Going back to school- the new girl behind the teacher's desk

The school year, for the local colleges, starts this week and this year I will begin on the path of a long term goal, heading back into the class room as an instructor. Adjunct today, hopefully a permanent position in the future!


I am very excited at the opportunities to work at both University of Alabama, teaching AutoCAD, and Samford University co-teaching design and graphic fundamentals for interior design.


I foresee many of stretch goals in the near future, but I also foresee the camaraderie I so miss from working on a team!

Lastly, I foresee a different way of eating! On two days a week, I have 10 minutes for lunch. Two other days, I am teaching during my normal dinner... them driving an hour back home.  I decided on soups for lunch because drinking your lunch seems easy and time- effective, and I have these fab Klean Kanteens that will hold hot soups. The challenge will be getting an endless variety of soups that I like without making the same kinds every other week. So, I will be posting my journey of soups on my other blog, Sweet Home Flavors. Please click on the blog title to see my journey!

Laurl Self is named one of the Best 15 Interior Designers in Birmingham

I am so excited to be voted as one of the top interior designers in Birmingham by builddirect.com
You can vote for the best of the best, too! It's easy, just click on the link below and choose me!

VOTE HERE!  Below are some of my greatest hits of the past few months!

Chairsh is the word! My newest vintage home accessory selections

I have joined the Chairish community with some of special vintage selections. These gorgeous items have links below to Chairish!

Versatile Danish Modern candlesticks designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk

The elegant curves interlink to create a tight or a long line of candles. {BUY ME!}

Or they can be arranged short and wide. These candlesticks are 5" tall and 4.25" wide. {BUY ME!}

Who's got the handsomest mug? This guy! {TAKE HIM HOME!}

This pair of bookends are perfect for dog lovers and book lovers! Best of all the white ceramic bookends add brightness and light to a dark bookcase. {BUY ME}

Red Murano glass bowl, functional, practical, pretty! {BUY ME!}

This bowl features the aventurine, which is silver or gold flecks in the glass. {BUY ME!}

The murano bowl also have a bullicante pattern between the red and clear glass. This pattern of air bubbles makes a fibonacci spiral! {BUY ME!}

Miriam Haskell pearl earrings. Simplicity at it's best! {BUY ME!}

Historic Preservation- a tour at the newest project at The University of Montevallo

I am working on a historic house project, at the University of Montevallo. Montevallo is a lovely town filled with houses from many eras starting with pre-civil war through to a delish modern house with glass walls.

The King House is a pre-civil war house dates to 1840’s and was the first house in Shelby County to have glass windows. The style of the house is called an I-house with two rooms downstairs and three rooms upstairs. The kitchen is detached, as is typical in houses of this vintage. It keeps the house cool and can aid in preventing fires in the house.

My focus on this project so far has been the living room and the fireplaces. The living room needed an update with more modern fabrics to give it a home-y bed and breakfast feel, while keeping the classical style in the furnishings. We choose a soothing french grey and aqua palette that complimented the wood tones in the house and the french grey woodwork.

The fireplaces, which are not working, were updated with unglazed porcelain logs. The logs nodded to the use of the fireplace with the white porcelain nodding to the "unconventional" art school reputation of the school. 

Next on the list of updates for this project is the rugs, and upstairs soft furniture!

2015 Birmingham Decorator show house

Perspective. Copyright: Laurl Designs

I am super excited to be chosen as one of the designers to participate in the 2015 Decorator show house! I am, also, really excited about the space I have been chosen to design.

I designed two spaces for the bidding process and which ever design I was working on was the design I loved best. So, I could not be happier to bring you the coolest "back hall" you will have seen!

To the left is a composite image of the space with the orange desk, vintage metal ceiling tiles on the wall, Sweater carpet from FLOR and black and white art work above the desk. The chair is the lead singer in this band! With a mix of pink and orange fabrics on a vintage chair of soft olive, she is a standout.

