DIY Collage Planet

I did some collage work today, for the first time in such a long time, and it was so fun! And what started out as just playing with strips of paper and scissors become something that I actually really like! I thought it would be something abstract and oceanic, just some meditative cutting and gluing. But once I trimmed the edges and stood back it became a planet! It made me kind if miss my Fiddleheads For Fiona Etsy shop, because I think other people might like it too. So since I can't post this there, I'll post it here.

And since I won't be selling these guys, at least not anytime soon, I'll just tell you all how to make them instead. All it takes is a round base of some kind, a plain old glue stick, some paper, and some scissors. And if you have an exacto knife and a cutting mat that would probably help at the end, but scissors would probably work. For a base I used this, and I get decorative papers from here, but there are lots of sources.

Just choose some papers you like the look of together, cut them into strips, and glue them down in layers. Then trim around the edge of your circle with a knife or a pair of scissors to trim the papers that are hanging over.  If you do have the cutting mat, flip your planet face down and cut around your base. Otherwise, just do your best with scissors.

I always forget, but really should always remember, that it is so creatively renewing and restorative to work in another medium for a change. As I sat staring vacantly at my Instagram feed in the middle of the day, for the millionth time, I realized that I desperately needed to put my phone down and do something before my brain turned to mush! And I'm so glad I did.

Nursery Sneak Peek

Our new little guy will be arriving sometime in the next few weeks, and we have been having a good time with giving Emmett's old baby room a facelift for its new occupant.  We are still awaiting a lot of the accents and details that will give the room some more color and pattern, like the bumper and crib skirt, fabric for the roman shade, changing pad cover, and lots of other art work and accessories.  But here is a little peek at how it is looking right now, which feels very calm and serene.  The basic bones are the same as Emmett's nursery (the crib, nursing chair, white walls and giant wall shelf) But TH painted the wood floor and wall shelf grey, and we have a new wool rug from Ikea as well as a new wider dresser to hold all of the baby things as well as act as the changing table, also from Ikea.  Our design theme seems to be thrift store finds meets Scandinavian, which was partly conscious choice and partly what we can make fit within our budget.  I took a page from what we learned from doing Emmett's new room regarding the use of color.  Once the room is full of books and toys it can be quite cacophonous, so we are keeping the bigger pieces very minimalist in order to preserve a calm feel.

Once we have a few more of the little details in place I'll do a more complete post including a few before and after pics.  But this is as far as we have gotten so far. . .

Oh Chalet for the New Nursery

In case you haven't heard yet, we are expecting another baby in February!  Another little boy, so Emmett will have a little brother to boss around, which I think will suit him just fine, as soon as he gets over the shock of the whole thing.  And we are just now starting the fun work of getting a new room ready to welcome the little guy home.  Pinning things on Pinterest for his nursery was of course the first step. And then I saw this little painting by Caroline of OhChalet on Etsy, and immediately knew it was going to be the foundation piece for the nursery design.  

First of all I love the colors: grey, teal, light blue, sand and white, with tiny pops of orange and yellow.  And I also love the spare yet homey feel of the composition.  It is cozy and comforting without feeling cluttered.  

One of my favorite things about ordering things directly from artists on Etsy is seeing how each unique purchase comes wrapped and packaged. It is so personal, it just makes opening up the package that much more fun.

So now we are off and running!  We can choose paint colors, rugs, bedding and all of that fun stuff.  It's maybe a little funny to base a whole room design on a 5" x 7" painting, but I feel ok with it.  And now we just have to find a place and a way to showcase this lovely little piece so that it doesn't get swallowed up by the rest of the room.

Hallway Renovation Featured Today on the Barn Light!: a Peek at the Before and After

 There is a nice feature of our hallway renovation on The Barn Light today, which is the style blog for Barn Light Electric, where we sourced the fixtures we used in our renovation.  It is always so nice to take a moment to step back and take a look at where we started, and all of the hard work we've done!  Here are some highlights from the feature, and you can always click over to read the full piece.

