Major Room Make-Over - Sophisticated Chic

I am very PROUD to finally reveal the photos of the room remodel project for Jordan's room which received the finishing touch of a chandelier today.

Remember this project?  Yeah I know, it was a while ago that I started this!

Here are some before photos:

Too bad I didn't really capture how kind of awful the room was before.  Emerald green carpet, yellow and lavender walls, and a general feeling of sadness.  The bed was a massive bunk bed which almost reached the ceiling and became quite cumbersome to climb in and out of - it was meant to leave enough room for a desk underneath, but in effect, it just made the room seem unwieldy and uncomfortable in general.  Nothing really matched and the IKEA dresser we had broke beyond repair.

We started out by putting a million paint chips up on the wall to find the perfect pink.  It was hard!  It took weeks just to get through this part.  It needed to be the perfect pale pink - not so light that you wouldn't realize it was pink, but not dark at all.  Subtle as possible while still being obviously pink and no harsh tones or bubblegummy.  Sophistication was the word and the thing we were looking for.

Once we got everything out of the room we started ripping up the carpet.  Originally I was going to have people come lay new carpet.  But I was getting impatient with certain budgetary constraints of this project and opted to start ripping into it with the help of my kids.  We cut if out with a kitchen knife thank you very much.  

(this carpet survived baby and toddlerhood and preschool and elementary school and all 3 kids lived in this room at one point - you can imagine how bad it had gotten - oh and every time our old dog was sick he went in this room to throw up on this carpet!)

Once we got the carpet and the pad up and thrown into the trash (not that easy of a feat in case you were wondering) we found the old stick on tiles that were underneath.  I said let's chisel those up and get to the old brown concrete floors underneath.  I knew they were there because when we got the loan for the house FHA made us carpet.  Some tiles came off easily.  Other had to be chipped one tedious spot at a time.  

If you're going to scrimp somewhere - don't scrimp on the paint!  I love Dunn Edwards.  

Can you imagine how fun this project was to clean up all those little pieces of tile?  Holy cats.

So for month we toiled away at this project.  My fantastic friend Shannon found us the dresser and the vanity for free!  I repainted them in a "shabby" style with a slightly off white paint.  She also found us the chandelier and night stand.  Jordan's dad bought her a new bed at his place and let her move this bed to our house.  I shopped at Ikea for bedding and curtains and made the curtains that are on the closet door.  We made our own artwork by printing black and white photos that represented places - one for Paris, London, Hollywood, New York and Rome.  These "collage" things have kind of become a signature project for me.  I love making them.  We did the same thing on the back of her door but with black and white photo copies of pictures of Jordan from the time she was a baby up to and including a few recent photos.  In the end I think it turned out fantastic!  

The end result is a sophisticated shabby pink room for teenage girl.  We're very happy!  

Enjoy the afters:

Ikea Bedding, Artwork by me

free vanity, already had the shabby chair, free mirror (Jordan eventually went over to Shannon's one day to do work off some of our "free")

We just think these are darling even though there's rarely a chance to wear them.  

I love how the light filters through these gray sheers in the late afternoon (Ikea sheers)

There are two of these mirrors - one above the vanity, and one to check your make up before you walk out the door

Place for her change and a bobby pin holder she made in pottery class.  The lamp is vintage with a new shade - my son bought us the lamp at a rummage sale for couple of bucks. 

My oldest son used these in a mural project outside.  Jordan co-opted the cut-outs for her wall. 

This cupboard of dolls is vintage as well. It was not only mine when I was a little girl but it was also my aunts when she was a little girl.  Most of the dolls are story book dolls.  

I couldn't resist a photo of her cute post-it notes...she's the best.

I made a curtain for the closet door from material purchased at Michael Levine when I was in LA - it was on sale in bulk so this whole curtain probably cost about a buck. 

part of the back of her door

We just decoupaged the heck out of that thing.  Jordan did most of the door by herself.  It was her idea after I did the other art work.  And best part - it was FREE!  :)

Fairly inexpensive Ikea rugs I laid on top of the cement floors.  I bought three of them to cover most of the room where you walk.  

