It’s Friday! And for me, it’s the last Friday of school! Whoop!

But, before I go enjoy the last day of school, let’s look at some amazing inspiration from around the internet.

(Via Slide Out Shelf Dallas)

This is genius. Seriously – I am constantly digging around in my pantry, trying to see the things in the very back of the shelves, and there’s always that one thing I can never find no matter how hard I look. With something like this, though, you’d always be able to see everything – what a smart idea!

(Via Sarah M. Dorsey Designs)

I love everything Sarah does, but this table seriously takes the cake. My eyes were popping out of my head while I was reading this post and I’m already trying to figure out how I can create something like this. Love, love, love. It’s perfect. Make me one, Sarah?

(Via Sand & Sisal)

Tulips are my current favorite flower. They’re so pretty, simple, and I kind of want to coat my entire house in them all the time. I look for them every time I’m in the grocery store, and when they have them I can’t resist buying at least three or four bouquets. I absolutely LOVE the look of this – it makes them even prettier if that’s possible. I am determined to try this sometime soon!

(Via Metal and Mud)

Can you believe these are just plain ol’ pushpins? I love the creativity here – and it’s so simple! I don’t know that I’d ever actually have the patience for something like this, but it looks gorgeous – wouldn’t it be so great in an entryway?

(Via Planet Natural)

Corey and I really want to do some raised garden beds in our backyard, and I LOVE the look of this. Plain wooden garden beds can get a little boring, and I think it’s such a smart idea to think outside the box and plant some stuff in a different kind of container. I also love the fence they have here – we’re going to have to do something like this once we get our beds started (because, um, three dogs).

Well, I’m off to get through the last (half) day of school before summer vacation! Let’s hope it goes by quickly.

What have you been inspired by this week?

Related posts:

Happy Friday! No commentary with the post today because as I write this on Thursday evening I’m preparing to go watch some of my students perform in a musical at my school, so I’m short on time. But I promise all of these posts are worth clicking through on, because the inspiration is awesome. Enjoy!

(Via Chris Loves Julia)

(Via Sawdust Girl)

(Via Little Green Notebook)

(Via This Old House)

(Via Four Generations One Roof)

What inspired you this week?

 

Related posts:

Quick announcement before we get started – voting for the first round of Creating With the Stars is officially OPEN! I can’t tell you which project is mine, but you should definitely go check out all of the awesome projects and vote on your favorite. Seriously. Go now – this post will still be here when you come back!

….

You back? Okay. Let’s get started.

Remember that amazing house that we drooled over together last week?

Mmm, well it’s time to finish drooling over it. The Southern Living Showcase home that I went to check out recently was so incredibly large that there was no way I could fit all of the inspiration into one post. I tried, but I took over 100 photos and it was impossible to narrow them all down to just one post. So today, we’re back to check out all of the bedrooms and bathrooms that we haven’t seen yet.

You ready to be wowed?

Okay, well let’s start off back in the living room. Remember it?

Ahh, so gorgeous. Well, if you head down that hallway you can see to the left of the fireplace, you can access two of the five (!) bedrooms in this house. First up? The master.

Yeah, that’s right – I’m starting off with a bang.

I’m so inspired by everything in this room. I love the neutral color palette and the insanely cushy looking bed. I also love the beams on the ceiling, and that giant wall of windows (you can’t see out of them because it was too bright, but the view was the same view from the patio, which we all know was amazing).

I’m also a huge fan of the wall color – it’s almost white, but not quite. It’s just this gorgeous, super-pale gray that makes the whole room feel bright and airy.

My favorite part of the entire house just happens to be right off of the master bedroom – the master bathroom.

Drool. Once again, it’s mostly shades of white and light gray which creates an incredibly serene feeling and makes me never want to leave.

This mirrored wall was hands down my favorite part of the bathroom and one of the things I found most inspiring in the whole house. I had never seen an entire wall mirrored like this in a bathroom, and I’m in love with the effect it creates. It made the entire bathroom feel larger (like it needed to feel any bigger…) and was just incredibly gorgeous. This is definitely an idea I’ll be keeping in mind when Corey and I do our master bathroom, because I think it could work really well in our bathroom, too!

