I was just introduced to the website, Free Vintage Posters from another great site, Crocodile Tears. They have a vast selection of free posters that you can print and hang for practically nothing! I found a Boston one for me and an LA one for Megan that are fairly representative of the two coasts right now. What can you find?
-Andrea 3 Comments Valentine's has been on my mind lately. I usually keep holiday's as simple as they can possibly be, so what does that mean for good ol' V-day? My mom used to cut out paper in a heart shape, write a cute little 'I love you, happy Valentine's day' note on it, then had some candy sprinkled on top. It was so fun to wake up to that on my floor. So fun, that it makes me want to do the same thing for my boys. Adding some fun and excitement, but not feeling like I need to spend hours working on something to give them... cause lets be honest, that alone can be accomplished with giving out Valentines to class members at school! When I saw this hand drawn monogram bag on Oh Happy Day I knew this could be a winner (whether this year, or in future years). Here are some of her beautiful images capturing this fun, simple DIY project. 
Aren't they cute? All you need are muslin drawstring bags, and a paint pen. For Valentine's favors you can put in a little thing of candy, or a dollar store toy. These are really great for any party favor... baby shower, bridal shower, birthday, etc. Go on over to Oh Happy Day for more details! How does your family celebrate Valentine's day? What do you typically do for friends at school?  A friend of mine lives in London. Lindsey had one of those fairytale happenings of going on a study abroad to London, making a connection with a handsome local, and then married him! She now has three kids, and has a very cute blog named Urban Mums, where she documents cool finds in the city. You should check it out. DIY projects and I have an interesting relationship. I really love the idea of them, but I rarely actually do them. Part of it is because I need a friend to do them with. Isn't everything so much more fun when you have a partner in crime? Also, if I can't get it done in one sitting... then there is a chance it wont ever get done. This is part of the reason I'm so drawn to this cute DIY paper crane mobile Lindsey posted on Urban Mums, from this site. You could totally do this in one sitting with a very pleasing end product.  Who knows, It also might be the fact that I grew up in Japan to why I'm drawn to anything involving oragami paper cranes.  Hop on over the Strawberry Chic to get the details on how she put together this cute mobile for her baby's nursery! -Megan 'Design Therapy' is a great segment where we highlight fun DIY's (both small and large scale!) as well as well organized spaces. Anything that breathes new life into an object or area of your home we find therapeutic! If you have a DIY project or well functioning/organized space in your home, we'd love to feature it! Simply click the button below! 
Are you guys familiar with the site Natty by Design? I found out about this gem from a friend of mine who lives here in Santa Monica. She told me she just bought a campaign dresser from this site and thought I'd be interested. I checked it out and oh man she was right, and was I jealous! Okay, and I still am a little jealous. So here's the story. The woman behind Natty by Design knows a thing or two about refinishing/painting furniture. And when I say a thing or two... I really mean she knows everything about it. Not too long ago she posted this, with a bunch of beautiful vintage furniture she found, bought, and is in the process of selling. You tell her which you want, redone in what color, and she does it for you. And does an amazing job. My friend saw the post and quickly snagged the campaign dresser. Here is what it looked like before - Totally good looking, right? 
And this is how it was spruced up - 
How great does the navy look? I love it and am sure it looks great in her boys bedroom. The paint color is Benjamin Moore's 'old navy'. Click here to read the post on this dresser from Natty by Design, and also be sure to check out all her 'popular posts' on the side bar... she's transformed some pieces to look so super cool. -Megan 'Design Therapy' is a great segment where we highlight fun DIY's (both small and large scale!) as well as well organized spaces. Anything that breathes new life into an object or area of your home we find therapeutic! If you have a DIY project or well functioning/organized space in your home, we'd love to feature it! Simply click the button below! 
I'm so excited about today's Design Therapy segment. I found this awesome DIY laundry room makeover on Pinterest and was immediately so impressed. 'View Along the Way' is a cute site you should definitely check out. Kelly and her husband DIY'ed the heck out of this room. And all for only 157 dollars! Here are the images to get you as impressed as I am - Before. The state the room was in when they bought the house. 
Middle. The quick fix of painting the walls and getting rid of the popcorn ceiling. 
Are you ready for this?... After. The grand DIY makeover. 
