TTFD's Decorating Essentials GIVEAWAY!!

You guys, this is seriously exciting.  In honor of reaching the big 3-0-0 mark, Through the Front Door is hosting its first ever giveaway!  Since this is a home design blog, I thought it would be appropriate to give away nothing other than some of my favorite go-to decor items.  If you have followed along at all, you probably know how much I adore each and every one of these items.  Pretty much all of my designs contain these accessories in some shape or form, and I just had to share the love with all of you lovelies.

So, what are my decorating staples that you can all win?

1. Graphic Word Art - I adore inspirational word art, and think it is the perfect way to add a little love to your space.

2. Handmade Turquoise Glass Vase - Kudos to those of you who know just why I am so crazy about this vase (hint: it's turquoise).  Aside from being my favorite color, fresh flowers in a beautiful vase are a guaranteed way to pretty up a space.

3. Fun & Feminine Candle Holder - Candles are great decorating accessories, but I like things a little out of the norm.  Because of this, I try to find candle holders that that are a little unusual so they are sure to make a statement.

4. Pleated Ruffle Throw - When it comes to fabrics, I love anything with a ruffle.  It immediately softens up a space, and this throw is perfect for cozying up in.  Also, it's gray, which is a seriously hot hue in my color palette right now.

5. Antique Picture Frames - I love love love vintage inspired anything...especially when you take that vintage decor and give it a modern twist.  For example, frames that would typically be covered in an antique gold look so stunning in a crisp, modern hue.

6. Accessory Tray - Last but certainly not least, every designer knows how essential a good tray is.  Clutter no longer looks messy once you put it on a tray, and even the most basic of trays really help to frame your accessories. 

All of this together is over a $100 value...So, what are you waiting for?!  Get entering!  With just one click of the mouse, it could all be yours!  All you have to do is click "join this site" over there on the right side bar to follow Through the Front Door.  Once you've done so, there are about a bajillion different ways for you to get more entries.  You can enter until 11:59pm on Sunday, and the winner will be announced on Monday, July 2nd.  GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

TYFD: Kitchen Reveal

Remember the "Through YOUR Front Door" from oh...two weeks ago?  Yeah, sorry about that.  Since it has been suuuch a long time, hop on over to this post for a little refresher.

The first dilemma (pictured below), was:
"What are some ways that I can make my kitchen feel fresh and updated, without spending a fortune?"

And the second was from Stephanie:
"I have a smallish kitchen that has brownish-green cabinets, sunflower yellow walls, and the big accent wall is red and my appliances are white.  I want to make it look bigger by painting the walls lighter, but what do I do with the cabinets when all of my appliances are white?"

So, before I reveal my answers, here's the before from two weeks ago:

To address the first issue of updating this kitchen, I would start out by painting everything.  When I say everything, I mean it.  Go ahead and paint the cabinets a fresh coat of white, which will really help give the kitchen a clean, fresh feeling.  Then, I would paint the walls.  Right now, light grays are all the rage (especially Benjamin Moore's Storm Cloud Gray).  However, if gray isn't up your alley, here are a few other paint colors I'd strongly suggest (the white is for the cabinets).

The last thing to paint is (drumroll please)...the appliances.  Wait, what?  Yes, you heard me right.  They make appliance paint, and it's amazingly awesome.  Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel is a good brand to use.  You can even see some before and afters over on their website.  Still skeptical?  Check out this video:  

So, this brings us to question number two.  For Stephanie, I would suggest the exact same thing.  You have the absolute right idea about painting your walls lighter in order to make the room feel larger.  I would suggest one of the above colors, and then I woud paint your cabinets white.  For your appliances, paint them the stainless steel!  Or, if you are afraid to paint them, you have two other options.  

First of all, you could just leave them white.  White on white is a great feeling, especially in kitchens.  Or, if you do love the stainless look but don't want to paint, you could also try out stainless steel contact paper.  However, if you go this route, don't use it on your stove! 

Image credit: {1}

Once everything is painted, if you have anymore room in the budget, I would update the hardware with something clean and modern (or if the budget doesn't allow, spray paint the existing ones in a stainless steel finish), and then change out the light fixture.  Viola, you're done!  At a later date, I would suggest installing a backsplash (white subway tiles are oh-so-stunning), but the painting will take you far for now!

So, that's all for today peeps...but if you check back tomorrow, there is going to be a seriously exciting giveaway going on.  Yes, you read that right...Through the Front Door's first ever giveaway!  Get ready, because it's going to be amazing.


If you are interested in submitting your space for "Through YOUR Front Door," please like Kirsten Danielle Design on Facebook and post a picture of your space/dilemma to the wall.  If you're a blogger, please write a short post with your pictures, grab the button below and link up, or lastly, you can email me pictures of your space with a short description.  For more information click here.  Please submit your spaces by midnight on June 27th.

