Tillmans Roadhouse- A Review

I have a new favorite restaurant.  I'm in love.  Now, I believe good dining consists of two things: food and atmosphere.  If I were being really honest I would rank atmosphere above food.  I know, I'm crazy, but I would rather eat decent food at an amazingly decorated place than great food at a hole in the wall.  Luckily, this place has both- amazing food and amazing decor.

It's called Tillmans Roadhouse.  There is one in Dallas- I believe it's in the Bishop Arts District.  The one that I have been to is in Fort Worth in some of the new development going on there around 7th street. 

First of all, check out the decor.

This is the party room in dallas.  I think it looks amazing.  Someone please throw a party for me here.

Here is the party room in Fort Worth.  The designer just has an amazing way to combine the rustic with the chic.

Here is a view of the bar.  Love the stacked logs.  Love everything.  My dream is to design spaces like this.

Here's the patio.  An Eames rocker next to a stack of logs.  Perfect. 

Now let me say a word about the food.  Yummy!

It's a great blend of good wholesome down home food in an upscale way.  Make sense?  Probably not.  They have Venison Frito Pie.  I didn't try that one.  They have a french fry trio.  I did try that.  Regular potatoes with parmesean and herbs, sweet potatoes, and purple potatoes.  Homeade ketsup and another sauce.  That's really all you need.

But don't stop there.  Get their daily lemonade special- the Basil Lemonade is to die for.  Then, you could try a gourmet grilled cheese and a soup of the day.  Or one of the other amazing things.  Check out the menu HERE. 

Save room for Tableside Smores.  It's amazing (have I said that enough?).  Okay, they bring a tray with 3 flavors of homeade marshmallows, homeade graham crackers, homeade chocolate, and a little burner to roast them on.  It's fun and good.  They also have a cupcake tower which comes with 2 cupcake flavors 2 icings and 3 topings and you ice and top your own.  I dream of trying that.  I think it comes with like 12 cupcakes so in order to avoid eating all of them, I need some people to go with. 

Another view of the interior. 

And another.  I think chandilears like this are best paired with wood siding and concrete floors.  It's the only way to go. 

Now that I've shared this I will be dreaming of it all weekend.  I hope you will too.  If anyone wants to share the cupcake tower with me, I'm in!

A Perfectly Modern Hotel- NYLO Review

I love staying in hotels, I really do. I think if I had someone who would pack and unpack for me I could live going from hotel to hotel. Only if they are nice hotels that is.

A few weeks ago my husband and I were celebrating our 5th anniversary and in the interest of saving money and staying close to our baby, we decided to stay at NYLO hotel in Plano. You know me, and I love modern design, so the web site alone sold me on this place.

Here's the outside. Modern but not overly cold modern.


I was in love when I stepped in the lobby. Concrete. Yea.

The tree is nice too. I have always wanted a white tree... and a green tree and a silver tree....


Here's a view looking through the lobby. This is considered a botique budget hotel. Our room was about $65. There is no valet, no room service, no minibar, no bellhop. We didn't miss it.

Our room. This is the closet. Just a rod and a curtain and this cute shelf.

Here's the bedside table. Clear acrylic with a radio. My iphone is already plugged in!
(sorry, pictures are out of order)

These are the lights on each side of the bed. I would put this in my house.

Cute desk, cute chair.
I love the details. This is a floor lamp beside the loveseat. All the furniture looks like it was custom made for this hotel. It probably was.
Ceiling- concrete with exposed sprinkler pipes. I so want to be the designer for this hotel.
Carpet squares as a rug on the concrete floor. I think they copied me- we have this all over our house. Whew, I feel cool now! If you are curious- these are from Interface Flor. The tan one is called Soft Sisal.
A big TV that we could pull out over our bed. We watched a movie. I say, if you are going to have a TV, make it big and able to position over the bed. Here's a view sitting on the bed looking at the door. The glass on the right is the shower. Don't worry, you can't see through it.
Looking into the shower.
Awesome sink, lights, mirror- do I need to go on?
And the toilet. Nothing amazing here.
A sliding door for the bathroom. I have been wanting to do this in our bathroom for soooooo long.
Look, our own private coffee maker. I had fun making tea with this. They give you a free water bottle too. Seriously- it was free!
The view looking at the bed. The curtains on each side are decorative... there's only concrete behind them. So yes, it's a small room. We didn't need a big room though. If you want your family of 5 to stay here, might not be the place. But, if you need a good place for a getaway or a business hotel- this is it!
Here's the cute loveseat. See the concrete walls. Someday I will have a concrete house. Someday when I win the lottery.

