When we closed escrow on our rental house, I wanted to make changes in each room to make it more “ours” without a lot of fuss or money. Our bathroom was redone cheaply in the early 90’s and it is definitely on the top of our list for a major makeover, but we aren’t ready for that kind of expense quite yet, especially with a $10,000 fence somewhere on the horizon. I decided to give it a quick makeover to tide us over until we could redo the whole thing with new flooring, tile, sinks and hardware. Continue reading
Tag Archives: modern
A Quick Bathroom Makeover
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Our New Entryway
When we moved into our house three years ago, our landlord at the time asked us to keep his giant Mexican cabinet in the house that we absolutely didn’t need. I loved it, don’t get me wrong, but it was useless as a storage piece and didn’t fit visually in the house. It was just way too clunky for the space. When we bought the house last summer, I finally had my chance to move it outside and rethink our entryway! Our house has NO storage…I repeat…NO STORAGE. We have one and half closets total so figuring out a way to store toys, shoes and bags was quite the challenge. Here’s what we did. Continue reading
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Adorable Custom Fairy Tree!
Last summer, two good friends asked me to create a giant magical fairy tree for their daughter’s bedroom, and I finally installed it last week! Since I was pregnant at the time, and then later had a newborn to care for, I had to take it slowly…I think we can safely say that six months is pretty darn slow! 😉 Here’s how I built and installed it: Continue reading
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On the 5th Day of Christmas…Decorate!
Our gorgeous tree!
I love weird, quirky and vintage holiday decorations the best, but honestly, I can get behind pretty much anything Christmas-y. The first thing most people notice about my tree is how many ornaments are on it…as if they expected me to be tastefully spare! HA! While all of mine have a lot of meaning and sentimental value, I also believe there can never be “too many ornaments”. It’s Christmas! It’s supposed to be just a little tacky in my humble opinion. After the jump, see how my friend made a gorgeous wreath out of paper around their apartment and check out the ornaments I made for my store this year! Continue reading
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Cheeky Modern Baby Shower for a Girl
I jumped on the opportunity to throw my friend’s baby shower when I found out it was a girl. I usually strive for unisex in all things baby until their preference is obvious, but honestly, I wanted to tackle this girly party because I love a good challenge! I break out in an itchy rash whenever I see the “girl” aisle in the toy store even though I totally loved it as a kid. Now that I’m a parent, I’m definitely more sensitive to the gender specific stuff. Rather than give into the unisex themes, I thought it would be more fun to go straight at the stereotype with a tongue-in-cheek uber-girly party with all kitschy vintage teenage girl details. Think pink foam hair rollers, 60’s prom dresses, pleather diaries with locks…you get the idea. Since my friend is a fellow North Carolinian , the theme also accidentally took on a 60’s Southern belle vibe! Continue reading
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Modern Watercolor Wedding Invitations
Back in March, I made my brother’s wedding invitations and they’re a great example of professional looking invitations that you can achieve with a home printer. Since watercolor washes and hand lettering are very hot right now, I decided to incorporate their wedding colors and greenery into something very modern and simple using both of those trends. Continue reading
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High Tea Shower
Just before Thanksgiving, I co-hosted a high tea baby shower at Hotel Bel Aire and the holidays got in the way of me sharing how lovely it was! This was a small shower for a second baby, so the mother-to-be wanted something intimate at a restaurant…which was a strange new world for a DIY party gal like myself! I was put in charge of invitations, favors, and simply making the table more personal. It has been a long time since I threw a small party, so being able to spend a little more money and time on these things was a nice change. Here’s the intimate tea shower round-up: Continue reading
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“Stalwart” INDEED!
It has been awhile…and here’s why…we MOVED! AGAIN! BACK TO LOS ANGELES! Jeff got a great job offer and we took our chance to get back to the west coast where grass and trees will be plentiful for our baby boy. Since I last wrote, I have been flying, searching for houses, packing, moving, unpacking and decorating yet again. Needless to say, it’s been a really crazy year for us. You know how “they” say that some of the top causes of stress are changing a job, having a baby and moving? WELL…We’ve done all of those, plus an additional move, in only 10 months! So…We. Are. Tired.
I can’t express how lucky we feel though, to have found this perfect rental house in the middle of LA at the very last second. It feels like being on vacation everyday. It is simply PERFECT for us right now and we can’t wait until it’s more consistently warm outside so we can really enjoy the outdoor area in the evenings. I approached the interior design differently than before, since the house is old and Spanish instead of new and modern like the New York apartment. I had to look at each piece of furniture and artwork in a new way to make it mesh better with the space and I wanted to keep most of the walls white for light, using paint only as an accent in a few of the rooms. How about I stop writing and get to the photos!? Continue reading
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Our Magical Woodland Nursery
We finally finished our magical woodland nursery and I am absolutely in love! Rather than forcing the typical gender stereotypes (I mean…I don’t even know this person yet!), I wanted to create a mostly unisex nursery that encourages a healthy imagination since that’s what I remember most from my own childhood. We would gather around as my mom told elaborate stories about gnomes and fairies that my brothers and I fully believed and lived. They were so magical and real to us that I wanted to start my own child’s life out with that same sense of possibility and wonder. I combined stuffed animal taxidermy with a large painted mural of a magic forest, neutral furniture and the most modern-looking nursery essentials as possible. I already posted about some of the elements in the room, but the final result below really brings everything together beautifully. I hope you feel inspired to keep things simple, magical and woodsy for your baby too! Continue reading
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My Very Own Brooklyn-Hip Baby Shower!
It made more sense to have our baby shower host write the post about planning this shindig…so without further ado, I give you my bestie’s thoughts on throwing me a rockin’ party…
By: Jeff Hinchee
As someone who reads Delia’s blog, you no doubt spend your free moments thinking about how lucky her friends are to regularly indulge in her epic and well conceived parties. We ARE very lucky. Delia and (husband) Jeff are really amazing friends, so I wanted to throw them the baby shower they deserve. Actually, when Delia and I were in California last year throwing baby showers she pulled me aside, looked me in my eyes and said— totally deadpan— “Take notes. This is your job when I’m pregnant.”
The theme was loosely inspired by Delia’s nursery. Enchanted forest, real and imaginary animals, with a splash of “baby hunting lodge”. For the invitation I collaged together a bunch of images I liked to convey that unusual concept.
Throwing a party for such a seasoned party planner is a daunting task. Even though I knew she would be happy with anything, you would never invite the Queen of England to stay in your railroad apartment and sleep on the Ikea mattress on the floor that you call a bed. And so I enlisted the help of some other devoted friends, referenced Martha Stalwart frequently, and proved that you, reader, CAN throw these parties too!
With only 30 minutes to set up the space it was a scramble to get the food table arranged, the leafy pennants and balloons hung, and the furniture moved around.
Give Love!
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