Doesn't it look fantastic? There are a lot of reasons why I'm drawn to this space - 1. It is fresh (white/lighter color) and interesting (patterns). 2. Speaking of patterns, I love the mix of the simple wide stripe on the floor, with the more elaborate soft (yet still a bit graphic) stencil on the wall. They balance well and help to make the room seem larger. 3. I love organizational things. Seriously, The Container Store and I are bff's. So clearly I love the visual effect of the beautiful methods to keep her frequently used things organized. 4. The light fixture. It's totally awesome. And her husband made it, which makes it even more amazing. 5. Wicker. For many years I underestimated wicker. But it can instantly bring warmth and texture to a space, which is definitely the case for this room with the various baskets. I'm very impressed. Maybe this seems dream-like to me since I share one washer and dryer with my other apartment neighbors. And maybe its also because I too have laminate floors that always look dirty (okay, maybe they are most of the time... but even when we clean them they look bad). So to think that with some creativity, great inexpensive finds, and DIY magic a room like this can be created with such a low cost is sounding pretty awesome to me! So what do you guys think? What would you want to have in your dream laundry room? ps- Click here for the link to Kelly's step by step on that awesome stencil wall. -Megan 'Design Therapy' is a great segment where we highlight fun DIY's (both small and large scale!) as well as well organized spaces. Anything that breathes new life into an object or area of your home we find therapeutic! If you have a DIY project or well functioning/organized space in your home, we'd love to feature it! Simply click the button below!  Dani from Pinned by Dani is back again this week with another great DIY. I don't know about you, but any DIY that states its a "no sew" project totally catches my eye since I have no sewing ability. Today she sharing with us her step-by-step tutorial for her DIY ottoman from a coffe table. Here it is from Danielle -  Ever since my husband and I bought our coffee table I have hated it. It is made of glass, stone, and metal so it is constantly covered in fingerprints and I always have bruises on my shins from running into the dang thing. A few months ago I found a cute little wooden coffee table for $10 at a garage sale. Though the color was heinous, I had a vision for it and I knew that a little paint, foam, and fabric would spruce it up nicely. It took me a few months to gather up the motivation to start the project, but I finally did it and I couldn’t be more pleased. Let me start off with this disclaimer: This DIY ottoman project really isn’t very hard, which surprised me. I was stressed about starting it all day on Friday because I knew it was a big project and I just wanted it to turn out well. Luckily for me, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. However, it is very time consuming…especially if you are new to upholstering like I was! My shoulders, back, forearms, and thumbs were very sore the next day and I was up until 4:30 a.m. finishing it (that makes a total of about 13 hours). Fortunately, the amount of love I immediately had for my new piece of furniture made up for my soreness and lack of sleep. Would I want to repeat the process again any time soon? Heck no. But I don’t regret making it one bit. You should also probably know that my ottoman was not the only project made that day…my friend Christy and I worked on my ottoman and her bench simultaneously, so it took us about twice as long. I would say plan for about 6 or 7 hours if you are just making one (and if you are smart enough to buy enough fabric and supplies on your first trip to the craft store!! We had to go back twice…once for new fabric because we hated our first choices, and a second time because we didn’t buy enough fabric to cover the sides. Math isn’t our forte, okay?) I hope my disclaimer doesn’t make you change your mind about doing this project. Like I said, it’s SO worth it when you’re done!! So. Let’s begin! The supplies you need for your DIY Ottoman are as follows:
The process: 1. Okay…where to begin. The first thing I did was have my handy-dandy husband saw a few inches off the bottom of my coffee table legs. He’s the greatest. I was about to add an extra 5 inches to that thing, so it had to shrink. No one wants to rest their legs on something higher than the couch. 2. The next thing you need to do is paint some primer on any parts of the table that you don’t plan on covering with fabric. Once that’s dry, paint 2 coats of whichever color you have chosen for the legs. I used a semi-gloss black and I liked the shininess level.  3. Now, you can’t start anything else until that paint is completely dry or you’ll have a mess on your hands and pretty pathetic looking table legs. Because of this, I painted my table the night before I started the rest of this project. 