Pinterest Picks: Summer Table Settings

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Frame by Frame Style

Summer is almost here and I’m so excited! The first official day of summer is still a few weeks away but I’m already thinking about BBQs, picnics and pool parties.

I’m looking forward to enjoying dinners out on our patio again. To spruce up our outdoor decor, I bought this yellow-green hurricane for our patio bistro set during the Crate and Barrel 20% off outdoor sale.

Inside of the hurricane, we added an indoor/outdoor battery-operated led candle from Target.

Our new hurricane inspired me to put together a fun summer table arrangement for our bistro set. To find some ideas I searched for “summer table setting” on Pinterest.

Here are a few of my favorite pins:

I love how the table setting below incorporates red, white and blue as well as a coastal theme with the seashells. The yellow flowers also give off a bright summery feel.

This table setting incorporates a few of my favorite summer colors. I love the bright yellow and green dinnerware and patterned napkins.

I love lanterns and this table setting reminded me of our wedding. For our wedding, we incorporated lanterns as our table arrangements. We still have the lanterns and use them in our home decor.

This summer table setting is simple and classy. The clear milk jug vases and white flowers are an elegant touch. I could definitely see us incorporating a simple flower arrangement in our own summer table setting.

This last table setting is a fun way to use fresh fruit in a centerpiece. You could even put a cute little sign in the fruit arrangement that says “please enjoy.”

After I looked at all of the summer table settings on Pinterest, I put together this setting for our bistro set. What do you think?

Showing Our Home Some More Love

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

As promised, here are our fabulous Ikea finds from last weekend.

Along with the coffee table for the living room, we also brought home a pair of Poang chairs for the loft. The loft is a good example of the “design and use a room for how you live” lesson I learned during the YHL panel session. For months, BJ and I talked about all the possibilities for the loft. After many discussions about how we could use the room, we realized it would often be just the two of us (and Zoey, of course) spending time in the loft. Why worry about seating multiple people? We have plenty of entertaining space downstairs in the living room. Instead of an entertaining space, the loft will be a place for us to relax outside of our master bedroom. Even when family and friends come and stay with us, they can use this space to read or relax.

To kick off the loft transformation, we bought two Poang chairs with black brown frames and blue cushions.

Originally, my design plan for the loft was to hang yellow chevron curtains and make yellow chevron pillows for the chairs. After I searched the Internet for yellow chevron curtains, I couldn’t justify the price. Even to buy the fabric and make the panels and pillows myself seemed too pricey. I decided to reconsider my idea and instead I found some reasonably priced yellow chevron and gotcha lattice patterned pillows on Etsy and curtains from West Elm.

Two 18 x 18 Pillow Covers: Yellow and White Chevron Zig Zag & Gotcha Lattice

Okay, I digress…

Back to the Ikea finds. An exciting new addition to our bedroom are our his and hers cube bookshelves. Can you guess which one is which? 🙂

Those are our latest Ikea finds. As we continue showing our home some love for the upcoming reappraisal, we are slowly crossing items off our “Show Your House Some Love for the Reappraisal To Do List.”

1. Weed the garden and replant the potted mums

~~2. Spruce up the loft so it looks like we use the space~~

3. Organize and clean the spare bedroom and BJ’s office

4. Finish the crown moulding and baseboard projects

The Poang chairs were a huge upgrade to the loft, and as for the appraisal to do list, we can cross off number 2. We are still going to add some more touches to this room including the curtains, pillows and an entertainment center. But for now, we can call this one done.

We are diligently working on the rest of the list and are hoping to finish by Tuesday of next week. Fingers crossed that we get it all done in time.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Fall Bucket List

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

I found this on Pinterest… love! I’m not so sure about calling it a “bucket list,” but I love the items on the list.

So far this year, we can cross one of the items off our list. We’ve decorated our mantle with a Fall theme.

It’s still early in the season and we’re going to keep working on the rest of the our Fall list. I’ll keep you posted on our progress, but in the meantime if you love Fall as much as I do, check out some more fun fall inspiration by visiting my Autumn Pinterest board.

Have a great rest of the week!

Picture Perfect

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

So what have BJ and I been up to lately? Quite a lot actually.

First, we added some new furniture to our master bedroom.

Then we finally started adding pictures on the wall of our upstairs hallway.

