Bontanical Art and A Pop of Color

It has been a while, but it is time for another reader favorite: Ditto!!

Today’s ditto  post features an amazing living room from the Paris apartment of Lee Radziwill. This space is quite simple and clear of distractions, but it showcases two power pieces: the bold botanical art collection, and the grand pop of pink via a stunning sofa.

***First time reading a Ditto Post??? Ditto posts demonstrate a great exercise for you as you continue to develop your own personal style: using your own favorite pictures, and making a quick list of what you actually love about the space. If you study what you love about a space, it helps you to bring what you LOVE into your own home! 

{ via Mark D. Sikes , images Elle Decor}

WHAT I LOVE {What I would ditto!}:

1. That botanical art. This is hands down the most amazing stunner in this room. It is everything. First of all, there is unity in the similar style frames and art. There is contrast between the dark frames and the light background of the botanicals. There is two-fold power: 1. The art images themselves are bold, big and gutsy {no tiny little flower here}, and 2. The presentation of 11 pieces of art, covering a wall en masse, is nothing short of pure drama. You cannot help but look, and wish you were that gutsy. Oh, but you can be.

2. The vibrant color color of the sofa gains its power by being set against the neutrals and the browns. That gives it the ‘wow’ factor that it has. And take note, this is an incredibly welcoming, comfortable sofa, offering plenty of support and an enveloping invitation.

3. Hello huge coffee table. I am head over heels for huge, square coffee tables. Especially when they offer a gorgeous design book on every corner. This one is particularly nice because it has lovely legs. No bun feet here.

4. A neutral, textured canvas. Neutral grasscloth walls. Neutral drapes {I love drapes!}. Neutral rug. These all offer texture, but at the same time create a bare canvas so that the botanical art and the pop of color on the sofa can take center stage.

5. That balcony and open window/door. Don’t miss that stunning balcony. If I had a balcony like that, I would end up blowing off my amazing living room. Ah, but this space lets the outside in with a gorgeous open window/door. Why don’t we have these skinny door windows in America? They are my favorite!

6. Symmetry. It brings me such peace and balance when other things in my life are all off center. It is also one of the simplest designer tricks to ditto. Read more about my symmetry tips here.

7. A room is never finished without a bouquet of flowers on the coffee table. May I never be tempted to skip this step that makes me smile so much!

DO YOU LOVE IT?? WHAT DO YOU LOVE?

WHAT DESIGN ELEMENTS WOULD YOU DITTO IN YOUR OWN HOME? DO TELL!!!!!!

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Take daily, bite-size steps toward living in a home you LOVE: Be sure to subscribe to FHD via email, bloglovin, your fave reader, and follow Fieldstone Hill on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

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I am into natural choices for my family, and this is the main way I avoided taking any medicines during pregnancy, and now our family is hooked. My Young Living essential oils are also my business, and the oils are so well loved that they sponsor my blog!!! Thank you, friends! Here is May’s freebie for trying the oils with a wholesale Premium Kit.

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My ” I Quit Sugar ” Journey

A quick hello to you today! I just wanted to let you know that yesterday, I began an 8 week journey to QUIT sugar!! I am using Sarah Wilson’s book  I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook as my helping hand and motivation. Basically, I will be eliminating all fructose from my diet for 8 weeks, with the goal of rebalancing my sugar intake and enjoying natural sugars {such as fruit} again, in all of its glory.

Ever since I transformed my diet, in order to heal my acid reflux, I have considered myself to be a healthy eater. But the truth is, I am still addicted to that nasty sugar stuff. Granted, I mostly get my sugar in the form of fruit and honey, but, I still get slumps at 11am and 3pm, and I still cannot control myself when faced with a plate of “all-natural” chocolates. Or un-natural chocolates, for that matter.

Things got bad while I was pregnant. They always do. I am a HUNGRY pregnant person. Now, post-delivery, I feel as though I am eating really well, but cannot budge a pound. I know I needed to get back to my SCD diet, or something similar! Deep down, I know…. I need to quit sugar. I need to kick the habit and recalibrate.

In this info graphic below, You can think of me as  “The healthy eater.” The problem is, this is still WAY too much sugar:

{image via I quit sugar}

As I mentioned, I am using Sarah’s book, and since I am a May birthday baby, this diet is my gift to myself. No cake on my birthday. Or pie. Or 10 chocolate bars. Because I am tired of feeling crappy, eating poorly, binging on my “healthy” treats, beating myself up, feeling helpless, and reliving the cycle every day. And if I don’t make a change… the fact is, I will relive this cycle every day until I die. And I am not being dramatic.

I am tired of it.

So, I begin!

I will keep you posted at the halfway mark of 4 weeks, with possible updates on Instagram and Facebook and such. I will be pinning like a madwoman to my I Quit Sugar Pinboard. Join me there!

I will also be helping my process along by detoxing with my oils. Already, I can tell that Lemon Oil in my water is going to be a life saver for me.  And detox baths.

That, and eating copious amounts of coconuts… in general. Because, yum.

Would you ever dare to quit sugar?

Links to get your own “I Quit Sugar” book, plus other items that are helping me to transform my eating:

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This post is sponsored by Fieldstone Hill Young Living Essential Oils

Take daily, bite-size steps toward living in a home you LOVE: Be sure to subscribe to FHD via email, bloglovin, your fave reader, and follow Fieldstone Hill on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

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 Don’t miss a single post from Fieldstone Hill Design! Have regular decorating goodness delivered {free!} directly to your inbox.

{This post contains affiliate links. You are supporting this blog and the info I share with your clicking love! Thank you SO very much for reading and supporting FHD! }

The Most Beautiful Parts of My Home

I struggle from a pesky ‘disease’ called Perfectionism.