We love what our fixtures do for our space, and how they help accentuate the unique character of our converted barn home.  Thanks so much to the folks at Barn Light for getting in touch with me about a feature, and for encouraging me to finally take some photos of the finished hallway before we mess it up!

Oh, and shield your eyes a little, but here is the before image, just for fun.

When we first pulled up the carpet and discovered this green floor I kind of loved it.  But man did I get sick of it, and I sure don't miss it at all!  Sometimes I don't really realize how much my surroundings effect my state of mind, but looking at this old photos make me remember how I think I kind of closed my eyes in the hallway a lot, to pretend it wasn't there.  But since it is the central part of our home, there was really no way to avoid it, and I'm really glad that we have now fixed it up.  It is a relief to the eyes!

Emmett's New Reading Corner

We have been continuing to put together Emmett's new room, and this weekend we finally got to put up the picture ledges for his books in his reading corner. The design concept behind this idea was both aesthetic and practical.  On the practical side, he has trouble putting his books away on a tight bookshelf, squeezing the books between each other and making space can be very frustrating.  So this way I thought it would be a snap for him to be able to pick up his books and put them away. (wishful thinking? quite possibly) Also, I think they look cool, visually striking, and it gets the point across about what the space is for.  It is also a great way to fill up a big wall, and if you are light on big pieces of art, and heavy on books like we are, it is a great way to fill the space.

And I think the fact that Emmett was really excited to help us put his books up on his new shelves is a good sign for their appeal and functionality.

I'm starting to feel really glad that we went with very minimalist and soft colors, like grey, white and a little yellow for our basic design scheme for his room.  As soon as he started adding his own things, like his books, games, puzzles and toys the room is suddenly filled with a fiesta of primary colors.  If we had done the room with wild patterns and paint colors I wouldn't be able to stay in there for more than 30 seconds.  This way it will keep the room feeling a little more calm and restful.  Oh, and in case you are curious, the triangles on the walls are decals from urbanwalls on Etsy. They couldn't have been easier to apply, Emmett even helped, and I love the effect.  And since I used a random pattern I didn't have to worry about lining anything up.

So it's not done yet, we still have to get the right rugs and bedding, lighting and bedside tables.  But he is very psyched about his new room, and I think we'll move him in there next weekend.  Next project: the redesign of Emmett's old room for the new baby!  And I think we'll continue the soft color theme in there as well.  Sometimes there is just something so nice about white. . .

All Done But the Finishing Up

Does anyone else know this saying: "All done but the finishing up"?  A really wonderful old Vermonter I knew and loved growing up used to say it.  And as we have been working around the house for the last few days since we moved back in, that saying keeps running through my head.  We've been hanging curtains, painting trim, wiping the last of the construction debris from the new floors, organizing our new pantry closet, and trying to remember where we keep everything in the kitchen! 

Doesn't Olivia look like she's being a big help? But she seems to have no objection to the new white floors.  And we now have a bathroom with a window! It's so small that I cant take a picture of the window without the help of the mirror, but it is bright and serene, and has a cute shorty tub for Emmett. He took his first bath in there today, and seemed very pleased.  I can't believe we got away with washing him in the kitchen sink for three and a half years.  He did a little bit of exuberant splashing in there today, and I think he is entitled. 

Our friends Garet and Carolyn just redid their bathroom, and they have "pieces of flair" in there (Office Space reference, for the uninitiated).  It really reflects their personal style, and looks fantastic. We have no flair yet. Zero. Which I hope doesn't reflect our personal style, only our lack of personal time.  But for now I am enjoying the white uncluttered emptiness.  I find it very calming. Plus having two bathrooms is AH-mazing. 

This really is the fun part of the renovation for me.  The final touches when the mess and chaos fades away and the final pretty little details emerge. 

Our Bedroom in the Barn: Before and After

You know how when you move into a new place, you only have so much time, money and energy to fix it up exactly the way you want?  And then you get the the point where one or all of those things run out, and you're done?  Well that happened to us with our bedroom.  I've been wanting to do a bedroom before and after post for, well, 4 years, but we only just got to the "after" part!  Here's a decent "before" picture.

