design – Page 4

Pin Theft

As many women using the world wide web, I likes me some Pinterest. (Sorry, guys – I have yet to see a single non-chick using it. Feel free to Friend me if you’re a fan of it, too!) I’m not addicted to it, but I can see how a person could easily jump into that territory. There’s just so much inspirational material out there on the web; how could we NOT love a tool that helps us “save” ideas for later and share with friends?!

The funny thing is that part of my job is learning and educating about the responsible use of information – ie plagiarism, intellectual property, etc. Every time I pin something, I think about where it’s coming from, if the individual who originally posted it to the internet CARES that it may get pinned (and the original source in the process) dozens of times, and whether it’s legal. But, I do it, anyway.

I know that a lot of the stuff on Pinterest is actually originally shared by bloggers, who love knowing that people may try their idea (a craft, recipe, DIY project, etc) or find inspiration to do their own thing. Heck, lots of blogs ENCOURAGE us to pin their ideas. So, that’s what I’m telling myself every time I decide to repin for my own purposes. However, the items that I’m sharing here today are from the original sites (not the reproductions that I’ve been inspired to create)…just to be clear. Now, for the fun, hee hee.

For me, Pinterest has been valuable for planning my nursery. Talk about inspiration! Beyond the fact that I have actual proof that a nursery can be blue and NOT shout “It’s a Boy!” loudly (remember, we’re not finding out the sex…and we’re stickin’ to it ;-)), there are a kazillion ideas for nursery art. It’s to the point where Dave jokingly says that we’ll run out of room…and it just occurred to me that I should just keep pinning since, one day, we might just have a playroom (in a different house). 😉 Mwahahaha, he’s not safe!

So, here are some of my favorite nursery pins (the images are linked to their original sources)…

Pin Theft - image 30f78-nursery on https://megactsout.com

While there’s a tad more green to the wall color, this gave me some great inspiration for our room. Sure, there’s lots about it that we won’t be doing; we’ve got a dark wood antique rocker to use, our floors ain’t that purdy (we’ve got a large neutral rug that I’d like to layer a couple of throw rugs with), and we’ll have a lot more color. But, I LOVE the combination of blue and yellow, plus the embroidery hoop-with-patterned-fabric wall art.

While the orange isn’t a definite, the brightness and combination of fun color are definitely an inspiration for our space. I also love the mix of old and modern. By the way, I’d like to complete about 90% of the nursery, then if it’s a boy throw in some orange accents and if it’s a girl use some deep plum…but, hey, I could always throw both in. What other room could you do that without being put into a padded facility?

Pin Theft - image dbfcf-crib on https://megactsout.com

I know, this is an unimpressive picture, but the link provides you with some DIY crib skirt ideas. I’ve already purchased a $2 sheet that seems to be an antique (but who minds cutting an antique sheet when it cost $2?!) which will hopefully work for this project. It’ll add some of the classic, ruffly baby softness to the space.

Pin Theft - image 20f7a-yellow on https://megactsout.com

This is another unimpressive picture, but it’s close to an accent color I’d like to use, specifically to paint a free dresser we’ve got (luckily, it’s not as big as this…although I’m starting to wonder whether it’ll be big ENOUGH, eep!) that will double as a changing table.

Pin Theft - image 2696d-iloveu on https://megactsout.com

Aaaaand here’s the art! Yes, it’s the alphabet twice…see anything else? 😉
I’ve recreated this using a blue instead of gray and a neat stamped font.

Pin Theft - image fecc7-sunshine on https://megactsout.com

Here’s another theft on my part. My version uses the same colors, but a different font and a small, horizontal layout. My mother sang this to me as a child, so I HAD to have it in the room somehow.

Pin Theft - image 7cdec-sleepy on https://megactsout.com

How cheeky is this?!
I used the inspiration from this piece, but it looks quite different – with a green background and another cool stamped font. I LOVE this one.

