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Throw Pillows

In Feb, the hubs and I bought new couches. I absolutely love them, but they needed something else. . . PILLOWS of course! I already had some but plain tan doesn't fly around here anymore. I had been eying some fabric at Calico Corners and decided that it would make beautiful throw pillows for my new couches. I ordered a yard and when i got it, it seemed like so much less than a yard normally does. luckily I had some left over fabric from when I reupholstered my dining chairs and it's the perfect color for the BACK of my new pillows. This way I ended up with 3 pillows instead of 2. GENIUS MOMENT!



Here's the fabric that I found. I love the colors and the pattern is so feminine, yet masculine all at the same time.  

Pillow Before




Here's how my little project ended. I love how they look and I think they add just the touch when I look from
Under My Mulberry Tree.

Painted Fireplaces

I know it sounds like a huge faux pas to paint a fireplace surround, but sometimes there is nooo other option. All too often you see in older homes that dreadful 50's and 60's stone fireplace surround. It doesn't go with ANYTHING!!! I'm sure some designers and decorators would disagree and argue that a GOOD designer could make it work. Truth be told: I wouldn't want to make it work!. In reconciling this dilemma there are a few things you could do.
1. You could rip the stone down and completely reface the entire thing.
2. You could drywall over it and then reface the whole thing. 

Don't have the money for 1. or 2. but still hate your dated stone fireplace!?! That's where option 3 comes in.

3. Paint it!!! 

There are probably husbands out there all over the place with their heads in their hands shaking it. Moaning and thinking, "YOU CAN"T JUST PAINT IT!!!!!" Well I say, You can! It doesn't even have to be white. White would be the most 'normal' color that you could chose and would match more homes. But what does your home want? Pick a color that suits your decor. If it's white, then go with it, but maybe a nice bright AQUA would suit you better. If you do choose a bold hue like aqua, I would recommend a dominantly neutral scheme for the rest of the room. Whatever it is, make it yours. Here are some photos I've found via Google search, of painted and non painted fireplaces.



This stunning fireplace was found on Decor Pad

This is a great example of a before and after that I found at Mid-Century Midwest
I love how the stone surround turned out.

This Beauty was found here


Wanna See more? Go here


Found this picture at DIY Network's site.

I LOVE how this one looks! It is in a restaurant, but the coloring is awesome. It was featured on this blog.

Well there you have it! Some things just look better with a little coat of paint. That's painted fireplaces from my view
Under My Mulberry Tree 

Pink Rooms?

I have recently seen a few PINK rooms and at first I couldn't decide; Pink? or No Pink? I think I have decided that YES! I like PINK in a room. Will I ever have one? Prob not. haha! I love the Hubs, but he is a total "manly man" and pink would never fly. He's more of a, hang my deer heads on tan walls with wildlife art,  kinda guy. But hey, a girl can dream right? While I was looking at different pink rooms, I found that most of them were very feminine. Seems like a DUH right? I also saw some not so feminine rooms that were way too overwhelming to be calm and relaxing so I chose not to post those. So here are some of my PINK rooms.

This lovely lady of a room can be found Here
This first room is obviously geared towards a little girl. That bed would be amazing in general, but can you imagine being the little girl that gets to come home to that!?! It is a tad too pink for me, but wonderful nonetheless.

Wanna Stay here? Me too! You can see it Here
From here on out, the rest of the rooms just happen to be designed by Sarah Richardson from HGTV's Sarah's House and Design Inc. (The fact that she has 2 shows on HGTV, says enough for me.) I immediately swooned ever her work. ALL of it is completely my style. I think a great designer can do that to rooms. (Make it a style that can work for different styles) The room pictured here is a room in a Park Hyatt Hotel. I don't know about you, but I would be elated to stay in a room this pretty!

Bigger fan of Coral than Pink? Check out this pic Here
This particular Living room didn't go with PINK so much as CORAL and RED and ORANGE. However, you still get the whisper of pink looking at it. I think this is a good compromise to what could be considered a "girly" room that is mainly pink.

If this room doesn't scream FEMININE, I don't know what does. This room is probably the most formal of all of the ones shown in this post, although it still looks like it could be lived in. It's not so stuffy that you feel like you can't touch anything, but it does make you want to sit up straight and mind your manners. Beautiful either way.

