2 Ways to Style a Room with a Hot Pink Stripe Pillow

Pink is kind of a tricky color to add to a room. Especially hot pink. It's a bold color that definitely makes a statement. A lot of men shy away from it, thinking it's too girly, and some women are also hesitant to add it to a space for similar reasons. 

Girly is probably the last word I would use to describe my design style, but I love this Hot Pink Stripe Pillow! It's bright and fun and perfect for spring and summer time. (Plus it could work as an outdoor pillow as well — just email us if you're interested in an outdoor version!)

Lindsey & I thought it would be fun to come up with two different ways to style a room with this pillow. We each took the same pillow and used it as a jumping off point to design a room. 

I chose to design a living room with a comfy casual beachy theme. I picked neutral colors for the large pieces in the room — the furniture, curtains and lamp — and picked bolder and brighter patterns and colors for the pillows and art to really make them pop. Here's my design:

I really like how everything came together in a fun way. 

Some of these items I love so much I may even use in my own home! I've been loving Gray Malin's from-the-air photographs, especially from his Australia collection. I also recently ordered some of the palm fabric to make some pillows for my house. I can't wait! And the banana art is so fun I couldn't resist. The "all you need is love" chalkboard print is from one of my favorite bloggers Jessica of Little Baby Garvin. 

Here are all of the living room sources: 

All You Need is Love chalkboard print // Banana photograph // Gray Malin Australia photograph // Floor lamp // Leather Loveseat // Curtains // White Chair // Coffee table // Skinny Chevron Pillow in Navy // Pink Floral Pillow // Hot Pink Stripe Pillow // Palm Pillow // Grey & yellow stripe pillow

And from Lindsey: 

Ever since we made the decision to move closer to Jeff's work, I have been obsessed with the idea of a playroom. It could be a converted dinning room, loft space or an extra bedroom, but it cannot be in the same space as the family room. It seems a bit ridiculous because we haven't even started looking, but this is the one thing I told our Realtor I will not budge on.

Because of this new-found obsession I chose to design a playroom. I love designing kids spaces because you can be a bit more bold with your color and pattern choices. 

Here are some ideas I've been thinking about doing in my playroom:

Here are all of the playroom sources :

Zebra Pull Toy // Be Unique Artwork // World Map Wall Mural // Slide // Daybed // Hot Pink Stripe Pillow // Skinny Chevron Pillow in Navy // Giraffe Lamp // Swinging Chair // Moose Plush // Area Rug // Art Easel // Table and Chair Set

How would you style a hot pink stripe pillow? 

Random Loves: Fun Interior Design Links & Ideas

I came across a few fun design links and ideas that are too good not to share! 

[via 6th Street Design School blog]

One of my favorite bloggers, at 6th Street Design School, has a series this week that tells the story of a room. She’s an interior designer and is sharing the whole process from start to finish of what it takes to transform a room based on what her client wants and needs. It’s a really cool process, so many choices to make along the way — everything from fabrics and pillows to lamps, furniture and rugs — and I love seeing the finished product. You can start this week’s design series here and at the end of the week, Kirstin will share the reveal! You can check out her last design series here. Isn’t her design just gorgeous?! I love her style!

[via]

Anyone else watching American Dream Builders? I could do without some of the drama between the designers, but love seeing how each team creates a completely new home from top to bottom. The latest episode was filmed in Palm Springs and featured two mid-century modern homes. Mid-century modern is not my favorite design style, but I can definitely appreciate it. My favorite house was the red team’s white and bright living room, kitchen and the backyard was gorgeous. Which house/room was your favorite?!

I've been loving botanical prints lately because they are a simple way to add some colorful art to your wall. A little while ago I came across this flickr site with tons of free botanical prints available! Birds, plants, fruit, animals, butterflies — there are so many! I found a couple monkey prints, above, that I printed, framed and hung in our living room. I love them! Here are a couple ways others are showing off botanical prints too:

[via Lauren Liess website]

[via Dimples and Tangles blog]

The other day I was searching around online for some pillows and somehow came across Zara Home. Did you know Zara had a home collection?! I didn't, and was so pleasantly surprised with their fun selection! Some of the things are a little pricey, but mixed in are some affordable accessories. Here are a few of my favorites: 

Ikat throw // Geometric lamp // Pompom towel // Herringbone doormat // Slate coasters // Multicolored tablecloth

Pillow Love!

When we first launched our pillow store a couple weeks ago, we didn't have photos of the actual pillows to share yet. I'm happy to say that now we do! 

We have updated our store with photos of all 10 of our fun pillows! We also included a few photos of different pillows grouped together to show their versatility. It is so fun seeing how well our pillows work with each other. 

Here are a few photos:

Which one is your favorite? Please tell us! We'd love to know! 

All of our pillows are available online here. Thank you for supporting us! 

Food Friday: Lemon-Spinach Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Tomatoes

Every once in a while I'll get a craving for chicken and mashed potatoes, and when I do, this is my go-to recipe, from all-recipes.com. 



The chicken is dredged in a simple flour, salt and pepper mixture, then cooked with chicken broth, white wine and lemon juice. The broth mixture forms a nice gravy and the lemon flavor really soaks into the spinach. The cherry tomatoes add a really yummy burst of flavor too. 

Lemon-Spinach Chicken with Mashed Potatoes & Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1- 10-ounce package of fresh spinach
1/2 flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Mashed potatoes *(My "recipe" is below)
Grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

Directions:

In a large, lightly greased skillet, cook spinach until it wilts, this just takes a couple minutes. Transfer it to a bowl or plate. 
Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge the chicken in this flour mixture, until chicken is coated. 
In the same skilled used to wilt the spinach, melt the butter and add the chicken. Cook the chicken about 4-5 minutes per side until chicken is cooked. (You can either remove the chicken or keep it in the skillet for this next step. I have tried both and both tasted delicious.)
Add chicken broth, wine, lemon juice and garlic to the pan and bring to a boil. Stir to loosen the leftovers at the bottom of the skillet. Cook about 2 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by half. Stir in the spinach and cook until heated, about a minute.
Serve on a plate of mashed potatoes, add spinach and chicken and top with tomatoes. 

*Mashed potatoes: I don't follow a recipe, but mix ingredients to taste. 

Ingredients: Two potatoes, washed and cut into fourths (skin-on); butter; garlic; Parmesan cheese; milk; salt and pepper

Directions: Boil potatoes until they are cooked (if a fork or knife can easily slide through them, they're done). Drain water and use a large metal spoon to smash the potatoes (you can leave them as chunky as you like). I usually then add a couple tablespoons butter, about 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, a couple cloves of minced garlic, a little less than 1/4 cup milk and continue mashing until it forms the consistency I want. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Happy Friday!