Trend Spotting in Las Vegas

We had a fun, long-weekend getaway to Las Vegas.  We celebrated my husband's birthday, went to see Le Reve (highly recommend this show), people watched, gambled a tiny bit, relaxed, and of course, ate way too much!

I look a little crazy-eyed in this pic.  I think I was just trying to get the hubs to hurry up and take the pic so I could get back to my sushi!

I was struck by how many trends that are popular in blogland were also found throughout our hotel, the Wynn Encore.  I wonder how often they have to change the decor to stay on trend???

My sister-in-law Carol used to do design for hotels in Vegas.  She did a lot of carpet design and she has mentioned that the casinos change their carpeting every few months due to wear.  I need to ask her about the other decor.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the trends I spotted in the hotel that I see all over my own home, your blogs and Pinterest.

Sunburst Mirrors - these look surprisingly identical to my $35 Home Depot mirror.

Fu Dogs - there were lots of other chinoiserie touches too.

Nailhead trim

Black Doors and Trim

This was the hallway in our room.  Isn't the berry colored ceiling awesome?!?!?

Gold and Brass Accents

Horizontal Stripe Curtains

Contrast piping also seems popular now.

High Gloss Antlers  - it's a little hard to see, but the hallways were lined with these glossy, white antler sconces.

Grass cloth and houndstooth - this wallpaper in our room was grass cloth woven into a houndstooth pattern.  The other walls were a neutral grass cloth.

Peacocks - this pair of crystal peacocks were pretty amazing.

Just for fun - here's part of our bathroom.

Andy looking at our view over the strip.

Las Vegas is a place where everything seems over the top to me...the people, the decor, the casinos, the food.  It's a fun place to getaway for a few days, especially since it's in driving distance of where we live.  It's exciting to play dress-up and live a much more glamourous life than my everyday existence.  But, being away from home made me realize how much I really enjoy being home and being with my family.  Home is truly where my heart is!



February's Project: the Back Hall

Did you think Mary's room makeover was my February project?  It was what I spent the majority of my time on this month, but it wasn't THE project.




 Lisa over at Shine Your Light holds a monthly "before and after" party.  The first Friday of the month, you link up your before pics and the last Friday of the month, your after pics.  I needed some motivation to get started on painting basically every interior wall in my home, so I decided to start simply by painting my back hall as my February project. 

My before post can be found here.  But here's where I started:

Brown walls, dirty old rug, messy bulletin board and a very well-used doggy door.  Ewww!

Here's where we are now.

I painted the walls Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore.  The door got a coat of glossy black paint and I swapped out the rug.  There's still a little cutting to be done at the top of the wall that I didn't quite get too.

Beware.  There are lots of pics of the dogs.  They like to hang out in this area and had to get in just about every picture.

This bulletin board needed some work.

I couldn't submit my "after" post with such an unsightly object.  So, at 8:00 tonight, I decided to makeover the bulletin board.

I covered it with some fabric and added a little nailhead trim.  And, voila!

I'm not sure if I love the bulletin board with the black and white rug.  That's something that will be easy to change.  Especially since the rug was something I had on hand and did not purchase especially for this space.

I ran out of nailheads.  Oops!

See where the hallway curves around to the left?  I got that all painted, but I still have some art ideas for the walls that haven't happened yet.  Hmmmm, maybe for my March project?!?!

Happy weekend friends!

Another Black Door

My entryway has needed help for a long time.

It's not too bad from afar, as long as you ignore that big white blob to the right of the door. 

Let's take a closer look.

Those are scratch marks from the dog.  Ty's normally a big baby who sleeps most of the day, but as soon as he sees something out the front window, he starts lunging at the door and acting like a wild attack dog.

That curtain is just disgusting!  Let's hope that's only mud on there.

I don't even know what's going on here, but it's not good!

I had some black paint leftover from painting my French doors, so on New Year's Day I broke it out and started my first project of 2012.

