DIY Striped Pendant Shades

My kitchen has been through many phases to say the least.  In the past four years, the walls have been painted 3 times, the tile came up (due to my husbands hard work) and we laid hardwoods (with the help of Bob, our handyman neighbor!) I also painted the stained cabinets a warm white and we replaced the recessed lighting over the island with instant pendant lights.  I love the drum style shade, but just a little boring for me…

With a little help from paint- I transformed them…

New Striped Pendant Shades!

It was very easy to do and can be done on most shades that you feel are a little drab.  Here’s what you need:

• Lampshade
• Paint (I used acrylic from craft store)
• Painters tape (I’m a fan of Frog Tape)
• Paint Brush
• Ruler or measuring tape and pencil

I chose a medium brown paint and I took into consideration that when the lights are on, the binding that is currently on the shade looks darker, so I chose to start with painting the binding dark brown and measured 1″ from there.

After taping is complete, paint away.   I applied it pretty heavy after I realized the fabric from the shade was soaking it up and once you hung it back up you could see little white places where the paint didn’t take (I still have a few touchups to do).

Now here’s where I’m supposed to tell you to let it completely dry before pulling off tape, but most of you know I am very impatient.  I decided to pull off tape so I could admire them while they dried!  and voila…

Even though my kitchen has come a long way, I still need to do a backsplash (if I could just decide!), butcher block countertop on island, a few glass front cabinets, new counter stools and It’ll be good to go!

Here is what my kitchen used to look like

Kitchen Before- this is what it looked like when we bought the house 4 years ago

and today…

 and now we’re off to the pool!!!

My baby girl- AKA "Toadey"

Deck Makeover

I consider myself an outdoors person – I grew up in Vermont, so it’s inevitable!  So tackling the deck for me was top priority this year. As you can see from the before picture, it had not been re-stained in numerous years.  We used to have the traditional table,chair,umbrella set, that quite frankly, we never used.  Overall, our deck wasn’t inviting and I wanted to create a space that was an extension of our home.

This is the Before Deck

I knew I didn’t want to do all one color.  I wanted it to be brighter so I chose a solid outdoor white stain for the rails and a darker semitransparent stain for the floor.  Those of you that know me, know that I love love love to paint, but I can honestly say, this was the most dreadful job ever.  I also chose 2 days to do it when it was in the 90′s- ugh.  I still have a few things to finish up on the other side (you can’t see:).  Anyway, the final result…

I’m pretty pleased with the result.  We purchased some new furniture with comfy cushions and a new rug and now we have a deck we enjoy.  I still need a few more flowers out here, but overall, I think a good start!

Quick and Easy Update for Lampshade

Everyone is always asking me “when do you find the time to do all these projects?”  Well, the answer is… when my daughter takes a nap.  Most people sit down and relax during this time, but for me, I kick it into high gear and tackle whatever project I feel I can accomplish in a short amount of time – sometimes it’s putting another coat of paint on something (walls, furniture, etc), but today it was giving a lampshade an update.  Here are quick and easy steps to easily transform a lampshade from blah to oooohhh!

This is my old lampshade that I desperately wanted to transform to have a hint of navy

 These are the tools needed- gotta love that it’s a very short list: lampshade, glue gun, grosgrain ribbon, and scissors

First I measured out the ribbon to the length around top edge of lampshade and bottom edge because I wanted to add ribbon in both places.  Luckily my shade already had a binding around it so I could lay mine directly over the existing ribbon. Put hot glue around desired edge- make sure not to get glue too thick or you’ll have thick clumps you can see through ribbon.

Lay the ribbon on glue while still hot, but be careful not to burn fingers

After you’ve gone all around the outside edge you will need to fold over ribbon and glue to inside of shade

Repeat above steps for bottom rim of lampshade and voila you instantly gave it a new look without a lot of work. I love quick and easy DIY projects!

Now the lampshade ties in with the rest of my room!

(knock knock knock- guess who’s up from her nap?  perfect timing!)

Loving All Things Navy

So here it goes, my first real blog!  Every once in a while I work on a project for a client and become obsessed with a color, pattern, theme, etc. At the present moment, the color I heart is Navy.  I never really considered myself a navy girl, but for whatever reason it has creeped up into the decor of my own home.  I want to share with you a few navy things that have recently caught my eye.

Mary McDonald Concentric Diamond table lamp – the geometric pattern would make a great statement piece in a room.  This is available from www.shadesoflight.com

  Who doesn’t love chevron?!  This fabulous pillow is from Laylagrace.com

What a great table- it doubles as a tray.  Jonathan Adler table available at HSN.com

Sockerart vase from Ikea $12.99

I love the nautical feel of these pillows- navy/white chain pillows available on Etsy.com

  and lastly, the classic wide striped rug- versatile for indoor/outdoor use.  Available atLaylagrace.com

There you have it, a few of my favorite navy finds.  Stay tuned in the coming months for a preview of a Vermont cottage I’m working on…you guessed it, the theme is Navy!

Welcome to my new Simplicity Interiors website!

i Everyone and welcome to my new site!  I am very excited to have a new place to call home for my portfolio and blog page.  I want to personally thank Fernando with Cuis Interactive who worked very hard to give me the site I wanted- there were times I must have driven him crazy:)    My hope is this new website will be a place you can come to get inspired by new trends in the marketplace, things I’m crushing on now, and of course DIY projects.  So please check back frequently and leave comments if you have something to share.  Thanks for stopping by!

Simplicity Interiors of Charlotte, NC Receives Houzz’s 2012 ‘Best Of Remodeling’ Award

First-Ever Survey & Analysis of More than 1.2 Million Members Reveals Top-Rated Professionals and Current Design Trends from Across the Country

Charlotte, NC  –  March 20, 2012 – Simplicity Interiors of Charlotte, NC has been awarded  “Best Of Remodeling” 2012 by Houzz, the leading online platform for residential remodeling and design.  Simplicity Interiors was chosen by the more than 1.2 million registered members of the Houzz community.

The Houzz “Best Of Remodeling” award for 2012 is given in two categories: Customer Satisfaction and Design. Customer Satisfaction award winners are based on homeowner members who rated their experience working with remodeling professionals in 12 categories ranging from architects, and interior designers to contractors and other residential remodeling professionals. Design award winners’ work was the most popular among the 1.2 million members, also known as “Houzzers,” who saved more than 16.5 million professional images to their personal ideabooks via the Houzz site and iPad/iPhone app.

“With 3.5 million monthly unique users and 80 million monthly page views, Houzz has rapidly become the largest community of active remodelers, providing homeowners and design enthusiasts with first-hand advice from Houzzers who have been through the renovating and decorating process,” said Liza Hausman, vice president of marketing for Houzz. “This is a real stamp of approval for Simplicity Interiors from the Houzz community and we’re thrilled to welcome them to this elite group of ‘Best Of’ winners.” With Houzz, homeowners can identify not only the top-rated professionals like Simplicity Interiors, but also those whose work visually aligns with their own design goals. Homeowners can also evaluate professionals by contacting them directly on the Houzz platform, asking questions about their work and evaluating their responses to questions from others in the Houzz community. 

About Houzz

Houzz (www.houzz.com) is the leading online platform for home remodeling, providing inspiration, information, advice and support for homeowners and home improvement professionals through its website and mobile applications. Houzz features the largest residential design database in the world, articles written by design experts, product recommendations, a vibrant community powered by social tools, and information on more than 1.2 million remodeling and design professionals worldwide who can help turn ideas into reality.