Your Design Dilemmas

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Hello?  Is anyone there?  I know folks are out there and checking out my blog....but no one leaves comments.  If you have a design dilemma, leave me a comment and or a picture and I will do my best to find a solution for you.  Sound good?  Amanda-This means you!  I can't remember what your curved staircase looks like, but this is an amazing design dilemma to have!  I want a curved staircase!  They are so grand.


  • I am looking for volunteers for one more complimentary design board. Leave a comment if you are interested with the room you have in mind and why you need help with it. I will then pick one and post the final design


Raleigh's Vintage Village

I don't know about you, but I thought both the Super Bowl and the commercials were boring.  Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers put on a good, but not great, half time show.  The only thing that saved the Super Bowl for me was good food and good friends.

My handsome hubby made his infamous Cafe Adobe Shrimp:

Shrimp, peeled and deveined
Cooked bacon (not crispy, still bendable)
Jalapenos, sliced and deseeded
Pepper jack cheese slices cut into squares
Buffalo wing sauce

Take a shrimp, cheese slice and jalapeno and wrap in an entire piece of bacon.  Secure with a toothpick. Bake on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Pour a thin layer of buffalo sauce on top.  Serve.  For easier munching, I recommend slicing the bacon into large squares and stacking it on top of the cheese and jalapeno.

Besides the Super Bowl, on Saturday I found a cool new spot for finding treasures aka cool junk in Raleigh called Vintage Treasures.  My favorite shop was Vignette.  Gail is the shop owner and she is very sweet!  You should definitely go by and check it out!




See my Instagram feed to the right for more cool stuff I found at Vignette.

Also on sight this weekend was Ladybug's


Source SuzAnna's Antiques


Source SuzAnna's Antiques

Grill Billie's BBQ


Source SuzAnna's Antiques

3 Generations Design








A few of my favorite things

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Hey ya'll!  I don't know about you, but I am trying SO HARD not to go on a spending frenzy with all of the new spring decor lines that have been released.    Here are a few of my favorite things from World Market:



Disney Cruise Pirate Night

Sunday, January 26, 2014

It is FREEZING here in Raleigh.  One of my friends claimed it is colder here than Alaska.  Last time I checked, we live in the south. What is up with this weather?!?  It's too cold to paint or build anything so my mind has wandered to our  Disney cruise  we are going on in a month with the boys and my parents.  We are super excited.

 I have been looking for inexpensive or free pirate wear for the boys for Pirate Night. My Facebook  Wake Forest Buy Sell Trade group has been awesome for this. I am also working on my own outfit.  I have a black lace up vest from my renaissance fair costume, black leather pants, and last night I bought a white flowy blouse from H&M that I can wear post cruise to work.


For the Handsome Hubby

More to come on M&L's costumes...

Easy Photo Backdrop

Saturday, January 25, 2014



We hosted a very family friendly New Year's Eve party this year and one feature is still being talked about 3 weeks later-our photo backdrop.  Lots of parties have the fun mustaches on a stick and funky glasses that make for fun props. I have quite a few of those pix on my Facebook page and we had a blast taking them, but if you want another idea try wrapping paper.
The day after Christmas I got up and headed to Target with a specific item in mind. I needed black, gold and silver wrapping paper for a photo backdrop and I didn't want to pay $5 bucks a roll for the glitter paper. So I scooped up three rolls on 12/26 for 1/2 price.  We then just applied Frog Painters tape (LOVE THIS STUFF) to the back and stuck it on the wall.  


I thought about making my own numbers, but my birthday is December 30th and I had to work that day.  So, I picked up some 2014 card stock decorations from Party City, applied more Frog Tape to the back, and stuck them to the top of our back drop.  Voila! Fun and cheap place for your guests to take selfies and post on Facebook and Instagram.



The day after Christmas I got up and headed to Target with a specific item in mind. I needed black, gold and silver wrapping paper for a photo backdrop and I didn't want to pay $5 bucks a roll for the glitter paper. So I scooped up three rolls on 12/26 for 1/2 price.  We then just applied Frog Painters tape (LOVE THIS STUFF) to the back and stuck it on the wall.  


I thought about making my own numbers, but my birthday is December 30th and I had to work that day.  So, I picked up some 2014 card stock decorations from Party City, applied more Frog Tape to the back, and stuck them to the top of our back drop.  Voila! Fun and cheap place for your guests to take selfies and post on all the social media sites. 

My super talented friend

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Hey ya'll!  We only got a quarter of an inch of snow on Tuesday night.  Bummer!  I really wanted to play in the snow with my boys :(

Most of you have seen my living room by now, but that's about it.  My friend Shannon of Shannon Bradley Photography is going to help me with my house tour.  I better get some more rooms in my house in show worthy condition!  

Check out Shannon's site to see her amazing photos of  babies, kids, families and weddings. I think she is the best photographer in Raleigh & Wake Forest.  She took my profile pic too!

You may recall this beautiful image as it hanging over my fireplace. 


And how sweet is this?  I will cherish this photo ALWAYS!  I may have to put it on my dashboard for when he gets older and won't kiss me hello when I pick him up from school.


 Boys being boys.  Enough said. 


You can check out my Facebook page for more photographs from our Fall session with Shannon Bradley.

Living Room design board

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hello everyone!  It is snowing here in Raleigh and I hope some snow sticks on the ground so that I can take the boys outside tomorrow and build a snowman.

I offered a complimentary design board to my friend and neighbor Christina.  She has a gorgeous Front Room in her house that was previously being used as a play room. The Front Room housed a train table and a roller coaster.  Yes, roller coaster!  The train table found a new home in their loft upstairs and the roller coaster is being relocated as well.  I sent Christina a bunch of questions and this was her response: 

Hmmmm. Let me think ...i know we want it to be more of a relaxing/adult-friendly room (kids have the rest of the house). We'd like to relax, chat, have a drink, and do small entertaining in the space. I like bright colors, teals, greys, a touch of orange, yellow or green is fine. I do not like purple, and I'd like it to fit all seasons ( chairs are velvety for winter but I want to be able to bring fabrics that last all year). Not too vintagey. Stores I love ( but not limited to) include world market, pier 1, home goods, ( I'm good w/Ross, tj maxx.. Anything near) Not sure about the budget?!?!?? As reasonable as can be, but if I see something that's awesome- I'll want it. I have the 2 teal world market chairs to stay in there. I'll get dimensions and pics tomorrow. There's a corner shelf that could stay or go- prob don't want 2 paint it. We have a couple other end table things that could go in the room in they fit. I def. want a new ceiling light fixture in the room maybe like a sand dollar type chandelier or sunburst type. Floor or table lamps are fine too- I love natural and overhead lighting. I only use lamps for decoration. I also want a rug, which will help get rid of the echo. I can paint walls-anything. Maybe paper, glue, embellishments- I'd have to see it. Please ask any questions if you need more info or Clarification. thanks


Later I will share some of the other options that I came up with for this room and provide some trade out options from Craigslist.
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