"IF BEDS COULD TALK, IF WALLS COULD HEAR, IF WINDOWS SEE..."

I'm very excited about starting to work on my first interior design project. Matthew's aunt Robin recently asked me to help decorate her guest bedroom and I jumped at the opportunity. Not only am I going to be doing what I love most, I'll also be learning in the process. There is nothing more fascinating to me than the design process. From conceptualization to realization, decorating is so much more than just picking a wall color and pillows. Whenever I'm asked to design a room as part of a school project, I always start with a work of art. Whether it's contemporary canvas art or a framed Klimnt, there is so much life and color in artwork that I am instantly inspired and start brainstorming. Artwork helps point you in many directions including bedding (patterned or plain?) and accessories. In Robin's case, she fell in love with this painting from Cost Plus and wanted to center the design concept around this. She has some existing furniture that we will be able to reuse in the new room and will not be purchasing any new furniture. The main work will lay in painting the walls, reupholstering some of the existing cushions (on a chair and bench) and framing some other artwork. Below is a VERY rough color board that I threw together during lunch today. It's a start but still a far cry from what the room will evolve into. The bedding may have to be neutralized a little since this pattern may be a little too bold and busy. Like I said, just some basic ideas of what we're getting ourselves into. I am thrilled to start putting it all together with Robin, but before then, there is a lot of prep work to look forward to.

"I TRIED MY BEST TO KEEP MY DISTANCE FROM YOUR DRESS..."

I'll be the first to admit that I have a truly indulgent and terrible habit of buying dresses that will only be worn once. I'm not celebrity, but I try to abide by the red carpet mantra that no dress should be worn twice. Over the years I've accumulated dozens of "one-time-wear" dresses that are hanging in my closet. Some I can still fit into while others are just getting lonelier by the year. Regardless of their impracticalness, I continue to fall in love with dresses that I know I'll never have the opportunity to wear or I may never have to guts to wear. The dress above stole my heart this past Sunday and even though I generally omit any dress with a single shoulder, this one was up there on my list of Dream Dresses. Paying homage to the always adorable Zooey Deschanel, I call this color "Zooey Blue" and if you personally know me then you are familiar with my fixation with her (just like every other 20-something year old). The actual color of this dress is much brighter as you can see and is very similar to something she would wear.
But, I must draw the line somewhere and stop giving into every dress that calls my name. I probably wasn't doing myself any favors by going shopping again after work and falling in love with two more. Sure, some of them may be outrageous, some might call them ugly or tacky, but in an idealistic world I would have a collection of all the stunning dresses that I've lusted over over the years. Oh, and simply because I couldn't help myself, here are two more I drooled over at the store today. Yes, both are impractical and yes, both are way overpriced, but that never stops me from buying them.
What is your opinion of dressy dresses? Can they be worn more than once?

"IN OUR BEDROOM, AFTER THE WAR..."

The bedroom, whether it's a guest bedroom or master bedroom, is one of the most important rooms in a home. This is the place where you unwind, dream and as someone on a "Cribs" episode would say, "Where the magic happens!" Sure, maybe for some more than others, and I think that this is very influenced by your decor. Your bedroom should be a solace, a romantic and most personal of spaces which you do not share with guests. In our previous apartment, Matthew and I had to make the best of Ikea furniture (much to my chagrin), mainly because it was our first time leaving the nest and we had nothing but a bed. San Francisco's Craigslist furniture section is the best I have ever come by and within weeks we were able to furnish almost our entire apartment (some of the things we wanted to buy new). The gray, blue, black, white and turquoise went well with our black furniture flooring and patterned wallpaper, but when we moved we sold all of it and started fresh. I was so excited to start decorating our master bedroom because I had fallen in love with a color scheme in a magazine that made me resent ever decorating in cold colors. It is all slowly coming together and I think that I might be finished by this summer so that I can move on to the guest bedroom. I was able to find inspiration in the bedding I bought at Marshalls. Marshalls is my absolute favorite store to shop for bedding because I think the quality is very acceptable and the styles are pretty contemporary considering the price. I was instantly drawn to the bedding you see in the photo below and pulled as many other colors together that I could to compliment the mauve comforter. I have narrowed it down to a color palette that I am intent on sticking with; a combination of beiges, tans, mauves and even some pink like you see in the make-up compact below. I usually try to stay away from pink because I don't want to overly feminize the bedroom since Matt sleeps there too (there's always a male to consider!) I'm going to incorporate a lot of distressed wood, antiqued frames, silver and white to make the bedroom feel light and airy. I might even splurge on some gorgeous oil-rubbed bronze switch plates to match our new door hardware and ceiling fan. My to-do list when it comes to this room is endless, but as soon as I'm done with school it should free up my schedule so that I can continue my hunt.

