No More Hospital Blinds!

Laura, of lauragunn.com, a new St. Louis favorite and artist, has agreed to help Gina and I with our Haven of Grace project. I am so excited about her right brain joining our team.

I was searching her blog -- Paint in My Hair -- and found so many amazing ideas for stretching our decorating dollar. I will feature a few here, so stay tuned, or visit her site if you can't wait.

Her slip covered blinds (see above photo) should win some kind of prize! Oh, how I dislike those metal or plastic hospital blinds -- so sterile, home use should be outlawed. Learn more: click here.

And look how Laura retrofitted an antique highchair to buckle in her son so he doesn't take flight. How did they do without seat belts in the olden days?

Wow, I am impressed. Laura wins my DIY prize for the week!

Modular Carpet

Have you discovered FLOR?

Easy, easy, easy... liveable, affordable, stylish and fun!

FLOR provides us custom DIY carpet to fit any style and space. And it is so easy you can install it yourself. It's ideal for tight budgets or if you just want a custom look.

Right now mod*mom will give away the newest addition to the FLOR line-up. Carpet tiles designed by Alexander Girard.

If you want to see FLOR tiles in St. Louis, check out UMA at 1100 Locust, downtown.

Tell me your favorite FLOR tile and why.

Mod Bedding and Giveaways--found it at the Big Box

Bedding by Dwell at Target

For a long time I have been moaning the fact that there has been few sources for modern bedding at affordable prices.

Thankfully, that is changing.

At our "Design Hop" (more on that later, it's a design club, think "garden club"), Stephanie was asking about sources for modern bedding. I told her about an exciting development. Dwell, relatively new to the industry and fast becoming a household name for modern bedding, has partnered with Target to bring us affordable and stylish designs. Check them out at: Target. And for a limited time receive free shipping on orders over $50.

Bedding by KuKunest


And take note of a fun offer from mod*mom. She has several giveaways going on including darling mod bedding by KuKunest. Click here to enter: mod*mom giveaways. It is easy, just scroll down to her giveaways and leave a comment.

Let me know your affordable sources for modern or unique bedding.

Hoppy Easter!

Wow, Easter has crept up on me. In less than a weeks time we switch from the green of the Irish to the pretty pastels of the season.

Felicia visited me and I followed her bunny trail right back to her blog and Etsy shop. Look at her darling glove bunny. Yep, that's right, it is made from a glove. I think the BIG eyes are a hoot.

Hop on over to her shop -- Fluffy Flowers -- and see more, including funny bunny jokes.

Etsy is always a Phoebe favorite. Consider how your holidays can be made more unique with handmade goods. For just about any holiday, you can search Etsy to find special goods. For instance, search for "bunnies" or "eggs" and see the incredible collection.

I hope you have fun Easter plans...I will go to church and enjoy my dove dark chocolate.


Hoppy Easter!

Being Green

Nesting bowls from LUREARTS.

It's St. Patrick's Day...are you wearing green?

Let's explore "green" -- my very favorite color. I love all the shades.

Kermit the frog said, "It isn't easy being green."

For a frog, that may be true. But for those who care about the environment, being green is made easier by such St. Louis groups as Freecycle, Restore and E-cycle. You can find a Freecycle and ReStore in almost any part of the country.

Or do like my friend Julie did, she started her own recylce group with women at her church. They email each other with items they want to give away.

On Etsy today, take the "green tour" via the treasury list courtesy of leavesofglass.

Consider being green and adding green to your decor today!

Blue Makes it New!

Gina Adolphson, my partner for the Haven of Grace project, sent photos of her DIY project.

Gina's husband is a med student, so they live on a tight budget. They make the most of cast-offs and yard sale finds to furnish their home. The result is a very custom look.

Recently, they painted an old chest of drawers to complement their son's bedding. The dark, worn wood finish was made to look new with blue paint.

What a dramatic transformation! Their three year old, Josh, is very proud of his parent's work.

Haven of Grace

My, time flies when you haven't blogged. There are several excuses and several projects taking my time.

Topping the list: Haven of Grace.

Haven of Grace is a special organization to help young homeless mothers and is championed by Editor, Christy Marshall of St. Louis Magazine AT HOME. She invited eight designers to decorate eight apartments for Haven of Grace.

I am lucky to be one of the designers working on the project. I am especially fortunate to have enlisted designer and friend, Gina Adolphson, to work with me. She has taken the lead in collecting fabrics and brainstorming the design.


This is not your typical project. Our inspiration is limited by what donations come in. So our color palette is not inspired by our favorite fabric on the bolt, but rather by what is given to us by kind retailers.


Gina made the rounds collecting miscellaneous items. We selected a few to create our palette.

