West Elm Wednesday

Today I was lucky enough to go to a media preview tour of the new West Elm location in Durham, NC at Southpoint Mall! The store officially opens tomorrow, August 23rd, at 10am (added bonus, the first 300 customers will receive a pretty cool tote bag customized for the Durham store!). However, I will be back there tonight for a pre-opening event that will benefit SEEDS, a Durham based non-profit dedicated to promoting principles of sustainable agriculture, organic gardening, food security, and environmental stewardship through garden-based programs (cited from West Elm's August 1st press release). Why does this fit the West Elm brand so well?

This is a living plant installation at the store behind the register area. Yes, living vertical landscaping! 

In this business it's important to know where your style heart lives, and for me it's in the beliefs held by companies and their founders much more so than how something might look in a catalog. West Elm features recycled glass for their decor, organic bedding, and even the Emmerson Furniture Collection line made from old wood pallets (I'll share pictures in a later post!) Plus, two collections (Dunham & Henry) are made at a facility in Hickory, NC. Here's a video behind the scenes of Sutter Street where the furniture is still hand assembled!
On our tour Abigail (this is truly a meant to be love as my daughter's name is Abigail as well, although most of you know her as Dablet), told us how the President of West Elm often says "Perfection is never as important in a home as personality". Clearly they've seen my house! Often times when you over-style a home it can become just as unlivable as a home on an episode of hoarders. Don't believe me?! That's OK, just send me the number of your live-in cleaning service and I'll stick to my "I get more clean in 10 minutes before people come that I do all week" mentality! My home needs to be three things:

• Functional
• Beautiful
• ME!!!

This lovely find is the Graham Glider

I actually didn't know this chair was a glider until I sat on it to take some notes. I think Dablet has added this to her wishlist for her bedroom face lift!

These paper mache animal sculptures might need to come too! I'm sure you've seen many variations of these from all of your favorite designers and stores, and the word through the grapevine is that there are some fun new ones coming to West Elm for the holidays! 

At this point, I'm not sure who or what is bursting more...me with excitement, or this store with things to be excited about. The thing is, when you walk into a store that tells you they partner with local Etsy merchants for a "Flea Market in the store" day, have partnerships with 16 artisans from South Africa for their Fall collection, and believe that their customer is the type to want to mix and match their West Elm favorites with thrift store finds and heirloom pieces....how can you NOT be excited?!

Just in case you needed another reason to head over, the 15% off Upholstery Sale is going on!

I have long felt that the "out of the box" look is fading fast, and West Elm gives singles, couples, and families the opportunity to have style on a budget. Don't misread that as "cheap" because this is the store full of phenomenal style that lasts, and allows your bank account to last a bit longer as an added bonus! (This will keep my husband a happy man for sure!)

I'm off to get some painting done in Dablet's new playroom before heading back to West Elm for an event that will likely turn into a shopping spree (of sorts) for me! Have a happy hump day!

Week's Preview: West Elm

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you have all had a fabulous weekend and have something amazing planned for your week this week! I have been missing the blog, but SO much has been going on. I am up to my ears in home makeover projects, helping my mom come up with ideas to makeover her new place, and have been brainstorming for a new client who has just moved into a large home with very little furniture! To top things off, I will be doing another OlioHop August 27th with the theme of Dorm Decor, and West Elm (one of my favorite brands) has invited me to a preview party for their new store opening! Oh, but did I mention that I also received the sweetest email when I was invited to the party also asking me to come in for a private tour of the new store and to meet their staff because they know I'm a fan of West Elm and they're fans of my blog! West Elm featured my blog on their blog when I posted my ideas for an Outdoor Celebration!
I was honored, and of course said yes! With all the square footage I'm working with between the three current projects, and their fabulous trade program, I'm pretty sure we'll be doing lots of business together!
In celebration of their invite, I wanted to pull together some of my favorite pieces to share with all of you. I (of course) headed over to Olioboard because West Elm is one of their brand partners (I'm telling you good taste is all around!), used some Benjamin Moore paint colors for inspiration, and started pulling!
Enjoy!