I also bought a few more frames to add more photos to the walls of the upstairs hallway and continue into the loft. BJ and I also started planning out how we would like to design the space in the loft. Right now, it is a mix of furniture and not really usable. We have a projector that we would like to use for movies and we are thinking about turning the loft into a movie/game room. We both went to the same University, so we would like to incorporate our alma mater into the theme in a classy way.

Here’s where we stand now, it’s pretty empty. Just a few piece of furniture and no seating.

One of the challenges of this room is that it is the first thing you see when you come up the stairs. We’ve gone back and forth on the design of the loft. We’ve talked about putting a sectional couch and adding some bookshelves, and we’ve also discussed just putting some chairs from Ikea with the ottomans and making it more of a place to relax and kick back. If we go with the Poang chairs, then we plan to add a few side tables and skip the coffee table.

There are many options to choose from and I’m sure we will find something perfect for our space. In the meantime, we’re enjoying coming up with some over the top ideas and then of course, ruling those out. But if money were no object, we would have a pretty cool looking loft already! 🙂

Here’s to One Year

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

One year ago today, I started Frame By Frame Style. Not only has this blog brought me joy, it’s a great way to update our friends and family on our home improvement endeavors. I also hope it has given some of our readers a few tips, tricks and a little inspiration along the way.

In honor of Frame By Frame Style’s first year, here is a look back at five of my favorite projects from this past year:

1. The Railing Stain Project

We actually did this project almost a year before we started this blog, but it really transformed the look of our home’s interior.

2. The Wall One Year in the Making

The infamous blue paint chip that lived on our wall for a year finally turned into one large blue wall. It’s made all the difference when you walk into our house. All of our accent walls are painted on the rooms that face our front door. When you walk in you see bright colors throughout the house. It’s like a crayon box, but better.

3. The Kitchen Island

We literally went from very little usable kitchen counter space, to plenty of room for friends and family to gather and hang out and even help us make a meal. It was a fun adventure to bring this island home in pieces from Ikea and then to assemble it all was a lot of work. The results were so worth it.

4. The Tile Floor

It took several months to finish our floor and the baseboard is still a work in progress, but the look and feel of the room is so different. I love the way the slate looks. And I’m proud to say that I laid many of the tiles in this room. It was my first go at tiling a floor. Not too shabby.

5. The Tree Towel Rack

The towel rack in our guest bathroom is probably my favorite project that we did this year. It turned out exactly as I envisioned and it was so easy! I love when people come over and it see it. It it so fun. I smile every time I see this tree.

It’s been a very busy, but enjoyable year working on projects and sharing our progress. I’m looking forward to more projects and another year of writing posts about our home improvement adventures.

Have a great weekend!

Hand-Me-Down No More

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

We finally have a new couch!! Hooray! No more hand-me-down couch with a lack of seats when friends and family come over.

Remember our old couch?

Here is its replacement. It’s bigger, has more seating and fits in a little better with our decor.

Before we left to pick up our new couch at Ikea, we made sure it would fit by using blue painters tape to visualize the dimensions on the floor. I find this helps me to see how the object will be incorporated into our home. We did the same process when we built our kitchen island.

We postponed getting a new coffee table due to the lack of time we had a Ikea. We were more concerned about getting the couch while we had access to a truck to haul it in. It’s also a good thing that we didn’t buy a new coffee table because there is no way it would’ve fit in the truck. We barely made it with the couch alone. So until we find a new coffee table, our old wooden one will remain.

I would like to change our current coffee table to a square table. I really like this idea I found on Pinterest. I’m still debating the color, but I do like how bright this one is.

I’m so excited about our new couch. I can’t wait to add some more bright throw pillows and find/make the perfect coffee table and really tie the room together.

A little wine with your home decor?

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

Mmmm wine. I love how some of it tastes and I love to use wine bottles in our decor. We came across these wine racks at Ikea while we were still living in our apartment. When we moved into our house, we hung them up in our kitchen and ever since then, we’ve found different ways to incorporate wine into our kitchen decor.

The flowers and grapes came from Michaels. I bought them for another project and just on a whim, I weaved the flowers through the wine racks and then hung the grapes from them for a little something extra. I’ve always liked the way it looks and now I don’t remember what I originally bought the flowers or grapes for.

One of the fun things about using wine bottles in your kitchen decor is the constant change of scenery. As friends and family come over and you enjoy a bottle of wine together, you replace that bottle with a new one.