4. So, once your paint is dry, you’re ready to cut your foam and glue it to the table. Use your handy math skills to figure out exactly how to cut your foam so that it covers the whole table with an extra inch on each side. Draw a straight line with a permanent marker and use your bread knife or electric carver to cut the foam. I ended up using one large piece and one smaller strip on the side.  5. This is where things get a little tricky…You need to glue your foam to the table so it stays in place, but if you have thick foam and a pretty wimpy drill like me, you might need to lift the foam up to drill your button holes in the table. Don’t skip the gluing step though…cause you want the foam to stay where it’s supposed to. 6. So, position your foam on the table exactly where you want it, lift each side slightly, and spray with the adhesive. Then press down. I sat on mine to make sure it was on there good (this was before I knew I was gonna need to lift it up again to get my drill to work…). 7. Now, figure out how many buttons you want and use those math skills again to space them out evenly on your table. I decided on two rows of three buttons, and one row of two in between. The buttons can be a headache, so if you’re debating between two different amounts, go for the smaller amount. haha. Trust me. I drew a grid on my foam to try and figure out where to put the buttons and it ended up being a big waste of time. Basically you just need to make sure they are exactly in line with each other and equally spaced apart from each other and the sides. My foam looked so ridiculous after drawing my grid that I couldn’t bear to take a picture of it…sorry. 8. Once you’ve marked off the button spots, it’s time to grab that drill. After much trial and error (my foam was so thick that it literally broke the first drill bit I used), Christy and I figured out that the best way to do this is to poke the drill bit all the way through the foam before turning it on, and then turning it on for just a second to mark the table where the hole needs to be. Then, while keeping the foam perfectly in place, lift it enough to drill a hole through the table exactly where the mark is. This keeps your foam from shredding to pieces. Just be really careful about not letting your foam move! You want the hole in your foam to match up with the one in the table, trust me. Repeat for every button. 9. Now, time to add some more spray adhesive to your foam so it’s nice and stuck. Once again, don’t let it move out of place!! 10. After your foam is officially stuck to your table, it’s time to grab your paring knife and make those holes you poked in the foam bigger. I would say we carved the holes about as big as a quarter…but keep in mind that my buttons were pretty big. This is what will help your buttons look deep. 11. Now you’re ready to put your batting over the foam. Staple in place under the lip of the table.  12. At this point you should know how big your table is with the extra foam and batting. That should give you a good idea of what size your fabric needs to be. Cut off a piece that is big enough to cover the entire top of your table and wrap down under the lip with enough excess to staple in place. Don’t forget that your foam added an extra inch to your table in every direction…So, if your table is 38×38, you need a piece of fabric that is at least 44×44 and maybe even 45×45. Make sense? Just place it on top to test it out before cutting it to be safe. 13. Once your fabric is cut, take the extra fabric that you have and make your buttons (just be sure to cut it strategically so that you still have enough for your strips later (I needed to save enough fabric for four 5×20 inch strips). Your button kit will show you how to make the buttons. It’s surprisingly simple!!  14. Now, this is where the explaining gets tricky. You need to take your fishing line and run it through the needle…then run it through the back of your button and secure it in place. Christy did this part for me cause I am no pro at knots or sewing. 15. If you can, have an extra set of hands help you with this part—it will really make your life easier… 16. Prop your table up on some chairs so it’s high up off the ground, drape your fabric over the top of it (exactly where you want it to be), and use your hands to locate those nice big holes you cut into the foam. 17. Now, starting with the middle button, stick your needle straight through the fabric and down into the foam. If you’re lucky, your needle will go straight down through the hole you drilled into the wood as well. However, if you’re like me, it will take about 5 minutes to find that gosh dang hole with the needle. We let the foam move on my table when we were drilling the holes through the wood, so it caused some issues. You shouldn’t have that problem though if you were careful in step 8. 18. Once the needle is finally through the wood, have your helper grab it, string the needle through one of your cheap buttons (not the nice ones you just made), and cover the hole in the wood. The person above the table needs to push down on the button as deep as wanted while the person under the table pulls the fishing line tight and starts securing it with staples. Put one staple in, hammer it tight, and then repeat in a zig-zag pattern at least 3 times. See my really bad picture below if you’re confused. This should keep your fishing line and button in place  19. Repeat with the rest of your buttons.   