Before & After: Small Changes

As many of you can attest (the ones with the decor bug, of course), is that there isn't one day that you don't change something around the house.
Well, today I just did it, and how nicer it looks:

The before:

And the after:

Feeling a bit blue...

Blue is definitely my favorite color... or at least one of the top 3!
I have plenty of blues in my wardrobe, and I have decided to revamp my house with touches of blue, as well.
I have started with a guest room, but now I want to add more touches all around the house!

Some ideas that start with just a silk blue blouse:

All walls? (maybe a bit too much!)

Just a pop:

Or a bigger pop?

Caramel on a rainy day

I love rainy days!
Foggy, cold,  and rainy days are the best!
Better,  if you are at home and the baking instincts kick in...
But after a week with two slices of chocolate cake a day.... better to stay put, and lust over caramel color clothes, instead.

Source: Habitually Chic; The Blonde Salad, and Pinterest

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Upholstery inspiration

Every time I need to clear my mind from what I call "dementia inducing bugs", aka, life roadblocks, I stop by an amazing Design/Decor store, at walking distance from my house.

Think airy sun rooms, beach/country house style. Every time I'm there I need to control  my impulse to steal the keys, and move in at the first opportunity.
It was here that I fell in love with upholstery, as well. All the sofas, pillows, chairs, benches are so well made, I have to leave my credit card at home to avoid any impulsive purchase.

Today I decided to stop by to ask the owner, Lauri, this gorgeous, with amazing taste woman, if she could provide her upholster contact information. I have do improve my upholstery skills pronto!  I may become soon an upholster apprentice.
Hopefully, very soon I will have a mini version of Stony Run Home.

Some pics of their goodies, saved immediately to my inspiration files!

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Before & After: Chinoiserie at best!

Before my adventures into upholstery, and with the help of many youtube and blogs tutorials, I decided to put to some good use an amazing Bassett McNab's Tea Garden fabric I purchased from FHG (fabric holly grail, aka, DeBois).

I had already seen the impact and use of the wallpaper of the mentioned fabric:

                 

Room by Gideon Mendelson as seen at House Beautiful

After many theories in how to make a headboard (thank you Rachel and Sara), I decided to take the plunge and go for it:

Add amazing fabric:

Some plywood and MDF:

Et voila! In less than 3 hours (matching the fabric was the most difficult of all tasks):

There is still a lot to do before I unveil the final product: my blue guest room. I still need to use the remaining fabric to do a roman shade for this room, add a rug, paintings, and a nifty chair I just purchased from Goodwill!

Linking my DIY project at The Pink Pagoda

Before & After: "Almost perfect" and I am fine with it!

I love evenings... So much, that I have trouble going to bed at night. I prefer staying up reading and spending endless hours on Pinterest. However, due to this last "addiction", my mind is filled with ideas (please read grand ideas, zero-how-I-will-translate-that-to-real-life).
To add to those grand ideas, I have become a fabric hoarder.  Since reading at the fellow Baltimorean blogs design par Deux and Pigtown Design about the "fabric holy grail" that is Debois Textiles.
My furniture hoarding "enabler/feeder" is an amazing store in Hampden filled with great pieces and people David's on the Avenue.

This is an example of one of my most recent adventures into the needles and thread ruthless world...
You mix a great chrome black leather, tarnished with a few cigarette burns:

With 2 yards of Windsor Smith for Kravet, Mandella fabric, and you get:

An awesome, almost perfect bench! 

I must thank Rose from Nifty Needle that with loads of patience and trust on my poor, almost non-existent  sewing skills, lead me through my first upholstery project!

It's not perfect at all, due to being short of fabric I was unable to align the patters, and will not win any Martha Stewart crafty honor badge in a million years.

Beijinhos, MY.

The entry hall

If your house fails to provide a first good impression as mine does, it is the plain Jane of the block, if not of the entire Roland Park area filled with its gracious mansions, old Victorians...
My Maison proudly stands as the poor cousin, but only from outside...
Before I present her to all of you, I share some of my ideas I gathered to fill her with a strong, attractive personality, non-plain-Jane-thank-you!

Katie leede papyrus | veranda magazine, feb. 2012 Home details Wall paper

Ruthie Sommers

More Paris Apt. 2.bp.blogspot.com...

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A new start

A new baby, a new home, a new job, a new country travelled to. All of this happened to me last year.
This year my new adventure starts now... with this blog!
Welcome to my world, my life, my house, aka Maison M.Y.