Shades of Green

Hi There! Just popping in for a long overdue post on one of the projects I've been working on lately...The "Shades of Green" house. This one is a multi-room makeover which has so far resulted in new paint for the TV Room & Living Room, a chunky new media storage piece, and a new sofa. I've only captured the TV Room on camera though so let's start there.

Here's the before...

And here is how things looked a few weeks ago...

All cleaned up with a new greyish white wall paint, a lovely shade of aqua on the ceiling, and a gorgeous vintage buffet that will now be home to the TV amongst other things.

She's on her way to being something special.

Orange is the New Grad Party

A brand new party reveal (finally)! Please accept my sincerest apologies for a severe lack of updates in the form of these tropical party goodies.







Check out www.Mar-Maladies.com for the complete reveal.

Spa Lavender

So I got to thinking...if I had free rein and an unlimited budget, what would my ideal Spa space look like? Then of course I couldn't make a stern decision on certain elements so I just did multiple versions. Here's one:



{ 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, here, here, here, & here - 5 - 6, here, here, here, & here - 7 - 8 - 9 }

The Spa Treatment

A few weeks back I received a virtual design request for a commercial massage therapy space that could meet the client's criteria of being affordable and easily assembled while being calming with elements of warmth for customers. The stipulations were that the wall color was to be pre-determined by someone other than me and nothing was to be drilled/nailed into the walls. Here's how it turned out:



The room itself is quite compact with no ceiling or windows. My first thought was to bring texture to both the walls and the floor as cold feet just didn't seem very spa-like to me. Since there were to be no holes in the walls it took a bit of brain power to figure out how to hang drapery without drilling while still providing enough support to keep them up (on a budget). Of course once tension rods popped into my head I felt like a complete idiot for not thinking of them sooner, but whatevs. Better late than never.

As for the rug, I needed something that was patterned and large enough to cover a significant amount of space with a small enough price tag to fit something besides a rug into the room. After tossing around several options I ended right back at the very first one I fell in love with.



Though my usual m.o. is to go with all white everything and add color later, the client stressed warmth. Enter my version of that request in the form of (not attached to the wall) wood shelving and the client's request of wicker seating.



Add a few lovely scenic prints, bingo bango, and a cozy cost effective room we have.

Grandma Chic

For many years I held on to the idea of decorating a space for my Gramma but never quite got around to voicing it. I thought it'd be neat to give her an updated space in her home that would modernize what she already had and make the gal feel a bit special. Unfortunately the idea never went any further than my brain, but it is never too late to dream of what could've been.

And with that I present my idea of Grandma Chic:



{ 1. Ballard Designs - 2. Casa - 3. Spoonflower - 4. Ballard Designs - 5. Serena & Lily -
6. Pier 1 - 7. ZGallerie - 8. Zara Home - 9. Overstock }

I think she would've liked it...a lot.

A Delicate Dedication

On Sunday, May 25, 2014 I lost one of the most influential, genuine, and loving women that I have and will ever know. She was my rock when all I could gather were pebbles. My humor when all I could muster were tears. And as much of a sounding board for me and I was for her.

I can't think of anyone who could make me feel as important as her when all I did was simply walk in the room. "The Lord must have known I needed to talk to you" she'd say. She was in her 90's, but for some reason she valued the opinion of this 20-something who she sternly called her "Little Lost Lambie" if I didn't call/visit enough.

She was hot before hot was appropriate. Warm to most all she met. And cold to the idea that "if it ain't one damn thing it's two" as her Father taught her.

I love and have loved that Woman more than I can seem to find the tears to express. My Gramma. My absolutely perfectly spiced Gramma.

Good Art - Bad Photographer

I started the process of redecorating my dining room at the end of February. My first task was to make new art for the room using an XL dumpster-find frame and the back of the art that was previously contained in it.



I finished the art and went to photograph it only to find that the photos that resulted were horrific. I tried the next day...still bad. Then the next day...even worse. And eventually baby tasks and life in general put the photos, the dining room makeover, and the blog on hold.



I'm pretty sure the problem is (mostly) the picture frame's glass. However, since I had such a hard time getting the glass back in after finishing the painting, I refuse to take it back out just to get a good photo. So these pics will have to do.







I used leftover latex paints in turquoise, pink, gold, white and mint for both the art and the frame itself. I also added a bit of yellow watercolor paint since it was the only yellow I had on hand.

