Chalk it up...old school style.

halk it up...

Don't you love a chalk board? I'm pretty set on incorporating at least one chalkboard wall in what is going to be my office. I think there would be something really satisfying about having a 'to do' list in big chalk letters up on the wall. I also think they look kind of hip. I just have to decide which wall I want done in chalkboard paint. I think I'm close to getting started...but not quite there yet. I need a little more time, but hopefully soon I'll be able to start sharing before and after photos.

Do kids ever even have chalk boards in school these days? It seems like everything is marker boards and smart boards doesn't it?

Chalk boards are so old school now. Literally.

Here are some ideas with chalk board paint that I really like:








I found out if you want to be able to hang things on it - there's a magnetized paint you can use under the chalk board coat.




The idea of having the chalkboard on the back of a door is a cool idea...there's something about this entry that seems uber dreary though...what is that door bell? How old is THAT? I don't know, this needs some help. But I do like the door idea...















I really liked this idea of doing it outside somewhere too - I don't know if I'd ever do it or not, but kids love to play on a chalk board so much, I think a grandma with a chalk board wall could be a very popular grandma. I'd like to be a popular grandma some day.

I'd like to be a cool and popular grandma. :)

Color!

olor!

I just found out Apartment Therapy is doing their new color contest later this week. Last year you could only enter one room - in past contests they've done the whole house. I'm debating trying to hurry up and get my bedroom finished so I can enter it. I've totally been putting that off - concentrating on school and generally feeling a sense of malaise about everything, including any and all motivation to paint or decorate a darn thing. The other option I might have is to enter the back yard - "outdoor room"...there is a lot of color out there and that might be an option. Thoughts?

I just need to some motivation to move forward even if it's not because of the color contest.

I thought I would do something a little different today.

Sometimes people ask me if the posts I do take a long time, or how I have time to wade through the internet and find photos. It doesn't take me long because I have this weird habit - when I get up in the morning I check my email, check facebook, check huffington post and then I'll look at a few design websites. There are like 3 or 4 that are my favorites. If I see something new I love I'll save it in a folder on my desktop. When the folders get pretty full or I'm in a specific sort of mood for a specific thing I just go looking for that folder with those colors, or art or whatever. Why am I saving all these photos? I honestly don't really know! (and with as fast as I type it really only takes me a few minutes to do a post once I decide on something...I wish the rest of my life were so organized and easy!)

Someone asked me recently why I wasn't becoming a designer instead of a counselor. I think being a counselor honestly appeals to me more than being a designer. But it's kind of like the design thing is more of a hobby, an avocation rather than a vocation I guess. I do like it when people ask for advice though or when I get a chance to help someone trying to decorate, I just don't know if I would want to do it as a profession. I think it's important to have outlets outside of more serious subjects. So that's really what it is for me - it's an outlet for an interest outside of everything else. And it's sort of frivolous, I know. But in it's own way I look at it as an addition to good mental health. I honestly don't think that you can feel really good if you don't like your surroundings.

So right now I'm thinking maybe I need to work at this backwards. I haven't been working towards my new decor desires because I don't feel like it really. But maybe I need to do it in order to feel better. That's what I always say I think, I'm sort of not following my own advice in this instance.

So today I give you my favorite photos currently in my folders for each of the major colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple, plus Pink.

I love how cozy and effortless this seems. It's such a bold red, but then all the furniture and natural light makes it just cheery without being overwhelming. I think I'm heavily influenced by the light in this room - I don't have enough natural light in my house I've decided.

Oh gosh...I LOVE this room. That modern corner fireplace with the orange wall and then the furniture is more classical french lines with the bold pillows? I couldn't love a room more than I love this one. Makes me want to paint something orange. Sometimes I am really tempted to replace the red in my house with orange.