Pin Theft - image 405fa-jars on https://megactsout.com

The inspiration from this nursery was the idea of some of the accessories, but more importantly the large glass jar used as storage. See the jar at upper left housing the old alphabet blocks? Why I think that’s neat, I have no idea. I just do.

So, that’s just a handful of nursery inspiration I found on Pinterest. Whatchya think? Disjointed and hard to picture? Or neat ideas that’ll create a fun, creative space? Feel free to share an opinion.

Pin Theft

So, here are some of my favorite nursery pins (the images are linked to their original sources)…

Aaaaand here’s the art! Yes, it’s the alphabet twice…see anything else? 😉
I’ve recreated this using a blue instead of gray and a neat stamped font.

Here’s another theft on my part. My version uses the same colors, but a different font and a small, horizontal layout. My mother sang this to me as a child, so I HAD to have it in the room somehow.

How cheeky is this?!
I used the inspiration from this piece, but it looks quite different – with a green background and another cool stamped font. I LOVE this one.

Parsons Project

So, our office was in a desperate state. Books everywhere. Three, count ’em three desks, all piled with papers – very important papers, mind you (well, most of them), but a clutter of STUFF, nonetheless. It simply wouldn’t do, and the husband was even more fed up with it than was I. Actually, I can live in clutter as long as things are relatively CLEAN – you know, the difference between “cluttered” and “unclean” (and there is QUITE a difference) – but since I used the office way less than Dave, I felt it only fair to put the axe to the grindstone. This is a partnership, after all. We’re all in this together. *insert other team-building cliches here*

Pin Theft - image on https://megactsout.com

A rare Dave cameo.

My plan has evolved over time. It’s gone from tearing up the cheap, ugly, no-padding-used carpet (to our dismay, the floors underneath were treated poorly by the *grumble-so-and-so’s* who were the prior owners – they knew they’d be putting the rug down, so what’s a slop of paint between strangers? While they were at it, they drizzled white paint on the carpet, too) to creating a completely feng shui space for my creative cutie to write and work. Heck, I’ve even posted my frustrations about this space in the past. Between the “big life changes” going on around notre maison (everyone calls their house a “casa”, but I received our Bringing up Bebe book today so was inspired to try out my rusty French skills — hey, it’s Mardi Gras!!) and the “dude, get on that already”-inspired challenge I’m setting for myself, I figured I’d better get things goin’ in this room, be them perfect or not.

The ultimate goal: Declutter by any means possible. This meant moving Dave’s childhood (but space-sucking/only-used-for-storage) desk into the basement. Don’t worry, we’re saving it for future generations…it’s safe down there. 😉 It also meant doing away with Dave’s cheap-o, press board computer “workstation”. But, this isn’t all about Dave doing away with his stuff. It just happens that my desk was in the best shape of all three, and I had something else in mind for my own work space (that could hopefully help make an office in a future house more stylish and feng shui-able).

My idea was inspired by, of COURSE, a project undertaken by the folks at Young House Love which involved creating one’s very own parsons table/desk (or a facsimile thereof) using an interior hollow-core door. Since this was my first of such project, I already know that mine is wobblier, rougher and generally more flawed than it should be…but it still looks pretty good and I’ve got a husband that couldn’t be prouder. So, in hopes of not being too premature, I’d say “mission: accomplished”!

We purchased the lumber and had the hollow-core door trimmed down to a manageable size. Man, did that Lowe’s worker look at me like I was a crazy lady! I found a small piece of trim to “finish” that side (although it doesn’t fit *perfectly* – no one would notice but me, probably). I used brackets to attach the legs to the “top”, then “trimmed” out the front and sides (none in the back) below the top. Here are a few “before” shots of the room for a better idea of what we were working with:

Pin Theft - image dffff-daveathisdesk on https://megactsout.com

Dave’s side of our disorganized craziness.

“My side” of the office. For the record, that’s not all my stuff. It’s a mutual mess.

Even after we removed the third desk (from the right side), it was still…well, embarrassing.