Transform Your Fireplace

This is a true testament to the power of paint.

When we purchased our first home it wasn't exactly my style. Especially the den. The fireplace is the first thing you see when you walk in the door and what did we see? Ugly brick next to a tan wall. I couldn't have that for long.



I don't even know how to begin with all the ways this isn't me. It's fine, and I'm sure it appealed to some buyers, but it was one of our first projects in the new house.

What's the easiest and cheapest way to make an impact? PAINT!!! We headed for Lowes and asked the best way to paint brick. They directed us to a primer which they tinted in our color and a topcoat. We got one quart of each and we really could have used more of the primer.

I say, make a statement with your fireplace. It's the heart of your home and the focal point of the room so you can really make it a statement.

I picked teal for the fireplace. I love it!

This was nice but I didn't love it. The scale seemed wrong on the mantle so it had to go. It was attached with wood "posts" in holes in the brick. We could slide the mantle off which revealed these two big holes. So, we sawed (is that a word, sawed?) off the wood posts on the back of the mantle and stuck them back in the holes. Then, sealed around them and painted over it. You have to really be looking to see it.
A quick trip to Pier One and we found 3 pieces of metal to hang. A new fireplace screen from Crate and Barrel and it's looking better. (This is a Christmas Picture- the cone trees are not always there).

That's nice but still not great. I hated the wall faux finish... just didn't work for me. So, another LONG day and we painted the den. Now the fireplace really stands out. Perfect.
Hmmmm, only perfect for a little white. We have since stained the concrete, gotten a new rug, gotten new sofa and re-arranged. But that's another story for another day.

Ornament Tree to Photo Tree in a Snap

I ordered this "tree" last year from CB2 after Christmas for 75% off! (by the way, they still have some modern christmas stuff left on sale). They showed it as an ornament tree and that's what I got it for. When it came, it turned out to be a Umbra Photo Tree- you can get one HERE. I copied their use as an ornament tree at Christmastime.



Then changed it to a photo tree for the rest of the year.

I think I like the photo tree better!

One of the reasons I like this is because there is a similar chandelier that I love. I've seen a few versions and here is one from Pottery Barn. Wouldn't this be fun above a dining table!

By the way, Target carries Umbra- check it out HERE or HERE
Love this stuff!

Quick and Easy Chalkboard Tutorial

It's easy (and cheap) to get a chalkboard for your home. Find a frame, any frame will do. I like to shop at Aaron Brothers because they often have major sales and you can get one for really cheap. So, take your frame- remove the glass. I hated disposing of such a large piece of glass so it's in the garage... waiting for me to come up with a creative project for it.

There should be a piece of masonite or a thin hard piece of brown material. Take that and paint it with chalkboard paint. We used the Rust-oleum (shown above) and did 4 coats. The can says you can use less but I didn't want to take any changes. Then, re-assemble the frame and hang it on the wall. See, I told you it was easy!
Here's our finished chalkboard. We use it to post a weekly memory verse- it's been a huge help!

Linking with The Nester!

2010's Hot Color

It's true. I don't make this stuff up (well some of it I do). I was surprised to see so much of it in my new catalogues this week. I love it, I think it really freshens up a room and adds a nice pop of color. BUT not all rooms can handle yellow. I don't have a single room in my house that yellow would work in. That makes me a little sad. Maybe it will work in yours. Notice how it's used as an accent in the photos below and not overdone. I like how the other colors are neutral and light. So, if you have a room that needs a color pop, give yellow a try.

Photos above are from some of my favorite places to shop- West Elm, CB2 & Chiasso.

If you use yellow in a room, send me the link or the photos so I can see your great work!

P.S. Yes, I did read an article the other day where a designer said the hot color for 2010 was "Apricot". Well, he has many years of experience more than I do and he designs houses for the rich and famous but I have a hard time believing that Apricot is going to be hot this year. So, if you are rich and famous and reading this, ignore the part about the yellow and go with Apricot.

The Nelson Bench

A classic piece of furniture. So simple. So beautiful. It's a popular item in museums for the seating. Designed by George Nelson- you can find his bio HERE.

He also designed the clock that is in my heading. Cute clock.

Back to the bench. I have one. It's awesome in real life. I think it's the coolest piece of furniture I own (Ikea and West Elm are cool... just in a different way). The bench sits at the end of our bed. How did I get this amazing bench? Well, I won it in a drawing at a continuing education event from Herman Miller. My co-workers were quite jealous. It came with authenticity papers and everything. I love this bench.

My child does too, just in a different way. A way I don't really approve of.

That little munchkin better keep his 4 teeth off my bench or he's going to be banned from the bedroom!