Two blogs in two days? Crazy! I know I said I wasn't going to post any more until after Christmas, buuuut.... here I am.

Some of you probably remember my first design gig- working for Amie Corley Interiors while we lived in St. Louis. To this day, I am so grateful that Amie took a chance on me and allowed me to learn (SO much!) from her.

She recently had a project featured in St. Louis magazine and it is just really, really fabulous work.

Want to see more? I've posted previously about Amie's work here, here and here. It would also be a good decision to follow her on Insta.

Merry Christmas (again) everyone!

show house space

This year, Amie was asked to participate in the Ladue News Show House. Show Houses can be a great way for designers to showcase their work to the public, and this particular Show House raised money for 4 local charities- a win, win really :)

I wanted to share some pictures of the space Amie contributed- the second floor landing area. While to some this area would just be a 'walk through' space, Amie made a HUGE impact and created a beautiful space that no one would want to miss.

 photography by Michael Jacob.

The art is by Trova and came from Ivy Selkirks. Wall color is Light Blue by Farrow and Ball. Pillow fabric is Manuel Canovas Boheme. Carpet was not chosen by Amie but is Stark Jynx. Furniture is a mix of vintage and new. Nook 1 has a vintage console table, vintage upholstered benches and cockatoo lamps. Nook 2 has a vintage milo baughman chair in coral linen, a brass library lamp and swan table. Lighting is Flos - Globall.   

Overall, I think it is a really fun and pretty space! Don't you agree?

tabscott master

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?

Life News!

Ya'll know I move around a lot. 3 times since college to be exact. So that means I've had the opportunity to have a variety of jobs. But today, I'm super excited to be adding a new one to the list... starting this week I'm going to be working at Amie Corley Interiors!!!!! (I, like Elaine, am a fan of exclamation points)

I'm really excited about the opportunity to be in an creative industry that I think is so fun and important. I mean- what's better than helping people create homes they love? I'm also excited about this because I love Amie's work (as I posted about here). So, all in all, I'm thrilled.

While we don't know how long we will live in St. Louis, I just couldn't pass up the chance to work with Amie .... and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to dip my toes into the design world and have such an amazing learning experience!

So I hope you follow along with me on this exciting new adventure. I know I said some version of "excited" 4 times in this post. Well, 5.

But, I am just that EXCITED!

Hubs' 27th Birthday Weekend

This past weekend, we celebrated the Hubs' bday. While my bday celebration was filled with shopping, a spa day and frozen yogurt, his was celebrated with golf and Mexican food....gotta love the differences in men and women!

We started the day off with a big breakfast, then headed out to play some golf.

The day started out nice, but then some baaaad weather rolled in. We ended up heading home just in time for the tornado sirens to sound. So we had a tornado party at home.

But, all is well that ends well. Vanilla cupcakes from Trader Joes acted as bday cake :)

Happy Birthday Hubby! So glad you are my lifelong BFF!

In other news, tomorrow I am OFF to Guatemala to visit my sister! Veeeery excited about this trip and the opportunity to spend some quality girl time with my momma and sister. Not to mention a little R&R.

"See" you when I get back :)

Amie Corley Interiors

Amie Corley is a St. Louis designer whose work has been featured in Southern Living, Cottages and Bungalows, St. Louis At Home and Elle Decor. It won't be long until Amie is known nationally because, for lack of a better word, her work ROCKS. I've actually had the pleasure of meeting Amie and I can tell you that she is as awesome as the interiors she creates. This girl is NOT afraid of color and pattern.

Here are two of her most 'pinned' rooms. Her living room:

And her family room:

But the rest of Amie's home is just as fabulous, so I wanted to share it here. She has updated a bit since these were taken, but I think they are worth sharing regardless. This chaise belonged to her grandmother and she reimagined it using Brunschwig’s Les Touches. Paired with Neisha Crosland’s Birdtree paper, so fearless!

I love that Amie brings a sense of whimsy to her work-- see the rubber duck? Totally makes you smile.

Loving the RED in her office space!



                                                                   Images via here.