Aaaaand here’s some of the building process:

Soon-to-be table/desk legs that almost killed our saw. Note the burn marks.

Pin Theft - image 44c16-helperwinston on https://megactsout.com

Wee Wee and his sidekick, S.U., “helping.”

Spackling (well, wood putty-ing) a bit of the end trim job.

Aaaaand a variation of this is what my poor husband had to deal with for well over a week. This or an in-process version (first coat of primer, second coat of primer, first coat of white semi-gloss, etc). But, finally, as a belated birthday present (or a way to say “I’m sorry for the mess!”), I finally cleared off my desk for the 2012 Great Desk Shuffle. This involved clearing off both desks, moving his “workstation” to the garage (so much easier said than done!), shifting my old desk to “his side”, and scooting the faux parsons table into its new home.

Work in progress…

This is where I’ll leave you. Dave’s got lots more on and in his desk now (it looks really good, in my humble opinion), but we’re still working out the organizational logistics. I’m also hoping to get a lengthy floating shelf from IKEA (courtesy a dear friend who lives much nearer to one) to go above my space, and we’ll both be sifting through still more “stuff”.

It already feels so much more spacious and organized, even with the crap still laying in piles. I’ll be sure to share the organizational tricks we’re using (yep, I’ve already got a few tricks up my sleeve, mwahaha) and the final, handsome space when it comes together. There may be lots of work involved, but it is therapeutic to make your space a lot more enjoyable, usable and fresh.

*On a side note, just gotta admit publicly that I’m not in love with the office wall color. It was one of many VERY early color decisions that we made, and while it’s a neutral tan, I see more pink and darkness in it than I’d like. I’m also no longer in love with our green/burgundy vibe (not sure I was ever in love with it…yeah, I should’ve broken up with it awhile ago) and want to come up with an improvement to the curtains. It needs to be a happy, creative, airy space, and I’m going to get it that way if it kills me! Er…let’s take the drama back a few notches…I’m going to get it that waaaaayyyyy uuummmm with lots more online researching for inspiration (ie Pinterest and blog reading, holla!) and hopefully some thrifty finds. Yeah. Like I said, the ultimate goal is for a peaceful, creative, organized space to share with Dave, since he spends a lot of his time at home here. It’s a labor of love more than anything.

Parsons Project

A rare Dave cameo.

Dave’s side of our disorganized craziness.

“My side” of the office. For the record, that’s not all my stuff. It’s a mutual mess.

Even after we removed the third desk (from the right side), it was still…well, embarrassing.

Aaaaand here’s some of the building process:
Soon-to-be table/desk legs that almost killed our saw. Note the burn marks.

Pin Theft - image 44c16-helperwinston on https://megactsout.com

Wee Wee and his sidekick, S.U., “helping.”

Spackling (well, wood putty-ing) a bit of the end trim job.

Work in progress…

Bi-Polar Design

If there happens to be any individuals still in existence that attended HCCC with me (*gasp* over a decade ago), and happened to take our awesome public speaking class, they’ll see that blog title and mentally jump to a speech I made. See, I was diagnosed as being bi-polar at the time, so had done a lot of research to understand it better. I felt that others also needed to understand its stigmas and misinformation. Strangely enough, since then I have discovered that I was simply experiencing good ol’-fashioned depression. I digress…

Let’s take a quick field trip, shall we? Those were always fun — until someone got sick on the bus. Luckily, this is a virtual field trip, so no nausea goin’ on, unless you’re preggers like me.

First, check out this House Tour at Making It Lovely. I’m not an avid reader of MIL, probably because I gravitate towards bloggers that focus, sure, on incredible design, but that also…well, have lots of flaws. The glossy, magazine-like inspirational blogs are awesome (don’t get me wrong!), but they’re not daily reading for me. I suppose I prefer reading stories, and seeing progress, and knowing that mistakes and wrong turns were made before reaching a gorgeous final product. In short, the glossy ones take my self esteem down a few pegs. I need all the SE I can get. (Maybe I just need to read back further on this blog and I’ll find their warts. Hey, I WANT to be a fan!)

