Dose of Inspiration

Another Monday and I need a kick in the pants to get moving on some projects! Lots of stuff sitting and waiting for some action. I need a dose of inspiration. Today I will turn to Not Just a Housewife.

 

 

I have been wanting to do something to some ceilings forever! When your project list is so long and there is nothing wrong with the ceilings, it's tough to move that to the top of the list. But look at what Stacy did:

 

I love the stenciled ceiling! I'm not even big on damask, but I would move into that room in a heartbeat. Wouldn't that be awkward? Man, she makes me look completely lazy!

 

Her little desk redo is fantastic.

 

I just scored a desk off Craigslist, finally! I love her dark stain, but I may be painting mine. I will be starting this project this week for sure. Keep your fingers crossed for some before and afters by the end of the week.

 

 

I've been wanting a few new lamps. Check this one out:

 

 

Can you believe she made that? I love it. It is so simple, I just may have to do this. Gabe's crazy uncle lamp needs replacing and this would be awesome. I've always wanted to make a lamp. 

 

All right. It's time for me to go do something myself! Go visit Stacy, she'd love to have you. :) 

inspiration

Hola, dear readers! Um, to make a long story short, I got sick, so I got behind, but now I'm better. I have a chair redo to show you, but I'd like to finish the cushion before the big reveal.

So, I thought I'd take a little look at some inspiration. I could show you my Pinterest boards, (have you gotten in on the latest craze?) but I am lame and haven't pinned anything yet.

I was bored one night and decided to jump on the bandwagon. BUT, you have to get an invitation. So, I sent the the little "invite me" info thing and waited... And waited... And waited... TWO WEEKS later I finally get my invite. But two weeks later I was no longer bored. I was having a very full life. I could not be bothered to figure out Pinterest two weeks later. Seriously, Pinterest people, that's a long time to make a girl wait! 


Then, I haven't had the time to figure out what I'm doing. I know it's not rocket science, but still. If you have figured it out, please feel free to share.

So, anyways. I'm in the middle of almost every room in the house, but I figure I'd focus on my bedroom. Or "the master bedroom" which is a title that cracks me up for our house since the "master" isn't different from the others. Old house. No "en suite" anything going on here. So, as it seems to go with so many folks, we haven't touched our room yet. We've focused on everything else.

But this is what I dream of:

When I go into my room, I want it cozy. I love the look of denim. I've held on to this Ralph Lauren paint brochure so long that they don't even make this anymore! At least it's not sold anywhere I can find now. So, I'll have to make it up myself. Just to be clear, that is a paint treatment to look just like dark denim.

I think on the headboard wall (well, it's where the head of the bed goes now, someday it will also have a headboard. Dreamin' big over here!), I want to do something different, to break it up. Either draping fabric:

Source: Ikea

Or something like this:

Source: The Lettered Cottage

Layla at The Lettered Cottage is very inspiring, isn't she?!

Maybe some white boards and fabric?

I also dream of an organized closet.

I am short. So shelves at the TOP of closets do me no good. I can't really reach so stuff just gets tossed up there. The master plan is to raise the height of the hanging bar and then add shelves or drawers lower where I can actually reach them and have them do me any good at all.

Sometimes I get seduced by board and batten though and think I should scrap the denim and do board and batten.

Source: The Nester

Who doesn't love board and batten? But, the denim is just so fun. I'll probably stick with that. Either of them is a lot of work!

As for headboard inspiration, either something like this:

Source: Pottery Barn

or this:

Source: Pottery Barn

What inspires your rooms?

Blast from my past

I was bored last night and found this buried under books on my nightstand.

It was a blank journal/book I was given many years ago. I have since filled it with decorating and craft ideas. I started this when I lived in a teeny tiny Boston apartment that barely fit furniture, let alone my big decorating dreams. We did have a great landlord who let us paint (as long as it was neutral) and otherwise enjoy things, but you can't do much that is permanent with a rental.

Ooh, one good idea (and this was pre-digital camera days, so I'd really have to hunt down a photo) was for our non-functioning fireplace. This thing took up a third of our tiny living room and it didn't work so it was an eyesore. So, we took the door off and put a fish tank inside. We used some dense foam to raise it up so the bottom of the tank was even with the bottom of the door opening. It was pretty awesome.

Anyways. Back to the book. It is full of everything I've ever liked but either couldn't do at the time or just didn't know if I could ever use the idea but liked it. I wrote and sketched.

Look at that! Mason jar chandelier years before they became all the rage. If only I'd capitalized on that... :)

I also cut things out of magazines and just taped them into the book. I still have never organized my leftover, touch up paint like that, but it's a good idea.

My design taste has changed over the years -- I was once into the whole shabby chic mix of florals and stripes. I feel slightly shamed for having jumped on that bandwagon. ;) But there are some good ideas in there. Some great inspiration even if I wouldn't do it exactly like what's in the book. And it is kind of fun to look back on how I have changed over time. Kind of like going back through an old diary (and just as potentially embarrassing!).

Vintage Revivals

I went back and forth about what blog to share with you all first. My browser is full of bookmarks of various design and DIY blogs, isn't everyone's? No? Just me? Moving on.

After we moved in and did the initial painting, had car issues and therefore used up a chunk of our house budget on unexpected non-house projects, I was feeling kind of blue about the house. I did not have money to do the things I really wanted to do. I was definitely in a design funk. And then I stumbled on Vintage Revivals.

It was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back up and running; to remember that I didn't need big bucks to do big things. Mandi was also the first blogger I had ever emailed with a question. I didn't expect to get a response. She doesn't know me and has over a thousand followers (by the way, I could use some followers. Please? Okay, enough begging.), and I basically thought she'd just ignore me. But she didn't. She sent me a really nice response. 

I'm just smitten with lots of her projects. I was probably most inspired by her "Seizure Wall," and you have to just go read the whole story on that one, including how Mandi has since changed it. It wasn't so much that I liked that wall and wished to copy it, as it reminded me how much impact I could have with just a little bit. It also inspired me to add visual and real texture to my house. Which is part of what motivated me to discover my Sharpie Solution, and which has inspired my burlap project (still to come) on my own tv wall. 

So, if you are like me and you stumble around the internet looking for inspiration, Vintage Revivals has to be one of your stops. 

Quick note

Matt's hit a bit of a snafu with the art table. Cutting the slots that will hold the vertical dividers has become a bit of an issue because a guide is missing from his table saw. I guess that's what happens when your table saw travels all over the darn country too.

It's so close to being done though! So close. I'm itching to have it in place and settle in to some creating. :) 

Since my one project a month rule makes for few updates needed, and let's be honest, this project may make me happy, but it's not the single most exciting project to hear about; I've decided to add some posts about other bloggers out there that have given me some inspiration. The people I may or may not publicly follow, but that I check in on frequently because, even if our styles are different, they inspire me to be creative. They are not paying me or bribing me in any way (hmm, I wonder if that can arranged...just kidding!)and they don't know I'm planning to do this. Some may not even know I exist. But I think you should know they exist.

Stay tuned. Right now I have munchkins going bananas, so I've got my hands full. :)