Spoon Flower

I've been working on a final project (yay school's almost over!) for which I have to design an entire apartment. Literally, the ENTIRE thing. I was given a blank floor plan and had to create a kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, etc. After hand drafting the floor and furniture plans for this apartment, I had to choose fabric and textiles to create an inspiration board representing the "style" of the apartment. (Have I lost you yet? That's fine. Just scroll down and look at the pictures.)

For my inspiration, I primarily used the website Spoon Flower. Yeah, random name, I agree. But it's a website full of amazing fabrics.

This first one has an early 1990's vibe to it. This makes me extremely happy. I may not end up using it for my project, but I love it none the less.

The rest of these will likely make it to the inspiration board, along with a slew of others.

That is all.

Nail Polish Envy

It's been a while since I've written about a nail polish mishap. Mostly because for the past few months (possibly a bit longer) I've been getting successful gel manicures. And there's not much to write home about when it comes to these...there's a small array of colors (which sucks a little) but they stay put for at least 2 weeks, so...yippee!

But alas, I'm still constantly in awe/extremely jealous of awesome manicures that I could not possibly ever replicate, like these:

Bookshelf reorganization

As my room is slowly coming to a finish, I think it's time I start posting some of my before and after pictures.

This is what my bookcase looked like before:

Disaster doesn't even begin to do it justice. Do I even need to say anything more about it?

Here's the after:

This is a list of things that are different:

1. Approximately 65% of the books, papers, and junk were either donated or trashed.

2. The items I couldn't part with but were an eyesore are conveniently stored in pretty baskets dispersed throughout the selves.

3. The books are organized by color.

4. Some of my favorite pictures and trinkets are now showcased to add some visual intrigue.

5. There is unused space on the shelves to prevent them from looking cluttered.

      I could continue the list, but I think the pictures speak for themselves.

One of my favorite things here is something from my childhood. 

I've had a button collection ever since I was a kid, but it's always been stored in a shoe box (a children's Stride-Rite box, if you must know) which meant they were kept in a closet. But...why take up extra closet space storing things that are so pretty? AH-HA!

I put my buttons in a mason jar and now they are proudly displayed on my bookshelf. The child in me is extremely pleased with this.

Each shelf has it's own points of interest, with the middle most shelves holding most of my favorite colors and items. Those are the eye-level shelves, so I may as well put things I love on them, right?

The before-and-after difference is like night and day. In fact, the entire room looks astonishingly different, even though the furniture itself (for the most part) hasn't been changed.

Check back soon for more room-updates!

Poster Love

My room is coming along fantastically. In fact, it doesn't even look like the same room.
Now that it's been painted, I've been trying to decide what to put on the walls.

This poster
from Made by Girl is a front runner.

I think (indecisive? me?) I'm leaning towards a wall of framed pictures, and this one would be a fantastic focal point. It's made with gold foil, which has reflective qualities.
















Made by Girl also does these cool alphabet/name posters.
This is one of my favorites:

These are all custom made by 'Girl' herself.

They are intended for children's bedrooms, but I think they'd work fantastically on a bookshelf with perhaps a favorite authors name, to help break up the monotony of books and books and books.

I'm not sure if I really have the space/necessity for a poster like this, (I know my name, I have no room on my bookshelf) but if I did, you can bet I'd own this.

Both of these posters come in multiple colors (Oh the choices!!) and they're worth checking out.

Made by Girl

Bedroom Redo: Update

         
           As you know, I've been in the process of purging my childhood bedroom of all the junk that has taken it over, with the goal of giving it a new life. I've stripped the room of all the built up clutter (mostly), and my design ideas have been morphing constantly.

Last time I wrote, I was consumed with this fantastic removable wallpaper. I still love the concept, but I've moved away from the idea of having it in my room. In fact, my whole vision has been re-imagined. Hopefully (since I've already spent a nice chunk of money) my current vision will hold steady.

