I had a little party for the cast members of my last show and thought that maybe you’d like to see some of the pictures of the new place in use. And it is IN USE. I’ve had more people over to this apartment in the last 3 months than my last two apartments combined. I love having people over.

Some of my best friends.

*

I cooked all day and am happy to say that there was barely any food left. The soups were a hit! I made roasted butternut squash soup and french onion soup.

*

It’s so nice that there is room to have people comfortably in my apartment now!

*

My beautiful blue velvet chairs are finally in use by two wonderful friends!

*

I seriously LOVE my apartment.

*

The Roomie and I, happy to have people over!

I hope you all are well! If so, send some of it my way, huh? I would seriously pay someone to borrow a healthy nose at this point. Cheers!

Harmony

I’ve felt guilty about not updating this blog, but I can’t force it. Well things on this front have calmed down a little and in the meantime my home design bug has returned! I have some new ideas and some new energy to carry it out.

Here are some ideas I have for some CHEAP upcoming projects:

I have an old white farm table that I use for my computer desk. The top of it isn’t in the best shape. I love this idea of covering the top with wallpaper and using a sheet of plexiglass over it to protect it.

I love how casual this art installation is. Anyone that has read this blog for a while knows that I hate hanging art in frames. Okay…truth is…I don’t hate it. I just SUCK at hanging art. Anything that makes it easier for me I love. I really like these binder clips. My roommate will hate it. He likes things hung properly in frames.

I’ve been obsessed with this wallpaper panel thing for some time. I think it’s such a great focal point. I want to hang a panel behind my bed. It will be a bright teal and add such a great jolt of color to my predominantly neutral bedroom.

I know that the painted furniture fad is a bit overdone, but I LOVE this piece. It makes me want to go to salvation army or brown elephant and redo an old dresser. I love the yellow, but I’m also thinking perhaps a robin’s egg blue color, and I just happen to have the paint already!

That’s it for now. I am inspired again which is great. I will post pictures of my apartment soon. I promise. I REALLY DO PROMISE!

Love Harmony

p.s. These photos were in my inspiration folder and I’m not sure where I got them. As soon as I figure it out I will list the proper sources.

I mean…yes it’s beautiful, but am I the only one that thinks this is a little ridiculous? Is this the laundry room at Buckingham Palace? I don’t even know what I’d do in there. Obviously I would do laundry, but that much space warrants additional activities. Rollerskating? Also, where the heck is the dryer? I guess it’s on the other side of the room. You mean to tell me that they have all those beaucoup bucks and the room isn’t even designed efficiently? UGH. This room annoys me.

This Old House

This, on the other hand, is my dream. A laundry room that is clean, compact, efficient, and sexy. Yes ladies and gentleman the thought of my own laundry room turns me on.

Country Home

And I’m not picky! I don’t have to have a full room. Look how lovely this is tucked into some kitchen cabinets. This is perfect.

Country Home

Or just hide it behind a curtain. This is fine too! Gorgeous in fact. JUST GIVE ME MY OWN WASHER AND DRYER! I’m not picky. Okay I am. But I’ll try not to be. It’ll change my life! Please? PLEASE!?!!! Powers that be? Sigh.

Thanks for listening.

-Harmony

The thing I’m most excited about in the new apartment is having a TRUE 2 bedroom, instead of a 1 bedroom that I sort of converted into a 2 bedroom. I’m craving light and bright recently. I want white walls, which is a departure for me. My current apartment is very colorful. Now I want white! I haven’t ruled out accent walls, but I know that I want the main wall color to be a bright white to tempt the Chicago sun in.

This is Amy Shutt’s bedroom, owner of DayLab. Check out the rest of her gorgeous apartment on Design Sponge.

This bedroom I keep going back to again and again. I love it. It comes very close to being exactly my style. Not quite, but close. I love how bright it is. It looks peaceful, but cheery. The perfect balance of being able to relax at night, but also being able to be productive during the day. I love the pop of yellow on the bed frame with the white down comforter. The shape and style remind me of my own bed frame. Mine is a black vintage piece with mint green shining through where it’s all scratched up. I acquired it from the attic of a farm house that I rented once in West Virginia. I love it to a ridiculous degree. No one understands it. I’ll post a picture when I get a chance.

I also really like the art above the bed. I don’t normally like a lot of art in a bedroom. I think it can be too busy and distracting for a place of rest. This works, however, because when you are lying down the art is behind you. I have some vintage vogue prints that are similar in color and size to the pictures in black frames. I may have to steal this idea.

