designs-files: January 2012

Monday Inspiration: Wallpaper

Monday already? Weekends go too fast! This was a good one, though. We told the kids that we are taking them to Disney World! The big announcement turned out to be more exciting for us than for the kids, because they have no concept of what Disney World is all about. I made these cupcakes for the occasion. I really need to work on my cupcake skills… icing is so tricky… no matter what I try, it seems to get everywhere! Oh well… they’re still pretty cute:

Anyways… on to the Monday Inspiration. I’m searching for the perfect wallpaper for my Mom & Dad’s front entry. We’re thinking something with a touch of grey or silver. Here are some ideas so far:

I’ve always liked Darcy through Graham & Brown:

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Check out how gorgeous it is in this room by Vanessa De Vargas:

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I don’t think you could go wrong with that one.

Then I found this one from The Wallpaper Company, which you can order through Home Depot.

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I’m often drawn to trellis-type patterns. However, we used Braemore Fioretto fabric for the drapes, and I don’t want to overdo it. How much is too much trellis??? Here’s what the drapes look like (this is not my Mom & Dad’s house, but is the same fabric!)

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I’m also drawn to more organic branchy designs, so I immediately thought of these from Ferm Living:

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The first is Family Tree in silver, and the second is Forest Flower in silver. I also love Wildflower in bronze, but I’m not sure that the bronze would work:

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Thoughts anyone?

Have a great Monday!

UN.BELIEVABLE.

It happened again. Twice. My kids have been busy drawing on things that shouldn’t be drawn on. Like floors…

… and walls.

Seriously. They are TOO. OLD. FOR. THIS.

I think I should start a blog series called ‘shit my kids have drawn on.’ Recent incidents would include:

… more walls…

… the custom built-in living room cabinets…

… and (my personal favourite)… themselves…

Is it a boy thing??? Do they ever grow out of it??? Am I doing something wrong???

Oh well. It’s Friday! Happy weekend everyone!

PROJECT UPDATE: PAINTED FLOOR MAT

Remember when I painted the interlocking foam mats last summer to use as a temporary area rug??? (See this post for a reminder)

Well… somehow, the project totally took off on Pinterest. It’s been pinned and re-pinned like crazy. Which would be great… except that the floor mats now look like this:

Blurg!!! They have cracked like crazy!!! This is from ‘normal’ wear and tear by the two boys.

A few people have asked how the paint held up. Um… not so great!

Unfortunately, painting my foam mats wasn’t really worth the time and effort that I put into it. My recommendation: don’t bother trying this one! I feel like I should email everyone that pinned this project just to warn them! Eeeek. Hopefully people are ~~lazy~~ busy like me, and rarely start the projects that they pin!

If you want to customize some kind of floor covering, I would recommend painting a regular rug, like I did with my chevron rug. It is still looking fabulous almost two years later!

The chevron rug took less time than the foam mats, and the end product is far superior! Here’s the original chevron rug post, if you want the full diy details.

BEFORE & AFTER: WALLPAPER

Can anyone guess my favourite way to transform a room? It’s wallpaper, obvs. I’m a huge fan of wallpaper. Maybe because it’s an instant gratification project. Within hanging a couple of strips of wallpaper, you can see the room changing! Plus, it’s a job you can do in an afternoon. So much fun.

Anyways, last weekend my design sidekick, Carolee (ha! Can I call you that!?!) and I wallpapered a wall for my uncle and his soon-to-be wife. Here’s how it turned out:

The before/after view:

Pretty dramatic, right? Using dark wallpaper is my favourite trick for taking the focus off of the big television above the fireplace.

This wallpaper is a great mix of neutrals… some cool, some warm. It was perfect for pulling in all of the shades of gray and cream in the room. I also love that it has a little bit of metallic gold in the flower petals. Just enough to add some sparkle!

TRENDING: WATERCOLOR WALLPAPER

When I put together my ‘fugly or fabulous’ post last week, I seriously thought more of you would like the wallpaper murals! I think they are pretty great, so I’m going to try to persuade you one more time. What if the mural was less ‘nature-y’ and more ‘arty’? Then would you like it? I think these wallpapers by Black Crow Studios are fabulous.

