#534...pantry design

I am supposed to be sourcing some inspiration photos of closed door, built-in pantries for the spec houses I posted about last week. Instead of closed door pantries, I keep finding inspiring images of open pantries where the goodies are organized and on display. I guess I like the images because they are so functional and yet so pretty. A pantry is a like a styled bookcase for your kitchen. Here are some nicely organized pantry images found on pinterest and google that caught my eye.

#533...grampy

My Grampy passed away yesterday at the age of 94. He was a civil engineer, a WWII Veteran, and a bird and nature lover. He met my Nana while stationed at Pearl Harbor, (she was a navy nurse also stationed there). They had 3 sons, 3 daughters, 3 son-in-laws, 2 daughter-in-laws and 16 grandchildren. I am the oldest of the the grandchildren and I feel lucky to have had him in my life for the past 37 years. He was greatly loved and will be missed. 

1980

1996

#532...exterior paint color palette

I work with a builder in my neighborhood who renovates old bungalows, adds square footage, and then flips them. I am in charge of picking the paint colors for the houses. We are working on two simultaneously right now. You can see them listed for sale here and here. I chose a primarily white palette for one, and a navy blue/gray/green palette for the other. A lot of how I decide on a color scheme has to do with what else is going on on the street and how the house sits on its lot. The houses are still under construction and being painted, but you can get a glimpse of the colors I selected in these pictures.

The porch floor and railings still need to be painted. The railings will be in the trim color, the floor a gray of some sort. The porch ceiling is actually a very light aqua color. The Sherwin Williams paint choices for this bungalow are 

Body: Natural Choice 7011

Trim: Balanced Beige 7037

Sash: Connected Gray 6165

Here are some shots of the second bungalow. It is just starting to get painted. The front door of the house will be stained, and the back doors are the accent color green. It is very cheerful, and reminds me of a Kate Spade advertisement. 

All paint colors look really different on a computer screen than in real-life. You can see this well in the colors on this house, as below are the virtual chips I pulled off the website.

Body: Loyal Blue 6510

Trim: Creamy 7012

Sash: Escape Gray 6185

Accent Doors: Greenfield 6439

I was flipping through This Old House's August issue and really liked the exterior palette on this bungalow. I want to remember it for future projects. I also really like that red nautical porch sconce.

#531...iphone pouch

My sister Sarah and I just got our very first iphones ever. We have been deliberating over what type of case to get for our new precious technology. She sent me this etsy link to leather iphone pouches with the idea that maybe we could forgo a case if we kept it in a pouch. I think the pouch idea would also keep me from checking my phone while driving, so I decided to try to make some. Tyler is making fun of this pouch concept. He thinks we will hate having to pull our phone out of a pouch every time we want to use it....he may be right, but we're giving phone pouches a shot.

First, I dug through my bin of leather scraps, which consists of thrift store leather skirts, pants and jackets.

Next, I cut a pattern based on the shape of my phone. I decided to line our pouches with a mint green suede to give a little more protection.

I used some artist's double sided tape to tack the outer leather to the lining leather for each side.

Finally, I sewed around the "U" shaped case and was done in only a few minutes.

#530...family

We spent this past weekend with my sister Julie's family in California.

Me and Audrey

Tyler and Lyla

While there, we helped with a few house projects too. I made some fabric covered memory boards for Lyla's room. I decorated her nursery last year...you can see it here.

Tyler helped our brother-in-law Jesse hang a huge wine storage system on their dining room wall. 

Now we need to plan a trip out there to help them visit some wineries and fill their shelves. When it is full, the wall will look like these. It is going to be impressive!

On a side note, I took most of these pics on my new iphone 5. Thus far, I have been a little disappointed in the photo quality when looking at them on a bigger screen. I'm sure that the camera in the phone is really great, and I am simply not holding my hands still while shooting. I'm hoping my picture taking gets better with the phone.

#529...a peek in Marie's room

We spent last night with my cousin in San Francisco. This morning she is off at work in the midst of a liver surgery, and I am sneaking around her bedroom taking pictures...

Isn't her dresser so pretty? We got it for $50 last year at a local goodwill store. Marie painted it a bright blue and cleaned up the existing copper pulls.

It looks really good.

On the opposite side of her room she has a photo gallery of family wedding photos from both hers and her husband's families. They are framed in soft metallics with gray, cream and linen mats. They are hung over a wood and white mid century inspired dresser from H.D. Buttercup. It's a really pretty gallery wall example.

#528...shout, shout

I've been working on design boards for the past week, and had no time for crafting or home improvement projects. I just came across this quirky gem on etsy, and immediately bought it for me. It is from this shop. There's nothing like a little Tears for Fears done in a vintage embroidery hoop to make my day better.