It’s Wednesday and time for the series… If My Blog Was A Room… where I pose the challenge to think of your blog as an actual space. What would it look like? Today, I am excited to have the wonderful blogger from JandJ Home. She has a great design blog, filled with inspiring ideas and creative DIY projects. Here is her beautiful blog header:

I love the colors from her blog! Here is what she came up with:

I’m here visiting from JandJHome and I’m so excited to be here on Simple Dwellings. When thinking about this idea of “If my blog was a room”, I couldn’t help but think of what I want my blog to feel like. I think it’s important for a room to ‘feel’.  These images describe that so perfectly.  First of all, this bed is gorgeous. I love how simple the room feels, yet the bed is so striking.  I’m also a huge lover of yellow, so that in itself is the best part of it.

Via Design Manifest

This next space feels so fresh and peaceful. I love white.  This rug just makes me want to walk barefoot.

Via Designers Call

This last space feels fun to me. It has that fresh, clean, modern look, but the accents and colors are what I’m drawn to.  Of course, there’s yellow in there.  I love that little cabinet. 

Via Billedesign

So there you have it. We’ve learned that I’m drawn to anything yellow and white and that I love things to be simple and clean looking.  Thanks Amber for having me here today.  This was so fun and really helped me figure out what I really love in a home. I wish I could take these rooms and actually put them in my house.

Thank you so much for being here! The room inspirations are gorgeous! Yellow is a fun color and looks great in any space. If you haven’t stopped by JandJ Home, definitely check it out!

My design styles tend to evolve and I find myself drawn to accessorizing in new ways. When styling a room, one technique I like to often try is symmetry. It brings a sense of harmony to a space and can balance a room nicely. One way I like to try design symmetry is with lamps. I am drawn to large drum shades with a substantial lamp base. I love this type of lamp as a pair, on either end of a console, buffet or dresser. I recently added a second lamp to my living room chest of drawers, and I like the balance and symmetry the second lamp gives to the vignette. One of my favorite design bloggers, Emily from the wonderful blog Emily A. Clark, beautifully uses design symmetry with lamps in her gorgeous home. She was gracious enough to allow me to share her beautiful lamp vignettes! Thanks, Emily!

Every Easter, when getting ready to decorate the eggs, I always forget how to properly boil them! I guess I should save the recipe, but that’s what the wonderful computer is for- I just googled it and came up with a great site with helpful tips! Here is what they say to do for the perfect hard boiled eggs for Easter:

*Place eggs in a saucepot large enough to hold them in single layer. Add cold water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Place pot over high heat and bring eggs just to boiling. Put a lid on the pot and remove it from the burner.
*Let the eggs stand in the hot water 12 minutes for medium eggs, 15 minutes for large eggs and 18 minutes for extra-large eggs.
*Drain immediately and serve eggs warm, or cool completely under cold running water or in a bowl of ice water and then refrigerate the eggs.

I did just that, and so far so good! We tasted a couple, then left the rest for decorating! As fas as egg decorating goes, the wonderful Eddie Ross is a pro! I will leave you with some gorgeous Easter decorations he made this year for Woman’s Day.

I absolutely love design challenges- they force me to think outside the box and in a creative way. Inspiration can come from so many sources, even the ones out in left field! Take for example, olioboard’s newest design challenge: to create a library or reading room inspired by a spectacled owl! Huh? I had to search google to find out what that type of owl even looked like, then decide the direction this design should go. Well, I’m up for the challenge. Why not- it’s not like I have spring cleaning to do, or anything!  🙂 Here is an image of the beautiful spectacled owl-

Thanks so much for being here today, Amber! The rooms you chose are beautiful and the fabrics and colors are amazing! If you haven’t checked out Amber’s amazing blog, visit here! You’ll be so happy you did!

I have been camera crazy around our house lately, snapping pictures of different rooms in our abode! These photos will appear on my sidebar under the link Our Home. As I was putting the pictures into this post, I realized I have been playing musical chairs with the same white tray and lantern! Seems I am not sure where this should go!  🙂 Maybe more accessory shopping is in order this year. Without further adieu, here’s the abode:

There is no denying that I am a huge fan of HGTV and draw so much inspiration from the many unique and talented designers. There are some shows I watch consistently and others I check in on every now and then. My favorite series, which I never miss, are the HGTV Dream Homes and Green Homes- they never disappoint! The lead interior designer Lisa Woodrum meticulously designs down to the last detail and always leaves me in awe. Tonight, the HGTV Green Home 2011 was featured- and it was a jawdropper! Located in beautiful Colorado, the scenery is a treat in itself. In the home, I loved the color choices, reclaimed green pieces and the great thought to detail. Here is a sneak peek into this year’s home and designs:

With the sun shining this week and the weather warming up, I am ready to entertain outside! I am so excited for spring to finally be here- to plant flowers, add mulch (well, that’s not too exciting- but I like the outcome!) and have a refreshing drink outside on the patio. I was even more excited to bring the outdoor furniture into the sunshine when I saw the latest e-mail message from Southern Living Magazine about chic outdoor spaces. These spaces are warm, welcoming and so stylish! Let’s fire up the grill and have a weekend party!

I am in the process of a new room design that recently had some new tweaks! When comparing the two designs, there are only a few small changes, but the end result is very different. I was amazed at the power of fabric in a room’s design! There will be more info on the details of this room later, but for now- which is your favorite and why?