inspiration

Finally inspired

Posted by Lindsay C on May 17, 2012 in Architecture, Design, Exterior, Featured Articles, inspiration, Me, Real Rooms | 0 comments

Well hello out there!

I know, it’s been a while.  And I know I was talking about jewelry a lot (haha), but I’m back to drafting and design projects and am feeling inspired (to blog, too!).  I’m finally getting back into the swing of things after having my son…and yes, I know he just turned 6 months old.  I have been enjoying my time with him (and my daughter!).

Here are a few peeks of what I’ve been working on lately.  Names have been blacked out to protect the innocent, haha.

The last project has been my favorite.  Garages are nice and quick and easy (and my clients have been GREAT!), but doing actual INTERIOR design has been a nice change.  I hope they love their new, functional kitchen as much as I have enjoyed living in it in my head the past few weeks!

The first one was a HUGE remodel that has taken months and months and months (I started it well before my son was born), then I’ve had a couple garages, and next I hope to start working on that floor plan with the octagonal room.  It should be an interesting one!

Okay…back to work!

Pinterest-ed.

Posted by Lindsay C on Aug 13, 2011 in Creativity, Featured Articles, inspiration, Me | 0 comments

I have to admit…when Pinterest first started popping up all over the internet I was confused.  ‘What is the point? How can this be useful and not just ANOTHER waste of time?’ Well, I’ve found out just how useful it can be, and how awesome it is for corralling all of the random thoughts of my brain into a single area.  It’s also great for inspiration.  I love Pinterest.  The only downside is, I only have the ‘marklet’ on one of my computers…and for some reason ‘re-pinning’ doesn’t work on my drafting PC, so all I can do is look when I’m on there.  My fault, not theirs obviously.  But not a big deal, I take time to catch up on my laptop often!

So anyway…what is the big deal about Pinterest, you ask?  I’m sure if you’re reading this and you already know about it, then you’re ready to answer that question for me, but if you’re not in the loop then here is what the website is all about and how I use it: basically it is a place that you can catalog all of your online finds (like ‘Bookmarking’ using your web browser) but it is so  much better because it is visual and you can put each of your ‘pins’ onto different ‘boards’ and that’s how you can stay organized.  I use it for individual projects (i.e. so-and-so’s paint color ideas or ‘Harper’s Big Girl Room’ or so-and-so’s party), so instead of trusting myself to remember where I saw something, I can just ‘pin’ it to the specific board and then go back to review.  It saves the link, and you can write notes in.  The other good part about Pinterest is that you can ‘Follow’ someone’s pins and/or specific boards.  And you can re-pin.  So you don’t have to only save the things that you find online onto your boards, but you can see what others are pinning and save it to your own boards.  It’s awesome.

Here are some things I’m pinning:

I have a whole board dedicated to ‘Amazing Photography Ideas‘ – aka picture ideas I’d like to re-create/steal.

Bedroom paint color ideas for a client…

Baby boy nursery inspiration…

Birthday party ideas…

Halloween costume ideas, haha…

Things I want for myself…

Looks I love (and want to copy)…

DIY’s I want us to attempt (this one links to concrete countertop instructions)…

Food I want to make…

Products I love (and want to share with my followers)…

And much, much more…go see what I’m pinning here!

{click the photos to go to my pins…there you’ll find the links to the original web sources for the photos!}

Not your grandma’s laminate.

Posted by Lindsay C on Feb 13, 2011 in Featured Articles, inspiration, Kitchen, Likely Favorites | 0 comments

I think that every single house I’ve lived in has had laminate countertops.  Blonde, faux-wood, bull-nose countertops with an ugly backsplash.  I’m just that lucky.

But now I live in a house that we own, so I constantly mull over countertop choices because we get to put in whatever we want.  And I am actually considering laminate.  One of the main reasons is because I think we can build it ourselves.  And the other reason is because these pictures are of laminate countertops.  For real!!

And my personal favorite (and Glenn’s, too!):

It’s called Petrified Wood.  Badass. Pardon my French.  But look how awesome the close-up looks!

I’d rock it in my kitchen.  The drama of granite without the price!

