****THIS GIVEAWAY IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING ENTRIES****
Scroll down to the giveaway widget to see who won!
Etsy is one of my favorite places to browse around for vintage finds, handmade home accessories and even one-of-a-kind jewelry. It’s filled to the brim with unique, interesting and exclusive pieces. If you’re not careful, you can spend hours and hours browsing! But one thing is for sure, you’re bound to come across little nuggets of “have to have” treasures.
Today, Shy of Perfect, one of those such Etsy shops that’s full of nuggets, is giving away a $100 gift card! That’s enough to pick out some jewelry for yourself and maybe even get some early Christmas shopping done. I’m all about early Christmas shopping! Oh, and for our international readers, they ship all around the world! Yay!
Here’s how to enter… Scroll down to the widget below and log in with your Facebook account or enter your email address. (As always, your information is kept private.) Once you’ve done that, you’ll be shown the entry requirements set by yours truly. Click the “Do it!” button, answer the question and click “Enter!”. Now that you’ve entered, you’ll see some optional entry options. To gain additional entries and increase your chances of winning the prize, you can do one or all of them. If you already follow Shy of Perfect (or us!), go ahead and enter your Facebook or Twitter info for the additional entries. The winner will be chosen using Radom.org. Good luck, everyone!
When I was in Disneyland last month, we ate lunch at Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port, the quick-service restaurant in Tomorrowland. On the back wall of the restaurant, they had an awesome collection of vintage Disneyland visionary posters. I immediately thought about how cool it would be to have a family bonus room or maybe even a kids’ playroom with these on the wall. Last night, I Googled “vintage Disneyland ride posters” and found a slew of inspiring works of art. Just looking at them on Google makes me wish I was back in Pizza Port with the rest of my family!
Even if you aren’t a big Disney fan, you’re bound to gain some inspiration from these posters. They have a definite mid-century flair; not to mention the awesome colors! That brings me to this week’s mood board…
This room was a lot of fun to put together because a bonus room is something we’ve always wanted. A room perfect for playing games or watching movies. Maybe one day when we close in the carport and make it an extra room, but until then, we have mood boards to help us daydream…
1. Finishes – In this room, color is the star. Barely-there gray walls with white trim work make an excellent backdrop. The wood pieces in this room (coffee table, TV unit, side tables, etc.) are all a natural walnut finish. Nothing says mid-century more than walnut! With all of the color and warm wood going on in the room, white accents really pop and bring in some modern flair. When you have light walls, lots of color and light furniture, it’s always good to have a dark element to ground the room. In this case, the “grounding color” will be dark navy blue in the form of a comfy sectional – but we’ll get to that in a minute! 2. Bella Porte Citrine Curtain Panel – The pattern is simple and modern, and curtains are a great way to bring in another color in the mix. I love this shade of yellow, and it goes so well with the other colors. 3. DIY Vintage Disneyland Art – Wall art is a great place to get your DIY on! For some one-of-a-kind (and non-cheesy) Disneyland artwork, print some old black and white photos of Disneyland off the internet or use photos out of coffee table books. With all of the other colors in the room, the black and white photos in gallery frames will really stand out and make a statement. 4. Maskros Pendant Lamp – This light fixture easily made it to the mood board because it reminds me of the Alice In Wonderland-inspired decorations at the Mad Tea Party ride at Disneyland. 5. Vintage Disney Collector’s Poster – Originals are definitely hard, if not impossible, to come by. An original was auctioned off last year in Hollywood for $2,655, so that’s a bit out of most people’s price range, even if they could find one. However, you can score a 12×18 reproduction on Ebay for around $6 plus shipping. You can also find a good collection of them here. 6. Karlstad Sectional – This dark navy blue sectional is the anchor of the entire room. It’s simple, clean and modern, making it go well with the other mid-century style furniture. I would definitely stain the block legs with some walnut stain to tie it in with the rest of the furniture. 7. Knitted Blood Orange Pouf – I just can’t get enough of this pouf from CB2! It’s cute, great color and serves as extra lounge seating – perfect for a bonus room. 8. Zuri Coffee Table – The warm wood tone and round shape of this coffee table really brings some great contrast to the room’s bright colors and straight lines. I also added this white bowl as an example of how white accents would work really well in this room (like I mentioned in #1). 9. Cole Chair & Ottoman – I’ve been a huge fan of this chair and ottoman for a while. I even used it in this I Love Lucy-inspired mood board a while back, as well as this Parent Trap-inspiried mood board way way back. 10. Vintage Aluminum Camera – Along with white accents, silver also looks really good against this color combo. And who doesn’t bring a camera to Disneyland? Yet another good way to bring in the “theme” without being “themey”. 11. Tivoli Audio Cherry Clock Radio – Simply put, I have a crush on this clock radio. I love how it’s retro and modern all at the same time. 12. Dash & Albert Diamond Rug – Not only is this the design lovely, but it’s an indoor/outdoor rug – making it perfect for a bonus room with a lot of kid action. Just take it outside and wash it off with the hose!