P.S. Don’t tell my roommate, but I’ve decided to keep my steel units. Yes, both of them. I was going to sell them for some extra moving money and because they take up a lot of space. Trouble is, I love them. I love them so much that it pains me to think of losing them. I had to beg, borrow, and steal to get them. They’re gorgeous, rare, and worth a fortune. I don’t want to just unload them for whatever I can get for them on craigslist. I have to keep and treasure them. Space-allowing of course. I’ll make the decision officially when I know how much space I’m dealing with in the new place.

So anyway, it’s time for me to look at a lot of apartments and to dream a little. My absolute requirements are 2 bedrooms, a bathroom that is in good shape (no broken tile, calking problems, plumbing problems), a decent kitchen that is in good shape WITH a dishwasher, and my dream item would be in unit washer/dryer.

I would love to incorporate these ideas into the new place:

I like how this room is bursting with color, but is completely grounded by all the wood and neutrals in the room. I got a little carried away with color in my current apartment and would like to tame it down for the next one.

I want this to serve as the color inspiration for the apartment. I LOVE the peacock blue with gold and little shots of red and pink. There is also chocolate brown (of course!) and some black and neutrals. I would also like to OWN this pillow. It’s so beautiful.

This also serves as general inspiration for the apartment. It has all my inspiration colors in it and I just love what it says to me. I love that it says Life at the top and that she seems to be becoming a butterfly. It’s so encouraging and life-affirming. I WANT THIS VERY BADLY.

I love the blue velvet! I have two blue velvet arm chairs that are similar to this. I would love to make them pop with apple green and/or fuchsia. (Let’s see how many times I can say love in this post!)

I like the pops of fuchsia in this room. I also love the combination of fabrics. It looks so multi-layered and cozy.

This is my dream bedroom. I love how serene the bedroom is with the unexpected hot shot of color in the drapery. This is the color scheme of the bed area that I would like. Soft and soothing neutrals with a gorgeous golden curtain enclosing it. Sort of like….

…THIS! I would love a curtain enclosure like Ebeneezer Scrooge has in the Christmas Story. I’ve always wanted one! I’ve also always wanted a Princess and the Pea bed. I haven’t given up on that!

I really love unconventional art. I hate hanging framed art on the walls. Probably because I suck at it! I never seem to hang it exactly where I want it. I don’t want to steal this exact idea, but I love the idea of a quote on the wall with the literal representation hanging below it. So clever.

Anyway, wish me luck on my apartment search. I have to FIND one before I can decorate it!

I’ve been cooking for a while and I love it, but with a few exceptions I cook mostly with recipes. Well today all of that went out of the window for a couple of reasons. A. I’m “financially-challenged” at the moment. B. It was -17 f when I woke up today. Am I going outside to pick up groceries???? HECK NO!

So I took out my crock pot which has pretty much only seen my vegetarian chili (to die for) and started throwing stuff in it. I put potatoes, carrots, corn, onion, heavy cream, sour cream, chicken broth, spinach, butter, flour, and a bit of apple cider vinegar in the pot. I had no idea what to expect. Well it’s heavenly, especially on an awful cold day like today. It’s light and creamy without being too rich. The little bit of vinegar really made it come alive. It’s glorious. My mom would be proud.

I woke up yesterday not only with a better attitude, but with a plan for making my life more manageable. That plan starts with my surroundings. I am ashamed to say that I had let my apartment get pretty bad. So bad that when my landlord unexpectedly showed up (he does that a lot…sigh) to check my wiring, I sort of flipped out. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. I was so ashamed that someone had seen this awful mess.

I don’t even remember how it got as bad as it did. Gradually I suppose. I went through a time of being extremely busy directly into a time of feeling pretty low. My apartment certainly suffered with me.

Okay sob story is over! My point is I woke up yesterday ready to reclaim my life AND my apartment. I started with my closet because I was so inspired by that House Beautiful article. Well I did it! I organized my closet. This may not sound very exciting to some, but let me tell you that thing was so messy and full that I was afraid to open it. So anyway, it’s a small step. I still have lots to do, but it doesn’t seem as hard as it did a couple weeks ago. The new year has me feeling extremely optimistic. I hope that you are feeling the same.

Hard to see. But it's organized into bags, tops, pants, skirts, casual dresses, cocktail dresses, formals, wraps, and coats. I need to thin it down, but at least now I can see what I have in order to make the choices of what to get rid of. I also need to invest in wooden hangers!

