Navy Tufted Bed

I love NAVY.  I love it for chairs, ottomans, sofas, curtains, blouses, shoes, handbags, pretty much anywhere.  Right now I am kind of obsessing over it for beds.  There is something that's classy and hip about a navy bed.  It can be tufted, plain, velvet or linen.  Short or tall.  With or without upholstery nails or with a full-on wingback.

Skyline Furniture Wingback Bed, Wayfair.com

Contemporary Bedroom by Boston Interior
 Designers & Decorators Rachel Reider Interiors

Bed Room by EJ Interiors Designed by Emily Johnston Clark

Yeah pretty hot right? Something about them says "I'm luxurious but I am also fun and lighthearted."  Skyline furniture gets it.  You can head over to Wayfair.com and there are several different navy headboards/ beds to choose from.  Affordable too.  Emily Henderson, she get's it too.  Actually, I think she and I probably have would could be considered a navy problem.

And just because it's navy, doesn't mean that you are limited to white linens and accents. Navy goes with magenta, teal, gold, emerald, charcoal, persimmon, marigold and taupe just to name a few. I've said it once and I'll say it again, navy is an amazing anchor color that can serve as that neutral color in almost any room.  Now about that bed, I wouldn't be completely cray if I wanted to make the shift from a wood slatted headboard to a navy tufted one would I?

Hotel Icon

Between finals at school and all of the Mister's family staying at our place for a wedding, I have been very busy.  With that being said, I didn't have any time for projects the last two weekends.  This weekend I plan on relaxing and playing a little catch-up before the new semester starts Monday.  However, just because I did not have a chance to work on some design aspects of my house doesn't mean I wasn't paying close attention to details.  Case in point, Hotel Icon located at 220 Main St.  in downtown Houston.  This hotel was formerly a bank on the first floor and I guess office/hotel rooms above it.  It is an art deco haven and I was sadly without my camera we do that, we leave our new camera at home all the time so I had to use what was on hand, the Mister's Droid 3.

Just look at all this wonderful paneling done in a pale blue and the fabulous trellis carpet.

The bathroom had the most beautiful marble and the vanity/mirror/cabinetry was the same blue as the paneling and moldings.  The wallpaper was a grey and blue geometric pattern.

The room had beautiful crown molding in the same room, a great desk, fabulous nail-head window cornices and the cutest upholstered blue nail-head benches.

The lobby was also magnificent. Sadly, the pictures on the phone came out lousy. You will just have to believe me when I say all the original details of the bank were awesome. The stairwell, the elevators, even the original vault door. This hotel was incredibly designed minus the cow skinned furniture in the lobby (I guess they had to throw in some Texas.) I highly recommend you to visit the hotel or perhaps stay the night.  Valet parking is $28 bucks for the night, the train is right there and I believe my in-laws purchased their room for around $100 bucks for a Saturday night!  I also hear the beds were very comfortable. Till next time!

DIY Nailhead Window Cornice Hoo-rah

After some thought on window cornices I decided to go with a simple upholstery and nail-heads.  The reasons being A: Very cost effective B: It only takes a weekend (or two depending on your supply situation) and C: They are classic and contemporary.

While there are several cornice how-tos available in the blogsphere, I am going to take you through mine since I utilized a technique I did not see any where on the web.

I took measurements of the two windows in my breakfast nook.  Using 1/4 plywood, I cut two pieces for the side and the piece for the front using a jigsaw.  Remember not to cut the front panel the exact width of the window, you need to make it slightly larger for viewing aesthetics and structural purposes.

Using "L" brackets which I found at Home Depot I attached the two side pieces to the front panel.  At this point you will have a the skeletal structure of the cornice.  As a side note, the "L" brackets come in a package with screws or without.  Depending on the thickness of your plywood you can decide on which to purchase.  Since my plywood was only 1/4 I opted for the "L" brackets with separate screws.

When the boxes were built, I brought them into the breakfast nook and marked where the holes would need to be drilled in order to fasten them to the current hardware that was mounted to the wall.  I decided to use a but and bolt to fasten the cornice to the hardware.

 Once done with that I attached batting and fabric, which I found at Hancocks Fabric, using a staple gun.  Then I used Scotch Blue head Painters tape to mask of straight lines for the nailhead trim. Even though I used Dritz Home Nailhead Trim in Antique Brass  I wanted to make sure the trim was as straight as possible.  

Once I finished hammering in the nailheads on the front panels, I attached the cornice with the bolts.  For now I have left the sides bare so I could get them up and bask in my moment of glory.