2010 Color Forecast

Sherwin Williams 2010 Color Forecast has come out with the new colors they've predicted for next year.  Here are the descriptions from their website, categorized into 4 groups-Rooted, Treasured, Simplified and Refreshed (you can click on them to see them larger and read the descriptions):

 

 

I'm really loving Rooted and Simplified and am already picturing rooms designed in these color palettes!  Which ones are your favorites?

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Random Thoughts for the End of the Summer

Alright. So, I might have a problem.  Lets see I've been blogging for about 4 months and this is officially my fourth blog header design.

 

It looks like I'm averaging about one per month, although I definitely did not plan it that way.  Apparently I like to play around with graphic design.  I see these headers as a pretty good representation of myself and my design style.  Ever changing, constantly evolving and (hopefully) improving day by day.

I can honestly say that at this point, I have a much greater appreciation of different design styles than I did while I was in school.  When I was in school, I didn't have much time to go out and explore all that is available in the design world for inspiration.  I had to rely on what I knew and liked at the time, and then all my time was spent working on my projects with my limited school resources of outdated design magazines and discontinued fabrics.

After graduating, I've been exposed to many more design styles, other than my own, through blogs, the internet, and design magazines now that I actually have time to read and pay attention to these things.  So, although this summer has been slow as far as work goes, it's also been a great learning experience for me to explore design and figure out more about my aesthetic, how I want to design, and how I want to work and run my business.  So although my husband jokes that I must stay at home all day and eat bon bons, I assure you that I do not.  :)  I've been researching, cataloging ideas, working on DIY projects, learning to sew, designing, writing on this blog and reading about things that I hope will be of use to me in the future as I start my own design business.

Now, to say that all this researching isn't fun, would be a lie.  How lucky am I to be in a industry where your required reading is design magazines, and blogs?  How cool is it to be able to research new product lines that add function and style to a space?  How amazing is it to go to furniture and fabric showrooms and be surrounded by gorgeous things?  I think it's pretty great and sometimes I need to remind myself  of that when things are slow and not much money is coming in, because I know that someday this economy will get better and someday I'll have clients coming out of my ears!  And then, hopefully I'll look back on this time and think, wow, I was really lucky to have that time to learn more about myself and the interior design industry so that I can do this business the right way, the first time!

p.s. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on my headers!  Which one is your favorite?

Sweet Deal

If any of you out there love these lamps from Restoration Hardware, then you are going to LOVE the deal that I found!

Restoration Hardware-Rowan Pharmacy Task Table Lamp $269

 

Restoration Hardware-Franklin Pharmacy Task Table Lamp $159

Ok, so you like those, but they're a little pricey, right?  Well, how about this beauty?

 

I was lucky enough to stumble upon this Restoration Hardware look-alike lamp at TJ Maxx for only $19.99!!!!!

So, hurry, run! to your nearest TJ Maxx to snag one of these babies up for yourself!  When I was there yesterday, this was the only one!

Unique Floor Design

Just had to mention quickly how much I LOVE these floors in Tori Spelling and Dean McDermot's kitchen!  What a unique design and gorgeous wood!

 

Image found here while browsing Hooked on Houses.

Thrift Store Revamp

My recent project was painting and reupholstering two chairs that I found at the Goodwill for $4 a piece.  What I liked about these chairs was the backs.  I immediately pictured them painted in a creamy white color to really make the criss-cross design of the backs pop.

So, I took them home and began the revamping process by unscrewing the bottoms of the chairs and pulling out the old staples.  It turns out these chairs had been reupholstered three times!

Underneath all that fabric was a nasty pile of dust and foam so I scrapped it all and layed down a new layer of foam and batting.

 

The easiest thing to do is place the plywood seat on top of the foam and trim around the edges with a scissors.  I ended up having to use two pieces of foam because of the shape of the chair.  I used a glue gun to glue down the foam pieces to the chair so they won't slip around when sat upon.  I then wrapped a layer of batting around the foam and stapled that down.  Finally I took my fabric and cut it to the size of the seat by laying the seat on top of the fabric and trimming  around the edges leaving about 2 inches of extra fabric. Then I stapled that down on top of the batting.  The key to getting a smooth fit is to pull the fabric tight as you staple your way around the perimeter of the seat.  When it comes to the corners, wrap them as you would a present and staple the overlapping fabric.  You can go back later and trim the excess fabric off if you wish.

 

 

Once I had the seats upholstered I prepped the chairs for painting by sanding them down to create a rough surface for the paint to adhere to.  I then used a spray paint primer, let that dry and did three coats of Rustoleum Heirloom White spray paint.

 

Because this chair had a lot of detail, I went back with a very small brush, sprayed some spray paint into a small container and used that to go through the tight grooves of the chair.

 

  

 

The last step is to attach the seat back to the frame by screwing it back on tightly with a screwdriver.  

Here are the final results!

 

  

{fabric close up}

 

Hope you enjoyed reading this as part of Metamorphosis Monday!

DIY Plywood Art

Hello readers!  Today I want to share with you a super simple piece of art that I created last week.  I promise that anyone can do it.  It is so simple and fun!  All you need is a cut-to-size (whatever size you'd like) piece of plywood, some leftover paint, and letter stencils.  I picked up my plywood at Home Depot, used the leftover paint colors that I had from when we painted our living room, kitchen and dining room 2 years ago and picked up the stencils at Michael's.  Total cost: $14.  Here's how I did it:

1. Take your piece of plywood and whitewash it with paint color of your choice.  I used white paint, mixed with some water to achieve the whitewash look.

 

2. Once the whitewash is dried, take out your letter stencils and arrange how you would like your quote to layout on the board.  Start painting stencil with a stencil brush, making sure to dab the paint on, don't brush it, to achieve a smooth look.

 

3. After I was finished with the stenciling, I decided to add some more interest by taking the paint stir sticks from each of the colors I used and drizzled the paint all over the board in a random way.

 

 

After this step, all you have to do is let the paint dry and figure out where you will put your new art!  See, I told you it was easy.  If you want to hang your new painting, buy a picture hanging kit found at almost any store and attach it to the back to hang on the wall.  If you don't want to hang it, you can easily lean it against the wall on a shelf or bookcase.  I chose to temporarily lean it above my kitchen cabinets since I have 12' ceilings.  I love the interest it adds to my otherwise still bare walls up there.

It would also be fun and easy to add graphic objects to your board as well such as a bird stencil or the outline of a city skyline or circles and squares for a geometric look.  The easiest way to do this is to find an image you like online and print it out and cut out the inside of the image to create your own stencil.  You could also add texture to your art by layering on images cut out of balsa wood or some other thin wood veneer which can be painted or left as is.  Have fun being creative and come up with your own ways to make your piece stand out!

Happy creating!