Pepper Design Blog

A Little of This & That... Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family

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Friday Guest Blog Interview: Monica Pedersen

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Happy Friday! We have had such a busy week here at the house – a new wall is near built! We just poured the concrete footings for a little raised garden bed and we’re about ready to officially start on the deck. Plus the house is alllmost finished with its exterior painting and we’re on to the windows next (still undecided on the trim – but thank you for the comments and emails! they have been really, really helpful).

Before the weekend arrives, I’ll send you off with a Friday Guest Blog Interview with none other than Monica Pedersen, the talented author behind Make It Beautiful and a designer on HGTV’s “Designed to Sell”. I am honored to have her join me at PDB today.

Monica is also a co-host of HGTV’s Dream Home Giveaway and HGTV’s Bang 4 Your Buck. She joins us to share more about her passion for entertaining and how she incorporates fashion, textiles and favorite trends into home decor choices and beautiful parties. Plus a few sneak peek images of Monica’s newest coffee table book…

On to the interview!

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Dining Room Update: New Ikea Art Illustrations

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A quick update for the dining room to share today. I was perusing Ikea for a few new frames (gotta love Ikea frames) and passed by their art aisle when two illustrations caught my eye.

Such a sweet Ikea surprise! Pretty, organic, nature-inspired art at a great price for a wall I’ve been really struggling with… Ikea, you made my day.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that usually an Ikea staple can be spotted a mile away. RIBBA frames? LACK tables? MASKROS light fixtures? EXPEDIT bookshelves? Good, bad or otherwise this little BILD FJALLSTA (I don’t see that name gaining popularity any time soon) find was totally unexpected! And not very Ikea at all!

I’m a bit of a frame hoarder and I have a special thing for flat, thin frames that I find at Aaron Brothers or from this eBay seller, but lately I’ve been really drawn to these birch beauties from Ikea (Despite the very thick depth. Why, Ikea? Why the 2″ depth? Makes creating a gallery wall just a teensy bit more difficult).

Here’s a little reminder of the other side of the room and how it’s progressing.

Still need to modify that bench to a dining height and to give it a little fabric makeover…

My favorite new addition during this start-from-scratch space might just be those bed spread curtains that still make me smile when I walk in from the kitchen. A couple of folks have mentioned lining them which is definitely an idea I’ve pondered.

See? The birch in the frame fits in so well!

The room continues to move along! Still on the to-do list: continue to fill up the wall near the new Ikea art (large, leaning mirror? over-sized b&w of Liv?, painting?), find a fun fabric to create a table runner, redo the bench (legs and upholstery), new dining room chairs?

You can start from the beginning or jump in on any of the dining room posts here: bench makeover ideas, choosing a rug, curtain call part 3,curtain call part 2, curtain call part 1, newly styled bookshelves, a buffet-over,upgrading the lighting, the before.

Curb Appeal: Transforming the Side Yard, Part 1

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And we’re back! Something buggy was going on with WP that wouldn’t allow me to post yesterday, but she’s up and running again :-).

Time for another catch-up on our curb appeal project for this summer. Our home painting process is moving along slowwwlllyyy… but there is one project around the house that is gaining quite a bit of momentum and that’s the makeover of our side yard (home of a future deck + outdoor dining area! I’m picturing a big farm house table, mismatched flea market chairs and beautiful Moroccan lanterns…).

Before the deck can be built, the brush must be cleared and a block wall is on our to-do list to separate our yard from the neighbors (and to provide a little privacy for above said awesome dining space).

There’s our little side yard from the front of the house, and from the back:

But don’t let that narrow corridor fool you! It’s actually a pretty decent sized space over there.

It’s also quite the jungle…

One. serious. jungle.

I wasn’t sure he’d find his way out, but after hours of pruning and snipping he did – thank goodness.

Dang, look at all of that available room! Now I can begin to picture that great outdoor dining area with plenty of fun lighting hanging from above.

Next up, a wall! and then a deck! and then finally relaxing and fun dinners outside in this beautiful San Diego weather. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

More outdoor projects can be found right here.

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