Date to the Parade

 In the spirit of "trying new things", Jeff and I went to the Salt Lake City Parade of Homes this last weekend. I've only been one time before with my brother and sister-in-law --years ago, but I remember getting some really good information and ideas there. When we were looking for the house we're living in now, a lot of my decisions on color, etc., were influenced by those million dollar parade homes I saw. We've got no plans right now to move, or even remodel, but I still thought it might be fun, so talked Jeff into going.

 Please excuse my ignorance on....almost everything home decor-wise, my comments will only be my opinions and impressions.  One thing I saw over and over again was great use of varieties of texture. Look at this bedroom with the leather, and soft knit, and shiny, and silky, and rough linen, all up against each other! Yum.

 I loved these lighting fixtures over the bar. Jeff hated them. Even Tia (when I showed her the picture) said she thought it was dumb to have the tops open for bugs to fall into, but I loved the chandelier effect inside a modern glass sheath like that. This kitchen interestingly enough, had TWO islands parallel to each other. It also had a separate butler's pantry, and was enormous. I would have loved this kitchen when I was catering, and had helpers, but for one cook in my own space, it would be more of a pain to reach everything than a plus.

 We saw a lot of bathrooms with big, bold wallpapers. I loved this one. Jeff hated all of the bold wallpapers. WhatEVAH! 

 Mmmmm. Blue and White. My current favorite color scheme. Did you know these were my wedding colors?

 I wanted to remember these sparkly crystal laundry room knobs. 

 And this tweedy carpet in the study. 

 Another fabulous light fixture. 

 Look how open and airy! Glitzy glamour.

 Loved this idea too for a girls' bathroom. How come I never knew you could do that? Mix up the knobs? Adorable.

I took lots of pictures of this "Frozen" room for Tia and Ari because I knew they'd love it. Walls covered in murals--

a little cubby door into what I thought was a closet, but when you looked inside...

it was a slide/climbing wall. All of my kids want this in our next house.

I want this zen-y tub,

 ...and this amazing set of drawers and cupboards for my master bath! Loving the gray too right now. 

 This was a favorite corner. This entire home was very light-filled, and had a house-wide sound system playing reggae music.

 See what I mean with the kitchen? I went with dark dark in mine, but now I'm craving light. Meh. I won't actually DO anything about it. I like this fixture too with its Edison bulbs.

 Close-up of the back-splash --we saw a lot of Moroccan tile and prints in all of the homes. I'm experimenting with settings on my phone camera here, that's why it looks strange.

 Here too --sorry. I wanted to show the textured tile. It was like a linen feel. Really pretty.

 This nursery actually made me want a baby again. So sweet I almost couldn't stand it.

 A really fun room. I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of the other side. It was done in a camping theme (see the jars of s'more ingredients on the shelf?). The other wall had a big cabinet like you'd imagine in a lodge or something: arrowheads, maps, binoculars, you get the idea.

 We want these doors for our basement!! It just makes sense not to take up space with an open door, and pocket doors always have problems. Coveting.

 Clever guest room/craft room --the bed is a murphy, and folds into the wall of shelves.

But this was my favorite bedroom. Right off of the camping family room, the sign reads: "Let's Sleep Under The Stars". The bulb lights are awesome, and I really like how they used a Queen headboard along the side of a full bed to make it into a daybed kind of thing. Wonderful place for a teenage girl. Almost tempted to redecorate...easier to just dream.

Tweet