Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Craft Room

 Just before we decided to move from our previous house, I finished the last two rooms in our house. Like literally, a couple days before. Isn't that the way it always works. You live in a place for years, and finally get it all beautiful, and perfect, and then you have to give it to someone else. BOO!


Well, at least I got to enjoy this craft room for a month or two, before the whole thing was packed into boxes. The craft supplies you see here, unfortunately, are only about half of what I really have. I know, it seems crazy. It felt crazy when they dumped all the "craft room" labeled boxes in the new study. There wasn't a bit of floor showing....obviously I have a craft addiction problem! 

My new place is coming along, but it's really more function, than form right now. My Etsy business is doing really well, as is my craft booth at a local shop here in town, so I'm working in the space during all of my free time (aka midnight), so it had to be usable. 


It's not to say that this room wasn't usable, because it was. My stuff just seemed to grow on the open  shelves, and I kept running out of room. I purchased two of these shelving units from Ikea, "Gorm". They are super budget friendly, at about $30 each. They are made of unfinished pine. I used a thinned-out stain, and rubbed it on with a staining pad, just to give it a little color. 


For storage I used white boxes from Micheals. They usually run $1.00-$3.00, with sales. The look simple enough, and let all my fun decor stand out. 


So if you don't already know, I have a major bird obsession!!
 Like, my family calls me the crazy bird lady... it's fine, I have excepted it :)  and hey, they keep buying me stuff to add to my collection. So I guess it hasn't gotten too out of hand......yet. My craft room is where most of it ends up, so this room had to have color, and lots of it. 

These little birds below are my favorite. I picked up three at Round Top last year. I would have gotten more, but my friend talked some sense into me. 
What are friends for! 
They are made from wood and hand painted, and they sit on top of a piece of drift wood. 


Here are some fun, colorful, and affordable alternatives, to the ones I have in my room. 
These are by 5 Love Birds Nest on Etsy. I'm definitely going to need a few of these ;)

    

On each shelf, I used my supplies as the decor. Alot of what I have, already is full of color. So on the neutral shelving and white boxes, the items really stand out. I did consider painting the rack a color, but I felt like it would have been to busy. 


Flower frogs, hold little note cards.


Above the shelving, in the blank space, I used some large laminated bird cards, that I received as a gift. These cards are about 8"x10", and are numbered with different types of birds. Calendar cut outs could work here as well, or just a collection of prints. 



Here are some beautiful bird prints, that you could use instead, from "Wild Heart Histories" on Etsy.
Love these!!!

      

These color birds on stands, are from West Elm. They have a wire stand, which makes it easy to bend, and mount on them on a wall. I used books to help make a color theme for each shelf.



The birds are no longer available at West Elm, but these Seedpod birds are a good alternative.


This fun chair sculpture came from Urban Outfitters, a fun way to hang jewelry or little nick-knacks.


On the other side of room hang curtians from Ikea. They had a fun red tree print, and at only $12 a pair, they were a great deal,. 


The cabinet is an antique, made by my great, great Grandfather. 
I showed you how I updated this piece on the To Paint or Not To Paint-Antique Furniture.

Before

I used this piece to house some of my painted animals. 


Above it hangs a little collection of art. The "No Rest for the Awesome" sign, was a gift from my best friend, she thinks I'm awesome :) She got it on Etsy from Printed Palette, they have all sorts of great prints.  The hoop art is from one of my favorite shops Three Red Apples on Etsy, I had this piece custom made. The inspirational quote, "and if not, he is still good", is from Raising Up Rubies on Etsy.


More amazing birds! How beautiful are these Bali Starlings?!?


A small couch is on the other side of the room, is the perfect for relaxing....which I never did, not once! But the kids did hang out on it while I worked. 


Since it is a small love seat size, all it needed was two small pillows. The bug pillow was from Target. The striped pillow I made from a sample swatch of fabric, which was discontinued at Calico Corners (and it was free, score).


Here is how the love seat started.



 It was in my moms office for years, and my parents brought it down with some other furniture after my Grandmother passed away. The color was a bit worn, but it was a good solid piece. 

I picked up this great linen textured, coral duvet from Target. It was on clearance for $20!!
I cut it up, and reupholstered the love seat with this. 


The end table was also from Target, but I didnt like the color of the wood, so I painted it in a mint color, to go with the room.


On the wall, I made a little collection of bird things. The antiqued paper print was lacking color, so I painted just a few things on the picture to make them stand out. A West Elm bird, is mounted to the wall above the galvanized shelf.


 In the shelf, fat quarters of fabric are grouped by color. 




The bird print here, is from Jones Design Company. She has all sorts of inspirational, and religious prints. 


A three tiered wire rack, was perfect for holding my tubes of paint. Found this at Hobby Lobby for around $30 on sale. 



I wont show you the whole work table, since it's usually a disaster, but I will tell you that I found a really great drop leaf table, for around $100. It was wide enough to keep the sides down and still have a good sized work space, but skinny enough not take up a bunch of the rooms space. I can pop up one side of the table, so if one of the kids wants to do some art work, it wont disturb what I'm working on. Here is some more of my storage solutions. An antique bread pan, holds my rolls of ribbon. 



