Visit:
www.design-seeds.com
www.daveandjoi.blogspot.com
www.twoseekhome.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label The Plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Plan. Show all posts
4/23/11
Good Idea #29: Color Inspiration
This Friday Joi over at Nuestra Vida Dulce shared with her readers the color paradise that is design seeds. You may know that husband and I are looking to buy a house in the (we hope) near future. So there may be a lot of painting and decorating for us in upcoming months. When that day comes, I'll be returning to design seeds for some serious inspiration!
Visit:
www.design-seeds.com
www.daveandjoi.blogspot.com
www.twoseekhome.blogspot.com
Visit:
www.design-seeds.com
www.daveandjoi.blogspot.com
www.twoseekhome.blogspot.com
2/9/11
Good Idea #20: Two Free Projects
We're getting to the point in our lives when we're thinking about buying a house. The lease on our apartment is up in a few months so in hopes that we might not have to renew we're saving like crazy. This means we're working on a zero dollar decorating budget. Here are two quick updates that I did this week without spending a dime:
I am always up for some good shelving. Unfortunately floating shelves haven't ended up being a priority in our decorating budget. I decided, money or not, I really wanted a shelf above the little desk that we have in our bedroom. So I made one out of a cardboard box. I had a really sturdy shoebox lying around, so I simply cut the end off the cover, angled the corners and covered it with my favorite sturdy wrapping paper from Ikea. Covering the corners was a little tricky and took some patience, but it's hung pretty high up so you can't see the imperfections. Of course a cardboard shelf doesn't do much for our book collection, but it makes a perfect little decorative display for some photo mats and a little mahogany buffalo.
I think it adds a little height and interest to the wall over the desk.
We've also had this big blank wall in our apartment for the two and a half years that we've lived in this apartment:
This September we bought two large photographs of Zion National Park for ourselves for our first wedding anniversary. They came mounted on museum board but not framed. For the last five months they've been sitting in our bedroom just waiting for a mischievous cat to take a good swipe at them. Needless to say we've been getting pretty anxious to get them up on the wall, but with no budget for custom framing I had to resort to other methods. There was no way I was going to ruin the photos or museum board with double stick tape or by sticking tacks through it, so I ended up simply tacking the top and bottom of the pictures with nails:
It ended up working really well and is a great temporary way to get the photos off the floor and fill that empty wall at the same time.
Little things like this freshen up and add new life to a living space and of course save money for bigger and better things!
And... Click here for four more quick and easy project ideas on ApartmentTherapy.com.
I am always up for some good shelving. Unfortunately floating shelves haven't ended up being a priority in our decorating budget. I decided, money or not, I really wanted a shelf above the little desk that we have in our bedroom. So I made one out of a cardboard box. I had a really sturdy shoebox lying around, so I simply cut the end off the cover, angled the corners and covered it with my favorite sturdy wrapping paper from Ikea. Covering the corners was a little tricky and took some patience, but it's hung pretty high up so you can't see the imperfections. Of course a cardboard shelf doesn't do much for our book collection, but it makes a perfect little decorative display for some photo mats and a little mahogany buffalo.
I think it adds a little height and interest to the wall over the desk.
We've also had this big blank wall in our apartment for the two and a half years that we've lived in this apartment:
This September we bought two large photographs of Zion National Park for ourselves for our first wedding anniversary. They came mounted on museum board but not framed. For the last five months they've been sitting in our bedroom just waiting for a mischievous cat to take a good swipe at them. Needless to say we've been getting pretty anxious to get them up on the wall, but with no budget for custom framing I had to resort to other methods. There was no way I was going to ruin the photos or museum board with double stick tape or by sticking tacks through it, so I ended up simply tacking the top and bottom of the pictures with nails:
It ended up working really well and is a great temporary way to get the photos off the floor and fill that empty wall at the same time.
Little things like this freshen up and add new life to a living space and of course save money for bigger and better things!
And... Click here for four more quick and easy project ideas on ApartmentTherapy.com.
1/5/11
Good Idea #10: New Year's Resolutions
I mentioned before Thanksgiving that I wanted to Take Advantage of the Holidays this year and I think I've done a pretty good job. At Thanksgiving I kept track of the things that I am thankful for, at Christmas I gave, although there is always more we can give, and now at the start of the new year I'm making some resolutions.
1. Watch less television. We don't even have cable, and I still manage to watch hours of TV on some days. Now mind you, this isn't the sitting-around-staring-at-Judge Judy-doing-a-whole-lot-of-nothing kind of TV watching we're talking about here, but it's not much better. I think I've just become accustomed to the sound of voices in the house, especially when I'm home alone. The problem is, whether it's The Today Show, reruns of I Dream of Jeannie or the news, it can be distracting. Especially when your daily chores are things like laundry, dishes and vacuuming it's easy to procrastinate when Matt Lauer is talking about dog wardrobes for winter. So this year I'll be leaving the TV for movie nights and other such special occasions and, I hope, getting a whole lot more done.
