Bold Rug...now what?

My friend Diana has a beautiful floral rug in her bedroom as a jumping off point.  She wants to incorporate color and potentially pattern but the question is, how do I do it without it looking too busy?  Can I still incorporate color and pattern in the bedding if I already have a patterned rug on the floor.

Yes, I say!  Yes, you can.  It is all about a happy medium.  I struggle with this whenever I look at rugs but truthfully in my opinion you need to view your rug as a neutral base.  That's not to say you don't want to coordinate and pay attention to the fact that your rug needs to mesh with the rest of the things in your room but just that you don't need to worry so much about incorporating things to be totally matchy matchy.  Now that I've totally confused everyone, I think it is easier to demonstrate with pictures.  These rooms have a lot going on but yet feel totally cohesive in my opinion.

All images from here.

Nursery Inspiration

I know, I know.  I've been totally slacking on the blog front lately!  I'm working on getting my creative juices flowing so I can start working on the nursery.  This weekend we moved everything out of the guest room and into the basement to make room for baby.  I've pretty much settled on Arrowhead Lake from Behr for the color of the walls (with white trim).

I sampled it this weekend and both my husband and I really like it in there.  I like that it doesn't scream baby and could easily be sophisticated for a grown up bedroom.  I actually got the inspiration from the latest Wisteria catalog that I got (by the way, if you haven't looked at it closely, you need to because I want everything in there!).

That's about as far as I've gotten - a paint color and a cleared out room.  Next step is getting my husband to paint...

I have been looking at lots of ideas on Pinterest, of course.  It's overwhelming now that it is actually my turn to do this to try to pick everything and make a decision on what direction I'm going to go in with the room.

Here are some of my inspiration pics:

All images from here.

Thrifted Artwork

We had this great antique and thrift store right by our house that I always loved going to.  Unfortunately now Walgreens has decided that they need to have a presence right there (which even more annoyingly is literally next door to a CVS) and so my beloved shop has disappeared.  I had been eyeing these colorful, hand drawn images for some time.  My husband and I happened to stop by the store when they were having their going out of business sale and I saw that the art pieces I loved were not only still there but they were marked down to $2 each.  To top it off, my husband liked them.  Can we say SOLD?

I quickly snatched them up and then took them to my framer for ideas.  Originally I thought that I would get all new frames, mats, glass, etc. but the frames were actually in decent shape and I liked the antiqued look they had rather than something new and perfect.  The pictures themselves are antiqued so I liked the frames they had.  (Plus, I'll be honest: keeping the original frames saved me hundreds of bucks.)

Here they are in their original state:

So, all that was required were some new mats and I went ahead and got new glass just since the old glass was pretty dirty.  Individually they are really cool but I love seeing them all together.

I wish I knew more about their origins.  They are definitely hand drawn in ink and then hand colored.

They are currently residing in my bathroom which is NOT the ideal spot for them but I'm a little tight on wall space in my tiny house.  I can see these being displayed awesomely (yes, that is a word to me) down the road one day...

#thriftedart

Fiesta Pork Chops

I'm baaaaack.  Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I have no excuse really but it seems that maybe my creative juices took a vacation because I've not been crafting, knitting, needlepointing, blogging or much or anything fun these days.  I am still totally addicted to Pinterest but even that makes me feel kind of guilty just collecting thousands (and yes, I mean thousands) of pins and not really executing any of them.  So, today, I am getting off my butt and executing one...Fiesta Pork Chops.  It took a few minutes to assemble it but it was super easy and definitely workable for a week night.

What You'll Need:

6 pork chops (boneless chops about 1/2 - 1 inch thick)
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1 (14 oz) can chicken broth
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilis
1 (1 oz) packet taco seasoning
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 cup onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used a sharp cheddar mix)

What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat and brown pork chops (about 2-3 minutes each side, turning once).

Spray a 13x9" baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and pour the chicken broth, tomato sauce, green chilis, taco seasoning, uncooked rice, and onion; mix together until completely incorporated. 

Place the pork chops on top of the rice mixture and top with the green and red peppers. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 60 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Remove from oven and top with cheese. Let the cheese melt.

Pretty simple.  Enjoy!

Recipe slightly modified from here.

Another Gender Neutral Nursery

It is cold and starting to snow here today.  I'm cozied up at home on the couch with two snoring pups and so I decided to work on a little mood board.  The last gender neutral nursery I did for my friend Lane has been pretty popular on Pinterest so I decided to try out another...whaddya think?

I like the simplicity of the pieces and you could really jazz it up with fabrics for pillows, crib sheets, drapes, etc. when you did find out the sex of the baby.

#cameronjonesinteriors #nurserydecor #moodboard #adornedabode #genderneutralnursery

Tuesday Tip: Rejuvenate your Champagne

Now, for most of my friends, having leftover bottles of champagne is an unlikely scenario.  But, for those of you who don't indulge in champagne a bottle at a time, here is a handy little trick I learned thanks to Real Simple!

Drop a single raisin into an opened bottle of champagne and it will restore the bubbles to your bubbly!

Image from here.

Michael Graydon Photography

Seeing Michael Graydon's work is like looking through a magical lens into a world in which I lived on a permanent basis.  Everything is so gracefully beautiful, happy and serene.

Thought these might be a nice little break for your Monday.  xo

See additional work and portfolio here.