Last Week's Links

If you follow me on instagram (@kirstenkrason) you are aware that we spent the weekend in Sunny California! We had SUCH a good time. Spending time with my family in the sun was so good for the soul. I still managed to catch up on some of my favorite blogs and Pinterest while I was gone. Here are some of the links I loved most from last week. 

1 || Someone buy this chair! I seriously love it. 

2 || I never thought I'd have a kid with curly hair but now that I do I loved this article on how to embrace it.

3 || My new favorite fabric find.  

4 || Mark my words, I will find a way to use this amazing lamp somewhere. 

5 || This looks like such a cool and comfy dress. 

6 || I just bought this cute top for Jane. 

7 || Every time I read Allegra's blog I want her life and her kids. (and her kid's wardrobes) 

8 || I adore these Halloween printables. 

9 || I LOVE this jacket. 

10 || This Nursery reveal makes me think I'll never get over my love for striped walls. 

11 || This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This video brought me to tears and inspired me so much. 

top photo - Wayfair / bottom photo - Max and Ruby

DISCLOSURE: COMPENSATED AFFILIATE LINKS USED

Deciding on my Desk Chair

For the next few months I'll be sharing in the Fiesta Movement by tackling design projects in my home and community. This months' theme is Style. This month I've decided to tackle finishing up my home office and I need your help! 

If you remember I've been working on redoing my office for awhile now.  My initial color scheme for the office came from this fabric combo that I pulled from my fabric showroom. 

I knew right away I wanted to incorporate Schumacher's Birds and Butterflies fabric. 

However I'm having the hardest time deciding where to put it in my office! My first thought was to do it as a roman shade. 

But then I fell in love with  Schumacher's Vientiane Ikat Print for the roman shade. 

I think the coral will be a really great contrast to the black walls. 

I've been wanting to get a new desk chair for awhile now so one thought I had was to reupholster a chair in the fabric. 

Chairs can be pretty expensive to reupholster so I had an idea to have a custom slipcover made for an Ikea chair. 

I would use a basic Henriksdal chair because I love the shape. Then I was thinking to have a custom slipcover made from this etsy shop. This idea would probably end up costing quite a bit of money when all is said and done so that is my one hesitation with this option. Another hesitation I have is that I would worry the fabric would get a little dirty after all the use it will get. It's also a pretty stiff fabric so I worry about it getting wrinkled.  

So that brings me to my next option...

I thought I could buy one of these World Market dining chairs and then just reupholster the back in the fabric and leave the seat green. This would enable me to still get to use the fabric but I wouldn't have to worry about it getting dirty and wrinkled all the time.

Should I choose option one or option two?

I'll be revealing which option I chose later in the month so stay tuned!

disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my participation. The opinions expressed are my own.

Last Week's Links

1 || I am kinda obsessed with Giuliana and Bill Rancic so I was drooling over their home tour.
2 || I totally agree with this post and perspective on blogging.
3 || A girls' room design for $150!
4 || I'm loving my latest desktop wallpaper.
5 || I LOVE this black bootie.
6 || Finding pretty new fonts makes me happy.

7 || This is my latest ottoman obsession.  I came this close to purchasing it for a client this week.
8 || I'm pretty excited that West Elm has already released their Holiday decor.
9 || Does anyone have Sorels? I'm thinking of getting some.
10 || My friend is selling her amazing curtain panels. Snatch them up while you have the chance!

Also congrats to the winner of the Home Decorators Collection Giveaway! 

DISCLOSURE: COMPENSATED AFFILIATE LINKS USED

Our Sofa Bed Search

With a new baby arriving we knew we were going to be having guests staying the night at our house and we literally had no where for them to sleep. So we were on the hunt for a good sofa bed! 

We ended up going with the Hagalund sofa bed from Ikea. So far we have been really impressed with it. My favorite thing about it is the size. Since this piece had to be in my office we couldn't go with anything too big. You could fit two people on it but it might be a little tight. It fits one really comfortably. Josh and I have actually napped on it a few times and we both think it's really comfortable. Josh wasn't 100% sold on the white slipcover but once I paint my office it will pop a little from the wall. 

