Crate & Barrel | It's Great To Be Home

Springtime Is Delicious

March 31, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 10 Comments

Crate & Barrel has jumped on the spring bandwagon with their newest dinnerware collection and I am LOVING it!

Loads of bright & festive colors, graphic patterns and modern designs {think square bowls and plates} make throwing together a spring or summer-inspired soiree a total snap. Don’t these make you want to sit out in the sun with a {very large} margarita?

From left to right, top to bottom: 1. Ruffle Chargers; 2. Square Dishes; 3. Square Plates; 4. Sorrento Melamine Dinner Plates; 5. Dipping Bowls; 6. Loire Plates; 7. Bianca Melamine Dinner Plates; 8. Whim Plates; 9. Focus Bowls; 10. Square Dishes.

If my husband wouldn’t divorce me, you can be sure I’d be loading up on these babies, particularly the turquoise melamine dinner plates with a few of the dishes from the “square” series thrown in for extra pizazz. I swoon.

You can check out even more springy additions to the C&B dinnerware collections right here.

Design Advice: Lackluster Law Office

March 5, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 10 Comments

The decor in law offices is typically about as exciting as you would expect – tan walls, wood furniture, lots of files and papers. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get a ficus.

Back in my lawyerly days I was mentored by an awesome attorney, one of the smartest chicks I know. She recently switched firms and wound up in this glamorous office.

But there is a bright side – her firm actually encourages the lawyers to decorate their offices. Imagine my delight when I got an email from my former mentor asking for a little design advice!!

Although she really wanted fun colors like hot pink, lime green and orange, she worried that such vibrant colors might be too much for a law office – so she requested a variety of options, some including the fun colors and others with more traditional “office” colors like warm reds, greens and tans. Keeping a “traditional but not stuffy” design scheme in mind, her only other requests were for a lamp, some artwork and new, matching in/out boxes.

Design Quickies don’t usually include 10 options – not gonna lie, I got a little carried away!! If you have the strength, check out the different goodies I whipped up for her:

Option 1: artwork 1, artwork 2, artwork 3, artwork 4, artwork 5, artwork 6, frames, lamp, shelves, trays (from See Jane Work, no longer available - try this or this instead).

The artwork in this design is a more affordable, somewhat DIY version of a very popular set of art from Crate & Barrel, as well as Ballard Designs.

{ You’ll notice that these floating shelves make an appearance in each design – they are super long and will look awesome on that long wall by the bookcase. I would stagger them so that the upper shelf extends over the bookcase a bit, and the lower shelf is scooted to the left (towards the door) at least two feet. That way there will be room to lean diplomas, add a narrow vase, personal photos, a book, etc. }

Option 2: artwork 1, artwork 2, artwork 3, artwork 4, frames, lamp, shelves, trays.

Option 3: artwork, lamp (from Target, out of stock – try this, this or this instead), shelves, trays.

{ This print is a steal as compared to an almost identical print from Ballard Designs. }

Option 4: artwork 1, artwork 2, lamp, shelves, trays (from See Jane Work, no longer available- try this or this instead).

Option 5: bull dog artwork, basset hound artwork, lamp, shelves, trays.

{ Disclaimer: I definitely didn’t expect her to pick this option, but when I came across these quirky prints I just had to concoct a little design with them in honor of her bull dog and beagle pups. }

Option 6: artwork, lamp, shelves, trays.

Option 7: artwork 1, artwork 2, lamp, shelves, trays.

Option 8: artwork, lamp (base & shade sold separately), shelves, trays.

{ The Bed Bath & Beyond artwork is a an affordable alternative to the Z Gallerie piece. }

Option 9: artwork, lamp, shelves, trays.

Option 10: artwork, lamp (from Target, out of stock- try this, this or this instead), shelves, trays.

Whew! Still with me after all that? If you were redecorating your office, which option would you choose? And speaking of offices, what’s your office situation? Do you work from home, from a cube, from a corner office? Or maybe your office days are behind you? Do tell!!

Click on the following link to snag some design advice of your very own – Interior Design Services.

Napkins & Placemats & . . . Pillows?

October 23, 2009 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 8 Comments

On Monday, I teased you guys with a little sneak peek of our den which has undergone a bit of a transformation. While I’m not quite ready for the big reveal (whew, there are still a lot of things to do!), I thought I’d show you guys how I jazzed up the sofas and added lots of color to the room.

I knew that I wanted new throw pillows on our sofas – the old Pottery Barn ones were fine, but I’d tired of the tan and red color scheme and started craving something a little more exciting.

See? Nice, but nothing to write home about. But I knew that I didn’t want to buy 7 brand new pillows, which could easily have run at least $200 – ouch! So, I got a little creative.

I was at Crate & Barrel the other day picking up a wedding gift for a friend when I spied these funky napkins and matching placemat. It was instant love, and I knew they could be transformed into some awesome pillows for our den. I stopped by the fabric store on the way home and snagged some gorgeous teal linen, and then I got to work!

I spread the project out over a couple of nights and made 4 20 x 20 pillows and a long 12 x 36 lumbar pillow for the oversized chair. I’m thrilled with how they turned out!

Here’s how you can whip up a brand new look for your space with just a few napkins and placemats:

1. Take stock of what you already have. I priced out new pillow forms for my pillows and they ran about $10 a pop! I did find a better deal at Ikea ($2.99), but I didn’t want to make the 45 minute trek to our local Ikea. So, I just reused the old pillows and covered right over them! They look just the same as new pillow forms, and it saved me some dough. And when it comes to fabric, look through your stash of napkins, placemats, and leftover fabric to see if you have anything that you could turn into a pillow cover – not only will it make you feel awesome to find a use for your old fabric, but it can keep some extra coin in your pocket.

2. Snag your fabric. In my case, I didn’t have any fabric or napkins on hand that struck my fancy so I bought some new goods. When I bought the napkins and placemat, I already knew that my pillows needed to be 20 x 20, so I was able to make sure (before I bought them) that the new napkins were the right size to cover my pillows. And have a little fun while you’re at it – pillows are a great place to take chances since you can make them so affordably, so play around with pattern, color and texture!

3. Put it all out there. In the case of the lumbar pillow, I knew that I was going to use both the placemat and some of the teal fabric to create the pillow cover. After I split the two sides of the placemat apart using a seam ripper, I laid one piece of the placemat across the middle of the original pillow cover – that way I could measure how much of the teal fabric I would need for each side.

4. Pin and sew. Once all the pieces were cut, I just pinned the teal fabric to each side of the placemat – at that point, I had two long strips, each constructed out of teal fabric then the placemat and then more teal fabric. Then I used my sewing machine to create the seams and connect the teal fabric to the placemat. The next step was to sew the two long strips together to create the pillow cover – you’ll want to pin the pieces together with the finished side of the fabric facing in:

5. Flip it. I sewed each of the 3 sides of the pillow and about a third of the way across on each corner of the fourth side – when I flipped the pillow cover right side out it looked like this:

The whole reasoning behind leaving part of the fourth side open is that it lets you put your pillow into the pillow cover without having to sew in a zipper. Alternatively, you could create an envelope enclosure, tie the unfinished side closed with ribbons, or close it with buttons.

6. Finish it off. Now you can go ahead and shove your pillow into the pillow cover! The last step is to hand sew the rest of the fourth side closed – and now you’re done!! Go enjoy your fabulous new pillow.

So there’s my quick tip on how to DIY your way into a spiffed up new space. Got any tips for us?

This post is shared with DIY Day on A Soft Place to Land.