Gotta Love Fiestaware!

Could anything be more fun than Fiestaware!?!? I don't think so!

So many colors, so many possibilities! I started collecting Fiesta about 8 years ago with my first purchases of a few place settings. I am now the proud owner of 12 place settings each in a different color and many other coordinating serving pieces and accessories. The classic style of Fiesta looks good in both contemporary and traditional kitchens. I have opted for collecting pieces in a wide variety of colors, but that's not for everyone...picking two or three different coordinating colors would be a great way of incorporating Fiesta into your kitchen too! The folks at Fiesta keep you on your toes with the introduction of new colors and the retirement of older colors. The newest color was introduced late last year and is a dark brown called "Chocolate". It would look great as an accent with the Ivory for a crisp look or with Tangerine or Turquoise for a punch.

My 12 place settings:
(From top: Juniper, Chartreuse, Cobalt, Peacock, Sea Mist, Cinnabar, Yellow, Periwinkle, Pearl Gray, Rose, Persimmon, and Plum)


This is my stove and several Fiesta accessories....mugs on a mug tree, chartreuse tea pot, persimmon salt & pepper shakers, yellow spoon rest, persimmon utensil crock and an apricot napkin holder. I just LOVE these colors together!



I absolutely love these Fiesta "Diner" plates and am regularly hunting on eBay for more pieces with this fun 50's design!

Round Reflections

Round mirrors...wow...the possibilities are endless! Be creative! I was inspired by the circles on the bedding in my guest room to add round mirrors to the decor. I went with a random pattern and think it turned out awesome!

All of the mirrors came from Target and were very reasonably priced. The large mirror is an 18" beveled mirror and was $19.99. The other 7 mirrors came together in a set also for only $19.99. The large mirror is big enough to actually be functional. I had been challenged with what to put on the walls in this room for a long time and I am very happy with the mirror grouping...gets me a little closer to "finishing" this room!

Other round mirror ideas and inspirations:

• cb2 has a 5 mirror set framed in aluminum...very cool. Check out the room view pictures for some creative ideas. This one is my favorite...so orginal!
• Target also sells a 9 piece mirror set that are all the same size. Very cool look.
• A vertical grouping idea:

Vintage Lamp Transformation!

This 1960's lamp is the coolest! My mom found it at a vintage store in downtown Champaign called Carrie's. It was in need of some updating though...the wiring needed re-done, I needed a lampshade and the brass elements didn't go with my decor either. The folks at Tepper Electric did the re-wiring and ordered the perfect tall, black shade for it. I then spray painted the brass parts silver to go with my room a bit more. Check out the transformation:

Paint prep:


After:





I absolutely LOVE the finished product! (Though I wonder if I would love it even more if the silver color was a bit darker...more like pewter?? Hmmm...) The yellow, blue and orange are the perfect colors and it adds a lot of vintage flair and drama to the room! See what fun it can be to update an old item to make it work for your space. Give it a try!

Warhol pop art!

You either LOVE Andy Warhol's artwork or you HATE it....well, I am one of those people that LOVE it! The simple images and vibrant colors are what attracts me most to his work. He was able to take many ordinary images and make them look extraordinary....a Campbell's soup can, a Coke bottle, a gun...and photographs of people such as Marilyn Monroe, Jackie O, and himself! You will even notice that I added a Warhol art application to the bottom of this blog...it will rotate different Warhol pieces each time you log on...hope you enjoy it!

I recently saw these mini appetizer plates at cb2 and had to get some! I bought 3 of the 4 colors they make. They are about 5 inches in diameter and made of melamine. The best part is....they are only $1.50 each....that means I got 3 of them for under 5 bucks! Awesome deal! I set them on clear plastic plate stands and created a small display on my dining room built-in hutch along with a white vase. Such a fun little display...and it was cheap enough that I won't be too hearbroken to take it down someday and replace it with something new.

Great magazine!

Atomic Ranch is a fantastic magazine focusing on mid-century architecture...1940's-1960's ranches and modern homes. There are tons of great pictures of exteriors and interiors of many different homes in each issue. It is so fun to take a peak inside other people's houses to see how they have interpreted mid-century design and of course "borrow" ideas from them! One of the things I love the most about the magazine are all the advertisements for great stores and companies focused on mid-century decor and accessories...anything from 1950's style numbers for the outside of your house to shops specializing in mid-century modern artwork...the best part is that most ads list a website that you can explore! I highly recommend this magazine to mid-century design lovers...such great inspirations! I have also just discovered that they list links to their advertisers on their website...check the list out here!

Fun & Cheap Art!

This is one of my favorite art projects! I purchased a duvet cover from IKEA for $15 and used it to create these four art pieces. All we did was cut up the duvet cover into four different pieces and then stapled them to canvases...super easy and fun! The living room had all white walls when I bought the house...after I made these art pieces I knew that they needed to be on a colored wall in order to "pop"...gray was the perfect choice with all the elements in the room...I absolutely love how this turned out! Modern planters can also be hard to find...I found this one at cb2. They come in 3 different sizes and I have one of each size...the one in this picture is the middle sized one.