Friday, October 19, 2012

Love wallpaper but can't afford the expense?

I LOVE wallpaper, but live in a rental so wallpaper aint happenin.' Even if I you own your own home, wallpaper can be an expensive update compared to paint. The other day I came across some amazing stencils by Cutting Edge Stencils and Royal Design Studios. With a little effort and one of their awesome patterns you can create the beauty and impact of wallpaper without the expense! And if you move out of your rental, you can easily paint back to the original color instead of royally pissing off your landlord with difficult-to-remove wallpaper. Because we all want our deposit back right? Yay!

Here are some awesome examples from the blog world that use stencils to transform an interior...

      

      Final ERM 4 065

Houndstooth Stenciled Wall



You can use these stencils pretty much anywhere.
Love the stenciled stairs!

        


Revamp furniture...

     



You can even stencil fabric and save boat loads on custom window treatments, pillows, and upholstery...

     
  

     

     


 

And don't forget what's beneath your feet... you can stencil your rug too!

 
   
     

Hope you enjoyed! I know I can hardly wait to stencil in a few of my projects! Check back soon to see them.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Organizing Mom's Den

The latest project I've been working on is my wonderful mom's den, which functions as her TV room, and office. Before we began the transformation, the room was home to a large sectional sofa that was bought for the house I grew up in (where my sister and I used to practice many gymnastics tricks) that was just too big for the room, mom's laptop station, filing, and catch-all bookcase with office supplies, reference books, and other odds and ends.

Working on a limited budget, I came up with a plan to find a sofa suitable to the side of the room, reorganize the office supplies into the underutilized closet, spruce things up with a fresh coat of paint and curtain panels, and showcase the art that she's collected over the years.

First things first, the closet and bookcase needed overhauling. With the office stuff sorted and contained to the closet, we could replace the bookcase with an awesome family heirloom, an Asian? side table that was hiding in the bedroom. I also swapped out a mirror from the bedroom to bring light in from the opposing sliding glass door. This is a great tip to brighten up a dark room! (For more tricks check out Apartment Therapy's 5 Ways to Make a Small, Dark Room Feel Larger.)

Here is a sneak peak of our progress so far. A little organizing, a fresh coat of paint, rearranging existing furniture, and styling with pretty accessories from around the house...


Come back later to see more as we continue the transformation!  

If you need help organizing and are in the Orange County area, I'd love to help! Contact me to discuss services and pricing.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Fall Decor

Last week I got busy creating a little fall atmosphere. I didn't have the time to do anything major, so I went down the street to Trader Joe's and rounded up some mini pumpkins and flowers.  Voila! Minimal yet effective fall decor...

Fall Decor

Fall Decor

Fall Decor

Fall Decor

Fall Decor

Fall Decor

Hope you enjoyed!

Monday, October 1, 2012

School, Work, School, Work, Decorate!

Ever wonder how they plan out interior walls and cubicles of an office? I have. And now I get to learn all about that process in a space planning class. It is quite the process, but I actually find it kind of interesting. Its like solving a puzzle. Just writing a "program" to qualify and quantify the needs of the client could be one person's job. But the part I find interesting and challenging is fitting all of that stuff into a space with just enough square footage; bridging the "synthesis gap," as Mark Karlen, author of Space Planning Basics, calls it. So after relationship diagrams, I'm bubbling away (creating bubble diagrams) with the company of my little helper, Duchess.



But I did have some time to do some quick fall decorating. I'll post photos next week.

Back to work! :)

Monday, September 17, 2012

Not So New Apartment

Its been a year and a half since I moved to my new apartment and plenty of time to make a house a home. With some hand me down furniture, lots of Goodwill and Craigslist finds, and other affordable decor from HomeGoods, Ikea and the like, I've created a home that I've come to love. Later I'll blog about where each thing came from, how much it all cost, and the few DIY projects I've done. Although there are things I would love to replace if I had the money, but I can enjoy the ever changing design day by day. Here are some photos of my not so new apartment...

Living Room






Dining Room



blue in the kitchen


Kitchen
green accessories

apple green accessories



I used to have a green, grey and brown rug in the living room, but we had an unfortunate accident of boyfriend's sick daughter yacking on it. Poor girl :( .  I moved it to get it cleaned and have now been thinking what I really want for this space is a beni ourain rug. Or maybe a white flokati rug. What'd ya think?

Next time I'll show you the bedroom and master bath.

Thanks!