All the kitchen images are of Formica in their new 180FX series. They’ve taken photos of actual giant slabs of granite, marble, wood, etc., and printed it actual size on laminate (plastic) sheets.  The real sheets are 4′x8′ or bigger so there is no small repeat like with cheesier versions. And I’ve seen DIY videos of simply adhering the sheets to 3/4″ particle board (aka subfloor material = cheap!), trimming it with a router, and ouila! You have a new countertop!

This gets me very excited! I know I’ve said it before but this puts a kitchen remodel closer than I’ve imagined! Enjoy!

{All images via Formica Flickr}.  Except the one of my lame kitchen!

trading spaces…completely

Posted by Lindsay C on Feb 1, 2011 in Crafts, Decor, Fabrics, Featured Articles, inspiration | 1 comment

So I’m at work today and decide to take a break and walk down to the antique store.  While I’m there I remember that I need to check out lace (hopefully large pieces like curtains or tablecloths) for decor for a wedding I’m helping with this summer.  Nada.  Nothing but teeny scraps or doilies.  So that makes me think of possibly buying it from a fabric store and hemming it if needed.  So I decide to check out fabric.com.  What do I see right on the homepage? Besides a sale on Packers and Steelers print – GO PACKERS!!!  But a line of fabric by former Trading Spaces carpenter Ty Pennington! And they’re actually pretty interesting patterns.

I thought they said home decor weight so my first thought was upholstery…but as I look closer it says “use for quilting and craft projects,” so I guess it’s too light.  Boo.  But they would make a kick-ass quilt! Or pillowcase, even if it isn’t heavy.

Ask and you shall receive! The patterns are available in quilting AND home decor weight – yippee! Yes, I’m too lazy to go back and delete my last comment.  Just enjoy the pretty pictures, ok??

For a heftier price per yard…of course.

You’re welcome.   Go check it out by clicking here.

Put Some Wheels On It

Posted by Lindsay C on Oct 24, 2010 in Decor, DIY, Featured Articles, inspiration, Likely Solutions | 1 comment

As you might know, I’ve gone a little ‘crate-crazy’ at my house.  I currently have 4 antique crates living at my house and I think I need more because they’re so great for storage.  I’m really digging the antiques+contemporary style mixed look (some might call my style eclectic?) for my home, so my stash of crates fits right in. I love the logos and typography on them, plus they have character and charm that you can’t find from something new.  The one in my bathroom even has hand-written instructions on it to “Keep In Bar.”  Love it.

I screwed one right to the wall in my bathroom…holds the essentials for a bathroom: TP, candle, plant, and 2 are screwed to the wall on each side of our bed to act as floating nightstands.  This is a perfect plan for our bedroom because we have a platform bed with storage drawers, so any traditional side tables would stop us from opening them, and as they’re attached to the wall, it gives us plenty of room to use the drawers without bumping into table legs.

The 4th crate lives in my living room and this is what I did with it:

$15 Antique whisky crate + $3 IKEA casters = magazine storage that won’t scratch my floors!  (Almost) Everything is better with wheels, right?

I simply dug around for the shortest screws I could find, and screwed them right to the edges of the underside so that screws aren’t poking up under the bottom into the box.  So I paid less than $20 for this whole set-up: stylish and functional.  What do you think?

Plus Harper likes to put her baby dolls in it and push it around! Who needs toys when you can push furniture around, right??

No Tricks, just Treats

Posted by Lindsay C on Sep 19, 2010 in eco-friendly, fashion, Featured Articles, Holidays, inspiration, Likely Favorites | 0 comments

I’m kind of an HSN addict. I keep it on at home when I’m trying to get work done and half-listen.  Okay, okay…I stop and check things out a lot.  But I don’t buy anything that often.  Today they talked about this neat little Halloween Trick-or-Treat bag. It is not only made of burlap, which I love, and made for Halloween, another thing I love, but the purchase of this little bag does good things for malnourished children around the world.  When you buy this cute bag, HSN will make a donation to UNICEF to give a child a year’s supply of vitamins.

Click here to buy the FEED Trick-or-Treat Bag to benefit UNICEF

I can’t decide if I’ll get one for Harper, or one for me, or one for both of us! I’ve been looking for her first official trick-or-treat bag.  Happy fall!