I am calling the back hall "the nerve center of the house" beacuse it is where you chart everyone's activities, plan meals, and organize life. And, organizing life can be messy at times, so I am adding organization tools that are cool, industrial and vintage and combining them with a classic desk that you can close when you don't want to see all the papers. The space can be used as a sitting area, as well as function in the more mundane back hall aspects, like storing the dog's leash and your coats.

Board 1. Copyright: Laurl Designs
Fun colors in pink and orange plays well with white and cream... and always a little lucite!

Best of all this space is about green design and great design. Beside the great design of function, function and function ( by the way the FUN in function is the colors), this space is designed to be budget friendly and green with each piece made from recycled materials, vintage (i.e. second hand) pieces, or from plant based materials and most are source locally. This space shows that green design doesn't have to be sterile and boring... or earthy and dirt colored.

Board 2. Copyright Laurl Designs
Luxe flokati rug over white bench with silver dipped legs, cool industrial coat rack and a custom file cabinet for storage .

Speaking of color, this space is color theory at work with bright colors to energize whomever is working in the space on possibly less than exciting tasks. Of course, bring colors and me together means pink and orange... or should I say PINK and ORANGE.  It's bright and tempered at the same time. It is neutralized by a lovely light olive and lots of shades of white. The whites and creams brings a freshness, light and a sense of better organization to calm the mind. Welcome to the "Nerve Center" of the 2015 Decorator Show House!

Workroom tour - my re-imagined work space

Color, color, color! I love to see the array of ribbons and twine.

I don't actually call my workroom a craft room. However, I realize that to most people, it looks like a craft room. It has crafting supplies, art supplies, gift wrap and lots and lots of scissors! By whatever name you choose, I have some ideas and inspirations to share from my remade work space.

The dining table, cleaned and ready for pricing linens. Check out that fab chair I found at a private estate sale!

This space is actually the dining room and for the first time in two years, I cleaned it out for Christmas dinner. This major cleanout allowed me to rethink how I use the space and how I want to use the space. I like the wood top on the dining table, but it is not a sealed finished and I want to protect it from paint, markers and abuse. So, pricing linens was going to be the last thing I did before covering it.

Goodbye nice wood tabletop, hello vintage cardboard cutting board.

TIP: using a cardboard cutting board not only protects my table top, but because it is for cutting out dress patterns, it has a grid and measurements. I use the yardage measurements to measure twine and ribbon I am cutting and it's a great tool for quickly checking the size of something without getting out a ruler.

 The room needed to work for storing my vintage items that I sell online and items that are waiting to be listed or sent to my antique shop. Ideally, I would like these shelves to be able to separate online store items, brick and mortar store items and just purchased items. But I am not there yet. 

Admittedly, this looks a bit jumbled, but it is actually arranged for easy access to the items, which are stacked in a way to protect them from damage.

And really, the "just purchased" items need to live with the cleaning supplies that I use for rehabbing them. Again, not there yet.

The "to be solds" cleaning supplies, art supplies, fabric books for my design business and photo props

 I also needed to store everything I sell in my paper goods online store. I store my paper goods in a "Pick and Pack" system, so that I can quickly find the size, shape, and color I need for each item. This is a great store owner solution that I picked up from a big online retailer! I prepackage items and store them together so that I can quickly ship. I feel very Henry Ford when I am packaging them. It's also a great "down time" or "thinking time" project, too. When I do not have a project brewing, or I need to stew on a project, counting out doilies is a useful way to clear your head and re-focus. It's also a great time management practice to package everything when I get them in stock rather than when they are ordered.

Vintage metal drawer boxes, paper drawer boxes and clear drawer shoe boxes- all easy access storage. The turquoise paper sorter was spray painted to add color and store 10 inch doilies.

I want to package my items to ship from here, as well as do photo shoots here. A shipping center is a must for this space.

A collection of black and white art acts as a foil to the brightly colored ribbons and twine. And, they look great when the table is in the center of the room as the dining table.