(If you don’t want to come *cough cough, spoil sport, cough*, here are a few pictures to help with the visual. These by no means belong to me; I have linked the sources! Honestly, there’s much better eye candy at the links provided in my text.)

Source

Anyhoo, after checking out MIL’s house tour, well, I actually drooled and said “Ahhh!” out loud. Sure, they’re not done with their space yet, either, but the design and inspiration that’s there is insane. I see it as bold, gutsy, colorful, modern-yet-vintage (hello, mid-century furniture!), patterned, and jealousy-invoking. It actually reminds me a bit of our friend B+B’s space, which always leaves me feeling inspired…and incredibly bland, myself. I adore this space and think, “If I asserted myself and got over my design bipolarity, I could do that. Possibly.”

Secondly, I shall drive the yellow bus over to Layla and Kevin’s space over at The Lettered Cottage. *sigh* This is clearly a different space. It’s so different, it’s on another planet. Y’know, if Neptune consisted of nothing but light, bright, vintage charm. This is what inspired me to purchase a white slipcover for our living room couch. No matter your style, you’ve gotta admit that it’s gorgeous.

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The third “visit” is to House*Tweaking. It’s the closest style to my house’s current wardrobe – well, kind of. I think that the earthiness and eclectic vibe is the direction in which my little design vehicle has been steadily driving. Some of the rooms are comparable to a few of ours; others are GORGEOUS and mine can’t touch ’em. Strangely, though, when I look at their spaces, I think of the concept of wabi-sabi, which I’m interested in incorporating in all aspects of our life here. It’s definitely a “make do with what you have” method, but with lots of style thrown in. Good to know they’re compatible, at least.

(Ohhh, this is lovely!!!)
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Aren’t they all so different?!?!

It’s difficult to be in love with such varying design styles (there are tons more I won’t mention here) – can you see why it feels like a fit of bi-polar (if not simply multiple personality disorder – apologies to any of my mentally-challenged rights advocates buddies in the audience)? How to make it all fit together?

I suppose it’s a wonderful thing that one’s style (clearly I put a lot of stake into style; others, notsamuch, which is cool – but I do feel that it’s a reflection of one’s inner self, and what better way to introduce visitors to your home to yourself than by saying “this is me!” with awesome curtains?) can change and transition through life as humans tend to naturally. While the inspiration that I find often leads me down the jealousy path, I’d like to *attempt* to focus on the positive direction on which it can lead me – “oh, I like that, how can I make that ‘my own’?” Especially on a budget.

It’s always a challenge. It’s an internal struggle, but it’s also an external one – if I’m changing my mind or flip-flopping on ideas all the time, how can I expect the hubs to even follow along let alone stay on board? And, honestly, it’s hard to discuss design with a guy. It just is.

So, for now, I’ll make my mood boards to see what direction life may take and see what comes of it. Thanks for coming along on this little field trip – I feel better. 🙂

Oh, pardon me! Where are my manners? Do you have a favorite? Or a style that you only wish you could attain? Do share! I love hearing what inspires others.

Bi-Polar Design

(If you don’t want to come *cough cough, spoil sport, cough*, here are a few pictures to help with the visual. These by no means belong to me; I have linked the sources! Honestly, there’s much better eye candy at the links provided in my text.)

Pin Theft - image 0ad21-makingitlovely1 on https://megactsout.com

Source

Pin Theft - image 5adf2-lettered_cottage_reading_room on https://megactsout.com

Source

(Ohhh, this is lovely!!!)
Source

Aren’t they all so different?!?!

So, for now, I’ll make my mood boards to see what direction life may take and see what comes of it. Thanks for coming along on this little field trip – I feel better. 🙂

Oh, pardon me! Where are my manners? Do you have a favorite? Or a style that you only wish you could attain? Do share! I love hearing what inspires others.