I have always been a HUGE fan of industrial looking lighting, geometric side tables, and fun textured decor pieces! Check out this board and shop the look here!

I will be snapping plenty of pictures of the new store, and sharing my favorite picks during the opening! Do you love West Elm too? Head over to Olioboard and make your own room design to share with me! I'm sure West Elm would love to see it too!

Have a great week!!

Outdoor Celebration!

Today is the last day of Kyle's first quarter in Culinary School! Technically, Wednesday was his last day "on campus", but after today all his work for his online classes will be done and I think that requires a celebration! What shall we do? Cook of course!
With the weather warming up and the light lasting longer, it is time for outdoor entertaining. If you haven't checked out the contest on Olioboard presented by Wayfair, you should take a look here! Need some more inspiration?

This is a fabulous space saving idea that can close up and be out of your way, and drop down to provide an outdoor bar area complete with serving surface! How neat is that? When it's closed, you have a top surface perfect for a few herbs! Re-Pin this look directly from our blog, or here so you won't forget this fabulous idea!

This bar cart gives me the impression of not only being vintage, but hand made. I can just see one of my grandpas putting a metal box on top of a basic pull cart and turning it into a bar cart perfect for entertaining! Maybe I can find a way to recreate this look in a DIY project, because unfortunately Pottery Barn no longer carries this gem.

I am always looking for eco-friendly ways to do just about everything. This recycled glass drink dispenser from West Elm fits the bill! I love when companies that make their money off of production and distribution take the initiative to do things a little "greener".

Any good outdoor party needs a place to serve the food and share the appreciation! I love this table from Wayfair. You can shop it here! This reminds me of growing up in Massachusetts, where I could always find an element of shutters in at least 75% of the outdoor furniture I saw. What's great about this table to me now is it seats 8 with a small footprint, and it would be super easy to get clean! With our three dogs, anything that falls between the slats can be "re-purposed" into a doggie treat.

What's an outdoor celebration (especially for a culinary student) without a fabulous recipe?! These Honey Lime Chicken Skewers are something I found on Pinterest, but they were sourced from another blog originally. I love grilling, the smells, the fresh clean flavors, and the use of citrus in the summer! 

The perfect way to end our outdoor soiree is with a cocktail that matches the vibe, food, and makes you say "ahhhh"! I also found this Honey Citrus Cocktail on Pinterest, here's the recipe:

4 oz. Skyy Infused Dragon Fruit vodka

2 tsp. honey

4 oz. fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

4 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice

sugar rim

For full instructions, visit Sugar and Charm

My project for today is to spruce up our outdoor spaces, and decide what stays and what goes to the yard sale. I'll show you our results soon! I hope you all have something to celebrate this season, and if not, just pick a night and enjoy yourselves! Life is too short and provides too much stress to not take a moment when there is a cool breeze on a summer night and just breathe! 

Enjoy!

Sunday Fun-Day

It's always bittersweet when Sunday rolls around because it means the weekend is drawing to a close, but I am about to start a new week of possibility! Sunday also means softball! I got into a coed league with Kyle this spring to get some activity and it has been fantastic!
Today I am full of inspiration! I have been asked to be one of the first ten bloggers to participate in the inaugural Blog Hop with Olioboard called OlioHop. If you are a follower on twitter, you will get a lot of buzz about this all week but I am very excited about the topic! I have used Olioboard a lot recently for our home makeover, and shared my work on the blog a couple of times. What I find so fantastic about this tool goes far beyond the amazing brands it is partnering with and into the community it is creating! I cannot imagine a better space for designers to show project ideas, share inspiration with other designers, and engage directly with the brands we use to decorate our homes and lives in a way that is mutually beneficial to both the designers and the brands! Just a single click and you can shop any item, you can set project budgets, play with Benjamin Moore paint colors, and import any of your own items!
In other exciting news, West Elm is coming to Durham, NC! I am SO excited, yet slightly nervous to what this could potentially do to my attempt of budgeting!
Some of my current favorite West Elm Items:

Tall Grid Tufted Headboard

Organic Blown Glass Pendant I love this industrial look!

