Back in January, I was asked, along with four other trendsetters up and down the west coast, to be a part of the Reimagining the Sunset Home project. This involved designing and styling a room {in my case two!} to be viewed by 25,000 people and featured in the September issue of Sunset Magazine. Let’s repeat: Sunset. Magazine!

Completely shocked, rather terrified and ultimately overjoyed, of course, I said yes! By no means do I claim to be an interior designer. In fact, the only design that I’d done to date is in my own home, but this challenge felt like the ultimate stretch of my styling skills. Now, six months later and the major undertaking completed, as promised, I wanted to share more of my design journey with you. And quite the journey it was!

First up: where oh where to begin!

Sunset gave each designer an inspiration room taken directly out of vintage issues of the magazine {they keep copies of all issues of the 100+ year old pub in volumes in an onsite library. I got to see it. It was awesome!} Here was my inspiration room: a 1970′s rumpus room, complete with hammock! And I think my mom’s house still has that same rug, btdubs.

I immediately knew I wanted to modernize the idea of a rumpus room, since nobody has them anymore! I liked the idea of a room that still brought the family together, but with a twist on today’s way of life: No TV, no iPads, no phones. No electronics whatsoever! I wanted to create a space where a family can hang out and play games, read and just “be together.” The idea of an Unplugged Den was born.

Like most people these days, I started my design process off on Pinterest. I created two different boards- one for the Unplugged Den and one for my second assignment, a Home Office {you can see the boards here!}. I began dumping in inspiration images that went with the theme and soon saw a pattern of different elements I wanted to feature in the rooms: games, oversized art, comfort, and a cubby wall!

Since I was also given the task of designing the office {without an inspiration image as home offices didn’t really exist in the ’70′s!}, I wanted the two spaces to feel connected. Keeping with the-family-together-time theme, I decided to design an office where parents could work and children could do homework all at the same time. Again, I wanted things clean and white, with a touch of whimsy and a little dose glamour {my dream office in the back of my mind and all}.

With a clear direction of where we were going in hand, the hard part came: designing layouts and finding the perfect pieces to fit within them. We hit the streets and searched the internet high and low for items that were reminiscent of those in our inspiration boards and we stumbled across some amazing finds!

No stay tuned, as next week we’ll break down the sources of some of our favorite pieces that made it into the final designs.

image by norman a. plate courtesy of sunset magazine

This post accidentally went live early yesterday, but second time’s always a charm, right?! Enjoy!

This week we’re doing a little spin on the typical Tasty Tuesday. Instead of featuring a kitchen and how it inspires us, we’re sharing with you a tastefully designed nursery and our favorite baby registry items in honor of Kathryn, of Snippet and Ink, who recently became mommy to a gorgeous baby girl, Caroline!

We are obsessed with this minimal, yet cheery nursery, designed for Max Wanger and his wife Margaux by Morgan Satterfield and The Animal Print Shop! I actually had the pleasure of hanging out with Morgan recently, as she too was part of the Sunset Reimagined Home {wait until you see her room!}, and we had so much fun together. When she told me about the nursery she was working on, I knew it was going to be a showstopper!

Inspired by the space’s the modern, neutral base and the fun pops of sherbet colors, we’ve rounded up some tasty baby registry items anyone would love to give and future mommies would love to receive this summer.

get your shop on: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10 // 11 // 12 // 13 // 14 // 15

While Kathryn is on maternity leave, she’s asked me to be a guest blogger on Snippet and Ink. Of course, I jumped at the chance to be on such an inspiring wedding blog. So today, you can head on over to see another stunning roundup of products, this one being my dream wedding registry items. You can check it out right here!

image via The Animal Print Shop

Have you guys seen the amazing Design by Conran collaboration with JC Penney?! It’s so good. I am loving the direction JC Penney is taking, teaming up with some incredible designers. The Beep Table Lamp {which also comes in this floor lamp!}, made it to our Friday Fave this week and the timing couldn’t be better as it just so happens to be on sale right now!

We had the opportunity to feature the Beep Lamp in our Unplugged Den for Sunset Magazine and let’s just say it was so beautiful, I struggled with having to give it back!

Starting next week, we’ll be taking you behind the design process of Apartment 34′s rooms in the Sunset Reimagined Home. I’ve finally worked up the courage to share our experience undertaking the biggest project in Apartment 34 history. Throughout the summer we’re going to be sharing the steps in our design process, letting you in on some of our best sources, bringing you behind the scenes looks at some of the artists and designers who helped us pull everything together and sharing what we learned along the way. This will build up to the big Sunset Magazine September Issue release!