Monday, January 27, 2014

Style Evolution... out with the old?

I've never known exactly what to do with my love of interior design.  I've never had much money.  I have only owned my own house for 2.5 short years of my adult life thanks to my divorce.  Rental spaces are limiting and often small.  However, despite these limitations, my desire to create a cohesive home has never diminished.  It is definitely my "thing." 

Confession time.  When I was married, and should have been considering a family of my own, all I could think about was decorating a nursery, not actually using that nursery.  I took that as a hint that I wasn't ready for motherhood, clearly, but nevertheless, the constant drive I have to reinvent a room persists. 

Theme?  Color? Mood?  Your space offers up a canvas to tweak your own identity.  Sure, I guess I have a personal style: I tend toward a certain rocker chic aesthetic which I don't adhere to very strictly.  I do tend to like a dark and bold look, so I guess that is similar to my home decor design sense. 

But I have to acknowledge that since my divorce my sense of style has evolved significantly.  Though my preferred color schemes remain the same (black and white, red) I tend toward a more traditional, country feel and that was not at all true in the past.  I am having a hard time, actually, because these remnants of my old life and my old sense of style remain and are obviously contrary to this new sort of french country, natural, rustic direction I want to take my home toward.  I often wonder if my new appreciation for all things country is due to my career choice.  I work in organic marketing, and honestly, farm to table, local food movements have influenced my desire to live in a small town and develop a simpler, more organic way of living.

Out with the bold, geometric, modern Marisa motif, circa 2012 and earlier!  In with country.  If you had told me, when I was 18, that I would eventually appreciate a country style I would have told you that you were crazy.  Country used to be exactly what I hated: gingham and gold and 90's trend disasters like wallpaper borders and brightly colored carpeting!  But thankfully the new country that we see today is worth emulating.

But, that leaves me staring at pieces I love that no longer work for me.  And yet I am reluctant to take them down!  And I'm not entirely sure what I should replace them with. 

acrylic paint on canvas

acrylic paint, mock "stained glass" on canvas, made by me 2012

super modern throw pillows, need to recover?
I loved these IKEA lamps when I bought them in 2011

metallic wall art from Bed, Bath and Beyond.  They still sell this, and I still love it :(
black ceramic bowl with red inside: filled with decorative balls from Pier 1

These large dragonfly pillows are backed in red microfiber.  They came with the couch.  Never loved them.

So what do I do?  It feels wasteful to no longer use these things.  I know this is a familiar problem with most of the design bloggers that I follow.  How can you justify buying new things when you have perfectly good "things" already?  I know that many of them sell their old decor, but truthfully, mine isn't worth much.  I was a poor 20-something girl starting out on my own, purchasing items from big box stores or making things like these canvases.  So sad.  But I really want to perfect my space and move toward that look I am going for.

I recently picked up this frame from Michael's Crafts which is much more in line with my new sense of style: I thought that the picture of my nephew picking apples at the orchard was not only cute but very appropriate to the decor style! 



I'm not sure what to replace the art pieces with.  I don't know what sort of art or wall decor would be appropriate.  I keep looking around at blogs for ideas.  I notice that many display their vintage or antique plates, but seeing as these are rental walls I don't know if I want to hang anything heavy or potentially damaging.  It's an ongoing dilemma.  Burlap?  Shabby chic frames?  Wood or pallet signs?  Antique store finds?  Landscape or still life paintings?  I am just not sure.


DIY project I found on Pinterest, from the blog "Creative Mommas"
Wooden Pallet Sign, Etsy, from RescuedandRepurposed

As for the pillows, I'm not sure if I should recover them in toile?  If so, black and white or red/cream?  Burlap?  I also appreciate Parisian printed fabrics.  I am into words, lettering, monograms.  There are too many choices out there.

Etsy, Red toile pillow covers from Elizabethdecor 
French script pillow from Wordgarden
burlap pillow, etsy, from thislittlehome

Help!  I am open to advice...

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Does Jay Gatsby Live Here?

Right before Christmas I was wandering through the local Ocean State Job lot.  (If you live in New England, you know what that is) and I found myself perusing the nail polishes.  Because, well, you can never have enough nail polish.  It is clearly a necessity for someone such as myself, who only sporadically paints my nails, to own at least 30 colors I will hardly ever wear.  But I digress.

I am seeing this black and gold thing everywhere and it intrigues me.  I had to buy this.  Because, why not.  I wore it on New Years Eve.


And it definitely has me thinking about this obvious trend.   I get it: "The Great Gatsby" has inspired an art deco resurgence.  For the record I liked art deco before it was cool!  Actually, I mostly liked art deco jewelry.  Leave it to Leo DiCaprio to bring back 20's opulence during a recession.

So, it's not surprising that I'm seeing this pop up everywhere: pinterest, the blogsophere, the red carpet, wedding magazines and even in drug store nail polish displays.  But will this trend have any sort of longevity?  It's forcing me to reconsider gold.  I thought gold was long since gone, by way of the 90's, along with brass fixtures and jewel-toned carpeting.  But like other recent trends (leggings, off one shoulder shirts, and tapered leg jeans) it is back but better.  Still, I can't help but be a little reluctant to embrace this trend in home decor, because I'm not convinced it has staying power.  I'm leaning a little more traditional these days (gasp, at 30+ I might finally be channeling my mother.)

Still, with my love of black I can't help but appreciate these recent Pinterest Picks.

Oh, and mini rant.  I hate it when pinterest images don't seem to link to the original.  It's not cool to not give credit to the originators.  Come on pinterest pinners!  Get your acts together!  I try to attribute all photos I share on here to the original source IF I can find it.  If not, by default, I give the pin link. 

http://zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com/2012/05/gorgeous-day-to-you.html

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/ae/40/4e/ae404e4a2be1eb96799b3a0449138728.jpg

http://iheartshabbychic.blogspot.com/
                     I could not find the above image on that blog link, so here is the pin link: Pinterest





http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/cf/a3/5b/cfa35ba884eebbe7182e67f7b36d4155.jpg



Hello French Provincial Meets Art Deco!  Love it. 
http://zsazsabellagio.blogspot.com/2012/04/house-beautiful_28.html

Friday, January 10, 2014

Fresh Bedroom Inspiration: Pinterest Picks

I haven't disappeared!  Just lost in a post-holiday funk.  Taking down the holiday decorations is always anti-climatic for me.  And the house ends up looking so bare afterward.  Not to worry, I got right to work on making some Valentine's Day decorations.  On the one hand, my entire house is red or pink next to black and white so it's almost like I have a V-Day themed apartment year round.  But no matter, I will share a few of the little touches with you next week.

In the meantime, I have been thinking about bedroom design and how I'm so bored of seeing the same color schemes and ideas over again.  Here's a few ideas from Pinterest that stood out to me as being a bit more interesting and fresh right now.  None of these are in my comfort zone, none of them represent my go-to color schemes.  All of them are visually interesting.  I am seeing a real trend with bohemian inspired fabrics, or in the case of the metal bed (third picture) a modern take on soft, vintage, romantic farmhouse style.  Loving the coral/aqua and coral/navy inspiration as well.  I would never think to use coral normally.  Enjoy!

Rate My Space, HGTV
Nordstrom bedding set
Pinterest

 
Pottery Barn Kids
Asian Inspired Purple Bedroom
Colorful Bohemian Bedroom
Pinterest Bohemian Inspired Bedroom