<center><a href="http://kirstenerickson.blogspot.com/p/through-your-front-door.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Through the Front Door" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j256/kiRstYbaBe23/TYFD5.jpg"/></a></center>

favorite paint colors

Now it's not often that I will feature a blog for a "Friday Favorite" post...but when I stumbled upon this one, I couldn't resist.  The blog is called Favorite Paint Colors, and it is purely genius.  We all know how daunting of a task picking out paint colors can be...because let's be honest: the paint looks COMPLETELY different on a little swatch than it does when it's in an entire room.  Enter: Favorite Paint Colors Blog.  This blog consists entirely of people's rooms, showcasing the color of paint they used.  So next time, before you paint, head on over to Favorite Paint Colors, search for you paint color, and see if any examples show up!  Here are some examples of rooms featured on the site:

Image credit: 

{1} Sharkey Grey & Rainwater by Martha Stewart 

{2} Hopsack by Ralph Lauren 

{3} Crevecoeur by Martha Stewart 

{4} Smoked Turquoise by Glidden 

{5} Glass Slipper by Benjamin Moore

I will forewarn you: just because you like the paint color in someone else's room does not mean it is guaranteed to look good in your own room.  Favorite Paint Colors is a great place to start to get inspiration and to see the colors on a larger scale, but there are many many many things that come into play when choosing paint colors for your space (type of lighting, furnishings, other warm/cool colors in the space...the list goes on).  So if you're feeling overwhelmed, hire a designer (cough cough, Kirsten Danielle Design).

Okay, okay, that was a shameless plug.  But in all seriousness, choosing paint can be difficult, and I would strongly advise against just buying a color because it looked good in someone else's room.  Instead, go to your local paint store, and buy a sample size in that color.  Try it out in your room.  If it doesn't work, find a hue that's close to your inspiration hue but that has the same undertones as the furnishings in your space.  Don't be afraid to spend money on samples, because it's well worth an extra $20 to find the right color than to go with the first color you like, paint your whole room, and then hate it.  But that's just my two cents on the matter.

Hope you guys all have a wonderful weekend, but before your scurry off, check out two amazing giveaways happening: one at The Dreamy Meadow and the other at Bourbon & Glitter.  And if you win, I get your prize.  I kid, I kid!  Have a lovely weekend!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

wedding wednesday: brooches

Hey guys...I'm back!  I know, I know, I'm so far overdue on blog posts it isn't even funny.  But, I'll spare you the excuses and get right to what I came here for: a super exciting wedding wednesday inspired DIY!

Today for Wedding Wednesday, I thought I'd feature a growing trend in bridal bouquets: brooch bouquets.  I think they are so fun/beautiful/vintage/unique...I could go on forever about how much I adore these.  Don't you agree?

Image credit: {1}

Drawing inspiration from these beautiful gems, I thought I'd share with you a DIY I recently did for our own house.  I have been searching for a buffet for our dining room for some time now, and knew I wanted to add my own personal touch to it.  When I stumbled upon this bad boy, I knew I had found what I was looking for.  

I took off all of the old hardware, filled the holes, gave it a fresh coat of black paint, and then finished it with a water based protectant (I used Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish).  Once the paint was dry, I installed the beautiful Keepsake Brooch Knobs from Anthropologie.  

And this is how it turned out.  I'm debating whether I want to keep it plain black or add some sort of pattern to it in the future...but for now, I'm happy with the results.  

{SE} living room update

The living room I'm working on is coming along.  We spent the whole day yesterday buying new goodies for this room, as well as the bedroom.  My cute little car is full to the brim with all sorts of treats for this house.  It looks almost like it did when I moved back from Colorado.

Here are a few teaser images for you guys to peek at.  The four images below are all the before pictures, which is what the house looked like the first time I saw it.

I think I mentioned it in last week's post, but the client wants the wall colors to stay because he literally just had it painted.  I oh-so-badly want to paint it a cool grey hue, but, the client's wish is my command so yellow and red it stays.  After the initial consultation, I went back and we went to work determining what furniture could stay, what could be moved to a different room, and what just had to go.  We reconfigured the living room as you can see below, and outlined where a new rug will go.  The two small leather ottomans you see are just acting as place markers for where two new accent chairs will be placed.

We also plan to hang curtains to help add visual interest to the long wall, which will tie into the rug from Pottery Barn we are going to order.  

The floating shelves on the left wall (outlined in blue tape), are actually going to be photo ledges (which I've previously talked about here), and against the back red wall we are going to create a bar area.  We are going to be custom ordering a buffet from Room & Board (their custom furniture is so much fun to design!), and we're going to float a birch wall panel above it along with some stainless steel floating shelves.  The birch panel is large (approximately 8' wide), so it will help to break up the intensity of the red wall.   

Now that I've practically described the entire room, here's an inspiration board to help visualize how the room will come together.  We are going to use the reddish/orange as the accent color in the room (once the bar area is in, that back wall won't seem so intense), with the golden hue being the primary wall color. 

