Harmony's Nook

This is my new inspiration for my Living Room. I threw all my other ideas out and started over. I decided to design the room around my new chairs and this amazing marimekko fabric wall hanging. This will be the focal point of my LR, when I can afford it of course LOL.

This fabric goes really well with a huge vintage print that I already have. I can’t hang it on the walls because it’s too heavy, so it’s gone undisplayed for years. I HATE my walls. My solution is to put it on an easel!

Additionally I would like to use one more vintage print (I’m obsessed with Vintage Art prints and they aren’t ridiculously expensive). I narrowed it down to these three. I can’t decide though!

I felt like blogging about my mother tonight. I think it’s because I’ve been laid up for a little while from a small accident. It makes me miss her more than I normally do. My mother never fails to inspire me. She is the most creative woman I’ve ever known. She’s a visual artist and has worked with many different mediums. She owns a boutique in Lake St. Louis called Cinderella’s Coach that sells evening wear for women and party dresses for little girls. She paints, sculpts, sews, collages, writes, has the greenest thumb imaginable, and is an amazing cook. She can clean a room, any room, no matter what it’s state in under 30 minutes. She can come up to visit me and make a 3 course meal out of whatever random thing I still have left in my cupboard. She calls herself a gypsy cook. She makes everything beautiful and everything good. She laughs insanely loud at things that nobody else thinks is funny. She is so full of life. Her cellphone goes off during movies, plays, church, anywhere really and she doesn’t know how to turn it off. Her favorite thing is to read the bible before anyone gets up WITH her morning cup of coffee. She has so many talents and gifts, but the greatest one has always been her being our mom.

As I told CQ on my last post, my new goal is to make every room in my apartment look as good as my Dining Room does. Or maybe a better way to put it is…make every room in my apartment make me FEEL as good as my Dining Room does. The next big question mark is my Living Room. I know that I’ve posted color schemes and ideas on here before, but I’m not completely sold on anything. The cure suggests that we do “style trays” for inspiration. I’ve never followed this particular suggestion of the book, because I’ve always known exactly what I want to do. With the Living Room, however, I’m at a loss. So here it is…my Living Room style tray!

I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a deep red accent wall behind my couch. I love the idea of using a wallpaper with deep red in it instead of painting an entire wall one color.

Space above couch option #1: What to put above my couch or on a really long wall expanse always stresses me out. I like the results, but hate the actual act of hanging art or mirrors on the wall. It’s hard to get the scale right and my walls are impossible. (I have drywall over brick). I love this picture ledge. Instead of having to commit to one arrangement that I think is perfect (this never happens), I can change what I have displayed at will and won’t have to spackle up dozens of holes each time. I also like that you can display other items on it as well. It creates a mantlepiece look…which I love! AND I think that it would work with the wallpaper or the red wall.

Space above couch option #2: The other option I’ve come up with is to go ahead and paint the wall red, but do away with framed artwork and have some sort of nature inspired wall decals up and maybe one mirror instead. This would keep the look much simpler. I also wouldn’t have to hang shelves.

Space above couch option #3: Alright call me crazy, but I kind of love this. I love the defiance of it. I love that it says, “No! I will not obsess for hours, months, or even years on the perfect arrangement for above my couch!” That gorgeous panel, the bright pillows, and the lamp take center stage instead. Of course this is a nice muted sage green and not a deep red. I might need to break up the red. I don’t know! I need some advice. What do you guys think?

Because of my crumbly horrible walls, I am always looking for alternative methods for displaying art. I am a big fan of just leaning art against the wall. I know that it looks less formal, but it’s also much less of a headache. I also adore this idea. I bought an easel at IKEA for 10 bucks. I’m going to paint it and I already know exactly what piece of art I’m going to display on it! (This gorgeous painting is by Celeste Vaught.)

This is the sister of my Stainless Steel Curio that I have in my Dining Room. I love these pieces so much. Believe it or not I got them both for free from dumpster diving at a Navy base I was stationed at in West Virginia. They are vintage medical cabinets from the fifties I believe. They weigh a ton, but I absolutely love them. Right now the hutch is living in the hallway as my landing strip, but it’s not working for me. It’s a huge piece and it’s overpowering my hallway. I think that I’m going to move it into the Living Room. I have the top portion set up as a bar and the bottom portion is great for storage.

