make under

I've been spending the last two years renovating and redecorating my hubby's bachelor pad into a cozy, stylish home for two. Bedroom? Check. Living room? Check. Office? Check. Kitchen and bathroom? Check, check. Office again? Check.

Yeah, I'm already on the second round of redecorating.

Two years ago when we painted the office, I was enamored with bold color. I took the Notre Dame gray walls up a few notches to this:



But six months later, I rediscovered a love for neutrals and I found myself longing for those gray walls. One sunny day and a can of $7 paint and I can finally stop cringing:




The chair is actually a before + after within a before + after. I got the $20 find on Craig's List and until last week it sat its sorry self in the living room. After a lazy spray paint job, a run through the sewing machine, and a trip to Wal-Mart for a $4 taupe sheet, it's good as new:




(The pretty print is a page from last year's calendar.)

I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. For now.

bad news, good news

It's a big bummer that postage is now 44 cents. Maybe most people probably don't care, since everything seems to be done electronically these days. But for someone like me who adores stationery and sending actual mail, it's a bit annoying.

The upside to the price hike is that the new 44 cents stamps are absolutely adorable!


If you have pay 44 cents, you might as well get some eye candy, right?

In honor of the new stamp design, I made a simple little card to match:



Expect to get lots of mail from me because stamps this cute cannot be wasted on the folks that receive my student loan payment every month.

Happy weekend!

maybe I could sleep at ikea

I adore IKEA, and look forward to each shopping trip there, even if it's twice in one weekend. But for some reason I automatically assume that everything is too modern for my taste. Which is silly because the chintz duvet cover I got years ago that I still love is from IKEA.

It’s no secret that IKEA has great design, but it turns out that IKEA is the best mix of the clean lines, simple style and eclectic mix I crave. I was on the web site the other day looking for paint color inspiration and I fell in love—L-O-V-E, love—with this bedroom:



I have a thing for gray right now, along with white walls and pops of color. Plus the teal and lilac would be oh-so-perfect with my terribly hard to match bluish-lavenderish-grayish duvet cover.

I love this bedroom so much, in fact, I had afternoon caffeine and couldn’t sleep Tuesday night, so instead of sleeping I sat up dreaming how I could recreate the look in our own bedroom. Never mind the fact that we absolutely will not be redecorating the bedroom anytime soon since it’s it the only finished room in the house right now. Maybe I could just sleep at IKEA?

Here are some other faves. I guess I have a thing for colored furniture.

{before + after}

Back in spring 2009 hubs and I toiled away every weekend renovating the house. Aching limbs, tight budgets, and emotional breakdowns aside, it was been fun to redesign the rooms and witness the transformations.
Our embarrassingly gross (and only) bathroom was first up for renovation. We hired out most of the manual labor (except painting), but playing interior decorator on a shoestring budget was all my pleasure. Yay, for Lowe's, Home Depot and IKEA!



I had intended a euro-spa theme, but then decided that any design scheme with the word "theme" was inherently a bad idea, and I ended up just picking out things I liked, which worked. I love the contrast of the rougher, natural elements, like the walls and floor, against the more stream-lined industrial feel of the shower tile and vanity.

welcome

It's true: What the world does not need is another design + lifestyle blog. So why are we here?

I am utterly inspired by design + lifestyle blogs, always eager to implement ideas in my own home. And I need an outlet to share. That's why I'm here: to show you what design inspires me, what projects challenge me and what graces the rooms in my home.

With that said, you'll find me sharing a little bit of everything: new stationery designs, details from my home, crafty projects, style inspiration, and random ideas. Thanks for joining me on this journey!


~Kristin