HGTV Dream Home 2014

Well hello there Monday! I hope all of you are staying safe and warm wherever you may be. I have heard from a number of friends that the weather seems frightful and cold in some places around the USA today. We are suppose to be in the low 20's in North Carolina tomorrow. That is really cold for here!!

Today we are talking about the HGTV Dream Home 2014! I get so excited every year at this time to see what location they come up with. This year it is in the Lake Tahoe area. Have any of you been there before? I would love to visit and see all the amazing sites. If you are into hiking, skiing, running, biking, etc...this place is for you!

Front of the Home

This year the HGTV team built a magnificent Modern Mountain Home. It has so many amazing rustic features mixed with modern touches. It is definitely one of my favorite homes they have built to date. As you can see from the picture above, they have separated the living area from the sleeping area with a large foyer in between. There are large windows on either side of the home for viewing the perfect scenery! The best part...this home is totally surrounded by nature. Doesn't it seem so relaxing?

Back of Home

The outdoor space is amazing with the balcony off of the family room, outdoor fireplace for entertaining and a full outdoor kitchen as well! 

Let's take a look at the inside...shall we?

The grand foyer separates the living/dining area from the rest of the sleeping/playing area. Once again large windows to view all sides of this amazing home!

This amazing kitchen has some wonderful elements of nature including those wood beams, a rustic reclaimed wood back splash near the sink and how about that cascading granite waterfall island!? It can easily fit 5 bar-stools for breakfast or parties. The kitchen is wide open to the dining area as well as the living room creating a huge spacious area for entertaining and/or enjoying the views. 

Beautiful dining area with open shelving and take a look at the different pendant lighting hanging above the table. So different...they add such an element of surprise!

The kitchen also flows nicely into the living room area. There are so many rustic and cold materials in this space with the metal/wood beams, windows & stone fireplace. They had to warm this room up somehow and I think they did a fantastic job with the furniture and accessories by Ethan Allen. Loving the cozy rug and that punch of yellow.

On the other side of the grand foyer is the master suite. How fabulous is this space? I would never have to leave. I love the metallic fireplace against the plush velvet seating. They really thought of Every.Single.Detail.

Umm...Hello! This spa like master bath is also filled with amazing textures from the wood-like tile floors to the ceramic stand alone tub to the metal pendant lighting. Imagine looking out the window while soaking in that tub! Are you with me?

The second floor leads to two more bedrooms and a huge family room with more amazing views.

Wouldn't the kids absolutely die for this space!? What you don't see are the four small televisions that each bunk can see from lying down. No one would fight about what they get to watch. Genius!

Relaxing guest room & bathroom. Not sure my guests would ever want to leave!

The family room is another fantastic space to entertain, watch movies or curl up and read a book. Would have never thought a persimmon color on the couch would look as amazing as this!

If you are in the market for a new home, you can win this HGTV Dream Home 2014 by clicking HERE. It also comes with an amazing GMC Denali and $250,000 in cash. I have been entering daily and I am crossing my fingers that we will have a vacation home in Lake Tahoe! (kidding of course) But seriously... if I win...I will invite all of you over for a party! Sound fair?

This is definitely not my typical style of home, but I think I could live with it! How about you? What features stand out to you?

Have a fabulous Monday my sweets!

**P.S. I was not compensated for this post in anyway. I just like sharing fun spaces with all of you!**

Ethan Allen's Holiday Workshop- {What I learned}

Welcome to Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend and are getting ready for this holiday week. We are actually staying home this year and celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. I can't wait to relax and spend some quality time with family.

I am sure some of you have already started decorating for Christmas. Some of you are probably against the thought of decorating before Thanksgiving. I have always been until this year. Because Thanksgiving is so late and we are going to be busy the next couple of weeks, we decided to start the decorating this past weekend. I will be sure to share some pictures and updates after thanksgiving.

Two weeks ago I was invited to attend the holiday workshop at Ethan Allen. Have you ever been to one of the decorating workshops either at Ethan Allen or Pottery barn? I had never been before, but thought it would be fun to get some new ideas and learn a little too!

They had a lovely spread to start the workshop off....

The first designer talked about all the new items that Ethan Allen has to offer. Below are some of my favorites:

Sunburst Mirror, Hand-blown Vase, Faux Fur Throw, Brass End Table, Footed Glass Bowl, Pearl Box


The second designer talked about decorating chandelier's for the holidays. It brings interest to a room when there is something higher than your eye level to look at. I pulled together a few examples below to get your wheels turning:

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A few designers also shared their secrets for decorating certain places in their home.

