I love lamp

For freelancing, its important to have a good “office space” at your casa. Especially for me. i get very distracted and need a creative, calming space to be able to really sit down and get to work. I got this glass lamp from Target a few months ago and its been a life saver – especially when i work late at night which tends to happen a lot. I have to have some really nice lighting.

Its been such a great lamp but i saw this shade at Target and i just had to have it. I made googly eyes at Kenny as i held the shade like a baby. He said “it definitely looks like you” and that was the end of it. She was comin home with me! Lamp shades are a great way to bring color into a space and i definitely am a sucker for yellow these days. And pattern on pattern? I dig it. I dont think i could ever have too much pattern. Plus having a small grey pattern with a large yellow one just makes me happy, ill be honest. Plus my little wooden dude loves it, so its a done deal.

Bam.

-Rachel

Design Star

I have multiple blogs that i follow almost daily. I tend to panic if i dont get some Young House Love or MadebyGirl into my daily schedule. Amy at  Lovely Nest is at the top of the list… read all about her beautiful design and fabulous blog design over here. She recently she posted about Design Star… now, we don’t have cable so I miss out on all the good HGTV shows out there but OF COURSE, Amy decided to blog about a FABULOUS kitchen that was on Design Star this week. So… i jumped on my computer and watched 3 episodes in a row. Who knew there were full episodes online?! Anyway, i am completely in love with this beautifully designed kitchen!

How cute is this!? I love the yellow and turquoise color palate with the modern vintage feel. i ADORE the bakers rack – i love having metal and wood together and it just adds so much character. I also have a new found love for round breakfast tables. It just looks like a place where i can just have some girls over and chat over coffee. or wine.

And seriously – just look at this buffet. How can you buy matching room sets or crappy ikea furniture when you could have something with so much character and texture?! Don’t get me wrong – i love me some ikea (obviously if you read my post on friday) but for furniture, id much rather put down some extra time into fixing up an old piece than buying particle board that will just break in 6 months.

I’m only a few episodes in but I’m definitely looking forward to watching this episode!

All images by HGTV

Thanks Amy for sharing this beautiful space… I definitely know what color theme to go with in my kitchen now…

-Rachel

Roadkill Desk

So my dad used to call my boyfriend in high school Roadkill bc he rode a bike and my dad drove an SUV. My dad loved to traumatize me as a child. Anyway, this post has nothing to do with that. Its actual road kill. Not really but kind of. Last week i was cruisin around a neighborhood down town to meet a friend and i slammed on the brakes because i saw this baby on the side of the road:

Free. Solid wood. Adorbs yellow. And freakin dirty. I HAD to have it. And no, i didn’t take the tv.

So i threw it in the back of my car. By myself. BAM.

Yes, i know… i even impressed myself. I really enjoyed meeting up with Kenny later and saying “BTW, i might have a very large piece of furniture in the back of my car.” I dont know why things like this suprise him anymore…

Can i take a moment to just tell you how much I love my car (Scion TC)? Seriously, who else with a two door vroom-vroom car can fit a 7 drawer desk into their car? By themselves? This girl can. Go buy one.

Anyway, back on topic – so where on earth am i going to fit my brand new dirty but cute desk? Especially in our tiny one bedroom already full of furniture apartment. Honestly who cares? I’ll make it fit or give it to a friend to hang on to. Because when you’re in between apartments and a house – you need all the furniture you can get! Especially the free kind. So i brought her home in search of a good spot. Here she is in the hall. Just look at her dirty self…

So after shimmying things around the apartment, i found a good spot for her right around the corner. And then cleaned the sh*! out of her. Eww. Lets just say it was a bad idea to use paper towel… almost went through a whole roll.  And then… voila!

From roadkill to adorable! Yes, she is in need of new knobs, and yes, she has one really wonky odly placed knob… yes shes still dirty and beat up, but nothing some good TLC wont fix. I’ll keep yall updated with what i decide to do. Step one: get her some pretty (anthro?) pulls… or DIY? who knows?!

Have you found any good roadkill lately? Or bad roadkill? Ok, dont share about that last one if you did…

Till next time!

-Rach

Lake Painting

Nope. Not a painting of the lake. Rather a painting i did at the lake. Back in this post i shared my wonderful vacay with my bff. Here is a shot from my set up on the deck overlooking the beautiful lake!

We decided to hang it over our couch and my husband actually loves it! I thought the pinkish hue and purples wouldn’t be his idea of awesomeness but he said, and i quote “I like the meshing. its all like… bluuuhhh… colors!” all while attempting to “mesh” with his hands. Thats my lovely husband! The art critic.

See the meshing? And the “bluuuuhhh… colors!”?  I know i do.

Its up on Etsy now if you wana see an identical beauty above your couch for your husband to critique!