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I predict that water color inspired wallpaper will be a trend this year. Well, water color everything, actually!

MONDAY INSPIRATION: ATMOSPHERE INTERIOR DESIGN

I have a thing for black and white rooms… especially with hits of gold. I’m loving these rooms by Atmosphere Interior Design. Trevor and Curtis’s home is featured in the Feb. 2012 issue of Style at Home. Check out more of their work at the Atmosphere Interior Design website.

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It’s so inspiring to have such talented designers in our own city!

Last 3 images from Style at Home Feb. 2012 issue.

FUGLY OR FABULOUS: WALL MURALS

It’s Friday! Whew! What a long. cold. week. So glad the weekend is here.

I haven’t done ‘Fugly or Fabulous’ for a while, so I was excited to put together this post. And I have to say, I kind of surprised myself with this one. I started out on one team, and ended up 100% on the other!

When I think wall murals, I totally picture my Uncle’s house in the late ‘70’s / early ‘80’s. It had a big crazy wallpaper mural in the family room. So I set out to find images that reminded me of that. I don’t remember it exactly, but this one might be close:

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*** sidenote – when they got tired of the mural, my uncle and aunt covered it up with a wall of wood installed in a chevron pattern! So cool! Wish I had pictures of both! ***

*** another sidenote – it’s the same uncle that let me decorate his house… see it here ***

So, back to the murals. I kept looking and found more:

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Forestimagegregory via

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So… what do you think? Fugly or fabulous??? {btw… I think the answer is totally obvious!}

But please comment anyways and tell me what you think! Would you put one in your home?

AN EASIER WAY TO STENCIL

My sister stencilled her dining room wall before Christmas, and it turned out amazing. Look at the difference in this room… here is before/after view:

OK, so she also swapped out the dark curtains for white, added a sparkly sunburst mirror and a couple of pictures to the wall. But the really exciting thing about the transformation is the way that she stencilled the wall. Stencilling can be very messy, and the stencils themselves can be expensive.

The secret to making this project easy and inexpensive came from The Lovely Cupboard, where Heather used Sharpie paint pens to stencil her wall.

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The paint pens are so easy to use. The finish has a bit of shine to it, which might be hard to see in the picture, but it is really pretty in person.

Here are the dets:

1. Save yourself some money by designing your own stencil template. Carolee sketched her stencil out on parchment paper. The trick to making the design symmetrical is to sketch one half (or quarter), fold your paper in half, and trace the other half.

2. Transfer the design to bristol board or other heavy duty paper, and cut it out.

3. We used a laser level to make sure we kept things aligned vertically. Stick the stencil to the wall with tape, and trace the design lightly with pencil. You will be surprised at how quickly the process goes, it seemed like no time before the whole wall was covered! It only took a couple of hours total (including making the stencil) to get to this point.

* note * … you will probably be tempted to skip the ‘pencil’ step and just start tracing with the Sharpie, but DON’T do it! It’s easy to slip while tracing. Pencil is erasable, and the Sharpie pen isn’t.

4. Once the design is pencilled in, go over it with the Sharpie paint pen. It will probably take two coats to get sufficient coverage. This part was fun, and even easy enough for husbands and kids! Ha!

5. This was an instant gratification project for sure! It took and afternoon plus an evening. There was very little mess, and the only expense was the cost of 2 Sharpie pens!

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BRRRRR…

Holy nards. It’s FREEZING cold out today. -38^oC!!! It’s so cold that I almost didn’t send the kids to school. Mainly because I didn’t want to have to leave the house. Is that bad?

Anyways, here’s to keeping things cozy today:

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100 THINGS: WRAP-UP

I am determined to get to the end of the List of 100 Things That Make Me Happy. I started it over a year ago, and it’s become one of those things that I feel like I might never finish. This year I want to finish more projects. So in that spirit, I’m going to quit over-thinking it and just blast out the last 30 items (30??? really? I still have 30 items to go?) yikes. Here we go:

Tumblr_lubpo5hi281qa6db8o1_500_large Vintage Rotary Phone