2009 May « Design Fabulous

Archive | May, 2009

Style Icon, Ginnifer Goodwin

I wanted to do a fun fashion post to send you off into the weekend, but I just got to it today. The weekend is half over. Oh well hope you like it anyway!

Ok, so I am totally picking up some great fashion ques from this chica lately. I think Ginnifer Goodwin is so adorable and her fashion sense is dead-on every time. I am in love with this orange dress and the necklace is perfection. You don’t see orange a lot and I like that she takes risks like that. Oh, and I can’t forget about the shoes!!!DIVINE! I just love her classic style. She looks comfortable and perfect in everything she wears, which is the key to great style.

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Categories Fashion, Style Icon

Fabulous Living Rooms

15 May

Um, can you tell there is a trend going on with living room furniture? White!!! It’s all white! Everywhere you look you see rooms full of white sofas, chairs. ottomans, tables…Can you do white? Will you? Well I know there are lots of practical reasons to not splurge on a brand new white sofa, but I think if we truly admit it, we really dig the trend. I know I do. Of course I went ahead and got my white sofa (not a splurge from IKEA) and there are lots of white sofas out there I would have loved to get instead, but all in all I am pleased. I don’t have any kids, so I can risk this less expensive option for now. If you have the money however, buy a more expensive sofa that offers a stain resistant fabric or even an indoor/outdoor fabric that can be scrubbed. I think this is less a trend and more a classic. So go for it, if you dare!

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Categories Design tips, Fabulous Rooms, Uncategorized

Fabulous Bedrooms

13 May

So what makes a bedroom fabulous? It is the color palette, the beautiful linens, the plush pillows. Yes, but it is much more than this. A fabulous bedroom is a restful place that makes you relax and unwind. Whatever does that for you is what your bedroom should be. The walls could be any color you want as long as you love it. The linens could be soft, solid luxury, or a wild and crazy mix of beautiful fabrics as long as you love it. I think the real key to a fabulous bedroom is function! Clutter doesn’t make anyone relax. The furniture in a bedroom has to be super functional in order to store everything we tend to stuff in our bedroom. The other key is to not overload your bedroom with wall to wall furniture. You must have room to breathe in there. Take your time, and pick the most functional piece for your space, that will store what you need, but not take up the entire space. This may seem an impossible duo, but it can be done with a little creativity or maybe professional help. Whatever it takes, just don’t neglect your bedroom. It is your space, make it great.

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Categories Design tips, Fabulous Rooms, Uncategorized

Fabulous Dining Rooms

12 May

Thought I would start a series of some of my favorite pics of beautifully designed rooms, starting with the dining room. The dining room is such a debated space, is it a waste or is it necessary. Well I think it depend on how cluttered the rest of your house is. I say, if you need space for an office and don’t have one, make the dining room an office. If you want another room for that huge, ugly tv, make the dining room an entertainment room (slap some french doors on that baby, with some pretty lace curtains, and shut your husband up in it). However, if you have lots of room to spread out, or you are a minimalist and don’t have a lot of junk like I do, use the dining room as just that and make it a beautiful space that hardly ever gets touched and you can go sip a cup of tea in without being disturbed (because your kids won’t look for you in there because no one ever goes in there!)

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Categories Fabulous Rooms

My Adventure with macarons!

11 May

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So I made my attempt to make macarons. I made a huge mess, I had a couple of disastrous batches, but it was so much fun. This was my first batch. The recipe didn’t make a lot of batter. I wasted some of it trying to get it into the piping bag (this was my first timing using a piping bag!) So I only yielded 4 macarons from this batch.

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I piped out the batter, and it was looking pretty good. The batter wasn’t to runny and had a glossy finish.

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I made a simple chocolate ganashe with milk chocolate chips and heavy cream. Here is the final result. Not to bad huh?!? They are turned out great feet, glossy hard shell, a chewy center. They tasted great!

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This was my latest batch. I made several in between ( a couple of batched I miss measured the egg whites and that didn’t go so well) These were my favorite due to the intense color. I used the same ganashe. I made these a little smaller, bite size. I had a lot of fun making these. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, just a little patience and attention to detail is all it takes. I’m not an expert yet, but I am working on it.

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Categories My Adventures, Uncategorized

My Adventure with ShoeDazzle

11 May

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So as I reported before, I tryed out ShoeDazzle. The package arrived at my door a couple weeks ago. I have been so busy I am just getting around to posting about it. I was so excited! I opened my package and pulled out a really cute shoe box.

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Inside I was pleasantly surprised to find a shoe bag to keep my shoes nice, and a free pashmina for being a first time customer.

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So here are the shoes I choose. The selection the stylist sent me were all lovely. I loved these the most. The heel was a lot higher than I thought they would be, but I am glad to say I can walk in them and they are pretty comfortable for high heels. I am glad to report that I am pleased with ShoeDazzle. I was sent my May selection of shoes on May 2nd, I decided to get a second selection of shoes sent to me this time. I was asked to describe in more detail what I was looking for in my next pair of shoes. I am still deciding on the new selection. The thing I like the most so far, is the fact that I can skip a month if I choose, and this is actually legit. So I will gladly recommend you try ShoeDazzle for yourself. I think you will like it too.

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Categories My Adventures, Uncategorized

The sun is shining!

8 May

It has been raining here in Richmond for 7 days (I think, I lost count) everything has been grey, hense I did a post about grey a few days ago. Now, the sun has finally came out and everything is bright and colorful again, hense todays post. Enjoy these colorful interiors. (I love grey, don’t get be wrong, but today I needed some sunshine!)

Design Tip: When using bright bold colors like these, use in moderation and balance them with a neutral clean backdrop. Notice all these rooms have bright colors surrounded with white. Remember to much of a good thing can be bad. If you design a room drowning in color your eye can’t focus/rest on anything and the room becomes mush, and you will grow tired of the colors very quickly.

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Categories Design tips, Uncategorized

Picture Problem!

8 May

WordPress is working on my blog to fix the links to my pictures (as I mentioned a few days ago, the links I place on my pictures are deleting when I publish my post, Ahhh). I needed to post to see if the problem is on going. So ingore to the words and just look at this beautiful necklace I found on one of my favorite blogs Paris Atelier. Click on the picture (if and when the link is fixed to visit their lovely site).

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Categories Uncategorized

“Pink and Grey”

4 May

So I am loving Kim Kardashian’s Kentucky Derby hat. But out of all the hats I have seen this year, no one has done it like Jessica Simpson did a few years back with her beautiful dress and perfect pink hat (oh and Nick Lachey be her side)! Both of these ladies have great style, and while looking at these two pictures side by side, I was inspired to do a “pink and grey” post. This is my favorite color combination right now! So hope you enjoy all the pink and grey digs, fashion, dessert, and even nature.