{inspired} craft room/office mood board

As I mentioned the other day, I've been really struggling figuring out what I want our craft room/office to look like now that it's all purdy. 

The room has a number of things it needs to accomplish:

• Sewing space
• Craft space
• Storage
• Creative fabric storage
• Chris' closet :)

And it needs to accomplish all this in a tiny space: 9 ft. x 12 ft. to be exact. This little space definitely has its work cut out for it. Last night Chris and I took a close look at the room and how we use each space in the room and we determined that we don't need the desk that currently resides in the room. We NEVER sit at it, and it just takes up space. That, pared with the beautiful inspiration offices I posted Monday, helped me organize my thoughts and ideas and come up with a mood board.

Details:

1. Sewing table (already own, not as pictured)
2. File cabinet (already own, not as pictured)
3. Turquoise office chair (already own, not as pictured)
4. Rug
5. Armoire (already own, not as pictured)
6. Shelves
7. Painted chandelier (salvaged, not as shown)
8. Fabric. Honestly, the floral fabric is lovely, but its brightness scares the heck out of me. That's why it's on here:). It'll be used for either curtains or pelmet boxes. The striped fabric will back a bulletin board.
9. Woven shades (already own, not as pictured)
10. Offices boxes and storage. For all the *office* supplies that are losing a home when the desk moves out.
11. Orange desk lamp (already own, not as pictured).

As you can see, I'm working to use and/or repurpose a lot of items we already have. I like that it mixes geometrical prints with some fun pops of color. This is a craft room after all! You might notice the lack of *art*. I have a fun idea for fabric *storage* that will turn it into the room's art.

Now that I actually have a plan, I'm so excited to get started on this room!

{inspire} pinterest

Did you all have a good weekend? I had a super relaxing weekend with my family at the beach. Do any of you follow March Madness? This is the first year since middle school that I haven't filled out a bracket. At first I was kicking myself, but there was so much amazing basketball this weekend and it turns out that it didn't matter. In fact, it was almost better because then I wasn't forced to root for the team I'd chosen ... I could root for the rock star underdogs! :)

 French By Design

We didn't get to work on the house at all this weekend, but I did start a fun spring craft project that I'm hoping to finish up quickly and share with you! Today though, I thought I'd show you a peek into my Pinterest account. Are you all on Pinterest? I've been a member for quite awhile now, but it's only been the past couple months that I really started playing and fell in love with all the goodness on the site and it's organizational capabilities. 

 Design Sponge

The mood board I put together for the back entry? As I was finding images I loved, I saved them on Pinterest. Then, when I found something new I could look at the *Mud Room Ideas* folder and tell at a glance if that product would work with my over feel or not. 

Making It Lovely

And of course, there's a plethora of inspiration going on here. In fact, I think it would be all too easy to get sucked in for hours on end. I mean really. How awesome is this mobile (above) and this cake (below)!?

Eat Cake Be Merry

Last week I started a folder for my *To Makes* and I feel like it will fill up all too quick! :)

{brooke} april two eighty

I am dying to make a quilt like this!

 Anne M. Cramer

All the photos in the post are images or products that I love and have recently inspired me. You can follow me at http://pinterest.com/jennmccormick.

Are you on Pinterest? Let me know your user name in the comments ... I would love to see what's been inspiring you lately! Or wanna talk basketball? How about Butler? OR VCU? OMG!

{inspire} House Improvements

I'm back with the final installment of my month-long taking control of my *style* series. In case you've missed the previous installments, I read a book that really inspired me, I took a look through my inspiration files, and I defined a house color palette. Today, we're taking a look at what improvements I can make transform my house into a house consistent with my style, that I love.

Living room now: For the most part I love this room. The blue is soothing and light, the sprinkling of yellow makes me incredibly happy and the art wall is full of great memories.

Changes: At some point I would like new chairs: smaller scale, a little more modern. Also colorful lamps are in order and an art wall expansion. To really make an impact.

Kitchen now: Booooorrrrr - innnnnnggggggg.

Changes: Besides the obvious new floor, new counters, new sink and a back splash, this room needs color and accessories. Some sort of curtain/shade above the sink that will create a focal point, and fun art on the (minimal) walls. I'm also not so sure anymore about the color. I'm sort of over the yellow. But we'll see.

