It’s nice when all of my favorite colors and finishes are trending because they’re easy to find, but it’s also all too tempting. I don’t need three new side tables! Oh, but I do want each of them.
All of this is new in stores. All of it is lovely! All of it is pink, brass, marble, repeat.
Sometimes I have a good idea of where I’m going with these Making it Yours looks, and sometimes the design shifts and changes along the way.
This is the second of three rooms put together around IKEA’s Möckelby table. We saw it paired with some amazing wallpaper last time, so I didn’t want to fall back to another wallpaper design this time. I knew I wanted to bring in that light (isn’t it fantastic?), but beyond that, I wasn’t sure where things would end up. Chairs were the next piece of the puzzle, and once I remembered the limited edition pink Arne Jacobsen chairs, everything fell into place.
Pink and gold! Modern, but with a nod to the past! Neon lights! Yes.
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Everything has kind of been up in the air, house-wise, waiting for the rewiring work to be done. There are some holes in walls waiting to be patched, and some pretty terrible patchwork waiting to be fixed up. (The electricians are fine electricians, but not so fine at plaster repair. We told them we’d handle that part after seeing how they did it.) I have all of these ideas swirling around for things I want to do in the house, but I have to wait. Gah.
Target asked if I wanted to take on a little post-summer perk up, and I was definitely on board. A quick and easy decorating project was sounding pretty good right about now! The rewiring on the top floor is done, so I gave the bathroom a good cleaning (plaster dust was everywhere) and went out in search of a new shower curtain. This city sketch print was cute, but I chose coral pink because of course I did. We may be transitioning from summer to fall, but I’m always in favor of bringing in more pink all year long.
Since I was changing out the shower curtain, I picked up new brass shower curtain hooks to replace the plastic white ones that were there. It’s easy to find silvery finishes for bathrooms (chrome, nickel), and oil-rubbed bronze is all over the place too, but I was looking specifically for brass and I was glad to see a couple of options for the bathroom at Target without having to order from a more expensive source.
There’s a pink hand towel on the pirate ship hook (why not, right?), and matching bath towels. I hung a couple from the hooks on the back of the door for a picture, but they would normally be tucked away below the sink, in the bottom drawer.
(And I feel like I should point out that the mirror’s dark spots are the result of aged mirror glass. It’s clean — promise.)
I picked up a little red accent rug too. It isn’t a bathmat but it is cotton, and I think it will work well in that spot.
Our routines are about to shift once school starts again. Obviously the kids will be going back, but I might be going back too (depends on whether enough students sign up for the new course I’m supposed to teach). I love that I was able to knock out an update while our days are still relatively calm by just picking up a few new things in a favorite color.
All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are unbiased and based on my personal view.
David Bromstad is an artist, designer, and HGTV host. He has also gotten into the world of product design. Last year, he made a pair of limited-edition labels for Coffee-mate’s French Vanilla and Hazelnut flavors, and now he has designed four new looks — two each for the same two varieties — available exclusively at Target. I was able to chat with David recently about his inspiration behind the designs, what a typical morning looked like for him, and how his home is shaping up these days. Plus we bonded over a mutual love of pink. “It’s just a happy color!” he says.
Image provided by David Bromstad
This is Bromstad’s second collaboration with Coffee-mate, so I was curious about his inspiration and how he approached these new designs differently. He said that the first round was very painterly and artsy, on the contemporary side, but this time it was all inspired by his mom.
When David was twenty years old and first started drinking coffee, he’d have the summers off, and he and his mom would walk around her garden together. She taught him everything about flowers and gardening, explaining the differences between perennials and annuals, showing him what would come back or die off. The art of gardening is just as much science, and he was fascinated by it. When it came time to create his new bottle designs, he recalled those summer mornings spent with a cup of coffee and the company of his mom, and that led him to the floral imagery he used.
It seems like David is always doing a million things and is involved in multiple projects at any given time, but he still likes to start his day the same way he did when he was twenty! A little breakfast, followed by his morning coffee. Since he designed labels for both, I wondered if he had a favorite between Hazelnut and French Vanilla, but he couldn’t choose. He likes each on their own, but he loves them mixed together too. (I hadn’t even thought of mixing them, but I tried it and he’s onto something there.)