-Rachel

Decorating 101: Walls

So Ive had multiple people tell me this week that i need to come over and decorate. First off, heck yes! I love to decorate, especially when its with someone elses credit card. What I’m realizing is how hard it is to move into a house with horrible paint color… throw your furniture wherever it best fits and then to be overwhelmed with how the heck to start decorating. So i put together a few tips! The most important thing to know is that its going to take time. Its not going to change overnight unless you have the money to do so. Even then, its better to just gather pieces you love, pillows you adore and random crap to make your house (or apartment) a home!

So first up, we are talking about cho walls. This is the easiest way to change up the feel of the room. And sometimes drastically. You can add paint, wall paper, shelving, pictures or art… this is a great way to add some color and have a little fun!

Paint

My first advice is not to go too crazy. or too boring. I’ve been house hunting and some houses are completely white… not a single hint of color on a single wall. And theres other houses where you feel like you’re walking through a rainbow. And thats not a good thing. Feel free to go bold on one wall, but not 20. Not sure about what color you want? Check out My Colortopia! This is a great new website where you can import an image and it comes up with multiple corresponding colors for you. For example, i uploaded this image from Desire to Inspire.

I uploaded the image and then it asked me to select a part of the room that i love in particular. It came up with a few selections of colors. Pick each of those colors and it comes up with a full color palate for you. This is a great option when you have no clue or maybe you like one rug or accessory in particular but youre not sure what colors would go great as paint colors. So definitely check it out, its a great resource!

A coat of paint can do wonders to a space. West Elm turned this boring office into a cozy space with a great deep ocean blue.

Your color choice always determines the mood of the room. If you want a calm, relaxing “spa-like” environment, go for lighter colors like sea green.

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Also dont be afraid to try some crazy colors. Maybe a bold yellow, green or even purple. I wouldnt suggest your whole house be eggplant, but one accent wall in the bathroom would bring out a nice relaxing space to come home to.

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Wallpaper

How about some wallpaper? Theres a ton of really great new modern wall paper like what MadebyGirl used in her office over at Graham and Brown. Isnt this so cute?!

Stencils

What about stenciling? I love the look of a high glossed stencil over a matte paint color. Does this look classy or what!? I’ve heard it takes a while but its always worth it. Image from Cutting Edge Stencils.

I love everything about this shot. Such a pretty wall!

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How about a chevron accent wall? How can you not love this!? Adorbs.

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Shelving

The best way to keep your house from feeling like your home is to have big blank walls. I know that you’ve got a ton of really cute pictures that need to be printed and framed. How about a cute mirror to add some depth. Even an old poster could be spruced up by throwin a fancy frame on it. Put up some floating shelves and add some decor, frames and accessories.

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Frames

Over at Young House Love they snagged some inexpensive frames from ikea that are huge and square. Then they simply added colored paper! Its really that easy to get a fun pop of color.

You can always change it later to polaroids or photos.

Art

You dont have to be a millionaire to have some great art. Etsy has really made some incredible art accessible. If you know me, you know i love Mae Chevrette. As must as I’d love an original piece, you can grab a high quality, archival print for less than 50 bucks (depending on what size you get!) $42 bucks for a 16 x 20 of this “Always” print would look just lovely on my walls.

How about 42 bucks for a large 18 x 22 print of this Boston skyline:

And one of my favorite “Bloom” paintings:

All four images above are by Mae Chevrette!

Just get on Etsy and dig around. You can find tons of amazing artists selling either originals or inexpensive prints! Go find YOUR favorite artist!

DIY Art

You could also always make your own art! I am no painter. Read here and you know i just like to push around paint… its more fun than anything for me. But just sometimes i come up with something i enjoy enough to put up on my walls. In this case, my best friend’s wall:

Or these recent fun, small little paintings that add a great splash of color to my office:

Or this piece that i put up in our bedroom. Love maps? Paint one! What do you love? What colors do you love? Its definitely the cheapest way to bring some art into your home.

I’ve even got a piece in my kitchen. If you cant paint walls while in an apartment, a large blue painting is a great way to add some color:

Wall Decor

Theres also other things you can put on your wall other than just paintings. I love adding dimension. Like these wall sculptures that are remarkable affordable bring nature inside and add a lot of fun depth to your walls:

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I also love these antique wall tiles i found for  a few bucks a piece at the City Wide Garage Sale. Just find fun things like this that are interesting or pretty to you and throw them up on the wall. I love the texture and interest those two tiles create.

How about just throw some freakin plants on the wall like here from West Elm. Just make sure you have a ton of light in this space or else you’ll have a lot of dead plants on your wall.

How about a chalkboard and 3D letters. I love this space because the walls are covered… but somehow its still not too much. Love it!