Kitchen nook now: I really like where this room is at (you know, aside from the floor). I love the furniture, the cafe curtains and the accessories (cake plate display, not pictured).

Changes: Add some fun, quirky art to the right wall, and (if I decide to paint the kitchen) paint.

Bedroom now: This is the room I am happiest with. The other rooms (above) I rushed to get painted and decorated when I moved in, and didn't take the time to live in them first. And of course, now I'm unhappy with the kitchen color. But this room I lived in for awhile, took the time to figure out what I loved and then pulled it all together.

Changes: The one tiny improvement I'd like to make is installing curtains. I just have yet to find curtains/fabric that I love for this space.

There are a few rooms I'm not mentioning here. Namely, the bathroom, craft room and extra bedroom. These are the rooms I've never touched and need such a huge overhaul that *improvements* wouldn't begin to cover it :). I get excited, though, when I think about how this exercise will help when I do get to these rooms.

I'll be back on Friday with a fun DIY project that will help anyone: owners or renters, alike. But other than that, this post wraps up my month of organizing my life and taking control of my style. Thank you for following along! This has been an insanely productive month for me, and I hope what I've done has inspired some of you to get organized and take a good look at what you love.

Resources:
The Marion House Book, Home work series
Holley Gill, Commitment issues
Zen Habits, Love your stuff
Creature Comforts, Thoughts on a New Year

{inspired} Etcetera Etc.

I started off the year with a bold statement. This month (January), I'm taking a journey to get my life and style back in order (read here). So far we're off to a good start here at A Home in the Making. My life feels better when I'm organized, which led to cleaning and organizing the basement, better kitchen labeling and cleaning and organizing the kitchen. Phew!

So now I'm thinking about how to take control of *my style*. Sibella Court's book, Etcetera: Creating Beautiful Interiors with the Things You Love, prompted a lot of this thinking. I devoured the book in the couple days after Christmas.

Have you guys seen and/or read this book? It's the only design book I've picked up that struck a chord of complete authenticity. In most design books I *ooh* and *ahh* over the  pretty pictures,  and while that's fun, I don't look to them for realistic examples of decorating. But this book not only aligned with my personal style outlook, but also had me underlining, circling sections and thoughts, and taking notes about how I can apply this to our home. I know it's a book I will reference for a long time.

The book is organized by color pallettes: Foundations, Indigo Blues, Travellers and Magicians, Paper Whites and Tradewinds. Within each section Sibella offers suggestions about how to use these colors, tips for simply and easy decorating with, .... the best part, in my opinion, ... things you love.

This paragraph, from the books introduction, sums up decorating, for me, in a way that nothing else has:

"Think of all the stuff you own that has emotional or historical significance or comes with a memory or tale of where, when and who. It's just a matter of finding ways to incorporate these things into your surroundings as three-dimensional reminders of your life for you and other to experience. This means you'll end up with a home that's distinctly and beautifully yours and not just a replica of homewares catalogues or generic furniture stores."

Genius.

 

 The book is filled with gorgeous examples of Sibella's own styling work.

Beautiful rooms.

Gorgeous still lifes.

And interesting thoughts on highlighting collections.

This is a book I cannot recommend enough. And, I'm excited to start implementing some of the principles into our home.  

So, my question for you all on this lovely friday is: what's something (book or not) that has really inspired you lately? Let us know, and include a link if you have one!

And, thanks friends for stopping by this week and for all the lovely comments about this organization project! I love hearing all your thoughts and comments ... you guys are the BEST! :)

{inspire} Organized Around the Web

This week has been a long week of crazy (and admitedly pretty funny) mishaps. I've dropped nearly everything I've touched. I nearly ruined my cell headset with water. And to top off the week, I took a bunch of pictures last night for today's post, only to realize that I have no way to get the pictures off my new camera. Minor. Details. So the fun organizing DIY project I was planning to share with you today will actually debut on Monday. Instead, I'm rounding up a few of the DIY projects I've spotted around the web this week that are particularly impressive and inspirational. I love seeing how other people organize. You all have SUCH GREAT IDEAS!