It's kinda great yes?

Black Magic

Black does lots of magical things.  It can make you look thinner.  Make a business man look more business.  Make a formal event more formal.  And it can certainly make your room look more designed.

Consider black - even just on one wall, or part of a space, the result can be excellent.  I'm seriously considering this for a remodel project I have in mind for one of my rooms.

Aren't they inspiring?

Personality Tests - What's the Point?

As part of my grad school program we have to spend a quite a lot of time analyzing ourselves.  Which led to us having to take part in multiple measurements of personality and assessment.  Some are highly regarded personality inventories like the Myers Briggs.  Others are less well known, and in some cases less efficacious methods to assess various aspects of personality.

If you have never taken one before, I recommend starting with the Myers-Briggs.

Over the course of my life I have had occasion to be around people who saw no value in an assessment a personality test could provide.  There are certain types of personalities who actually hate taking a personality test (which you should know makes shrinky types like myself a little suspicious).  So why are they useful?  I mean, don't we pretty much already know ourselves?  Isn't it kind of like reading a horoscope and then just agreeing with all the things you want to see in yourself?  No.  Not really.

The point of a personality assessment is to figure out where your strengths and weaknesses are.  They can be helpful when interacting with others, and they can be helpful to get to know yourself better.  They are one way to help determine career paths that would be a good fit and career paths which might not.  Obviously people are complex.  A personality test is not an end all be all that would describe a person.  There are many variables that make us who we are and a personality test is just a tiny measure of some specific aspects of how we interact with and experience the world.

The Myers Briggs is based on the archetypes developed by Jung.  Sometimes the Myers Briggs is dumbed down into some of the "color" theories of personality.  Those are a broad way to look at a much more complex topic.  The color theories usually present 4 main "world views" - typically blue, gold, green or orange.  Sometimes those measures are easy to see in people.  You can kind of get a vibe of where people might fit in those categories fairly easily.  But the Myers Briggs actually breaks that down into 16 specific types.

Here's a pretty good online version of the test (the real test is longer, but this is still a pretty good device):  Myers-Briggs short test

I've known my type (INFP) for a long time.  It's probably a big part of why I've always wanted to go into counseling.

This is also a pretty interesting test:  LifestyleQ's

This breaks people down according to theories developed by Alfred Adler (possibly the 3rd most influential person in the field of psychology behind Freud and Jung).

I feel like this is the most boring blog post ever!  But what would really be interesting is if people I knew commented with their Myers-Briggs determination.

But maybe that's only fun for people who dig psychology.  ;)

Trend - Marquee Signs, Bulb Letters & Electric Vintage

I could kick myself.  The other day I was in the drive thru at the Starbucks near my house.  That parking lot is always a complete mad house.  There is all this one way traffic and everyone is more angry than new york drivers during rush hour, heaven help you if you didn't realize there is only one right way to drive through that parking lot and/or park or go through the drive-thru.  It's madness.  THAT's how badly I wanted a Caramel Apple Spice.  But anyway - to my point - I could have kicked myself (should have!) because when I rounded the corner where this little antique/vintage/resell shop is near there I saw marquee letters leaning up against the outdoor display.  BIG RED marquee letters which used to have working bulbs inside.

But I just figured there was no way for me to get from my car to them - what with all the totalitarian driving rules of the Starbucks clientele and parking lot.  But geez, I sure wish I had tried harder.  I bet they were a good deal too.  Just leaning against the building like the seller really wasn't sure what to do with old junky broken letters.

Dang.

It's a big trend right now and I love the look of these things.  If you find some for cheap just buy them, because usually they are really pretty expensive.  I've seen them for $200 a letter and UP.  Way Up.

Here's some cool decor that uses this trend: