My favorite hotel...

Normally when I travel for work I have all sorts of posts because I get bored. But instead, today I am posting because I have to share some incredible pictures from one of my very favorite hotels. It's easy to love for so many reasons - it's about as close as you can get to our office, there's a Starbucks in the lobby, and it has views like this...
And this...

For those of you who aren't obsessive baseball fans, that's the new Busch Stadium. I honestly have had one of these two views every single time I've stayed here. Amazing.

[As a side note, when my husband and I stayed here to go to the game a few weekends ago, the hotel had giant glass pitchers of lemonade and fruit punch - Cardinals' colors - in the lobby for while you waited to check in. They just keep movin' up on the favorites list.]

And besides the huge wall of windows in the rooms with the incredible views, the rest of the room is also great. Like this great headboard, simple but stylish lamps and cool artwork arrangements...

The bathrooms are small, but also very nice. My favorite part is that each one has a huge framed mirror. [I'm having an obsession with framed mirrors lately and trying to figure out the easiest DIY way to frame ours...] Oh, and there's a big floor-length mirror in each room [another thing I'm kind of obsessing about lately].

And there are tons of lounge areas just begging people to sit for a drink and great conversations. The details make it perfect - like the tray the wine glasses are on.

And, again it is the world's best hotel for a baseball lover. Pretty sure we must have awesome art like this in our house someday...

So, there it is - a quick tour of one of my favorite hotels. All the photos are from the hotel's website, and it was seriously hard to narrow it down to just these. Have I mentioned I love it? And I almost forgot to even mention the huge pool and fitness room!

Okay, I'm done. I just couldn't help but share the fun decor and amazingness. If you aren't tired of people rambling on about hotels, you should definitely check out hotel inspiration video one and two by Young House Love and All Bower Power.

Soft and pretty pink...

To continue posting pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, here are some beautiful pale pink rooms courtesy of Martha...

I love the use of pink and gray in this bedroom.

This room has the same lovely color combination and the shape of the side table is incredible!

The palest of pinks makes this room look so calming.
I'm always a sucker for a cool headboard like this one.
I always love the pink KitchenAid and it makes this kitchen look so sweet. And to Cook for the Cure, KitchenAid makes a donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for every pink product purchased. :)

Redecorating the guest bedroom...

Just like the guest bathroom, we gave the guest room a mini makeover with very few purchases...

Before:
A naked window, a rumpled comforter and a mirror that reflected the closet door - fancy.

Pretty much more of the same.

And a blah corner with a practically empty bookcase thingy.

After:

Yay for curtains! [Even though my husband sees absolutely no purpose in curtains, the curtain rod was still one of the few purchases.] I also moved the mirror and added a few different accessories. Oh, and the walls are Glidden's Icy Waterfall, just like the bathroom.

I got the three frames for just a few dollars each at Wal-Mart...and learned that I shouldn't go shopping when I'm sleepy. I totally didn't notice that the frames were two different sizes and that two of them were missing the mats that were supposed to come in them. And, of course, it was one of the larger frames that actually had the mat, so I had to cut it down to fit the frame in the center to keep things symmetrical. Anyways, it all worked out in the end and I was able to frame the bright wrapping paper [also from Wal-Mart - and my last purchase for the room]. Other additions here included adding ribbon to the lampshades and switching out fun-colored candles for the white ones that were there before.

I fixed up the blah corner a little with a few baskets [originally used for the programs at our wedding], the mirror we moved, a monkey and actually putting books, frames, etc. in the bookcase thingy.

This last picture is really bad, but the four frames pictures from my sister's wedding actually are really cool in person.
This room is definitely still a work-in-progress as the real reason for the color scheme is that I couldn't find the light blue pillow cases, so I had to use the pink ones...and the pink accents just expanded from there. :) The someday plan is to change up the color scheme to just the light blue, navy and green. But in the meantime, the room is much more presentable for our guests.

Redecorating the guest bath...

About 37 years ago, I was talking about all the projects we were going to tackle over Labor Day. Well, now I am finally back with a few pictures...

