Wythe Blue

So many things to love about this fantastic home designed by lakbdesign! Not surprisingly it's all the walls painted Benjamin Moore's "Wythe Blue" that initially won me over. I knew this color must be special when long ago Seleta mentioned it on her blog: "I worked our whole house around my favorite blue which I had painted on the walls of the master bedroom. Benjamin Moore: Wythe Blue HC 143". Recently I noticed the folks over at GardenWeb had a lot to say about the pretty color too:

"It's a perfect blue/green IMO and the swatch doesn't do it justice. Especially next to the other colors -- it looks green but on the wall it's anything but."

"I swear it's like walking into a spa every time I go in the room. I love it."

"I also love Wythe Blue by BM. It is very similar to Quietude, but more saturated. Looks more like a true aqua, but still never baby-ish."

"We used BM Wythe Blue in our nursery (for a girl) and I absolutely love it. I can't say enough about how amazing that color is and it's a good blue -- works for a boy or a girl."

Get this though...what sealed the deal on my love was a comment I received last week from an in-the-know reader who revealed to me that Wythe Blue is actually the color of the Draper foyer/staircase on Mad Men!! *squeal*

Love turquoise? Visit my shopping blog Everything Turquoise...updated several times throughout the day! Check out Decor by Color for even more color-themed shopping!

Birch & Lily

My favorite discovery last week was the tumblr Birch & Lily...so many wonderful interiors collected over there, I had a ball going through them all. I really love Tumblr, I could get lost in there for hours. But it's so frustrating when I can't find any info at all on the photos posted! You can go as far back as you can, but still nothing! Reminds me of this this quote from Door Sixteen I read on the Paris Hotel Boutique Journal: "Tumblr is the place where copyrights and credits go to die." Lynn's whole post is well worth a read and I couldn't agree more with her. It's sad that these amazingly creative people aren't being recognized. So with that being said, here were some of my favorites from that tumblr. Do any of you happen to have any info on any of them??

Edit- Kristin from Kitchen Beautiful found us lots more images of the kitchen in the 6th image! See it here! Thanks Kristin!!

proper cleaning techniques marble

Marble floors / tiles easily get scratched and stained. The following techniques are useful for polishing marble. However, a precautionary measure, always polish the tile in a corner and see if the method is flat. Usually marbles are different and what works for one does not necessarily work for another.
* Some conditions before polishing process provides for cleaning dust, dirt and other debris. Use a broom or a soft cloth to the surface (s). Do not scratch the surface of the marble is too difficult. Broom and gently wipe evenly.
* Vacuum to remove dust from the floor.
* Try to unclutter the room so that you have enough space to work comfortably, or if it is too filled with furniture, then only move backward or sideways.Use a spray
* washer fluid that has been given to you in your kit marble.
* Always polish the marble with recommended chemicals and not collect anything to chance for cleaning.
* The best way to restore the shine of the marble is polished with a chamois cloth (chamois). Usually, a cloth for cleaning and polishing surfaces. These materials absorb dust and abrasive particles and marble give a shiny appearance.
* The bicarbonate is readily available in local stores and can be used to polish marble tiles. Mix 3 tablespoons tablespoons baking soda with water quantity. After mixing, allow to dry and take a soft clean cloth. Dip the cloth in the mixture of baking soda and water and clean the surface of marble.
* Use wet diamond polishing pads for polishing marble effectively.Cleaning marble floor on a regular basis is primarily a step you can take. Try cleaning with hot water and fresh cream. Make sure the water is not too hot but hot enough to remove the stains of normal tea, coffee and dust. Rinse with a damp cloth. Many people, such as turpentine, solvents, paints and vinegar. As I said, first apply the cleaner is a small piece of marble slab, and if it shows good results then just keep going. Stain removal is high when the stains with meat, oil, butter and wine. You can also use substances such as acetone, hydrogen peroxide and ammonia stains difficult. The smoke and soot stains, you can choose fat-free detergents such as Windex. poultice treatments are also some people prefer to remove stains. Wraps are materials that have been made by combining paper, whiting, limestone, etc., and mixed with the solvent used to polish marble

