I've been having lots'o'fun lately! From starting my new job, to traveling to see friends and family on the weekends-- life has been busy! I'm never going to complain about this type of busy-ness though... I absolutely love it!

In addition to everything else, I've also recently started taking on some client work. Currently, I'm working with a really sweet client who needs help zhushing up her master bedroom.

Here are some spaces she finds inspiring:

 Here.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Some themes I saw in her inspiration pics were color, pattern, tufting and just general eclecticism. So, I came up with the following ideas for her:

And:

The good news is that this client is not afraid of a little DIY and has offered to sew her own curtains. Gotta love that :)

One thing that I have enjoyed the  most about this process is stepping outside of 'me'. Until now, its been all about what I would like or what I would choose for myself. But thinking about things from another person's perspective and trying to figure out what they would like best has been really refreshing!

How have you all been lately?

DIY: Drop Cloth Curtains with trim

I recently helped my sweet friend Katie give her living room curtains a little face lift. In our neighborhood, the homes are all pretty old, built around the turn of the century-1920ish, row homes. They are awesome! But it can make curtain buying difficult, especially when you are renting (like Katie) and don't want to invest major $$$ on custom curtain lengths.

Enter- drop cloths! You've seen them before on MSC here. But here is another example. And another. Really, the ways you can customize them are endless, but Katie liked the simplicity of just adding black trim to the sides, which was super easy to do!

See? Her old curtains were just too short.

So, she picked up some 4x15 drop cloths and we just added some black trim using our favorite DIY helper, the glue gun. First, we pinned the trim to the sides.

And hot glued the trim to the curtains...

Then, hung them up using her existing curtain rods and curtain clips. Pretty easy, huh? It just adds a really great detail to the room. It would also be cool to do a greek key detail like I did on my table skirt........ like I said, the options with drop cloth curtains are endless!

Swanktified Guest Room

If you follow me on Twitter, you would already know about the GORGEOUS dresser I found on CraigsList this morning. (and omg look at that price!) Unfortunately, I have no need for another dresser no matter how fabulous it is.

But that doesn't mean I can't daydream! So I created a little mood board about what kind of room I would use this dresser in...

I think it would be perfect in a super swanky (and yes, I did make up the term "swanktified" used above) guest room, right? Dang it now I really want that darn dresser....

Happy Friday :)

Gilpin sunroom re-vamp. Part 2

I made the drive to Tulsa the other weekend to attend a fab wedding and also to make some progress on the Gilpin Sunroom. We had such a good time and were able to make some big changes without big $$$- a total win, I would say :)

The room is not 100% done... but what room ever is? She wants to still change out some of the art on the gallery wall, get a plant for the bare corner and update the fan--but so far it's looking great! Eclectic and airy- exactly what we wanted.

Alot of the change came from space planning. We moved the furniture around to create a nuch better use of space. You can see from the before pictures that most of the furniture was along one wall. Moving the couch/bench to the middle of the room created a better place for conversation and still leaves room to access the deck.

Jake likes it!

What space doesn't need a gallery wall? We created one by mixing and matching frames of all sizes and colors.



Can you believe my friend MADE the sunburst mirror? It really is striking in person. The mirror portion did end up falling off and shattering... but that's neither here nor there. She can get another one on there really easily.

We covered a plain lamp shade this great blue and white fabric and she is going to use the extra to make a pillow cover for the couch (in the pics above, I just laid the fabric over an existing pillow to get an idea of what it would look like with the cognac color.) I love how the fabric works with the rug.

Still super jealous of her fab coffee table.

The curtains make ALL the difference in the world from the previous, dark ones.

Here is the view of the room from the kitchen. I think it's a very pretty view!

 

What do you think? Would you hang out in here? If you would like any help coming up with inspiration for a room in your home, please contact me at mainstreetchicblog@gmail.com.

PS- I'm now a tweet-er! Follow me here if you'd like.

Gilpin sunroom re-vamp

My BFF who lives in Tulsa recently reached out to me for some help with re-vamping her sunroom. She has a great eye on her own, but I am obviously more than happy to help a sister out!

Essentially, she just wants to make the space more of a 'destination,' for reading, hanging out, etc. Right now they don't use the space a ton and it's a shame because its a good sized room and it has lovely light. After chatting with her, I think the main things we will do is some space planning, curtains, a rug and accessories. Those things just REALLY change rooms. She wants the space to be light, airy and eclectic.

Here's how it is now.

The great thing is, they have lot of items to work with and my friend is SUPER creative/DIY friendly :)

So, here is the plan!

We will make no major renos (keep wall color, floors, etc) Keep existing furniture. Add accessories and re-do funiture as needed. Check out our Pinterest inspiration board here.

Step 1- Get the space plan done right. (this is seriously what I sent her- did this in my office in 5 min without measurements.... remember we are in a no-judgement zone)

This might have to change.. but we will just have to play with the layout and see what works.

Step 2- Curtains. DEFINITELY doing the drop cloth thing. It's no secret I am a huge fan of drop cloth. And in this instance, it is going to work so well because the dark curtains she has now aren't lending any airiness to the room.

Here.

We are also going to spray her existing hardware black and re-mount it. This is a good illustration of why.

Here.

Step 3. New rug- one that will bring in pattern and lots of color. Fun!

Step 4. Create a BIG gallery on this wall.

That looks like this. Eclectic, sentimental images, etc.

Here.

Step 5. Re-do this bench. The wood will be painted black and the seat will get some type of facelift as well.

Step 6. Add floating book shelves on these walls using this DIY.



Step 7. Accessorize. Get a floor lamp, a lovely plant, some fab pillows and call it a day.

Is that enough steps? I'm sure there will be more :) She is going to get started on the curtains and purchase the rug. I am headed to Tulsa in a few weeks to help make some more progress. Can't wait to share the changes with you!