Project Update

With all the drama around me this past week I thought it was time to calm things down a bit and update you on my mudroom project. I was tempted to abandon this one after getting the not so great news last week but things were already underway so I say: what the heck, go for it! To refresh your memory I was 'jonesing' for something pretty, something springy after seeing this vignette and decided to apply it to my garage/entrance/mudroom/landing pad (see the orig post here).

I thought this set of prints from Art and Artifact (above) was very nice, small but with plenty of interest and texture. But let's get real folks...I AM unemployed so spending nearly $120.00 ($99.00 plus, plus, plus if you know what I mean) for a set of small framed art is just plain dumb! I know, I know: some might say spending ANYthing now is dumb but...but...okay there is no but. Maybe it's just less dumb!

Instead I found these vintage seed packets on Ebay - 16 bucks for 8 pieces (above)! Six of the eight I think will give me the look of the original when mounted in the cheapo frames from Michaels ($15.00 for 6 frames, below). Now the frames are black and I really love the vintage-y distressed white from the original so I think I'm going to pull out my trusty paint kit this afternoon and have at it.

I also love the fact that the frames in the original are what they call "gallery-style" - there is no solid backer to the glass so you can see through to the wall. The frames I bought are not like that BUT I have a plan and I'm pretty sure that I can make them look the same with a few supplies I have in the craft closet. I'll keep you posted on that. I am now waiting for the bench I custom ordered from a woodworker on Ebay. This was the item I had bought prior to finding out "the news." It's on it's way here and once I have it this project should all come together. Wish me luck!

New Beginnings

Life in design is in some ways an all encompassing pursuit. If you love the elements of design - color, proportion, scale, light, depth, texture - you have the great good fortune of enjoying it every minute your eyes are open! A silvery shimmering puddle, the beige-brown circle a cup of coffee leaves behind, the bright white highlights glinting off an old white pitcher - it all fills your senses and sparks something inside. Because of this it is a rare occasion that you are down for too long. I am having a bit of a rocky period now. Change is hard...even when we know we have gotten too comfortable (read: lazy) and we suspect our life is a bit too stagnant for our own good (read: safe) we still find it hard, sometime, to get out there, leave all our comforts behind and venture into the unknown. And then you are forced to. Luckily we always take along some of the greatest joys of our lives: family, friends and the exhilaration we feel experiencing the wonder all around us. I've moved my laptop to the dining room, savoring my second cup of coffee. I'm looking out the glass doors to the barren pots on my patio, dripping in this morning's light rain. It's tempting to feel a little melancholy, not knowing if I will be able to relish this place and this room - this view - much longer. I expect Annabelle to show up any moment. And I have to smile. I realize that whatever comes, there will be charm and beauty and lovely moments. Whether this is the time to chase that big dream, or bide our time living our average life for a while longer, this we know: there will be dreams and disappointments, choices and hard decisions, joys and sorrows. This is life.

Sunday

I am making constant revisions to my blog site. I don't know if that's okay...do you guys think a blog is supposed to be strictly of the moment? Well I apologize if I am going against blogger etiquette but I need to mull things over...plan things...organize things. I make people I know a little crazy. Right now - at this point in the development - I think I am going to consolidate all my online pages and portfolios here. Some time ago I started collecting my home project images on Facebook but that really doesn't work well. I had a few different incarnations of an online portfolio for my professional work but it seems wasteful to pay for a domain for that purpose only. I've also maintained a domain for Party-Accents.com in hopes of making that an online business but my new plan is to promote it locally. So - at least for now - here's to a work in progress.

Project Mudroom

There has been a bit of chaos in my life this week, most of it out of my control. This requires action, a counterattack, if you will: I need to dive into a home project! I have the list, of course, as I'm sure you all do. Or you maybe you have several lists: the manageable projects list; the large projects list; the projects to do when I win the lottery list; the projects to do in an afternoon list. And yet, though I've had quite a few idle afternoons this snowy winter, the lists have not gotten any shorter. Now I plan to remedy that with my downstairs hallway. This manageable project is a dreary forsaken space, a tiny 2 foot x 6 foot landing pad/mudroom off my garage.

There is no natural light and a few odd bumps. When I moved in I propped an old print on the ledge, never really intending to do much more than clean up the baseboards, patch the sheetrock and paint it a nice color. Now I have determined to recreate the image of "Cheery Colors" I've posted up there to the right. As I said I am captivated by the colors and textures of that little vignette and because it is out of character with the rest of my home, I think this will be the perfect space to do it. I am in the planning stages now and will let you know how it goes.

Spring Cleaning

We've had a short stint of consecutive warm, sunny days in New York this week and it has finally got me thinking of spring. That in combination with all the beautiful home/design blogs I've been reading with such gorgeous imagery, well, I've gotten the itch to redecorate. When I moved from my last {very large} apartment to my new {not so large} condo I was happy to pare down. I tend to nest too much anyway and, after living in the same place for 10 years, I had more furniture than I wanted, including many pieces bought each time to address a particular need (usually a way to store - and hide - yet more stuff). So I took advantage of my new home's smaller layout and additional storage (a whole garage with wall to wall shelving !) and put most of my stuff away. I have many pretty little things accumulated over years of travel and craft show shopping that all went into a large glass fronted storage cabinet. The larger pieces - footed Tuscan-style bowls, hammered metal trays, Navajo peace pipe, antelope skull (I kid you not) - were carefully bubble-wrapped and now live in one open storage bay. Framed photos and prints have their own carpeted bin. After living with bare walls for a few months I chose a few pieces that were just right for each room and set about nailing and hanging. I identified a couple of key locations and each season I create new vignettes for them, usually choosing from the pieces in my own private warehouse. But now, 3 years later, I am ready for something different. Damn you creative, inspiring, oh-too-productive types out there! I will keep you posted on my progress.

Creativity?

It's that time of year again when we, as a working group, are challenged to develop something "new". New? What do you think that means? Creating is something we (in the group) all do but are we really in the business of new? I think our creations are about many other things: beauty, charm, wit, expression, feelings, passion, anger, frustration, action, thought. All very personal things, for that's really the core of creativity. Now, I realize that by choosing to use our skills to produce saleable merchandise for the mass market we are admitting that our personal expression will need to morph a bit (okay, a lot) into something more universal. I can live with that. But still, after doing this these many years, I resent the absence of creativity in the decision making process. So again, this year I will listen to business majors and bean counters who think their development homes are the very embodiment of beauty. I will bear with their critiques. I will heed their proclamations. And finally I will abide by their decision making. But I do not think I will embrace their aesthetic. I will continue to try to create things with some intrinsic beauty, to consider my customer's collective soul and believe that we can influence the visual world - just a little bit - for the better.