Romantic Ruffles for Spring!

Thank you to everyone who popped by to meet Karen and read my guest post for her blog on Monday! I really appreciate it. If you didn't catch that post, you can read it {here}.

When springtime comes I instantly feel attracted to everything delicate, soft, airy, girly and pretty. Ruffles have always had a place in fashion but over the past few spring seasons we've seen them make a big comeback in both our home as well as the runway. Everything from blouses, dresses to scarves to ruffled blazers, clutches and shoes. A lot of brides are opting for dresses adorned with ruffles now more than ever.

My sweet friend { L} got married a few weeks ago wearing this beautiful ruffled gown. She is  shown here alongside of her flower girl and was such a stunning bride!

While I'm a bikini kind of gal I do love this turquoise ruffled one-piece swimsuit by Shabby Apple.

True Parisian glamour! I rarely wear a dress with sleeves, especially in spring or summer but this one is stunning! You can find it featured {here}.

 This ruffled cardigan is from JCrew and comes in 4 different colors, it's perfect for Spring's unpredictable weather.

My closet is home to a few ruffled tops, a scarf and even a dress which I've had for a few years and love today just as much as the day I purchased them. You might remember me sharing these comfy ballet flats from Target that I purchased a few months ago which are trimmed with just the perfect touch of ruffle detail.

I'm also a fan of small doses of ruffles in home decor. Lately I've been doing some shopping for clients and coming across some really beautiful items. I wanted to share a few for those that are  into romantic ruffles also.

A Few of my Ruffled Favorites

This is Potterybarn's ruffled jersey organic sheet set. What's not to love?! Not only is it soft and romantic but it has cottage charm and it's good for you and the environment. That will help you sleep at night. They also offer a ruffled turkish organic duvet cover and sham set as well, so over or under, they've got you covered!

I found this image and tutorial at Just a Girl and thought this would be a cute lampshade DIY. Her finished product shown above was inspired by the Anthropologie ruffled lampshade.

Target offers this ruffles shower curtain for just $25! I've seen something similar available in other stores like Anthropologie for about 4x the price so this is a steal! The soft and feminine detail would add a bit of 'pretty' to any bathroom.

This Floret ruffled rosette pillow from Zgallerie was a recent selection for a client's master bedroom reading chair.I love that it is linen, so light and airy.

I hope you all have a sweet weekend! :)

Have you bought anything with ruffles recently? I'd love to hear about it!



*tablecloth, cake

Creative Kitchen DIY On a Dime!

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When I find posts that really wow me I can't help but not share them with all of you. Today's post is a spotlight on a kitchen that went from dull and drab to totally fab! For anyone that has ever lived in an apartment where painting was prohibited, personal preferences and changes were not embraced by a landlord, you'll certainly appreciate the creativity by Erin of Rare & Beautiful Treasures.

You see, Erin is documenting the decorating process of her tiny rental home with her family of 3 for the next year (until they move). The owners have asked that they not paint, or add any permanent changes. You can imagine my curiosity then when she was presented with the challenge of this tiny kitchen space:

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And then she transformed it into THIS and did it on a tiny budget!

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HELLO bright and cheery! You will be so amazed at how she changed the color of those cabinets without any paint. I'm not going to say anymore though-for detailed close-up pictures and a description of how she did it, you can visit her post which  is titled 'The Little Kitchen that Could'. Her images are much larger that what I have here. You'll also see 2 cute pics of her and her darling baby boy, Wynn. :) Don't you just love that name?

No matter where we are at in life-living in a large home in suburbia, a tiny apartment in the city or a comfortable country home, there are always affordable and fun ways to make a dramatic impact on even the smallest of budgets.

Happy Weekend. I hope this post will inspire you to do something creative!

Frugal and Fabulous Find

I was out running some errands today when I decided to pop into my local Marshall's store. I was hoping to find some inexpensive decor items or at least some inspiration for a DIY project. I stumbled upon something else instead in their shoe section.

I love the comfort of a flat shoe, being 5' 9" tall I don't really need the extra height (although I do enjoy a stylish and comfy pair of pumps, who doesn't ?) I am always on the hunt for a cute new pair of ballet flats or sandals at a discount. Living in Florida I pretty much get to wear sandals year round and gladiator sandals have become my favorite style. They stay on your feet well and are generally very comfortable and never seem to rub on my feet. You might remember me sharing my other pair in my Favorite Things post last October which I also got for a steal at Ross and wear regularly.

So, you can imagine my joy when I came across the pair of snakeskin (replica) patterned nude gladiator sandals shown above. Now, as you can see they started off with this strand of pearls which I guess for some may be a welcomed added little detail but for me, I wanted something with a simplistic look. At just $12.99 I knew I had to grab them since they had my size and I visualized what they would look like without the pearls.

I got home, pulled out a pair of scissors and snipped the clear fishing line type threading that held the pearls onto the shoe. Voila-here are my new inexpensive pair of stylish little flats. :)

When it comes to clothing, shoes, accessories or even furniture, don't write anything off if it doesn't appear the way you'd like at first glance. Often it's as easy as a snip with the scissors or using a stitch ripper to remove some embroidery. I once bought a beautiful set of drapery panels for a model home client and upon getting them into the home I realized the rod wouldn't fit through, the rod pocket was too narrow. There was a second set of stitching below. I was able to use the stitch ripper in my took kit to remove the thread and it opened up to double the width for the oversized drapery rod to fit through.  Just be sure to look at the overall cost, any additional materials needed and time involved. In today's case, it took me a mere 30 seconds, so it was a no-brainer.

What things have you transformed on a budget? Feel free to link to your blog posts or tell us all about it, I'd love to hear from you!

You can see some of my other frugal transformations here: My Office Chair, Vintage Foot Stool and Serving Tray.