J'Adore!

It was so humid this morning that when I was taking Isabel out for a walk, I could see my own breath. You read that right. It was about 60 degrees outside, and the air was so WET that I could see my own breath. Disgusting.

In an effort to forget the weather and the ickies that result, here are some pictures of things that I absolutely adore. Some of these are projects that I’m currently copying or plan on copying in the near (or semi-distant) future.

I love plates. And I love them on walls, though I didn’t know this until I began trolling the internetssss about a month ago. These colored plates are great, arranged all together and all complimentary in their greens and pinks. I love how this person (unknown to me since I didn’t mark where I found the pic – oopsie) managed to put pink and green plates on a blue wall without looking like an idiot. And I love those candlesticks. Love them!


This picture, from County Living, was one of the first pictures I saved onto my jump drive. The chaisse lounge is beautiful, and I love the pink plates of different designs on the wall.


This platter mirror from Martha Stewart Living is a project that I want to tackle if I can find a platter that I like in my yard sale/thrift store travels. The mirror just needs to be cut by someone with a glass cutter, and they’ve also added pillow piping to the edges of it to give it more texture. The mirror only appears to be hanging from the ribbon. They’ve secured it with a plate hanger and added the ribbon afterward. Cuteness!!


Another project that I can’t wait to finish is a shelf that I acquired from a thrift store for $3. I’ve painted it, distressed it a bit, and now am just waiting for hubby to hang it tomorrow. This picture from Better Homes & Gardens reminded me of it, so I saved it for inspiration.


Someday, when we have our own home, I'd love to cover a wall in a wallpaper like this one. It's beautiful, but a teensy bit too crazy for a whole room. Blue + Damask = Instant Love Affair in my world. This photo is also from BHG.


This photo, from DIY Ideas, draws me in every time I look at it. I'd love to find a gorgeous, ornate frame like this. Paint it a pretty color. Add a map of Block Island, where Scott proposed. It would be so very Rhode Island, and perfect for our home. I'm keeping an eye out for one!


I'd love to cover an entire wall in literature. This is also from DIY Ideas, and it's one of the more creative wall coverings I've seen. They used dictionary pages, but I'd love to do it with pages from a "Complete Works of Shakespeare" edition. I just don't know if I could bear to cut one up. It's too Fahrenheit 451 for my liking.


I'm impressed with myself that I wrote down the photo credit for this one. It's from Rate My Space, and the user was Momma2Be. How adorable is this nursery? I love its simplicity and the use of moulding to divide the wall. That vinyl design is perfect, and I love the colors she chose. And check out that gorgeous little chandy!!


After my headboard post, I found the perfect one for us on Martha Stewart Living. Inexpensive and adorable. I'm going to attempt to make my own quilt. It'll be simple, and it'll be my first. And it'll likely be a year in the making. But it's in the works! Scott and I also want to add a moulding shelf above it for frames and vases, etc. It's going to be awesome.


It's a bit too late in the season to start this next project, but it's a definite possibility for next year. Martha rocks my socks again with this invisible trellis idea. They made it with eyehooks screwed into the wall and med gauge wire. I'm thinking morning glories or some other kind of climbing, flowering plant. So pretty!


This nautical themed ribbon garland is easy and looks like it would be great for outdoor parties. You could also use different colors for different seasons! And yep - Martha again. No real surprise there.


A romantic, easy way to display flowers and vases simultaneously. Martha comes through in a pinch.


I'm doing a version of this last project very soon. As soon as I can get my hands on some sand. Which should be easy, since we're going to Portsmouth for dinner tonight. Maybe I can snag a tupperware container of it before we head back inland on the way home.



That's it for now! Have a happy Tuesday!

Dream Homes - Complete With Literary Fantasies

Sometimes I see a picture of a place and it makes me think of what kind of book I would want to read if I was there at that exact moment. When I see pictures of England, I think to myself, "If I ever go there I'm bringing nothing but Shakespeare in my bag." And when I see Rome, I think Dante Aligheri. Greece? Easy. So many Greek comedies and tragedies to choose from.

I was looking at these amazing houses on BHG.com today and as I was daydreaming about each one of them, I found myself also thinking about which literary masterpieces I'd read on those porches. All photos are from Better Homes & Gardens.


Ooooooooooh. Man. This house makes me want to fill it with children. Like five of them. Just paint it white and add green shingles, and it'd be straight out of Lucy Maud Montgomery's fantasically creative mind and Prince Edward Island. Anne of Green Gables had to have been born out of an inspirational home like this one. That's what I'd do if I owned a home like this. Read Anne stories on the porch all day, sip iced green tea, and bask in the beauty of my surroundings.


