IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet the IKEA PS CABINET

Happy Friday everyone!

This pick here has always been one of my favorites from IKEA, the PS Cabinet.  It's so practical and I love the clean, retro feel of this steel cabinet.  It's $99 and I think you'll get your money's worth out of this one.  It's one of those pieces that will travel well from one room to another.

Here's are 2 fun links with a TON of photos of the PS in action.

This one here is from Desire to Inspire. 

And this one here is from Apartment Therapy.

(via apartmenttherapy.com)

Now, you see why this piece is so well loved! 

Have a great weekend!
See you Monday!

IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet TROFAST

Happy Friday everyone and Guten Tag if you are visiting me from Germany.  It's been so much fun this week having my MASKROS makeover mentioned in a couple of German blogs!  Welcome!

I have a practical IKEA pick for this week.  For those of you who have kids, you know that toy storage or any storage for that matter is a MAJOR issue.  I'm always on the hunt for good and good-looking storage ideas.  Bins and baskets can get expensive especially if you're buying multiples and I've done the cheaper Rubbermaid tub option.. it gets the job done, but definitely not the most aesthetic. 

So... here I am with TROFAST.  What I love about this system is fairly simple... it comes in ALL WHITE!  White frame and white bins.  Woohoo!  I know, it's a small thing, but so much of the kid storage options come in fun primary colors or pastels, which is great and all, but I get enough color with the toys themselves.  My eye longs for a calm quiet space amongst all the toys and clutter.

I guess the next best thing about the TROFAST is the price.  It comes in all sorts of colors and configurations, but I have this one above, and it's only $39.99.  For another $10-$15, you'll have the bins too!

Speaking of bins, here's a great way to spruce up the ol' plastic bin.  Check out the how-to here.



(via womansday.com)


Have a great weekend!  LAST call for participating in my 1 year survey.   I'm looking forward to incorporating some new ideas this coming year, but more importantly, I want to know who you are and what you're most interesting!  Don't forget, you also get 30% off all the prints at Jones Design Company.  Emily has some adorable prints that are great for your home and make awesome gifts.  I'll be closing the survey and promo at the end of the weekend.

See you Monday.

IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet PRANT

This week, meet PRANT, one of IKEA's lesser known storage bins.  I think most of you are familiar with baskets like the BRANAS basket, but while researching bins/boxes for toy storage, I discovered PRANT. 

The PRANT boxes come in a 4 different sizes ranging from $6.99 to $12.99.  They are simple, clean and contemporary and since they are made out of plywood, they can be stained or painted any color to match your room.  Here's an image of PRANT in action that I saw over at ohdeedoh.com.  All you need for this look are PRANT boxes, binder clips and paint.  Cool huh?

A quick organizing tip:  MEASURE first!  Take a look at your shelves and measure the depth, width and height.  Also, measure or at least have a good idea of exactly what you want to store.  Big game boxes?  Puzzles?  Toy cars?  Stuffed animals?  This will make your final purchase that much more effective.  I used to get on an organizing spree and I'd run to the store and buy a random mix of boxes and bins.  I'd bring them home only to realize they don't fit my stuff or my space.  :P  Which means another trip to the store!  Have you done that too?

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!  May all you moms out there feel treasured, loved and hopefully a little more pampered and rested!  See you Monday!

WHY IT WORKS - A Boy's Room

Happy Monday!  This week's inspiration room comes to us from Australia.  I love how this room is clearly kid friendly, yet so well put together.  Here's what else I love:

WHY IT WORKS:



(via the style files)



• A full wall of shelving or display space.  Let's face it.  Kids have alot of stuff.  I love the idea of dedicating a whole wall to display and storage AND taking it all they way up to the ceiling.
• Color.  Another great example of keeping it simple.  White walls with warm woods always work.  This blank canvas provides the perfect backdrop to all the "stuff".
• Long work table.  I love long work surfaces.  This workspace here maximizes the wall space and works so well for the 3 kiddos in this family.