Most of this I'm probably going to end up giving away. It's puzzles, board games, art supplies, and videos. That's right! Good old fashioned VHS tapes. The hampers are full of fabric remnants and yet-to-be-finished craft projects. Much of this will be SHED.

If you want to see a REALLY AMAZING closet check out Nicole’s Closet at Making it Lovely! I refuse to post pictures because they are just TOO good and I’d like to be proud of my little achievement. But seriously go check it out!!! 

It’s that time of year again. I know it’s a week later…but man I was sick as a dog last week. My resolutions had to wait.

We all make our New Year’s resolutions and hope for better things this year than last. I tried to keep my resolutions somewhat achievable this year. I wanted to be easier on my self in some cases and kick my butt into gear in others. I want to eat more and eat better. I want to work on defining my arms. Aaaaaaaaaaand I want to CLEAN OUT MY CLOSET!!! I got rid of a great deal of stuff around this time last year, but not enough. Also my mother is a fashion designer and owns a boutique so I have recieved what I’ve given away and MORE since this time last year. We are definitely maximalists! It’s time to purge the old stuff that I’ve been hanging onto for decades and to give some stuff to charity.

There is this TERRIFIC article in the new House Beautiful about cleaning out your closet and I thought I’d share it. It has really inspired me.

_____________________________________________________________________

UNLEASH THE REAL YOU

If you’re craving change, start with your closet. It holds the clues to your inner self — to all your selves. Who you are right now. Who you were. Who you dream of being. By shedding and getting it current, you’re poised to change your whole life.

OPEN SPACES

Not long ago, I shed most of the clothes in my closet. I asked three questions of each garment: Do I love it? Is it flattering? Is it the image I want to project: receptive, strong, sexy? Before I knew it, my closet was 80 percent empty. There was a sense of movement in my new open space that was like ocean air drifting through. Everything felt light and fresh and clean. That night I slept better than I had in years.

THREE CLUES THAT YOU’RE READY TO SHED

You’re gripped by the feeling that there’s something more you want, but you don’t know exactly what it is. It’s a glimmer in your mind that’s vaguely pulling you forward — a deep-seated wish, a buried dream rattling around inside.What you want feels out of reach. You wonder if you’ll be able to pull it off — or if you have what it takes or if you really deserve it. You’re feeling weighed down by something that’s preventing you from moving forward.

SHED: WHAT IT MEANS

SHED is about far more than just throwing things out. It involves 4 steps:

• SEPARATE the treasures — identify the gems that are worth hanging on to.
• HEAVE the trash — eliminate what’s weighing you down.
• EMBRACE your identity — connect to who you are without all your stuff.
• DRIVE yourself forward — explore the direction that connects to your genuine self.

DO YOU NEED TO ORGANIZE, OR SHED?

1. You organize to become more efficient. You SHED to get unstuck.

2. Organizing gives you access to what’s most important to you. SHEDing is a process for discovering what’s most important to you.

3. It’s possible to get organized without getting rid of anything. It’s impossible to SHED without letting things go.

DEFINING CLUTTER

A Zen parable tells of a wanderer on a lonely road who came upon a torrential river that had washed out the bridge. So he built a solid and heavy raft, which carried him safely across to the other bank. “This is a good raft,” he thought. “If there’s another river ahead, I can use it.” And he carried it for the rest of his life. How often do we hang onto things that served us well at one point in our lives but are no longer relevant or useful? Clutter is something that no longer serves you.

DETECTING CLUTTER

Does your closet feel stagnant? Does it make you feel guilty or overwhelmed or burdened? Does it deplete your energy? It’s cluttered.

YOU NEED A THEME

The reality is, no one lets go into a vacuum — no one lets go of anything without reaching for something else. But if you don’t know what you’re reaching for, you won’t let go. The solution is to come up with a theme. Take the pressure off yourself. Stop trying to figure out exactly what you’re going to do next. Instead, define what the next chapter in your life is going to feel like. What part of you do you want to express? Freedom? Creativity? Intimacy? Serenity? Balance? That’s your theme. When you get the right word — the right theme — it mobilizes you to move forward. It gives you something exciting to create space for.

