Inspiration and My Decorating Process (a long and meaty post)

Do you ever wonder how other people (who are not professional decorators) go about decorating a room?

I know how the decorating process works for me but what about you?

Do you make a mood board then go out and buy everything on it?

Do you find a room you love and try to copy it as closely as you can?

Or do you gather ideas slowly and make gradual purchases and changes over time, often modifying your mental picture of what the finished room will look like?

That would be me.

When I decide to start working on a room in my house it's rare that I have a clear vision of what the finished room will look like.

Sometimes I have an idea in mind of where I want it to go.

But my decorating journey rarely leads to where I originally thought it would.

As I mentioned on Monday, I want to share a tour of my son's room this week.

But I started thinking that it would be cool to share where some of the inspiration came from.

Because I like to look back and see the evolution of what I thought I wanted and where I ended up.

(Links to where I found all of the following photos may be found on  

this Pinterest board.)

My initial inspiration came from this little boy's room that was featured on Apartment Therapy:

 

It's a bit too young for my 'tween son and I wanted to be sure to incorporate plenty of his own personality and interests.

But the general feel of this room was my jumping off point.

From there I found the following rooms that had a similar feel of what I was going for.

I wanted him to have a room that is masculine, a little bohemian, with some vintage, modern and traditional thrown in along with a touch of sophistication so the room could grow along with him.

 

When you see the room it will be apparent that the 'sophisticated' aspect has not yet been added yet.

I'm still working on that.

There are also a few other items and ideas that will have to happen over time.

Partly because I'm not one to finish a room all at once over the course of a weekend.

My rooms often take months to get to where I considered them 'finished.'

But I'm never actually finished because I love changing  things constantly!

Also because I'm cheap.

So I refuse to pay full price for anything and often spend a long time looking for a less expensive version or finding a way to make it myself.

Here are some bits and pieces of inspiration for what I am thinking for incorporating those things that haven't happened yet.

 

See those corner hanging baskets? I have one and it's hopefully being hung today!

A Moroccan style side table maybe?

Stumpy table with brass legs?

Hanging antlers

3 tiered brass pendant

plants

brass sconces

coin collection display

kilim throw pillow

DIY industrial shelves

closet doors painted black?

small area behind door for hooks with some vintage photos?

Now that you've gotten a little peek into the inner workings of the decorating part of my brain I hope I've left you feeling enlightened or inspired and not too frightened.

So, tell me...what's your decorating process?

Hopefully I get a lot of responses to this question so that I can use 'having to read hundreds of responses word for word' as an excuse for not posting the room tour that I promised you tomorrow. 

I think I may have been smoking something when I said it would be up early in the week.

Because after looking at the initial photos I saw numerous things that need to be tweaked.

Which means I have to make said adjustments and then retake photos.

And keep in mind that I don't get paid to decorate, take photos, or blog about this stuff.

(Although that would be really awesome!)

So I also have work at my actual job.

Be patient with me.

I promise it will be this week!

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Ugly Girls Need Love, Too

Several months ago my 11 year-old son was telling me about his day at school.

He had just learned that day that a particular girl 'liked' him so, naturally, I wanted a few more details in case things got serious and this girl one day turned out to be a future ex-wife or something.

Our conversation was brief and went a little something like this.

Me: Soooo...this girl that likes you...is she nice?

Son: Yeah, she's nice.  

Me: And is she cute?

Son: Um, no.  Not really.  I mean, she's just not my type.

Me: (jokingly) Well, ugly girls need love, too!

Son: NOT FROM ME THEY DON'T!

So you're going to want to check back tomorrow 

(or the next day or maybe the next day)

because I'm planning to share a TOUR of my son's room!

After going through the 162 pictures I took I realized that one area still needs a bit of tweaking.

 (Only about half of the photos themselves sucked which was a total pleasant surprise because my photog skills be seriously lacking, ya'll!)

 Hopefully I'll finish up those trouble spots today, snap a few pics, then have it all up and beauteous within the next couple of days.

Here's a wee-view, though:

(it's like a preview only smaller)

I know.

It's not much.

But I don't want to give it all away because it will spoil the surprise.

Now go show an ugly girl some love!

(Just a hug or a handshake or something.)

Then come back and check out my room tour and show my blog some love!

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Some Weirdness for You

I am finding myself increasingly inspired by things that are quirky and weird or just somewhat 'off'.

It's probably an indication of something jacked up in my brain that is affecting my personality.

Like an alien brain-morphing bacterium or something.

 

Nevertheless, I am completely enamored with the website, Society6.

Their art prints are nothing short of fantastically odd and wonderful, in the truest sense of the word,

And...the bestest part...they don't cost a fortune!

And for the record...this is not an endorsement or anything and I'm not being paid to tell you about them.

I just like their stuff and wanted to share it with you in case you want to add some weirdness to your own humble abode.

Here are some of my favorites:

Mr. Walrus

I would put this guy in my dining room.

L'il Soap

A little something for the bathroom.

Stay Classy

For Sean's office.

Let's All Go And Have Breakfast

For the kitchen.

Dr Who Dolls

For Stone's room.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

For Bailey's room.

