Love The One You're With- A Perfect Gray

Today I am happy to say Donna from A Perfect Gray is my guest blogger!

From my very first post I have proclaimed my love of gray so naturally I knew I would love Donna's blog when I saw the name. But the mutual love of a color is not what kept me coming back, it is the realness you sense, she is so genuine and sweet. This guest post is a perfect example....

I freely admit it. I am so guilty of lusting after OPH. Other People's Homes.

Daily.

If I stop to think of the spaces I love the most, I think the more I see the homeowner's personality, the more I like the space. In other words, it's personality and not perfection that I love. So what makes me 'love the one I'm with' the most?

I think it's this wall:

Just off the hall in our house you'll find this corner wall

where we mark each birthday that our son has.

It's one of the places that we've truly made our very own. If our kitchen is the heart of our home, I think this spot is the soul.

This wall really does make it easy to love the one I'm with.

Marianne, thanks so much for having me. I am honored.

Maybe you'll do a similar wall.....?

best wishes! Donna

Thank you Donna, I will certainly do a wall like that, I could not love it more. I agree with you, the best homes are the ones that show the owner's personality and real live along with great style.

Love The One You're With- Danielle Oakey Interiors

My next guest in the Love The One You're With Series is Danielle from

I love everything Danielle shows on her blog, I really feel like we have such similar tastes. So often when visiting her blog I will find the same images and items I have been focused on lately. What can I say?

Hi, I am Danielle from Danielle Oakey Interiors. I am so excited to be here today. Since I am typically thinking about what my next project will be, it is nice to take a step back and share what I love about my home.

My little abode is small, just over 900 sq.ft! Although it is little, I have managed to squeeze in a couple things that I love. First up, my chevron drapery. Did I mention my husband is a medical student? That means one thing, our budget is tight tight! I purchased the chevron fabric here and made them myself. They were inexpensive and add so much life to my living room.

My absolute favorite piece of furniture, my yellow credenza. I think it steals the show! I love the bright yellow, it really brightens up my small condo.

A couple months ago I painted black and white chalkboard stripes in my daughter's bedroom. I can not get enough of them. They add so much character to her bedroom.

And I am still crazy about my DIY sunburst mirror. I wanted one so bad but couldn't swallow the cost of a new one. So, I made one and I think it is perfect in my little home.

Thanks so much for having me Marianne.

xoxo,

Danielle

Thank you Danielle! It would be hard to pick my favorite part, every picture was so full of inspiration!

Love The One You're With- Everything LEB

I am so happy to introduce my next guest blogger, Lindsay from....

Not only do I love reading her blog but I also get to call her a friend!

I'm so excited to participate in Marianne's "Love the One You're With" series! Although, I have to admit when putting together this post I realized that my apartment has changed so many times over the last 3 years it was hard to pick a space that I've loved for longer than, say....6 months. Call it design ADD.
Anyways, I thought I would post about my bedroom which is ever changing and hasn't been the same for longer than 6 months, but I still love it. I love my sleep, I could sleep for days, so my bedroom is a special place.
I'll start with the bad. This photo is from when we first moved into the apartment. It was a mix of furniture and bedding just thrown together.

That Pottery Barn duvet cover had to go- its not horrible but it was time for a change

I then went into a major green green kick and was dying for an upholstered headboard. It was not in the budget so I took one of those college days egg crate (remember those??) folded it over the top of the wood headboard and made a green slipcover. It worked perfectly.

The yellow shame came from Homegoods- one of those impulse purchses. And the monogram pillows I made with some fabric paint.

I lived with the green headboard for about 6 months and then Shumachers Chaing Mai Dragon fabric came into my life. The green would just not do, so the headboard went to navy. Lets face it, since I change my mind so often I realized that a whole headboard out of the pricey Schmaucher fabric wouldnt be wise. So, I went with a pillow to satisify my craving.

Last but not least (I'm actually in the works of changing the headboard again) I embraced color in my life and the lamp got an upgrade, as well as a few other colorful things on my nightstand.

So while my bedroom is ever changing, it is the one space in my apartment that I love over and over again.

Thanks Marianne for asking me to participate in such a fun series, it really got me thinking about the next direction for my bedroom :)

Thanks again Lindsay! I love all the changes, it keeps things interesting!!!!

Love The One You're With- Velvet & Linen

If you have ever read Brooke Giannetti's blog Velvet & Linen, then you know it would be easy to love her whole house! I could spend hours on this blog. I am currently trying to figure out a way to make her weekend home below my permanent home!I'm so excited to be participating in Marianne's series "Love The One You're With"! Our kitchen in our weekend home in Oxnard is a great example of how we turned a room that we really didn't like into a room we love without completely pulling it apart.

