Projects

Today I am making a list of all the home projects I want to get done...most are for decorative purposes, others are just to turn what we have into nicer versions of themselves...so here is the list of what is to come:

1)  Dog beds, right now we have a piece of foam wrapped in an old comforter for the dogs to sleep on...so yes we would like nicer versions of these, since that is the reason we bought the foam in the first place. I think I will make a pattern for those today.

2) Bedroom wall art. I already have an idea for what will go on the wall over the bed, I just need to make it happen. This will (hopefully) be another easy peezy DIY!

3) Covering my drawers. Right now I have one of those plastic drawers that you can get from Canadian Tire in our room, that is where I keep my pants and such, but let me honest plastic drawers aren't exactly chic like my newly painted bedroom. So stay tuned to see how I manage to turn these into something glamorous!

4) Kitchen wall art. Inspired by Swakes (she commented on a few of my posts) this will no doubt take a little longer, but I think you will all love the DIY approach to this one. 

5) Since we rent, we can't exactly change the fact that our doors are wood. I will devise a creative way to make this happen in the studio, since I think the closet doors are a bit too much on the space.

6) Photo display. The boyfriend is really into taking photos and such, and we happen to have this left piece of board (I think it was from the last tenants bed frame). There were 3, one has been transformed into my studio desk, that I painted white. Another is the office desk, but still needs a coat of paint, likely the same colour as the bricks in this room. The third will be our photo display! I need a bit of money before I make this one happen the way I want...hence why it is at the end of the list!

I am sure I will be coming up with many more projects, DIYs, and other ideas! This is just the list so far! What should I start with?

Scarves, scarves and scarves...

If you own a zillion and one scarves like me, organizing them, and knowing what you have can be difficult. Here is a quick idea that my boyfriend came up with. Also, it adds colour to our bedroom...which I really appreciate. There are a ton of scarves on mine, but you could organize yours however you like! It's simple really!

This was made using a left over bar from an armoir that we had and some embroidery thread that I happen to have laying around. I decided the length I needed and looped it a few times for strength, tied each end in a knot, and threaded it through the bar. The loops of the thread are attached to 2 screws in the wall add a bunch of  scarves and voila! If you organized it better, you could have it flow by colour, or length. I prefer the over abundance look and have just thrown them on there! Just a quick solution to the endless searching through my closet every day, hoping to find the one I want to wear!

Jewelry wall art

Jewelry, what a silly word, but I'm crazy about the stuff! So when I came home one day and the boyfriend had all mine on display I was crazy about that and even more crazy about him! Check out below the creative way the boy cleaned up my piles of jewelry:

It's actually an old vintage screen from a window. He found it in our last apartments storage unit, and cleaned it for me. he added a few nail along the center piece to hang my necklaces, and attached a cord to the back so it could hang like art on the wall. I love it, and it's really a great way to keep all my earrings and necklaces organized and easy to find! It would be an easy DIY as you could build the frame, or use the frame from a canvas, and then attach the screen with a staple gun. (Mesh screen is available at local hardware stores.) 

Pink to Sunny

My pink room, the room I discussed becoming the creativity space where I can create and be creative. Well it is underway, 3 coats of white paint later and that wrong shade of pink has been covered, which was a lot of work considering you can tell that whoever painted that pink did a quick one coat...I had to do 3 just to hide it. Alas, it is done! The painting, not the room. It is underway, and needs some shelving or something to help with organization, but we will get to that when we can, and can afford it! I am not sure if I mentioned that I am in my 20's (late 20's but still my 20's) and my boyfriend, who I live with, is a full time student; just want to point out that we are not swimming in allowance for shelving, we prefer to eat among other things.

This is the start, it had a long way to go, but not as long as it did 5 days ago. I am happy that the paint is done, I also painted the table top, that still needs real legs, so that my bins can be useful storage again.

Behind the door, which I did not photograph, we hung up some hooks for our broom, swiffer, mop, & vacuum. I just wanted to share that, so that you all know we actually own those things. 

Unfortunately this room is home to all objects with no home in the apartment (ie: the fan) so it will stay there, because there is where I put it. I might move it to the left, or maybe to another corner, but yes in that room is where it will stay, until summer hits and we try to cool ourselves. 

