I learned about Etsy.com a few years ago and would always peruse it for ideas when I wanted to make something like a piece of jewelry or a pillow, but never took a plunge and made a purchase.
I found this blank metal sign at a thrift store and had an immediate idea.
Some spray paint and a navy blue vinyl decal from Empressive Designs and I got this:
It's going to be hard to stay away; I've already have made another purchase that I am eagerly awaiting for another project :)
Over the summer I got a good push of motivation to work on my craft room / office: I painted the walls a celery color, I bought a funk teal lamp, a large trestle work desk, some cork boards, and hung some curtains. Then I just got stuck. I became unsure of my choices, of my color scheme, and we had other huge projects we began tackling in later summer.
I had some beginning ideas of a funky, but mature; feminine, but not girly room. But I just couldn’t find the exact inspiration I needed to push me to confidently finish. I swear there is only like 5 craft room / feminine offices floating around in the blogosphere.
A walk through the Lowe’s paint department last night, I finally saw the confirmation I needed. A part of their Audubon Collection is the Grandeur assortment….. exactly what I was thinking, but hadn’t seen put together.
Cool blues, celery greens, deep turquoises. Elegant, but casual. Feminine, but mature. Bold, but clean.
Here’s what I’m wanting to do:
I was trying to be original and not get a white craft desk, but my gamble busted when Target’s Madison Trestle Desk in Antique Walnut turned out to be a Self-Tanner Overkill Orange Walnut. I guess I’m having that white desk after all.
Here is the white version in action in this awesome space by froggymonkey, via RateMySpace.com or Flikr.com
The plan is to paint it a soft, milky white and personalize it with a giant monogram decal, a la Living With Lindsay:
Perhaps using one of Empressive Designs’ decals
Then I want to fill my IKEA RIBBA picture frame shelves with all sorts of fun things encased in teal, silver, and walnut frames:
Some embroidery art, a la White Nest
Some button art, a la Letter Perfect Designs
Some modern quill art, a la Yulia Brodskaya
And somewhere I want to find room for a ceramic elephant, hopefully vintage, but mass produced would do. Just cuz.
I’m digging these Audubon prints from AllPosters.com:
A smaller framed White Crowned Finch
A large framed Louisiana Heron
Eventually, replace the builder light with something a little fancier, like this one from Overstock.com
It’s been forever since we began our journey of bathroom remodels. Our hall / guest / future kid’s bathroom has really done us in and taught us never to underestimate the skills needed to gut and tile a bathroom. Never.
We honestly thought this bathroom would be a great “learning experiment” for the master bathroom which we also desperately want to tackle. Yeah…. that’s gonna take a few years to gather the strength and the savings, cuz we’re going professional that time around :)
Here’s how it looked at purchase:
Crummy, gross shower. Yucky toilet. Teal countertops. Builder grade tile, mirror, light.
We had a family member help with do the tiling, while my husband did the demo and reinstall of the molding, fixtures. I proudly can say I grouted and agonized over tile and paint choices.
As you can see, the shower fixtures and vanity top are still MIA, hopefully to appear sometime this week. But in the meantime I want to show off my purdy tile .
The subway tile and inset niche shelf were automatic givens. The strip of accent tile was love at first sight. Mix of light sage green glass and creamy natural stones. Wall color is Valspar’s “Roasted Garlic”- love, love, love.
Also a given: giant diagonal floor tiles in a creamy stone.
Vanity, mirror and lights will be the same as our half bath:
