Royal Wedding Craziness

Unless you've been living on the rock you know that tomorrow Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married in the wedding of the decade!! I'll be up at 6am to watch before work and then I'm heading to Royal Wedding Watching Party after work. I know that many of my friends and coworkers are excited about the wedding, but I'm still amazed at the hype/publicity surrounding the nuptials. From T-Mobile's hilariously choreographed Royal Wedding Spoof...




to Pappa Johns's Kate and Will Pizza it seems like everyone is getting in on the big day.

A recent report said there were over 400,000 eBay auctions related to Royal wedding souvenirs and paraphernalia! So what are all these people selling?

Here is some of my favorite wacky Will and Kate paraphernalia I've seen...


Royal Wedding Refrigerator ( I wonder how many of these they have sold??)

Royal Bedding, Premier Inn



Will and Kate Tea Bags, Pylones



Limited Edition William and Catherine Pez Dispensers



Crown Jewels Condoms


And some of my favorite more tasteful souvenirs...


Royal Wedding Cookie Assortment, Eleni's



Kate Loves Willy Tea Towel 

Royal Wedding Pillow, Jan Constantine



Royal Wedding Mug, Jan Constantine



Processional Map, House that Lars Built 



Kate's Ring Tote, House that Lars Built

Can't wait to till tomorrow!! Cherrio!

Wish List Wednesday... Parsons Desk

I've been doing lot of day dreaming these days about my new house, and even though I haven't found it yet that hasn't stopped me from starting a wish list of must have decor. It has become part of my daily routine to scour eBay and craigslist for these treasures! I was going to include all of my current crushes in this post but realized my list is way too long. So instead I'm going to highlight them each Wednesday for the next few weeks (or months) and hopefully by then I will have a house to put them in!

Wish List Item Number One {Drum Roll}...
Parsons Desk!



Oh the sleek lines and shinny finish! I think it would look great in the new office of Haymarket Designs. I had been lusting over a white one from West Elm until I saw Camila from Effortless Style's 'Polished Tumeric' desk and fell in love with the bright yellow version. Too bad West Elm no longer makes that color! :( Fingers crossed one shows up on Craigslist or eBay!




Check out my Parsons desk office inspirations...


Michelle Adams' desk, Rubie Green



Jess Graves' desk, The Love List



Jonathan Adler




So what's on y'alls wish list?

Haymarket Designs Giveaway on Monograms and Manicures

One of my favorite preppy blogs, Monograms and Manicures, is hosting a Haymarket Designs Giveaway this week! You can enter to win a tray of your design/color choice by leaving a comment about your favorite design/color combo, following Haymarket Designs blog (which you hopefully already do!), and 'liking' Haymarket Designs on Facebook. Giveaway ends on Sunday, May 1!

PS- There is a discount code posted on Monogram and Manicure so be sure to look for it!

Put a Cork in It: DIY Cork Shadow Box Table

Has anyone seen Anthropologie's cork themed window displays? Together with the Cork Forrest Conservation Alliance they collected over 2 million corks to display in windows to celebrate Earth Day.

These windows reminded me of the months my sister spent collecting corks from friends, family, restaurants, grocery stores, wine shops, etc. to make this amazing cork shadow box coffee table!



My dad and her built the shadow box table with a little paint, glass, plywood, 2 x 4s and
some legs from Home Depot... I know I'm making that sound much easier than it was but to
me the hard part was helping her arrange the 500+ corks!



To my surprise not every cork is the same size. Some are short and fat and others are long and skinny so we had to take that into account along with making sure that duplicates were spaced far apart.

It was definitely worth all the hours of arranging and rearranging though because it's a great conversation piece and looks so good in her wine themed living room!



PS- If you want to make your own cork table Pottery Barn now sells a great shadow box table. All you have to do is take out the removable dividers and start arranging!


Townsend Coffee Table, Pottery Barn $499

Monday Musings...Painted Floors (and stairs)

I saw these stairs the other day and fell in love with the idea of painting a faux stair runner! I've always loved painted floors but been afraid to "ruin" beautiful hardwood floors, so painted stairs might just be my perfect compromise (and I have a few patterns from Haymarket Designs that I'd love to try out!)




Here are some of my favorite painted floors that I've been saving in my files
(sorry I've had some for a long time and don't have the sources for all of them!)




Mary McDonald




Better Homes and Gardens

And here are a few other painted stairs I found... I like the solid color look too!

Decorating with Peeps...yum

I love this time of year when these brightly colored, sugary critters start popping up everywhere! I spotted this Peeps Sunflower Topiary in Woman's Day the other day and thought what a great idea! A quick Google search later and I realized there are lots of great ways to decorate for Easter with Peeps.


Peeps Sunflower, Woman's Day

Here are some of my favorite ideas and a few great DIY links in case you want a Peeps decoration of your own.


Peeps Vases


Peeps and Jelly Beans Vase



Tulips and Peeps centerpiece, Tip Junkie






Peeps Centerpieces




Edible Peeps Centerpiece


Peeps Topiaries


Peeps Topiary (great how to)


Peeps Topiary, The Hungry Mouse


Peeps Wreaths


Peeps Wreath, Tried and True


Yellow Bunny Peeps Wreath


PS- Has anyone tried the new chocolate covered Peeps? I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about them...

Monkeying Around

I blame it on my favorite childhood stuffed animal, Mr. Monkey, but I absolutely LOVE anything having to do with monkeys! I especially love playful chinoiserie monkeys that have human characteristics. Iomoi's dressed up monkeys just crack me up! I have this set of coasters that I just adore!

Glass Coasters, Iomoi 


Here are some of my other favorite monkey finds...

Monkey Desk Accessory, Iomoi
(I'd love this for my desk..hint hint any family reading this)

Monkey Votive Holder, Z Gallerie

Monkey Wine Holder, Z Gallerie
(Who doesn't love anything with wine?)

Circus Monkey Lamps, Well Appointed House

Monkey Chandelier, Sisal Lighting (kinda reminds be of the monkey scones at the Greenbrier)



Three Wise Monkey Prints, Etsy



Vintage Monkey Candlestick, eBay