Gallery Walls….when do you take it to the floor?

via elledecor.com

Gallery walls……we seem to not be able to get enough of them

lately - images dominate Pinterest and I find myself helping

more and more clients achieve a balanced gallery wall

in their homes.  

via Pinterest

Between collecting vintage art and our personal family

photos, I have multiple gallery walls in my home.  

Last week, I posted the photo below{on Instagram} of my angled gallery

wall in home and got so many compliments!

   I have tried many things on this wall - a chest, a console

table and a bench.  Because there is a shorter wall that overlaps this space and 

leads to our crazy 6-door hallway, it is difficult to place anything

deep in the space.  So I began hanging some favorite pieces  -

and have taken the risk to hang frames almost all the way to the floor.

This arrangement doesn't work everywhere but given how you view this

wall when you are in the room and the difficulty of placing a piece of furniture

I am really happy with how it looks here!

So what do you think? 

 Would you hang a grouping of pictures to the floor

in your own home?

On newsstands now!

I did find the spring issue of Flea Market Style at Barnes & Noble yesterday.

{and my mom confirmed it is also available in the Bend, Oregon B&N}

I am incredibly proud and humbled to see my design

and styling work featured. 

If you have seen it, I would love to hear what you think. For real.

This journey, of pursuing my passion is one I will never

regret…..I still pinch myself each day that I get to

work with clients who trust me and believe in my vision

{and tolerate my 'still-learning how to be a real designer' fumbles}, 

that I get to work in a creative field AND be a mom {not that

I am saying it's always easy}, that I am learning, growing, stretching…..

that I am doing what makes me 'come alive'….all.of.it.

Ok, this is the last you will hear me "toot my own horn" - I

sometimes get annoyed at bloggers who blather on and on about

all their career conquests and I would hate to do that…..

My intention is to use my story to inspire….to encourage.

'Cause, sometimes we could all use a little of that, no

matter where we are in our own journey.

A Familiar {and Fun!} Client

One of the things I really love most about my 'job' is getting know

my clients.  Designing home spaces is really personal and I never

take it lightly or for granted when clients trust me to come in their

homes, share their frustrations and desires and allow me

to advise them on how to achieve a space that suits their family.

Working with clients via e-design makes this personal relationship harder,

but often easier!  I sometimes think people allow themselves

to be more open in an email than they would otherwise

be in person.  

Recently, I was contacted by a potential client who is

friends with a friend of mine from Pennsylvania!  It has been

really fun working on Michele's master bedroom update!

The familiarity and trust was a treat!

Are you interested in working with me on a room or rooms

in your home?  Please email me at jillbeth@aol.com.

I would love to help you!

Love in your home….

"Home is not a place…..it's a feeling."

I hope your home is filled with feelings of love today!

Where you can find my work……published!

{no, my home didn't make the cover, but I think it should have!}

I believe I had mentioned here that I worked on a photo shoot last September…..

Well, the photo shoot actually took place at a home of a 

local client.  I was thrilled last year when I submitted this client's

home to Ki Nassauer, editor of Flea Market Style magazine for 

consideration to be published in the magazine and it was accepted!

And then I was even more thrilled when I was hired as the 

stylist for the photo shoot.  It was really a fabulous experience and more

than anything I am proud and honored to have my work published

for the world to see {it's 12 pages of goodness!}.  Even better, the house that you will

see in the magazine {which should be on newsstands next week} really

represents my style and how I think a home should feel  - collected,

comfortable and cozy!

And here's a little *hint* for you, THIS is the house that you will see lots more of! 

{my photo, not the mags}

The Flea Market Style blog is giving away a copy of the magazine to one

lucky winner - you can go HERE to enter!

My Olympic Connection….and you can follow along!

Are you going to watch the opening ceremonies tonight?

We will be glued to the TV with popcorn bowls on 

our laps - I love the pomp and circumstance, the crazy

outfits and the patriotism shown by athletes who have

dedicated their lives to experience THIS moment! 

I can't help but think about the proud moms and dads

in the stands who have also dedicated so much to watch

their child get to the Olympics in their chosen sport - 

it has to be amazing!

My cousin Courtney's sister-in-law Debbie McCormick is a 

four-time Olympian, representing the United States as a member

of the Women's Curling Team.  We have followed Debbie's 

career and will be looking for her tonight as she walks with the

U.S. delegation during the opening ceremonies!

And don't ask me if I understand curling, cause I don't.  I just

know it's a lot harder than it looks!

My cousin Courtney and her husband Donnie and their two young sons

are traveling to Sochi on Saturday so they can cheer on 'Aunt Debbie'

and the United States athletes.  In addition to asking for your prayers

for their safe travels, I wanted you all to know that they have

created a blog and will be sharing their experience in Sochi!

I have posted on my sidebar and you can find it HERE.

