Feature Friday- Rachel Dunnigan

*Disclaimer: All images in this post are of artworks done by Rachel Dunnigan or pictures she submitted of her home. I claim no credit or responsibility for any of the art or photography in this post.

Its Feature Friday! Since I don't want to do all the artist features at once, I mentioned that I was thinking about spreading them out. And today being Friday, I have the element of alliteration on my side. I'm not sure yet if it will be a weekly or monthly thing, so yall let me know how you like it!

Organica

I'm so excited to be bringing you my first artist feature! Her name is Rachel Dunnigan, and her Etsy shop is littleEarthTreasures. And she is sweet as pie! She is donating one of her pieces for a giveaway for you wonderful readers, which will be coming up in a week or two.

For those of you who don't know me that well yet, I love things organic. I find such beauty in nature. So I'm sure its not much surprise that one of my favorite pieces of hers is this one, titled 'Organica'.

She was gracious enough to answer a few questions for us too.

Where do you get your inspiration?

RD ~ My inspiration comes from anything and everything. From fallen autumn leaves on the ground or in a tree, to seeing all of the color swatches lined up together in a paint store. Nature inspires me most. Flora, sunshine, green grass... everything.

Violet

What is your favorite piece and why?

RD ~ If I had to choose, my favorite piece would be 'VIOLET'. I painted this for my best friend who's expecting a daughter whose name will be Violet, hence the title. I've painted and continue to paint many variations of this piece -- in different sizes and color schemes -- as I absolutely adore creating abstract flora paintings.

How long have you been painting? How did you get started?

RD ~ I've been painting on and off since I was a little girl. I used to attend weekend classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art when I was small, and have immersed myself in art of all kinds since I can remember. However, the past few years have been crucial to my growth as a painter. I mostly use acrylics and adore mixed media. Sometimes I'll paint with acrylic and use an adhesive to fix a real flower onto the painting.

Seeing as how this blog is mainly focused on home design, I'd love it if you're willing to submit a picture of something in your home you wouldn't mind readers seeing, maybe a room you love, or a piece of art you adore, etc.

"Here is an inspirational photo of my back yard, a place where I spend an unusual amount of time..."

"...and another of my favorite room in my home (it's bright, sunny, and alluring)."
-Rachel Dunnigan

 And just because, here are a few more works I love:

Mermaids

With a name like Mermaids, is it any wonder that I love this? (Hush Kelly! Lol!)

Celestial

I love things celestial too, and most anything depicting the differences between night and day.

And that concludes my very first artist feature, thanks to Rachel Dunnigan! I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have, and be sure to go check out her shop, and maybe even purchase something, and tell her I sent ya! And stay tuned for a giveaway of one of her pieces, and for more artist features!

Guest Post- Elegant Tuscany Style

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from someone over at Arcadian Lighting Blog saying they enjoyed reading my blog, and wanting to know if I'd be interested in a guest post. Well of course I said yes! She asked if I had a preference of topics and I told her to surprise me. So she said she'd get to work on writing one, and get back to me. To be honest I had forgotten about it until I got her email last night with the article! For her topic she picked Elegant Tuscany Style. Exciting, yes? So without further ado, here is Jessica!

Hi everyone! I'm Jessica, a writer for Arcadian Lighting, a wonderful source for beautiful and affordable lighting fixtures. I'm delighted to be guest posting on Design on a Dream today because I'm going to be sharing beautiful interiors inspired by a dreamy location. Tuscan style interiors are all about warm colors, rich, rustic textures and classic Roman motifs. I hope these rooms inspire you to create your own Tuscany getaway at home! Enjoy!

Fresh white fabrics and sun bleached wooden furniture makes this patio a perfectly relaxing space to spend an afternoon. Crawling vines and a trellis patio cover add a wonderfully Tuscan feel to the scene.

This cozy kitchen and living room illustrate the beauty of rustic Tuscan style with its exposed wood beams, simple wooden furniture and cabinets. The terra cotta tiles and wrought iron hand rail are traditional features of the style, as well.

The marble floors, high ceiling and dramatic fireplace are definitely swoon-worthy in this luxurious bedroom. The cream and rose color palette is particularly romantic, and the pair of petite table lamps are so cute.

What's more Italian than dining al fresco? A lush green backyard and simple table and chairs sets the scene for a lovely afternoon or evening dining with friends and family.

Brilliant gold and red accents create a very regal, Tuscan atmosphere in this bedroom. Robust furnishings and wrought iron wall art are perfect for completing the look.

