Moroccan Peacocks

I was chatting with my friend Amanda recently as she was pontificating on how much she loathes her living room in its current state.  Amanda is a graduate student in music education with a full-time job as a music teacher.  She is living in a pretty awesome house not far from  yours truly, in the Boston 'burbs. She shares that space with 2 roommates. With one moving out and taking the art from the living room with her, this frees up the space for some changes.  She was, of course, talking to the right friend when it comes to decorating.  We got to talking and came up with some great concepts and landed on a sort of ultra girlie Moroccan theme with a peacock palette.

I took Friday off from work {With the intention of spending the vast majority of the day at the RMV.  Alas, about 3 minutes later, I was given the boot and told to go the "mail-in" approach.  No help, I tell ya. No help!}  so I had some time to kill and I popped into home depot and grabbed a ton of paint chips and here's what I came up with.

The girls already have a rug that is purple and beige.  So purple will be a heavy influence in the room.  But since we want it to be kind of Moroccan, we will be adding interesting patterns and pops of brighter colors like pink and orange.

Bringing in the idea of the peacock, we're going to tone down all that purple with some jewel toned blue and greens, focusing on teals.

These are the mustard-y, burnt orange-y colors that I pulled out also as accents to couple with the pinks.  I'm thinking throws, pillows and smaller decorative accessories. FUN!

And well Target was just across the street from Home Depot, so why not swing in there? I took some snapshots of some fun goodies that caught my eye as inspiration.

This tall, banana leaf vase would be perfect for some tall branches adorned with some hand crafted flowers. Hmmmmm... I smell a DIY project.

Adoring both of these hurricanes.  Both the rosey pink and punched tin are very romantic and feminine keeping with that aspect of the room that we want. 

Loving this big round basket for the corner of the room.  It would be a great storage space to house throw blankets, books, knitting or not-often-used remotes.

Now, Amanda's living room is not a looming space.  In fact, its quite "petite," shall we say.  What always solves a feeling of claustrophobia in small rooms? Mirrors, mirrors, and more mirrors!!  I love the idea of using these end tables to reflect more light than just a wall mirror.

Speaking of wall mirrors, a Moroccan theme wouldn't be complete without some beautifully intricate patterns and this quatrefoil mirror fits the bill. I wouldn't mind snagging one of these for myself, in fact!

This adorably girlie lamp is on sale and would be a perfect addition to the living room as well! But of course only with a colorful lamp shade like this violet one....

These fun little drinking glasses are from Target's new Calypso Collection.  I love all the colors and their metallic quality.  These could easily be grouped and turned into votive holders on a fun little tray.

So all in all, I think the impromptu trip to Home Depot and Target were both successful.  I certainly was getting ideas for things that work together and don't.  What the costs are that we're up against, what we can make ourselves, and color chips that we can whittle down to our palette.

Happy Monday Morning Nesters! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Do anything fun? Perhaps took Friday off to got to the RMV/DMV as well?  Dish!

The Raz is the Man!

... er- little boy!  As I mentioned before, my brother, Joe and sister in law, Molly, brought the wee one to hang out for my Moms birthday weekend and boy-o-boy was everyone excited to have them!  I got to hold him as much as his feeding schedule {and my mom} would allow. 

I never knew how much having a baby come into the family is instant love.  I always knew that having your own child was like that, but I had no idea how much I would already love my nephew.  Maybe it's because my brother and I are so close?  I would do back flips for him. Either of them really. {And they for me.}  So without further adieu, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pics I took of the little guy this weekend.

Starving to death.

It is the end of day 1 of my gustatory detox and I am hurting.  My head is pounding and I'm totally exhausted.  Here's a little time line of how the day went...

via

Spring Detox

Heya Nesters!  This past weekend was a delightful time for me!  My brother and SIL came to visit with the baby {I saw Dad too!} for my Moms birthday. We ate lots of good food and stared at the baby like watching a fire.  It's not doing much but you can't take your eyes off it.  I needed to get all my good food-eatin' in and enjoy it as much as I could because as of today I'm starting a detox diet.

via

 Yikes.

AT: Small Cool

We are all Apartment Therapy Addicts, aren't we? Or did I just confess to something? AT is high on my reading list and this years Small Cool was particularly good in my opinion.  While I liked Jordan, the US winner, I preferred one of the underdogs {always root for the underdog!}, Nicole.  Drink in this awesome, tiny space at only 750 sq ft!

Zara Wishlist

We don't often get the chance to chat fashion.  Usually over here at TN we're chatting DIY's and home decor.  But since I've put a moratorium on buying fun, new things for the nest since I won't be here for all that much longer, I've taken advantage of my pocket change and been revitalizing my summer wardrobe.  I'm obviously on a tight budget like everyone these days, {especially before a move} so while I stick with buying most things from Target, Forever 21, TJ Maxx or Marshalls, there is no harm in looking at the other retailers! That's where Zara comes in...

via

Happy Day-o-Mom

Scanner has bit the dust... don't judge that I took a picture of a picture.

For the beautiful lady that carried me for all those 9 months and hung around, having fun with my brother and I ever since. <3  

From the photo booth at Joe and Molly's wedding.

Got Mom hanging plants galore like she wanted {no bouquets for her!} and taking her out to a Turkish restaurant for din-din just the two of us. And picking her up a cupcake from a special favorite bakery!

And to all you Mommy-Nesters: I hope you all get everything you want today, because you deserve it!

Not Yo' Nacho's...

Hey Nesters!  So yesterday at work, my office mate mentioned that she had made some dirty {in the best sense of the word} nachos for herself over the weekend. That made my ears perk up.  I love a good plate of nachos.

Obviously these are not my nachos. They're from here.

Doesn't everybody?  I had never made my own so I figured I'd give it a whirl.  I already had tons of cheese and cherry tomatoes at home that needed to be used up.  So I headed out to the grocery store after work...

Cinderella and Prince Charming

via

Most of you who read this blog know that I work in the bridal gown industry.  It was no mistake.  My senior collection in fashion school was a bridal collection.  I was lucky enough to grow up in the city that hosts one of the most famous bridal gown companies in the country.   My life is surrounded by weddings.  I love weddings.  No I mean I really love weddings.  {Poor Matt}  All the more reason that Friday's Royal Wedding of William and Kate was epic.