Jewerly Organizer

Jane at the Borrowed Abode has been redoing her studio featured a fantastic jewelry organizer!  Hop on over for the other awesome studio DIYs she's featured this week.

Baskets!

I Heart Organizing showcased all the great storage containers she uses, and how to best use them. This post is should be bookmarked by all.

Organized {Gorgeous} Pantry

Honey We're Home has featured organizational guest bloggers all week. By far my favorite though, is House of Smiths pantry makeover. Gorgeous!  LOVE the wall vinyl.

Paper Maiche Tray

Trays are a great and stylish catch-all. I, for one, do not have enough in our house. I will be making this Paper Mache Tray that Jenny at Little Green Notebook featured this week. Beautiful.

Organized Linen Closet

Jennifer at Peas and Crayons went after her linen closet this week ... and the after is so clean and inspiring!

Organized CDs

This post isn't new, but Nicole featured it in her 2010 round-up and I was reminded what a practical storage solution she came up with for CDs.

What organizational projects are you tackling this weekend? Or, have any projects caught your eye this week? Please share!

And, have a great weekend friends!

{inspire} Organizing a New Year

As I mentioned last week, I'm pretty darn excited about the possibilities of this new year. More so than I have for the past few years. The past couple years have started with a very overwhelmed feeling about how much we have to do. But this year? I feel like we're going to rock life and the proverbial to-do list. And January really feels like a month to regroup. Especially for me this year. The holidays were crazy. Okay, who am I kidding? Our life has been running at a frenetic crazy pace since we got married. Two year ago. But I'm ready to get back on track in 2011.

Something I've been thinking about a lot for the last couple months is the idea of living with what I love. For a long time, when I was first on my own and had very little furniture, I was in the habit of buying to fill space, instead of buying what I love. I've gradually started shifting my outlook, but a switch flipped last year and I was just done buying to fill space.

So this month I'm going to take a journey into getting my life and style back in order. Want to join me? 

First, we're going to start clearing out and organizing. Do you all remember the episode of Friends where Chandler discovers Monica's secret closet?

I'm going to show you my secret closet, er, uh, spaces. I'm going to clean out my crap. Yeah, I know ... who isn't cleaning right now? But really, friends, it's been at least a couple years since I've taken a good hard look at what we use and what needs to go. It's been never since I've take a look at what I really love.

Next, I'm going to take a look at committing to a design vision based on what I love. Of course, that begins with actually identifying what I love. For the last few months I've worked on identifying WHAT I love about a beautiful interior, rather than just exclaiming love at first sight. I'll take a hard look at interiors I love and what elements I'd like to incorporate in our home. This will help me form said vision.

And last, I'm going to take the next step in creating a clear vision for our home by creating a color scheme. Our house is open enough that we need some sort of cohesive color scheme to really allow the rooms to flow and not feel disjointed. We've started this process, but I find myself off track a lot when thinking about upcoming spaces.

I'm excited to get started. We have a lot of big plans for our little home over the next couple years and I know that creating a vision now will help the process go smoother, and hopefully leave me happy and excited about our house in the end.

What are you organizing this year? Do you have a *secret* closet to stash all your disorganization? Please share so I don't feel like the only one! :)

**Images via Made By Girl, Apartment Therapy, Little Green Notebook, Wiki, Oh Hello Friend, Apartment Therapy, Sweet Paul**

{inspired} wish list

Are you all happy it's Friday? I know I am! This weekend will be full of holiday decorating, crafting and cookie baking. I love this time of year.

I was putting together a Christmas list for both Chris and I the other day (yes, my mom still demands lists from us and my brother ... it's really cute) and thought that I'd share with you a few things that are really high on my wish list. Some of these are just that ... wishes! But if Santa really wanted to bring them ... I'd be a happy girl. :) 

1.  Cascading Wall Art  2. Lake Forest Painting  3. Sea Anemone Stacking Rings  4. Frazier Mobile  5. Ballet Flats  6. DSLR  7. Chevron Business Cards  8. Etc.  9. Cupcake Stand
 
This isn't a gift guide -- because as I already mentioned, I am so not a source for what's cool this year -- it's just a glimpse into things I would love to bring into my home/life. 

So friends, what's on your Christmas list this year? I hope you all have a great weekend!