This Living Room is BY FAR my favorite of them all! When I look at this room, I can just imagine the gasp of refreshing awe as you walk in. Refreshing awe? I know right!?! It's just what I imagine when I think about walking in here. Like a ginormous breath of fresh air. The pink in this room isn't overwhelming. There are a few little soft touches of different tones of pink. I think the otherwise neutral pallet allows the pink to POP, but keeps it from being too harsh. So if you are wanting to try a pop of pink in your room, keep it simple. Allow the room to function without the pink, so that if you change your mind you don't have to renovate the entire room.
So that's PINK from my view, 
UNDER MY MULBERRY TREE

Target Tuesday

Today I'm linkin up over at FabulousButEvil for Target Tuesday! It seems like such a fun idea. Go check it out! Here are the things at Target that I absolutely love right now.



This Grey Satchel is so sleek and sexy. Makes me wanna have a night on the town with the hubs. 


I've had my eye on this beauty for over a year now, but with 2 boys under 3, I can't bring myself to buy it. At only $89, it's a steal for a mirrored table!


I thought this Rug would be so soothing in my craft room that doesn't exist yet. It's perfect! 

These Boots are oh so perfect! Only thing keeping me from owning them is that they no longer have my size. Sad day for me. 

Well that's Target from my view
Under My Mulberry Tree
My blog has been nominated for the Stylish Blogger Award by none other than CoUrtNey over at Frog2Fab!!! She's totally awesome! Go check her out!


1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award up to 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!



  1. 1. I'm all of 4'11"
  2. I'm the middle child of 5 and now the shortest. (The youngest passed me up not too long ago)
  3. I've moved 5 times in the 5 years I've been married. (Each time to a new state)
  4. I can't be in the house for too long before I might literally go crazy
  5.  I love my family more than anything. (All of them, no matter what)
  6. I don't really have a clothing style-some days it's flirty, others it's chill, and others it's DownEast. DownEast is totally a style of it's own
  7. I want to be a good cook but don't really have the desire to take the time everyday to prepare crazy good meals. So I'll settle for mediocre cooking and have time to do other things 


Aprons!

I decided one day that I HAD to have an apron! There is something so 'June Clever' about an apron.  Since I am a SAHM, I secretly wish I was her. I know that just because I stay at home doesn't mean that she is who I have to be, But I WANT to. I want to be a good cook and a great house keeper. I want to greet my husband at the door when he gets home.
I used a pattern so I won't post a play be play. My recommendation is to find a pattern for one that suits you and have at it!

This one is Mine
I made this one for my awesome sis in law

 Since I live in the real world, I know that the house is going to be a disaster sometimes. And that I might not be able to greet my hubby at the door cause I'll probably be trying to keep the smoke, from burning dinner, away from the smoke alarms to keep my neighbors from knowing that I'm not 'June'! finish a gourmet meal. haha! I feel like super mom when I put it on. It's sort of my 'cape'. Such is my life and practice will eventually turn me into all of those things. I feel like super mom when I put it on. It's sort of my 'cape'.Until then though, I have an apron that at least helps me feel a little more like 'June'.
And that's my view from
  Under My Mulberry Tree.

Linking Mondays!

In an effort to try and get my blog out there more, I'm going to start linking up on other sites. I've been told that's a good way to get the word out.


Sumo Sweet Stuff

Making

Texas Monkey

The Living Room

When I think of decorating a house, I think of projects in the order that you would see them in the house. So, I thought it would only be natural to start my home inspirations with the living room.
I've been on a soft hues kick recently and it seems to fit right in with what you can find in stores right now. (Don't know what came first-my airiness or the stores) Anywho. . . I found myself flipping through magazines recently and came upon these loverly living rooms.



I immediately fell in love with the coloring of this room. The aqua colored walls allow the neutral off-whites act as a color in this room. By using natural blonde wood, it allows your eyes to flow through the room, rather than stopping at heavy pieces of dark wood. It's just beautiful.


This Living Room took a different approach to the first. Most everything in this room is white, with sporadic pops of color. By adding darker pieces, like the coffee table, it adds a comfort that the other living room doesn't have. Both rooms I'm sure are very comfortable, but this room is more relaxed and "chill." It feels more lived in.


This last Living Room inspiration is kind of a mix between the 2 with a crazy girly spin. I love the pops of Coral, but there is no way on the planet that my Hubby would ever allow a room this feminine into his house.



Here's what I would do. . . These 2 beautiful chairs, covered in the floral print shown in the background. Plopped Sitting perfectly placed between them, would be an oh so lovely round table like the one shown here.

