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The credits are the same as the ones posted here. Thanks for all the nice comments about the first four pages. I'm loving how quickly this is coming together, and how it's really fitting with the image in my mind. I've been trying to record some information about each place on the pages too -- mostly just some summary info. Luckily, David brought back all the maps and guide papers for me to use. :)
The girls took a trip out west with David and Marilee (Chris's parents) a couple of weeks ago, and I've been itching to get the photos (from 4 different cameras, no less) into a photobook. Of course, I've had grand plans to do this with all our trip photos -- the ones from our two trips to DC, our two (soon to be three) trips to San Francisco, our camping photos, my Shaker Hill pictures -- but I've never made the time to do it. I decided that it was finally time to get started, and I'll be honest, it was a set of templates that helped me pull this project together and get it out of my head and onto the screen. Tiffany Tillman's Modern Masters template collection, to be exact. The brushwork works beautifully for large background photos that fade into the paper, and then I can add all kinds of frame clusters and office-type elements on top, while keeping the look very photo- and story-centered.
Here's a look at the first four pages, with a credit list at the end.
credits:
from Design House Digital:
Tiffany Tillman: Modern Master template collection (I am modifying these, but the base begins here)
Tiffany Tillman: Summer Templates 14, 15, 16
Sarah Schmutz: Travel Log Phrase Stamps
Jen Allyson: Real Simple Clean Frames
Karen Funk: Photo Clusters 1 and 2
Karla Dudley: Digi Essentials 11 (grungy edges)
Celeste Knight: Happy Tape
Robin Mierotto: Tag You're It
from Oscraps:
One Little Bird: Vagabond (white paper, compass, car tag, You are Here tag)
Paislee Press: On the Road (word art)
I've been slowly but surely working on turning our home into a space that we really love -- one that is functional and fun and that reflects the way we live. Like everyone else, I've gathered loads of inspiration on Pinterest; one of the great things is that, by looking at all of my pins together on each board, I can really start identifying the things that are common to each room. This makes adding those types of items to my real home so much easier.
One of the things I've identified that I truly truly love is mid-century modern furniture -- mainly credenzas and shelving units. While I'm still on the lookout for a credenza (to use either behind the couch as a sofa table or as an entertainment center), I completely lucked out at the Peddlar's Mall (a local flea market here in Murray) and found this beauty. It has sliding glass doors that cover the two upper shelves, but I've removed them because they tend to rattle a lot when you walk past them in our house (old house == old floors).
The photo really doesn't do justice to how beautiful this piece is. I've got all our games (which were stored in a cabinet that this piece replaces) in the three drawers, and the open shelves and top are the perfect place to display many of my vintage treasures. I love shopping in antique stores and flea markets, and while I "find" tons of things that I think are really cool, I'm pretty selective about what I bring home. The truth is, we just don't have a lot of room, so I try to keep things simple. These collections are pretty much it for me:
a globe collection on top (which is basically complete at this point, unless I find something that's just out of this world)
vintage cameras on the next shelf (along with our subscription to National Geographic -- I love this magazine, and it's the only one that I actually subscribe to in any format, print or digital)
the vintage typewriter I picked up for $6.00(!!!), a wooden N and number 4 metal tag -- both of which represent our last name and the number of people in our family
a John Derian tray (from Target) and three apothecary jars containing old game pieces and dominos, along with a set of vintage flash cards, a cool little wooden person (these kind of things really catch my eye at flea markets) and a vintage scalloped linen doily
and the bottom shelf holds my 1968 edition of the Childcraft books -- I love the gray binding with rainbow colors -- and can you believe I got the entire set from a thrift store for less than $10?
Styling was a process that took a while; I piled lots of stuff on the shelves and then started mixing, matching, rearranging, stepping back, looking, moving more items, taking photos and sending to my sister for her input, moving items again...you get the point.
One of the best resources that I found was Rachel Denbow's Style Your Space e-course for Red Velvet. I've always loved Rachel's vintage style in her own home; while my tastes do include some "modern vintage" pieces, there's a lot of rustic/natural and cottage elements in our house too (with four people living here, everyone has the things they like, and it's taken a lot of work to get all those tastes to mesh). Rachel's course is helpful, no matter what style you prefer. We live in a rental right now, and there are a lot of things that we can't change (the awful paint job in the living room, for example -- though I'm working on that!); Rachel even has tips on finding your look while renting. The course is really fantastic, and there were great materials included. It definitely gets my whole-hearted endorsement.
Cami's bedroom got another update while the girls were gone out west. I've slowly but surely been working on their rooms, trying to create something for them that looks pulled together and fits into the overall look of our home, but still incorporates all the things they love. With Cami, that meant lots of room for Littlest Pet Shops, her dollhouse and Barbies, and all things natural -- lizards, horses, rock collections, and more. She's a fan of pink, glitter, and feathers, and music is a big part of her life, too.
Originally, she had our room, which features a light pink wall color, so we went with a green/pink color scheme. Eventually, we traded rooms (we got tired of having the smaller room) and so Cami moved into this room. The wall color in here is light yellow, but that ended up working well with the pinks and greens we'd been using.