This Queen Anne Victorian home is quaint and homey. I just know that as you walk up those steps, the aroma of freshly baked apple pie drifts through the doors and windows. Here, I'd read something by James Joyce. Ulysses or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.


Another Victorian home, but this one is all-American to me. This is the American Dream in house form. I'd hang a gi-normous American flag next to the front door and be sure to add a hammock to that porch. I'd be up with the sun every morning with a cup of hot tea or coffee, a scone, and some homemade strawberry preserves. This one makes me want to pick up Homer's Odyssey again, or Dante's Divine Comedy - the Inferno (it's the best part, okay?) Even Sophocles's Oedipus or Antigone.


Oh! Can barely handle it. This refurbished 1870's Victorian home takes my breath away. I expect to see Dickens and Bronte characters fanning themselves on this porch. I'd read Vanity Fair by William Thackeray, Daniel Deronda by George Eliot, or Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.


This home has TWO porches! Check out the darling little porch/balcony off of the second floor. In my fantasies, it adjoins the master bedroom, where I could slip into a lush spa-like bathrobe and relax before bedtime. I'd plant aromatic herbs in pretty pots - lavender, sage, basil... and run my hands over them to release the scent as I soaked in Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver or Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

For now, it's Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, read while lounging around a two-story Rhode Island townhouse style apartment. It isn't Victorian, but it's home. =)

Heads up for Headboards

Ahhh the headboard. We badly need one in our master bedroom. Our bed looks so sad and lonely, no matter how many silly pillows (Scott's words) I add to it. Solutions? I could make my own headboard. I'm confident, at this point, that I could upholster one all on my lonesome. The only problem is that I don't feel like paying for the headboard frame itself. Or the material to cover it. Etcetera.

Alternate solution? Troll Better Homes & Gardens for headboard ideas that don't involve having an actual headboard. All of the images coming up are BH&G. Because they're that amazing. For reals. If you register to their website, there are TONS of pictures and inspiration. Like, I just went over there to get the link and spent about ten minutes drooling before I remembered I was writing a post. Impressive.

One of my favorite ideas comes from one of my favorite bedrooms on the site. I love blue and brown mixed together. (Especially blue material with a brown toile print - *sigh*) I'm also obsessed with this non-headboard idea. If I find any old windows hanging around, it's all over.


I love each and every one of those prints in the separate window panes. I think we need a closer looksie.


Notice how they also continued the prints on the throw pillows. It all looks so fresh and so dreamy. I love the brown accent ribbon that's been added to the pillows. And those brown paisley shams are clearly from a totally random set. I like that it all matches, yet it's mismatched at the same time.

My other favorite are these shelves mounted to the wall behind the bed. For a book lover such as myself, my mind starts spinning with ideas for what I could put on something like this.


My collection of old books (love!), framed literary quotes, bud vases brimming with hydrangea, wedding snapshots of Scott and myself... also good for holding our cell phones, alarm clocks, and stray hairties and bobby pins that I inevitably forget to take out before bedtime. This one's a definite contender for the headboard job. I also love the old columns which were pulled out of a salvage yard, adding a touch of outdoor architecture within the room. Scott's response when he saw it? "Columns are for holding things up. Outside." Ugh.

Continuing with my love of blue and brown, check out this beauty. I just know that half of the reason I'm in love with this room is the sheets (squeal!) and the hydrangea on the side table (swoon!).


This bench cushion hangs from a simple moulding with hooks added. I love the seemingly random placement of the frames above it.

These awesome hankies make for an interesting backdrop as well. They're stretched over square artist's canvases. And check out those side tables. Drums! Amazing. And so unique. Never would have done it, but I love it now that I see it in action.


Another one using an artist's canvas. They placed it with the long side vertically, but I would probably turn it horizontal. I'm also digging those wall sconces, but wouldn't know how that works when it comes to wiring. Any electricians out there?


This one is nice for purely sentimental reasons. I can't imagine finding picture frames cheap enough for me to bother doing this, but I suppose it could happen. They'd need to be literally less than $2 each. And the people in the pictures could only be me and Scott. Otherwise I'd feel like they were, you know... watching.


I love the old door above the bed trick. Vintage door = instant awesome headboard. All I have to do is find one. I'll let you know if it ever happens. Love the pillows, too!


