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!

How to Turn a Wardrobe into a Desk (and other transformations)

Last year, I bought a condo and, over a 6 month period, fixed it up. By the time I was done with the the renovations, I couldn't afford any new furniture and planned to slowly update my old furniture over time. I have most of the items I need but, my old furniture is reaching the end of it's life. Most of it was purchased about 12 years ago from Ike@ and, while Ike@ furniture certainly fulfils a purpose, it is not known for it's longevity. In addition to dealing with increasingly wobbly tables and some punctured particle board, I am so done with pine. I want to get rid of it ALL.

But, I have no money. And, because I have a big project in the works, I am not likely to have any money for a very, very long time. One day, as a was feeling sorry for myself and my "college student" furniture, I had a brain wave. I realized that I could transform my underused white wardrobe into a desk, thereby starting a chain reaction of furniture rearrangement that would allow me to, not only sell my old pine desk and make some money for a new piece of furniture, but to repurpose a lot of what I already own. Win-win!

My old pine desk (it looks like a wardrobe, but was secretly a desk). Sold to a good home.

Once I made the decision to make this change, nothing could stop me. I spent three whole days reorganizing, moving furniture and selling my desk. The furniture domino the sale of my desk created was huge. The desk was replaced by my white wardrobe (now desk), the white wardrobe (which held quilting supplies) was replaced by a dresser I kept in the front hall, the hall dresser (which held bags and hats and mitts) was replaced by an empty chippy toy box that I had stored in my bedroom closet. I was able to sell my old desk for a decent price and I used the funds to buy a kitchen table and a bookcase (both used, solid wood and painted white). Getting a new-to-me kitchen table allowed me to move my old kitchen table (actually a large night stand) to where it belongs, the bedroom. The new-to-me bookshelf allowed me to remove one more pine-like (*not real pine*) item out of my main living space and into the spare bedroom.

Wow! I feel like I have almost all new furniture, at absolutely no cost to me. I do have some more replacements to make in the living room before I will be satisfied, but I am very happy with the outcome!

The biggest change I made was the wardrobe to desk transformation. Because I never actually sit at my desk and I loved the tidy and pet-proof nature of my old wardrobe-style desk, turning a real wardrobe into a desk was a no brainer for me.

My wardrobe, about to be transformed.

I cleaned out my quilting supplies.

And then I sawed a hole in the back panel to allow cords and cables to exit.

Easy peasy!

Once that was done, I loaded my new desk.

I even added some magnet and cork boards onto the doors for notes and keepsakes (this was an additional expense, but it didn't cost much).

The bottom drawer of my wardrobe/desk now holds gift wrapping supplies and the top drawer holds desk supplies such as some old letters, paper, envelopes, markers and pens. As you can see, my laptop, printer, lamp and some other miscellaneous desk supplies fit easily on the shelves.

I am so happy with the airiness my "new" tall and white desk provides. And, I love that thinking differently about my current furniture allowed me to make the changes I wanted without spending money that I don't have. In the picture below, you can see my "new" wardrobe style desk along with the new-to-me table and bookshelf that the sale of my old desk allowed me to purchase.

I won't be able to make my next series of changes (new coffee table, couch and TV stand) without some money, but now that I have managed to get a bit closer to the beachy, shabby-chic look I am after, I know that I can eventually make it happen.

Hopefully white furniture won't go completely out of fashion between now and then!