2. Save more money. I hope that in the near future I will be able to quit barista-dom once and for all in the interest of focusing on writing, school and family. However, choosing to enter the world of the starving artist takes a little practice. Living off one salary will be a little bit tight, and if we want to continue saving for a house it will have to be even tighter. So with my new found time from watching less TV, I will plan our budget more carefully, clip coupons and hunt for bargains. Save more money now, worry less later.
3. Read more. For someone with a degree-and-a-half in English (yeah, that's right), my Goodreads list is pretty pathetic. To make matters works, Portland has pretty much the worlds best bookstore and I've had very little opportunity to take advantage of it. But, in the interest of resolution #2, I'll start by reading all the unread books I've collected over the past few years and go from there.
4. Write more. I want to be a writer, so I should probably be writing... right? Yeah, probably. I've been saying for a while now that the key to writing is to do it every day. Well, what better time than the new year to start sticking to it.
5. Be more conscious of what I eat. This isn't a weight-loss kind of thing, but rather a health kind of thing. When your second resolution is save more money, eating nothing but pasta and potatoes sounds like a pretty good idea. Fresh vegetables, lean chicken and fish, not so much. But there must be some kind of balance and I aim to find it.
6. Exercise more. When you pull a muscle reaching for something on the top shelf, you should probably be taking advantage of those yoga dvds you have lying around. Just saying.
7. Leave the house every day. I have this problem where I REALLY like being at home. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to like to be at home; the home should be a sacred space. But leaving the house at least once encourages things like exercising and socializing... and putting on real clothes. I think these are good things to aspire to.
8. Learn more about design. I've always had an interest in design, but for some reason it has never occurred to me that I could do anything with it other than redecorate my bedroom. This year, I plan to make a full-blown hobby out of it and if it takes me nowhere else, at least I will have the most awesome house in town.
9. and 10. I don't want to jinx it. All I'm saying is, if I stick to these resolutions 2011 will be a very good year.
1. Watch less television. We don't even have cable, and I still manage to watch hours of TV on some days. Now mind you, this isn't the sitting-around-staring-at-Judge Judy-doing-a-whole-lot-of-nothing kind of TV watching we're talking about here, but it's not much better. I think I've just become accustomed to the sound of voices in the house, especially when I'm home alone. The problem is, whether it's The Today Show, reruns of I Dream of Jeannie or the news, it can be distracting. Especially when your daily chores are things like laundry, dishes and vacuuming it's easy to procrastinate when Matt Lauer is talking about dog wardrobes for winter. So this year I'll be leaving the TV for movie nights and other such special occasions and, I hope, getting a whole lot more done.
2. Save more money. I hope that in the near future I will be able to quit barista-dom once and for all in the interest of focusing on writing, school and family. However, choosing to enter the world of the starving artist takes a little practice. Living off one salary will be a little bit tight, and if we want to continue saving for a house it will have to be even tighter. So with my new found time from watching less TV, I will plan our budget more carefully, clip coupons and hunt for bargains. Save more money now, worry less later.
3. Read more. For someone with a degree-and-a-half in English (yeah, that's right), my Goodreads list is pretty pathetic. To make matters works, Portland has pretty much the worlds best bookstore and I've had very little opportunity to take advantage of it. But, in the interest of resolution #2, I'll start by reading all the unread books I've collected over the past few years and go from there.
4. Write more. I want to be a writer, so I should probably be writing... right? Yeah, probably. I've been saying for a while now that the key to writing is to do it every day. Well, what better time than the new year to start sticking to it.
5. Be more conscious of what I eat. This isn't a weight-loss kind of thing, but rather a health kind of thing. When your second resolution is save more money, eating nothing but pasta and potatoes sounds like a pretty good idea. Fresh vegetables, lean chicken and fish, not so much. But there must be some kind of balance and I aim to find it.
6. Exercise more. When you pull a muscle reaching for something on the top shelf, you should probably be taking advantage of those yoga dvds you have lying around. Just saying.
7. Leave the house every day. I have this problem where I REALLY like being at home. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to like to be at home; the home should be a sacred space. But leaving the house at least once encourages things like exercising and socializing... and putting on real clothes. I think these are good things to aspire to.
8. Learn more about design. I've always had an interest in design, but for some reason it has never occurred to me that I could do anything with it other than redecorate my bedroom. This year, I plan to make a full-blown hobby out of it and if it takes me nowhere else, at least I will have the most awesome house in town.
9. and 10. I don't want to jinx it. All I'm saying is, if I stick to these resolutions 2011 will be a very good year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
