The Perfect Guest Room Essentials

It's Labor Day Weekend! We're headed up to our lake house and looking forward to hosting some good friends over the holiday. With that in mind, I've been making a list of the little details that would make any guest more comfortable...

Fresh flowers on the nightstand are top of my list...

Fancy water in glass bottles is so much nicer than plastic Crystal Geiser bottles...

A luxe candle is a must...

Byredo candle

...As are a dish of matchbooks with delightful covers. (If you like matchbook art, this Instagram account is very cute.)

Upgrade your tissue box situation with this sleek alternative to the cardboard pattern box they come in....

Container Store tissue holder

A stack of fresh, fluffy towels already in the room makes guests feel more at home.

D Porthault violettes lilac towels

Vintage luggage racks are an unexpected but welcome touch.

vintage luggage rack

Make sure you have plenty of hangers lined up and ready for use in the guest room closet.

velvet hangers

Soft throw blankets will keep your guests feeling cozy and spoiled.

Yves Delorme lilac throw 

Lastly, a guest book on the nightstand for visitors to write in is a fun record of all the friends and family who've spent time in your home. 

guest book

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Labor Day!

Weekend Update: (A Totally Unprofessional) Home Office Reveal

Hi guys! How was everyone's weekend? Ours was a mix of work and play: I had an installation on Saturday morning (more on that coming soon), so we took it easy Saturday night. P had her first ballet recital on Sunday and it was SO sweet. 

Over the weekend, I was thinking about how far I've come with all the work we've been doing on our home, but I've been reluctant to share it here because it's not "perfect." But I also don't really believe in "perfect," particularly when it comes to someone's living space. What I like is "lived in," and so without further ado, here is my very "lived in" office, complete with a stack of unfiled papers. A few months back, this was a spider colony...

I love being able to look out into my backyard all day.

My favorite part of the whole space is this vintage oil painting I picked up in Palm Springs.

My thrift shop horse hooks earning their keep.

Remember these chairs? They finally got a facelift with this Caitlin Wilson fabric.

The giant cork board is actually a murphy bed for out of town guests (we're not desperate for visitors or anything...)

It's definitely more feminine in here than any other room in the house, but I really wanted it to feel different. I can't wait to come out here every morning and feel so lucky to have a space of my own. I know these pictures are kinda fuzzy cell pics and you can see all my messiness, but I really wanted to push myself on this particular issue. Thanks for letting me share!

Weekend Update: Front Porch Reveal

Happy Monday, friends. How was your weekend? I can't lie; I'm bummed it's over. We had the best weather and spent almost every sunlit hour outside. We made another trip to Rolling Greens where P checked out the peonies...

I grabbed a few more sweet peas (I'm obsessed)...

We logged hours on these new loungers that finally came in this week (loungers from HD Buttercup)...

Getting a new umbrella and more pillows soon.

Dragged some pots around on the back patio (*You can really see our new green trim paint here. All the trim used to be this horrible peeling brown. I guess the previous owner thought it was a nice nod to the craftsman elements of the house, but I hated it. The new color is a BM Aura copy of Farrow and Ball "Card Room Green." For those curious about the quality of the copy, it's not 100% but close enough for me in this scenario; I don't know that I would copy it for indoors, though.)...

In front porch news, we've done a little zhushing up there, too. This is the view of the front door when you walk in the gate (it's kind of long so the whole left side of the house didn't fit in the picture.)

I finally pulled the trigger on a plant/planter. Initially I thought I would go with a gardenia for the smell (I knew we'd only get blossoms once a year but I was okay with that), but when we saw this lime tree, we looked at each other and said, "Vodka Tonic Tree!" I'm serious. 

Chairs and cushions are old Pottery Barn; blue pillows are West Elm; garden stool is Home Goods; tree and planter are from Rolling Greens Nursery.

We stuck a few pink jasmine plants in there and the smell is delicious. Makes our whole front room smell incredible. The porch is long and narrow, so pardon the multiple awkward shots. You can also kind of see the overhang here which used to be brown as well (blech). I'm really happy with the green.

One last shot so you can see the planter, which is such a pretty mint green in person.

The last thing left to get is a new doormat. I found this one that I really like, but it's not quite big enough. If I could find a slightly oversized one, that would be my pick.

via

Also love this classic style. This is a great size, too:

via

I also saw these cute planters from Threshold at Target while searching for a larger doormat. They're so pretty, no?

via

via

What have you done to spruce up for spring? 

Sneak Peek: My Office 2013!

Since our garage reno has pretty much taken over my life as of late, I thought I'd give you a teensy sneaky peek of my inspiration board is looking like these days. It's pretty preliminary, but I thought it's be fun to fill you all in.

 I personally can't really "do" a space with just a board like this; I have to go touch all the surface materials in person before I can commit. And sometimes, even when you have all the pieces in place, there are things that just have to change, even if they look great on "paper."

I decided to go a little more feminine than I normally would. I'm really craving a bright, pretty space that I'm excited to go to every morning, and these grays and berries with a hit of brass are making me smile. 

GRAY + BERRY+ GOLD

It's not obvious here, but there is a full wall of built-ins for storage and nice-sized murphy bed for guests (please visit!).  

Unfortunately I won't have pictures for awhile as we're still very much in the construction phase, so I'm guessing what you see above will change along the way, too! I'll keep you posted, though.

xoxo

Pinspiration: Home Office Edition

Now that our garage reno is actually for really reals happening, I'm in full on planning mode. It will be SO huge for me to have my own space; it's almost overwhelming. I've been hitting Pinterest hard, needless to say, and these beautiful images are providing plenty of inspiration...

Jenny Komenda's loft

Amanda Nisbet's office

Unknown

I think this is the Who What Wear girls' office...

Think I've seen this on Garance Dore.

Kishani Pereira's office

Unknown (and not an office but love it.)

Betsy Burnham's office

Aerin Lauder's office

Love the swatch organization here.

Jenna Lyons'

I dream of putting something down and having it actually be in the exact same spot when I need it again.

Someday...

xoxo

All images via my Pinterest "Home Office" board.

Dining Room Update: Painted Glossy Built-In Buffet Revealed!

You might remember awhile back I posted about wanting to paint our fug built-in credenza in the dining room. They are original to our 1924 home (which is ye olde for Los Angeles), and I dealt with a lot of opposition to the idea. People really feel strongly about painting woodwork! I say, if it's not in great shape, change it. 

This is how it used to look in our dining room, which is more of a hallway in our little house. You see it right when you walk in the front door. To me, it was a real eye sore--a monster that ate the room.

BEFORE:

My china didn't even look nice in there...

After about two weeks of sanding, puttying, and multiple coats of Ralph Lauren's Marsh Grass, here it is!

AFTER:

I couldn't me more thrilled with out it turned out! I think the color is just enough of a contrast to the wall color (Farrow and Ball's French Grey) but still "disappears."

We've also replaced quite a bit of our furniture. We have a bit more to go (2 more chairs, which are being made now, artwork, probably a bar car) but I felt like we'd done enough that I could share it with you.

I also ADORE our light fixture. I wanted something traditional with a modern feel that I could also still see the buffet through. Enter this Sandy Chapman fixture that I've long lusted after. I think it's perfection.

Crappy acrylic hardware was replaced with these brass reproduction lovelies.

Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I'm a brass-aholic.

I think our china looks a zillion times better in there, don't you?

My One King's Lane artichokes are sitting pretty for there, right now, but I have something else in mind. All in good time, friends. All in good time...

xoxo