Oh, and I also adored the backsplash in this room.

Need a closeup?

I’ve seen this tile all over the place online, but this was my first time seeing it in person. The textured effect it creates is stunning, and I kind of wanted to stand there and stroke it for a few minutes. It was amazing.

The shower was also just a little bit impressive.

Oh, and who could forget the closet?

Yeah, it was about the size of our guest room. Seriously. Amazing.

Back out in the hallway, there was also a small (comparatively) hall bathroom – it was hard to get good photos, since there wasn’t any natural light, but it was gorgeous.

And it also had these really nice cabinets instead of a linen closet. It made me wonder if we could convert our linen closet into something like this, because I love how it looks!

Also in this part of the house was a study. A study with dark navy grasscloth wallpaper that I wanted to rub all over my body.

Too much?

Maybe…but the texture on this wallpaper was incredible, to say the least. I was completely smitten.

Aside from the wallpaper, my favorite part of this room was easily the two giant owl prints.

It was hard to drag myself out of this room to go see the rest of the house (because, seriously, it was ridiculous), but my friends were waiting on me so I finally gave the grasscloth walls one last loving stroke and headed to the back of the house to see the next bedroom.

Once again, I loved the neutral and serene color palette, and I kind of just wanted to curl up in the bed and never leave. The walls were a very similar color to the master bedroom, but they had a very subtle lavender tint to them that made the room feel a bit warmer, and tied into the super feminine accents. It was gorgeous.

I was also a big fan of this little sitting area right next to the giant windows.

That table is gorgeous, no? In this room, I was struck by the use of lamps – there were four lamps in the room, and it made me think about how Corey and I don’t really use a ton of lamps throughout our house. They created a nice, not at all harsh light in the room, and I loved the effect it created, so I’ll have to be thinking about ways to incorporate more lamps in our home!

Next up? It’s time to head back up these beautiful stairs to see the bedrooms on the second story.

There are two bedrooms upstairs – one on either side of the great room.

The bathroom in this bedroom was small, but it packed a punch. I loved the adorable crab print on the wall!

I also adored what they did with the shower in here. It was pretty much just your standard bath/shower combo, but they took the opportunity to amp it up a bit with a gorgeous tile detail on the ceiling. It was definitely the highlight of this bathroom and was something I’ve never seen done before – I loved it!

Across the TV room from this bedroom is the last bedroom and the last bathroom in the house. Let’s start in the bathroom.

The tile was amazing and I am absolutely and completely obsessed with that giant map on the wall. The fun pop of color on the mirror was definitely a focal point, and I think the shower in this bathroom was one of my favorites in the house (right behind the master bathroom shower, of course)

And the bedroom? It was definitely the most unique and fun bedroom in the house. It was a fun change from all of the super-serene colors in the rest of the house, and I loved the little bit of whimsy they added in here.

Oh, and even better? This bedroom has this:

Um, yeah. I wanted to stay here forever.

But, unfortunately, I couldn’t. And neither can you. Because, at this point, we’ve seen the whole house and it’s time to leave. I know. It’s sad.

I’m so glad I had the chance to go and check out this house, and I’m still feeling incredibly inspired by all of the amazing things I saw. I think that I’m going to have to start paying more attention to when stuff like this is going on in our area, because I’d love to see more houses like this!

Have you ever been to an “idea house”? Now that you’ve seen it all, what is your favorite part of this one?

Pssst! Don’t forget to go vote! 

Related posts:

It’s Tuesday, and February is officially over (thank goodness!), and that means it’s time to link up YOUR organization projects from the Organize-A-Thon! Corey and I got a ton of stuff done around our house, like corralling our paper, adding some storage to the kitchen, cleaning our bathroom drawers, and organizing the garage to prep it for some work soon. I’m feeling pretty pumped about what we got done, and I know that at least a few of you followed along because I’ve seen posts popping up!

