona My House, Life on Virginia Street, Rosa Beltran Design, and Kari Joy! I am willing to bet their reveals are a bit more impressive... ;-/

As promised, I will keep you all posted about future improvements to my ongoing projects!

We made it! After six weeks of blood, sweat, tears (I'm not kidding) and a ton of fun, the time has finally arrived to reveal the rooms we have transformed for Calling It Home's One Room Challenge Linking Event!

Yesterday the talented One Room Challenge designers and bloggers shared their stunning spaces, and today it is our turn!

So without further ado, I'll get started with the following before photo of the small sitting room off of our master which I have (past tense!) transformed into my new office:

I wanted a fun and feminine space that would serve as an inspiring office, but also a relaxing retreat (perhaps from our home's little future inhabitants? My mother-in-law just fainted--someone get her a fan.).

Also important was to incorporate colors, patterns, and textures that would compliment the chintz I inherited from my mother. 

The following were the design boards I created to illustrate the look and assist me along the way:

To see my progress leading up to today's grand finale, click the links below:

week one

week two

week three

week four 

week five

And now, ladies and gentlemen, my iPhone camera and I would like to present to you the new and improved shell & chinoiserie headquarters!:

What a productive and rewarding six weeks it has been--thank you to Linda at Calling It Home for that and for being the hostess with the mostess! I can't wait for next time!

So those pesky home improvement projects that are sitting at the bottom of your to-do list, below "pick-up dry-cleaning," "go to grocery," and "get that stinky dog to the groomer ASAP?" Yeeeah. You know the ones--they sit there with their big, bold letters, taunting you for days. And then months. And then--well--I don't need to remind you.

Well ladies, the time has come for me to bust out the Sharpie and get some striking on, and the Suburban Bitches are to blame!

I was beyond flattered when the beautiful bloggers behind Suburban Bitches invited me to join them and their fabulous friends Commona-My House, Rosa Beltran Design, and Life on Virginia Street to participate in their A Year of Change challenge for the month of May. 

Challenge. Accepted.

Each month, these ladies pick the same project to tackle and reveal their unique approaches and talents as they complete it. They make it look easy, which is good because their goal is to encourage the rest of us to get sh*t done, too. 

The year began with their first self-inflicted challenge in March when they used Cutting Edge Stencils to stencil something. Anything. Sounds easy enough, right? Right. And April's project was simply to revamp a piece of furniture. Nothing crazy here--just little changes that add up to make big transformations.

This month the ladies are taking it outside. Touché, ladies--touché.

With the warmer weather approaching (unless you are in South Carolina, where it is already sweltering), we have been challenged to get our outdoor spaces spiffed up in time to enjoy the summer weather. Like, before Christmas. And while my fellow A Year of Change participants may feel challenged to create an outdoor entertaining space, I have decided to interpret it as a challenge to do some exterior work on the house and make it more inviting. Because let's face it--if people don't want to come over, there will be no one to entertain.

One of my pet peeves is when you drive up to a home, and all you see is garage. It's like, "have some house with that garage!" Bleh. Unfortunately, our house is one of those houses, and although I love our new house and all of the selling features it had to offer, curb appeal wasn't reeeally one of them for me. In response to my hesitation, our realtor explained that the reason for this design is to conserve construction costs. Pffft. Anyway, the appearance of the garage was not a deal breaker because I knew I could spruce it up.

So I added it to the list. Months ago.

But in my defense, it was a loooong list of items such as--oh, I don't know--"get a new roof," "put in hardwoods," "paint entire interior of house," etc., etc., etc... Etc.

Now that we are finally finished with the repairs and upgrades on and in our new home, I have started decorating with the little money that we have left over. But where there's a will, there's a way, and in a few short weeks we are hosting our house warming party and I'll be damned if people's first impression isn't a good one. (On a side note, some of my friends refuse to make the distinction between an Interior Decorator and a broke interior decor blogger. No pressure.).

So--somehow--I am going to give my garage a facelift over the next four weeks.

Please accept my apologies for the following before photo--which is indeed the Google Street View of our home--as it is the only photo I have that gives a perspective of the scale of the garage. Plus I cut the garage out of all of the other photos.

Today we are simply sharing our plans for the projects, which will be completed and revealed at the end of the month on Friday, May 30th (don't worry, I'll be sure to incessantly remind you as we get closer). And I promise to have some better before photos by then for the comparison.

So stay tuned to see if I can check this project off the list, and in the meantime head on over to see what Suburban Bitches, Commona-My House, Rosa Beltran Design, and Life on Virginia Street are up to outside!

With one more week to go in Calling It Home's six-week-long One Room Challenge Linking Event, it is starting to get reeeally real around here! For the past five weeks, I have been busting my behind as a linking participant in the challenge, attempting to transform a sitting area off of our master into the shell & chinoiserie headquarters ;)

In week one, I introduced the little space and my big plans for it, illustrating my ideas with the following design boards:

In week two, I talked about the progress so far, which included painting the walls and a pilgrimage of the chintz.