20. Your ottoman should now start to look like an ottoman! This is where I started to get excited Once all your buttons are secure, you can staple your fabric to the underside of the table. Make sure those staples are in tight (this might mean hammering some of them in). We started at the middle of each side, and then worked our way to the edges and did all four corners last. 21. For the corners, just roll one side into the other to create a nice fold…unless you are great at folding and come up with a better plan! That is just what proved to be easiest for us. 22. Now, it’s time to go cut those strips we talked about. Measure the lowest part of the lip of your table and add an extra inch to it so you know how thick each strip needs to be, and then measure the length and add two inches. I used four 5×40 inch strips. 23. Staple each strip to the table. You will have to cut little slits in the bottom of your fabric if your table lips are detailed like mine were. I promise it’s not as difficult as it looks, it just takes some patience. Staple to the underside of the table.   24. Once you’re done with that, you can enjoy your table how it is! Otherwise, grab those upholstery tacks and carefully nail them in (you’re gonna want to put some fabric over the hammer or all the paint will come off the tack when you hit it with the hammer). Some of them will be stubborn, break, and go in crooked, so be careful and try not to curse them too much. Like I said earlier, a few of mine broke so I need to go buy some more… 25. Hallelujah, you’re DONE!! Enjoy your beautiful new piece of furniture. LOTS of work, but way cheaper than buying one…and it’s way more loved when you make it yourself!   Thanks Dani! Wasn't that a great tutorial? Very thorough... which is exactly what someone like me needs to follow along doing new projects! The new ottoman looks great, awesome job! -Megan 'Design Therapy' is a great segment where we highlight fun DIY's (both small and large scale!) as well as well organized spaces. Anything that breathes new life into an object or area of your home we find therapeutic! If you have a DIY project or well functioning/organized space in your home, we'd love to feature it! Simply click the button below!  When I went to New York recently and visited the Guggenheim Museum, I got the museum's booklet and couldn't throw it away. It has the Shining Back print on it by Sam Francis. It's so pretty. Remember how I did a post on if you prefer reading from actual books or kindles? I typically prefer reading from my kindle, but on occasion I get a book from the library or loaned from a friend so I jump back into normal book territory. When I was recently reading I needed a bookmark, so I used a cute thank you card I received in the mail. Then I realized I had other things, like my Guggenheim booklet, that would also make fantastic bookmarks. So I got to work! I picked out the paper I wanted to use. I got the cute thank you card (since I didn't want to double up the paper, I only used the side with no writing on the opposite side), the Guggenheim booklet, and a stack of art from my 4 year old (I used the one on the top of the pile).  Then I trimmed them down in different sections, each strip being one I think would look good as a bookmark. I had favorite parts of each item, so I worked around that, but I kept in mind color and balance in each strip so multiple bookmarks could be made.  I picked my favorite from each one, and laminated them using no heat sheets I got in a pack from Target. Then I just trimmed them down!  Here are my finished new bookmarks. Some of the edges were a little sharp so I touched them up with scissors on the corner to dull them a bit.  If you are planning to give someone a book this holiday season, wouldn't it be a nice touch to add a homemade bookmark with the book?  The Sam Francis print is my favorite. I love how big the bookmark is. And ps- isn't this book below great? Look at the color variation around each page. I picked up these books at a flea market in Paris.  Do you have any pretty paper you're hanging on to? Are you a book reader instead of a kindle reader? If so, maybe you could make yourself a cute bookmark! There are definitely different methods you could use, and you could also add fun touches by punching a hole in the top and stringing some cute ribbon or fabric through. I loved being able to use what I had on hand, giving my pretty paper a 2nd life! -Megan ps- I'm actually heading back to New York in a couple weeks (I fly there on my birthday actually) and would love recommendations from you awesome people on your favorite things to do and see! 'Design Therapy' is a great segment where we highlight fun DIY's (both small and large scale!) as well as well organized spaces. Anything that breathes new life into an object or area of your home we find therapeutic! If you have a DIY project or well functioning/organized space in your home, we'd love to feature it! Simply click the button below! I've never decorated for halloween before (besides carved pumpkins outside the door). We never get trick or treaters and I figured since no one seemed to care in our household I wouldn't bother... but that wasn't the case this year! A couple weeks ago my four year old asked me when we were going to put up our halloween decorations, so I figured if he wanted to decorate, he should help me with it! So below you see our grand door. Both my boys made the little ghosts on the door, and my four year old made the ghost on the wall, along with a spider and bat at a primary halloween party. The extra bat, spider, and awesome monster eye were all left over decorations from that party that I gladly snagged! 
