Bedroom Planning

Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself when planning a room. Example here is that I kind of forgot to run all the bedroom stuff by the Mr. I'm usually pretty good about that, and try to be very aware of keeping things not overly feminine-- no florals, no pink. And I usually try to get his opinion before I do anything. In this case I bought the bedding, and luckily he liked it (I think), but the rest of what was happening in my head I need to explain. Most of the time he doesn't get it until it all comes together, and is mostly trusting of my weird things I envision. But I thought I'd pull some of these things together for him and for me. I'm going with teal and yellow, and some brass/gold accents. He's not sold on the yellow lights, so I told him he could choose. I brought home these and told him he could pick the color I was going to spray paint them. Choices are: yellow, white, gold, teal or navy (not sold on the blues, but had to give some options). So what did he want? He wanted to keep them silver. Noooooo.... silver with my gold hardware?  So he said MAYBE gold. Yes-- that works. Another thing for me to spray paint gold... I seriously have a problem with the gold spray paint.

I'm wishing for a pretty Julia Marcum painting to put in a frame that I gold-leafed,  but have some other options that I already have. Even if I did score a Julia Marcum painting, I'm not sure I'd want to hide it in my bedroom. I ordered these brass pulls and these brass pulls and will decide when they come in. I'm thinking that the space needs a little sparkle so I might want to do the shiny ones, but we'll see. Curtains are something I haven't addressed. I want something mostly white since the walls are so dark, and the room needs some brightness, but can't decide if I should bring in yellow or the teal, or neither, don't want to be overly matchy. Kind of like these, but not the price on either one:

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a small step in the right direction

Since I've started Happy Habitat, I've tried to be aware of how my business affects Mother Earth. It is important to me that I feel good about how Happy Habitat is integrated with our world. I'm taking baby steps and one of my first initiatives was to make my blog/website carbon neutral. I couldn't pass it up because it's FREE! I do most of my work on the computer. Seems mostly harmless, but it's not. A blog that receives 15,000 visitors actually puts out 8 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year. This is due to the energy usage that mainly comes from mainframe computers, servers and their cooling systems (that info found here.) So, although my throws are made from recycled cotton, the designing I'm doing on the computer is still sending out pollutants. So what does it mean to make something carbon neutral? To me it means that when you put something bad out in the world (specifically carbon dioxide), you are neutralizing it by putting something good back into the world (oxygen). 

So this organization (originally from Germany, hence the everything written in German, but has since expanded to the US), will plant a tree in exchange for spreading the word. I'm happy to spread the word, and proud to say that Happy Habitat is now officially carbon neutral thanks to the new tree that has been planted in exchange for this little write-up. Win. Win. Win. 

Task Lights as Bedside Lamps

As I have been doing a mini-makerover to our bedroom-- I've been thinking about what to do with the lamps I have, just a basic wood spindle small lamp with linen shade. I was thinking of spray painting them yellow. Or adding a graphic bright yellow shade, but coincidentally when I was turning on the lamp, the plastic piece crumbled and broke. Really--- not just saying that as an excuse to buy new lamps! So new lamps are in order. I've totally had my eye on the yellow industrial task lights from West Elm, I was going to get them for Reece's room, but ended up getting the Arod from Ikea instead, which is a great light. I wasn't sure if task lights would be weird a bedside lamps, but I did a little searching, and like what I see:

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Although I really love the West Elm one:

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I may end up doing a DYI with some yellow spray paint because these guys are $70 and I need 2. Spray paint is purchased! Just need to find the right light....

Teal and Yellow

Don't ask why, but I recently found myself at K Mart. As I was checking out (yes bought something), I spied a tealish-navy diamond-ikatish comforter set. I ran back to look at it and really liked it. I had 2 super cranky kids with me, so we left, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wasn't really in the market for a comforter, but my quilt on my bed wasn't quite cutting it, and it was SO drab in my room, I could really use some brightening, and this was cheap. So I bought it. Here it is:

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Cute, right? It is a 16 piece set. 16 items people. So that throw, the bolster, all those extra pillows, sheets-- all of that came in the bag. Well-- let me cut to the point here. It sucked. Big time. Seriously cheap. It felt rough, and thin, had to be dry cleaned, and was all lumpy. From far away it looked good, but the thought of sleeping with it just gave me the heebeegeebees. So back it went.

Coincidentally I'm at Target and see Nate Berkus' bedding that's similar AND it was on a price cut, and with my 5% Red Card discount, it ended up being the same price. No, I didn't get a bolster, throw, sheets, etc. It's just 2 shams and a comforter, but I LOVE it. Here she is:

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It's way thicker than the cheap-o K Mart one, it feels like a denim fabric. Which I like. It's heavy and warm and that's what I needed. I washed it and although it barely fit in my washer, it worked, and washed up nicely. I think I'm going to pair it with yellow or a mustard yellow. I wasn't in the market for a bedroom re-do... so this is just going to be a mini-refresh. Maybe a little paint on the nightstands. More to come when it all gets put together, but here's a little teal and mustard (or yellow, not sure yet) inspiration for you. And until then the moral of this story is DON'T BUY BEDDING FROM K MART.

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Triangle Eco Throws (and pillow!)

I'm seeing triangles everywhere I look! I've mentioned the triangle art trend, seeing lots of triangles on some modern quilts, and even used it in my son's room for his bedding.  I love it-- simple- fresh and geometric... you know I love my geometric patterns.

So the Triangle Eco Throw was destined to be born. BEHOLD...

The Gold and Black is definitely my favorite. But I also made it in Marine and Sky Blue:

This one kind of has a nautical feel to it-- kind of reminds me of sailboats.

And a softer version in Sky Blue and Pewter:

 And can't go wrong with Black and Pewter:

Once again-- my personal fave:

Almost forgot to mention, made a pillow too. Want it?

Saarinen Table

I need a new kitchen table. The rigged wooden top on the cheap Pier One scrolly wrought iron base just isn't cutting it any more. It's too big for the space, and for some reason it wobbles now. It's gotta go. In it's place I must have a Saarinen table. Okay, I'll settled for the Ikea version-- the Docksta (hate that name.) Preferably it would be the marble, but like I said, I'll settle for the white top Ikea one. They seem to pair perfectly with a rustic wood chair, like the wishbone chair, like these pretties:

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Same idea here, midcentury wood pairs nicely:

 Also love it with the cane and chrome chairs:

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Love how you can do modern or traditional with it-- so completely veristile. I like the interesting mix when it's done with something classic. Dying over these pretty floor tiles:

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We bought the Docksta for Emily when we spruced up her kitchen nook:

Perfect with the West Elm chairs, right?

Speaking of Emily's house-- how cool is her banquette here? And how fabulous did those pillows and cushions turn out!? I just recovered my chairs with regular upholstery fabric like 2 months ago, and my messy kids have already ruined them. I think I might copy and do the Jessica Jones laminated cotton. Em-- how has it held up?

valentine's is coming...

enter code "cozylove" to receive 20% off valentine's day pillows through january 15.