A warm, yellow color palette and beautiful frieze paintings are classic Tuscan details. The wrought iron chandelier and pendant light in the kitchen are beautiful intricate details.

A brilliant golden color palette and impressive view of a fresh green garden make this dining room perfectly elegant and airy. It's a beautiful alternative to dining out doors.

The serene bathroom could be from a Tuscan villa. The fabulous claw foot tub and marble-esque walls are classically beautiful. Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

How much do you love Tuscan style interiors? Let us know in the comments! And be sure to stop by Arcadian Lighting to find the right chandeliers or pendant lights to brighten your home!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can I just say that I love love love that bedroom? Oh and the kitchen, dining room and bathroom after it! Those are some truly gorgeous spaces!

~ Courtney

Pink!

I had planned on posting either my first artist feature tonight on an incredibly sweet lady named Rachel, or the guest post that I just received from Jessica over at Arcadian Lighting Blog, but both are having a few technical difficulties tonight (besides needing a few tweaks that I am waiting on from each person). So I decided to pick through Pinterest and talk about some of the things I am loving right now.

If you ask me what my favorite color is, I'll usually tell you its rainbow. (Massive gay cliche, but I've loved colors since I was little. I wish my mom had taken pictures of me in the outfit I wore the first day of 5th grade! I think I was seen in technicolor that day). But if I absolutely HAD to pick one, and only one, color to call my favorite, most days I'd tell you pink. And I've been seeing a lot of pink decor that I love around Pinterest, so I figured what better topic for a spur-of-the-moment meme than my favorite color right?

I LOVE this bathroom! Jess would never let me do this (and she might actually get mad at me if I did it without telling her- I can get by with almost anything, but I think this might be too far lol). But a girl can dream right? I love the black vanity against the whitebeadboarding and checkerboard floor. I love the square vessel sink and the glossy black baroque mirror (I think that's the right description, I had to google it). I love the modern light fixture. Suffice it to say, I just love everything about this bathroom! I can't help but wonder what the shower looks like. Also be sure to check out the rest of their house! I think I could be great friends with these people, at least based on their decorating style. I don't agree with everything they've done, but its the closest I've possibly ever seen to my own very colorful, eclectic style.

Can you see a theme emerging here? I love black and white with pops of color! I think I'd have more chance of talking Jess into this one if I wanted to because the pink is much less dominant. Its a little too much white and not enough color for my taste overall though, but I can still appreciate it. I love the simple black tufted headboard (tufted furniture is something else I have been loving recently) and the clean, simple lines of the night table.

I love that she wasn't afraid to go for a bold color here. I think a lot of people are afraid to use pink in decorating. Plus I think a lot of men would be very unhappy with their wives if they had pink walls or decor! The only thing I would have done differently is to paint the shelves in white, but I'm sure it was much less hassle just to do them all in one color. I love the lighting in the top too, I think it really lights up the bold pink while still keeping the focus on the items on display. This would be a quick, easy update for a piece you've grown tired of!

So there you have it. What do yall think? Love it or hate it? Anyone have any pink rooms or decor to share?

Artist Features Coming Soon!

I've been on something of an art kick lately. I can spend hours on Etsy just browsing art and liking new works and shops. That's part of the reason I've slacked off a bit on posting lately, I can't seem to pull myself away from browsing art long enough to pull a post together. I stumbled across some works from a new artist that I fell in love with, and decided to message her and ask if she'd be interested in being featured and possibly offer a giveaway or discount code for yall. Then I kept browsing, and it must have been my night, because I stumbled across several more new artists whose work I love. I think part of it is due to the fact that my absolute favorite art style, impasto,  is becoming 'trendy'. By the end of it I had messaged 8 shop owners total, not expecting to get anything back because I am still such a small blog. Well, when I woke up today I checked my email, and had responses from not one but FOUR of them, all interested in being featured and offering discount codes or a giveaway! So this is sort of a teaser post, and if I can get all the information together that I need from one of them, I will get the first one up tonight!

*Edit: after this post I got one more response, so now I have 5 artists lined up for features! I'm thinking about making it a weekly or monthly thing, but I haven't decided for certain yet. Any thoughts?

New TV Entertainment Center Soon I Hope!