And this last one is a not-a-headboard-at-all-not-even-a-fake-one... But I love it over in the corner of the room, there! I believe that it might be two old doors covered in material, but the blurb with the picture online only discussed the headboard itself, if I remember correctly. Love it anyway!



That's all for now. Just food for thought at this point. I have several projects that are impending.

*Master bedroom side table gets new lamp
*Dog walking station gets black coat of paint and possible decoupage-y goodness
*Sweet heart-shaped table loses its nasty flowered design and gets a new home in the stairwell with a sassy black coat of paint
*Blank wall gets frisky with newly painted mirror and frames
*Master bathroom gets a window curtain and ribbons for our toiletry basket
*Kitchen window gets curtains - finally (possible sequel - kitchen cabinets get knobs)
*Kitchen wall gets shelves and awesome new plates/teacups get new home
*Brass lamp in living room gets a coat of paint (any paint) so that it'll stop staring at me accusingly

Stay tuned!

Paint It Black!

Layla from The Lettered Cottage has given me inspiration to add literary quotes to my walls. She and her husband created this photo collection on the wall of their guest bedroom, and I immediately thought of framing literary quotes that I love in a similar fashion. This is a great way for me to put all of my unused frames to use.





Isn't it gorgeous?!?!? Amazing idea, guys. And thanks for the inspiration!

We were at WalMart the other night and I found some fabulous frames on clearance, but I was physically restrained with the argument that I’m not even using the ones that I have. Valid point. Husband – 1, Moi – 0. Poo.

He’s going to be sorry that he goaded me. ^_^ Also, I’ve been holding back on what I put on my walls because nothing matched. I have light wood, mahogany, black.... But you ladies have given me the confidence to paint those suckers and get them up there! A lot of our stuff from our wedding registry was black, so I’ll paint them to all match.

On a similar note, my thrift store mirror is going to join the party in sexy, glossy black! Here she is again in all of her inexpensive glory.



I’d be doing it all tonight, but hubby doesn’t work at the fam’s hardware store until Friday this week, and if I make my paint purchases at another store there’s a good chance that I’ll get 50 lashings with a garden weasel. My project will have to wait, but I’ll at least be getting the painter’s tape and newspaper in place in preparation. This will be my first spray paint experience, and I have a feeling that “once we go black....” you know how the saying goes. ;)

Future Hallway Art??

I think that I may have found my new artwork for the entryway/hallway of our apartment. It's a wide-open space, and there's tons of wall to decorate without it looking like I drew a golf-ball-sized smiley face in the middle of a wall the size of a swimming pool.

Turns out, you can buy single sheets of decorative paper. Check out these samples from PaperSource:











I also love these next three. Maybe all three of them next to each other in separate frames? They're quite similar and I love the color scheme...







I'm also thinking of cutting up some Dover Thrift Editions of classic literature and framing them in one giant frame together. They're usually about $1-$4 per book, and the cover art on some of them are interesting patterns. Like these:











Either way, I need more color on these beige apartment walls. No painting allowed. If it stays like this much longer, I'm going to feel like this:

Decorating Ideas from DIY

Here are some awesome projects I’ve found on DIY Ideas. I wanted to share.

We need more artwork in our place, but we also have a ton of wall space that is empty as of now. Sticking even a large picture frame into the middle of it would look ridiculous, so I’m thinking of doing a combination of these:



I wouldn’t necessarily do several of the same print, but who knows? And I wouldn’t use this method of papering the walls themselves and adding a trim border.


It would be more like this. I prefer this method of papering a blank artist’s canvas. Now I just need to find a place where I can buy wallpaper scraps or buy it by the foot... Anyone know of a website or store that does this?

Another project that I have in mind that will likely happen much sooner is to embellish the vases that I bought at the thrift store with some old beaded necklaces or just wire with various beads that I can buy loosely.


I also want to do this with some candles. Gorgeous, right?

My last project is one that I worked on this weekend.


I don't have all plain terra cotta pots, though, so I've had to improvise and paint with the decorations that are already there. Pictures to come, once they're done and once I figure out the card reader for the camera. Also, I'm not mounting them to a fence, even though there is a lovely divider wall that separates our apartment from the one to the right of ours. But I'm pretty sure the wood is just plywood and isn't nearly thick enough. But I love the idea of the painted pots. So far they're pretty cute.

I will also be doing my own version of this.


I won't be using the powdered drink containers since our medicine cabinets have tiny shelves. But I'm planning on using the same idea with some small cans from my pantry. I can't wait!