Interiors | Freshen Up Your Space

This time of year there’s one thing constantly on my mind: CHANGE. Without the Christmas tree taking up the entire living room I’m suddenly irritated with the layout, my bedroom needs a feng shui alteration, the guest room has turned into holiday storage… You get the idea. Think of it as pre-spring fever.

If you’ve got the sickness as well, here’s a few ideas and links to help you tweak your space (physical and mental) a little without painting an entire wall navy blue chalkboard or just flat out moving. Ha.

Use this Color Palette Generator found via Creature Comforts to dissect your favorite photos for color inspiration (before you slap that navy paint down). I read somewhere that people like to surround themselves with colors they like to wear (i.e. look good in), so ponder on that as well – maybe your space doesn’t feel right because orange isn’t your color! And yes, I wear a lot of grey. Scour Shelterness for cool DIY projects you can use to revamp the things you already have, like vintage teacups, random garage sale finds, cool new ways to display your jewelry and more. I like this site a lot because they do a lot of IKEA revamps… Feverishly turn the pages of these fabulous online design magazines for ideas and inspiration. They left out one of my favorites, though: Anthology. Get a Pinterest account and start pinning!!! Everything that makes you happy – colors, themes, rooms, recipes… It’s a great way to get your thoughts organized and you can just follow other people’s links down the rabbit hole until you feel sufficiently inspired. And when you’re done with all that looking at awesome scenery and cabinetry you don’t have and have little hope of getting any time soon, re-arrange your living room furniture and settle in for a winter marathon! You can spend the next few winter months vacationing in the islands, caught up in the advertising world of the 1950s and 1960s; traversing the fantastical land of Coeur de Coeur, being a bit ahemaheamahem at the manor, exercising some gorgeously flagrant vocabulary out West, traveling with the freakshow in the dustbowl, laughing at Tine Fey’s hilarious oddity, learning about the streets of Baltimore, or rumbling in the Bronx (okay, Jersey), all from the comfort of your own home. And some of that is even on Netflix instant view.

Obsessions | Terrariums

I’m kind of a little obsessed with terrariums right now. They’re really almost too easy to even call a DIY: Get a clear vessel of some sort (like a glass), some dirt, a low maintenance plant and BOOM! You now have a fancy word to use for your cup of dirt! You are now master of DIY projects and re-purposing! Here’s some purty pictures to help inspire your terrarial experimentation…    
For these and more check out this Poetic Home article on re-purposing containers as terrariums…

DIY | Fun Wreaths Photo Blog

  

 

I should have saved the links for these but I wasn’t actually planning to blog about wreaths until I noticed I had so many photos. Sorry…? I did however save the DIY for the white fur-wrapped wreath courtesy of Nesting Place because it looked like it might involve more effort than a little effusive glue-gunning.

You know…? Not really! BRING ME MY GLUE GUN!

Budget DIY Projects | Fun Things To Do With Paint

Maybe you’re bored with your furniture/house/life or you just don’t have enough time or money to go on vacation right now. Either way, a little paint is all it takes to pep up your world, and most projects are going to be fairly simple and time efficient. Here’s a few ideas of what you can do with a little paint + vim + vigor…

Paint-Dipping: You just dip it… in the paint…    

Paint Splattering: You splatter… with the paint… (May I suggest avoiding red unless you’re into horrorshow, and also that you splatter in moderation and isolated color for a bold graphic effect, as opposed to the whole accident effect.)   (This is a homemade splatter protector, thank you Martha Stewart…)

Accent Painting: Because one wall of chartreuse is cute, but four is really, really bright.

   

Or, forgo the paint entirely and instead opt to Decorate with Painterly Objects…Paint Chip Wall Mural from Design*Sponge  Paint Chip Wall Art by All Things Paper at Paper Crave… And again at How About Orange. Paint stick lampshade at Shelterness.

Unless you have huge 30 ft. ceilings, the most you’ll need for any of these projects is a gallon of paint, which is about $14 at Walmart. Otherwise, spray paint can range from $1-5 a can, a quart of paint is about $6, and paint chips and sticks are FRUH-REE, oh yeah!

So stop feeling bored and go paint something already. Added plus: If you get paint all over yourself and then have to go somewhere, people will think you’re a cool artist type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY | Swiss Military Doormat

Taking inspiration from the Swiss military decor post and our lack of a front door mat, I came up with this cute DIY – a $10 doormat! I bought a $7 mat at Walmart, and three cans of $1 spray paint…   So that was fun and I’m pleased with the result. Well, I might go back and do the outer edge fully in grey, maybe not though… But it’s definitely a cure for the common doormat.

Obsessions | Swiss Military Blanket Decor

Swiss Army Blankets are the coolest of military blankets. I love the way they look, all graphic and cozy and wrapped in a perfect shade of grey wool, and you can also make great-looking accessories out of them! The downsides are that they’re incredibly expensive and somebody may have died wrapped in one, so I’m considering trying to replicate the look with some paint. But until then…        Several of these articles are from the Danish design team Denken, but they don’t appear to be for sale anywhere on the website or in stores…

So let me get to thinking how I want to attempt to rock this DIY and I’ll get back to you on it! I think I have an idea…

DIY | Ombre Dresser Project

Because it’s my birthday, I decided to actually execute a DIY project! What’s up! I’ve been obsessed with ombre since I started planning my wedding last year and saw this Maggie Austin cake… I eventually created a dyed-coconut and hydrangea version for a friend’s birthday and neglected to take a photo of it (it was lovely), but the ombre obsession remained.

I became obsessed with Alexa Chung’s ombre bob, and then every cool hipster indie type (ahem Sophia Coppola you sage filmmaker you) had one, and I tried to have one and kind of failed about seven times… So I let the dream go for a bit. And then I stumbled on these throw blankets last week from West Elm. (I’m buying the coral one, by the way.) So the ombre need was re-awakened, and I decided to get it together and actually do the project I’ve been contemplating since I bought this dresser at IKEA a year ago. I love the colors of the sea, so I bought an array of Benjamin Moore paint samples and tried out the effect on some blank canvases from Walmart.  Loving the colors and the ease of it (You can’t go wrong, really; whether you color block or ombre depends on the blending, but they both turn out nicely!), I went for it with my dresser.

Dresser before: Dresser 10 minutes later: I’m diggin’ it, man. I decided to leave the white in-between the drawers but blended the colors together a little more by painting a stripe of the preceding color on the next drawer, and then lightly puling the brush with the new color across the bottom of the stripe. Totally easy, and quite satisfying effect. If only I had wooden floors to paint as well…

So, join me! Ombre something and post a photo in the comments! And have a lovely day!

Design Inspiration | Ombre Project

I’ve been talking about it for forever and I’ve decided to finally do it! Paint has been purchased, a piece of furniture chosen, and I painted a canvas trio yesterday to try the colors out. Which I now plan to hang on the opposite side of the room because it looks rad. Before I jump in, I’m having a gander at some design inspiration…      

DIY | A Difference of O-Pumpkin

Burlap Sack-ins Paper Pumpkins Yarn Pumpkins Mummykin Spider’s Nest

DIY | Martha Stewart’s Halloween Costume Ideas

There are tons of cute costume ideas on Martha Stewart’s website…