Now’s the time to share. Feel free to link up ANY organization project, even if you didn’t technically do it in February or as a part of the Organize-A-Thon. I just want this to be a nice, big collection of organization goodness.

I’m excited to see what you guys did, and please oh please link up a project or two. This is my first time hosting a link party, and I’d hate to be the only one partying over here all by my lonesome.

Enjoy!

Related posts:

A few weeks ago, one of my friends at work asked me if I was interested in going to see an amazing open house put on by Southern Living, called the Southern Living Showcase Home. My answer? Um, DUH.

So, one Friday three of us snuck out a few minutes early (I promise, we waited until the kids were gone!) to go check it out. And I, of course, lugged along my camera so that I could snap some photos for y’all. Because, seriously, you don’t want to miss this.

Yeah. Um, this house is nice.

So, settle in, grab a cup of coffee (or whatever you’re drinking this morning) and get ready to be inspired beyond belief. This house is absolutely incredible – so incredible, in fact that I wasn’t able to squeeze all of the inspiration into just one post. I took way too many photos, and there was way too much house to see, so I’m breaking it down to two posts – today we’ll see the main living areas, and next week I’ll be back to share the bedrooms and bathrooms.

But first, can we take a second to admire those garage doors?

Ah-may-zing. I love the wood planks on them, and I also love the giant lantern-style lights next to them. Drool.

Okay, now that we’ve properly appreciated the outside of the house, let’s step inside. First up is the living room.

Sigh. I’m smitten. The white plank walls, the moody gray-toned wood floors, and that amazing concrete-molded mantel. Amazing. not to mention the giant sliding glass doors that lead out to the most amazing patio I’ve ever seen (we’ll get to that in a minute).

First, let’s talk about some of the inspiration I drew from this room. I was especially drawn to that shell-covered tray on the coffee table.

This would be so easy to re-create! Just grab a bunch of shells, a mirrored tray, and some hot glue and you are good to go. And it makes such a huge visual impact! I was also drawn to the herringbone-patterned brick in the fireplace (you can see it in the first photo of this room) – it was a small detail, but it was definitely noticeable.

If you turn around and face the back of the house, this would be your view.

Let’s step into the dining room, shall we?

I absolutely loved the giant chandelier and the bench-style seating. The place settings were all incredible as well, and it all just felt so lush and fancy. It was a nice contrast, because I typically see big open living areas like this as a bit more casual (versus a dedicated, formal dining room), so it was a really interesting juxtaposition to see such a fancy dining set in a more casually laid-out floor plan.

And then, of course, is the kitchen.

Well, the first kitchen.

Did I just say that? Yes. There are TWO kitchens. As it was explained to me by one of the people showing the house, this kitchen is the “show kitchen” that you can keep nice and clean and perfect for company all the time. The other one is the “prep kitchen” where you actually do the cooking. Because everyone needs two kitchens, right?

Can we talk about that backsplash for a minute? All of those tiles are hand-cut marble, and I wanted to lick it. I’m weird, I know, but I seriously wanted to drop everything and make out with that backsplash. It was stunning. It almost made me not even notice those trimmed glass upper cabinets, the giant window looking out onto the patio, or the planked ceiling with the amazing dark wood beams. Almost.

But, the backsplash isn’t the only makeout-worthy thing in this kitchen. There’s also this gorgeous oven and sleek black vent hood.

Just one more photo of the backsplash? Sorry – couldn’t resist.

Can we drool over the island for a minute?

The small sink was so cute (though I’m really not sure what you’d use it for, since there’s another one five steps away), and I loved the giant tulip arrangement on the island. It made me want to go out and track some down to sprinkle all over our house – I’ve never been a big tulip girls before, but I’m in love now. This island was so beautiful that I didn’t even notice the giant chocolate cake sitting on it. And that’s saying something.

And you can see the backsplash in this photo again.

Sorry. I have a problem.

