West Elm Wednesday: Sofas!

Since I have been working at my new job doing visual merchandising for West Elm, I decided to start a new series on the blog, West Elm Wednesdays!  I will share 5 of my favorite West Elm things from one category (furniture, bedding, kitchen, really anything!) for that week that I am obsessed with.

My New Job: Visual Merchandiser for West Elm!

Well I have some exciting news, I got a new job doing visual merchandising for West Elm, Bay Street!  I feel so honored to be a part of such an amazing team of talented people.  I have always looked at West Elm as one of those creative and visually stimulating stores you go to to get inspiration for ways to decorate your own home and now that I am getting to be a part of it really is surreal.

Pippa & Co, Basically the Most Amazing Party Store Ever

I honestly don't even know where to start with this.  I started following Pippa & Co on Instagram like a year ago at least.  Their bright colors, fun party accessories and adorable ballon displays had me instantly hooked.  Little did I know, the brick and mortar store was not only in  Alameda, but on the street that I live on! Jackpot!

How to Display Old Family Heirlooms in Your Home

Some of the things I love the most in our house are things that have been passed down to B and I from our families.  I love to display them and use them to decorate in our home.  I absolutely LOVE that they are not just something we bought at Homegoods (which there is nothing wrong with Homegoods, I'm a huge fan) and that they have a story behind them.

{ PRODUCT PROFILE } Tassel Wine Charms - Shades of Blue!

NEW PRODUCT ALERT!  These shades of blue tassel wine charms were just added to our Etsy!  I can't get over how boho chic and adorable they are!  The perfect way for your guests to be able to keep track of their drink for the night.  For more information and to purchase, you can find them here.

DIY Coat Tree

So since we moved to the Bay Area, I have it in my mind that a coat/hat rack is a complete necessity in our life.  I have this picture perfect image of coming home and putting my cute little pea coat and hat on a coat tree by our front door.  So even though it's summer and has been unusually hot (like WTF it's been in the 80s!) I still decided that a DIY Coat Tree was in my future.  With that said, this was definitely one of the easiest DIY's I have done.  I did it in an afternoon with minimal work and using paint I already had at home (making it super cheap BTW)

DIY Fabric Fringe Garland

So I am first to admit that I save waaaaay to many fabric scraps and tell myself I will find something to do with them, eventually!  Well, I finally figured out what to do with them!  I made this Fabric Fringe Garland to hang above our bed!  We don't have a headboard (I have these crazy dreams of designing and making our own upholstered one that have not become reality yet) and in our old place I had a giant gallery wall of pictures in the place of a headboard.  But since we moved to the Bay Area, it is not recommended to have anything that could fall on you above your bed since it is serious earthquake territory.  So here you have it, our Fabric Fringe Garland, aka our new "headboard"!

Our New Gallery Wall

Who needs a headboard when you have a pile of pillows and a large gallery wall?!  We recently redid the gallery wall above our bed, and by "redid" I mean expanded and added on to it! I have a soft spot for black and white pictures so I decided to keep it all black and white and mixed pictures with graphics.

DIY TV Entertainment Unit

We were getting sick of our old entertainment center and finally decided to make a new one!  It fits all of our things perfectly and it turned out exactly how we wanted!  It is crazy how some stain can really transform some cheap wood from Home Depot (granted there was a lot of sanding involved, but still pretty easy!)  

DIY Bathroom Shelving (West Elm inspired for a fraction of the price!)

I first want to start this with an apology for having not so great photos/pictures taken at weird angles.  I have a really small bathroom so it was hard to get all the shelves into a picture!  Now, with that out of the way, I give to you DIY Bathroom (or really any room for that matter) Shelving!  I really liked how these West Elm shelves looked, but they were so expensive.  There was no way I was about to pay that much for something I could totally DIY for like a fraction of the cost.  I was originally wanting to do all white floating shelves, but was on a strict budget and out came these shelves.

Halloween Decorations we think are just Darling!

Well it's that time of year to get your scare on and start decorating your house for Halloween on October 31st!  I have to admit, I haven't ever really gotten into the halloween decorations that much, I just don't think they are has fun as some other holidays (hello, christmas?!).  But this year I have been seeing so many just DARLING decorations for halloween!  I couldn't help but share a few of my favorites with you guys! I mean how could you turn down a Halloween bunting banner or some burlap pumpkins?!

DIY: Concrete Pillar Votive Candle Holders

So I have a bench on my front porch and I like to decorate it differently for the different seasons.  I have been struggling trying to decide what to do on it lately and then I saw some super cute pillar concrete candle holders.  I just HAD to have them but they were $15-$20 each and I wanted a bunch of them to have a little collection of them.  Well that definitely wasn't in the budget.  I figured it couldn't be that hard to make so I went on a mission to make a DIY out of them so I could make them in the sizes I wanted and with the color paint I wanted.  It  turned out it was super easy and super inexpensive to make them myself!  Here is my DIY instructions on how to make these oh-so-darling Concrete Pillar Votive Candle Holders! 

14 Books we NEED: Fashion, Weddings, Designers, and Decor

Here at Just A Daring Life we love us a good coffee table book!  We have a pretty good collection of fashion, home decor, and designer books that we can't stop looking at.  But we cant help but want to grow our collection!  In honor of Rachel Zoe's new book "Living in Style" we have put together a list of the top 14 books we NEED to add to our collection, like ASAP.

diy. coffee filter peonies

These DIY Peonies are super easy but carry a big impact when you put them out in your house!  For only a few dollars you can whip up a bouquet of these coffee filter peonies for flowers that are always looking good and never die! 

a look into my house: kitchen shelving

When our Creative Director moved into her new condo she loved everything about it, except the fact that there was not very much cabinet space and virtually no pantry space at all.  After a long weekend, many hours spent at home depot, and some creative thinking, out came this DARLING industrial inspired kitchen shelving unit!