Light ‘n Bright with White

What could have possessed me to stay up past 11 (scandalous) on a Saturday night, when I had been awake since 3:30am? Only one thing. One thing that I’ve been obsessing over and hunting for all over the interwebs for months, if not longer. A white slipcover.

Yes, we have 3 cats. Why do you ask?

I was a little concerned that the state of the packaging would indicate a poor quality product therein, but nope. Halleluiah! After a wash and an ironing (it’s so less exhausting when I type it and rush by the words as if it didn’t take me FOREVER to do), followed by a wrestling match that my sweet husband tried to help with several times (leave it to the professionals, dear), our once-green-slipcovered couch turned into a presentable white-slipcovered couch, which started its life as a deep blue regular couch.

I’ve been wanting to switch up the look in this living room for awhile. It’s cozy and all, but the burgundy/sage green/tan thing has been wearing thin, especially with all the gorgeous, breezy living rooms I’ve seen on awesome sauce blogs and how’d-they-do-that magazines lately. I’m also itching to tear up the rug to see what condition our floors are in, but I know there’s some boards that need replacing and I’m not sure how far the plywood that was put in its place runs. *sigh* More dreams. I’ve even had dreams of sanding and refinishing them all by my lonesome…but, inevitably, my mother would regale me with the story of the time that my father did the same thing. The wood floors in my bedroom were a bright orange compared to the rest of the house. Ruin things for everyone, Dad, sheesh. 😉

So, I’ll be phasing out the burgundy, and even some of the sage (if not all of it). Got s’more upholstering to do (hello, ugly green ottoman. I’m talkin’ to you.), but the surprised reaction that I got from Dave was priceless. Oh, did I not mention that I had purchased said item without telling my husband? I was hoping to surprise him with a freshly-slipcovered couch after work one night, but I was just too excited with Saturday’s mail not to tear it open right then and there.

The white stands out a bit right now, but I’ll be working on that. I just love that it doesn’t suck the light out of the room like the darker green color anymore. Makes the room look a tad bigger, too!

By the way, the thing ran me around $60, plus some shipping and handling. While at Target Sunday, we noticed that even just a small chair slipcover ran around that amount, so we were pleased as punch with my purchase. Just think: A couch that my hubby has proudly owned since college + pretty cheap slipcover = no more pining for financially unattainable Pottery Barn couches. Priceless.

Mantle with no Fireplace

I’ve dreamed of owning a house in which I could build a fire practically my whole life. Sure, I could do this unsafely without a fireplace and chimney, but I can’t even convince my husband that a fire pit in the backyard would be safe. He’s no fun.

So, while our current 90-year-old house isn’t the house for my stupid smokey dream, we found a way to enjoy a small version of a mantle without the help of a contractor…or any construction beyond the use of a drill, for that matter.

Pin Theft - image ed9be-dsc03545 on https://megactsout.com — Dr. Oz, if you’re wondering.

This is the wall that we stare at most. It’s above our slightly-turned TV (classic, no? No sexy flat screens for us), so the twig-and-faux-berry wreath that was hanging there simply filled the space. Didn’t do anything other than add a bit of crimson and texture to the wall, really.

Pin Theft - image 180d1-dsc03546 on https://megactsout.com

But, with the help of this Christmas Tree Shoppe wall shelf (I believe less than $20), I had envisioned a way to add some architectural detail (whose shape, incidentally, mimics the tops of the doorways throughout the house) and place some art. I can even consider creating some “mantlescapes” to change seasonally.

It took lots of measuring, and 2, count ’em 2 extra holes (hidden behind the ledge, thank goodness), and I’m still not quite sure it’s level (even if I had had a level at hand, it wouldn’t have mattered; we’ve got that crooked house from the nursery rhyme), but it’s an improvement.

While we’re at it, I thought I’d share a couple of cheap art projects that I’ve already started shuffling around the “mantle”.

