A Sweet Girl's Happy Place Enveloped in Pretty Pastel Colors

Pastel colors reign in this lovely girls bedroom. Recently my friend's daughter,  Evie, opted to make over her bedroom for her birthday. She chose this lovely pastel color for her wall which really makes the white furniture pop. A few days ago, while she was in school, I added and styled her bed with this whimsical quilt and pillows from the Happy Places Shopkin Bedroom Collection that I was gifted from the kind folks at Moose Toys.

The colors in the pillow and quilt go so perfectly with the wall color, you'd think they were the inspiration for the room design. The Happy Places Shopkin Bedroom Collection is available exclusively at Target.

So pretty, right? Evie was so thrilled about her surprise pieces from the Happy Shopkin Bedroom collection when she came home from school. Btw, I'd also like to add that Evie's Mom, Lea(who is also the talented photographer i work with all the time), made that beautiful piece of art above the bed. She taped off a canvas to form that design and used left over paint from various projects to paint the different areas-such a genius idea!

* Although I was gifted these pieces, the opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own. 

images: Lea Hartman for Design Addict Mom

How to Maintain Your Houseplants During the Fall and Winter Months

Doesn't Glory the Fig look fabulous? 

Now that the weather has dropped during the evenings, my plants were no longer safe on the porch, so I decided to take them all inside. But how does one maintain his/her plants during the Fall and Winter months? Here are some tips from the experts over at The Old Farmer's Almanac on how to care for your plants late Fall into the Winter months:

LIGHT

Most flowering plants need to be within three feet of a sunny window.
Most plants require 12 to 16 hours of light per day.


WATER

In late fall, water houseplants sparingly until the light begins to increase in the new year.
More houseplants die from overwatering than from anything else.
Water plants with room-temperature water.
Add a few drops of ammonia to one quart of water used for houseplants; it will improve foliage color and increase growth.
Water houseplants in unglazed clay pots frequently.
Frequent mistings under the leaves of houseplants will discourage spider mites.
If your houseplant leaves are dripping, even when you haven’t watered, it’s trying to rid itself of excess water (a process called “guttation”). This makes a plant vulnerable to disease-causing bacteria, so you’ll want to avoid this problem by reducing the amount of water you’re giving the plant, especially in winter months. Also, watch those drips because they contain salts, sugars, and other organics that could stain whatever it is they’re dripping on.

HUMIDITY

Most houseplants are happiest when the relative humidity is 50 percent or higher.
Group houseplants near each other to form a support group to cope with the low humidity of most winter homes.

FERTILIZER

In winter,  feed sparingly; house plants will be sensitive to overfeeding at this time of year.

PESTS

To get rid of bugs in houseplants, push a clove of garlic into the plant’s soil. If the garlic sprouts and grows, just cut it back.
Spider mites are apt to thrive in warm, dry houses. Frequent misting under the leaves of houseplants will discourage them. A solution of 1 cup flour, ¼ cup buttermilk, and a gallon of cool water, applied in a mist, is a good organic deterrent.
Your houseplants may sprout bugs once brought inside your house because they no longer have outdoor predators.
Remove aphids from houseplants with a mixture of equal parts rubbing alcohol and water and add a drop of dishwashing detergent. Apply this to troubled plants with a soft brush.

WINTER MONTHS

In colder regions, houseplants that have been outside for the summer should be brought in at the end of of July. A sudden cold spell will be too much of a shock for them to survive. This is also a good time to take cuttings.
It’s also good to bring in plants before you start heating your home. This gives them a chance to adjust. Wash them thoroughly before bringing them in to rid them of any pests and eggs.
You can also dig up your rosemary, basil, tarragon, oregano, marjoram, English thyme, parsley, and chives to grow them inside as houseplants. Keep them in a cool, sunny spot, and allow the soil to dry out before watering. Snip off the leaves as needed in the kitchen, but do not strip them completely.
Divide and re-pot any pot-bound plants so they will grow well during spring and summer. Prune judiciously to create a compact, attractive specimen.
Provide extra protection to houseplants on windowsills if it is very cold. Place cardboard between the plants and the glass. Be sure the plants don’t touch the windowpanes.
As houseplants are growing more slowly in December light, cut down on watering by half until active growth resumes. Hold off on fertilizing as well.
If your plants seem a little worse for the winter, provide lots of sunlight, fresh air, and frequent bathing.

I hope my plant lovers found this information useful and here's to healthy and thriving plants. xx



images of my home by Lea Hartman

plant tips via The Old Farmer's Almanac

A Milk Bath for a Mama to Be

As I was recently preparing for a milk bath photo shoot, I thought how wonderful it would be if I had a claw foot tub for styling. I could already envision how beautiful the pictures would be in my creative mind, but alas I don't have a claw foot tub, and set to work with my own bathroom as it is. Below is a look of the magical results...

I whipped up this simple floral crown with some blooms and greenery from my garden and I bought a bunch of sunflowers from the fresh market. I chose the black outfit because I knew it would pop against the milk. The lovely makeup is by a talented local make up artist, Elisha. Her work is amazing! The photographer who brought this vision to life and added the magic needs no introduction here-the one and only, Lea of Leahartman.

Though I didn't have the claw foot tub of my dreams for this shoot, it didn't matter because it's amazing the beauty one can create with a little imagination and creativity with what one already has. xx

bathroom images: via pinterest

Benjamin Moore Color of the Year 2018: Caliente AF-290

Good morning friends. I have been following the Doc's orders to rest and slow down and limit my screen time, thus my absence.  However, when I found out that Benjamin Moore's color of the year was such a bold choice with quite the fitting name of Caliente, I had to hop on here and blog about it! You know I am all about the bold and the beautiful and this color delivers!

When asked in an interview by Architectural Digest on how she would describe Caliente, Ellen O'Neill of the Benjamin Moore team responds, "..'OK you can’t live in a shocking color. You’ve got to live in a warm, seductive tone.' We spread them all out and we arrived at Caliente. It was very charismatic. It lured and it beckoned. It wasn’t shocking. It has an almost a brown undertone which makes it soothing. I kept thinking of red gallery walls in a stately mansion that really showcased beautiful oil paintings or ephemera. Those stately reds; intimate reds. That’s how we arrived at that specific color."

When I read of this year's color choice, I immediately thought of designer,  Miles Redd because he is known for punctuating his spaces with hints of red or boldly embracing the hue in his interior designs.  The two spaces above from his portfolio are perfect examples.

traditional home

decorecomgigi

pinterest

If you're timid to try this color on your walls, embracing it with accessories is another option

pinterest

A red smeg, anyone?

dezeen

Painting an architectural element Caliente is a great way to add a pop to a neutral space.

black girls killin it via pinterest

Get caliente with your lip color-who doesn't love a red lip, right?

So what do you think about Benjamin Moore's color of the year for 2018? While I have dosages of it as accessories in my home, I don't have it on my walls. I am an orange kind of girl but I have painted a similar hue in a past project before.