This is not my living room, but it is
the same console I have
{ Source }

Remember me saying that I planned on repurposing my old entertainment center whenever I eventually get a new one, or selling it on Craigslist? Well Crystal and I were talking the other day and she mentioned wanting to get a new one soon because hers is literally about to fall apart. I told her I'd sell her mine if she wanted it whenever we managed to get a new one, and she said she'd like that. I told her I'd check the condition of it and give her an estimate, but if I had to make a guess I'd say around $150 (we paid $400 for it at Best Buy a year and a half ago; it sells for $350 now).

{ Source }

So then of course (of course! Wouldn't you go shopping?) I started shopping for a new one. And I found one at Ikea that I LOVE. And then I realized that it has to be mounted that it has to be mounted to the wall over the TV, and since our tv has to go against the stair wall, that wouldn't be possible. So then I was like well frick. Lol.

So, as much I as I want a wall-unit entertainment center (all that shelving! Plus I've just always wanted one), it appears it is not going to be possible, at least not for now. (I'd love to move it to another wall but we'd have to buy a wireless router, have the cable/internet re-routed or live with cords/cables going across the floor. Neither is happening any time soon.)



{ Source }

I resigned myself to finding one I like that's not a wall unit. Ikea doesn't have any that I'm crazy about (at least none that would hold our 47" tv). I found very few that I like for what I'm looking for for the space (the one I have now is a very heavy piece, too heavy for the space; I want something more open, which is why I loved the Expedit), and after a lot of review reading on different sites, I settled on one. I love the open backing, and the side shelving too. I just hope it lives up to its picture. Its from Wal-Mart, so I'm extremely skittish, but the reviews were mostly positive. And even for a piece like the one I've got already, which came perfectly packaged and drilled and assembled wonderfully easily, there are still some bad reviews saying things arrived damaged or wrong parts or improperly drilled. So I think I'm going to take a chance with it and hope for the best. And it only costs $99, so I've got a little extra to play with, which of course makes me happy.

Crystal's Sign Gallery

I spent the bulk of last night at my sister Crystal's house. (She's the sister who's redecorating. I know, I know, I have so many lol!) She did go buy that sectional sofa I mentioned, plus she painted the whole living room, she's bought new curtains and curtain rods, she bought an area rug when we were at the flea market last weekend, and she bought a handful of metal signs she wanted to hang on the wall. She was afraid to try it by herself, so we tackled it together. I won't bore you with a whole tutorial on how we did it, its the same method I'm sure you've seen a million times (arrange everything on the floor in a design you like, make paper templates of each piece, mark each paper with identifying words and placement so they don't get mixed up, mark nail placement on paper, tape paper to wall to perfect spacing and placement, nail through paper, remove paper and hang items- if you want more detailed instructions, here's a pretty good tutorial that's pretty close to what we did). In the end, we ended up with this:

Left is the papers taped while we were working on spacing and stuff; Right is the final result

Its entirely possible I went a bit overboard with the picture editing. But this way it somewhat disguises the crappy quality of a cell phone picture at night with low lighting. And anyway you get the idea. Kelly feel free to go take a replacement picture for us! The whole area isn't ready for reveal yet though. But its all coming along nicely!

And just because, here's a preview of her living room so far:

Look in the corner and you can see her dated cabinets and laminate countertops with pink edging! How's that for a bit of before and after!?

Meet My New Salt Lamp

Some of you may remember me posting a while back about wanting to get a salt lamp (you can go read the post here if you're interested). Well, I finally got one! Its not the basket-type that I originally wanted, but I don't care. Jess and I went to the flea market Sunday morning with Crystal and another friend. We had stopped to look at this one stall that had gorgeous cuts of quartz and other minerals, made into everything from wind chimes to jewelry to bookends. I almost didn't see the salt lamps, they were tucked back behind a display. The tag said $20 but she said she'd give it to me for $15. We went and walked around the rest of the market, but I couldn't stop thinking about it so when we'd made it all the way around we went back. I got the lamp (and Jess bought an arrowhead necklace made from crystal for $5. And Crystal went back to a different vendor and got a rug she couldn't stop thinking about). Now, in hindsight, I could have gotten the same basic lamp online for $6-10. (The basket ones are the ones that start around $25 or $30.) I'm just happy I finally got one though! It was worth it to me. Even if it weren't for all the health benefits its supposed to have, I'd still love it. It has a raw, earthy look to it that I am swooning over, and I think it fits in well with all the nature elements the room has and will have eventually.

What do you think dreamers? Love it or hate it?


PS Dont forget to enter my giveaway if you haven't already! 2 nights in a luxury mountain condo during spring break! Enter here, it ends March 12!