The first is actually pretty darn near free, and you can see it above. I’ve been piling up some frames that have outgrown their pictures for some time, and this is one of those cases. Funky, weird textured frame (looking almost tropical…how did this thing end up in our house?) + muslin fabric I’ve had lying around + fabric glue from another project + the perfect antique key that I thiiiink I found some place = free art! For now, it doesn’t have a wall hanger on its back, but it’ll do.

The other piece cost $3…plus tax. I had seen pieces like it on the interwebs, so once I dug up the tiny bags of Bingo buttons at an antique store this past weekend (in Concord, Mass. – more on that later!), I knew immediately what to try with them.

Pin Theft - image a3801-antiques on https://megactsout.com — The Concord antiques shop that hooked us up, big-time. Anyone get why it’s got the punny name?

Using a double-matted frame with no paper background (the texture and color of the frame’s backing always interested me), I glued the numbered wooden buttons directly on, finally putting the glass back and letting it dry for at least an hour before setting it on the “mantle”.

Pin Theft - image 83249-dsc03550 on https://megactsout.com — Can’t do any project without a cat nearby. Glad to have the Winston stamp of approval.

Pin Theft - image d28b9-dsc03551 on https://megactsout.com

What I love most about these pieces, besides the cost, is the modern vibe that you can find, even from old objects. An old key. Old Bingo buttons – seriously? I love antiquing, whether I’m “good” at it or even consistent (I do it when it’s an option, I’ve got time, and the mood strikes me), and especially love getting pieces while out of town. Hey! Come to think of it, every time I look at my sideboard, I think of how we found and purchased it during our honeymoon. And now I’ll think of our mini-vacation to Boston when I look at the Bingo art that I now looooove.

Anyone here into antiques? Or are you a strictly “new stuff” sort of person? Eclectic, like moi? Do tell!

Rain, Rain…You Know the Rest

In our neck of the woods (depending on who you ask Upstate or Central NY), spring is a luxury. It usually lasts a month, tops, before hitting the gas and speeding into summer. While we’ve had some humidity and high-ish temperatures this year, we’ve definitely had a SPRING. I write that in all-caps because we’ve had an ungodly amount of rain.

Aside from some flooding and already a few tornado touch-downs (which is rare around these parts), we’ve generally been subjected to just lots ‘n lots ‘n lots of rain…or at least warnings of rain. Some days we had “chances” of rain, so we made plans accordingly, only to see a mostly sunny, gorgeous day. Looking at the 7-day forecast has been enough to make you cry, especially when you’re dying to get your garden going.

So, rather than bitch about things that we cannot control (but, sigh, isn’t it good to do that from time to time?), I shall focus both this blog post and my general mental state towards the projects that I’m itching to complete…once the forecasts for rain (and tornado waches) taper off.

My list includes those things that I’ve look at while holding Winston for his once-and-awhile “outside time” (gotta hold him tightly, that cat is FAST), thinking to myself “I should….” In other words, these may be summer projects…or autumn projects…or….

