Guest Post: Conspicuous Style!!!

 

Let's be honest, it's not exactly rare for me to be impressed by the blogging world...it is, however, rare for me to think that I am looking at pictures out of a magazine spread when it was in fact just a fellow blogger's *FABULOUS* home...Stacy from Conspicuous Style has an *insanely* gorgeous home...her bedroom with all the zebra??? You know I'm drooling over that one! (c: Let's see if you can keep *your* salivary glands under control:

Thank you so much Aubrey for inviting me to submit a room tour.  I am relatively new to the blogging world (five months), and have enjoyed every moment of it.  I was thrilled to find All Things Bright & Beautiful...yours is a wonderful blog and it is truly an honor it is to be here.

So, this is how the exterior of my house looked one spring.  It has never been as well manicured before or since.  I'm so glad I have this photo!

The kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house, although the only time I spend in there really is when I work at the desk in the back corner.  Oh, and at parties :)

The photo above shows the kitchen with Shaker Beige paint, but I recently did a molding project in there.  I put picture frame molding on all of the walls and then painted them Cloud White by Benjamin Moore.  Here are a couple of after photos, and you can see the tutorial here.

Off of the kitchen is the family room.  I swear I spent years getting this room where I wanted it to be.  It has definitely been the Achilles heel of this house, as it faces away from the sun and it awkward for t.v. viewing:

From the other side of the kitchen, you enter the living room.  People always ask if we ever use this room, and actually, we do.  Sometimes we even have dinner in here:

I recently papered the back of the shelves in seagrass, but haven't shown it on my blog yet, so here is the sneak peak:

The last room on the first floor is the dining room.  Here is what it has looked like for years:

I recently decided to update it, and I'm right in the middle of that now.  I can't show you a close up just yet, but here is a view from the kitchen showing its new black walls.  I hope you come see the finished room in a couple of weeks.  It's going to be all black and white with monogrammed lampshades, fabric trim on the chairs, and more (if I ever get to it).

Going upstairs, the first two rooms are my son's and daughter's. Here is my son's - I went a little crazy with the stripes (yes, they are going three different directions), but we like it:

My little girl's room used to look like this (sniff, sniff)....

I LOVED that room.  And it got more hits on-line than any room I've done, so I think others liked it, too.  But alas, she got some independence and decided she needed pink.  And lots of it.  I wasn't going to change the carpet or the furniture, so this is where we finally settled:

It is on my to-do list to paint over the green stripes.  I think I'll paint the whole room pale blue and maybe add more pink by painting the dresser hot pink.  The bed canopy (wrinkled in the photo, but cute in real life) is two $10 clearance curtains from Bed, Bath & Beyond's children's line.  They are hung with thumb tacks.  I kid you not.  I love cheap and easy projects like that.

Next is our bedroom.  I recently updated it...you can see the whole post about how I did it on a budget  here.  Here it is in it's current state:

When the kids were very small, we finished the basement.  As they got older and needed less toys and more space (i.e., on the sofa for playing video games :) I updated it to this:

The area to the right of the built-ins is a daybed, which has actually worked out really well for sleep-overs:

Lastly, because I absolutely adore table settings, I wanted to show you my favorite one of all the ones I've done.  It's totally out of season, but here it is:

Aubrey, I can't thank you enough for letting me share this today!

Stacy

I'm pretty sure that the pleasure was all mine...can you believe her amazing house??? I'm totally coming over for Christmas at her place, it looks *spectacular*.  If I could get my table to look *half* that glamorous, I would be one happy camper! And that gorgeous bedroom...so luxurious with just the right amount of sass, yeah, I'm talking to you, zebra rug!!! 

A huge thanks to my fabulous guests this week, you ladies rock the house! LITERALLY. (c:

And if you haven't gotten in on the GIVEAWAY from KOKOON, you are seriously missing out!!! Make sure you enter before Sunday at 5 pm!