BEFORE YOU DIVE IN

If you do all your thinking on paper first, decluttering your closet can be incredibly fast and painless. Ask yourself: If all of this were to be gone tomorrow, what would I miss? Write your answers on a sticky note and post them on the wall. Keep referring to it while you sort and shed. The first half hour will be slowgoing until you get a rhythm going. Then it speeds up: It really takes only 3 to 4 hours, on average, to finish.

GET IN THE MOOD

You need energy and enthusiasm when you SHED. Weekends are a good time; late nights are not. Open the windows and get some fresh air in the room. Make yourself a refreshing drink. Play music that fuels you. Now, focus. You’re going to be making a lot of decisions: You’re getting ready to cleanse.

KNOW WHERE THINGS ARE GOING

Decide in advance who’ll get your castoffs: a charity, a shelter for homeless women, Dress for Success, your sister. Have a box or shopping bag for each organization or person you’re giving things to — and for what you’ll toss.

DOES IT STAY, OR DOES IT GO?

When you’re unsure of whether you’re ready to part with something, ask yourself: What has more value to me? This object, or the cleared space?

ZONES

Arrange everything you’re keeping in a way that makes it easy to find things and put them away. Organize your closet into zones. By garment type, by season, by occasion (work, casual, dressy).

IS IT A TREASURE?

Treasures are practical or sentimental items that are worth holding on to. A practical treasure is that perfect little black dress that works for you every time. Sentimental treasures are fair game — the threadbare cardigan you wore all through college, the vinyl handbag your grandmother gave you for your 13th birthday. Ask yourself: Is this the best and most important reminder of that time in my life, or person I knew, that I own?

WHEN YOU HIT THE WALL OF PANIC

About 75 percent of the way through decluttering your closet, WHAM! You’ll suddenly be overwhelmed by all that open space: What am I going to fill the emptiness with? Who am I without my stuff? Your impulse will be to retrieve what you just tossed, or rush to fill the space with ANYTHING new. Don’t. This is a true breakthrough moment: It’s your chance to detach your identity from your things, and remind yourself that you are who you are, no matter what you own. The good news is that it doesn’t last long. Once you get to the other side of the panic, you’ll experience an extraordinary sense of calm, self-confidence, and freedom.

TOSS LIST FOR THE CLINGY

*Clothes that don’t fit, and will be out of style by the time you hope they fit again. Give them away!

*Clothes that are stained, torn, or have lost their shape. Toss ‘em!

*Shoes that hurt your feet. If you’ve never worn them, give them away. Otherwise, throw them out!

*Outdated handbags, belts, and scarves. Donate them!

THE POWER AND PLEASURE OF A BEAUTIFUL CLOSET

I can’t tell you how important it is to house your clothes with dignity. Toss those flimsy wire hangers that get twisted and mangled. It’s worth every penny to buy wood or padded hangers, quality hooks, and containers. Don’t mix styles — plastic bins for T-shirts, baskets for handbags. Keep it unified and simple. You want everything to be so aesthetically pleasing that going into your closet every day is a joy.

________________________________________________________________________________________

For more, read Julie Morgenstern’s new book, When Organizing Isn’t Enough: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life (published by Simon & Schuster and available at Barnes & Noble; barnesandnoble.com).

Share and Enjoy:

]]> http://blog.harmonyfrance.com/nook/2009/01/09/new-years-resolutions/feed/ 1 http://blog.harmonyfrance.com/nook/2009/01/02/princess-and-the-pea/ http://blog.harmonyfrance.com/nook/2009/01/02/princess-and-the-pea/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:19:44 +0000 harmonyfrance http://harmonyfrance.wordpress.com/?p=437 Okay I’ve been obsessed with my living room situation for some time. Here’s a short re-cap. I’m an up and coming actor in Chicago who lives with another up and coming actor in Chicago. We are both actually doing pretty well all things considered, but our living situation is less than enviable. We live in a one bedroom apartment. The living room is both my bedroom and living space while my roommate has the bedroom.

Anyway, I’ve been obsessed with finding the right couch/bed piece that is comfortable enough for me to sleep on every night but couch-like enough that it doesn’t look like you’re stepping into my bedroom.

This is the couch/bed of my dreams. It’s called the Divan de la Princesse au Petit Pois (ie. the princess and the pea) and it is carried by the French company Carvane. This bed creates such a fantasy for me. I love furniture pieces that do that for you. They serve as a sort of escapism. I would’ve loved this as a girl and probably would’ve re-enacted the princess and the pea at least once a day. I see lovely lounging, book reading, tea drinking, and yes laptop perusing on this beauty.