English cottage decor

Cottage style is not just a matter of decoration, but the way people choose their appeal for modern living chic. English cottage style decorating may seem out of Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy novel, but it will make you feel at home. In the late nineteenth century Tudor revival architecture, which led to the popularity of English cottage in the U.S.. This home is a unique picturesque beauty, rich with open arms to invite.
A country house is the ideal place to escape the daily grind of life associated with an urban lifestyle. English houses are considered a bit uncomfortable and creates heat which makes the immediate family, so it is the right enough for a holiday home and for those with small children. Before starting your home projects and designs, you should learn more about the architecture of English style home. A home of English house has a gable roof that is steep and has a structure similar to the revival of Tudor. Traditionally houses had huge chimneys English overwhelmed any structural design. Even if, one day holiday in modern English may be deprived of the chimney, always with high wooden multiple-glazed windows and decorative brick work gives a rustic charm of old world for exterior walls.
Often, the exterior walls of the house is faced with stone, stucco or tile materials to give a rustic aura. Besides the magnificent lines sloping roof and siding work, interior decoration of houses as people AWES. The most useful thing to talk about houses rooms English cottage is irregular size and its own flow. The uniqueness of style villas are delightfully inviting English home and a refuge for those seeking escape from hard floors, bare
Now everyone can be lucky enough to own such a place, but to find a home inside and capture the essence of cottage style decorating can make some ingenuity and fun. Choose a color scheme of pastel colors and many lush cottage decorations. Shades of coral, green, pink, yellow, should set the tone for furniture exquisitely beautiful. Comfort and convenience are the cottage scheme based government circles home decorating holiday in England. business matching carpet flooring should be the basis for this type of furniture. English-style windows are light and breezy, when the light entering the room properly. Select the time Lacy curtains instead of heavy curtains to get a hint England countryside. Also, furnishing fabrics, curtains, sheets, etc.
English cottage furniture requires an eclectic selection of odd pieces of furniture can be purchased at a flea market or antique shop. England people were poor and hardworking people and wanted to comfort decorative pieces. So even if your English cottage style design, you have the freedom to choose the lazy, big armchairs, worn, and an upholstered sofa tables pretty simple. Give it a feeling more authentic, antique frames, mirrors, vintage collectibles products can be used for accessorizing the room. England, missing the ritual of afternoon tea. Therefore, make sure you build up your kitchen cupboard of the best English china and pottery. It is a comfortable and luxurious garden and if possible, bring some plants inside the room too.

The Exciting World of Gardening

Why you should plant a garden? People give many reasons for wanting to plant a garden is relaxing, makes them feel part of the country remembers his grandmother, who saves money, and so on. One of the best reasons to plant a garden, its exciting. That right, its exciting. Not many weeks waiting for something to happen in part, although some may be of interest to the factory first pokes his head out of the country. Gardening is exciting because it gives you the opportunity to experience new things. It allows you to see, smell, and taste of vegetables and herbs, things that you can never find elsewhere. Consider the examples.
We start with something you might think you know tomatoes. How many kinds of tomatoes, you can buy at the grocery store? Apart from red tomatoes, you can find yellow, white, pink, purple, orange or striped tomatoes? Can you find green tomatoes? No green tomatoes, but tomatoes are still green when they are ripe? All of these can be grown from seeds in your garden. How are the different flavors? You have to push some to discover. The seed companies generally have several types of tomatoes to choose from. Example. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Seeds of 141 different types of tomatoes.
The same principle applies to other vegetables. Baker Creek has 24 varieties of summer squash and 80 types of winter squash. They have 53 varieties of watermelon and over 79 other types of melons. These are the seeds that have been collected from all over the world, so you can taste some foods from other countries without leaving their own backyard. Most exotic seeds are also available. You might want to try narajilla increasingly sour fruit of the Andes, whose juice has been described as the nectar of the gods. O Thai mung beans, which have a nutty flavor and are used in Thailand to make desserts.

Grocery Store Design of Bristo Farms, a Department Store with Desert Style

A department store is a public place for shopping every thing, gifts, kitchen set and housewares, etc. The design of the store usually designed in a common design such as another shop interior design, I think that Bristo Farms store is different with another shop design, with a Dessert Style, this grocery store is designed with coloring theme like a dessert with warm color. The entrance door is designed such as a Mediterranean home design, but the interior design was different, the floor plans and the colors are beautiful, The first thing you DON'T see when you walk in is the check-out cashiers. In fact, they're nearly hidden off to the right side. It's NOT the typical warehouse look with several long isles of produce stacked on shelves.

It is a beautifully decorated and intricate amalgamation of sections and islands. Each department is it's own microcosm of allure and fascination.

The deli has a freshly baked pizza section where you can buy it by-the-slice or carry out whole, and next to that is a hand-carved meat sandwich bar. And it's all conveniently located next to the cafe, which offers even more choices of prepared foods. The cafe is just to the left of the deli area, but I couldn't get a picture because there were too many people in the way!

Even the cheese section is carefully thought out with presentation in mind. I don't know why, but I've always had a fascination with those big cheese wheels. The interiors are designed specially for each section. Just visit desertsociety to get more information about the Bristo Famrs.

Wren's Reno and Giveaway Winner!

