From Condo to Home - the Living & Dining Rooms

Back to our regularly scheduled programming :) Let's talk design again.

Now that my bedroom is nearly finished, I'm moving on to the living and dining rooms. I should finish the bedroom first, but I'm impatient! Nothing wrong with simultaneous projects, I suppose...

The two rooms are ajacent to each other, with no divider. I am not crazy about that because it's one less opportunity to introduce another color scheme, but on the bright side I do like the openess of our condo. My other limitation is the paint color. We decided to paint before we moved in, which was tough to do before we had our furniture in place and really knew the mood we were going for. But I lost that battle! Also, I made the mistake of compromising with him on the wall color not by choosing between A and B, but choosing a shade that's sort of in between A and B! Um, yeah, don't do that! I do like the color but I'm already over it but my husband B refuses to let us repaint...

So I'm working with what I've got, and here is the color scheme:

The wall color is the middle swatch

I chose bright colors since our condo has nearly no sunlight. I came up with it late spring, hence the summery vibe. I'm sure I'll want to change it come October...

I'm tackling the dining area first, which I have already made some purchases for. I will be sharing the details with you in upcoming posts.

So, do you think this scheme works? Or should I just stick with something more subdued?

We Got a Puppy!

Another non-design post, but I wanted to share this new exciting addition to our family! This weekend our new puppy came home with us. His name is Mac, and he is a 7-week-old mini Australian Shephard. He's so adorable! Of course he is quite a handful, especially as he is so young, but we are really enjoying having him around. I've never owned a puppy before (though my husband has) so this is an exciting new adventure!

more pictures here

Well, it may affect how I can decorate the house in the next year or two :) He's already trying to ruin our flokati rug...

School No More

My apologies for neglecting this blog for over a week! Last week was not the best...

I met with my school advisor, who tells me that they will no longer offer a night program in Interior Design at my school! Now, I knew this was coming, but so far the classes were still being offered, and I thought I had gotten into the program on time. Not the case! Apparently the last time they offered the I.D. class I need to take next was the Spring semester, and from here on out it is during the day only (the middle of the day no less). Um, thanks for telling me!! (granted, I wasn't eligible to take it then because of pre-requisites, but it would have been good information to know!)

She suggests I basically have to make the decision between working full-time or going to school...Honestly, that is just not an option at all right now, which sadly puts my school plans on hold right now, given that this was only program near me that offered night classes.

So much has been swirling in my head. I'm considering applying for a MFA in Interior Design (I was going for a second Bachelor's.) The classes are still during the day but at least I'd feel like I was progressing with my education and could finish the program a bit quicker. But either way, I'd have to wait until I was in a better position to work part-time or quit altogether.

Another much more affordable and less time consuming option (and that I could start now) would be to go the interior decorating route. Honestly, I might enjoy that more anyway. I don't know...so much to think about! I still can't believe all this, but I'm not giving up my dream!

Sorry for venting, but thanks for listening. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

I'll leave you with a couple of pretty picture that cheered me up today :)

images from decor8

The Home Office - Complete!

It's been an interesting day so far. A friend of mine came over so we could learn how to sew together (we're both trying to make pillows) but it was a disaster! We could barely figure out how to thread the machine, and when we finally thought we had it, once I started sewing everything got stuck and the thread started to tear! Haha. I guess we have a long learning curve ahead...

On the other hand, I finally had time to fix up my new office area! I am so happy to finally have a designated spot for crafts and especially my homework. Even though it's a small corner of my bedroom, it's working out pretty well. Here are the pictures!




I would love to hear your comments! In the meantime, I'm off to do some homework at my new workspace...

Mood Board - Vintage Breakfast Nook

So I still haven't finished organizing my "office" area to the point where I can take a picture. I promise I'll get to it soon! School just started up again and it's keeping me pretty busy already.

My mood board this week was inspired by the beautiful Jayson Home & Garden mirrored cabinet. I love it! I just pictured a vintage-modern eating area and took off from there. The end result is a bit 70's but with some glamorous touches thrown in. What do you think?