Sloth Astronaut

For Jordyn's room.

Or maybe I would go with the throw pillow version...

Not only do they have art prints and throw pillows, they gotsa lotsa other cool stuff like the aforementioned throw pillows, stationery, iPhone cases, t-shirts and tote bags.

So go check out Society6 and get your weird on!

Or get some weird for someone else.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Man Crush Monday

Just a short story to make your Monday special.

As we sat down for dinner yesterday evening, my 15 year old daughter proceeds to tell us that she lost some Pinterest followers because she pinned a bazillion Miley Cyrus photos.

In her super excited over the top theatrical laden style she proclaims,

"I am like totally in love with Miley Cyrus right now.  She's so totally my woman crush!"

To which my 11 year old son, calmly looks up from his dinner and replies, with little to no emotion,

"My man crush is Bilbo Baggins."

source

source

Naturally.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

 

My Dream House

Like so many, I have fallen victim to the addictive nature of the 

beast known as Pinterest.

Which means I have tons of fabulous rooms and projects pinned that I no longer have time to complete because I am way too busy pinning things.

It's a vicious cycle.

And a little bit like crack.

But in my mind, I am collecting photos of what will one day be my own version of the Barbie Dream House.

I can't even begin to tell you how many hours I spent arranging and rearranging furniture, down to the last tiny fork and spoon upon Barbie's breakfast table, after receiving The Dream House for Christmas back in the early 80's.

So I thought I would share what my version of Cortney's Dream House would look like based on my extensive collection of Pinterest boards and pins.  

(Sources for photos may be found here.)

The Entryway

but with this rug:

The Living Room

The Dining Room

The Breakfast Room

The Kitchen

The Master Bathroom

The Master Bedroom

The Backyard:

And there you have it!

A tour of my Dream House.

In reality, though, I wouldn't actually want to wave a magic wand and have these rooms appear.

Because then they would be someone else's rooms and not my own.

I like working on my house over time and letting it evolve into something that really tells a story of who our family is.

But, it's always good to have some inspiration to make your Dream House a reality!

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

Let's talk about art and squirrels and Canadians

because I'm really fond of all three of the aforementioned.

Firstly, this:

 

It's a painting my daughter, Bailey, made for me.

It's a Boston Terrier.

It's awesome.

And, for now, I put it here in my kitchen so I can look at it all the live long day.

Also this:

It's a squirrel.

Well, a  squirrel's backside to be specific.

It's doing laundry.

The photographer, Nancy Rose, is Canadian.

She sets up cute little scenes and uses peanuts as bait and lures unsuspecting squirrels into the realm of her camera lens and ends up with photos like the one above.

And these that I found via TAXI

 

This last one I included for one of my devoted blog readers (my daughter's BF) who also plays the french horn and puts up with all of my posts about decorating even though he would probably much rather see musical squirrels.

 

You can check out more of Nancy Rose's squirrel photos through this flickr link.

And people like Nancy Rose are just one of the reasons that I really like Canadians as a general species.

Also because they make excellent maple syrup.

Have a happy Monday, everyone!

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney

 

 

 

Thirfty Thursday: Skirting the Issue

This Thrifty Thursday post is sort of like a band aid -

It's a good cover up for something nasty underneath.

Many a long time ago I was looking through the pages of a House Beautiful decorating book and stumbled across this photo:

I am not really sure why I hadn't previously thought to add a skirt to my vanity but I knew this would be a great solution in my bathroom and a few other places around my home to add storage space and cover up some less than attractive areas at the same time.

Such as my master bathroom:

 

Since I am still gathering ideas for my bathroom update I am not ready to commit to a nice fabric until paint and other details have been decided.

So I temporarily used a beige linen I already had on hand and a small tension rod.

 But you could also just staple gun it directly to the back of the vanity if you prefer.

I love that the space underneath is not wasted and it's a great way to introduce some color to the bathroom 

(unless you're using beige linen, of course.)

Aaaannnd... you can change the fabric to suit your mood/taste/season and it won't break the bank because it only takes a couple of yards.

I'm thinking about something like this from L&S Fabrics:

Or maybe this Waverly fabric from my local Joann Fabrics store:

 

My bathroom is not the only place where I have used a skirt to mask a storage area.

This monstrosity under my husband's desk drove me nuts every time I would look at it.

(Why can't everything be cordless?)

Hello, again, beige linen fabric skirt.

Don't judge - this is my husband's office/desk and is the single most hideous room in the house.

 Progress is slowly being made but, for now, covering crap up is the best I can do, people!

My daughter also wanted something to cover the uglies underneath her desk/dressing table and to add some femininity to a very modern table when she updated her room.

Oh, look!  A beige linen skirt again!

I must be really awful at estimating yardage because I still have tons of this stuff in my fabric stash and have used it for countless projects already!

I'm also thinking about a more tailored look for my bathroom skirt rather than one that is gathered.

Maybe something along these lines from the wonderfully talented, Jenny Komenda, over at Little Green Notebook:

Don't you just LOVE that lavender trim tape with the forest green velvet?

 

Hmmmm...maybe it's time to start making some progress on my bathroom.

À la vie et à l'amour

-Cortney