Here is her son's room as it was seen in the Cottages and Bungalows spread. Took this with my iphone - sorry! Just too cute not to share. This room is also featured in the current issue of Southern Living.

And her dining room.

Told you Amie is fab!

I'll leave you with one last pic from a project she recently completed. You can see more of this home here.

Don't you love it?? Can't wait to see what's next for her!

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!

Louis Chairs STEAL.

This girl got REAL lucky on St. Patty's day. I scored these Louis XV salon chairs at a local thrift store. They were originally $60 each but I told them I would give them $60 for both... and they did it! Holla!!!! Obvi it was because of my bargaining skills. I had a deal high so bad I almost couldn't drive home...

For anyone who needs to know, I got them from the "Little Shop Around the Corner" (great antique stores- incentive for people to come visit me in STL). The shop benefits the Missouri Botanical Garden, so I can feel good about being charitable as well :)

So now, the hard part starts. The hard part would be deciding on how I want to re-do them. There are so many options I am drawn to.

I love the glamour of neutral fabric with the wood painted GOLD.

Here.

This is as unexpected as the gold- neutral fabric, dark wood and RED piping.

Here.

I also like the idea of a printed fabric and painting the wood white or black.

Here.

And since I've been obsessing over this fabric lately, it could be the perfect place to use it??

Here.

So, I need YOUR help. What option do you all like? I know which one I am leaning toward but would love to hear your thoughts....

26.

Can it be that I am 26 today? I was talking to my sweet friend last week and she was asking me what I wanted for my bday. And I was suddenly struck with a thought- I remember when we were turning 19... how can 26 be here already? I'm not worried about getting older, it just seems crazy how quickly time flies.

Anyway! We celebrated this weekend with a few of my favorite things.

Spa day, al fresco happy hour and an AMAZING thrifting deal (more on that later)

Sushi dinner with the Hubs and some great friends followed by cupcakes for dessert

Champagne at the Four Seasons, frozen yogurt and a walk to enjoy the signs of spring in our neighborhood

All in all, it was a *perfect* birthday weekend.

Sequin moment

Oh, just back with another amazing thrift store find. STL is really coming through for me in the thrifting department! This weekend, I snagged this fab sequined dress. Yes, its from the 80s. Yes, it has shoulder pads. And yes, I love it. I think I will be so happy I have it once the holiday party season is here.

This weekend we laid pretty low, just doing some STL exploring and getting stuff done around the house. Tomorrow, I will share with you a really fun DIY project I did.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and took a moment to remember those that were lost 10 years ago, and also took a minute to thank God for the beautiful life we have! I know I did :)

xoxo, Emily

H&M Cape

Well, I broke my shopping sabbatical. Oh well. This weekend my M.I.L/F.I.L (Mother/Father in Law) were in STL and we had such a good time! Cardinals game, Bailey's Chocolate Bar, Vin De Set and my M.I.L. wanted to go to H&M....Who am I to say no to that?

So while we were there, I picked up this lovely camel-colored cape. For $19.95, how could I not?? I first saw it on Anh from  9 to 5 chic (which is a great personal/work style blog), but I didn't expect to be able to find it at the STL H&M because that place is a mad house. So I was very pleased when it was there this past weekend.

It also comes in navy (love!)...

Here.

The temp in STL this morning is cool, so that means I will be able to bust this bad boy out very soon. Yay fall!!

xoxo, Emily

Black Skinnies

So on a whim this weekend, I ran into a resale shop. And I am SO glad I did. Anytime you go to a  thrift store, you just really never know if you am going to find junk or awesomeness. This time, it was awesomeness. I found these Levi black skinny jeans (tags still on!) for $4. You read that right. $4.

Find yours here.

Seriously. Ohhhhmg I just love a deal. I can't wait to wear them this fall. Here are some looks I am digging with black skinnies.

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It's also worth mentioning that I found a J. Crew navy velvet blazer at the same store. Any STL locals who want to know which thrift shop it was, just shoot me an email. I will happily go back with you :)

xoxo, Emily