Going there...

To NYC/ Blogfest 2012 that is.  

The mecca of all things design blog and glossy magalicious.

If you don't know what I am talking about click here, but I am sure you are getting an earful from all of us bloggers going.  Its like a 3 day bender for designaholics.  I leave Monday morning for three days jam packed with eye candy, shindigs and mingling. 

Reality.  I am giddy and nervous and quite frankly a ball of nerves.  What to wear? I raided my closet and I realize I own a ton of boring black.  My accessories are bleh too. No time to shop. Need to get the house clean and kids set up so I can leave with peace of mind. Need a haircut/color fix.  

I also have a ton of work to get done for

(like my new logo? feeling it!)

EEEEEEE!  Can you tell I haven't taken a trip ALONE since kids?  I am going to have to keep myself in check or else I will be dancing the robot and unleashing 7 years of pent up motherhood on everyone.

Despite all the nerves I am so excited to finally meet so many bloggers face to face!  

I also have high hopes for lots of blog inspiration/ mojo building.  I so need this.

 (The sporadic post have been far and few lately) 

I will be Instagraming (danikaherrick), FBing and Twittering (probably in that order since I really stink at Twitter) so be sure to pop over for a peek of the happenings.  I might go crazy and squeeze a blog post out, who knows.  I will be back with lots of good stuff fo-sure!

Be back in wink and for all my fellow bloggers going, see you Monday! Can't wait to meet you.

Now go weekend it up!

xo

Danika

Top 10 Room Prozac

Just got the latest Coastal Living in the mail today and I figured I share some a couple of their 

"Top 10 Happiest Rooms".  

Right now my house is a sty and I have no idea when I might have a moment to clean, so let me wallow in the pretty here. 

 My favorites from their batch are:

This closet. 

Mostly because I decided to clean mine out Saturday and there is still shit piled all over my bedroom.  

I want this to happen somehow. And I want all the bright pretty clothes.  

Magic. Closet Elves. Sorcery. Bring it.

 This is A-O.K in my book...

and this makes me pretty happy too...

then top it all off with a banquette... done.

see the rest here

DIY DRIFTWOOD FINISH and some hacking

I have the easy peasey of painted finishes for you that happens to fit into my "Beach Month" theme.

(Remind me to never "theme" out again- I have no focus or attention span so this is hard.)

SO... it is driftwood.  

Yes, it has been shoved down our throats hard by the likes of Restoration Hardware and company, 

but it still is soft and pretty and beachy, so I still like.

I have a new IKEA Tarva in my possession. It is awesome and it might possibly be the best of both IKEA worlds. I'm talking Malm and Rast had a baby.  It is big like Malm, but made of wood like Rast so you can paint the holy hell out of it. It is also 20x better constructed than Rast.  I approve.

This finish works best on raw wood, but if you want to do it on a painted surface I recommend not adding water to your paint in this first step.

#1- Mix up a 1 part water, 2 parts paint (Grayish brown- I used C2- Barnacle, it was left over from my office walls.) Don't use a Semi- Gloss finish- you want matte or eggshell.

#2 Brush it over the entire piece.  Go with the grain, and move quickly so you don't get a  lot of overlapping brush marks.  

 You don't want it to be too heavy, you should still see some wood grain.

( If you are doing this over a painted surface, you will want to make sure you have decent coverage and the old color isn't visible.)

 #3 add 1 part white to 2 parts remaining brownish-gray...

 Using a wide flat brush "dry brush" this new color over the entire surface, once again going with the grain. Just dip the tip of the brush in and wipe off excess on a rag, and drag the brush along...

#4 Add 1 part white to remaing paint and repeat.

You are progressively getting lighter with each step, and leaving darker streaks from underneath...

#5

Repeat if you want it lighter.

Here is the end result.  The wood grain actually shows through still in some parts...

 I added some mother of pearl knobs my Mom found for me at Homegood's...

And then I had to test out some new "Fiona" O'verlays that were sized for the Tarva.

(P.S. 15% off O'verlays with coupon code YOURMOM15, good til 5/15/12).

These were spray painted with Krylon "Nickel" 

and then dry brushed with the last batch of paint.

Super easy, and it has me wanting to driftwood my linoleum floors.

All in moderation...

A little breather

 After my last over-saturated, over-the-top Diamond Baratta post 

I figured you might need a little visual breather. 

(Actually a big breather, theres a lot of pictures here).

Next up is my all time favorite neutral beach house.  Meg Ryan's Martha's Vineyard retreat has been a favorite for a few years now.  I actually would take this space as a year round home any day!

Lots of white, with a rustic meets glam element...

definitely a place to unwind and relax.

And I have to add my NEW favorite neutral beach pad too.

Tobi Tobin's Malibu cottage is just as fabulous and easy on the eyes...

LOVE them both-

Have a great weekend!

If Willy Wonka had a Beach House...

it would be awesome, and I'd be all over that golden ticket.

It would also most definitely be decorated by Diamond Baratta.

I was suppose to finish my New England Beach House posting, but it is way too raw and rainy here right now.  Needed to change locations, so I am opting for some over-the-top-lily-gilding chromatics.

Bring on the absinthe laced drinks & Oompa-Loompahs in grass skirts please...

DB does color and scale like no one else.  More is More.  Its like non stop fireworks...

And they also trick out traditional.

 Your Grandma on Steroids...

 And a massive trellis explosion. 

And finally, this has nothing to do with beach month except for the fact that I'd do this sh*t if I had a beach house,  my all time fave Diamond Baratta in the form of "staircase"...