I’d seen Bromstad’s new home featured in an issue of HGTV Magazine recently, and it looked amazing but I remembered reading about his initial missteps in decorating it.
“When I first moved in, I tried to create a whole ‘Mr. Color Splash’ look. I painted the living room walls turquoise and put an orange cover on the couch with red pillows. Then I stopped, looked around and said, ‘I can’t live like this.’ It was the ugliest thing I’d ever done. So I returned 80 percent of the stuff I bought, painted the room white and added some ‘Mr. Color Splash’ touches.”
I’m always heartened to know that even the most experienced designers have trouble from time to time, especially since decorating and perfectionism had been on my mind when we spoke. I was curious about whether his home had continued to change, or if he considered it done.
His home, as it appeared in the magazine feature, was a “very fun, poppy house. Very black and white, which is very cool.” It has completely changed since being photographed though, because of a new furniture collection he had been working on. It hasn’t been professionally shot again yet, but he sent some photos over that he had taken with his phone so we could get a peek into his home’s latest look.
Image provided by David Bromstad
Image provided by David Bromstad
He loves it, and he loves that he was able to switch it up. Like a lot of us, it seems, David sees a house as an ever-changing thing! His partner is not as keen on change as David is, but he was open to it. He was (jokingly) kind of mad about the pink chairs, but even he had to admit that the texture made them “kind of amazing.”
Image provided by David Bromstad
David describes his home as effervescent, saying that it’s soft, chic, and sophisticated, but with tons of color. It’s a little more mature, more his age now, and more ‘him.’ And he seems like a pretty reserved guy, don’t ‘ya think?
Image provided by David Bromstad
I start my day with breakfast and a cup of coffee too, and chatting with David had me feeling inspired. I decided to break out my brushes, and I customized that tray you saw toward the top of the post. I’ll have more photos to share with you next week, but in the meantime, I’m thinking about trying my hand at another painting project. I was thinking about what I use every morning that could use a little sprucing up. Maybe a set of coffee mugs or a clock? I’ve got plenty of paint left — let me know what you’d like to see it used on!
Did you know that June 23rd is National Pink Day? It’s OK, I didn’t either. Apparently you can celebrate by doing things like…
going to a restaurant or shop with pink interiors
having your hair dyed pink
eating pink meals
OK. Will do? Or maybe I’ll just look at pretty pretty pink things and wish we had a pink sofa instead of a blue one. (I’ll admit it. I love ours, but I’m also wishing I could swap right now.)
Salinger Upholstered Armchair in Bright Pink Linen Blend, Pottery Barn
While You Were Out Tray, Fishs Eddy
Pink Deca Pendant Light, Furbish
Half Stripe Rug, Pink, Land of Nod
Kinsey Pink Enamel Jewelry Box, Pottery Barn
Pink Cupcake Pedestal, Crate & Barrel
Venetian Tiles Sorbet Fabric Shower Curtain, JCPenney
Stella McCartney Mille Drawing Lace and Swiss-dot Tulle Bra and Briefs, Net-a-Porter
17 Month Classic Agenda — I Am Very Busy, ban.do
Paley Pink Pajamas, Sleepy Jones
Linen Kettleby Sofa, Petal, Anthropologie
Huntington Strawberry Baskets, Set of Three, Serena & Lily
Crystalline Square Pink Porcelain Mosaic Tile, Home Depot
p.s. For the Mo Willems readers: Oinky oink pink oink!
As much as the idea of actual bugs crawling around my ears sounds absolutely terrifying, cute little gold ones can hang out all over me anytime. (Insects seem to be my adornment of choice these days.) Clogs, ’cause I’m on that bandwagon. Pink: always. Stripes, glasses, a dress… you know how I do.
Eyelet-Mix Tunic Dress, Madewell
Richmond Glasses in Citrine Quartz, David Kind
Small Embroidered Guatamalan Pouch, Furbish
Gold Watch, Target
Gold Beetle Stud Earrings, Terrain
Gee Wawa Pink Paige Clogs, Anthropologie
Watercolor Stripe Scarf, Ann Taylor (40% off right now!)