Dreaming of Design - Let's Have A Drink

     Today’s Dreaming of Design Wednesday is going to be a little different than the norm. This week I am going to show you some furniture pieces and a room that I have been seriously crushing on. 

     First up, is a room that I am head over heels for,  I would buy those chairs in a heartbeat if I could find them. I am trying to figure out a way to build them myself for our living room.

Gorgeous Living Room

     I also currently really like all of the bars made from suitcases that I am seeing in home décor, vintage suitcases are easy to find at resale shops, flea markets and online, and a majority of the time they are pretty cheap.  The elegance, design and style of the 50’s-60’s has always appealed to me.  In our entryway I have made a small bar area to welcome guests into our home. Nothing says welcome like a fresh cocktail when you walk in the door. The first bar pictured would be great if you were tight on space, and could easily fit onto an entry table. 

Suitcase Bar

This wall mounted suitcase turned bar could be added to a gallery wall, not only adding functionality but dimension as well.   

Suitcase Bar Cabinets

     Since the outdoor entertaining season is upon us I thought I should end this post with some outdoor entertaining items that are swoon worthy.  I love this drink dispenser and stand from Ballard Designs (but really, what's not to love from Ballard Designs!) I would have two of these set up for company during the summer, one with iced tea and the other with lemonade.

Beverage Dispenser and Stand

These two nesting trays, also from Ballard Design, look great next to the beverage server and don’t take up much storage room.

Nesting Trays

Finally, this cart from Target would also be a great serving piece to have for entertaining outside, it could also do double duty and be used inside as your bar cart, or as an entry piece. 

Patio Bar Cart

     Wow, with all of this talk about bars, bar carts and the outdoor entertaining I must be needing a margarita in my life! Thanks for stopping by Preston Drive, next time come visit me on the back patio, where I will hopefully be enjoying an ice cold drink.

Dreaming of Design Wednesday - Boy's Nursery

     Today's Dreaming of Design Wednesday I am going to layout a baby boy's nursery. When it comes to kids rooms I generally like them to have a little bit of a vintage feel. If not vintage I like the room colors to be more on the muted side. Airplanes were my main inspiration for this boy's nursery.  Six years ago, (geez where has the time gone??) when we were pregnant with Little Man we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, so his nursery was gender neutral.  If I had known we were going to have a boy I think I would have designed his nursery like this. 

I love these airplane prints that I found on Etsy, they come in a set of four, so I would mix in the following two prints to make a gallery wall of six prints. 

 

Set of 4 Airplane Print

Keep Calm

Airplane Monogram

For the crib, I like the muted gray and blues that are in this set of nursery pillows, and chevron is such a hot trend right now that it helps give the nursery a touch of a modern feel.

Nursery Pillows

The crib bedding I would have made the airplane fabric being used on the bumper and the quilt, the skirt made out of the blue chevron, and the sheet made out of the map print fabric.

Crib Bedding

On any windows that are in the nursery I would make cornices with this fabric, the muted gray matches along perfectly with the bedding and the wall gallery. There are tons of tutorials on Pinterest (follow me here) that show you how to make a cornice. 

Window Cornice Fabric

BONUS! If the bedding above isn't in your price range or not to your taste then this bedding would work just as well for a little over half the price of the custom bedding, score!

Bonus Airplane Bedding

An airplane themed nursery could last your bouncing baby boy well into Elementary school, just add a blue, gray or orange comforter to their bed when they get older and this room could withstand the ages.  When putting together my kids rooms I always keep in mind that in a year or two they will likely outgrow the "theme", whether it's Super Heroes, Hello Kitty, or Princess so I try to make sure that the main items in their rooms, dressers, beds, nightstands, and the like, are something that can grow with them.  Following that principle will save you tons of money and time in the end; a paint color, bedding and wall décor are easy and cheaper changes. I hope you enjoyed your time on Preston Drive today, till next time!

Sailing Away with Peanut

I am going to start this post off with an apology; all of the pictures in this post are from my iPhone, and were taken before the blog was thought of.  Today's room on Preston Drive is Peanut, our youngest daughter's, room. I would have gladly taken new pictures, but this room has since changed to try and encourage Peanut to sleep in a big girl bed (no luck on that front as of yet.)  I had planned for a long time that once we moved her room would be nautical in theme, but when I discovered this fabric by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabrics the design theme was anchored down (pun fully intended).