INSPIRATION:

• Corralling.  What makes this space work is that like items are grouped together and small items are corralled in pots or boxes.  Anything to lessen visual clutter.
• Monograms.  I LOVE monograms.  They are an expensive way to personalize ANY space in your home.  My favorite place to get them is JoAnns.  They're paper mache and you can easily paint them with craft paint.  They come in all sorts of fonts and sizes.  Its a good thing.  :)
• Mix it up.  Styling a bookshelf is both an art and a science.  Styling shelves in a child's space is no different.  Often, what looks effortless, takes quite a bit of effort.  (It does for me anyways)  :)  One tip shown here is mixing in objects with your books.  For example, the Darth Vadar mask next to the Star Wars books.  I also am finally ok with designating some things in a childs space as "look, don't touch".  I think there is value in including pieces that truly are just for inspiration, special objects that spark the imagination.

Here's another photo from this house tour.  How cool is that?  Clearly, any family who has one of these in their backyards, has some style and imagination!



(via the style files)



To see more photos of this family home in Australia, click on over here to the style files.

WHY IT WORKS - A Family Kitchen Nook

Happy Monday everyone!  I love this photo.  It's a great example of how good design, function and kids can all happily coexist !  Here's what I love about it.


WHY IT WORKS:

• Banquettte.  If your kitchen allows for it, either a long wall, window or corner like this one, I'm a big fan of a built-in banquette.  They are practical for storage underneath, cozy for kids, it can accomodate alot of people and they're just so darn charming!
• Wallpaper.  Wallpaper has come a LONG way.  The wallpaper here is fresh and helps to hide a multitude of imperfections.
• Mixing styles.  I love the look of the modern Eames chairs with the traditional pedestal round table.  Both are durable and are well suited to meet the needs of a busy family.  Good style CAN be kid friendly too!

 

(via houseandhome.com)



INSPIRATION:

• Storage.  Kitchens tend to be the hub of all activity.  Do you have closed storage for all the stuff that tends to migrate into this area?  Bins or cabinets for toys, crafts, art supplies, etc
• Style.  Is your kitchen more function and less fashion?  Easy ways to inject style is through window treatments, wallpaper and covering a bulletin board with beautiful paper or fabric.
• And lastly, edit, toss and store.  This is an endless task, but oh so essential for living well.  It helps to build it into a routine.  For me, I try to make sure the sink is clean and the counters and tables are cleared off (as much as possible) each night.  There's nothing more gratifying than walking downstairs to a beautifully clean kitchen in the morning.  :)  I often think of our kitchen as a restaurant with 3 big rushes during the day; breakfast, lunch and dinner.  At the end of the day, we close up shop and regroup and try to start fresh for the next day. 



Everything AND the kitchen sink

I have to admit, one of my pet peeves is looking at all the glossy and styled kitchen photos in magazines and not seeing how people really live in them. I'll often look at pictures and wonder, "Where do they keep their dish soap and hand soap? Where's the sponge?" Admittedly, not glamourous stuff, but oh so essential. Why else would we be at the sink?

So, here's a short, practical, (not so glamourous) post inspired by my own kitchen sink. Remember, my goal for this blog is to inspire beauty in the everyday. Well, no better place to start than the sink right? :)

Here's my kitchen sink:

When we were designing our kitchen, I had a few must haves for the sink. I knew I wanted one single basin sink, preferably a farmhouse sink and a tall gooseneck faucet. A single basin sink suits our needs much better. With our old double basin sink, I could never properly soak a pan with a long handle. Also, the gooseneck faucet is key to washing and filling big pots.

I'm loving these 2 recent additions that I want to share with you.

First, I love foam soap pumps. They are so practical! The foam definitely makes it easier for small hands to spread the soap, and we use 90% less soap! It's amazing! We were reusing our Bath and Bodyworks pump for awhile, practical, but I wanted something more attractive. I was happy to find this foam soap dispenser at Crate and Barrel for $14.95 . I love it's sleek, clean shape and it works great.