Ikea actually had a ton of great sofa bed options. If we had the space we would have gone with the Extorp. But it was way too bulky and big for my office.

Here are a few other small scale sofa sleepers that I liked.

Home USA Grey Loveseat / Ava Tufted Sleeper Sofa / Renu Leather Sleeper Sofa / Julius Sleeper Sofa / Deco Convertible Sofa / Twin Sleeper Sofa in Khaki 

Dreams Do Come True

If you've been following my blog for awhile you know that I've been wanting a new master bedroom dresser for years now. 

Our dresser was a hand-me-down from my husbands step-dad. We've moved it from house to house and honestly there were no plans in the immediate future to purchase a new one. It was a solid dresser that got the job done. There was always a part of me though that wanted something lighter and maybe just a little more "special". 

Way back in March of last year (2011) I found a dresser at Downeast that I fell in love with. 

I actually blogged about it a little bit in this post. This dresser is the Hampstead Long Dresser from Williams Sonoma Home. 

It retails for almost $4,000. It wound up at Downeast because it was missing that beautiful marble top. Because of that they had it marked down to $2,000 that first time I saw it in March. It was still way more than I could ever spend so I tried as hard as I could to shove it out of my mind. But for the past year now I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I would literally day dream about it in my bedroom and how amazing it would be. 

Last week Downeast was having their annual tent sale and I saw the dresser marked down to $999. A fourth of it's retail price! But still it was more money than we could spend on a new dresser that we didn't' really need. So once again I tried to shove it out of my mind. We stopped by a few days ago to look at sectionals and I couldn't help to check if the dresser was still there and it was. It had now been marked to $799 plus they were offering an additional 30% off! I spent the rest of the day trying to convince my husband to let me buy it and I think he could see how I was obviously in love with it because he consented! 

Can you hear angels singing in the heavens? I can. 

I also had a gift card to Downeast so my total ended up being around $500. For us that is still a lot of money to spend on a piece of furniture but compared to what we would have spent if we bought it brand new it feels like a steal. Plus we were able to sell our brown dresser and put that money towards the new one. 

Although it's missing it's amazing marble top I still love it. And who knows maybe one day I'll have one cut to fit it. It's such a quality made piece of furniture. I love how tall it is too. 

The moral of this story is that sometimes I think items in our home are "meant to be" there. The fact that this dresser waited around over a year for me to buy it makes me feel like it belonged in my home all along. Sometimes all it takes is a little convincing of our husbands and a really great sale! 

To get all the sources for items in my master bedroom and home go here. 

The Great Sectional Debate

I honestly don't think I've ever sourced a sectional for a client yet. Lots of pretty sofas and chairs and loveseats but no sectionals. So the world of sectionals still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. 

My husband is pretty adamant that we get one for our basement. I think he he always pictured a basement with a sectional in it and his "vision' can not be compromised. I have been looking and looking and I just haven't found anything I love yet. 

My top contender is the Henry Sectional from West Elm. 

I really love the look of it. Of course we would be happier if we could find something a little cheaper. Some other options I've considered:

The Broyhill Abilene Sectional from Wayfair. The price on this one seems really good but I don't think I could ever buy something like this online without sitting in it first. 

There is also the Ikea Ektorp Sectional. I'm not in love with the shape of the arms and I'm not sure how I feel about the slipcover but the price is good. 

I also really like this Sullivan Sectional from Rowe Furniture. I'm hoping to go check it out today in person. 

I would love your help and opinions. Do you know of any gems I'm missing? Any great places to buy comfortable and affordable sectionals that I don't know about? 

Thanks! 

Chair Makeover

Here is a little client update. 

Right now I am working with a client who is doing a major overhaul on her Living Room. She wanted a room that was fun, colorful and fresh. The above fabric scheme is the one I came up with. 

We also wanted to re-upholster a chair in Betwixt. 

Check out the transformation of this craigslist chair. 

Ta Da!! Looks great doesn't' it? Thanks to the amazing upholstery work by Brian Maxfield of Rocky Mountain Upholstery. Things are really coming together in this room. I can't wait to show you the finished space!

Don't forget to enter the Minted Giveaway. It ends tonight.