We were given a fabric panel of leaves and fruits in an unusual mix of chartreuse, plum, slate blue, turquoise, burnt orange and bright orange and rosy reds. We decided to pull a palette of mostly blues and oranges from this piece for the living and dining rooms.


Gina told me today that she has enjoyed the challenge of creating a design around a fabric that was not of her choosing. "It has made me consider other possibilities with color I never imagined", she says. "I really love this palette."


Gina also loves the idea of a graphic bird mural painted above the dining nook. She picked birds just because she likes the shape of the template she was given. She doesn't know why, but it just appeals to her.

I like it too.


Please tell us how you've found design inspiration by something that was given to you.

See related blog: Take a Chance on that Sofa

Creative Cousin Craig

I was born with the right side of my brain, that I know for sure. I can't say what has happened to my left side, atrophy most likely. I don't take to math or science.

I have to create, make and forge new paths.

Many of my kin were born like me -- a heavy branch of artsy folks weights down the family tree.

Let me introduce you to one of them, my cousin Craig. Though his imagination is more wild than mine, I claim him anyway.

When Craig is not composing music or blowing up cars (for real) in the desert, he is making furniture, sculpture, paintings and redesigning his home.

I love his niche display (pictured below) in his living room wall that features prisms in the style of his hero, Frank Lloyd Wright. I think it is stunning.


See more of his work at http://www.craigsibley.com/

In my dreams, it would be so fun to collaborate with Craig on a project.

Love you Cousin. It's been too long, let's get together.

Writing on the Wall -- Katherine's Kitchen

Here is more on Katherine's Kitchen, a DIY project.

Wallwords -- also called wallstickers, vinyl stickers -- are becoming popular and I used a version of the art form in Katherine's kitchen on her soffit.

I cut letters from paper, positioned and adhered to the soffit using a forgiving re-positioning glue found at most stores selling scrapbook supplies. The glue makes the paper act like a "post-it-note" to allow you to reposition the paper. Left in place it adheres permanantly. The cost for the wallwords was under $3, that included paper and glue.

Wow, that is a lot of bang for the buck.

To create the letters I choose a font on my computer and printed each letter to be 4 inches tall. Next I placed a blank paper on the bottom and cut around the printed letter using it as a template. You could use any color paper. We choose white to complement the white cabinets.

This project takes a steady hand and some time. If you don't want to attempt this yourself, there are plenty of online sources for wallwords. Check out Uppercase Living or do a search on Etsy for wallstickers.

Send me a photo of your "writing on the wall".

Makeover - in St. Louis Magazine AT HOME

Katherine's Kitchen Before

Katherine's Kitchen After Makeover

My project to remake Katherine's Kitchen is featured this month in St. Louis Magazine AT HOME. Ten designers' projects were highlighted. You can read the stories online, or if you live in St. Louis, pick up a copy of the special "design issue" at your local grocery store or Walgreens.

I have copied the article about my project for your convenience:

Picture This: The Kitchen
Designer: Dana King, Dana’s Design Studio

It began with unpalatable pink ceramic tile and a problem picking out just the right color paint.

Now, Katherine Bish’s rejuvenated kitchen is like an alarm clock on the first day of school, ringing out reasons for her sleepy South County home to wake up from its 30-year nap.

Ms. Bish, a photographer whose work appears in several magazines including St. Louis Magazine and AT HOME, bought her home about a year ago. The kitchen was the first to be tackled.

On a limited budget, a wish and an unusual request for the designer, the project moved forward—ready or not.

“Katherine called me and said the painters were ready to go, but she had been called to Chicago on a shoot. She wanted me to pick out the paint colors for her kitchen,” says Dana King of Dana’s Design. “I had never picked colors when a homeowner wasn’t there, but Katherine said, ‘I trust you, I trust you,’ and I knew paint is always easy to fix.”

What inspired Ms. King was the very feature that troubled Ms. Bish. Decorative tile with a pink floral center covered the countertops and backsplash, and that pink definitely needed toning down.

“There was terra cotta and green in the tile, so I chose a khaki green color for the walls,” Ms. King says. “It almost made that pink in the tile read the same color as the terra cotta.”

Ms. King then brightened the dark wood cabinets and the wainscoting with a fresh coat of white paint—a project that demanded only a good primer and a steady hand. No sanding required.

A coat of leftover khaki paint and a bit of roughing on the edges gave an old dark wooden table a perfectly distressed look. Black chairs given to Ms. Bish were the final touch.

Ms. King framed a montage of Ms. Bish’s photos in $6 white frames and then hung them, as well as adding a funky red lamp that Ms. Bish discovered in an antique store some time ago.

An iridescent copper bowl was placed on the island, and a few more accents were added, bringing the entire project cost to $900.

I will blog more about Katherine's Kitchen. You can also learn more about the makeover in my previous post, click here.