Are you ready to explore the stunning terrain of Palm Desert and Joshua Tree National Park with me? I hope you are! 

I will be heading out to Joshua Tree to attend a highly anticipated block printing workshop out in the high desert this weekend. I have visited Joshua Tree many times in the past and am always inspired by what I see and feel. It feels like a center for creativity. I look forward to sharing photos of where we stay, what I make and what I see some time next week!

Have a great weekend everybody and until then, if you want to dream up future travels, check out my new travel page! ​

Last Thursday, I shared some exciting news! I announced that I would be participating in the One Room Challenge as a guest participant along with over 200 designers across the country. Awesome, right?! 
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Lucky for me, I stumbled upon this challenge when I saw a designer from my Children's bedrooms board had participated in the past. It was a timely discovery as the challenge dates synced up perfectly with our room design timeline. 

We promised ourselves that after the weather cooled down, we would re-organize his space and return all of his toys to the room, as they are currently scattered around the house in our living room and bedroom which is driving us, (me) crazy!

We decided to do a twin bed with a trundle, so that family can still come over and spend the night. Our current guest bed is a queen, so our goal is to open up the floor space in the room by using a space saving bed. 

We are probably going to keep the white dresser, which is bolted to the wall as-is. To the right of the dresser, you can see the corner of my husband's desk. He often works from home and this space doubles as his office, when he does. As you can see, we have a lot going on in this space! One day, in the not so distant future we hope to have a 3 bedroom place, but for now, we will just have to get creative with the space we have. 

One thing that I kind of like about this room is the nursery bookshelf that we made using photo ledges from IKEA. It is actually an inexpensive and low profile way to display a variety of books! We may keep that part the same. 

We did decide, which bed to order. I have a feeling that some of you will be very excited about the one that we selected, while others might be disappointed? I asked for your opinion on my Facebook page and on Instagram and the vote was split about 50/50. Many of you made very good points about each product board, which made the decision that much more difficult.

Since, the new bed has already shipped, you will be finding out about that selection soon! ​I will say that in a way, I took your advice. On another note, this fan needs to go! Unless anyone has a creative way to update it? If you do, please share in the comments. 

Last, but not least, I will tackle paint selection, lighting, and visual accessories like photography. 
I plan to share those things all Week 4...

Then there will be only 2 weeks left to install and full style the space. You can follow along the One Room Challenge with me every Thursday. 

I look forward to seeing what all the other designers are up to this week. If you would like to see Week 2: Product Boards or Week 1: Inspiration Boards, you can take a peak! 

Are you ready for a Fall carve-free pumpkin DIY today? ​This is a seasonal autumn project that can last Halloween through Thanksgiving! 
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Lately, I have been inspired to create mandala designs using lines and patterns on paper and stone, I thought, why not try out a  mandala pattern on a pumpkin too? 

We scored some fabulous little pumpkins on our latest trip to the Underwood Farm, our favorite farm in the agricultural valley north of Los Angeles. We also picked up a few more pumpkins at Whole Foods! 
For this project, I used: 

• White and orange pumpkins, I think gray pumpkins would look stunning too!
• Fine point metallic paint pens
• Bright paint pens (optional)
• Permanent markers (optional, recommended for little kids)

Read on to find out how you can make one too and see the stunning results!