Before:
We had some amazing matching going on in the guest bathroom before, huh? Just kidding. It actually didn't look this bad most of the time, but it was still in need of some desperate help. The shower curtain was left behind by the previous homeowners and although lovely, it wasn't really the color scheme we had in mind and we obviously did not have any matching towels.
After:

We gave the room a few coats of Glidden's Icy Waterfall, hung a picture and put up the shower curtain we used in the master bath at our old place. I love this shower curtain - it is so much more "us" and it matches the towels much better. Eventually, I would like to get some new towels and hang more pictures, but this is already about eight million times better than before. But so far we didn't have to buy anything for this little bathroom makeover [well, except the paint if you want to get technical].

Mood Board Monday...

Room Remix is hosting Mood Board Monday today...I should be working, but instead I am playing along. :)


The "rules" were pretty simple - pick one of two inspiration items, make a cute mood board and post about it. [Be sure to check out Room Remix for more information and the great designs others came up with!]

I choose the lime trellis fabric [upper left corner] as my inspiration item. From there, I found two coordinating fabrics - the pink trellis fabric and beach stripe fabric, both from Hancocks. And then I had about eight million ideas of fun rooms these fabrics should be used for...a summery outdoor room, a plant-filled sunroom, an ultra modern dining room.

But then I found this crazy amazing modern bright pink kids' chair and fell in love. So I finally decided on a modern preteen bedroom. For between the two chairs, I found this lime storage ottoman.

Across the room is the simple bed with bedding that just happened to coordinate perfectly. The bed would have modern tables on each side and two hot pink sparkle storage ottomans at the foot of the bed.

This totally cool preteen would also have this bright orange art deco table lamp and four-drawer dresser. The three fabrics would be used to make pillows for all over the bed and chairs, and maybe for an accent on curtains as well.

I didn't include any art on my mood board, but don't worry, I thought of that too. :) There would be blown up pictures of flowers [think the orange, lime, pink and teal in the fabrics] with giant white mats and big black frames.

Oh, and in case you don't click on the 42 links in this post, everything other than the fabrics was found at good 'ole Target.

Peg board organizing...

I like the idea of using peg boards for organization. Here are some ideas...

These hanging baskets aren't quite my style, but with the right baskets for me, I would love this.


I know peg board is not generally considered pretty, but adding trim and color like they did with this Pottery Barn knockoff really dresses it up.
Whoa, organization heaven! How cute are these painted silhouettes? And, even better, nothing would ever be put in the wrong place and you would know right away when something was missing.

There were two big peg boards already hanging in our garage when we bought our house. One of them just might be a recycling station in its next life.

Yes, this is a kid's closet. But the same idea applies to other closets or little spaces as well. A little extra peg board could add up to a lot of extra storage.
And another way to sneak in some extra storage - put it right on the cabinet doors.

Or just cover the walls with peg board. I really like this idea and the others that could be used in our laundry room. Now, if I can just figure out how to incorporate this drying rack idea into my new peg board obsession, I would be set. :)

Posting pink...

Think Pink...

Martha

Metropolitan Home

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For information on detection, treatment and donating, please visit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

[Visit Mrs. Blandings, who posted pink and inspired many others, including me, to do the same. I will be posting more pink throughout the month. Please feel free to join in with a pink post of your own to help spread the word to Think Pink this month and every month.]

October, already!?

Lately I’ve had all sorts of posts about fall - my October goals, decorating pumpkins, fall treats, more fall treats, fall fashions and even spooky marshmallows. This may have led you to believe that I was excited about October and fall. But you would have been wrong. Very wrong. Fall just reminds me that it is getting colder out and winter is coming. Ahhhhh! I hate cold weather.

But as I was looking back at my pictures from our pumpkin carving experience last year, I found lots of other fun pictures from last fall. So much to my surprise, I have realized that I actually don’t hate fall. I kind of love it.

Last October, we enjoyed a fun-filled day at the Renaissance Festival with great friends, where my husband was attacked by a crazy lady…

[By the way, I am risking my life for your entertainment with this one. :)]

And a wonderful trip to visit my grandparents and go to a beautiful dessert wedding in Arizona…

And our first trip to a rodeo to see a Josh Turner concert with my parents…

And baking a cake to help celebrate at a coworker’s baby shower…

And even dressing up like the 1985 Royals for Halloween…

[I threw this one in here just because it's pretty embarrassing...now my husband can't be mad about that first picture, right?]

Well, now that I know I like it - Welcome, October! Here’s to another fabulous month and beautiful fall!