It is actually much more pastel toned than the pictures show, but again this is the best I could do.



Darn poor photography skills.

Magazine Rack Turned Shoe Storage

Continuing on my quest for organizational peace of mind...I recently had to come to grips with an ugly little fact about myself. I might have inherited a teeny magazine hoarding trait. Never mind that it has been long contained in one corner of my home. I was still creating much too much clutter with a stack of papers that I hadn't bothered to look at since the year that I stacked them there. So off I went to take control of my corner(s) again.



The corner pictured is actually from my bedroom which was filled with books I probably won't finish reading anytime soon, but the real (un-pictured) corner was in my living room accompanied by a different stack of books and a different magazine rack. Unfortunately I didn't think about photographing it before I started clearing the crud so you'll have to take my word for it that things were worse than what it pictured. Like random fabric scraps and old instruction manuals had also found there way over there worse.

So I stole some moments to peek through the mags for any powerful decorating/cleaning solutions I could find before tossing them and then I tossed them. The result...





I finally have a compact off-the-floor space to hold the pairs of shoes that find themselves blocking the entryway of my home, and a separate one for the shoes in my bedroom that I try on when looking for something to wear and then toss in the corner when they don't work.



Bravo for free use-what-you've-got solutions. Now if I could only figure out how to clean my dusty floors in these pictures...

Baby Bottle Storage

So I've finally come back to show that simple baby bottle storage solution that I previously mentioned.



After acquiring a new self-imposed mission to make the abundance of storage in my home actually work for me instead of against me, I magically ran across this little dilemma solver that had been staring me in the face for far too long...Use the non-functioning nail supply storage container (that I've since replaced) as a functioning baby supply storage container.



Of course I cleaned it thoroughly before adding baby feeding items to it.









Hey look, I even found a use for those many receiving blankets. Turns out they work great as drying towels for dripping baby supplies.



And now there is a place for everything and everything in its place. Yay!

 

Use That Utensil Tray

In case you like cheap-o storage solutions as much as I do...


{ 1. Catch My Party - 2. Princess Pinky Girl  - 3. Wilhelm Fam - 4. Pinterest }




{ 5. The Creativity Exchange - 6. Pinterest - 7. Pinterest }

Polished Polish

One of my deepest darkest secrets happens to be the pile of organizational containers, shelves, trays, and baskets that I have in the corner of my dining room (which I dare not photograph and publicly show). Originally purchased at various points in my life to do some serious organizing, they have since been banished to the shadows to live a lifeless life of non-organized cluttered chaos. How sad.

Then while washing baby bottles for the millionth time one recent day I got to thinking...There has got to be something in this house that can make this piled baby mess a bit more visually appealing. Think, think, think, Ding! My nail polish holder.



I'd long ago come to terms with the fact that my previous nail supply organization attempt was a bit of a disaster, but laziness kept me from looking for another solution. Luckily the need to use the container those supplies were in for my growing bottle mess made me put finger to idea. Here's the simple yet much neater result.



A (free) utensil tray! It's the little things...

Now the plan was of course to show both the revamped baby supply storage and the nail supplies but someone decided to start crying before all tasks were completed so...

The Man Chair

So the Man keeps talking to the Baby about getting a chair that they can party together in. Apparently this will be the "man's chair". Apparently it will need to be fairly manly. And apparently it is supposed to go somewhere visible in my home. With that in mind I've gone on the look out for suitable choices...ya know, just looking out for the men in my life.

Let's see...



{ 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 }

Manly enough for them, cute enough for me.

While I'm Dreaming...

I figured while I was perusing stair ideas for our (maybe) new home I'd keep it going and use the blog as a sort of public clip board for what I'd like to do with the entire house...over an extended period of time of course. This honey ain't made out of money after all.

Now let's talk doors...

Up until now there are certain architectural details that I haven't had to think about. While I did paint the interior doors of my apartment (without prior permission from my Co-Op I might add...because I'm a rebel), I've never had to think about exterior doors, and stair railings, and all that jazz because I didn't have the option to change those things before. So now that I do have options in those areas I am totally excited to look into some cute and perhaps wild & crazy maybes. Like these beauties:




























































In my case it would only be the inside of the exterior door, but at least I can add a bit of pizazz...Excited!