I printed and cut out the banner, and my son helped me tape string to the back of it so we could hang it. When I thought we were done with our fun decorating afternoon he wasn't done with his scissors and tape fun, so the three white squares and random tape are what he referred to as his "masterpiece" so I let him go for it until he got bored 2 minutes later. You see the pumpkin on the left? After my husband made multiple comments about how he was dreading carving pumpkins (he's always hated that) I decided to take pity on him this year so my kids and I picked out a Funkin pumpkin to surprise him with from Joannes. It's a fake (but surprisingly realistic looking) pumpkin that you can carve. My kids helped him decide on a "spooky face" and were very happy with the results. We have a fake candle to light up the pumpkin that's on a timer, so at 6pm it automatically lights up and will shut off five hours later at 11pm. Here are the tutorials for the fun diy's we have on our door if you need last minute halloween decoration ideas -
So there you have it! All the fun, simple halloween crafts we decorated our door with. Here is a really pretty DIY Andrea posted last year. Are you throwing a halloween party? Here is a post to help you get inspired! -Megan  Have you read, Living in a Nutshell? It's a great book that talks about Janet Lee's experience decorating many tiny New York apartments over the years. She is a chronic renter who has developed her own system of decorating that focuses on portable decorating ideas, improvements that she has made that don't have to be left behind when it's time to move to the next apartment. This principle works well for me too, and I am not planning on moving anytime soon. Even with that plan in place, my house is in a constant state of flux. As my kids and my preferences change and evolve it is very helpful to have pieces that I love that can work throughout my home. It is also a thrifty way to decorate, and not wasting money is always part of my plan!  One of my favorite ideas that she shares happens to deal with the file drawers above. I just bought these 2nd hand IKEA metal drawers last night off of craigslist. I am planning on them working as a base to a desk, now I just need to decide on a top. As functional as all these drawers are, they aren't beautiful. This is where Janet Lee rescues me.  The file drawer shown above used to look like my two lack lusters IKEA drawers. Lee decided on her artwork and sent that and her file measurements to a bus wrap ad company. They sent her back vinyl sheets that she fitted to her cabinet. She used a hair dryer to shrink wrap her file drawers! The finishing touch was to use an exact-o-knife to cut out the handles and drawers. I like this idea for it's graphic punch and limitless possibilities. This book was full of really creative ideas, I can't recommend it enough. I might recommend not reading it right before bed as I was up for a long time afterwards, full of inspiration! -Andrea There are certain things in my home that make a statement. My blue sofa is pretty unique. My media cabinet is a favorite. A fantastic pillow that I splurged on years ago still makes me very happy. And you already know how I feel about my living room rug. Guess what doesn't make a statement, our rug liners. Rug liners are one of those things that make a big difference in comfort, safety, and wearability. Three things that are pretty important, but not very exciting. When I worked at Pottery Barn during college I was amazed to learn how expensive their rug liners are, and all for something that never sees the light of day. Well I was reading here, and caught a great tip that I wanted to pass on to all of you. I might not need to sing Joann Fabrics praises to you but, she does it again! You can buy rug liner by the yard at Joann's and save yourself quite a bit of dough. A 5 x 8 rug pad at Pottery Barn will cost you $40. At Joann's you can buy the same square footage for $21, and that's without using the ever present 40% off coupon. Save your money and buy yourself one of these instead!  Speaking of saving money, I saw a mercury gourd at Costco this weekend for $12. It came with an acrylic stem, which I would probably paint black, but such a good price for a large mercury piece. -Andrea | We're two bi-coastal designers who met at the corner of 2nd and Strand in Santa Monica.
ANDREA. I'm the east coast half of our magical design team. I have a long standing love affair of anything blue and beachy. I appreciate the tried and true design elements of my New England home.
 MEGAN. True to my west coast living, I love design with a blend of casual sophistication. Living in a small apartment, I've developed a love of clutter free, well organized spaces.
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