Harmony's Nook

Another day, another online source of inspiration. I just discovered House to Home Network today. It’s the home of uk publications such as: Ideal Home, Homes & Gardens, Living etc, Country Homes & Interiors, 25 Beautiful Homes, Beautiful Kitchens, and Allthingshome.

Both my roommate and I DREAM about having large bedrooms to ourselves. Here are some bedrooms that I am drooling over right now. I found them all on the House to Home Network! The fourth one is pretty close to what I would design for my roommate, so we will call it Eric’s room.

Whew! It just took me over two hours to upload these photos. I’m on my mom’s laptop and it’s giving me some issues. I miss my Macbook! The adapter broke and let me tell you, trying to find Mac accessories in St. Louis is like trying to find the golden fleece!

Anyway, this is my mother’s magnificent collage wall. These pictures do not do justice to this wall at all. I wish you could see it in person; it’s so beautiful. This is something that I would never think to do. Basically she decoupaged the entire wall tiny piece, by tiny peace. She cut up fine arts books, a couple books on quilts, greeting cards, catalogues…you name it! It took her a couple of months to complete this. She covered a small 3 foot across wall and followed it around the corner onto one full wall in the kitchen. Everything else is in neutral shades, so believe it or not it doesn’t look too busy. This is something that I would probably not do in my own home, but I think it’s beatiful and I’m always amazed at how creative my mother can be! She never fails to inspire me.

March is Women’s History Month! I am so proud to be a woman right now. We have come so far. Despite the outcome of the democratic race, we have our first viable woman running for President. This is progress! We can all agree on that no matter where our loyalty lies. I don’t think that we will understand how huge this historic event is until after the dust has settled.

Well I was feeling pretty proud in general of women and where the country has come so I decided to go read about it on the National Women’s History Project website. I’m kind of a history junkie! Anyway, I found this beautiful poster AND I found out that the theme of this year’s month is Women’s Art! I couldn’t be happier!

“To honor the originality, beauty, imagination, and multiple dimensions of women’s lives, we have chosen Women’s Art: Women’s Vision as the 2008 theme for National Women’s History Month.”

“The history of women and art is quintessential women’s history.  It is the story of amazing women’s accomplishments acclaimed at the time but written out of history. Join us in ensuring that their accomplishments are never forgotten.”

“This year’s theme provides a special opportunity to discover and celebrate women’s visual arts in a variety of forms and mediums that help expand our perceptions of ourselves and each other.”

I stopped buying magazines a long time ago. It’s amazing how quickly a couple of magazine subscriptions can clutter up your space. BUT now that I have this blog, and I did so well on my spring cleaning, and I’m trying to treat myself with things other than food and drink, and I’ve been a good girl overall…(seriously could I come up with MORE ways to rationalize this…lol) ANYWAY I want to subscribe to a new magazine. Since my favorite home magazine of all time is now defunct (Living Room Magazine ), I’ve been looking at new ones. I want something young and hip and not too designer-esque. I came across Domino Magazine…and look at their manifesto!

Our Manifesto:

• Home Should Make You Happy!
• We swear by the 3 R’s: repaint, repaper, reupholster
• Steal ideas from other people’s houses
• Even the insides of the closets & cabinets can be beautiful
• It’s ok to NOT BE finished
• TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS—ALWAYS!
• A chandelier is as timeless as a black dress
• Renters need not be second class citizens
• Sometimes your mistakes become your greatest inspirations
• DON’T BE AFRAID TO MIX STYLES (Louis XIV and Eero Saarinen should hang out more often)
• When traveling, skip the snapshot and buy something unique for the coffee table
• HAVE FUN!

WOW! This sounds pretty spot on with my design philosophy! I think I just found my new guilty pleasure!

*This was the cover photo on their first issue.

It’s a wintry day here in St. Louis. It’s hard to believe that 2 days ago it was 80 degrees. I’m helping my dad out at his office today and the view is breathtaking. His office is overlooking Lake St. Louis. There is a blanket of snow on the ground and the snow is falling in huge sugary flakes softly into the lake. It’s pretty spectacular.

I’m looking forward to going home and lying by the fire, drinking apple cider with a cinnamon stick, and watching the most exciting campaign race of my lifetime…while my mother tries to tempt me with baked goods. Ah…the comforts of home.

Spring Cleaning 08 is going so well! Freecycle is my new best friend. I have a hard time getting rid of things, but knowing that it’s going to someone who is going to love and appreciate it makes it so much easier to give it up and it helps with our landfills. I chose my vanity family very carefully; I hope that they love it. I’ve gotten rid of so much stuff! The apartment is starting to look really great. A lot of the clutter is gone and it feels so much more peaceful. I feel bad because I am going home to visit my family and I have to leave my roommate with the job not QUITE finished. We are so close!