We're lucky in that Cami has a number of pieces of furniture that have been made for her by family members or passed down to her from us, so I wanted to use them whenever possible (plus, that saves money). Just recently, Chris took the desk that his grandad (Neal) made for him, added a stronger top, sanded it down, and painted it for Cami. She picked out the paint color (Tree Frog Green) and the pink crystal knobs. We also painted a hand-me-down chair from Gigi's old kitchen set (Chris's grandmother). Cami has decided she wants to scrapbook, so she needed a place to work. This was the perfect solution:
Her desk lamp is one I decorated years ago for a scrapbooking magazine assignment; it just happens to pick up the color scheme in her room perfectly.
Continuing on around the room: the bookshelf actually belongs to Cass but works better in Cami's room. Neal (great-grandfather) made it for her when she was tiny.
On top I use a denim foldable basket (that was originally designed to hold diapers in a baby's room) to corral all the bits of paper and notebooks and pencils that she ends up collecting. The pencils are all in small jam jars; she can just take them out, put them on her desk and use them, then stick them back in the basket when she's done. Simple storage.
The cubby shelves are the most useful thing we ever purchased. We had a chest of drawers in here for a while, and while it did provide storage for Cami's clothes, nothing ever got put away in the right place. So we switched to the cubbies, and they've been perfect. The cubes on the top shelves hold socks, underwear, pajamas, and shorts, while the bottom ones hold LPS pets, barbies, and other small toys. It's so much easier for Cam to put things where they belong, and she doesn't fuss about cleaning up because she knows where everything goes.
She's got a couple of Black Apple prints framed in her room, as well as this cool wood-cut dog that Grandad made for her:
Her bed is even a hand-me-down -- it was part of the bunkbed set that Chris and Eric used when they were little. It's perfect, though eventually I will paint it white (unless I can find a sweet vintage iron bedframe instead). She had a tulle canopy for a while, and then I found this giant leaf canopy at Ikea and knew that it was absolutely perfect for our nature-loving girl. (I don't think they sell the canopy anymore).
The quilt was made for her by Grandmother. Some of the doll squares were actually made by Grandmother's mom (Mutsy, Cami's great-grandmother). I love that the fabrics all have a story behind them and that she's able to have something that means so much. Plus, it's the perfect pattern for her, as she loves dolls. The blanket beneath that is actually the bedspread that was on my bed when I was growing up.
The pink curtains on the windows ended up being too narrow after we hung them, so my mom added a piece of green fabric to either side and decorated it with flower buttons to hold them together. The result is really cute and was a really simple solution to too-narrow curtains. Plus, the green (although it looks yellow in the photos) was another great way to tie the colors in her room together.
The nightstand is another great thrift store find; it's white wicker and only cost $35. I thought that was a steal, since usually wicker furniture is really overpriced when I see it at thrift stores. It provides great storage (which is essential, since Cami is seriously a packrat). The orange doll carriage is something Cami spotted at a flea market and bought for $12.00.
Chris and I moved the desk in and rearranged her room while she was on vacation; she came home and was thrilled with the results. I am too -- it's a sweet little girl's room and it matches her personality so perfectly. I love how everything came together, and it cost us very little to do it.
Last summer, I posted a list of goals that I wanted to work on over the summer. A year later, I'm finally getting them all completed.
The first one on the list was painting this metal rack in our bathroom. As I noted in my earlier post, we found this rack on the balcony when we moved into our first apartment here in Murray. We need bathroom storage, so we put it to use. However, the metal was rusty in many spots; so while it was functional, it wasn't pretty. When we moved into our current home, the bathroom (again) was a tiny space and so we used the rack again. The bathroom has turned into a really cute space; it started off with this great green/cream toile wallpaper and white beadboard on the walls. Adding a simple white curtain, some baskets for storage, and a great striped rug and shower curtain really pulled the room together. I finally headed out to the backyard this week and gave the shelf a nice coating of spray primer and then a couple of coats of glossy white spray paint. Simple solution that looks sooooo much better. Wish I'd taken care of this sooner!
Here's a before shot:
And here's the after:
Those baskets have been the best thing to put to use -- I like how they add some natural texture to the room (and pick up the brown/tan in the shower curtain) but also keep things somewhat hidden. The baskets with liners came from Walmart, and the longer basket on the top shelf is actually a desk organizer for 8.5x11 papers from Pier 1. It's the perfect size to hold all our handtowels.
I use a couple of milk glass pieces for storage (this one holds the girls' ponytail elastics); I wish I had a little more display room so I could add a few more pieces.
There used to be a round handtowel holder that hung right above the sink. It was completely useless, and so we took it down, but it ended up leaving a big hole in the wall. My solution was to pull this wooden postcard out of my leftover scrapbooking supplies (it came in a kit from ScrapInStyleTV, one that Kristina Contes put together); I loved it but had never found anything to do with it. Add a simple wooden frame and it makes the perfect cover for that spot, plus it adds a touch of art to the room.
Here's a shot of the final room. Of all the rooms in our house, this one is the closest to being complete (well, as complete as things can get in a rental). The only thing remaining that I'd like to do is replace the set of mini-blinds with a roll-up rattan shade -- I think it will do much the same job as the baskets do: introduce some additional texture and play up the browns in the shower curtain.
