Olioboard & Spirit of Sports ManCave Challenge Top 3 Winners + an Honorable Mention

Truly feeling so excited, honored, humbled and blessed to have one of my boards place FIRST in the Olioboard ManCave Challenge, sponsored by Spirit of Sports! ♥ Special thanks to Social Media Maven + CEO of Kaleidoscope Partnership Leslie Carothers and founder + CEO of Olioboard Sheilah MacSporran for all your fab posts & tweets. More special thanks also to the judges Marilyn G Russell and Andie Day, who did a terrific job (and had a tough one I might add!!) of selecting the top three 3D ManCaves presented. Getting to use the fantastic artwork from the challenge sponsor, Spirit of Sports, to create these ManCaves from was a true treat! Congrats to all who entered the 3D challenge - especially to the two Olioboard members who placed in the Top 3 with their 3D board! 

 

 

THANK YOU

Spirit of Sports + Olioboard with 

tweeters, facebookers & friends for your support!

 

 Stop by these two facebook pages to visit: Olioboard and Spirit of Sports and leave a congratulatory comment for the winners!! Since there were so many wonderful boards to choose from, the judges also gave an "Honorable Mention" for an additional board:

Sophisticated ManCave for All!

by Selma Hammer

Here are the other two of the Top 3 boards:

3RD PLACE WINNER:

 spirit of sports man cave by marialuisalim

2ND PLACE WINNER:

 feeling and courage by mirellaparer

1ST PLACE WINNER:

Literary Mantuary by Lynda Quintero-Davids

From Pinterest To Thrift

When I first joined Pinterest back last summer, I used it as a means of finding fall trends to thrift. I didn't really ever get to share those finds because of refocusing on the move, but I tried it again here in AZ for Spring. It really doesn't take much to update an existing wardrobe with a few on trend colors or patterns. Not all pins need to be taken literally - but knowing what you like, a pattern from a pinned Missoni rug can be a thrift score as a cosmetic case or laptop tote. Here's a few Pinterest inspirations paired with some thrift finds for Spring....

LOVE both the color and pattern - simple add for my maxi's!

These pieces below were my fave scores...

And they too were inspired from images I've pinned on Pinterest...

So even though these pins are way out of my budget, I still added the look and feel to both my home and wardrobe with the wood, agate, and gold finds - That cross over mixing is what lifestyling is all about.

I'm totally diggin' the tribal & the SW style mix, adding in even more worn gold + woods, a little leopard... and would like to find some wooden wedges. What's inspiring you for Spring? See more of my pinboards at

TRENDSPOTTING GOLD

TRENDSPOTTING TRIBAL

TRENDSPOTTING SW STYLE

2012 SPRING TRENDS + LIKES

 

Thanks for stopping by!



THANKS FOR THE FEATURES PLUS MORE @OLIOBOARD!

After almost two years of using one of my fave sites: Olioboard, I was contacted by them a few times this year. Although two opps didn't work out - getting to be on Nate Berkus Show or getting my board featured on The Today Show - I am thankful to have been featured on a Designer Interview series at Olioboard. During the interview, I shared a few tips on how I've used the site to plan for both my client projects and my personal projects. I also shared how I started using the site paired with Pinterest to further market my abilities from Olioboard to Pintereast or add finds from Pinterest to create an Olioboard. You can read the interview posted at: Designer Interviews: Lynda Quintero-Davids. You can also read a tutorial about how to use the new ProPlan Olioboard is offering posted at: How To Use Olioboards New ProPlan To Your Advantage - where I am grateful to them for featuring more of my boards.



While at Olioboard, please be sure to also VOTE for my board - DIESEL DEN - during the last four days of the ManCave Challenge. I was in first with my 3D board, then slipped to second to a SuperBowl Giants ManCave (Go Giants!) Now both our 3D boards slipped from first and second since a 2D board now moved into first. First place is a $500 Gift Card from the sponsor of the challenge - Spirit of Sports. I had hoped to give away the GC here to you on my blog - so go VOTE! And you can VOTE daily - THANKS in advance for your votes!! xo

VOTE FOR DIESEL DEN - THANKS!!