Out to Sea

Originally Peanut's room had her crib and a toddler bed on one wall, above the crib on her wall I made a gallery wall, inside the outer frames I used various fabrics from the "Out to Sea" collection.  I had collected the frames from trade days and thrift stores and painted them with an "OOPS" paint that was marked down to $2.50! The oar frame that is center stage in the gallery wall was a clearance find at Hobby Lobby, and the anchor was from a trip to Canton Trade Days from a vendor called Build a Cross.  

I love the little pirate girl print in the "Out to Sea" collection, three of the girls have some of our family names and I couldn't help but frame the one that has Peanut's middle name all in her own frame!

Across from her crib were two Ikea dressers that made the move with us, they did the job but now she has a new wardrobe in her room instead.  The mirror I found at a garage sale and painted the frame of the mirror white.  I also made her her own reading corner with a chair and a anchor print basket from TJMaxx.

Peanut's toddler bed has pillows that my mom and I made using the pirate ship, anchor and narwhal prints from the "Out to Sea" collection, we also used some vintage fabric that Mr. Preston Drive's grandmother gave me. 

The wall opposite of Peanut's crib was her changing table (pay no mind to the cardboard boxes acting as storage, embarrassing blogger move) and an anchor coat hanger where her rain coat hangs.  The life saver ring hanging above the door was actually from Mr. Preston Drives and my wedding, and says "Don't Rock the Boat" and it was the perfect finishing touch for her room. 

That's the end of the tour of Peanut's room, hopefully someday soon we can get her sleeping in a big girl bed and I can update the blog as to what her room looks like now, if I haven't already changed it by then.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek inside Preston Drive.

Dreaming of Design Wednesday

        Welcome to today's Dreaming of Design Wednesday! Today I am going to design a guest bedroom, it could also work as a teens bedroom or even a master bedroom.  When it comes to a guest bedroom I like to keep it pretty relaxing with a few pops of color, you want your guests to love staying with you! Or, if you don't want them to come back pick a really uncomfortable mattress haha! Since this is a guest bedroom, and it wont have a person constantly in there I tried to keep the cost down as much as possible. First to be picked was a headboard, I don't necessarily like the color of this headboard, but I like its lines, in my house it would certainly get a coat or two of high gloss white.

Flexible Headboard

For the nightstand, I would buy two of these storage modules from Ikea in the light green color, turn them upside down and fasten them on top of each other.  This would make one nightstand with a shelf in the middle to store goodies for your guests, like water bottles, a nice lotion and maybe a scented candle (unlit of course, we don't want any fires starting).

Light Green Storage Module

A coat rack in a corner would be a great place for your guests to hang their coats, purses and scarves.  This coat rack is also the same light green as the nightstand, making it the rooms main pop of color.

Hat and Coat Stand

Lighting is very important for any room, but in a guest room you must make sure that your guest is able to read, or get some work done before they go to bed.  These lamps are great in that the light can be directed right on to what your guest is working on.  I love the little touches of gold on the lamp too. 

Nightstand Lamps

For the bedding I chose a white duvet and pillow covers, this will keep the room clean and fresh looking, and who doesn't love a crisp, white bed??

Duvet and Pillow Cases

Storage is also necessary when  it comes to a guest room. A dresser gives your guest some space to unpack their clothes and makes them feel at home.  You could also use some of the drawers to store extra blankets and other household goodies that you need a place to hide away.  The dresser I picked has wood grain to tie it back to the nightstands and the white drawer fronts matches to the headboard. 

Guest Room Dresser

Bonus!!! Most guest rooms are relatively small in size, but if your room allows for it I would recommend this chair to be placed in a corner giving your guest a place to sit and take their shoes off and relax.

Trendig Chair

Well, there ya have it folks, one room designed and more to come.  Thanks for coming by Preston Drive, feel free to join me on Facebook too!

Dreaming of Design Wednesday

      I wanted to add another element to the blog, and that is when Dreaming of Design Wednesday came to be.  Every Wednesday, hopefully, I will pick a room and show the items I would use to decorate the room.  Just like everyone else I am on a budget and I realize that you are probably on one too, so you can count on the fact that I will keep things on the affordable side, main pieces of furniture, like couches, may be the only exception. If you have a suggestion of what kind of room you want me to do next week just leave a comment on the bottom of the post, I will do my best to make it happen!