Since we’ve been focusing so much on the kitchen over the last few months, the living room has found itself on the back burner. Even so, we’ve managed to make a few changes here and there gearing up for even bigger changes down the road. Here’s what the living room looked like a few months ago…
We took the chair next to the fire place and put it in the guest room and gave the floor lamp to my mom. It looks really good in my parents’ master bedroom! We also filled up the TV unit with more books and accessories. We took out the pillows that came with the sofa and added three new colorful throw pillows. With all of those little changes, here’s what the living room is looking like today…
No, we didn’t paint. This photo was taken with natural light (as it should be!). Everything still looks rather sparse – maybe even more sparse than before. But we really have made some small improvements, and sometimes you’ve got to take some things away before you can move closer to where you’re going.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to think of ways to bring in more white to the living room to tie in with the white kitchen. An easy first step: accessories. I picked up this little gal from Cold Harbor Antique Mall (an awesome place I showed you guys in this post). It reminds me of something my great grandma had at her house in Indiana, so it was an easy buy. Plus, it was only seven bucks. Score! I’ll have to be sure to fill it with some Werther’s Original next time my grandparents come to town. Those are my grandpa’s favorite!
Even though we’re still waiting to get a new sofa and love seat, I was tired of the lack of color and decided to pick up a few throw pillows from Target. My favorite of the three is the red Ikat pillow. I love the coral-ish red color – or what I’ve been calling, “Design Sponge red“. I’m still trying to decide if the brown pillow looks more tribal or mid-century. I think I’m just torn because there’s not much else to tie in with it at the moment. So, in the mean time, I’m going with mid-century. Eventually, I want to have a fun, eclectic collection of pillows that look like they go together but are completely different.
1. We hung this mirror over the fireplace as a temporary solution for hanging something up there. The grand scheme plan is to install a reclaimed wood mantle – which will tie in with #3. 2. Here, we want to find a new accent chair along with some wall art. When it comes to the wall art, we’re thinking about maybe hanging a large, framed vintage movie poster (maybe one from this oldie post). It will make a statement and be a great chance to show some of our personalities. I’m gunning for either the French Bringing Up Baby poster and switching it out for White Christmas around the holidays. 3. I have a big, big crush on reclaimed wood coffee tables. I want to buy one, Greg wants to build one. I’m not sure who’s going to end up winning out on that one, but either way, we’re both hoping one or the other will make its way into the living room some point in the near future. 4. A new sofa and love seat!! Oh my goodness, how I am anxious cross this off the list! The beige fabric sticks out like a sore thumb against the gray walls. These pieces feel like a speed bump on the road to the style we’re hoping for. Luckily, we have a good idea of what we want (more on that here). 5. Since the living room is so open to the dining area and kitchen, a rug would be nice to define the living area. I came across THE rug at Home Good and, stupid me, let it slip through my fingers. Don’t you hate it when that happens? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it just means there’s something better down the road. 6. More and more pillows. Like I mentioned earlier, once we get the new sofa and love seat, I’m dying to put together a fun, random, anything goes concoction of throw pillows.
Whew… I think that’s about it… for now! Have any of you undergone any recent living room updates? Have a crush on reclaimed coffee tables too?
By the way… As I mentioned yesterday, TONIGHT Greg and I will be hosting Wayfair.com‘s live #HomemakerHappyHr Twitter chat from 8-9PM EST. We’ll be talking about his + her decorating and answering live questions. Plus! Every 10 minutes throughout the hour, they’ll be giving away a $25 Wayfair gift card! He hope you guys will join in on the fun! It will be nice to see some familiar “faces” ; ) See you there!!