You may recognize this beautiful nursery from a long time ago, it's one of my all-time favorites. But Holly of Life in the Fun Lane has made some changes since I first shared Wren's room, and I thought they were so cute I had to share. I just loved all the white, with the beautiful dark floors and touches of turquoise, but they've acquired some colorful fun pieces that bring more life into the space. Isn't that antique hand-painted cabinet incredible?! Holly first spotted it for $1100 but a year later scooped it up for only $140! What a steal! Read all about the room here!

And now it's time to announce the winner of the Breakfast at Tiffany's Decoupage Tray from Paris Hotel Boutique! *drumroll please* #183

Julie Susann

Congrats to her! And a huge thank you to Lynn for sponsoring this giveaway! And everyone else, don't worry...this was so fun I can't wait to do my next. (It's already in the works, and of course, it's turquoise!) With that, I hope everyone has a fun-filled weekend!

Garden hand tools

While there are some garden tools automatically, many people still prefer to use hand tools. They are cheaper and more convenient to use. Some of the practices of gardening enthusiasts as a sport. Therefore, they, hand garden tools are much better automatically. Here are some basic hand tools that are necessary for gardening. Garden Shovel Garden Spades is an essential tool for digging, agriculture, lifting heavy soil and sometimes for irrigation in the garden. The two most common are the shovels to dig a spade and standard border. Garden blade pitch blades are heavier and more powerful digging. Speaking of spades light, stainless steel or carbon steel blades are better alternatives. They do not rust and are equally effective.
Loading gardening garden garden trowel is a tool widely used. It consists of a flat metal blade and short handle. Gardening, is used for leveling the land, excavation, bedding plants and fertilizer mixing. Garden trowels stainless steel blades do not rust and durable. Garden pruner pruner garden, as the name suggests, is used to remove the branches of flowering plants, hedges and large trees. Garden trimmer blade and a handle, the composition of these varies depending on the type of trimmer. In general, cutting and finishing are intended to improve the form of protection while pruning saws used for qualifying heavy branches. Garden Weeder Garden weeder is available in different shapes and sizes, which are all designed to eliminate weeds. For example, crack weeder used in scraping the surface of hard rocks and weeds from cracks. Garden weeder can also use the ice scrapper. This is a long neck and head.
Garden Rake Garden Rake is a device used for many purposes such as gardening and rationalization of land leveling, raking the gravel, removing large weeds, collect dead leaves and grass in gardens and lawns. A typical garden rake consists of rows of teeth protruding transversely mounted wooden handle. Today, steel and plastic handle with metal teeth of the rakes are available. Some teeth are double-sided, where one of them is a matte knife. In addition to these basic tools gardening hand, there are many other devices that can be added in the direction of the production area and / or types of gardening. For example, if you wish to start a rock garden, in a pumpkin Spades would like to work in confined spaces. In the second case dibber heavy clay soils are used for sowing.

Growing Bamboo Indoors

Bamboo is a woody grass. The species grows in a range of sizes, dwarf bamboo trees and varied growing regions of ice mountain habitats sweltering tropical sky. Among the many excellent qualities of bamboo plant is that it is the fastest growing woody plant in the world and has the ability to grow in harsh conditions. As there are over 1,000 known species of bamboo, a single set of rules can be used to grow bamboo indoors. But these few guidelines on how to grow plants indoor bamboo.
Selection of a bamboo plant: The first stage of culture in the bamboo is to decide what type of bamboo plant to develop. The two factors are the weather and size. You should choose a plant that blooms in the natural environment where he lives and also fit into the space you have for him. The most popular bamboo plant is now lucky bamboo plant, with comes with instructions for growing bamboo in water, like almost all the care you need. The first requirement Bamboos have the same requirements as the house most of the plants: well-drained soil rich in nutrients, sufficient light, adequate moisture and fertilizer during the growing season.
Soil: bamboo plants called runners, have roots that spread quickly, and others have called clumpers, have roots that gradually developed from the original planting. bamboo house plants grow best in pots that can accommodate the plants because they grow quickly. The ideal size of the pot that is about five centimeters or more space between the edge of the mat and the side of the container. If the plant bamboo on the inside is a pilot with rhizome roots that grow horizontally, use a large tub like container. However, a large, deep bowl that works best for plants covered with clumping bamboo root systems. It is clear that the large bamboo plants in need of large containers.
All the bamboo plants, while, and spread throughout the pot-bound container. Therefore, everyone needs regular pruning, some (like the roots of bamboo rhizome plants) more frequently than others. When you notice that the pot has just delivered, and the rhizome, it is time to move or large containers or eliminate some of the roots (about one third of the total) and put it back together, hand in the cool earth. Growing bamboo cuttings is the normal way to increase the internal air of the population of bamboo.

I Adore Painted Floors!