Also be sure to catch more news about Olioboard featured today on The Today Show, as discussed by a selected Olioboard user / homeowner tonyab and design expert, Susanna Salk. And don't forget to watch the Nate Berkus Show this coming Monday to watch three New York area designers + Olioboard CEO discussing how they are using the site to present their plans to their clients.

Modern Day Man

ManCave Challenge board by user tonyab

to be featured on the Today Show!

CONGRATS!!

I'll be sure to be share the studio office reveal next week -

I posted the sneak peek about yesterday...

Thanks for stopping by and for your votes!

Have a wonderful weekend!



Rental ReStyle: Transforming a Rental Home Loft Space Into a Studio Office

When searching for a place to rent and live back in October, Jeff and I came across some wonderful places... But none of them had this one space that totally drew me in like the place we ultimately chose to rent. Part of the draw was all the natural light, the open space, the rustic wood textured wallpaper and the wood floors. Although I had originally thought we would have brought our white sofa upstairs, we ended up still using it in our new living room area and it still works (because we had to put buying a sectional on hold). Building upstairs though took a little bit of time, but with some savvy thrifting and re-purposing existing pieces, this past weekend I was able to better pull together a functional office studio. It will continue to evolve - switching out some framed prints, adding a bulletin board, maybe painting the area rug with stripes and eventually getting a TV - But for now it's becoming a refreshed blogging & designing think tank. Here's a sneak peek...

 

Love my floor plan plates I picked up in NYC during our September 11 visit.

And here's a peek at a new thrift find: My tuft & stud barrel chair for my desk - only $10. The leopard lumbar pillow my friend Jose made for me when I was leaving South Florida...

 

Hmmm... What do we have here???

 

Finally have a spot to use this Thomas O' Brien Retro desk lamp 

I got on clearance at Target about 5 years ago for only $12.

 

Even little miss Sephora has a chair here - 

the red one back there is hers :)

 

Vertical lines will help give height to the space...

 

 Empty space when we viewed the home October 2011

 

Low ceilings in space allowing me to reuse some old 84" panels I held onto because I love these stripes!

 

As I've done for table styling, I pull together what I already have...

 

And the pic that is inspiring the refreshed look. 

I spotted this photo in my last months issue of  House Beautiful. I LOVE the light, the stripes, the wood, the B&W, that shade of GREEN of the sofa, and the mix of furniture. I don't have a green sofa, but I also don't like to take inspiration so literal all the time. Just as I did painting my thrifted buffet RED, which was inspired by the Crate & Barrel Fall 2011 catalog with their red sofa... I can try to do the same again with the buffet in the space - but maybe this time - not painting it :)



 

Curious??

 

Original plan was to have the desk at one end of the space...

 

But I am better liking it floating in the center of the room.

So many more possibilities!

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!

MY MILO BAUGHMAN CHAIR MAKEOVER

Back from an unplugged and productive weekend! But sadly - the time out from twitter Saturday turned into tragic news Sunday morning. What a SHOCK to hear of Whitney Houston's passing. Jeff and I watched a very nice tribute on the Early Show... Then we had breakfast and I got to working on some projects I've been wanting to do around here - one of which was getting the upstairs loft / office space put together & organized. part of doing that came from finally bringing my thrifted Milo Baughman chairs to a place to get reupholstered. Although I can change a simple seat cushion, these had a boxed cushion and piping which I can not do (yet). 

 

Brought chairs to:

Covers Plus

1727 N Arizona Ave
Suite 3
Chandler, AZ 85225

(480) 310-4029

I had found the chairs at Faith Farm last May, and blogged about them in June (read Thrifty Thursday: Discovering Icon Milo Baughman). Although they were fine with the original cream basket weave fabric, it looked like a cat had attacked the arms. I knew I had wanted to cover them, but I no fabric I would see was inspiring me enough to do it. 

 

The pair of chairs were only $16...

A steal of a deal when compared to 1st Dibs!

 

After we moved here to AZ in November, I went thrifting and spotted some fab fabric and a great price. I placed the fabric on the chairs in the space I was going to put them - the upstairs loft / office space - and I liked the combination of the glen plaid with camel to do for the piping. I looked for a place around here (found: Covers Plus) and got (IMO) a reasonable deal to re-upholster the cushions + arms. I love their new look & great service from Covers Plus...

Now to fix up the rest of the space...

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!