My walls are going to be Dove Gray, which has a warm tone and is light in color. I originally wanted a BRIGHT accent wall, but I've given up on that, instead deciding on some other choice pieces, like these:

Marrakech curtains from Anthropologie. They captured my attention the first time I saw them, months ago, and I still adore them.



















I also chose these new knobs for the two closets in my bedroom (also from Anthropologie):

As for my bed, I've chosen this studded headboard from West Elm:

Against the pale grey that will be on the walls, I think the velvet fabric and pewter hardware will look spectacular.
















In addition to these items, I'm planning to have an armchair in a bold pattern as the real piece-de-resistance.
My bedroom is at the end of a straight hallway leading from the living room and front door area back to the rest of the apartment. This means that when my bedroom door is open, you have a clear view into it when you enter the apartment, etc.
I'm taking this into account with choosing the perfect chair, which is why you're not seeing a picture of it yet. It needs to be bold, size appropriate, and unfortunately, under a certain price point. (Oh how sweet it would be to have a $2,000 chair perched under my window...) So for now, no chair to speak of.

I've been taking pictures of my bedroom throughout all its stages of disaster, and at some point you'll get to see the culmination of all my work in a picture-rich before-and-after post. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. I do start school again next week though, so I guess we'll have to see how it all plays out. Wish me luck!

Going Home Again

After much deliberation and many indecisive moments, I have decided to move back in with my parents. This was not an easy decision, and I am extremely apprehensive about it, but as of right now, logically speaking...it seems to be my best option.

I have not lived with my parents steadily since high school. Sure, there were a couple of years after high school when I was going to college and living at home, but I was always spending time elsewhere. There were summer vacations spent here, there were intermittent periods of unloading all my belongings just to pack up again and leave.

Comings-and-goings of that nature, I have found, amount in an excess of...stuff. Years and years worth of junk. I would post some pictures of the clutter...but it looks like a hoarder has been living there. My bedroom was demoted to a storage closet about two years ago, amassing not just my junk, but my family's junk as well.

My mission for the past couple weeks, which will span into as many weeks as necessary, is to get rid of EVERYTHING that hasn't been touched in over a year. So far I've parted with three garbage bags full of clothes (2 closets and 2 dressers, and I still can't fit everything I own? Give me a break.) One bag of shoes, three bags of things stuff for the trash, one bag of books...And I'm maybe halfway through the trenches.

BUT!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is this:

Tempaper is a company that makes removable wallpaper. It's similar to a contact paper, made of vinyl, and goes on as a decal.










The wall behind my bed is flanked by 2 closets, making it a perfect candidate for some snazzing-up. I've chosen the Honey Jade Marrakesh pattern, and am yet to choose a wall color to go with it.

I want to avoid a Moroccan theme, so I plan to keep the rest of the room pretty neutral (Orange? Purple? No thanks.) I'll update as the project progresses. Heres hoping it goes well!

DIY?

Whenever I see bracelets/jewelry like this, I always think to myself that it looks like a fantastically easy and fun DIY project. I decide that I will totally make it, and I feel really thrifty and unique and wonder why anyone would ever waste their money on something they could make so easily. Then...I never, ever follow through and make anything. And then I understand why people (like me) spend money on these things.

via Design Crush

Oh well. Maybe someday I'll get around to being thrifty and unique...

Uvas Congeladas

If you don't know about this, now you do. Frozen grapes are amazing and you should go buy some and freeze them RIGHT NOW.

BF's room mate had a container of frozen grapes recently, which is how I discovered this amazing treat. Apparently other people knew about it also (I was just left out of the loop, clearly) because when I raved about it to JP and HA (room mates) they seemed to already know. Why did no one tell me about this until now!?

Last night we went on a roomie grocery shopping trip, and I bought a bag of grapes with the sole intention of freezing them, and freeze them I did.

So JP and I are sitting on the couch munching on grapes, she's watching tv, I'm looking at this weeks New York Magazine, when what do I see?

Frozen grapes. Guess me and the editor's over at New York were both late on the memo.

Better late than never, though, right?