– Stain and paint the deck (which has had a year to “cure” since it was built – and, yes, I’m both staining AND painting the thing. Don’t judge. It’s gonna look fab.)
– Actually put furniture and the grill ON the deck!!! (Clearly have waited to do that until the above is completed.)
– Finish weeding.
– Prep last year’s veggie bed and build/fill/prep the new one (and mound a “pile o’ dirt” for the zukes ‘n taters). The building can’t be accomplished ’til a weekend since the hubs and I enjoy building stuff together. Gotta keep things fresh and exciting, ya know!
– PLANT both veggies AND flowers, finally.
– Get the front porch fixed…and stain/paint accordingly when done. It’s fine, really, just not regulation. Whatever (ahem, holding my tongue) individual built the thing originally before selling/dumping the house built the porch part without measuring the proper height for the stairs, so there’s a mini 1″ step up at the top. Not so safe. Silly.
– Take tree pictures. Gonna miss that sucker, especially with its wildlife and shade…but it’s just too dangerous and half-dead. Bittersweet. The cats will hate us for getting rid of their #1 place for entertainment. (It’ll be taken down in late June.)
– Finish digging out the rest of the intrusive ivy plants.
– Get the windows wrapped… (This one’s kind of out of my hands, but they look bad so it bugs me. Oh, and I’d just like to brag that we have almost all-new windows. Almost.)
– Power wash the house. Hope that the siding doesn’t lose any color in the process. Paint the whole darn thing if it does damage. *sigh*
– Paint the foundation, side door, shutters, and possibly scrape ‘n paint the garage. Yeah, you know this isn’t all going to happen this summer. A girl can dream, right?
– Speaking of “ain’t happenin’ this summer” (there IS such a thing as $$$…wait, does that make me an adult now? Crap.), one compound word: driveway. It’s N-E-V-E-R been re-done since it was first put in well over 50 years ago. Can we say “ruts”?
– Spray paint my clearance matchstick blinds. Yeah, there’s no other place to do that without asphyxiating myself, and we wouldn’t want that, would we? All I can picture is the cats saying, “But but but who will take us outside? And clip our nails? And punish us LOUDLY? Oh, wait.”
– FINALLY Drylok & paint the basement, then organize. Yes, that’s inside, but the walls and floor need to be completely dry before we Drylok, and right now we’re experiencing seepage. Hee hee. Seepage. Love that word!

I’m guessing there’s more, but I just don’t have it in my head right now. But, guess what! Here are some things that I CAN do INside while I wait for the weather to change:

– Turn my sights back to the bathroom. Why is it that whenever I get the motivation (sorry, but the ceiling work makes my hernia act up, very uncomfortable…TMI?) it’s at a moment that I have plans coming up and probably shouldn’t show up to them with drywall dust and paint all over my head and face.
– Clean. That includes the fact that I probably should go down to the cellar and condense stuff so that things are easier to work with when we DO finally get to the painting.
– Reupholstery.
– Work on plans for my sister’s baby shower. (Excitement!!!!!!!!!)
– Redesign the blog. Somehow, this gets me nothing but more frustrated.
– Actually FINALLY order professional-ish prints from the wedding. Ka-ching. 😉 But, this could help with adding some art to the house. This is another thing I should ppprrrrobably do with Dave.
– Draw/paint.
– Read.
– I’d bake bread, but it’s sooooooo humid and hot lately!!! Okay, okay. I’ll crack out the bread maker that my mother-in-law so graciously let me take. Oh, but that means I’ll have to look up baking instructions online. There. That’s on the checklist.
– Research some grants for the theater.
– Start planning for the next show we’re doing.
– Determine a final color scheme for the living room/staircase. When this rug is finally pulled up (oh, what a happy day that will be! Er. I hope. God, I can picture something horrible happening and my going nuts just tearing this sucker out. *shivers* Okay, let’s hope that doesn’t happen), that will change the entire ball game as far as design. Currently, the living room feels okay but slightly outdated with dark tan, sage green, crimson and cream (the dining room is crimson and also neeeeeeeeds to be transformed)…but things seem to be leaning towards the tans/browns/creams — too monochromatic. Eh. Clearly need more thinking on this point. Any suggestions are welcome.
– I’m sure my husband has a handful of friendly reminders. There are far too many “to do” lists when one owns a house. But, we’re lucky.
– Ah! Sleep!! You can SLEEP inside. Nice. A thousand points for me.

Did I miss anything I should add?? Do you have any projects or overwhelming (or even underwhelming) tasks on your radar? Feel free to vent.

As a post-script, I’d like to send my condolences to those who have lost everything, from belongings and homes to loved ones, in the tornadic events of the Midwest. I can’t imagine and am lucky. Period.