 We moved into this barn about 4 years ago, and we refinished the floor, painted the walls Iron Mountain (Benjamin Moore), framed and hung some art we really love, repainted a great bed frame from Ikea. . . and then we ran out of money and motivation.  We got really stuck finding a 9x12 rug we liked and could also afford.  So we borrowed an old oriental rug from my parents attic that was the right size, if not the right style and colors, had a baby, and now it is 4 years later.

A confluence of two things got me motivated again.

 

One: Recently my good friend Cara bought a house in Brooklyn and asked me and a couple of other friends to put together a couple of decorating inspiration boards on Pinterest, and that really got me going again.  Looking at all of the beautiful homes and great creative decor styles made me really start to look at our space again, and get the jump start I needed to tackle the final details.  I decided that what our super modern, minimalist bedroom really needed to make it more cozy was a little bit of boho pattern and texture.

Two: Our bedroom is really drafty, and the one heat vent in the ceiling blows right on TH's side of the bed and drives him crazy.  So you know what is cheaper, and awesomer, than moving a heating vent?  Bed curtains.  I have always harbored a secret desire for a super princess-y bed, and this idea really jived with that.  How often can you find a really practical reason to give yourself a super romantic princess bed?  Just the once, in my life so far.  So here it is! Our finished bedroom:

Ok, so of course it's not totally finished.  I still need to get that little loveseat recovered in a fun boho fabric, which is still TBD.

 I tied the curtains on with pieces of white grosgrain ribbon, which was very inexpensive, and won't fray.

We found this great 9x12 rug for very little money at West Elm, along with the curtains, actually.  They are having a great sale. Thanks West Elm!

I also have plans to make some throw pillows of various sizes from block printed Indian fabrics in rich and slightly clashy colors and patterns.  But when? Hopefully soon.

The cozy cave the the bed curtains make has proven to be a much approved of place to read books by the three year old set.  And TH wakes up in the morning with no more muttering about why the heat system insists on blowing cold air on him all night.  And I have my princess bed, and can pretend I am a character in a Jane Austen novel, which for some reason makes me feel right at home ;)

Win, win, win.  Three thumbs up from the family.

Wreath Decorating

 Carolyn and I went to a wreath decorating class in Chester last week, and now I have a wreath up next to my door at the earliest point in the season ever.  The lovely woman who was running the seminal foraged all kinds of natural items from the woods and fields for us to use.  There was also ample gold and silver spray paint on hand to add a little sparkle, because sometimes you just have to spray paint something gold.

Heather and Reid's New Digs

 So it turns out that I didn't take quite as many interior photos as I had thought I had of our friends Heather and Reid's new beautiful home in the historic Fan district of Richmond, VA.   But hopefully these few will give you a sense of what a great feel it has.  They managed to pull off a beautiful combination of modern and traditional decor, which is a really great reflection of the space, as well as who they are as people.  Of course the beauty of their home comes as no surprise since Heather has always been a super stylish lady, and Reid is the co-founder of Order Design, in Richmond. I wish I had more interior shots for you, but I had to save a few photos for my next post featuring the great backyard soiree they put together for us to meet some of their Richmond friends while we were visiting.  So stay tuned for that: (Think candlelight and oysters on the half shell!)

The Summer Bed

I put the summer bedding on last night, crisp cotton sheets, cotton blanket, clean white comforter cover, and I was so excited to slip into bed last night and fall asleep listening to the peepers.

Just L

I recently went to Littleton, NH to meet with the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Retail Gallery there, and bring them some jewelry. And while I was going to be there I was recommended by friends to go check out Just L, and I was so glad I did!  Just L is a mid-century modern focused antique store, and it is chock full of amazing things from that era.

I had so much fun shopping and browsing, and I was able to catch up on a few very late presents I have been owing people, which made me happy.  They don't officially sell online, but they have an active page on Facebook where the owner has been posting images of a good chunk of his stock, so follow this link if you want to drool over some mid-century goodness.  And if you go up there to pick up the couch you fell in love with on his Facebook page, be sure to stop into the NH League Gallery just down the street and say hi to my jewelry, and all the other beautiful handmade work on display!