{inspire} crafty wonderland

Happy Monday friends! Did you all have a good weekend? My super long weekend was so relaxing and fantastic!

I've been noticing all the gift guides around blog-land this morning! I love reading gift guides. I always end up with ideas for gifts and ideas for myself :). I'm not going to put together a gift guide, mostly because I don't presume to have any idea what's cool for the holidays. But, I might share MY wish list, just for fun. Today, though, I wanted share something very dear to thus Portlanders heart: Crafty Wonderland.

Do you have craft fairs where you live? I LOVE craft fairs, and Portland has so many during the holiday season. Of them all though, Crafty Wonderland is my favorite. They feature the best of the best in handmade gifts and each year I spend hours exploring and meeting artists at the show. This year is even more amazing in Crafty-land because they opened a pop-up shop for the holidays in downtown Portland. Last week I popped over to check it out, and it was completely outstanding. The merchandise displays alone are worth the trip, if you're in the area. 

But I know a lot of you are NOT in the area. So I thought I'd share with you a few wonderful stores/artists I discovered on my trip to the pop-up shop. Now you can visit their websites and be delighted as well!

Neapolitan Printing Co.

I love these chocolates. So adorable. And, would make such a great stocking stuffer! Or a great addition to a quirky family Christmas photo. They also make completely delicious-looking truffles. Yum!

Rachel Austin

Okay, I didn't just discover Rachel Austin last week, but I couldn't NOT post about her. I completely love her work and am dying to buy a one. Actually, now that we're talking about it, I'm not sure why I haven't yet! The RVs are new and I'm adore them.

Polly Danger

Polly Danger's iPad cases are so adorable. She has a plethora of great fabric choices and I think they really lighten up the look of technology.

Old School Stationers

I first went crazy for Old School Stationers when I saw one of their works in my friends kitchen. So, I was delighted to see them at Crafty Wonderland this year. Go check them out friends. Their art is cheery and all around just fun.

What artists/stores are you loving this year? Please share in the comments so we can all check them out! :)

{create} shelf style

On Monday I confessed that I'm really not great at styling. So I gave it a whirl ... why not, right? And, I'm going to walk you through the process. I realize this could go a number of directions, but it's good. Really. Stick with me here. :)

My goal was to take a sorely neglected shelf and create a balanced, well edited collection that incorporates a color scheme and texture.

.

d

Here's the before: a very poorly styled shelf in our bedroom. It's SO. Boring! I love all the elements, but clearly I threw them up there in haste and called it done. Lazy? Sometimes.

.

I started by adding a few elements that I had around the house. I quickly framed a sweet card from the hubs and pulled some rocks, buttons and pine cones into cute jars to add texture and interest. The color scheme evolved from the *art* on the shelf: pinks, corals and neutrals. It didn't feel balanced though.

So moved things around and started creating the *triangle* I noticed in a lot of the photos I shared Monday. To help create the shape, I added the little plant and removed the *M*. Which was actually great because I like the M better in the living room! A little scrap of burlap adds additional texture and interest. It was close, but not quite.

Aaah, yes. That's what I was looking for. Raising the picture added some height to the arrangement that I like. At this point I thought I was done. In fact, I was SURE I was done. But, just to show you how far my OCD extends ...

... this is what the shelf looks like now. Yes, it took moving that one little jar over to the middle to make me completely happy.

The view from my side of the bed. My favorite part? The main artwork holds incredible sentimental value. It makes walking past it every morning such a treat.

For the collage, I purchased a simple inexpensive shadow box frame and added all the design elements of our wedding with one of my favorite photos. I love having these elements on display -- I hated the thought of them sitting in a drawer somewhere!

When I decided I needed something else on the shelf to round out the group, I grabbed this sweet card Chris had given me, taped it onto kraft paper and framed it in a frame I already owned. Super simple! Not only did Chris notice, but he actually beamed. That alone was completely worth it. :)

The lesson I took from this exercise? Styling not only takes practice, but it also takes time. It took longer than I thought it would to get to my final point, but it was worth it because not only do I now notice the shelf and it's contents, but they make me happy.

So, all my creative friends, what sort of art have you made with things around your house? And, does the shelf look happier?