{ Guest Room Updates }

You can see what the guest room looked like before 

here, and here.

and now with some updates...

stop by anytime!

{and thanks for letting me get away without 

hardly and words in this post}

{ Boys & Baseball }

Recently I ran a 

S U M M E R
D E S I G N
S P E C I A L

Thanks for the great response!

I thought I'd share with you some of the designs I'll be working on.

one of my clients wanted help with her son's bedroom.

He's a 6 year old boy who LOVES the Philadelphia Phillies.

His room is already 

"Phillies" blue, with a few red accents here and there.

He's got some great pieces to work with, 

but needed a little umph.

I came up with this design board 

to help his mom create a fun,creative room 

that Luke can grow with, and still have that 

"All-American" 

baseball feel.

Luke's Baseball Room by paintedhome on Polyvore.com

Hopefully this can help you if your trying to create a room for your little slugger too!

Baby Tucker’s Nursery

For the last year or more I’ve had baby on the brain.  And, not just my own!  It seems like every time I turn around someone else is having a baby and hiring me to decorate for their new bundle of joy.  Nurseries are probably one of my favorite rooms to design, so it’s been really fun to design all of them.

A few months ago I designed a baby boy’s nursery/guest room for a client.  Ashley, a graphic designer, contacted me and told me that she had an idea of what she wanted for her new nursery, but she was having problems pulling it together.  My Touch of Charm service was perfect for her because she wanted to be able to do a lot of it herself. 

Based on some ideas that Ashley already had, I pulled this design together for her.

I rarely get to see pictures of the completed projects for my Touch of Charm designs.  Since homeowners can do these designs at their own pace, it can take a while for them to be completed.  I was thrilled when Ashley sent me pictures of Tucker’s finished nursery. 

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us Ashley!  Tucker is one lucky little boy.

**Ashley is a really talented graphic designer.  She actually helped revamp my brand and redesign my blog back in December.  She is also really easy to work with.  If you are in the market for a graphic designer you should check her out (Links below).

Ashley’s WEBSITE - - Ashley’s FACEBOOK PAGE

LiveJournal Tags: nursery,touch of charm

{ Decorating the Man Cave w/Maps & Thumbtacks }

Honestly, I'm having a hard time with the

Man Cave.

It's still pretty dark & dreary.

Even with it's new floor and freshly

painted dry wall.

Gone is the 1954 Mahogany Paneling.

But, it's just not working.

One problem is the dark wood built ins.

Danny DOES NOT want them painted, 

Boo-Whoo.

So I need to figure something out to liven this place up

without it looking like a 

Mom Cave.

Part of my solution...

M A P S

they're cheap, easy, & 

the colors are

P E R F E C T I O N!

see?  right?

is the ocean not the perfect shade of bluey/greeny?

I MUST color match it and use it somewhere.

Maybe the ceiling in here.

okay, so P.S. ignore the 1997 TV.

also, the maps are attached with thumbtacks.

signed, Getting There

{ 10 Steps to Creating An Outdoor Room }

We live outdoors in the summer.

We are lucky enough to have a screened in porch right off out kitchen/den.

So, to make things simple, I created little 

"stations" where we can easily find the most common used items without 

traipsing through the house.

1st - set up an area for things you need to dine outdoors.

Plates, bowls, utensils, napkins...

whatever ~ 

2nd - Create a cold drink area.

Here I turned a wagon base & a sewing machine stand 

into an instant cooler spot.

Fill with ice & and a variety of your favorite drinks.

3rd - Have a little basket on the floor

 for flip flops & sandals 

to be tossed into 

{so much easier than searching the house for shoes when the kids want to go out}

have matches on hand for 

candles, BBQ's, & outdoor camp fires

The porch opens up to the den half of our kitchen.

So, it's a nice spot to entertain in the summer months.

I'd love to paint the stucco, but that's a whole 'nother

can of worms.

{but, if you insist, I'll do a post with my future colors & plan for the exterior of the house}

oh, go on , twist my arm.

4th - Carved out a spot to store other essentials.

Coloring books, crayons, bug spray

sun block ... fill in the blanks

and, of course 4 baskets full of stuff 

dedicated to Play-Doh

yes, I found this yellow piece of furniture on the side of the road {trash}.

I left the drawers there, cause they didn't shut very well.

These baskets do just fine.

5th - Add some lighting.

We strung white lights around the room 

and bunched up mini paper lanterns in the corners.

6th - Have a place to sit & eat. 

The table is is a left over from our last house.

It's the white IKEA one you've seen EVERYWHERE.

The benches work great for seating a good amount of bodies, but don't take up to much room.

I paid for the benches, but the black chairs? trash.

go ahead, grab a girlfriend and drive around your neighborhood the night before trash pick up.

It's a free & easy "Girl's Night Out".

I highly recommend it.

7th - Add some comfy outdoor pillows
to the backs & seats to cozy it up a bit.

Once you've bathed in bug spray, 

step outside.

8th - Throw an old quilt and some pillows 

on the hammock and you're sure to find someone asleep there

at some point in the day.

{hopefully a kid}

9th - Add fire.
Making a fit pit couldn't be easier.

My husband use the frame of an old 

fire pit and surrounded it with large rocks.
End of project.

It's a classic spot to roast 

marshmallows.

10th - Create a spot to hold your drink.

It's gonna be a long hot summer,
 so you'll want to have a tall, cold drink
standing by...

We used these stumps to create
end tables around the entire fire pit.
We had enough stumps so that each chair
had at least one stump next to it.

So there you have it.
{10 steps to creating your own outdoor room}
You don't need thousands of dollars to
create your own
outdoor living room.
Just an imagination.
Have fun with it, and your friends will too!







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