After seeing this post on the Emily A. Clark blog, I was really excited! I never knew that you could actually paint upholstery before. And Kristy from Hyphen Interiors had such great results when she painted her wingback chair.

Emily A. Clark

So, it got me thinking about our wingback...

When we got married we were really fortunate to inherit some great pieces of furniture from our parents, and this is one of them. It really is an awesome chair. Well built, classic lines, etc.

I have been thinking (for about 2 years now...) that I want to reupholster it. But it really isn't a cost effective option. Like, I could buy a new chair for the cost it would take to get fabric and pay for the labor of reupholstering this one. So I was really excited to learn about the painting option.

So now... the question is... what color? It needs to be a darker color in order to be able to cover the navy and the white. Call me crazy, but I am thinking RED. All of our furniture is super neutral and safe, so it could be a nice change? What do you all think? Ideas?

xoxo, Emily

Chouse Gallery Wall

I am a big fan of gallery walls and have always known I would have one in my home. They are a great design tool because there are so many ways to personalize them to one's own taste.

Some people choose to include pictures/objects/art:

Young House Love.

You can do all different frames.

Elements of Style.

Or all the same frames:

Elements of Style.

You can set the frames on shelves:

Lonny.

Or even set them on the floor:

Elements of Style.

But my personal favorite is all black and white pictures in s similar frame style. For our gallery wall (which I started in Houston), I chose to use pictures of people and places that are special to us, and frame them in simple black frames with large white mats.

Right away, I knew where our gallery wall would hang in the Chouse! In the looooong entryway leading up to the main floor of the house:

Everytime I hang anything, whether it be a picture/mirror/shelf/etc, I always just eyeball it. Usually it works out, and if not, you can always move it! So here's what I did in order to figure out how I wanted to hang our pics:

I literally just arranged the frames on the floor in front of the wall I wanted to hang them on... and then hung them! Here is what it looks like now:

If I thought we were going to live in this house for a while, I would definitely wallpaper this wall... but not everyone loves wallpaper so probably not the best idea for re-sale.

xoxo, Emily

PS- What on earth am I going to do with those shelves??

Animals in home decor: Part 2

Here we go again! Another compilation of animals used in home decor. Never ceases to make me happy :) You can see the original post here.

Tobi Fairley.

La Dolce Vita. It's also my friend Hallie's home :)

Lonny.

Lonny.

La Dolce Vita.

Lonny.

La Dolce Vita.

Lonny.

Lonny.

Lonny.

Abode Love.

Marcus Design.

Hope this perks up your Monday! I am off to organize, paint, rearrange.... etc!!

xoxo, Emily

My Chouse Bathroom

Over the past week, we have been chipping away at getting settled in the Chouse. While it is always super fun to decorate a new place... it can be very overwhelming at the same time. What we HAD to do first was change the paint colors in some of the rooms.

I really don't know what the previous owners of this house were thinking when it came to choosing paint colors. They must have been some really BOLD people. Here's a little sample of what I have been working with:

This is the bathroom attached to our bedroom. It's very small (especially compared to our bathroom in Houston, but that's neither here nor there). BUT it has this view:

So I really can't complain. I can, however, complain about those crazy paint colors. Blue on blue... stripes. I love stripes as much as the next girl, but just not used this way. I also find it to be so funny that instead of painting this bathroom something a bit more neutral, the company that staged the Chouse thought "oh just get a matching blue towel and a rust colored towel and it will look GREAT"...................

Not so much.

Anyway! It was one of the first things that got our attention. So here's a pic of where we are now:

SO much happier with this space now. Better color, check (it's Benjamin Moore Senora Gray). Added storage, check. Now I just need some art. I am thinking I am going to paint something myself, but we will see. There are still quite a few items on the 'list' so we will see what happens there. It's hard to work on the house when there is a lovely park right across the street and a new city to explore.... oh well. Too blessed to be stressed :)

xoxo, Emily

My Momma's house *update

So, when I had my lovely week in Oklahoma, my Mom decided she wanted to change things up a bit in her house. As I posted here, my Mom has some really awesome stuff. But her living/dining area just wasn't working for her anymore. So, we changed it! With the help of my brother (aka the muscles behind the move), of course. I am really, really kicking myself for not getting better 'before' pics.... but when you are in the zone you just don't always stop to grab the camera.

So, here is the 'after'.

We basically flipped the room. We moved the dining table to the opposite side and made the seating area the first thing you see when you walk in. It definitely allows the fireplace to be more of a focal point than it was previously. And the seating is so opened up now so the dining area is really a part of the conversation area.

Moving everything around totally opened up the room and made the flow better. We also painted the walls... it went from a too-yellow to a just-right-gray.

Sorry for the flash in the mirror. One day, Mom is planning on semi-covering the mirror with a cool geometric stencil. I think it will be an awesome addition.

As you can see, the dogs are very happy with it, and so is my Mom! So glad I could help :)

Now, back to work on making our new house more of an 'after'.... it's definitely still in the 'before' stages!!

xoxo, Emily