Sabbe Interior Design [the blog]

At Home with Amy Butler

>> Tuesday, May 3, 2011

As I have mentioned several times on this blog, I am a huge Amy Butler fan. I like her story, I like her designs, and after finding this AT post I am in loooooove with her house.

I love that she is proud to wave her cat lady flag, like yours truly. I also spy what I think to be an IKEA hack, this fixture plus a little gold spray paint perhaps? Who does not love a good DIY, especially from someone who can most likely afford to not DIY? And all that mid century furniture, swoon!! If there were a "have dinner with your favorite designer" contest and I won, I would totally pick Amy Butler. Can someone host something like that please?

I Made Him the Boy Bonnet for Easter Church

>> Monday, May 2, 2011

He was not a huge fan. His daddy promised him he would not have to wear these types of clothes for long,

although I have been given permission to make another boy bonnet for the Fall. After seeing the original tutorial, Mr. Sabbe approved a second round using an old flannel shirt his grandfather gave him. Hopefully the little Mr. Sabbe will approve as well.

The Nursery: Chapter 8 {an upgraded ottoman}

>> Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Yes! More Nursery! It has been completed, my baby is 3 1/2 weeks old, but I wanted to squeeze in a few posts about a couple of other projects before I wrap it up.

My glider is a big, comfy, heavenly at 3'oclock in the morning kind of glider, but I knew I would not have the room to get an ottoman with equal proportions. So when I was about 7 months pregnant I found this little guy on sale at a TJ Maxx for $25.

I knew the ivory damask would not go. But I already liked the idea of slipcovering something so that it would be washable, so I bought it. I waited until the chair arrived to make the slipcover, and I'm glad I did, because the ottoman actually sat a few inches lower than I preferred. So I went to Home Depot and had them cut one of the long, square dow type pieces into 4, 4" lengths.

I used to talk about solo women getting special treatment in the Home Depot lumber department (i.e. 20 cuts on the big saw for free) but pregnant women trump that by a billion. If you have been in the lumber section of Home Depot you know they have a hand saw out so that people can cut these types of small pieces themselves. Well, my 9 month pregnant self was not up for cutting anything and thankfully one of the workers bent the rules and ran it down the table saw for me. I wood glued them to the existing legs like so...

My inspiration for the slipcover was this Serena and Lilly pillow.

So I started by covering the ottoman with this blue and white striped fabric.

I wanted the letter to be on a solid background, like the pillow. So I decided to center a solid blue circle. I used a pot lid as a template, which actually turned out to be a really cool picture. You can pretty much see the entire room plus our hallway, and my huge pregnant belly. I went into labor that night.

I attached both the circle and the letter with paper backed wonder under. The paper backed is great because it was very easy to both draw and cut out the letter. I just enlarged a lower case "r" in New Courier font, traced it, cut it out, and ironed it on. Ta-Da!

I decided to leave off the dot. It did not work as well inside of the circle as it does on the pillow above.

But I really like the way it turned out, it might even be my favorite thing in the room.

I Like Stripes

>> Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I've been spending some time over on Pinterest the past week and I noticed a re-occuring theme on my fashion board. If you have yet to discover Pinterest, be warned, it is extremely addicting. It's like blogs on steriods.

Source: emersonmade.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: samwitwicky.tumblr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: kendieveryday.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: shop.hm.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: jcrew.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Source: michelleums.tumblr.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I apparently really like stripes, horizontal stripes to be exact, and not just on my walls.

I like these pants too.

Source: emersonmade.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I really didn't spend any money on maternity clothes during my pregnancy. I rotated a pair of gray and a pair of black leggings with a couple of stretchy dresses that I already had, that now have saggy bellies, every single day. I opted instead to focus my fashion interests on dressing Mr. Sabbe for 9 months. He racked up on a few trips to the J.Crew outlet. He really never buys clothes for himself because he wears scrubs everyday. It was fun, but I'm ready for it to be my turn again:)

Le Banque

>> Monday, April 25, 2011

I have to go to the bank today.

I would be a whole lot more excited about the trip if my bank looked like the BNP Paribus in Paris.

I think the color scheme in the image above is awesome and I'm always a huge fan of the juxtaposition of modern elements over a traditional landscape.