Attempts at Interior Design

I've been on vacation for the past few weeks and one of my projects has been to make some decorating decisions for my condo.  I bought my condo in May 2010 and hired contractors to complete some major renovations for me.  The contractors fully renovated the kitchen and bathroom and replaced all of the doors and frames.  I took on the project of repainting the ceiling, walls and doors (bifold and regular) myself (with the help of some friends!).  I thought that my end of the project would take a few weekends, but in between the working and the moving, it ended up taking about nine months.  By December 2010, I had run out of patience and money and could not stand the idea of doing one. more. thing.

I was left with  a lot of blank blue walls and some mismatched furniture.

My walls: Benjamin Moore, Morning Sky Blue

By the time July 2011 arrived, I was finally ready to start thinking about decorating again.  I did a major clean-up and reorganization and bought a couple of new pieces of furniture.  I thought about the decorating style I want and determined that it is not really one style, but some sort of mishmash of West Coast Casual, Shabby Chic, French Country and Beach Cottage.

Once I started reorganizing and planning, I was on a roll.  While I am still unable to bring myself to do any more painting (my new-to-me kitchen table needs refinishing), over the past few weeks, I decided on a tablecloth, accent colours, artwork and kitchen tiles. Phew!

The tablecloth was my first project.  This might not seem like a big deal but, because of my very distinct wall colours and the fact that the cloth will be in constant use while it covers up my dingy table, I had to pick carefully.  I knew I wanted a white tablecloth, but it was difficult to decide on an accent colour.  I love red in combination with my wall colours and even bought a red teapot and planted red geraniums in an effort to go this direction.  But, honestly, red is just not my colour.  And neither are orange or purple.

After about 36 hours of scouring ebay and Etsy for vintage table cloths, I finally stumbled on Ma Maison Francaise.  French Country!  Vintage!

I found my tablecloth!

It was only after I bought the tablecloth that I realized that it shares something in common with my bedspread:

My vintage chenille bedspread

The embroidery on my new-to-me tablecloth

I am pretty sure that matching your tablecloth with your bedspread is not cool, but at least I am consistent!  

In any case, picking out the tablecloth helped me to decide on my accent colour, the raspberry tone of the pink-red embroidered flower.  I even bought some coordinating fabric remnants to make napkins!  

I really hadn't wanted pink as my accent.  A pink and blue apartment, how tacky does that sound?  But, I like pink.  And blue.  And, it's just an accent colour, right?

I decided to map out my colour palate using Benjamin Moore paint swatches to make sure they all work together.  I don't planning on painting with them all (the blue is my wall colour, the rest will be in fabrics and art), but wanted to see how they look.  The are pretty girly, but I like them - the colours of skies and waves with a sprinkling of flowers.

Having my colour palette picked out out also helped me choose some art:

Blenda Studio

Jelly Beans

Little Brown Pen (I haven't bought these, but I want them)

And my tiles:

I am hoping to have the tile installed in October.  I can't wait until it is done!

Next projects:

Framing all my art and saving my pennies for a new couch!