Elephant Ceramic Vases provide a perfect pop of my favorite colors!

This Baltic Double Lounger might not fit on my back deck now, but would be fabulous when I get my dream of expanding it to include a stone patio!

I will be working on a post to show you some of my favorite houses from Bald Head Island, and some fabulous room designs I think you could find inside these houses! If you ever have the chance to visit this amazing place, TAKE IT! 

Until Next Time (with some bumps and bruises from softball!)

Dabble

When a Godmommy becomes a Fairy

The last several days have been a whirlwind to say the least! When I started this adventure in reinvention (or at least redefinition of myself...not trying to recreate the wheel) I decided that I would put myself out there and let my passions take me where ever they decided to take me. Don't read this as a passive action (in case my former English professors are reading), because if you follow your dreams you are the one getting yourself there! My biggest problem was that I had SO many dreams and passions. After realizing that the best thing for our former printing company would be to sell our production capabilities, I was daunted with the possibility of working on my own.
I interviewed for a fantastic position with a brand that seemed to suck me in (in the BEST way possible). While I wasn't offered the position, the entire process that I went through taught me more about myself and what I REALLY wanted to do and how I wanted to follow my passions. For that I am eternally grateful. Since then I have poured myself into how to define myself as a brand. Dabble in Chic has become more than a crazed working mom trying to find a few moment each week that truly make her feel amazing, Dabble has aesthetic.
Dabble in Chic is now connected to all types of social media, most importantly Twitter and Pinterest. The community I dived into on Twitter is full of incredible Interior Designers who are not only talented, but truly care about each other and the collaborative efforts that can grow out of social media in real life. These amazing people have helped me double my interested followers in the last week.
Recently, I was part of a chat about how blogging defines your brand. Most of the advice was to be yourself, after all when you're a designer you ARE you brand, and to keep your posts short and sweet showcasing your photos and designs. Maybe by a vote I'd be "failing" at the second, but sometimes (as we all know) a design has a story behind it.
When I was pregnant with Dablet Kyle and I went through the process of picking Godparents. He got to pick the guy, I got to pick the girl (and he's had his guys picked out for YEARS). It didn't take me long to decide on the perfect life and style role model for Dablet, someone I knew would teach her all of the important things in life, like where to get discount Tory Burch shoes! Also, it didn't hurt that Dablet's Godmommy has a fantastic sense of style and attention to the details (like these that she pulled together for my baby shower)!

Yes...I finally got to the pictures, but it will all make sense I promise!

As any pregnant lady will tell you, food is KEY! And these mini cupcakes from The Cupcake Shoppe in Raleigh, NC were amazing! (I even had one the day Dablet was born...just not from the same batch, and it was full size!)

Every good shower ends with the person being showered in a hat of bows!

Once all of the mayhem settled down it was time to have a baby! As soon as Dablet was born Godmommy got all of the pictures and heard her make her little noises on the phone and even though we're in NC and she's in NY she couldn't help herself and flew down to escort us home from the hospital! 

Dablet's Godmommy became OUR Fairy Godmommy because no one can make crock pot meals like she can, find the best designer deal, take an iPhone photo that flatters you, lead me to baby clothing sales Dablet "needs", pour me just the right amount of red wine at just the right moment, hide the chocolate chip cookies in the place I'll know to look, watch BravoTV marathons, or understand what it means to balance a marriage, baby, career, home, and all of the creative passions we just cannot live without! So of course, she had to have her own room (the one she's always stayed in) designed with her in mind!

This is everything fun and feminine that reminds me of our Fairy Godmommy from the fabric bed to the pale pink linens and the ruffled light!

All of the items in this board can be found here including some of my favorites from Layla Grayce, West Elm, and paint from Benjamin Moore!

Every room has an inspration, and I couldn't think of a better one than a person who inspires you!

Until Next Time

Dabble