Let’s just move into another room.

I say room, but I mean pantry. And the reason I say room is because it’s seriously large enough to be considered it’s own room. Check it out.

Amazing. Seriously, I could probably live in here. I loved the little prep area and the pretty warming oven drawer. And look at all of that storage space! I’m in love.

Okay, so it’s time to go back into the living room and step outside of those giant doors to the patio. Are you ready for this?

 

Mmm, yeah. You weren’t ready, were you? How could you possibly prepare yourself for this? That infinity pool made me want to dive right in, even though it’s February (let’s be real, I live in Texas so it was 80 degrees anyways – I could have gone swimming!) and I couldn’t get over how large the patio was.

I didn’t get a good photo of it, but if you turn the corner (directly behind where you’re looking in the above photo) there’s a whole separate section of the patio, with an outdoor kitchen, a sitting area around the fire pit, and a small dining area. I probably could have stayed there forever.

But I wanted to see the rest of the house, so we all headed back in.

Let’s take just one more look at the main living space before we head to the back of the house to the servants’ quarters prep kitchen.

I seriously felt a little bit like I was in Downton Abbey going into the downstairs kitchen, only if the servant’s kitchen was completely gorgeous and updated, and an actual part of the house. And, you know, not for servants since we don’t really do the whole servant thing here in central Texas. At least, I don’t think we do. I’m not rich, so I wouldn’t know.

This kitchen was just as gorgeous as the last one, only less fancy and more liveable-looking. I loved the herringbone-style brick floor (it had a super fun texture under your feet!) and the pretty blue-ish/green-ish cabinets. This definitely looked like the type of kitchen you could do some serious cooking in.

There was also a giant, three-car garage off of this kitchen that had an automatic attic ladder (that my parents are now thinking of installing in their house – seriously!) and a giant go-cart virtual-reality game. Like…you climbed into the go-cart and there was a huge screen in front of you and you could drive it. Like an arcade game. But cooler.

But those photos aren’t particularly exciting, so let’s move onto the hall bathroom. It looked like it belonged in a magazine (okay, all of these rooms look like they belong in a magazine, but work with me here).

I liked the beveled subway tile in here – I have seen it before in photos and wasn’t a huge fan of the idea, but in person it’s gorgeous. It is just like regular subway tile but the beveled edges add a unique texture and make it feel a little more special. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but let’s just say this is the least impressive of all of the showers in this house (there are five). But, we’ll get into those next week. For now, let’s head upstairs.

Can we pause and talk about that staircase for a minute? I’ve never seen tiles on the risers like that before, and I adore how special it looks. I also liked that the treads on the stairs weren’t solid pieces – they were planked like the rest of the flooring. Again, it was a small touch, but it made an impact!

Oh, and those ginormous baskets hanging on the wall? Don’t even get me started.

At the top of the stairs, there’s this cute little bar area, with a gorgeous backsplash, and a copper sink that I fell in love with. Oh, and that blue light fixture? Gorgeous.

The main part of the second level is the TV room – it was a lot more casual than the rest of the house, and it looked like a perfect place to settle in and watch a movie.

I loved all of the lamps in here, like those gorgeous blue ones, and the beautiful white branch-y one. I kind of wanted to steal it, but I didn’t think it would fit in my purse.

Oh, and stealing is wrong.

And, with that, you’ve seen the main areas of the house.

Are you feeling inspired yet? Because I am. There are so many ideas in this house that I’d love to steal, and every time I look at the photos again I find something new that I hadn’t noticed before.

So, now that your head is probably swimming with awesomeness, I’ll stop bombarding you with photos of this amazing house and let your eyes take a break from bugging out of your head (because if you’re anything like me, that’s all they’ve been doing since you first laid eyes on this house). Next week I’ll be back with some more photos of the bedrooms and the other four bathrooms, so start preparing yourselves now.

What’s your favorite part so far? Find anything that you’ve absolutely got to copy in your own home? I think I might need a second kitchen.

 

Related posts: