bringing spring in on because it's awesome!

Hey all! I'm over on Because It's Awesome today, participating in Tobe's amazing House Guest series! I'm sure Tobe  and BIA need no intro, but just in case you're not acquainted be sure to pop over - her blog is definitely one of the good'uns. What am I saying - pop over either way! I'm giving Mother Nature the finger and rounding up some of my fave accessories to bring on spring no matter what the thermometer says. I'm tired of waiting!

If you follow me on Insta, you know that last weekend I did a little puttin' my money where my mouth is and started my own springification - slowly but surely! After toying with using rainbow fabric in my dining nook, I added some dashes of yellow to my bedroom . . .

put a bright pink shade and pretty tulips next to my saturday morning reading spot . . .

and shopped around for spring accessories of a different kind . . .

It's just a start, but these little things are making such a difference! Especially when it looks like this outside . . .

Le-ord. Will it ever end?!

So what are you doing to get over the "winter ain't goin' nowhere" blues? Are you bringing in some brights or focusing on a good old spring cleaning? I know I'm not the only one who can't wait to throw open the balcony doors and shake the cobwebs out over the railing!

dining chair makeover - les touches to the rescue? (in need of opinions!)

So remember that amazing budget-find IKEA fabric I posted about last week? Well, I still love it, but I'm not sure my dining nook does. While the colours work so well with the pendant light and rug in theory, I think they're just perky enough that in practice they flatten the rug out a bit . . .  and flat and dull it is not.

Here is what the rug looks like solo:

And here are a couple of bad iPhone snaps of what the fabric does to it . . .

There's no question that it's better than what's on the chairs currently, but I'm just not sure it's right.

Thankfully, I have two yards of this extreme gorgeousness on the way:

 . . . from my absolute fave Etsy fabric source, Decorators Backroom. I've sung the praises of DB before, but when the seller offers Les Touches for only $40 a yard, how could I not?? (Psst, right now she may or may not have La Fiorentina in Wine/Magenta for the same price. It's crazy pants.)

So here's a little reminder of what the room looks like when I'm using a proper camera . . .

Except the lobster has been moved to the bathroom and these pretty ladies have taken it's place:

The new plan would involve Les Touches on the chairs, hopefully ribbon on the sides of curtains (dark purple or pink velvet), paint on the picture frames (light pink) and maybe paint on the bottom third of the chair legs - like they'd been dipped. If I did that I'd have to go pink, because I don't like purple and black too close together.  Which means that the ribbon would have to be purple to avoid pink overload . . .

So what do y'all think? Les Touches all the way, or is it a waste of such a ridiculously good fabric?? Should I horde it for better quality pieces in the future? I need advice ladies! This room needs some spring in its step!

my (attainable) dream living room = found

Know what happens when awesome bloggers collide? More awesomeness. Awesomeness squared. It's science. Wait. Math. Yes, math.

Yesterday Joanna of A Cup of Jo posted the 500sq ft apartment of Oh Happy Day's Jordan, which she got a little help on from Jamie of I Suwannee (and the store Furbish). Enough links in one sentence for you? Well each of the blogs were already some of my faves, the shop is full of things I'd kill for, and the apartment . . . well, it's pretty much my dream apartment.

And when I say dream I mean REAL dream, not the "I love this but could never come close to affording it in real life" kind of dream, but the attainable "this would be ideal and maybe even possible" kind of dream.

The living room especially. It is my version of perfection for both who I am and how I live.

Great textile/colour mixing, books galore, and practical (aka not white) upholstery pieces and rugs - that will actually work for kids or pets - that somehow don't take away from the light and airy feel.

It makes me kick myself for not going paler when I painted my place, and want to take a butcher knife to my beige sofa. Although everything makes me want to take a butcher knife to my beige sofa.

The rest of the place is just as charming.

I'm pretty sure this space is going to be inspiring the crap out of my design decisions from here on out. Right now, its just giving me that familiar itch to move so I can justify an overhaul . . . oh dear....

If you haven't already, make sure you check out the original post via A Cup of Jo. It's a good'un!