My Living Room has a doorway, but no door. My Dining Room actually does too…AND my kitchen. I plan to utilize this curtain idea all over my apartment. My roommate is 6ft though, so I’m going to have to hang them from the ceiling instead of the top of the doorway.

This is pretty close to the red that I want, and that splotch on the opposite wall is pretty close to the color I already have and will have on the other three walls.

*That’s it! I would LOVE a new couch, desk, side chairs, coffee table, etc….but I can’t afford it. So the ones I have will do for now. The hardest part of this room is going to be the setup. It’s a long and narrow room. One wall is almost completely taken up with a doorway, a closet doorway, and a radiator. One of the narrower walls is all windows that I don’t want to cover up. I have an idea of how to rearrange the furniture that will hopefully work out.

Here are some pictures of my cured Dining Room. It’s not completely cured. There are still a couple of things to do. I want to get a club chair, I still need to edit, I have a couple of touch up paint spots, and I need to recover my chairs. BUT I feel like I could entertain in here. I’ve been eating every meal in here. I now spend half my time in a space that went completely unused before. Here it is!

This trip/sabbatical/break/whatever you want to call it, has done me a world of good. I’m still a little stressed about certain things, but I feel ready to face them now. I’m ready to take my life into my own hands. The cure has helped, my family has helped, sleeping in a bed for a month has helped, eating healthily has helped, looking out on Lake St. Louis everyday has helped, and the support of my friends has helped.

Two nights ago my best friend had what we both thought was a really close call. I stayed really calm. I always do in emergencies and then I freak out over stupid things. He’s fine and it wasn’t as serious as we thought, but it got me thinking about how important his friendship is to me. THATS what matters. My beautifully flawed family is what matters. Being creative and feeling inspired is what matters. The things that I obsess over and that stress me out in my life are unimportant. The only things that are important are taking care of myself, taking care of the people that I love, and deciding what I want to get out of this world and working as hard as I can to get it.

I go back to Chicago tomorrow and I am ready for whatever she wants to throw at me. You can sit back and let things happen to you and feel sorry for yourself. OR you can be a problem solver and you can be proactive and make your OWN life better.  So here I come Chicago! I’m going back to the city that I love.

Happy Easter!

Buy Yourself Some Flowers Today!

If you’ve never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.  ~Audra Foveo

Being a starving artist has it’s pros and cons. On the one side I am surrounded by the most talented, creative, and interesting people you can imagine. I am friends with everyone from an operatic dramatic soprano (the best I’ve ever heard), an amazing funk diva (who gives new meaning to lung capacity), a ridiculously handsome crooner (who could give ole blue eyes a run for his money), and a practically technically perfect musical theater star (and she’s nice to boot). I consider all of them my close friends and equals and feel extremely lucky to do so. I am in a field where creation is my job. I get to do what I love and get paid for it…just not a lot.

On the flip side I’m always broke, rejection is plentiful, and you literally have every inch of you judged at each audition…from talent to weight and height to the way you say hello. I’m ALWAYS broke! I live in a one bedroom apartment with my best friend and I eat a lot of Ramen! While I’m waiting for my big break I call my couch my bed. Don’t get me wrong. I love my couch and am actually quite content sleeping on a couch, but unfortunately my neck and back disagree with me. I really need to have the option of sleeping in my own bed from time to time.

I’ve been scouring craigslist for a daybed or a sleeper couch to no avail. They are either way too expensive for me, or something that I would not put in my home. I need a bed, but my aesthetic sensibilities just won’t let me bring in an ugly or ill-fitting piece despite my neck problems. That may sound silly to some, but I take what I bring into my home very seriously. Besides, most of the sleepers I’ve seen look like they’ve spent 10 years in a frat house. No thank you.

So I’ve had no luck….until tonight…..

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Sofa bed from Crate and Barrel is covered in antique gold stripe (has elegant green-gold cast) and measures approx. 6′ 4″ long and 3′ 8″ deep and 35″ high. Please note – the fabric is matte, it looks shiny in the photos due to the camera flash off the silk threads.
Bed seldom used. Is in excellent condition, and mattress pad included. Sofa recently professionally cleaned.
Also adding a matching coffee/cocktail table for free!

Couch originally $2500 – selling for $300!

