In My Office: A New Year Refresh

Most of you probably know and love See Jane Work- a favorite go-to place for stylish office supplies.  What you might not know, is that they recently added several new products to their collection for Office Depot.  As soon as I got a preview of the goodies, I knew I needed to add some of them to my workspace, and was excited when Office Depot offered to send over my picks, just in time for a little new year refresh.  Here's a look:

 list pad, white pencil cup, colored pens, gold washi tape

A white pencil cup that coordinates with my desk, to hold pens and highlighters, and a pretty lilac edged sticky pad for writing checklists, shopping lists, and to-do lists.

turquoise binders, white tissue box cover

Matching turquoise binders for keeping various business papers neat and orderly. They fit nicely lined up in the cubes of my Expedit unit.

Clear white dot project envelopes to easily carry fabric samples, etc. with me to meetings with my team.

white stapler, white tape dispenser, tan pencil cup, gold scissors, white scissors, greek key tray, green striped notebook

A white stapler to replace my old one that wasn't working properly anymore. I paired it with the matching white tape dispenser to make a stylish little duo. The tan cup I already had, but is also from the line. Love that it's sturdy enough to hold my heavy gold tailor scissors.

Small updates that are helping create the setting for an organized and productive start to 2014. Are you freshening up your workspace for the new year?

--

This post is brought to you by Office Depot.  All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Arianna Belle Blog sponsors that allow me to create new content like this!

Home Office Decor Update: Greek Key Tray

The newest decor update in my office is a big beautiful tray that Paloma of La Dolce Vita recently sent over from her Joy & Revelry shop for a White Box Challenge. I decided to put the tray on the surface of my Expedit shelving, which I have right behind my desk, along the back wall.  It has been great for containing things that I like to have within arms reach but off my desk.  Here's a look:

Things tend to look neater and more stylish when corralled within a tray, wouldn't you agree?

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Paloma's shop, and to get 10% off, use code LDV_WHITEBOX_10.

Hunting for a New Lighting Fixture

The dining room is one of the spaces I've neglected in our home and is in need of a little attention.  It's a small little space that is open to the living room.  Since moving in, all we've done is bring in the clear chairs we had from our previous home, a white tulip table, and white curtains. The owners of the home (we're renters) left their chandelier and we've left it up because, well, it's functional. It's not really our style though and I've been itching to change it out.

I've been keeping an eye out for light fixtures that I like (and aren't ridiculously expensive). Below is a round-up of what I've found so far.  Some of them aren't right for the space but thought they were worth sharing here, for any of you out there who may also be on the hunt for the right light fixture.

1- Five Arm Chandelier, 2- Marmont Pendant, 3- Brass Pendant, 4- Modern Pendant Light, 5- Brass and Glass Globe Pendant

#1 is beautiful but it's probably a bit too fancy for our home. #2 has a fun vibe to it, though I'm not sure if it would emit sufficient light. #3 is a strong contender - I love it's simple elegance. #4 is clean, simple and my husband's favorite. There's also this one, which is similar and I like.  #5 is really cool and I love that it's handmade by a fellow small business owner.  It's also the most budget friendly. Given the current chairs we have though, bringing this in would probably be too many clear elements in the space. Perhaps if I got new chairs... (haha I wish! ...not in the budget right now)

If you happen to come across a light fixture you think I'd like and is reasonably priced, feel free to send it my way. I'm open to options.

Living Room Progress

I'm back from my Santa Barbara mini getaway with my husband (see photos of the trip here). We've both been working a lot so it was definitely a fun, relaxing, much needed break.

As promised, I wanted to share with you all my living room progress.  Since the last update here's what I've done:

+Separated the two tables we were using as a coffee table and designated them as side tables

+Moved the chair ottoman to the middle of the room and added a tray so we could use it as a coffee table

+Added pillows to the sofa. I went with two blue velvet, two aga reverse black*, and a petite zig zag french blue lumbar*.

+ Hung the beautiful paintings I had commissioned from Parima Studio

+Purchased a media console. We went with this one from Ikea which was inexpensive (a necessity since this is a short term home) and just the right size. We've customized it by painting the back in a similar color blue as the velvet pillows. We bought doors for it, however not sure if we'll use them or not.  Still deciding... Might just add two bottom drawers to hide the X-Box controls and gadgets and keep the rest as open storage.

+Added an accent table with a scalloped top next to the chair.  It's black and I like how it looks but I'm kinda tempted to paint it another color.  Undecided still.

+Bought three square frames to hang on the wall in a vertical column to the left of the paintings. They're silver but I plan on spray painting them gold to match the mirror above the fireplace.

Overall, here's what the room is currently looking like:

What's up next:

+paint the three frames and hang them

+ add drawers to the media console and style the shelves

+ get another side table lamp

+buy and install cover for tv cords & wires

+find a stylish storage basket or bin for Little Foot's toys

Hopefully these last few things don't take me too long! Stay tuned for more updates!

*I don't have these pillows available in the shop website yet. If you're interested, email shop@ariannabelle.com for a quote.

Apartment Updates

I've been sharing peeks into my home on Instagram today, and thought I'd share them on here as well.  I realize it's been awhile since I blogged about changes I've made!

First off, my office is coming together nicely, if I do say so myself. Remember what it looked like when we first moved in? Here's a peek at the progress I've made and what it's looking like now:

Still need to find some more art to fill some of the frames in the gallery wall and get a few more organizational items and accessories here and there. I'll give a full tour once it's all "done"!

I finally made myself some pillows for my living room sofa. It was looking quite bare without anything.  Here's what they look like:

I'll be adding similar ones to the pillow shop soon. You can also email me if you're interested in getting some made for your home.

After months of not DIYing it myself, like I said I would, I finally decided to commission Patricia of Parima Studio to make a colorful piece of art for above my sofa.  She shared with me a close-up of the progress so far:

So excited to see the final product and put it up in the living room!

In my kitchen (which I wish I could gut and completely remodel but I can't because it's a rental), I added a few things to make it prettier:

The tea kettle is a Le Creuset, which was sent to me by the friendly folks at All Modern.   It's in the most beautiful shade of blue and has a little bit of an ombre effect.  I absolutely love it - makes me smile every time I see it!  I also like that it whistles when the water is boiling, an absolute must for someone like me who tends to forget I have something on the stove (bad I know) !

The utensil holder glazed in turquoise inside, is from Etsy shop KarinLorenc. I love supporting fellow small businesses!

The little bowl that holds garlic and shallots is from Anthropologie (though I don't think it's available anymore).

Last but not least, in our bedroom we put up an inexpensive Ikea shelf to serve as a bedside table. We installed one on just one side of the bed to see if we liked it, which we do, so we still need to put up one on the other side.  Having a shelf instead of a regular bedside table allows us to open the drawers we have under the bed. A simple black frame holds of a photo of us on our wedding day (5 yr anniversary coming up pretty soon!) and I replaced our old ugly alarm clock with this pretty one from LL Bean:

Well that's all the updates for today.  Be sure to follow along for more later on!

More Living Room Progress

Just recently came back from a much needed 4-day mini getaway. For my husband, going camping every year is an absolute must, so we headed out to Lake Cachuma and took day trips to Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley wine country (see a few snapshots of the trip here).  These past few months have been a bit crazy so it was nice to slow things down for a few days and relax.

Back at home, and feeling refreshed, I'm motivated to make some more progress on decorating our little rental apartment.  You may remember the last post on my living room it was looking pretty sparse (see the move-in post here).  Since then, the main things we've added are the rug and mirror. Here's what it looks like currently:

The mirror was a bargain find from the Home Depot. The rug, also a budget find, is from Overstock.com (bought it using a discount code).

On the list of things to do next:

• make pillows - on the sofa will be two pillows in aga reverse black with black piping, and two black solid with off-white grosgrain ribbon; on the chair will be one lumbar in zig zag french blue with black piping
• paint the side table - I'm thinking possibly this sapphire blue
• make the abstract art I talked about in this post
• bring in a piece of furniture that will store and hide the TV wires, DVDs, xbox, and games

In an upcoming post I'll share with you all, the progress we've made on the bedroom, so stay tuned for that!

p.s. For any of you who may be interested in getting pillows made out of the same fabrics mentioned, email shop@ariannabelle.com for a quote.

Living Room Progress

Last week I showed you photos of my office progress. Today I'm showing you photos of our living room. If you remember from this post, when we got the keys, the walls were painted a medium brown.  Similar to the office, we decided we wanted to brighten things up with a nice white (we went with Horseradish C15-1 by Olympic):

Here's my list of things to get/make:

1. Throw pillows - I've been so busy making them for others, I haven't set aside the time to make some for myself! lol I guess also, I haven't really finalized what fabrics I want to use.  I want to do four, maybe five pillows total.  Two will probably be in China Sea's Aga Reverse in black and white, but not sure what I want for the others. Still deciding!

2.  Art for wall above sofa - I'm thinking something abstract with various blues

3. Another table lamp and two side tables (the thing holding the current lamp is actually a shoe shelf turned sideways)

4. A rug to add a bit of warmth and texture

5. A mirror for above the fireplace - maybe a sunburst one or a tall rectangular one

6. Coffee table accessories

7.  A flat screen TV (you can spot the "mini", yet bulky one we currently have in the second pic)

I'd love to take out the blinds and add new window treatments but considering we don't really know how long we'll stay in this condo (1 year, 2 years?), it may not be worth the investment.  The white chair I've had since I was in college and was given to me by a friend of my mom's.  It'll probably stay for now.

Well there you have it.  That's what my living room looks like currently - a neutral base. Can't wait to add some life and color to it. Stay tuned for more updates!

My Office Progress

I know I promised more photos of our new place after this post. Well I've finally gotten around to taking some. First up, my office. Here's what it looked like when we first got the keys:

Since then we've painted the walls (it was too dark and depressing before!) and moved in my desk, etc., so here's the progress so far:As you can see, there's still a lot left to do.  I love how desks look centered in the room, but the cords in the middle of the floor are definitely a hazard so I have to find a solution for that or move the desk against the wall.  On the main wall I'm planning to have an Expedit shelving unit (placed horizontally) and a gallery wall with framed artwork, photos and maybe a mirror.  I might move the storage units that are currently on the side wall (with the window) into the closet, depending likely on whether or not I end up moving the desk.  The current rug is too small (it's the one I used to have in the closet at my old place) so I'm looking for a replacement  - something that will be big enough to cover more of the not-so-pretty carpeting.  We shall see! I'll post more pictures as I make more changes :)

Moved In

We're officially moved into the new place! You don't realize how much stuff you truly own 'til you move! The place is filled with boxes and boxes ready to be unpacked. I personally don't enjoy the process of packing, loading the truck, unloading the truck, etc., but I do enjoy the process of unpacking. Probably because it involves organizing!

Now comes the process of getting settled in and making it feel like home. I can't wait to transform the place.  This is what the living room/dining area looked like on the day we got the keys:

It's a nice open layout. From the front door (which you can see on the right in the second photo) you step into a tiny entry and then into the living room. The dining area is adjacent and a sliding door leads out to the patio.  Both the living/dining areas are visible from the kitchen.  The floors are in good condition and there's a working fireplace (yay!).

The color of the walls wasn't bad, however it didn't really work with our existing furniture and since it's a relatively small space, I wanted it to feel as spacious and bright as possible, so decided to paint the walls a lighter color.  I went with Olympic no VOC paint in Horseradish which is a lovely creamy beige.  I didn't get a chance to take a good photo of the freshly painted room, but as soon as I get some of the boxes out of the way, I'll be sure to take one and share with you.

Off to catch up on some work then get a start on the unpacking. I'll share some more updates later in the week!