It is ingrained deeply within my spirit, and it is not easily overcome. I think I was born with it. It has always been there.

Some days, it pushes me to do great things. Most days, it paralyzes. It leaves me feeling not-good-enough. It is a chain around my ankle.

It affects my home. my heart. my peace.

When I bumped into an amazing blog, called The Nesting Place, six years ago… I joined in with the Nester as she cried out to the world, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”

I cried along with her, in hopes that I would truly someday come to believe it.

I have been repeating that battle cry to myself, ever since.

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Today, in honor of my friend Myquillyn, who wrote an amazing, run-to-the-store-NOW-and-buy-this, kind of a book, The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful, I would like to share with you what are truly THE most beautiful parts of my home, Fieldstone Hill.

These images are so beautiful to me, that they make me cry.

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My boys, standing in a puddle of soap, giggling, on the countertops I hate and oak cabinets I have never gotten around to painting:

A late night shot of laundry that ain’t gonna fold itself, sitting atop my beloved silk sofa, three nights after I pulled it out of the dryer:

R2-D2, Yoda and Luke Skywalker on a handcrafted vehicle, doing battle for the free world in our living room:

A picture frame, that has been sitting empty for a solid year on my living room wall. Oh, except for the occasional Red Sith Trooper who likes to hide there:

A joyous mess of plastic at my feet, plus some other adorable-ness, keeps me company as I read Nester’s book:

Our six year old “new” floors, that are pock-marked from dropped toys cutting into the stain and soft wood, proclaiming that little-boy-fun has been had:

The woodwork in our new addition. Looking not-so-new. Because I decided it was more important to let the boys have car races and giggle until they fell over:

Dirty laundry on the floors:

And dirty diapers:

And more dirty laundry. Just an everyday, regular part of our gorgeous decor around here:

This sight leaves me chanting to myself, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Idhtbptbb. Idhtbptbb. Idhtbptbb….” The gigantic rip in my grandmother’s down sofa and custom cover is due to little boys, scrambling with shoes on – or off – to jockey for a good view out of the front window. Sometimes, they illicit a seriously impressive honk from the trash truck. The sofa has fallen victim to such joys:

The four dinos I found buried in our silk sofa. All four of them were crammed into the same tiny crevice, and our whole family laughed uproariously as they were discovered one by one:

The ugly ottoman I still need to recover. It never seems to get finished – I am too busy living, and spending my money on other stuff, and it just keeps “not making the cut.” A pretty throw will do for now:

Scrapes in the wall of our six year old addition. From a toy box that gets opened with great delight, gusto, and glee:

There was a day when I would have seen these things as signs of imperfection.

And I must not lie, I still struggle on many days with the messes and the dings and the spills and the things that get “torn up.” But my irritation lasts for only a little while, until I remember how fleeting it all is.

These things.

These Most Beautiful Parts of my Home.

I look at these things and I smile.  A deep, soul-warming, smile that comes from the gut.

Because these things are already perfect to me.

It does NOT have to be perfect to be beautiful.

And as a slowly-recovering perfectionist, I can say with faith, the imperfect IS the perfect. It is just as it is supposed to be. {<- tweet this}

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Fast forward, six years after I first ‘met’ the Nester in this online space called blogland. Now, I am blessed to call her friend;  the face to face kind. Blessed to glean from her wisdom. Blessed even to humbly grace the pages of her – ahem – #1 BEST SELLING interior design book:  The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful

And, I was so very blessed to get the opportunity to preview/devour this book. It is SO pretty. And SO easy to ready. And SO encouraging.

Truly. You need to get this book.

This is a book about coming home. Feeling at home. Loving your home. Shaping your home.

This is what I consider to be TRUE interior design.

#idhtbptbb

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Your challenge might not be the messes of wee ones. Or maybe it is. All of us have obstacles that keep us from loving our homes, right where we are.

But there is always beauty to be found. Your home is already perfect.

I am thankful to the Nester for pointing me to this freedom once again.

What are the most beautiful parts of YOUR home?

I would be honored and humbled to hear from you in the comments.

This is my affiliate link for my friend’s book. But I truly don’t care how you get this book! Just get it in your hands, carve out some solitude, pour a warm cup of your favorite drink, and soak in the goodness:

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{This post contains affiliate links. You are supporting this blog and the info I share with your clicking love! Thank you SO very much for reading and supporting FHD! }

It is rare that an entire fabric line makes me gasp with delight.

But, Manuel. You are a genius.

A gutsy, colorful, pattern-filled, fuchsia-loving genius.

Feast your design savvy eyes on this, my friends:

I mean, holy crap-a-noly! I am in LOVE with these fabrics.

And at the top of my list is that horse fabric  {“Dara” in turquoise. Named after me, of course.}… which is, in my opinion, the long awaited replacement for Shumacher’s Chiang Mai. Bring it.

For names and details on these fabrics, check out the current collection at ManuelCanovas.com. And ya’ll. I received no fabric in exchange for this gushing recommendation and post…. but you had better believe that I wish I had!!! Ya hear that, Manuel??

Which is your favorite, my brilliant friends?

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Take daily, bite-size steps toward living in a home you LOVE: Be sure to subscribe to FHD via email, bloglovin, your fave reader, and follow Fieldstone Hill on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!

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 Don’t miss a single post from Fieldstone Hill Design! Have regular decorating goodness delivered {free!} directly to your inbox.

{This post contains affiliate links. You are supporting this blog and the info I share with your clicking love! Thank you SO very much for reading and supporting FHD! }