I’m also doing a Spring Cleaning of my mind and body. This trip that I’m taking home is the first break that I’ve had from theater in almost 5 years. I don’t have anything lined up for my next project and surprisingly I feel great about it. I’m going to go home and work for my dad, read books, cook with my mom, hang out with my brother, get a new haircut, go to the doctor, go to the dentist, do some shopping, maybe some light sightseeing, and just RELAX. I really need this. I’m hoping to come back to Chicago refreshed and maybe even a little inspired.

While I’m in St. Louis I will make sure to take pictures of my mom’s amazing artwork and her boutique, (which just happens to be the cutest boutique in the whole world in case anyone was wondering) and anything else that inspires me. Maybe when I return it will be Spring.

As an actor, sometimes when I’m preparing for a role I make a vision book. Basically I make collages, write down poetry, quotes, thoughts, and anything that helps me define what kind of person my character is. While cleaning yesterday I found a couple of my old vision books. I think I’m going to frame some of the old collages.

On a whim I searched online for Collage Art. I was amazed with what I found. Beautiful, intriguing, and original work. I’ve been making collages for fun and for inspiration my whole life, but never thought of it as an art form. I certainly do now.

Techniques of collage first appeared in China when paper was invented, all the way back in 200 b.c. Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso coined the term in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art. (Source: Wikipedia)

Angels in America concept collage from my Vision Book:

Into the Woods concept collage (The Witch) from my Vision Book:

——————————————————————————————————————-

“Bloom”

http://www.apoetsdream.deviantart.com

“Jammin”

http://www.ninafarana.com

“Inspiration”

http://www.apoetsdream.deviantart.com

“Wings on My Dreams”

http://www.karenswhimsy.com

http://www.livesayart.com

“Lovely”

http://www.apoestsdream.deviantart.com

“Meditation”

http://learning2share.blogspot.com/2007/06/collage-art-of-david-peters-1981-1983.html

“Old man in the Sea”

http://www.apoetsdream.deviantart.com

“Watermark”

http://www.ninafarana.com

It’s so hard to feel motivated today. It’s so cold. This winter in Chicago has been truly brutal. We’ll have a day or two where it looks like it’s getting warmer and then it dips back below freezing again. At least it isn’t in the negatives anymore. For a while there we were excited if we had a positive temperature. I have radiator heat that I SWEAR is set on a timer instead of a temperature, so it’s really cold in my apartment. It’s okay I’m young and I have lots of blankets, but that’s the whole point! I don’t want to get out from under them. I’ve given myself a deadline though so I have to.

The other sad thing is there were no birds chirping this morning. Spring is being very elusive this year. I know that we aren’t even out of February yet. I know! I just got so excited the other day. I hope those birds are okay. I hope they didn’t freeze and die. Sorry for the morbidness! In tribute to the birds I’m going to do a bird display today. I hope I hear them again tomorrow!

In Chronological order:

http://decornextdoor.com

http://www.potterybarn.com

http://www.dominomag.com

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8656112

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com

Ugh…this Spring Cleaning/Simplifying my life thing is really difficult. I’m trying to get rid of all the “stuff” that seems to be suffocating me in my apartment right now. It’s like I have to do it in steps. It’s really hard to part with a large amount of stuff at one time. I’ve done the initial sweep. This includes huge garbage bags of give away clothing, 4 or 5 medium boxes of books, and an additional 4 or 5 medium boxes of randomness. I have a lovely couple coming to pick up my vanity on Friday. I also got rid of all my dvd cases and put my dvds into cd books. I know that that doesn’t sound like much, but the amount of space I’ve saved is kind of remarkable.

This second round is harder. I still have too many clothes. I need to do another sweep and try to part with more. I should go through my books again and even sift through my sheet music. I have a tendency to keep ALL of my sheet music in case I might need it. I think I can safely say that I could probably part with about 1/3 of it. The same goes for any Navy memorabilia or items I have with sentimental value. I am extremely nostalgic, so that is a lot of stuff. I would like to get rid of 1/3 of that too.

Actually 1/3 is a good ratio. At the end of this process I want to have 1/3 less stuff than when I started. I know that’s a lot! I think I can do it though. It’s taking way longer than I thought. I started in late January and we are almost into March. I’m hoping to be finished by Sunday. That’s my goal. Wish me luck!

Alright I know that it snowed last night and it is only 30 degrees out, but this is the first day I’ve actually heard birds chirping in the morning. I think Spring is around the corner and I couldn’t be happier!