All Photos Courtesy of BallardDesigns and PotteryBarn

Across from the 2 lovely chairs would be a neutral victorian style couch. Between the Couch and chairs, I really want a smaller, painted  coffee table with rustic lines to offset the formality of the couch and chairs. A lamp that can be adjusted would be ideal. The area would be finished off with a simple accent table. Although I totally LoVe all of these things that I've shown, I don't have 10k for one room. So We'll just have to wait and see what I actually come up with. Until then. . . This is my view from 
Under My Mulberry Tree






Where You At!?!

I've disappeared! Why? wE MoVeD! Not to a house. . . YET. My husband interviewed with a new company in AZ, with the hopes that a different job would let us grow some roots. 2 weeks after the offer was presented, we made it here! That's right 2 weeks! It's been less than a month since we arrived, but oh man, it has been a heck of a couple weeks! In the works though is----A HOUSE! Could it be true!?! I hope! I am just so excited that I can hardly hold it in. I feel like I'm busting at the seems. The only thing I can think about doing is DeCoRaTiNg and pAiNtInG and gardening in this new house that isn't even ours yet! Only time will tell, but hopefully not too long. For the next little while this will be strictly a home inspiration blog and hopefully after that I'll be able to put those inspirations into motion. Wish me luck!

Christmas Colors

With the Christmas season in full swing I wanted to show a color combination that I hadn't thought of before. Obviously the typical RED and GREEN, but with a twist. I've been on a yellow and grey kick recently and decided to throw that in the mix and see how it would look. YELLOW and GREY instead of the traditional Silver and Gold would add a contemporary flare to Christmas. Here is my little inspiration board.



I love how the colors play off of each other! It's a very upbeat theme that could also be toned WAY down if you start with aneutral Grey pallet and add pops of the accent colors. I love the fabric combinations in the first collage. All of those Fabrics can be found at Hawthornthreads. They would make amazing throw pillows for the couch/window seat/breakfast nook. If you make them into removable covers with a zipper, you could easily change them back to the everyday pillows and store the covers for next year.

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Tip of the Week

Tip: Keep an inspiring quote where the family can see it often. Be it scripture or philosopher your family can start the day feeling inspired.



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Inspire Me

I have recently been thinking about different ways that I can make some extra cash. There are so many things out there that I can't decide on any 1 thing. . .until now. I have discovered something that I hope will help me out. I'm going to make a handful of them and either sell them at boutiques or open a WakeRobin Etsy shop. Either way it'll be a little bit before I have things lined up. When I do I'll post it and I'll need your help (my few readers ;) to spread the word and get things going. I'm so excited!


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Christmas Time

I have been so excited to get my Christmas decorations out! The day we got home from my parent's house for Thanksgiving weekend, I busted out the Christmas decor. I'll let the pictures show what I've been able to do so far.

I don't have an extravagant center piece for my small round table. Instead of running out and getting one, I simply grouped a few of my other decorations making more of a statement.


And the TREE!!! What house would be complete without one of these?
Problem: Have toddlers that won't stop touching the ornaments? Solution: Purchase "shatter proof" ornaments. That way if they do get their little paws on a few you won't have to worry about them getting cut.


Since I don't have a fireplace mantel, my coat rack has taken on that role. As you can see I used the coat hooks to display our stocking. I decorated the top and above to help create a focal point. Simple lights added behind my "LetItSnow" sign add that extra touch of Christmas I was looking for.
I used signs with phrases like "LetItSnow" and "Believe" to add a simple statement of the feelings that accompany the holidays.

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Tip of the Week

Photo Courtesy of Everything Christmas
TIP: Keep a bleach pen/ Tide pen handy for accidentals. You’d be surprised how often you might need them! (Especially during the holiday season when kids are getting candy everywhere you turn!)

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Holiday Fun

It is so hard to find Thanksgiving projects and art now that Halloween is over. Thankfully Janet over at Today's Fabulous Findshad some awesome subway art that you can print for FREE!! I couldn't resist and had to get me some. I had a beautiful fugly gold frame that happened to have nice detailing. I also had a can of black spray paint. You get where I'm going.

After borrowing this reclaimed wood frame from my laundry room, I put the 2 together and voila! My Thanksgiving art. For FREE

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Free Printables

In my search for more Thanksgiving projects I stumbled upon Craftily Ever After, which has some great Thanksgiving Printables that would look amazing in anyone's dining room.
Here is just one of the few she has over there.


These would be a great addition to finish off a Fall nook.
She also has a Thanksgiving Definition Printable that looksAmAzInG!

I love that this one looks like it's been printed on burlap. It's a fun way to add a little country without having to deal with actual burlap.

I can't remember where I found this little beauty so if you recognize it please let me know. Like the others this is darling as well.

Good luck and enjoy these great Thanksgiving Printables.

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