This pan has been used for lots of decorating and storage needs over the years. It's held shells, fall decor, Christmas ornaments, the options are endless. These can be found at antique stores, and on Etsy, at shops like Pickers Warehouse, and Territory Hard Goods.


Sadly, this is no longer my craft room, but I like my new one, which I hope I'll get around to showing you before I move out of here!
I'll show you the last couple or rooms, from the old house soon.
You can check out most the house, HERE, or at the top of the page, under "My House".

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Color Me Beach-House Blue


I'm so excited about today's Color Me! If you haven't seen these before, I will be bringing you these "Color Me" posts, a couple times a month. The goal here, is to show you helpful ways to incorporate color into your house, with paint and decor. Color can be scary for some, others just need some tips on refreshing what they already have. There will be all sorts of color palettes, so if this one isn't for you, check out the others Here, and be sure to follow along for all the upcoming palettes.

  I love blue, and love all things beach, so this is my kinda house! This beautiful model home, was of course designed, and decorated by the awesome ladies over at Dy Lynne Decor. I know you hear their name all the time you guys, but this is what they do, every month, of the whole year....how awesome is that, dream job!

Beach themes seem to be really popular right now. You can search it on Pinterest, and be there for hours, getting lost in the worm hole. So lets dissect this room, and this color palette, and see why it's so popular?

All colors by Sherwin Williams

I think one of the main reasons that people decorate with a beachy theme, even those far away from the water (like me), is for it's calming nature. This color palette isn't loud, and it isn't overwhelming. Even if your not a big fan of the beach, this set of colors can work well with all sorts of decor styles. 

For the base paint in this living room, something like "Rhinestone", by Sherwin Williams, is a good starting point. This is a light grey color, with a warm undertone. Keeping the base light, lets you build brighter, and darker colors on top of it. White, is also a good fresh base, but to break away from the super simple, try and slight change in tone. Grey's can be a tough one, like white, they tend to lean towards another color. Like a green-grey, or blue-grey. So when your picking your grey, place it next to your other room color swatches, and see which way it pulls. If your room has more blue, go with a bluer-grey, or a white-grey.

The sofa, being the biggest piece in the room, is kept a light color, similar to the wall. Keeping all of the big pieces in the same range, ensures the room will be soft, and flow. A darker piece would have been to heavy in this room.


For all of your colors in a palette like this, warm undertones are best, these are colors with a yellow base and not blue. If that sounds confusing, check out my post, 6 Tips For Picking the Perfect Paint Color, I dive into cool and warm colors there.  When your working with the blues, a cool undertone color, can really take on a pastel look, and wont look as soft when finished.

The next two colors in the palette, "Folkstone", and "Burlap", are good for grounding pieces. For instance, a rug, curtains, smaller furniture pieces, and medium sized fabric choices (like chairs and large pillows). Since both of these colors are earthy, and neutral, it will be easy to find things with texture and patterns in these tones.  A large woven area rug, helps to ground this space, and brings in good texture. The coffee table and side tables are just a shade darker. Going to dark here, will make the room look uneven, and piecey. 


The last three colors in the palette, "Rainstorm", "Rain", and "Tame Teal", are the accent colors. These colors are used in the art, pillows, chairs, and accent pieces. For the pillows, they used several patterns, and and pulled in all the tones from the color palette.
 Simple, white coral shaped lamps adorn each side table, and a collection of ocean inspired decor is grouped on the coffee table. Keeping just the accent pieces in the colorful tones, makes it easy to change colors, and styles as you like. 


This piece, in a niche across the room, brings in more texture and pattern. 







This kitchen and dining space, are open to the living room, so the color is carried through here as well. Kitchens can be a tough place to add lots of color. There are many big grounding pieces, that you can't change, like the cabinets, back splash, and counters. Adding color in seating, and accents, is a simple way to give that pop of color you may need. 



Using colorful plates and napkins, against your neutral colored surfaces, can really add a punch of color. These plates, and simple pieces, can be switched out as your taste changes, or with the season. Decorating for fall, or Christmas would be such an easy transition here, as none of the accent colors are used on large pieces. 


There is also alot of texture in these rooms, which softens all of the hard surfaces. Natural fiber rugs, linen curtains, rope accents, greenery, and textural wood pieces, all pull this space together for a cozy look.


 I love this art piece, it has so much texture, and it works perfectly with the color palette.



Here is another space in the house, that follows the same rules. The walls are in the same base paint (Rhinestone), and are broken up with a white bead board accent on the bottom. Since this room is alot smaller, it can tend to get dark, even with a light color on the walls. Using a white on the bottom half, helps to make it look larger and brighter. You could use also use a ship lap, a board and batten, or stop the wall color with a piece of molding just above the chair rail height.


 The chairs and table, use the same mid-tones from the palette (Folkstone, and Burlap), and the accent colors (Rainstorn, Rain, and Tame Teal) are also scattered around the table, and in art on the walls.




I just love this house!!
 I hope you loved it too, and that it gave you lots of inspiration, and ideas about how to use color. Don't forget to check out my other Color Me palettes.  Be sure to stop by Facebook, and check out Dy Lynne Decor!

Until next time.....