The paint is a black enamel from Sherwin Williams.  It is super shiny and very durable.  I've had it on the French doors for a few months and the dogs have not managed to scratch it.  It's also perfect at hiding dirty little hand prints.  I repainted all of the trim Decorator White by Behr.  It looks so much cleaner already.

I also took down that hideous shredded curtain and added some privacy film.  Hopefully, the dogs won't be able to see outside and won't scratch the door trying to get to their prey.  (This is probably wishful thinking!)

Did you notice the paint swatches on the wall?

I've wanted to repaint my sandy brown walls for awhile, but it's going to be a HUGE job.  I decided to start by selecting a color.  These colors from the top down are Ben Moore Hazy Skies, Ben Moore Baby Fawn, Hazy Skies again, and Ben Moore Gray Owl.  Gray Owl is also to the right.

Hazy Skies seemed a little muddy with the brown tile.  So, I narrowed it down to Baby Fawn and Gray Owl, but I think I like the grayer undertones of Gray Owl better.  Baby Fawn reminds me of a much lighter version of what I currently have.

I've started the painting, but have no idea when it will be done.  My living room, dining room, kitchen, entry, hallway to my bedroom and back hallways are all open to each other.  Thus, I'm planning on painting everything!  I haven't even considered how I'm going to tackle the vaulted ceilings.  What have I gotten myself into?!?!?

Before and After

Giveaway Reminder: Be sure to enter the giveaway for a porcelain enamel address plaque from Ramsign.  The giveaway is open until Sunday.

Weekend Projects

Ahhh, Labor Day weekend.  Barbeques, hanging out, etc.  That's for other people.  We spent the weekend trying to get things done around here.  I kicked off the weekend by painting my French doors black.  Here's how they started out, white and scratched.  It was definitely time for a change.  I apologize in advance for the awful pics.  I couldn't get a good picture with the sun streaming in:

 Here's how the first coat went on.  I was a little nervous because it wasn't covering very well.

I used a Sherwin Williams enamel-type paint in a pre-mixed black high-gloss.  It said it was for doors and trim.  I LOVED this paint.  It was super-smooth and didn't leave any brush or drip marks.  I would use this paint on all of my projects, except that it is expensive.  One gallon was almost $60.  Luckily, I only needed a quart which was about $20. 

I put a second coat on and the doors were done.

I like the doors, but don't love them as much as my inspiration pictures.  Looking back over those pics, I realized that they left the trim white around the door,while I had painted the trim black.  The white trim added some brightness and makes the door really pop.  The doors look more crisp with the white (can doors be "crisp?")  Looks like I might have some trim painting in my future!

With the black table and chairs, there is a lot of black in the room.  I need a nice and bright table runner or some type of centerpiece to break up some of the black.

Here are a few other things we worked on this weekend.  I was hoping to have some of these done, but we decided to go boating with friends at the last minute instead.

They are gluing a new top to this buffet.  Stay tuned and I should have some of these completed this week.

By the way, here's what we were doing to enjoy the last few hours of summer.

We have had a BUSY summer!  It must be time to get back to the routine of school and regular bedtimes.  I'm not sure if we could handle any more summer!

Black Doors???

It seems like painting interior doors black has been all the rage for some time now.

Source: thehouseofsmiths.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: madebygirl.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: thedecorista.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: delightbydesign.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

Source: kellygreeninteriors.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

I have French doors off of the eating area onto our patio, similar to this:

Source: thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com via Suzanne on Pinterest

When I saw that picture, I thought I might like to paint my French doors black too.

But, then I saw this gorgeous door at House of Smith's and I started thinking about all of the doors in my house and what pretty colors they could be painted.

I'm curious, what are your thoughts on painting doors?  Do you like black interior doors? 

Stay tuned, I just might have some projects to show you.  I'm excited for the long weekend.  I hope you all have a great holiday weekend too!