1. Choose a color scheme and use it throughout your spaces.

2. Use nature from your own yard to cut down on cost.

3. Group an odd number of objects together to create interest.

4. If you don't have a chandelier, create a tall center piece for the middle of your table using candelabras. 

I loved the idea of adding a sunburst mirror to the base of the candelabra to add a little texture and interest to your table centerpiece. 

My favorite part of the workshop was learning about decorating shelves, china cabinets and/or built-ins. I find that styling these items is a bit hard and I can never quite figure out where to place what. I absolutely love the idea of getting foam board and covering it in wall paper or wrapping paper for the holidays. It gives a little pop to your shelves and a glam look for a lot less!

If you choose to add some color to the background of your shelves, then the items you place on the shelves should be monochromatic. Using different textures and metals keeps your eye moving from one object to another.

If you aren't in to the large graphics on the back of your shelves, then your items on the shelves should have little pops of color. I love how they wrapped books in wrapping paper for the holidays and added a few colorful bulbs.

So did you gather a little inspiration from Ethan Allen's designs? I am definitely going to back my china cabinet in some kind of paper for the holidays. I think it will make my dishes pop! I also love the idea of adding a little something to my chandelier. Stay tuned...

Have a Marvelous Monday my friends!


P.S. I was not sponsored by Ethan Allen to write this post. All opinions are mine...I just love sharing them with all of you!! xoxo

{HGTV} Dream Home 2013

On New Years Day I was so excited to find that HGTV was going to be showing the new Dream Home that  night!! I really use to be quite obsessed with HGTV, now I think Pinterest has taken over! :)

Anyway, I called up my mom and told her she MUST watch it and that she MUST be entering every day till February 14th!

This years Dream Home is located on Kiawah Island, SC. If you have never been there before, you must put it on your list! It is very beautiful. The Island itself doesn't have much on it except beautiful homes, miles and miles of bike trails and a few golf courses. But that is the beauty of the island. They have really tried hard to preserve the nature that surrounds Kiawah.

All of the furniture inside the home was purchased from Ethan Allen. So right there you know the home is going to be quite gorgeous! Let's take a little tour....shall we......

Beautiful entrance way with built in bench. This bench would even be cozy to take a nap on!

Gorgeous great room with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the marsh. I am totally in love with the iron gate over the fireplace. You might find it a bit odd, but it really resembles the features of Charleston Homes. Charleston, SC is just minutes away!

The neutral palette with pops of green to bring the outdoors in is just beautiful! Check out how they used two coffee tables to create one large one.

Again...a soft neutral color scheme with subtle pops of blue are so soothing. French doors out onto the deck would be perfect for a morning coffee! Let's check out what is out on the deck shall we.....

Ummm...Hello! This amazing view and...

A Lap pool! Sweet! So private with all of the greenery that surrounds this home.

One thing that didn't really impress me was the kitchen. I understand why they wanted it to be sleek and plain, but I feel as though there is something missing. Do you agree or do you totally love this look?

However, I was not disappointed in the pantry! It is so chic and feels like a classy office!

Now the dining room left me speechless and that is hard to do people! It has its own prep area with the grey cabinets as well as those fabulous double chandeliers! Sophisticated, but not too over the top.

How about this adorable powder room that also brings that chartreuse green to life!



Now to the upstairs.... Nope we aren't done!!

Soothing blue and whites....fabulous four poster bed with a twist!

Guest bathroom number 1. White with a pop of black. So clean and classy.

Bright and cheery twin room. The bright blues are brought down a notch with the subtle stripes on the walls.

Bright guest bathroom to go with the bright twin room. You can never go wrong with a seamless shower and carrara marble floors! 

One of my favorite rooms, but I don't know how you really can choose. This loft is just magnificent with the view of the architectural beams in the ceiling. You also have an amazing view of the outside through the floor to ceiling windows in the great room. 

Last but certainly not least....this "playroom" which is next to the garage. You can take a nap, watch TV and pay ping pong all at the same time, while looking out at the beautiful marsh. WOW!

And....all of this can be YOURS if you enter the HGTV giveaway here. But just so you know...it is probably a waste of time to apply each day because...I am going to win! :)



What do you think of this fabulous home? What rooms were your favorite and which ones would you change?


P.S. I was not paid by HGTV to write this post. (I only wish) I am just slightly obsessed with beautiful homes and who can pass up talking about a giveaway rated at $2,000,000!!

P.P.S. All of the pictures were taken from the HGTV website. If you would like to see even more features go here.