*sigh* I love painted floors (even green ones)! Hirshfield's Color Club recently had a post dedicated to painted floors with some really cool examples. This first one above from Sunny Goode was my favorite...I'm all about bold color and patterns! So fun! Speaking of painted floors, I had to include this kitchen from High-Heeled Foot in the Door. Camila just finished painting her floor and said it was one of the easiest projects she'd ever done...and it cost only $50! Read her awesome DIY tutorial here!

Lastly, don't forget this is the last day to enter my giveaway for the Breakfast at Tiffany's Decoupage Tray from Paris Hotel Boutique! Head over here for that!

Contemporary Decorating Ideas

When it comes to contemporary decorating ideas, "less is more" is a phrase that defines it perfectly. The best contemporary interior design ideas at home is that they are simple, minimal and free of obstructions. This does not imply that modern style is boring, and can not say that every element that is used to decorate the room, that the colors and furnishings were chosen to ensure that complement each other excellently. Moreover, the most important factor in the modern style of interior design is a commodity offering. Therefore, we look at some of the properties, you must keep in mind when their own style truly contemporary home decor.
One of the most important factors that should be given a good thought is the color and textures you use in your home. Generally, the colors used are neutral, contemporary decor in black and white. In this case, you think that the combination of black and white to be boring, you can choose from a variety of neutral colors like gray, brown, cream, taupe, etc. Use neutral colors like chocolate, sage and sand were also look great. If you choose a neutral color for your walls, furniture and other accessories should be of colors that are bold and bright. Moreover, if you used a light shade on the walls, the other furniture and accessories should be quiet, dark. This contrast is what gives the house a very singular. The floor is best for the contemporary home decorating tiles are vinyl or wood. The floor should be smooth and it is essential to avoid the use of complex models in this regard.
After choosing the color you want for your home, the next step is to choose the furniture. The furniture according to modern decor are those that are simple, clean and looks like a perfect geometric form. If you are looking for a modern living room decorating ideas for a gift, the essential things that you should have been elegant leather sofa, coffee table made of steel with wooden chairs and polished glass top. Avoid furniture that has legs bent, drawings, etc. As I said before, the colors you choose for furniture should contrast and simultaneous colors on the walls. On the other hand, if looking for decorating ideas modern bedroom, he should choose a low bed with a simple headboard, but no footboard. To make it more user friendly, you can choose a bed that has hidden room to store things you do not need regular use.
As we moved through the basics of a modern home decorating ideas, the next thing we have to look at is the accessories that help make the house look perfect. Some accessories that gels are a very primitive and contemporary paintings, sculptures, steel or glass shelves, large paintings, brass colored frames, black and white photos and paint frames, etc. You can also put a modern decorative lights above the table eating, living room and even bedroom. Fabrics used for curtains, bedspreads, pillows, etc. may be cotton, jute, wool, flax, etc. Avoid the circles, tassels, skirts, fringes, bedspreads and curtains, etc..

Garden Plans and Designs

Garden is a living art that can be changed at will and design. If you are not satisfied with the choice of plants this year, you can almost replace all or parts of plants next year. Furthermore, modification of plants, garden plans can also be changed according to your tastes and interests. Idea of a garden gives you a vision of flowers of different colors, which contain a natural botanical, exotic plants, Croton, ferns, vakkaa tomatoes and vegetables. Itsa garden, orchard or flower garden, you have a garden design.
For example, if you want a flower garden, choose a site that gives a good view, or from a favorite window or door (front or rear). The location of your garden should inspire the garden often and also spend some days in the garden. This is because gardening is one of the most relaxing, since it can relax and unwind after a week long and exhausting. Get an overview of garden plans and drawings. Garden Plans and Designs Even in the minimum space that can have a colorful garden, provided you have a good plan. Have you heard of the concept of vertical gardens? This is seen as a solution to the current concrete and dark buildings to life by growing plants vertically on the walls. many governmental and nongovernmental organizations to accept this concept as vertical gardening green causes in the city and the plants clean the air.
Although there is plenty of space and you want to have a garden, try growing in pots. This is one of the most favored garden plans where plants are grown in pots and containers instead of in soil. This type of gardening plan is attractive to many and practiced where the soil is not good or unsuitable for growing plants. You can plan to keep your garden in containers on the porch, roof terrace or step. You can grow ornamental plants, vegetables, herbs and even small trees. You can also create a wildlife refuge for butterflies and hummingbirds in your garden container. Because of the mobility in containers, this form of gardening appeal to many gardeners future.

Cabo San Lucas Hacienda

And we're off in Cabo San Lucas today! This hacienda designed by Marshall Watson and photographed by Eugenio Perches is all I could dream up and then more. I'm drooling all over my keyboard after seeing these bedrooms...the colors & patterns in the fabrics, the lighting, the furniture...oh my goodness! I especially love that pink and turquoise bedroom, it's so fun and girly! You definitely don't want to miss the other images of this home, so head over here!