Garage Studio Makeover

My hiatus from blogging has been due largely in part to this garage turned studio makeover. I've been wanting to take on more food and product photography work and felt that a studio space at home would enable me to get more done, especially at night. 

My hope was to create an inspiring space while still embracing the industrial feel of the garage. I dedicated a pinterest board and created a mood board before starting the process. It helped to have all of my ideas and inspiration in one place.

After painting and power washing the garage (I could go the rest of my life without painting another ceiling, letmetellyou), it was time for the fun part! Lots of decorating and re-purposing. My most favorite elements are my great grandma's vintage ceramic table and the painting on my desk created by my niece, Addie.

Without further ado, I present you with my new workspace!

I made most of the word art, with the exception of the lovely "With brave wings she flies", which was made by the uber talented, Danielle Burkleo. Rugs, wall ledge, picture wire and clips, white tables and graphic pillows are from Ikea. Most everything else you see was re-purposed from my college apartment.

Right now the other side of the garage looks like this:

I have some studio lighting and a variety of backdrops arriving this week that will need to be set up. I hope to use the table for product and food photography.

Some things I still want to do to the space:

- Put up new ceiling lights (maybe something on a track)
- Add a screen to the opening of the garage for when I work at night
- Paint the door that goes into the house black or a fun color like red or turquoise
- Paint the chairs to the vintage table a high gloss bright yellow


I'm really looking forward to working in this space!

Dining Room Makeover: Stage One

You may have noticed that I've been on a budget design kick lately. I've been freshening things up using paint, some inexpensive elements like fresh flowers and indoor plants and lots of elbow grease. It's made a huge difference in our home this spring.

I'm very sensitive to the environment that I live in. As the daughter of an interior designer, I believe it's in my genes. I don't feel like myself if the space that I live in isn't put together. We live in a fairly small home, so every inch counts when it comes to decorating our space.

Our latest makeover has made the biggest impact thus far. First, I must explain a little about our former dining room... This was the space that got the least love when we moved in. Since this room is tucked away in the back of our house, it was left neglected. Oh, and for some reason I thought painting the room a dark color would make it feel more formal? Not my best idea.

Our dining room pretty much gave me heart palpitations. It felt like a small crowded brown dungeon. I was craving some light with space to entertain in. That's where the idea of building a banquette or adding a settee and rotating the table came in. We figured this would give us a few feet of extra space (and boy were we right!).

I was certain that the cost to add a banquette/settee was not in the cards for us. It just so happened that the Homegoods gods shined down on us. We found our settee for under $350 and I had a hefty store credit to apply towards the balance. I've made it my mission to sell some of our older furniture and lamps on craigslist to make up the difference in cost. The new chandelier cost us $20 out of pocket, because of a return that we made which offset the price.

The rest of this redesign was a $30 can of paint, and me climbing up and down a ladder 165 times to paint the room. All totally worth it in the end, though.

I call this "Stage One" because there are some things I would like to add. A neutral runner down the center of the table, two large natural fabric throw pillows to flank each end of the settee (maybe with a pop of color), a light colored area rug for under the table and some wine storage.

My next project will be to tackle the big empty wall pictured below. I'm hoping to find a long buffet at a thrift store that I can refurbish. I'd like to add a large gallery wall of white frames with some of my favorite photography.

Overall I'm really happy with the room. It honestly feels like we put an addition on our house! I'll be sure to check in with stage two down the road.

Christmas via Instagram

This weekend we decorated our humble abode for the holidays. Jake and I danced around the house to the Pandora Christmas station - each of us singing our hearts out. Jake's rendition of Mariah Carey's, "All I want for Christmas" could surely skyrocket him into Youtube stardom.

   I snapped some instagrams of our decorations. I failed to get a photo of Penelope in her Christmas PJs. I promise I will try my best to capture this before the season is over, it's a must see.

P.S. If you're wondering why the bottom 2 feet of our tree remain ornamentless? Her name starts with a P and ends with enelope.

DIY: Cafe Corner

There has been a corner of our kitchen that's been crying out for some serious TLC. Per usual, the Pinterest gods answered my prayers with a fun and easy way to spruce up our sad little corner. I saw this pin that was originally pinned from here - and the lightbulb went on!

I decided to take our coffee pot and single cup coffee maker and relocate them to create a cafe corner. This was doubly awesome because it freed up counter space (where the coffee maker once sat) and cabinet space (where the mugs and cream and sugar used to be).

I bought the ledge with hooks (which fit my favorite teas perfectly) at Homegoods and the wall letters are from Hobby Lobby.

The before picture below was taken when we still had all of the beautiful holiday cards that we received on display in the arched entryway of our kitchen.

The best part, was enjoying my first cup of coffee from our no longer sad cafe corner.

Weekend Project: Creating a Gallery Wall

I have a passion for photography and love to hang my favorite images around our home. Gallery walls are a great way to add a personal touch to any space. I learned a lot through trial and error in creating our gallery walls and thought I would share some tips that I gathered along the way.

Some Inspiration:

If you aren't comfortable improvising, the below templates (via Pinterest) are a good place to start.

The gallery wall pictured below hangs in our upstairs hallway. Originally, I purchased just the flower paintings, but they felt too small in scale once they were up on the wall. I added some photos from our engagement shoot and prints that I found on etsy to liven things up.

 

 

Our wedding song lyrics, "To Make You Feel My Love" Found in Texas Girl Designs' Etsy Shop

  

Found in CJ Print's Etsy Shop 

The gallery wall below hangs in our master bedroom. We had photos from our wedding, our parent's and grandparent's weddings printed in black and white for a vintage feel. This wall was a labor of love, as I spray painted the majority of these frames - and took longer than expected working on the layout/design of this wall.

 

I just started the latest gallery display in our home (below) in our laundry room/ Penelope's room .

                                               The camera painting can be found here the "rejoice" framed fabric and mirror can be found here

Tips I learned along the way:

1. Ikea is your best friend. If you have one in your area, stock up on frames - they are cheap and come in many different sizes. A gallery wall can look awesome with a variety of eclectic frames, but if you're going for a cohesive look, buy similar frames with the same color matting.

2. Measure and plan ahead. Having an equal distance (usually about 2.5 inches) between each frame gives balance to a grouping. I chose to draw out my groupings, this gave me the freedom to play around with the design before putting any holes in the wall.

3. Don’t get too hung up on being matchy-matchy. Photos taken from different vantage points with a variety of textures can make for an interesting grouping. Also, think outside of the box, you can frame and display anything from baby blankets to varsity letters.

4. Most importantly, take your time and have fun with your gallery wall. Don't get too caught up in making it perfect. Quirkiness and creativity in a gallery can really make it stand out.