Get the Look: Kitchen Banquette

Thursday I posted about my love for Kitchen Banquettes.  Today I thought I would bring one of those images to life at an affordable and attainable cost.

This inspiration:

Get the Look: 

All it takes sometimes is a little effort to browse online for products.   You may not get the exact look hem for hem, but you can certainly achieve a similar look for a lower cost.  Plus, you get to put your own stamp on the design and make it personal. Enjoy!

Kitchen Banquettes

A lot of homes come with a natural spot for a breakfast table, in addition to a separate dining room.  I love the idea of putting in a banquette.  Personally, I like the idea of part banquette, part chairs.  Whether it is a built-in bench or a settee, who wouldn't like a nice cushion to sit on??  Plus you can usually squeeze a few more people on it, if need be.

Here are a few banquettes for inspiration:

now this isn't in the kitchen, but i love the sofa/settee they used

just a cozy little nook- love the blue and love the gold chandelier

a lot of kitchens have an extra space they could squeeze a banquette into the corner of. This is a perfect spot to feed your kids cereal, eat some lunch or read the paper. 

I love the shape of this- and all of the detailing

Love these windows and the bench instead of chairs

Cran-raspberry Crush

Cran-Raspberry isn't just a flavor for Ocean Spray drinks, it's my latest color crush.  It's bright and youthful and cheerful.  But since it is such a bright and bold color, be careful how you use it...

Apply to real life:

I LOVE this Aimee Rug from Joss and Main

This would look great in a big girls room! Joss and Main headboard

Land of Nod Nightstand

We finally got a beautiful sunny day on Saturday, so we pretty much spent every waking hour outdoors.  Springtime is teasing me- hope you all have a bright and cheerful day!

Loving Botanicals

I am loving botanicals these days... I love their simple yet intricate designs; I love their vintage feel; I love that it is a pretty timeless art statement.  I also think they can easily go from modern to traditional to vintage based on their frame, matting, and colors. Lucky for me, I currently have a client with whom I'm going to have put up a fern botanical wall gallery.  I think they work in most every room- bedroom, living room, dining room, bathroom.  They are statement making when clustered together, or add them to an already existing wall gallery mixed with other photos and artwork. 

So bring on the green and the springtime! Here's a little inspiration:

Have a warm, safe, fun weekend everyone! (We will be enjoying the snow here in NYC area...)

Spring Awakening Living Room

The sun has started to peek out from the clouds and the temperature has now reached 40 degree and over.  Hooray!  So now more than ever I have spring fever.  

Since design is always on my mind, I wanted to start bringing you some inspiration design boards--and each one will be different (different rooms, different inspiration) to hopefully bring you some accessible inspiration. Today, I was inspired by the fun and cheerful pillows from Joss and Main I posted a few days ago to give you a light and bright living room.  Enjoy!

The hannah pillow was my jumping off point, and I felt it was very bright and carefree, but modern too.  And what is more carefree than the beach? That is where the rest comes in: a white, casual, washable slipcovered sofa, a natural fiber rug, reclaimed wood coffee table and of course a beautiful beach landscape painting.  I could definitely relax in this room after a day of sunning and playing at the beach! (or atleast pretend I'm there).


Credits:  Artwork: "The Shore" by Paul; Lamp: George Kovaks from Lamps Plus; Sofa: Crate and Barrel Willow Sofa;  Coffee Table: West Elm Box Table; Chairs: Design Within Reach Cuba Chair; Pillows: Hannah Pillow from Joss and Main and Signature Pillow from Caitlin Wilson; Rug: Potter Barn sisal diamond print rug.

Joss and Main

Why, hello.  The winter slump has hit, and for the past few weeks I've been engulfed by it--  Hibernating and doing cold-weather stuff.  After a quick jaunt down to DC, hoping to escape some cold, I got a good dose of quality family time.

In any case, I was looking on Joss and Main (I often find things for clients there), and saw some refreshing pillows I just had to share.  I have a slight pillow and fabric obsession, so there is no room at our inn for any more.... but I'm hoping one of my lovely readers will take one home!

Check these out... they are sure to bring some spring into your home!

I love this color blue. Refreshing spin on a Southwestern print.

Great for a kid's room

This one reminds me of the popular Schumacher Adras Ikat in Caravan

I love these two prints.  Love the colors.

Doesn't this look like a delish sorbet you just want to take a bit of?

Let me know if any of you grab one of these awesome pillows! Have a great Thursday (.....it's almost the weekend.....hang in there!)

DIY: Reclaimed Wood Industrial Coffee Table

Right now I am sitting on the sofa, listening to Tegan and Sara, hearing my kids happily playing downstairs with a friend (it's not always this perfect!) all while getting hit with a huge Nor'Easter outside (or Snowicane, Blizzard, you get the idea).  Hopefully we whether the storm well, keep our power, and just get to be cozy indoors and go sledding tomorrow in a foot of snow (could be more!).

Getting stuck indoors in the wintertime is actually a great time to get some projects done.  While the weather may not allow you to paint or work outside, a garage with a heat lamp, or a workspace in the basement is good too (be sure to ventilate!).

((Preview))


I have been looking for a rustic industrial coffee table....the right color, the right price, the right size, the list goes on.  The more affordable tables look cheap and are not real wood, and the good ones are just too much out of our price range right now.  So, we thought, let's try and build our own.  We went to our local Home Depot for all of the materials.  We bought some lumbar and had them cut it there (we pre-measured and drew out plans prior), bought stain, a bit more polyurethane, and pipes for the base.

Most of our supplies

First thing, we needed to distress the wood planks.  We did this with a variety of methods....throwing a bag of screws and nails, scratching it with a screw head, beating it with pipes (especially the edges to really dent them) and a few others.  We even let the kids just pound the wood with their wooden tools.  Remember that aged wood has been bumped, dropped, pounded, nailed, the list goes on. So you really can't go wrong. Make sure to sand all of the edges as well.

Next up was staining the wood.   I used a piece of discard wood to test a few patches.  I purchased three different stain colors: a greywash, a medium honey and a darker walnut stain.  The darker I either watered down or did not let sit for long.  I also layered the stains, and each plank I treated different so that no two were the same.

Once they are stained and dried you can assemble and screw them together.  My husband Derek used a Kreg jig, which is a tool to diagonally screw the wood together so that it is hidden to the eye (most top end furniture uses this).

Once it is all assembled we screwed in stained and sanded side rails to hide the edges and then finished it with screwed in particle wood underneath.

For the base, we got a bunch of plumbers pipes (steel 3/4" wide)- cleaned them off and screwed them in.  The last and final step was to polyurethane a few coats on top, and a light coat on the bottom side of the pipes (the grease and grey residue never really comes off).

And there you have it! A unique and custom Reclaimed Wood Industrial Coffee Table!