Basement Inspiration

So, I need to make a confession. I LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE Polyvore. It may not be a perfect program, but it’s fun, free and helps me to make mood boards that I can actually utilize when looking for projects around the house. I can’t redecorate in one fell swoop (Reasons? #1: money, #2: time. Duh. ;-)) but this gives me inspiration, and the time lapse gives me flexibility. If I find something on the cheap at TJ Maxx or the Christmas Tree Shop out and about that comes close to what I’ve created, well great! I prefer it that way! Plus, I get to be a little creative, so it’s win-win.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a HUGE fan of Young House Love, which is a blog about design and home improvement, among other things. They’re one of the main reasons I thought to start a blog, myself. So, I think I’ll take a mini-vacation from my usual posts and share with you my latest mood board — for our basement, which we’re working on cleaning out and, throughout the summer, waterproofing, painting, and organizing (yet again). We’ve got some additional projects in mind, like adding a 1/2-full bath and creating unified storage areas, but we’re not sure if those will all happen this summer…remember, we’re also planning a wedding. 😉

So, with no further ado…

There are actually three spaces listed: the Living Space, the Laundry Area, and the Possible Bath. These areas are separate; there will be unfinished basement space separating them (it’s a pretty good-sized basement). Since I know we’ll be using a tan paint (either colored Drylok or a paint over the Drylok-ed areas) on most of the foundation walls , I wanted to come up with color schemes that would work with it. Here are some of my ideas:

The Living Space:
-See that curtain on the upper left? I’m thinking of using outdoor curtains on one of the walls to add textural interest and a little bit of insulation. I did research and got the inspiration from this picture; somehow I always feel like I can do something after I’ve heard that others have done it and didn’t have issues. Needless to say, I’m pretty nervous about decorating in a basement — I’ve seen floods and all the damage they can do, but our house is so small we HAVE to make it usable space.
– The color scheme I chose for this room includes beiges and tans as well as greens, turquoise and darker brown. This room will be the most finished (probably including flooring, which may or may not be a chocolately faux wood laminate). When we eventually invest in a new living room set, we’ll be putting our coffee table, couch and chair in this space — so it’ll have lots goin’ on. We already have an extra entertainment center (along with TV — moving 2 apartments into one house does that to ya) for the space, too.

The Laundry Area:
– The black-and-white flooring is actually leftover from our kitchen flooring project last year. If we have enough to make it look good, it’ll also be in the bathroom. So, as with our kitchen, I LOVE a light turquoise (almost Tiffany’s blue) accent, so I’d like to paint out the cement walls in this area bright blue. To tie in with the living room, some pops of lime green will help modernize the space, too. (Baskets, waste basket…any other items I can pick up.)
– To continue the curtain theme, I’m planning on running an industrial steel wire line from the two outside walls of the space and hang grommeted curtains so that we can close off the space or create an “entryway” (a bit of a continued inspiration from the picture).
– Yeah. We don’t have a HE front loading washer/dryer yet…we’re keeping an eye out for sales and “out of box” choices. We’re lucky enough to have a F-R-E-E set right now, but our eventual goal is all-new appliances, upstairs and down. *crosses fingers*

The Bathroom
– As I mentioned, the floor will be checkered. If it’s a half bath, it’ll just have the sink and potty (yes, I call it a potty), so the turquoise towels would be pretty irrelevant. Keeping the whole space a bright tan; crisp, clean white; and sharply contrasting black (check out that fluffy black throw rug! I bought one for my mom’s updated bathroom and she loves it) would be enough. Throwing in a pop of turquoise would be easier with the shower, if it happens. I’m fine if it doesn’t; just having an extra place to *ahem* use would be awesome, especially when kids, one day, will be using the basement to play and have sleepovers.

So, as things get underway, I’ll be updating with photos of the progress. As with most things, I assume this will probably take longer than we expect it to — most projects have been broken up into parts, each of which will make its own timeline. Plus, with a cat who loooooves to look around the basement area (especially when the rest of the house isn’t necessarily cool) and will do anything to be where we are, it should be pretty interesting. 🙂