Weekend Give Away: ShoeMint!

Woohoo! It's the weekend! We're loading up the car today and hitting the road for a little break away from the city. We're hoping the weather brightens up a bit so we can take the girls to the beach. Fingers crossed! :)

Let's kick off the weekend with a give away from one of my favorite shoe-shopping sites, ShoeMint!

Steve Madden makes these fabulous all-leather or suede shoes designed by style mavens Rachel Bilson and Nicole Chavez. 

I'd gladly take that sofa off their hands... 

New styles come out every month that keep me coming back for more. These sandals are my most recent favorites.

They're super comfy and they look great with skirts and dresses.

Here are some of my other favorites:

To enter to win a pair of gorgeous ShoeMint shoes, hop on over to the members-only site and register (it's free and takes just a sec), and then leave a comment on this post sharing your favorite pair.

Contest ends next Friday, May 31 at midnight. Open to US and Canada residents only. Good luck!

PS If you register here with this link, you'll get 20% off your first order!

DIY Starry Ceiling (ala Osbourne and Little Coronata Star Wallpaper)

Furbish Studio Design via Lonny Mag

Kristen Davis, who is a really talented painter based in Atlanta (I've mentioned her before here and here), emailed me photos of this really beautiful nursery ceiling project she just finished. Her client wanted to put Osbourne and Little Coronata Star wallpaper on the ceiling in her baby's nursery, but the commitment and expense was keeping the client from pulling the trigger.

Kristen came the rescue and stenciled the eight-pointed star pattern on the nursery ceiling, and it's pretty much a dead-ringer for the original wallpaper.

Kristen gave a little how-to on her blog HERE. I really love how this project turned out!

Also, when I was searching for the Lonny images from the nursery Jamie did (at the very top of the post), I re-stumbled across this great project that Dina from Honey & Fitz posted a while back. She had a similar idea as Kristen, but used a Silhouette machine to cut out the stars on silver contact paper so she could just peel and stick.

More of Dina's son's beautiful nursery here.

I think both methods are great options for a completely gorgeous look, don't you? I'm crazy-obsessed with the night sky and would love to do my own version of a star ceiling in my girls' room. A dark, dark blue ceiling with glow in the dark paint over gold paint for the stars would be so cool...

JEM Fabrics Update

Just a little PSA today for my fellow New Yorkers: JEM Fabrics, one of my very favorite sources for super affordable velvets and trim (where I bought this trim), is closing its doors this month. :( I'm so, so bummed for the very nice people that run the store (and also for myself).

For the next two weeks they are selling everything at a deep discount, including furniture they had downstairs in the upholstery section. I stopped by yesterday and bought five yards of this laminated black linen (above) for a dining chair project and I also ended up buying this vintage tufted sofa for $100.

I don't need it, but it's comfy, and I've never been known to turn down a good piece of tufted furniture. I'm thinking it'd be pretty amazing reupholstered in a distressed black leather (I spied something perfect at my new leather source). In the end, it might look a little something like this Dwell Studio Chester sofa.

via SFgirlbybay

I passed on this gorgeous down-filled Baker camelback, which I'm regretting a bit. One of you should snag it though (also $100).

I think it could look a bit like the Anthropologie Ditte with a new upholstery job and a set of pretty brass caster cups.

I did end up buying 15 yards of this gorgeous deep blue-green-gray mohair to reupholster my LEE roll-arm sofa. So, so excited for that to happen. 

And now that my beloved JEM is going away, I'm feeling sadly short on affordable, interesting velvet sources. New Yorkers, am I missing out on any great places? Mood sometimes hooks me up, but all the other fabric stores in the garment district have left me empty-handed in the past when it comes to velvets. Trade fabrics are great, but sometimes there's just nothing like the hunt for something really one-of-a-kind feeling, you know?

RIP, JEM. I'll miss you and your cool, worn painted plywood floors.

Macy's Day Parade Images as Art

I'm working on a really fun nursery project that needs some cool art that's sort of on the crazier side. I wish we had the right wall space to work with these Macy's Day Parade photos from the 40s and 50s.

Wouldn't these be amazing blown up really, really huge with a simple, modern frame? My $4 print project would totally do the trick!

PS More nursery art ideas here, here and here.