It's a boy!

No it's not that kind of news... it's a boy's room.  Finally, we were challenged to summon our inner masculinity and set aside the girly frou frou!  You know we can do flowers and ruffles.   But what happens when we are given the task of designing for a teenage boy?   Well, we took that challenge (stinky socks and all) and ran with it.  We love it, now we hope he loves it???

Okay here's the before.  We weren't kidding when we said teenage boy!

Ta da!  After and not a flower in sight, but he did think the long orange pillow was a little girly!

Thanks to the talented son-in-law, we now have beautiful paint and fresh new baseboards.  Us RYN girls hung those bamboo blinds ourselves (we are channeling that masculine side!)

Using some of his "guy stuff" as accessories in the room.  Hey, this is easier than doing a girl's room!

Before - that bookshelf was a little overwhelming for the amount of stuff he put on it.

We found a more manageable sized bookshelf in another room.

See what glossy white paint will do for those banged up doors.  Take a good look at the doors in your house, it's amazing what kind of abuse they take!

More boy accessories

The picture really helped us establish the color scheme for the room.  Don't you love it?

A $5 dollar picture and borrowing stuff from other rooms helped to fill this wall.

He had the papasan chair (it's former life was a dirty clothes hamper) so his mom wasn't sure she wanted to keep it in the room.  I hope he doesn't make her regret the decision to keep it!

Okay, so our Introduction to Boys' Rooms 101 is over, did we pass?

Portlandia: Put A Bird On It

RYN hits the Road!

We recently had the opportunity to break out of the valley and hit the road ... all the way up the 15 to Fallbrook!  We were lucky enough to be able to work on the beautiful home of Beth and her family.  The first order of business was to give her a fresh new master bedroom.  The bedroom already had really nice furniture and she said she loved the french country style ...  so we knew this would be a no brainer!

Here's the bed, the big big bed. 

The perfect canvas for us to fill with lots of ruffles and loveliness!

Meet the foe!  A big red chair that needed to be worked into our color scheme.

So, we invited some friends to the party... desk,  check,  accessories,  check,  more pillows,  check,
bird throw,  of course!!

Beth definitely isn't afraid of color or pattern.  We love that!

See the sneaky way we worked the red into the bed, adorable red ticking shams, floral pillow and a touch of red in the pictures.

The curtains look a little like highwater pants right now.
We are going to put them on rings to make them a little longer.

This shelf had no real purpose other than decorative.

We decided to make it more useful and clean up the look with baskets.

The perfect reading corner, don't you agree?

And there you have it ... lots of pillows and ruffles, birds and flowers.  A perfect combination!

Some new additions to the fold....

We are trying to save to buy a new sofa for our family room which has been much needed for a few years now but since we sold our couch on craigslist its reached the critical level!  Then I go and purchase 2 new chairs..... but they will go so perfect with everything....?

My old ottoman recovered by my friend Michelle who did an awesome job! I need to paint or stain the new legs?  any suggestions?

I love these in front of my fireplace!  (My husband mocked me incessantly, "but how can you see the TV?")

The little end table(plantstand?) from Ross for 30 bucks.

For a mere 135 dollars you can have these babies too.  The sale goes to the end of the month at World Market and comes a few different fabrics and colors. 

Which spot do you like them in better?

I'll post later about all the couches we have looked at and our final decision :)

Voila! Shelby's Birthday Surprise

I half-heartedly did Shelby's bedroom last year.  I thought the bedding was cute, but I just never loved the room.  I think it was something about the grey blue walls and the bright pink that never quite looked right.

 So I had the great idea to give Shelby a refresh for her birthday this year.  We sold the old daybed (it used to be mine! that's how old it was!).  We bought her the bed, desk and mirror from a dear friend (who gave us a great deal, thanks Linda!).  The rest of the stuff I collected for a month and stashed behind the couch in my bedroom.  I transformed her room while she was at school (with the help of my mom and my sister!) and kept her locked out until the next morning for a birthday surprise.  She loved it!

It's not so apparent from this angle, but it's a vintage French theme.  I know that the Paris Apartment style is all over the place and super trendy.  But I tried to mix it up with some fun patterns and colors to make it not so predictable.  And really... will Paris ever go out of style??

I couldn't believe how much Paris themed stuff is out there.  

Found the perfect little side table at Marshalls for $25!    

I took that picture of the Eiffel Tower when we were there about 10 years ago!!

That canvas is what started it all!

It was fun to pull out my box of stuff that we brought back from France.   I saved all my ticket stubs, shopping bags, everything I could fit in my suitcase.  This little trinket was perfect for Shelby's room!

Happy Birthday Shelby!  Enjoy your new grown up almost a teenager room!

Nautical inspired loft

Our friend Cathy decided it was finally time to redo her loft.  It was a project she had definitely been putting off for a while, but once she decided to do it, it didn't take long for the transformation to be complete!  We can't take the credit for this one though.  She did most of the design herself.  We just came in for the finishing touches.  But I love it, she did a fantastic job.  Welcome to her newly redesigned nautical inspired loft!

Love the crisp navy and white scheme.  She originally said she wanted to go beachy.
But I love this more sophisticated take on it.  

The coolest thing about these lanterns is they have battery operated candles that came with a remote!
Instant ambience at a touch of a button!

We found the perfect artwork at HomeGoods!

She bought the sofa but the coffee table was a thrift store find that she painted herself.

A few beachy accessories make it fun, but not too "themey".

It's basically a kids' space but I am glad that she decided to go more
grown up with the theme.
I am sure they are going to love this room for a long time.