And you can also use the corks. Here is how we are reusing our wine bottle corks. Our collection is still in progress.

Finally, to go along with our wine decor, we found this neat wall hanging.

Once we finish the crown molding, our plan is to hang this above the door into our dining room.

BJ and I became more into wine around this time last year when we took our first anniversary trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. We took tours of the winery, participated in a wine tasting and even enjoyed a wine and chocolate pairing. If you enjoy wine and haven’t been to the Biltmore, I definitely recommend it. If you are interesting in learning more about wine it’s a great way to get away to the mountains and learn about vino while you’re there!

Who wouldn’t want to kick back, drink a glass of wine and enjoy this view?

Have a great week!

Sweet Saratoga Springs

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

It’s wedding season! Time for fun dresses, shoes, gifts and travel. This past weekend, we attended our first wedding of the season.

The wedding was in the beautiful town of Saratoga Springs, New York. It’s an arts, culture and equestrian-centered community nestled about 30 minutes north of Albany. We loved it so much that we wanted to stay!

Everything about Saratoga Springs is charming. There is a fun downtown area with lovely boutiques, a few mainstream stores and plenty of restaurants and bistros to suit every palette.

While we were in town for the wedding, we ventured downtown and had coffee at Uncommon Grounds. We were even served by Capt. Dangerous!

We stayed at a charming bed and breakfast that was close to downtown and we were able to walk back and forth between the B&B and the downtown area.

On our way to downtown, we crossed through Congress Park. Several of the springs that give Saratoga Springs its name, are located in this park. It’s also home to a number of ducks and their ducklings.

Friday night, the rehearsal dinner was held at an Italian restaurant called Chianti. We enjoyed an amazing meal and relaxed and laughed with family and friends before joining the rest of the group at the local watering hole: City Tavern.

BJ was a groomsman in the wedding, so Saturday we arrived at the ceremony and reception venue a few hours early for pictures. Then we hopped a trolley and rode around town for more pictures with the wedding party. I tagged along and took some candid photos and also captured a few shots of the scenery.

After we got back from pictures, it was time for the ceremony. The wedding and reception were beautiful. It was an amazing weekend!

Congrats to Angelo and Ashley!

Pinterest Picks: Kitchens

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Frame by Frame Style

Holy crazy busy week, Batman! Sorry for my brief hiatus. I’m back now and ready to give you my Pinterest picks for this week.

Who doesn’t love a beautiful kitchen? The kitchen is the heart of our home. We spend a great deal of time in there cooking and hanging out. When we have friends over, we love standing around the island snacking and talking. When it’s just BJ and I, we cook dinner together and make snacks together in our kitchen.

Kitchen pictures are all over Pinterest and there are so many beautiful styles to check out.

I love all the windows in this kitchen. It is so bright and airy.

This kitchen is beautiful and rustic. I love the wooden beams on the ceiling.

This kitchen has a beautiful tin ceiling. I also really like the hanging lights over the island. Eventually, we would like to add track lighting so we can hang lights like these in our kitchen.

This kitchen is simple, but colorful. There is something fun and cheery about it.

I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains and this kitchen reminds me of the beautiful kitchens you find in some of the vacation home cabins near Canaan Valley, West Virginia. I love the view out of the windows of this kitchen.

Cupcakes and pastries anyone? I love the windows in this kitchen. It also looks like it would be a great place to entertain friends. Pull up a bar stool and enjoy a cupcake and a cup of coffee among friends.

This space definitely has a wow factor. I love that you can see into the dining room as if you are looking though a window to the outside. This would be a great entertaining space.

I love the skylights in this kitchen. It looks like a great place to enjoy a cup of coffee while you read your local newspaper on your iPad.

Here are more skylights and hanging lights in this beautiful kitchen. I also appreciate a double oven. We tried to get one installed in our kitchen, but it wasn’t an option for our builder.

All of these kitchens and more can be found on my Beautiful Homes Pinterest board.

Give Thanks

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Frame by Frame Style

The dining room table is back in the dining room, the food is in the crockpots and we are ready for Thanksgiving! As promised here a few pictures of our Thanksgiving table:

What are you thankful for this year? We are thankful for family, friends and beautiful weather for safe travels. Hope you enjoy your dinner and time with family! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!