On The Floor:

I know that I'm entirely too overzealous about getting a place to myself that isn't furnished, thus allowing me to really decorate for the first time. (Oh, and I'll finally have money to do said decorating!) Please bear with me though...

Let's talk rugs for a minute. I'm really hoping to get a place with hardwood floors no matter where I end up, thus requiring me to find some fabulous rugs. These are my favorites from Pottery Barn:


















Those last two didn't have perfectly assembled rooms to accompany them like the others, but they are cute nonetheless.

That purple one is absolutely divine and I think it would be perfect for my bedroom! I'm sure I could find places for one or two more of these lovelies as well... which ones remains to be seen however.

French Bench, Please:

I would love this eBay find to serve as my next project:


Can you imagine what a fresh coat of paint and some Amy Butler fabric could do for this?! Luckily I haven't finished my last eBay project, otherwise I'd be entirely too tempted to purchase this immediately...

Card Catalog Transformation (Phase One):

Like I promised, here is the story of my wondrous vintage library card catalog! Brace yourself...

So Sunday morning, Chris and I hopped in his SUV and trekked on up to Simpsonville, South Carolina... that is, after we ended up in Iva, South Carolina, which is lord-knows-where. The quote of the trip: we stopped at a Subway in the middle-of-nowhere-Iva so I could ask a local for directions back to the highway. I went in and pathetically said to the older gentleman in line, "I was wondering if you could help, I think I am lost..." He promptly and matter-of-fact-ly proclaimed, "You're not lost, honey, you're at Subway!" Oh lord.

Regardless of the ridiculous extent to which we got lost, I can home with this lovely piece of furniture:


This cabinet came from a Christian school's library in Simpsonville. It even had all of the cards still inside! Dewey-decimal system? Oh yeah...


So there was a metal rod going through the bottom of all of the cards, holding them in place. It was really easy to pull it out by the knob that came out the front of the drawer...


See the holes in the bottom of the cards...


There was also a backing inside, but it came out extremely easily. Here is all of the inner hardware taken out...


The knob screwed off of the metal rod and snapped back into the drawer...


And voilá! Ready to be filled with matches, Wallflower refills, Gocco inks, and polaroid film!



I know I said that I was going to refinish it, but frankly I just don't have the time or space right now. I will do it after I move this summer, or, if I find out that I'll be in another small apartment, I'll take it over to my friend V's garage and do it this summer right before I move... this is why the title of the post states "Phase One"... I promise that when I paint it and make it beautiful I will share the picture right here! For now, I am absolutely loving all the extra storage that these twelve drawers have given me! :)

Will You Take a Rain Check?:

So after a mysterious ailment that left me feeling closer to death than I'd ever care to feel again for two solid days, I'm still scrambling to get my life back in order. I have a French midterm tomorrow morning, a lot to catch up on at work after being out for two days due to the aforementioned sickness, and my final draft for my senior thesis is quickly creeping up (along with all of the other day to day things that need not be mentioned).

Basically I'm asking for a couple of days to catch up on life before I pick back up on blogging... In return, I have some awesome things lined up, including some awesome pictures of some new Gocco projects I've finished and that wonderful card catalog (which is now safely in my possession! Woot!).

So bear with me while I regain control... I'll be back soon! (Maybe even by the middle of the week.)

(Photo from here.)

Treehouse?:

Is it just me or does this homes multiple levels connected by simplistic stairs + all of the clean, mod decor remind you of what a treehouse would look like in the year 2054?



Although this space is entirely too mod for my taste (and there's that complete lack of child-friendliness to take into account), I think this is really awesome. I always wanted a treehouse...

(Found on the amazing Desire to Inspire...)

I am a Winner:

Great news! I won that old library card catalog auction on eBay just now! Wahoo!

So, without further adieu, here is my new card catalog cabinet!



I'll be traveling to South Carolina in the coming days to go and pick it up... with a big, buff bodyguard, of course. Then it'll be time to repaint it... Which is another issue in and of itself! I'm thinking about painting it the same blue that I did a small table that lives on my porch... but I'm also thinking that white would be nice... I guess we'll wait and see!

Ahhh, I'm so excited! :)

Fingers Crossed:

I'm currently bidding on an old card catalog on eBay! (If you start a bidding war with me over it, I'll cut you.)

I will have to completely strip it down and re-paint it... but it will be a fun project and it will be beautiful once it's done! Here are some inspiration pictures:

From here.

From here.

Seriously, I really hope that I win this auction... I would love to have one of these in my home!

Mmmm, Fabrics:

Amy Butler strikes again with a new line of amazing fabric designs. I posted about the August Fields collection that came out a few months ago, but another has been added: Daisy Chain! Surprise, surprise, they are soooo cute.