"LET'S TAKE THIS POTTED PLANT TO THE WOODS AND SET IT FREE..."

Last week Matthew surprised me with a text message photo of this beauty... While I love flowers, there is something about ground covering that I love even more. Since we moved into our home last year in October, it was too late in the year to do any planting or painting so we decided to just start decorating from the inside out. We went from living in a 750 sq. foot apartment for two years while we were saving and suddenly we moved into a home with three bedrooms and a backyard. I've never cared about having a big backyard (I'm more about character than space) so when we found this home I didn't care at all that the yard was on the small side. As of now, we have no trees and nothing from the flower, fruit or vegetable family. The plan in to invest in one big tree for shade, some beautiful ground covering and select vines and flowers. Matthew will also be building a planter bed so that I can finally plant the strawberries I've always wanted as well as some tomatoes, parsley, cilantro and green onions. We are new to the whole gardening thing and while I'd like to say that I have a green thumb, I have yet to discover whether I really do or not. This little mossy plant above has inspired me to get out in the garden and start working. Since we have a blank canvas to work with, I feel like we have a lot of freedom to go in any direction. It's a small area, so I'd like to create an ambience and environment that's very inviting and comfortable. I've always been obsessed with small string lights in backyards and think I'll finally splurge on some for our yard. They are very romantic and set the perfect mood for an evening barbeque and endless conversation. I like these two options from Target, I just have to choose one of them and calculate how much we'll need. My main objective is to NOT make it look like an outdoor wedding.

"STUCK IN A MASON JAR WHERE I SEALED UP MY HEART..."

If you were to ask me, I'd tell you that just about anything looks better with a doily on it. These long forgotten and usually overlooked lace masterpieces are versitile and one of my favorite items to accessorize with. When it comes to doilies, the possibilities are just about endless and there are dozens of art and craft projects that center around doilies. If you're cringing and thinking of the doilies that your grandmother puts stale mints in a jar on top of, think again. Yesteryear's doilies are one of today's most sought after and unique decorative pieces so the next time you see some dusty doilies in a thrift store corner or in a lonely stack at someone's garage sale, buy them (some people even try to give away doilies) and keep them handy for a future Saturday when you feel inspired to create something.

A few weeks ago my Lighting professor assigned our final project; to design a functional and innovative light fixture. I just about fell out of my chair just thinking about how difficult this would be since A) I know  close to nothing about electrical wiring, and B) metals, electricity and I just don't get along. I quickly shot up my hand to ask if there was an alternative option, which there was, but if you can believe it Option #2 and #3 seemed much more consuming and daunting than designing a LAMP. I spent the next few hours brainstorming and Googling until I saw something that spoke to me: a beautiful mason jar chandelier. Well, it didn't literally speak to me, but it sure did catch my eye. I started drawing some concept sketches and decided that for my final project I would make a mason jar lamp. Above are some of the basic components I'll be using to create it. First and foremost I'll be using doilies to create a lampshade (still haven't decided on whether it will be a free form or if I'll sew doilies onto a ready-made lampshade). I've already ordered the mason jar lamp kit from Wholesale Craft Supply on Amazon and Matt's dad gifted me the perfect mason jar. I also found an antique shaped light-bulb at Home Depot but still need the lampshade frame and MORE DOILIES.

Thanks to a some generous family members, I have amassed a few doilies but not enough to complete the lampshade. So this Saturday will be devoted to garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores. Sounds like the perfect Saturday to me. I'll make sure to post photos of the final product (if it's not too embarrassing) as well as other doily craft project ideas.