Unfortunately I did not track all product sources, but they include Jayson Home & Garden, DWR, art.com, IKEA and fabric.com. If you have any specific questions, I can try to track them down.

Monthly Inspiration Board

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was very productive, with some fun, relaxation, decoration and school work!

I managed to put up shelves above my desk so my "office" is coming together. I hope to have pictures to show you this week.

Here's what's hanging above my desk. I like to change my inspiration board about once a month, and I hope to share with you the new one each time.

From the Inspiration Files

I am currently decorating my "office" space and thought I'd go through my inspiration folders to gather ideas. The space is unfortunately just a corner of our bedroom (of all places) but it works for now. It's just a place to do my school work and crafty projects.

Some office/craft spaces I love:

Marcia Cross (source unkown)

Ish & Chi

Creating Vintage Style book via Decor8

Via Pink Wallpaper

Martha Stewart

Domino Magazine

Karyn Millet for Country Living

I hope my office turns out even half as good as these! I will share pictures as soon as it's done - hopefully this weekend!

Mood Board - Neutral Chic

I love creating mood boards. I have so many design ideas that float in my head but not enough rooms or money to actually be able to make them happen, so a mood board is a fun way to decorate in your dreams.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, not just from other interiors you see in magazines, blogs or books. Yesterday I was inspired by my outfit. It was very simple yet felt elegant. I wore a combination of grey, white, cream and gold, with pieces that were classic yet modern. I thought that would be a perfect formula for an elegant, soothing living room.

When creating moood boards, you never know where they really will end up. Even when you start with a very focused idea, just one object can start to change your direction. Such is the case with the mood board below. When looking for rugs, I was reminded of one of my favorite rugs. Yellow was not in the original scheme but I love how it well it goes with the gray and ivory. Here is my final "dream" room:


I'm pretty happy with the result! Now if only I could buy all new furniture for my living room...

Sources:
Rug: The Rug Company
Sofa and Side Table: Crate & Barrel
Artwork: Elizabeth Schuppe - love her work
Pillows: Pieces, Inc.
Vase: Z Gallerie
Lamp: Amazon (no longer available)
Mirror: Pottery Barn

The Bedroom Transformation Begins

I finally had a chance this to start making changes to the bedroom. I recently bought the night stands and new dressers, and now they are finally built! Now that we know where the bed will stay, I was able to put up pictures as well...I feel like I barely started and it already feels like a major transformation! Check it out:



Yes, it's all Ikea furniture (which gets a bad rep but I'm a big fan.) I originally hoped to mix things up a bit with different styles of furniture, but in the end, I chose this streamlined look since our bedroom is so small. This feels less cluttered and provides plenty of much-needed storage. I'm pretty happy with the result.

Most of the artwork is temporary. I used some old calendar images, scrap paper, and pictures I've taken but printed on my home printer, but it works for now. The only artwork I bought so far is the "Love" poster (it's actually a notecard!) from OrangeBeautiful. I think it's a sweet message to have above the bed of two newlyweds :)

Up next will be sewing the pillows...right now the fabric is just folded to cover old pillows! I am still trying to learn how to sew, so we'll see how that goes! You are probably wondering about the other walls in the room - more to come on that soon.

School's Out!

I've been busy wrapping up my class this quarter, and it's finally over! I typically take two classes per quarter, but this time I only took one class but it was so demanding, I managed to be busier than I was before. I'm excited about having a break before going into the summer quarter and hopefully I'll be able to work on some projects around the house!

Because I didn't take any art classes when I was in college the first time around, I've had to start completely from scratch. This means drawing classes, 2- and 3-D Design, Art History...all of the foundation classes. Here's a sample of the work I've done so far:

Drawing Foundations

3D Design

As you see, I haven't been able to jump right into Interior Design (though I have already taken Intro to Drafting.) But I have learned so much so far about composition, shading, scale and balance - skills that I will always incorporate into designing interiors. It's been a great experience. Next quarter I take Color Theory, and I am really excited about that class!

Drafting

So there you have it...a small glimpse into the baby steps towards my dream career!