Better Very Late Than Never

Remember this chair?


Well, here it is now! I made lots of mistakes, had to undo lots of stitches, and broke one zipper, but it's done!

My Homemade Home - Floor Cushions

I moved into a new apartment about 2 months ago. It's much bigger than my last place. And if you remember all the minor details of my life, I was a travel nurse not too long ago, so I had very little furniture. It's been so fun buying some new stuff and re-doing/re-working other stuff. I thought I could share a bit.

I have a sofa and a few other chairs but wanted floor cushions. There are lots of cute options but most of those are well over $100 each. I found some faux leather cushions at Target, on sale for $29.



Then I recovered them with Amy Butler fabrics. I love them!

Remember Me?

So it's been a while. Wondering what is good enough to get me back to blogging?

Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer...

My grandmother recently moved in with my aunt and had to downsize. Since I live 3000 miles away, I couldn't ask for any of her furniture or larger items I've always eyed. But I did speak up about a pillow. I have always loved it. And best of all - she made it! And I just got it in the mail.

Here's a photo I took the day I got my first Polaroid, I was about 7. Aren't my grandparents the cutest!

And here it is on my favorite chair

One Thing Down, So Many To Go

I'm moving into a new apartment by the end of April. I haven't found that apartment yet. I still wonder if I should buy rather than rent. I don't have very much furniture. So many things to still figure out. But, as of Saturday, I own a couch. Macy's is nice enough to hold it for delivery until I move. It was on sale, on sale again, and I got a Macy's card so I saved another $100.

There Must Be a Pillow Talkin' Boy For Me

Growing up, my mom sewed. My mom didn't need no stinkin' "She who dies with the most fabric wins" bumper sticker on her Volvo wagon, my mom embodied that philosophy. Until that frightful day she decided to pare down. And being her only daughter, I had my own Rubbermaid tub of fabric. She pulled out yards of Laura Ashley floral, Japanese lettering, madras plaids, and with each one, asked what I planned to make with it. When I couldn't think of anything, but also couldn't bear to get rid of it, I would say, "A pillow." I never did make all those pillows, but if I had, can you imagine the crazy sofa I would have had!

I still love pillows. Here are a few recent favorites!

Bike

Go to the Gym

Scandinavian snowflakes

Winter Woods

Vintage chenille

Circus

Boston Terrier

Octopus

Giraffe Love

Felt Rosette

Mantua and Brocatelle

Love

Green Penny

Little Modern Birds

Important Reminders for the Week

1) Tonight The Amazing Race 14 begins. I wish I could say this is the only reality show I watch, but I can say it's my favorite. And this season, Mike White is on one of the teams!

2) Monday, tickets for Street of Eames go on sale. They aren't cheap, $50, but all benefits go to support homeless children in Portland Public Schools.

My Fortune in the Recycling Bin

How stupid am I? Well let me tell you... In the name of being organized and fitting all my stuff in my car while being a travel nurse, I ripped pages I wanted to keep out of magazines instead of keeping all the intact issues. That seems smart, right? Well look at this!

Blue Plate Special

They say that People Will Always Need Plates. I say that's True True True! Remember those beautiful plates from yesterday? Well the people responsible for them have lots of other plate designs and things you will want. Trouble is, they only ship to the UK. They do have a list of stockists where you might be able to find more of their products. Because look at what else they have:

Architectural plates in gold and black

Pillows


Buttons


And my absolute favorite, clothes. Adorable frocks for kids and skirts for adults.

Eden & Eden - Almost Paradise

Eden & Eden is a self-proclaimed "cosy yet contemporary shop for people who appreciate unique design, excellent quality, and goodies that they love and want in their lives." They carry clothes, jewelry, and bags. But the goodies I want the most are in their home section.

Look at these architectural kitchen goodies! I'm not sure I could ever actually eat off of this plate or mug. I can't imagine drying dishes with that gorgeous towel. But I can definitely imagine hanging a few of these plates on a wall.


And wouldn't these coasters be the perfect gift for your favorite seamstress?