Ummm…..Come to Mama! I am hoping with all I have that this hasn’t been promised yet. This couch would fit in perfectly with my home and it would give me a bed. I can see my vintage European travel posters hanging over it. I can see the amber glow of my eclectic collection of lamps illuminating it. But more importantly I see ME quite comfortable on this couch reading, blogging, and ahhhh sleeping. Is it serendipity? I sure hope so!

I came home to St. Louis for a break from some of my Chicago madness. This is the longest I’ve been home in 10 years. I’m really enjoying it, but so are my parents. They are so pleased to have me home and they are spoiling me rotten. Now I’m certainly not complaining. I like being catered to and spoiled a little. BUT I can’t take any more stuff into my apartment!

My mother is a bargain hunter. One of the best I’ve ever seen, especially when it comes to clothes. The first thing she showed me when I got home was a SUITCASE full of clothes that she had gotten for me. She spent under $150 for the entire suitcase. Everything was actually really nice quality and fit me really well. BUT now I’m going to have to go home and get RID of an equal amount of clothing. I can’t bring more items into my wardrobe without getting rid of more clothes…I just can’t. I’m trying to streamline!

I also got a beautifully illistrated copy of Peter Pan and a hard-backed version of Great Expectations. Two of my favorite books. I scored a dresser/sideboard for my entryway/landing strip, a new rug, some organizing containers, a mirror, and this GORGEOUS hot pink poppy fabric that my mother is making into two accent pillows for my couch. I had planned on doing it myself, but she insisted.

The thing I’m struggling with is I feel really guilty about getting this stuff.  So far it’s all things that will be used and/or replace something I have, but I can’t help but feel guilty anyway. Also this sounds like a lot of stuff, but it’s NOTHING compared to what I’ve turned down. Every couple of hours I’m turning my mom down on something else that she’s asking me if I want. I’m beginning to see where some of my habits are coming from. My parent’s home is comfortable, nurturing, and wonderful…but it’s spilling over with things. It seems to work for them, but I don’t want to live like that. I want my place to be organized, peaceful, and much simpler than it is now. I want it to be a refuge.

BUT at the same time I can’t let myself feel guilty any time I bring something into the apartment. I just need to learn to manage my home better. When I get new things, that’s wonderful, but it means that it is time to let some of the old things go. I think I’ll feel better when I get everything home to Chicago and have a proportionate amount of things in my giveaway/outbox pile.

So the moral of the story is we don’t have to feel guilty about bringing new things into our homes, but sometimes we have to JUST SAY NO!

I’m starting to miss Chicago…which was the whole point of me taking a break I suppose. One of the best parts of the cure is buying a new bouquet of flowers every week for your apartment. It’s supposed to add life to the apartment and if displayed in an unused area it helps bring your attention to that area. Well I’m in St. Louis! AND while I’m really enjoying my break, I’m missing my first week of flowers!

Growing up in Upstate New York our backyard was brimming with Lilac bushes. That intoxicating scent is synonomous with Spring and Summer for me. My mom would have dozens of vases spilling over with lilacs all over the house. It’s one of my strongest memories and has been my favorite flower ever since.

My second favorite flower grows right outside my Chicago apartment building. I love honeysuckle . It’s not the most beautiful flower, but the aroma more than makes up for it.  Even the name….honey…suckle. It just sounds delicious. I always want to find a way to smell exactly like that all the time.

I don’t know if I can find bouquets of these flowers. They’re wilder, more common, less coveted I suppose. They grow where they aren’t cultivated, but I cherish them. They truly add some very happy moments to my life. I guess sometimes you just have to stop and smell the flowers.

I thought I should explain why I have the sudden urge to paint all the rooms in my apartment! LOL! I am participating in the Spring cure from Apartment therapy. Basically the cure is based on Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s book Apartment Therapy: the eight step home cure. The book “…will lead you through the eight weeks and the basic cure requires minimal expense as it takes you from room to room and helps you declutter, organize and clean your home.” I figured since I already got a good head start with my Spring cleaning that I should bring this to the next level!

The great part about the cure is that there is an online community support group (for lack of a better word). It’s based on the Apartment therapy website. You join the group from the city you are closest to. The cities are Chicago , San Francisco, L.A., and New York. There is also a Green Home option. People upload their pictures to flickr.com and get feedback, suggestions, and general support from other cure members. It helps when there are others going through the same thing as you!

I’ll be posting from time to time pictures of my own cure process…and maybe some inspirational pictures from other cures. Wish me luck!