This is what our kitchen looked like the first time we saw it (that's our realtor in the kitchen). Although I loved the fact that the kitchen was open to the main living space, I wasn't a big fan of the dark brown cabinets and counter tops.

Here is our kitchen after. We replaced a couple of the upper cabinet faces with inexpensive doors with chicken wire. We also added inexpensive Restoration Hardware knobs to give the cabinets a little more detail. The most dramatic change occurred when we painted the entire kitchen Farrow and Ball "Hardwick White".

In the second stage, we removed the stainless steel hood over the stove (I kept hitting my head on it!). A decorative grill now covers the vent and still does a great job in keeping my kitchen smoke free.

I usually like to use pendant lights over my kitchen island, but the ceilings were too low. Instead, we used table lamps on the island. We drilled holes through the counter for the wires and connected them to a switch on the side of the island.
Now that we have made these changes, I'm definitely loving the one I'm with :)

Thank you Marianne for letting me share my kitchen with all of your readers!

xo,

Brooke

Thank you Brooke, job well done as always! I love how you made the lamps work on the island!

Love The One You're With-Paula of Two Ellie

Today I am so excited to have not only a talented blogger guest posting but also a dear friend! Paula is such a genuine person and that comes across not only on her blog, Two Ellie, but also in her house! You have already seen her kitchen on H&H here, and now we get to see another part...
I am so excited that Marianne asked me, Paula of Two Ellie, to share in her series "Love The One You Are With". As I have shared with her countless times on one of our coffee or lunch dates that our home is simply not my dream home. It was purchased as a home we were only going to stay in for two years and then we were going to buy "the one", but of course times changed and now we have been in this house for over 4 years. Ha. Needless to say this series is perfect for me. I had to learn to make this home into "The One I Love". The living room was the room that gave me some trouble. It has a funny layout within the open floor plan. From the entry you walk into this space. The fireplace is in the corner, the kitchen is to the left, the door to right is the master, and the sunroom now dining room is directly behind. There aren't many walls to work with so everything kind of has to float. A standard sofa felt funny in this room. Made it to angular for my taste so when the Mr. and I came across this sofa from Rowe I was smitten. We got a killer deal on this piece so the fabric is not exactly what I would have chosen, but saving over a grand made up for that. This room has evolved over years. The always constant is my antique coffee table. It was my first big home purchase when I was in college. The pillows on the chairs are not really mine. They are from Tracery. Doug was kind enough to let me borrow them when I was shooting my home for a local magazine. My pillows were on back order and I needed something to fill the space. To be honest if I hadn't already bought the others these would have had to of stayed home with me!So this was the room that gave me the most trouble, but I must say it's now one of my favorite spaces. It is perfect for movie watching, greeting clients, and just enjoying family. It holds so many pieces that are dear to me. It also makes for a great pass through for the kiddos when they are riding their scooters indoors. I must say I am now content and this is now home for however long that may be. It truly became the one I love.

Thank you Paula, I can say with first hand knowledge your home is so warm and inviting and full of personal touches!

Love The One You're With- Isabella & Max Rooms

I am excited to continue the Love the One You're With Series today with Janell from Isabella and Max Rooms. I love the bathroom she shared below. In case you haven't yet, you must go check out her master bedroom and office makeover as well.

I love the premise of this series, 'Love The One You're With'. It is so easy to focus on what remains to be done in a home or what we wish to change as opposed to what we are happy with; being content with what we have.

One room I have been completely content with since it received its makeover is our Master Bathroom. With paint, new lighting, seating, a beautiful frame added around the large plate glass mirror and accessories, the room was transformed into a space I simply love being in!

{Before}

{After}

Thanks for having me here today Marianne!

Thank you for guest blogging Janell, it was an honor to have you over here! The color of your bathroom has my wheels spinning!!!!

Love the One You're With - Look, Linger, Love

The Love the One You're With Series continues today with Chassity fromIf you aren't familiar with Chassity you are missing one sweet blogger. When I opened her pictures I almost fell over with jealousy, her house is amazing. But don't take my word for it, read on....

*Also, if the format of this post is funny on your screen it is my computer's fault (yes, the computer's, not the user), not Chassity's post. One of these days it will be fixed.