(P.S: I love that this photo hides the fact that it is winter outside, so that makes me happy, I can look and pretend it is only fall, because I love fall!)

Side tracked by Martha Stewart

Today I was going to start emptying my "pink room" but since my master bedroom was already started I figured I would set out to finish that...I do like to have more then one project happening at the same time, why have one room smell like paint when you can have all of them? So with the master underway and the  light grey paint already opened I set forth on another project today: the living room. Like I mentioned previously we like to get our paint second hand at the Habitat for Humanity in our area (all returned paint to Home Depot.) Needless to say 'you get what you get' and we strive to get more than one use from it; more than one project from a can sort of deal. Today's beginner project was found here at Martha Stewart. I was using light grey for some of the bedroom walls, perfect to add some water and then sponge it on as my grout look for the bricks I will be painting.

This is my clean slate wall, although I am not sure what the white is floating in the middle, something to do with my flash I am sure:

On Martha's site she pretty much jumps to how to make the bricks; this is me making the grout look. Sponge, paint, water, sponge, paint, water...you get the drift...

Apply to the wall in dabbing motions, I tried to just swipe it on, but felt that dabbing really gave the overall texture I was aiming for.

Here is the finished grout look, I know it is darker in some spots but I am not worried since the bricks will cover the majority of the wall in the end. Plus grout isn't so perfect on brick walls, right?

As for the master bedroom, 3 of 4 walls are complete. The fourth is going to be a different colour, which we did buy, but when I painted the first tid bit on the wall, I decided the colour looked a disgusting, so I will be going back to exchange it for another colour. Eventually I will show you all that room too, but it's really not close to being finished.

Vision:

So I have been inspiring myself with design ideas, and think that the "pink room" might take a while to get under control, but today I did move somethings around and removed a few. I wanted to share my design ideas/inspiration for the room. I am sure there will be more, but figured that we all need to start somewhere, and who knows maybe me de-cluttering my room will help you to do the same...2012 the year of de-clutter. (I don't care if that is a word or not, I am using it multiple times throughout my post!)

Who is to say what my room will turn out like, but at least I have somewhere that I am heading with it!

I would like to point out that I like how the magazine storage containers have been attached to the shelf above.

I think that a bold colour for one wall, since the room is small, is a positive creative addition. The rest of the room will be white, but I don't know that I will necessarily use this blue. I tend to get a lot of my supplies at the Habitat for Humanity in my area. Saves money for one, helps charity and I like to think that it helps the environment, because what else are they going to do with all that paint that is returned to Home Depot. So I buy it and use it; can't beat $8 for a gallon of paint.

I really like the chalkboard idea, but might get messy in my space with fabrics and all. However, the bins and shelves are a great look.

I already have a cork board, but adding an enlarged frame could be a great way to add focus in the room...we'll see.

Love the clipboard idea, plus you can get the clipboards at the dollar store, so bonus there. Clearly I am on a budget! 

(All pictures are from www.style-files.com > inspiration for workspace section)

I also have a few DIY ideas, but want to keep them aside till I can show you the steps with the final product! Let's hope I get on them sooner than later... so what do you think?

Starting something new...

I have been dreaming for a long time that I would one day start my own clothing line, that day has been postponed for many reasons.

First money, I always thought "I'll need to clear out my debt to do this", then you realize no debt, what a silly thought! So maybe managing my debt would be a better way to do this...ok check. Debt sort of managed, but now I need somewhere to do this, you know be creative, some sort of a space where I can layout all my thoughts...lucky me, the boyfriend and I land a sweet 2 bedroom apartment...so creative space is equal to the second bedroom **cough cough** the room is small, but beggers cannot be choosers or something like that. Ok check!

Now I need time right...if I think back to when I was in school, who needed time, you could crank out those assignments last minute in the middle of the night when you needed to...not that I want to be awake at all hours of the night, but this last excuse I have come to realize was just me holding myself back. 

So here I am going for it...so lands us here upon my first blog post...I want a space where I can be creative...so lets get on it. As you can see by the pictures I have, the room is small and quite packed up! But thanks to some much needed inspiration over at "...love Maegan" blog I think I can make it work and function as a place to get things started! I am hoping that this blog will be an online journal of my creative process and all the little things in between!

Thank you and let me welcome you to my space!!!