I absolutely adore the rug from Pottery Barn.  Not only do the colors tie in perfectly, but I love the pattern.  Also, it just so happens that in the entryway, there is black tile with a similar pattern, so I love how it ties in other parts of the house. 

Next week I'll be busy busy busy working on the bedroom (we have just about everything ready to go for that room), so I'll have more updates to share.  In the mean time, be sure to subscribe and follow along.  We're almost at 300 followers, so follow follow follow because there's an excited giveaway once we reach 300!

See you back here tomorrow!

invitation inspired design

First and foremost, I have to apologize if in the next few weeks, I'm not as on top of my blog game as usual. Life here is CRAZY.  Yes, I realize I always say that...but right now, I barely have time to think.  I just started summer classes on Monday, and I have yet to get back into my school groove (plus, they're summer classes, which means they go twice as fast, which means additional craziness).  Once I get back into the swing of things it will be all fine and hunky-dory...I just need to get back into it.

Also, I've been running around kingdom come helping my client with his house...not that I'm complaining  at all.  I literally stopped myself today and thought, "I can't believe I am getting PAID to do this...this is SO MUCH FUN!"  So, that also keeps me busy, but strangely also keeps me sane.

However, what is driving me 100% completely insane right now are our wedding invitations.  And yes, I realize I brought this stress upon myself since I just HAD to make them the most complex things ever...but ugh, I'm literally going cross eyed.  I'm wishing I would have done something super simple and adorable like this:

Image credit: {1}

Oh well....live and learn.  Anyways, I wanted to have them in the mail weeks ago, and here I am, still trying to print these suckers.  Took them one place: too glossy.  Took them another place: too expensive.  Try printing them at home: total catastrophe.  So, I decided to turn my frustration into inspiration.  Since it is "Wedding Wednesday" after all, I decided to see how invitations could inspire home design.  Enter YLighting's Zettel'z 5 Chandelier.   

The Zettel'z 5 Chandelier lets you clip notes and pictures and whatever you want to create a completely custom chandelier.  It's a great place to showcase kids' work and other cutesy stuff like that.  However, I can't decide if I completely love this chandelier or completely hate it.  I keep going back and forth.  I love the idea of it and think it is unique and different...but I'm so much of a perfectionist if all of the papers weren't the same size I think it would drive me crazy.

What do you guys think about this chandelier?  Yay or nay?  Would you proudly display this over your dining room table, or stash it in the bottom of a closet somewhere?

TYFD: what's cookin' in the kitchen

Today's "Through YOUR Front Door" is a response to two inquiries I received, both dealing with similar kitchen issues.  So, I decided I'd kill two birds with one stone.  The first question was:

"how can I give my kitchen a facelift without having to redo everything or replacing cabinets?"

The second inquiry I received was about how to make a kitchen feel bigger:

"I have a smallish kitchen that has brownish-green cabinets, sunflower yellow walls, and the big accent wall is red and my appliances are white.  I want to make it look bigger by painting the walls lighter, but what do I do with the cabinets when all of my appliances are white?"

I didn't get a picture with the second description, so the image above was for the first kitchen.  But what do you guys think?  What would YOU recommend?  To see what I would recommend, check back next Monday!

If you are interested in submiting your space for "Through YOUR Front Door," please like Kirsten Danielle Design on Facebook and post a picture of your space/dilemma to the wall.  If you're a blogger, please write a short post with your pictures, grab the button below and link up, or lastly, you can email me pictures of your space with a short description.  For more information click here.  Please submit your spaces by midnight on June 14th.

<center><a href="http://kirstenerickson.blogspot.com/p/through-your-front-door.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Through the Front Door" src="http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j256/kiRstYbaBe23/TYFD5.jpg"/></a></center>

i love my job.

Today I thought I'd share with you a little of what I've been working on lately.  Last week, I started working with a wonderful new client.  Currently, we are redecorating his entire 3,000 SF house, with plans to do major bathroom and kitchen remodels in the future.  I created this inspiration board with the hopes of painting his living room a fresh light gray (it's currently a bright red and mustard yellow).  As it turns out, he just had the living room painted the red and yellow, so he doesn't want to paint again.  So, this inspiration board is going to be changing drastically, as I now have to find a rug and curtains that somehow complement the walls.

In the bedroom, we're redoing everything.  And when I say everything, I mean it.  Repainting, ripping out carpet, buying new furniture, finding new curtains...it's so exciting.  My client really likes scandinavian design, so we're going with a very clean palette using natural materials and colors.  For the walls, we're doing a slate blue, and then contrasting that with light maple wood in the furnishings and white fabrics.  

 

I'll share more pictures and progress photos with you, but for a sneak peak, head on over to Kirsten Danielle Design's facebook page (and like us while you're there!).  Hope you all have a lovely weekend!