This is more a mustard and leaning towards a type of green than yellow I know. But it's still yellow I feel. I just really dig this headboard. I've really been wanting to do one of these myself and I found a place online with pretty specific instructions for how to do it. I figure it would take a really long Saturday to get it done. I just need to really plant a Saturday to do it.
Even though I'm looking at doing a more grassy green in my new bedroom, I still really love bold lime, paired with all the white, it looks really great and cheerful.

I'm still pretty obsessed with finding the right blue. We're going to repaint one of the bedrooms and I really want to find something like this or something more like a peacock. But it's much more challenging than you would think! I have millions of blue paint chips and still don't feel like I've really found the right one.
This eggplant color is so brave. But I love the end result!

This just makes me happy to even look at it. I love that they went ahead and painting the floors bright pink! The polka dots on the wall look like something I would do in a moment of bad judgment, but somehow they work anyway.

Now I've just got to get motivated to do something around here.

I can't sleep...

can't sleep anymore. Pretty much...at all. I'm relatively certain I've seen studies that this causes a type of madness eventually. Don't even bother suggesting anything to cure me because I've probably tried it already. I'm now hoping it just goes away if I don't worry about it. Because I think worrying about it is just making it even worse.

So sometimes at 3:00 am when I am just tired of being tired and tired of trying to sleep, I randomly look at things on the internet which I am never going to purchase but which are pretty or cool or just a way to amuse myself for 15 minutes before trying to sleep again (you can only read in bed or watch tv or write so much...)

So here's what I found at 3:38 am this morning. First off I started thinking how it's weird that my eyesight is actually getting - well, I guess, worse - when I'm reading or looking at the laptop up close, I sometimes prefer to not wear my glasses at all. And then I started thinking about new glasses. And I found these:

which I adore...how cute are those?


and then I found these Chanel ones, which are a close second...but probably more expensive

and then I started thinking about how cute all of Kate Spades stuff is (the first glasses are Kate Spade) and I found these, which look like Christmas morning:


really great right?

And then I started thinking about jewelry, which led to images like these:


(that's a Tiffany cuff, silver ring, and Hermes watch)

Which got me started thinking about an Hermes bag...and if you could get a Birkin, but you could only get ONE ever, what color would you get?
And THAT'S how I finally fell asleep...

Thinking about what color of Birkin I would get...

What color would you get?




currently running close to $9,000 depending on what type of leather you have (small scale alligator is the most expensive)

Which is probably why I finally fell asleep...because then I was definitely thinking about something which was no longer logical at all...

Neither Black or White?

either black or white? Maybe gray?

Normally, I have not been a big fan of gray in decor. Not that many years ago a woman I know painted the walls of her house gray and I really hated it. I know some people are into it, but I really felt like it was...dreary. However, I do think lately I've seen some gray's that I like. The interesting thing about grays, if you look at them, they are neither white nor black but they usually have this tone that skews towards blues or lavenders. When you pair them with some bold pops of color, I especially think they can look good. I don't know if I would ever do it myself to be honest...I'm such a big fan of color, that I can't really imagine a scenario where gray would seem like the best option for me. But I do think if you're a little scared of color, it really does beat beige. Why does everyone resort to beige? It's so awful.



This is just a really great room - with so much good natural light. I love the pops of lime here, and I really like the white trim with the gray. See how you can mix all the different finishes? the darker wood table, the white and the wood floor? Some people are afraid to start mixing things like that. But in this case, it really all works.


Even though I would think an entire room full of that gray carpet with gray walls is WAY too much gray, that bold rug and chair make it okay somehow.


This is a gorgeous room, but let's be honest, those pink flowers are really the best thing. Gray with pink can be a great combination.


See like here - gray with pink! I also love that painting. I don't know if it's a painting or if they framed fabric or paper with those stripes, but I do think it's a great idea and so easy to copy.


Yeah, the painting is a little too reminiscent of the Partridge Family, I agree, but gray with yellow looks really good.


I kind of wish the couch were a different color - but the bright blue in the artwork, paired with the gray, is great.


Okay I can do without the mannequin torso, but I love the pink here.


I adore that bed and foot board cushion.
Love this!