And my favorite series in the collection:


I really need to get on the pillow making... especially since Emerson got into one of my current ones this morning. (I can't decide if he's just an asshole or if he is trying to motivate me... hmm...) Maybe these will help to inspire me to break out the sewing machine again!

My Future Home Part Trois:

What the heck, why not hit up another room while I'm on a roll today? How about some more bedroom inspiration:

From here.
The bed definitely isn't something for a master bedroom, but everything else is great, especially the mirror and paint color!


From here.
I'm not crazy about the headboard, but overall this is a goodie.


From here.
A little beachy, but I like.


From here.
A higher bed and new lamp would do wonders for this cute room!


From here.
Not a fan of the headboard/bed-side tables, but the color palette in this room is phenomenal.


From here.
Make the headboard a little bit shorter, and replace that painting with lots of framed prints varying in size... perfection.


From here.
This before-and-after is awesome. The finished product is beautiful, although I'm not crazy about the choice in artwork (I'm so damn picky about artwork! Ugh!).

My Future Home Part Deux:

Another thing that I'm definitely loving as far as home design goes is the idea of open shelving in the kitchen.

Here's some more Domino inspiration:







And then...

...Holly from decor8 strikes again with a kitchen even more amazing than her entryway. Damn her and her eye for design... I envy it so.

My Future Home:

If the primary entry of my home were the garage, I'd love to have a mudroom... But if I'll primarily be stepping through the foyer/entryway to come and go, I definitely want a bench in this area. I'm awful about dropping everything when I walk in the door and I'd rather have some nice storage and hooks to do this than to continue to the kitchen or living room to deposit my purse, keys, etc.

Domino had some great images to help me to figure out what exactly I'm wanting:

This picture is so rustic and cozy looking... which would definitely be nice to come home to. I love that there is a place for shoes, bags, coats, etc., but this is a little too rustic for my taste.

On the other end of the spectrum, this is a little too stuffy for the look that I'm wanting to achieve... very beautiful though, especially those doors!

Even though this is a chair rather than a bench, I love every other element to this space. So nice.

This is by far my favorite entryway that I've seen in a long time... In fact, I love most everything about this beautiful home in Germany. It belongs to the really great writer of decor8, and I can't get enough of her second home's transformation! I would probably choose a different bench and rug, but everything else is spot on and the overall look is wonderful!

Design Inspiration:

So my Domino decorating book came in today! Wahoo! The biggest surprise: the book comes with a free year's subscription to Domino, the magazine! Yay! I'm so excited to see more awesome rooms to hopefully inspire me. It's a great deal for $25!

The book is not only filled with beautiful photos, it is a great how-to with a breakdown of types and terms of everything from drapes to the legs of couches.

One of the great ideas that I can't wait to try: Framing wallpaper as art. Since wallpaper is back in style nowadays, there are some really great prints out there that would be beautiful.

From here.

From here.

From here.

I have found that I am so picky about art, this could be a really great (and inexpensive) remedy to my pickiness! It's such a great way to stylishly fill a large space.

Soon to Adorn My Coffee Table:

Okay, I went a little out of control with some online shopping this past week... but lookie what will be in my mailbox in a few days:


Oh yes. I am super excited.

(This will be the first of the nice, over-sized, hardcover books that will be my coffee table art... I feel like I should find some less predictable things to adorn this space as well, solely because of The Format line: "Four books look across your sofa, I thought your coffee table was more clever than that.")

Bedroom Inspiration:

Being a college student, my apartment is relatively a hodge-podge of cute but cheap items with little regard to any actual cohesion. With a big move and a new stage in my life on the horizon, I would like to actually decorate with purpose in my new place.

That being said, the room at the top of my agenda: the bedroom. Great, now that I have that settled, what look am I going for? Honestly I have no idea. I'm in need of some inspiration, stat!

I headed on over to PointClickHome to simply pick out some bedrooms that struck me. From there, maybe I'll be able to figure out my personal style, and then how to achieve it? One can hope. Here are the images that jumped out at me:













This one is probably my favorite:


Some things I learned along the way:
-I like rather tall beds... nothing even close to the floor is for me.
-Reading lamps mounted to the wall by the bed are an immediate turn-off.
-Bulky furniture just isn't for me.
-Light fixtures are a quintessential part to any room.
-I'm all about neutrals with a hint of color... no extremes.
-Clutter makes me cringe.
-Minimalistic rooms lack that warm feeling to me.

Overall, I think that the key to a good bedroom is comfort... something that makes you want to roll around in bed all day long. Once that long-awaited real job and accompanying real paycheck come along, a really nice bed will be priority numero uno!