Second thing that I love is our Simple Human Automatic Soap Dispenser. A friend of mind turned me on to these and I love mine! No more dripping around the soap dispenser and getting the edge of the sink all wet. Getting these at Bed, Bath and Beyond with a coupon is the best way to go. Oh, and one more thing... Simple Human has GREAT customer service. We had one that stopped working, they paid for shipping for us to mail it back and mailed us a new one!




There you go! I hope I haven't bored you to tears, but it's things like these that truly mean, "elevating the everyday". Have a great day!  Next week, I'll be talking about how to style your toilet.  :)  Just kidding!

IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet Trollsta

Happy Friday!  It's been a crazy, but great week!  In going with the same theme from Tuesday, girly and flirty,  I'm picking one of my favorite finds as of late, the TROLLSTA sideboard.  Check out those legs!  I'm thinking this would be great as a media console!  I'm already envisioning it with some accent paint, maybe painting frames on the doors and some great hardware.  It'll cost you $349 to bring her home.

Here's another great picture of TROLLSTA in yellow (now discontinued). 



(via design sponge)



See you Monday!

IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet the HEMNES GLASS CABINET

The HEMNES series is probably my favorite line from IKEA.  This is a gorgeous piece!  It is solid wood and I love the soft gray stain.  Perfection.  This a versatile piece that could work in a living room, family room and dining room.  I think this would be $365 well spent!

Doesn't it have the same great look that the French Casement Hutch and Sideboard from Restoration Hardware has?  This beauty is a splurge at $1795.

(via restorationhardware.com)

Have a great weekend!  See you Monday!

IKEA FRIDAY - MEET EFFEKTIV, ASKER and LERAN

This week's IKEA FRIDAY picks come from our inspiring craft room photo from Monday.

This room is jam packed with IKEA goodies!  The lower cabinets are the EXPEDIT shelving unit that I've talked about before and here are some of my other favorites.

First meet EFFEKTIV, this office series is incredibly versatile.  I really like the idea of mounting cabinets onto the wall.  It clears up valuable floor and wall space and keeps those office supplies handy, but not something you want visible.  $60 for the doors and $35 for the frame.
 

Second, more wall storage, meet the ASKER storage system.  This is a great way to get stuff off of your work surfaces.  Works just as well in the office as it does in the kitchen.

The mounting rail is $9.99 and the containers are $5.99 and 6.99

Lastly, meet the LERAN pendant.  What I love most about this piece is the scale.  This pendant will definitely add  interest and texture to any space.  $89.99

This room and these items are certainly going into my inspiration folder for my own craft/work area! 

Have a great weekend!  See you Monday!

IKEA FRIDAYS - Meet BEKVAM

I found BEKVAM from a post over at ohdeedoh.  At $3.99, this is a great spice rack!

At $3.99, it makes an even more incredible bookshelf!  Check this out! 

I've always been a big fan of forward facing books.  They really help kids choose books because there are less to choose from and they can SEE the covers.  Don't we all like to look at books like this?  I still haven't put in forward facing bookshelves at my house because I couldn't find any at the right price.  I was looking at shelves from Pottery Barn Kids for almost $100.  Thank goodness I held off.  I like these way better!  Because these are solid wood, you can paint them any color to complement your room.

There's a perfect spot in my loft for these.  I might even get 3, one for each child for them to put their own special books.  These have now been added on to my "project list".  :)

See you Monday!

IKEA FRIDAY - Meet the HEMNES SHOE CABINET

Last weekend, I started redoing our hallway from the garage.  I can't wait to show you pictures.  My inspiration was this post that I did a couple of months ago.  This shoe cabinet is next on my list to complete the makeover.  I can't wait to get this! 

There aren't too many shoe storage options availlable where you can actually hide the shoes!  I've considered bookcases and baskets, cubbies, shelves, but nothing seems to get the shoes stored and out of sight as well is this guy!  I think it's $129 well spent!

Here's a couple of photos of HEMNES in action.



(image from ikea.com)




(image from craftpad.com)

Have a great weekend!  Many of you might be prepping for Thanksgiving.  Check back tomorrow, I have a great turkey craft that would look great on a table or buffet.