In addition to all the media coverage of the games, I 

thought it might be fun to share this personal account with

all of you!

Go TEAM USA!

** Remember, you can still enter the TARGET Sweepstakes HERE!

A room fit for a tween!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of working with a pretty cute, sassy, Lego & Barbie playing,

volleyball spiking and giraffe loving client…..my very own tween daughter!

She and I enjoyed a rare weekend at home with just the two of us -

Moms, isn't it such a treat to spend one-on-one time with your children?

Really a gift.

I had promised we would work on some styling in her room -

we painted it over the summer and had added the fun rug

but that was about it.  The walls were basically bare except her

bulletin board {where momma allows her to pin whatever she wants!}.

We had begun to collect some prints that were meaningful to her.  On Saturday 

we headed to Ikea to get some frames and look for some Lego

storage options….on ONGOING issue for my girl!

{which is a problem I am not going to complain about - 

I love that my daughter who turns 12 next month still plays with Legos}.

I love that I have these photos to look at, because on most

days it DOES.NOT.LOOK.LIKE.THIS.

And I have this to say about kids rooms……..

Enjoy the time when your children are small and you can decorate

their spaces however YOU like, but when they reach a certain age

help them create a space that has their own stamp on it even 

if is not what YOU would totally choose to do.  That's not to 

say there isn't a give and take.  For example, I really do not like

posters tacked on walls so I compromise by hanging a VERY

large bulletin board in my girls' rooms and allow them to tack up

anything they want on the bulletin board.  So when last year they couldn't

get enough of Justin Beiber and this year they love Louie from 

One Direction, the respective posters can be easily swamped out.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Target Cartwheel……$1000 Sweepstakes!

My love affair with Target goes way back.  I have always

been impressed with Target's well laid out, clean stores

and fabulous products.  You might even find

me at my local Target store multiple times

in one week….

The frequency of my Target visits hit record

highs when I lived in Minnesota.  Target's headquarters

are located in Minneapolis, thus, shopping at Target

was as common as lakes, hot dish, and snow in April!

I recently learned about a great new app called Cartwheel

by Target that is fun and easy to use and makes

savings on EVERYTHING you buy at Target

super easy.  

Now, admittedly, I am not a coupon clipping kind of

gal, however, I am always impressed when I catch

an episode of Extreme Couponing and some thrifty

gal buys lifetime supplies of grocery products and the store

gives HER money back!

When I have clipped coupons in the past, I inevitably

leave them at home or they end up living at the 

bottom of my purse until the coupon has expired.

With Cartwheel by Target you select the savings you want

from over 700 offers {coupons} in your Cartwheel App on your phone.

And even better -if you are a coupon clipping, maximum savings seeker, you can

coupon and discount stack.  This means that you are able to 

add additional savings with other Target discounts or coupons,

manufacturers' coupons or even your Target REDcard discount.

How does it work?

You download the Cartwheel app to your iPhone or Droid.

******

Login using your Facebook login.  Using your Facebook login

allows you to what offers your friends have on their Cartwheel

lists.  However, if you don't want your Cartwheel activity

to post on your Facebook page, you manage your preferences

in the app's privacy settings.  You can also add any offer to 

your list as 'private'.

******

After your account is set-up and ready to go you can 

browse various categories and select the products/offers

that you will be shopping for on your next 

Target visit……or if you are like me,

you discover offers/products that are just 

too good to not include on your shopping list!

When you first begin using Cartwheel you

are allowed 10 offer spots {coupons}.  You 

earn "badges" by reaching savings milestones

or interacting with Cartwheel.  The more "badges"

earned equals more offer spots earned.

******

Offers for savings are plentiful - just this weekend

my 11 year old daughter panicked on Sunday when

she realized she needed to bring a new pair of 

socks to school on Monday for a service project 

her Catholic school was doing.  Knowing I needed

to go to Target for some other items, I simply pulled

up my Cartwheel app on my phone and searched

"socks" and found that there was an offer for 15% off

all Xhilaration brand socks and tights.  I added that

offer to my Cartwheel and when I checked out I

simply pulled up the barcode on my phone that included

ALL my offers for many of the items I was 

purchasing and the cashier scanned it from my phone

and the savings were deducted from my total.

In addition to the savings on the socks, I saved 10% off 

Yoplait Greek yogurt, 10% off Up & Up sandwich bags,

5% off Kraft shredded cheese and 10% off a 

DiGiorno frozen pizza {just because I didn't feel like cooking}.

BlogHer is generously offering the chance for my readers to enter 

a sweepstakes drawing for a $1,000 Target GiftCard®!

Yes, you read that right!

To Enter, simply leave me a comment letting me know

the product or product category you would most

like to save on during your next Target visit.

Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 1/30 - 2/28.
Be sure to visit the Target Cartwheel brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!