Rise and Shine

For as much as I like working normal hours instead of nights, I do miss waking up without an alarm clock.  And it's getting more and more difficult as the days get shorter and my room gets darker each morning.  I love this Kate Spade clock.  It's so sunny I think it would help me wake up happy.  

Purses Galore

Anya Hindmarch has a line of purses for Target. They came out about a week ago so get there fast or they'll be gone before you can get one of your very own. But hands off this one, it's mine.
P.S. Did you see the recent Domino article about her home and family. I loved the idea of an old kitchen table you can carve into and draw on.

I Need Your Help, Again - Part 2

Remember months ago when I bought this chair? Well, my life is less frantic again and I'm ready to finish it. I need to pick a stain and pick a fabric. For stain, I'm thinking medium brown, like a chestnut or walnut. I think that's more traditional for mid-century modern. I am open to other stains but I want the fabric and stain to work well together. I usually go for solid fabrics for upholstery so I can use patterns in the throw pillows and then change them and not have to reupholster an entire chair. But this chair will be fairly easy to redo so I'm more willing to use a pattern. So here are some fabrics I've found.

1) I love this fabric! It's hard to tell in this small swatch but it's heavy, upholstery-grade. The horizontal lines you see are kind of like pin-tucks. Then towards the left end, by the point, you can see a small flat area. That's a vertical band that holds the pin-tucks in place. Those vertical bands are spaced about 3 inches apart. I love the color, I love the texture. I'm not sure about this color with a medium brown wood. Also, I like piping on the edges of cushions. I'm pretty sure I couldn't make piping out of this cushion and finding the exact same color would be hard. I could do a contrast piping in black? brown? tan?

2) I also love Amy Butler fabrics. Like I said, I usually choose solids so this is a big leap for me. I want to be brave but I'm scared and also unsure of what size pattern is OK. Some of these are really big patterns and the pillows are only about 20x20.
Here are a few photos from the Amy Butler site. I think I do like the solid upholstery with the patterned pillows better.
What do you think? This chair is NOT going in my bedroom so it doesn't have to work with the colors in there. Wondering what the bedroom is like, help me figure that out too.

I Need Your Help, Again - Part 1

So I've painted the walls and picked out some furniture for my room. Now I need help with the other colors and fabrics. The walls are pale blue with a hint of turquoise. The floors are hardwoods and at some point I want to get a rug, I've been thinking of something geometric in black and tan. I need new bedding, a few pillows, and curtains. I had been thinking of pale turquoise with dark turquoise and orange or dark pink. Then I looked through my stack of pages ripped out of magazines and found this article about how a designer redid his backyard. I love it. I must have remembered it while I was planning because it's the same blues I mentioned, and the paint on the floor is a geometric black and white pattern! He used bright yellow as an accent which is nice too. The small picture in the middle shows a woman in a dark pink dress to give an idea of that being the accent color.
Yesterday I went to Fabric Depot. I forgot how much I love that store and how big it is. I went in with every intention of buying fabric. I went out with empty hands, sore feet, and lots of ideas. So that's why I need your help, I got a little overwhelmed.

Originally I had planned on a white duvet cover, maybe with black or some other color piping like this: And a few pillows with dark turquoise and dark pink, maybe a little tan. But now that seems too boring. I love all white but this time, I want more color, more fun. Plus it's hard to find many fabrics with white in them, most are colors with beige or tan.

Next idea: A tan/linen colored duvet cover, maybe with white piping. Then some colored fabrics for accents.

Here a few idea boards (click on them to make them bigger and to read my notes). I think most of the fabrics would look better with a tan duvet rather than a white one. Like in the Domino article above about the backyard, the cushions are really beige. But beige bedding seems too much like dirty old white bedding so I'm leaning towards tan. It's more obvious that it's supposed to be that color.
I also like this darker brown with the darker blue. Not quite what I had originally thought, but I really do like it.
What do you think? Any ideas, opinions, pearls of wisdom from your own experiences?
And if you're feeling especially helpful, please read the post about fabrics for my chair.