      To start off Dreaming of Design Wednesday I chose to design a bathroom.  It would be a major understatement for me to say that I love nautical décor, our youngest daughters room is even nautical in theme (her room should be a post soon). 

      I began the room with a shower curtain, the shower curtain is such a major visual focal point for the bathroom and I think it should be the anchor (pun fully intended and necessary) of the room.  I love the muted blue and the more adult like boat print on the curtain. 



Justin Nautical Shower Curtain

Again, with the muted blue tone, and what could be more nautical than stripes and woven textiles?

Nautical Indoor/Outdoor Rug

The anchor towels are not muted like the rest of the bathroom elements but I LOVE THEM! I actually plan on buying these for the kid's bathroom in the very near future.

Anchor Jacquard Towels

I like to be creative when it comes to hanging towels in a bathroom, so I think a boat cleat hanging next to the sink would be a great place to hang hand towels.  Two boat cleats hung on the wall outside the shower with rope hanging between the two would make a great place to hang decorative and your fresh shower towels.

Boat Cleat

This is a great post by H2O Bungalow of how to make the cleat and rope towel hanger.

DIY Nautical Towel Holder

When it comes to the walls of the bathroom, I like this weathered looking porthole mirror. Do you feel like you are out at sea yet? 

Decorative Porthole Mirror

Architectural prints are some of my favorite ways to decorate a blank wall. A framed grouping of these model boat prints with the porthole mirror would be fantastic looking, and pull the room together.  And, did I mention that these are free to print!!

Model Ship Plans

BONUS!! If that first shower curtain just wasn't your style and you are looking for something a little more fun then, you can not go wrong with this octopus shower curtain!   

Octopus Shower Curtain

I hope you  all enjoyed the very first Dreaming of Designs Wednesday.  Please feel free to give me suggestions as to what room you would like me to do next week and what kind of theme or feel you would like the room to have.  Till next time, thanks for stopping by Preston Drive!

Getting to know you...

   When we moved into our house on Preston Drive, it was painted various shades of a color I like to call "Dusty Camel."  Now, for some people "Dusty Camel" might be right up their alley, but it wasn't cutting the mustard for me! That being said, I was overwhelmed with the need to paint, paint, and paint some more! Ironically the first room I worked on didn't require me to paint any of the walls, my first completed (for now) room was that of our oldest child, Little Man's room, at 5 years old he was obsessed with superheroes, but he favored Spiderman the most.  His favorite color is blue and I wanted the room to have a vintage feel to it so I wanted more muted shades of the blue.  Since Little Man is closing in on the age of sleepovers, whether it be one of his school friends or one of his cousins, I felt there should be two twin beds in his room.  First I decided to build the headboards, I had some fence boards that I had from a forgotten project, and cut them down to the width of a twin size mattress and stained them a rusty blue.

 

  I attached those boards on to two long pieces of 1x3's and hung it on the wall. I had found some overhead lamps on a super sale at Pottery Barn Kids and knew they would fit perfectly with the look I was going for for Little Man's room.  The hubby helped me screw them into the headboards and feed the wire threw the slats so they could then be plugged in.  These lights have become one of the best parts of the room, Little Man loves to read and spends at least 20 minutes every night reading before going to sleep.

Then I added some superhero artwork to his walls, don't mind one of the kidlets hanging out in the game room in the background.  The Spiderman and Batman wall hangings over his desk are actually corkboards from Pottery Barn, and the three tin signs across from the foot of his bed are from Third Monday Trade Days in McKinney, Texas.

       The finishing touch to the room was completed about a week after I took these photos. I had purchased a 2 drawer horizontal filing cabinet from Goodwill, spray painted the shell a royal blue and used chalkboard paint on the drawer fronts. I love everything about this filing cabinet turned dresser, the drawers are super deep, the chalkboard drawer fronts makes it so that Little Man can put away his own laundry, and it fits in perfectly with his room! (Sorry for the grainy cell phone picture!)

        Hope you liked Little Man's room as much as he does! There are some finishing touches that I would like to make to his room, but for the minute it is good, and that just means a follow up post will be coming! Thanks for stopping by Preston Drive, come back soon!