In week three, I revealed my Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis wallpaper and my furniture so far!

And last week I talked more about my furniture (and how I had spray painted most of it gold), and about the lighting in my office, which included a window and the upholstered valence with which I had treated it.

And as promised, this week will be all about the details--accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!

But before we get to the good stuff, I wanted to quickly follow-up about my furniture. As you may remember from last week, my Josephine Desk arrived on my doorstep early, so I used the extra time to spiff up the legs with some gold spray paint!

I said about 7.8 prayers, held my breath (not for the fumes!), and sprayed away:

And I am so glad I did because it. Is. AWESOME!!!

But I will save the full fledged reveal for next week... ;)

So let's move on to the accessories, shall we?

For my art I have gathered the following collection of less traditional pieces and prints to put on my walls:

I found the following two prints from Charm and Gumption on Etsy. I think they are young and fun and fresh:

Charm and Gumption

However, I did decide to find some sophisticated frames for them, and my long and exasperated search finally lead me to this wall of bamboo beauties which were on sale for 70% off at a local consignment store!:

So off we went to the framing store to pick out the perfect matte:

(I found a few:) 

And I narrowed them down to these two:

Ultimately, I picked the pink ;) I've got to save some secrets for the final reveal! 

I also saw some images of some framed shopping bags on Pinterest (you know the ones) and thought I would copy the idea in my office--they will serve as my version of motivational posters:

via Adore Magazine

I found some float frames for my shopping bags at a craft store...:

*cue the gold spray paint*

...and voilà!:

Well, not really voilà--stuffing those suckers in these frames was no easy feat, and this project is ongoing, so please say a prayer that it won't be the next Pinterest fail...

Another piece of "art" that I plan to display in my office is the illustration I drew which served as the original shell & chinoiserie design:

And another sentimental piece of art for my office is this fan which I bought at a market in Beijing while there on business some years ago:

And, of course, some photos of my handsome husband to stare at...framed in what else but gold bamboo!:

Dennis Daniels

Do you think I should leave them as is, or should I go more gold? 

No on to some other accessories:

I found a fabulous (and I do mean fabulous) shaggy, sheepskin chair cover from Taftyli on Etsy to soften up the seat of my ghost chair:

Taftyli

And that handsome husband of mine must have read my Valentine's Wishlist post because he surprised me with some sweet scents from Diptyque:

Diptyque Baies

I found this agate coaster at a local shop for $8! A pretty way to protect my Josephine desk, no doubt.

Black Market Minerals

And now we have arrived at the stapler dilemma: 

Originally, I ordered the elusive gold acrylic stapler on the bottom of the photo below (from Rachel George), but it was significantly back-ordered (and significantly expensive). In the meantime, I found the second gold stapler by Nate Berkus at Target.

So now I have two gold staplers, but I believe I am suffering from a severe case of gold stapler envy PTSD because I cannot bring myself to return either. 

And of course I had to get the gold scissors to match my gold staplers!:

Nate Berkus for Target

My brother-in-law is the best gift-giver, and--might I add for all of you Nashville ladies--is also single (eh HEM)! He gave me this Jonathan Adler zebra dish for my birthday last year...

Jonathan Adler

And this Kate Spade vase as an engagement gift!:

Kate Spade

I mean! My savvy and stylish mother-in-law may have had something to do with it, but still impressive nonetheless! 

I am fostering this pair of parakeets from my parents' home until I can convince my four older sisters to let me give them a forever home. Because I love them. Almost as much as I love my sisters. Did I mention how much I love my sisters?

I bought a set of two acrylic clamshell bowls from The Boxwood Cottage in Beaufort while visiting my father for Easter. 

The one above is the smaller of the two, in which I plan to put my brand new business cards!:

And these pencils from Amanda Catherine Des on Etsy are almost too pretty to write with! Either way, they will motivate me to get to 5 o' clock!

Amanda Catherine Des

And although they could be Kate Spade, I found the following binder and folders at Targay!:

Target

By the way--I hoard boxes and bags--you never know when you might need to make a quick escape...?:

Another box from the beautiful Candy Shop Vintage, some books, and a little blue bird whistle:

A pair of Castanets from my time living in Spain (from what I remember, it was a good time):

 Some pretty little decorative matches that were my mother's:

And lastly, flowers. When it comes to flowers and jewelry, my rule is that if you ask if they are real, I will tell you they are real ;) 

And for the sake of giving you a sense of how these accessories should come together:

That's all, folks! The only thing left is the big reveal next week! Luckily there are plenty of beautiful spaces by all of the other talented One Room Challenge Participants and One Room Challenge Linking Event Participants to peruse and keep you busy until next week!