World's Most Perfect House

While clicking through blogs of friends to blogs of people I don't know, I found this one, Carolina Eclectic. I admit I clicked on it because I'm from South Carolina. Her post on finding the Mid-century Modern Facebook group featured a beautiful house. It's so easy to get to be too much with one particular style, especially when it's a trendy one. But this house is perfect! Such a good blend of unique pieces, such a wonderful mix of wood, metal, plastic, and fabrics. It looks like a very talented real person did it rather than being overdone by a stylist. Put simply, I love it.

Find Your Own Design Style

I found this link to a "find your style" design quiz via The Inspired Room.  It's fun!  You get to choose your favorites from series of images and then it tells you your style.  I think it's accurate for me.  

I'm retro chic: You have a collector's eye for individual pieces that give your home a real sense of personality and style, that special je ne sais quoi. The overall look may be retro, but it's anything but kitsch; your innate understanding of what works together (not to mention the origin of each piece) embosses your home with an enduring elegance of its own which is neither overtly modern nor faux-period.  

Then they show you items that match your style.  Like these super-cute pillows.

Dreamy Outdoor Party

I don't have the space for these or really need them but don't these chairs make you want to throw all logic out the window and throw a party...

from Pottery Barn

I Need Some Design Help... From You!

At the end of the month I will be moving into a new apartment. My current apartment is furnished so I have nothing! That means I need to buy some new furniture. In the past, I've done a better job of decorating my living room than bedroom. This time, I'll have a roommate, the dishy Lizzy, so the living area already has some furniture. Since I don't like sleeping on the floor, I want to focus my first efforts on the empty room, my personal space, the bedroom. I want to be daring but comfortable. I have no problem finding images of rooms I like or don't like, I am just not so sure about executing it myself. I like too many different styles, I get scared of being "too original" as in bizarre, scared of committing, hesitant to spend money, and I end up being boring and bland. Since I'm starting from scratch, I think this is a chance to create a room I LOVE! Will you help me? If I post some ideas, will you comment, tell me the truth, help me come up with better ideas?

About me... I like clean lines. Right now I am in love with mid-century style but I worry that a room full would be too linear and boring, and expensive. I am leaning toward black furniture but I don't want to just go buy an entire bedroom suite, that's too boring. But then I worry about mixing too many styles. Can I mix black furniture and brown furniture? The room has hardwood floors so that's another wood color to throw in the mix. And I have a hard time knowing how to mix patterns. And also, not so great at hanging or clustering art. I grew up in the South in a very traditional, preppy town so I tend to lean toward classic styles but just like the green cardigan with pink and white argyle I just got rid of, it's easy but sometimes it's too boring.

Here's what I'm thinking so far...

The room is pretty big, probably 10x10 or maybe 12x12, and basically a square with only one nook/cranny.  If I remember correctly, here's what it looks like.Right now the walls are bright blue. It's a fun color but not what I'm looking for. But it does mean painting the walls is OK. I'm pulled in 2 directions, a patterned duvet cover and medium grey or brown walls, nothing too dark but not white. Or white bedding and painted walls. I'll be honest, painted walls scare me so the diagram above has the walls colored in a way I think might work for my two sides, scared and daring. I could paint the wall behind the bed dark orange and the other walls a light grey. Then do white bedding with black and white accents, throw in a little orange and maybe some green. This image from Crate & Barrel is beautiful, the walls are green, but you get the idea.
I also liked this orange duvet cover but I think I like the idea of white bedding and colored walls better. What about you?
The Bed: I'm thinking black and no footboard. I don't like how it cuts off the room or how it makes it harder to just flop onto the bed.

Next question: Bedside table. Here's the problem...The closet is small so I will have to store things in creative spaces. So a bedside table with drawers or shelves and baskets would be best. But I just found and bought (completely returnable) this one at Target. I love it but am not sure it's the most practical. Here are a few others:I think I'm leaning towards the last one but using an actual bookcase, more storage but in not too much more space. I love how it's painted green inside. And I think the white could look amazing against the orange wall.

Last thing: Desk. I probably need one with a big hutch but I don't like how it takes over the whole wall. Plus I wouldn't keep it organized. Here's the one I like most right now. This would be against a grey wall. I like mixing it with the green file cabinet which also adds more storage. A few other ideas:
Well that's about it for now. I'm sure I'll ask for help with rugs and artwork later. Thanks!