Completion!

Sometimes projects take longer than expected to be completed.  Life gets in the way and interests shift.  That might explain my temporary disappearance on here, but really that doesn't mean I haven't been creative for the last few months.  No, it just means that I've been thinking and planning and completing less.  However, I did finally finish decorating my office at work.  As a follow up to two previous posts on the same subject, Circle, circle, dot, dot. and Office Space, I have done just about everything I would do in an office space that isn't at home.  The biggest project I gave myself was the wall photo collage.  If you recall, I purchased a dark brown metal wall hanging from Home Goods.  The wall hanging has interlocking circles and before I ripped them off mostly with my bare hands, had candle holders on hinges at the bottom of the circles.  I spray painted the remaining wall hanging white and proceeded to cut out silver matte boards to fill the background of the wall hanging.  I purchased from A.C. Moore white picture matte boards in various sizes and cut out sections of the larger silver matte board to accommodate them.  Let me tell you, that was not easy!  And by no means did it come out perfect.  But, I think it looks cool.  

Back to the rest of the office for a moment... Remember, the cool clock I got from Home Goods?

 I also got some vases and a really cool hourglass.  I love hourglasses!  I learned my lesson from David Bromstad of Color Splash, group things in odd numbers.  Either one item, three or five.

I already put up a series of three photos that I took and a really cool faux succulent planter that I painted white (also from Home Goods). 

 

Putting it all together!

 

 

 

For the photo collage, instead of pictures of flowers and such that I've taken and which I already have on the wall to the left, I decided that I would pick some of my favorite and most happy memories of places I have visited. When I look up at my photo collage which is directly over my desk, I am transported to those special places once again and I feel happy.

 

And now for the final reveal of the photo collage!

Okay, so I know that it is a little hard to see the pictures clearly but..... 
Bottom left - California coastline near Big Sur off of Pacific Highway 1
Middle left - Ghost Tree along 17 mile drive in CA (right near the famous lone cypress which was a great picture too, but this one won)
Top left - Building facade in Old San Juan, PR
Middle right - The Palace Riu Hotel in Aruba from my balcony overlooking the fabulous pool with the ocean as a backdrop!  Palace Riu take me away!
Top right - Pretty mysterious gate leading into a lush green garden in Nantucket, MA
Bottom right - Close up of tiny pink flowers covering or rather carpeting the rocks and moss along the coastline of Lover's Point in Pebble Beach CA.  I hadn't and probably never will again see anything like it! 

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity!!!

Fire!

While it's still winter, I would like to tell you about the electric fireplace that I'm drooling over.  Lord knows when it will be mine, but a girl can dream and plan! I do a lot of both of those things. 

Made by Classic Flame, the white artesian is the one.  I just hope it's still available when I'm ready to purchase it.

I originially had my heart set on this Kenton made by Dimplex:

 

 

My mind was changed though because I was in the Fortunoff Backyard store this winter and I got to see the Dimplex and the Classic Flame electric fireplaces in action.  I thought that the Classic Flame looked brighter and was much more impressive than the Dimplex.  Dimplex, which I've heard great things about, was disappointing in the flames department but aesthetically, I like the Dimplex mantle design better.  Ultimately, the flame is more important to me so Classic Flame wins it.

 

I can't wait to sit in front of the cozy "fire" during the long winter nights....and any other night.  I also can't wait to get that flat screen TV to go above it!  Maybe next winter.

 

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for more creativity! 

To Keep Or Not To Keep?

That is the question!

 

I need help making a very difficult decision.  Do I keep the jeweled headboard I made with my own two hands, which I still love and is really cool but not exactly elegant OR do I replace it with a white upholstered headboard which I think would be elegant and really pull the room together?  I'm very torn. I was trying to come up with a way to keep the headboard and still bring in more white but when I played around with photoshop as you will see below, the upholstered headboard looked right.  Let me explain more. 

 

I have white croc vinyl left over from the ottoman I reupholstered and I thought perhaps I could do something cool with it over my bed.  My original plan was to have a cornice above the bed perhaps made out of the croc vinyl (which I still may do) and fabric draping behind and on the sides of the bed.  Like the "canopy" I had before but with white fabric (with perhaps a geometric print) against the red and much nicer and more modern.  Here's what I had in my rental. It at least gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.   

 

 

I also thought perhaps I could try putting the vinyl up on the wall from the ceiling down behind my jeweled headboard and using upholstery studs down the length of each side to finish it off.  I wanted to see what that would look like, so I taped a piece of the vinyl to the wall just to see if I would like it.  Now, just keep in mind that the jeweled headboard is supposed to be a foot higher up when properly installed on the wall (which it's not).  And the vinyl is supposed to be bigger.  Also keep in mind that there will be white crown molding eventually.

 

 

It could be cool.  But, not really enough.  Perhaps, if I also had the cornice and the fabric draping on either side, but then why bother with the vinyl?  Okay, well...then I thought perhaps I would keep my headboard but make a cover for it so that I could use it both ways.  Here's what that could look like:

 

 

And that's when I saw the white headboard in theory and you know something? I think I like it better!  But, I'm a visualist and needed to see it more fleshed out.  So, I took my photos and played around on photoshop to see what an actual upholstered headboard would look like.  See? 

 

It looks better than the jeweled headboard, right?  It's okay, you can tell me the truth!  What do you really think?  I need help!  I also, have toyed with the idea of painting the metal frame around the jeweled insert white. I don't know...

 

I hate the thought of getting rid of my headboard, but I really have no other use for it and I have no place to store it either.

 

I'm counting on your input so please tell me what you would do!

 

Thanks for stopping by and Stay tuned for the final decision and more creativity!