Hi Everyone! I'm so happy Marianne asked me to contribute to her series so that I could visit today. As a blogger I am often guilty of wanting and "needing" so many things. So it's nice to take a look around and really appreciate all that I do have. And I have a lot of things that I love. Like our master bath. I love how light it is.
I absolutely adore my kitchen. Love the ceilings, the big island, the marble backsplash, and the farmer's sink!

And our dining room is one of my favorite rooms in the house.

And while things move around a lot in our house, I love the way this hall table is set up.

My daughter Lilly's nursery is so perfectly pink, I can't help but feel happy when I'm in here.

And living in Charleston, SC it's really nice to have a pool b/c it's so hot here!

Thank you Chassity!!! I am obsessing over so many parts of your house, I would never leave!

Love The One You're With- Emily A. Clark

I am so excited to share with you the next post in the "Love The One You're With Post". Emily, from Emily A. Clark, is one of the sweetest bloggers you could ever hope to meet. I was thrilled to meet her in New York, then we shared a cab back to our hotel and it wasn't a ride I will soon forget! I know I have said this before but I swear we could have been life long friends....

I'm really loving Marianne's idea for this series. So many times, it's easy for us (especially those of us who love design!) to focus on what still needs to be done instead of all that we've accomplished and enjoy about our own homes. In other words, I'm glad Marianne is forcing me to be positive for a day instead of adding to my wish list and scrutinizing every last detail of my own decor.

So, on that note, I'll share the one space in our home that I am currently enjoying most--our home office. It's tucked away downstairs, and was one of the main selling points for me when I first looked at our floorplan.

I loved the idea of having a space where I could "escape" away from the chaos of the rest of the house. And, while the process of decorating it was a slow one, I made a plan, took my time and used colors and pieces that really felt like "me."

I started by repainting this campaign dresser (a thrift store find) a bright kelly green. I've always been so drawn to color, especially painted furniture, and thought this would be a stylish storage solution.

The wall above it also gave me an opportunity to display some of my favorite family photographs. I am not the world's best at actually printing photos and having them framed, but this wall makes me happy every time I look at it.

Not only do I love a brightly painted piece of furniture, but I also have a thing for "happy" fabrics. This one is called "Wilmington" by Covington and gave the space a much needed dose of pattern against the dark gray walls.

And, finally, I love the big Expedit bookcase (from IKEA). It has a really clean look with tons of storage for my favorite books, design magazines, etc. Even if I don't have time to read them, it's nice to be surrounded by them.

Thanks to Marianne for the opportunity to be on her wonderful blog. I had the chance to meet her last month in NYC and she is just as sweet as she is beautiful. I could've spent hours talking to her. Unfortunately, most of our time consisted of a 30-minute cab ride together that ended with me leaving my phone in the backseat. But, that's another story, for another day. . .

Now that is one talented blogger! I am dying over that office- the gray, the green, the curtains, the storage. Love, Love, Love. Thank you Emily for being part of this series!!!! If you haven't yet, be sure to check out Emily A. Clark!

Love The One You're With-Flip Flops & Pearls

Today's "Love The One You're With" post comes from one of my favorite people- Jade from Flip Flops & Pearls. I had always loved Jade in the blog world and then I met her in NYC and it really was like we were old friends. I will be sure to have Jade back once she is in her new house....

When Marianne asked me to be a part of her "Love the One You're With" series, I couldn't say no! First, I absolutely adore Marianne and second, it gave me a chance to look around my own house with a new approach. Instead of focusing on the million things I want different, I got to choose the things I love and wouldn't part with.

The first thing is the rug at my front door. I have had it since my husband and I got married and it was kind of like my first real "big girl" purchase. Before I started design school, I will honestly say I had no clue about quality in home decor. I will admit I purchased a lot based on price (the cheaper the better) so what I ended up with fit just fine for the short term, but was ultimately thrown out because it didn't last or I hated it after a few months. This rug signified the shift in me, where I started making smarter, longer lasting purchases. I now know in almost everything a good, quality product will stand the test of time.The second thing I love in my home is this painting from Costa Rica. My husband and I bought it on our honeymoon in a small little shop and I love everything about it! The colors, the rustic frame, as well as it being the perfect compromise between my sportsman hubby and me. He gets a fish on the wall, I can look at something tasteful as opposed to some of his original choices!
The last thing I love in my home is the lantern hanging at my front door. Our builder had selected a run of the mill, standard ceiling fixture and that thing had to go ASAP!!
Thanks Marianne and her readers for letting me share the stuff I love in my home!

Thanks again Jade, I love your picks, especially the fish!