Thursday, March 17, 2011

One little snowman.

It is so hard to believe that March is already half-way over! This new year is flying by too fast. I think that happens more when you're an adult. As a kid, time drags between breaks from school and important events. As an adult, sometimes life is a bit too busy to recognize when a "I'll give you a call sometime next week." will slide right into a "Crap. I was supposed to call you three weeks ago."

Since we only have a 3 days of Winter days left, I wanted to rush over and post my Winter door decor before it was too late and I change it! Because the door is a total wreck, I am showing just the close-up I took of the snowman wreath I made a few years ago. I got the snowman and the ribbon (I think.) at A.C. Moore for cheap. The rest of the wreath is just the basic round shape with the same snowflake ribbon wrapped around it. I kept it simple. When I bought him to put on the wreath, I jokingly named Mr. Flakes. Normal people totally name inanimate objects, right? I suppose I can't be blamed entirely. He has quite a lot of character.


A bit of good news regarding the disgusting door is that the office says they will be replacing my door with a new four-panel steel door this Spring! (The downside is it will be painted the same gross hunter green, and the new door will have a half-moon window at the top. I'm not a fan of that style as, to me, it seems so dated. Oh well!) I will probably have to be a smidge obnoxious about pressing to make it actually happen, but I am up for the task. Be gone, rusty/pockmarked door!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Wall paint and Amy Butler fabric and gallery walls, oh my!

The biggest problem with my new place is that I do not have the time, energy, and resources to make it home yet. I threw together a bit of a gallery wall in the living room a few hours before my parents came to visit at the end of December, and have since tweaked it a bit more. Beyond that, not a lot has happened.

I am dying to get some color on the walls in this place. I have a few cans of new paint that never saw light, so I will try to use those rather than buy all new paint for the rooms. I do so love the Oops/Mis-tints in Lowe's and Home Depot, so I have picked up full gallon of beautiful silver gray and one of a nice spring green. And I have some partially-filled cans of greens and pinks. I am picturing an obnoxiously cutesy hallway color with one of the pinks because the small hallway that connects the laundry room/bedroom/bathroom deserves to a little sass. We'll see how it all turns out when I swatch a bit on the walls to test.

I did manage to snag some free paint sample pots from Valspar in some of the turquoise and aqua (and Tiffany blue-esque) colors I have been admiring so I can get a better idea of what I want to do in my bedroom. There is a fabric I am loving that I think I want to use to make curtains for the big bright double window in my bedroom. Curtains are SO expensive, and I am far too picky to be satisfied with most retail options, so I will just make something perfect myself. When I came across this print a while back in an Etsy fabric shop, I fell in love. I didn't have any idea what to do with it then, so I dismissed it as something lovely that just wouldn't work out. But I stumbled across it again when I was hunting for mint or aqua or turquoise in prints for my bedroom, and my love for it hasn't waned. Just look at how lovely it is!




It is Water Bouquet in Mint from Amy Butler's Love collection. It seems to be a delicious impressionist-style floral that is common to some vintage fabric patterns I love. I snagged the images here from the Etsy seller I might use for the purchase. Her store is called lilybellafabrics, and she has some gorgeous designer prints available. I'm waiting to hear back from her to see if I can buy a swatch of it from her to see if I still love it in person. 

I might also get a swatch of the same print in the other available colorway - Midnight. Here is a peek of that one. It seems to be most of the same bouquet colors, but with the deep blue background instead of the mint. I could still use the colors I have selected for the room if I went with this one, so I'm curious to see it up close and see how it looks in my space.



What do you think of them?