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So get to it! Go grab a bucket of paint and add a little character to your walls.

Also coming up, I’ll be posting Decor 101: Furniture and Decor 101: Accessories. Stay tuned!

-Rachel

Before & After: Door to Desk

Alrighty… its *FINALLY* done! Not that it took long to make, it just took forever to get the time to finish painting! But here we go… the “before” of Mr. Door:

And here is the oh so beautiful after:

Isn’t that just refreshing? And incase you forgot what the space looked like before… yikes! Heres a little reminder:

Eww… i know. Sorry to post such a disaster but it makes the After shot much sweeter…

In this last shot you can see the door knob hole where i run the cables through. I initially thought I’d put the desk against the wall so i didn’t expect to need to fill the latch hole but I’m definitely going to have to do a quick fix!

I will post soon my how-to on the paint! If you want to read about the building process go here, here and here!

Also,  (drum roll please) the main reason why I’ve been so determined to get my office up and running: starting friday at 6pm I am officially a full time freelance artist! I semi blame this book for gettin the fire started… read it at your own risk…  four months later you might end up quitting your job too!

-Rach

Office update

I know I’ve been AWOL the last month… theres some intense news comin up that i can’t wait to share! But this should hold you over for now… my office update! This is just part one of many but here ya go! This is what my living room has looked like the last week:

And remember what my office looked like?:

So everything that was in that closet is now on my couch! Here it is in the process of being painted:

And painted:

And the After:

Like my new typewriter? Yay goodwill! ($15 bucks) PLUS it works… who knew?! I am still working on my recycled door desk along with about 12 other projects that i will hopefully post soon. Its super weird to type on my mac after typing on my typewriter… Its kind of like getting off a boat and still feeling like your on the water.

What a difference  a little paint and organization goes, huh?!

-Rachel

Bored at work…

Operation organize studio is almost done! woot woot! Super stoked about that one… i’d love to just work from home all the time! So today i decided to work on a small project involving picture frames! Since I’m trying to deck it out with yellow and grey (and being rather unsuccessful) i decided to take matters into my own hands.

Welcome to my office! I may or may not have used my work printer to print out some designs i made… shhh, don’t tell. i use inspiration from random patterns i found online and made my own on illustrator in, you guessed it, yellow and grey! Can you see my little yeti in the bottom left corner? i love that lil guy. I’ll post ALL about where these guys are going soon!

-Rachel

Spring Sales!

You know you love a good sale…. i headed over to the oh so lovely (yet slightly overpriced) Container Store! I’ve been trying to redesign my art studio/office grey and yellow but for some reason… spring doesn’t include the color yellow? Seriously, does that make sense?!

Ok just look at all of these cute boxes! The problem? Do you see ANY yellow ANYWHERE?! No!

So since i had zero luck finding any yellow storage, i just went with white. Honestly, did i miss something? Is yellow a no no these days? I went to MULTIPLE stores and found almost nothing yellow! Anyway, heres a quick shot of the bin i got when i was running out to the car. That takes some good self restraint to go into the Container store and only leave with ONE item! Go me!

After not a ton of success at the Container Store… there was a lovely Crate & Barrel just across the street… and who doesn’t love going into C&B?

These really make me wish i had a porch again… at least one that isn’t covered with mud and doggie poo poo (if you missed the memo, read this so you don’t think I’m nuts)

Doesn’t that just look lovely? I could see me sitting on my porch over the lake with a cup o joe in the morning reading different blogs…. (sigh)

I’ve always loved this series… just the colors and patterns all together just rock my face off.

Ok, so i know some people don’t understand the white furniture thing.. but don’t you just love this? It just looks clean and sleek and makes all your bold accessories just POP! Love it. By the way, i also left C&B without buying a thing… that just takes mad talent.

Done any fun shopping lately? Have a favorite store? Let me know where all the goods are!

Grey + Yellow Office

I adore the combo. So, of course… I’m redoing my art studio and office in yellow + grey! Here is my “dream setup” and gives you an idea of whats goin on in my mind brain.

A. Hand build desk similar to this guy by West Elm, Ana White shows you step by step instructions on how to build your own for MUCH cheaper here.

B. Rug by West Elm

C. Sabertooth Scull from ZGallerie. Why? Because everyone needs a sabertooth tiger scull in their art studio…

D. Bookshelf from Overstock

E. cleaver Bookend from CB2

F. Manhattan office chair from Overstock (though you can see my craigslist find here)

G. Filing cabinet from CB2 or find an old one and spray paint! (saves $100+ that way!)

H. Pillow from Target

Considering i have a ton of built in shelving and really dont need a sabertooth scull (though i think it would REALLY help me get inspired… somehow) this is just fun inspiration. Hopefully i’ll be able to post the before and afters soon!

-Rachel