Poly bags are stored, sorted by size, in a rack that I also use when I do outdoor shows. It's easy to empty the rack for a show and I don't have to store and empty rack somewhere for other 350 days in the year. It is still looking for a permanent home, for now, it's by the window.

Dual use vintage store display. perfect for storing shipping bags and works great for outdoor art shows.

Photo shoots are a preferred task for this space. This room gets great light and the table is by the window. I am working on a new method of photographing items, so I think this will be a good fit. I can store backgrounds beside the bookshelf, like the lovely antique enamel ceiling tile (above), and the camera can live on the tripod here. I found that shooting in natural light requires a slower shutter speed and a more stable grip than my hands!

Love a Sapien bookcase (also known as a spine bookcase) it is invisible when in use and keeps all book accessible! Check out my post on this fantastic bookcase HERE.

My lovely, Spanish, mid-century umbrella stand is holding my pre-packaged kraft gift wrapping paper. Eventually, I will find the perfect spot to store my 12 inch cardboard squares that are the shipping support for my 12 inch doilies... for now, they live by the wrapping paper. I have moved a bed for my schnauzer under my work table for the cold weather this week. He does not come in my workroom, normally. And even with a bed in here, he seems uninterested in the temptation of spending some quality sleeping time at my feet.

A new use for an unused item from the past. Umbrella stands are not much in use these days, but they make a great storage piece for rolls of paper and would be a fun addition to any craft or gift wrap room!

Do you have a great work room to share, please post a link below!

Best selling brass is back- vintage faves return to the shop

I have just added two of my best sellers back to the vintage store on ETSY! I love finding these items and offering them to you.

Brass pineapple box is the best. It's a storage box, ice bucket, candle holder and all around perfect house warming gift!

These graduated brass candlestick work on thier own, mixed in flowers and table scapes... they are perfect for holiday gatherings!

Buying great vintage items is the best of living green! You will find them to be better made, stronger, and less expensive than their contemporary counterparts.

Easy Flower Arranging- breaking down the big one

For the past several years, I have been helping with an art auction that benefits the University of Montevallo scholarships for art students.

Part of my job includes the floral centerpeice. I'm no florist, but I'm not afraid to cut some stems and stick them in oasis foam.

This years them was shades of purple and gold. Since purple is a great color to find a variety of flowers,it was perfect for the shades of purple!


It doesn't look like my original inspirations arrangements, but I still love to look to Pinterest to find great inspiration!



I assumed everyone breaks down a large arrangement into smaller arrangements after an event was over. Flowers are not made to live in oasis for long. However, some folks seem surprised that I would do that. I guess the assumption is that once you go to the trouble of making an arrangement, you would want to keep it in that form.

Here are the flowers I was working with... the theme of the event was shades of purple and gold, our school colors. There are also to small cabbages from my yard in the arrangement.

So,  I thought I would share two of my arrangements from the larger arrangement. For tips on how I generally do arrangements check out this post HERE! And to see my inspiration for this year's arrangement, check out this post HERE.

The spray roses, caspia, and a purple cabbage from my yard

Since making the arrangement for this event for the University of Montevallo was not something I would bill my hourly for and the container was one from my antique space, the only cost was the flowers, which came in at under $80! That's a lot of look for 80 bucks!

Lilies, caspia, and some spray roses

The key to both of these arragments is to make one type of flower the stare of the arrangement and the rest as the back-up dancers. Each arrangement have different stars, so they relate, but do not look like the original arrangement or like each other!

When re-arranging flowers that have been in a less than ideal environment, remember to re-cut the stems and change the water frequently. You don't drink three day old water, why would your flowers want to either. To prolong their great good looks, keep them away from direct sun and heat sources, like the TV or other heat producers.

New FLOR rug patterns for Fall

I have loved FLOR rugs for many years... yes, I spelled that right F-L-O-R. For the uninitiated, they make carpet squares, but not just any ol' office carpet. Their rug tiles are made from recycled fibers, are recyclable, and come is so many styles and piles! I especially love the vintage styles, like Ambrosia in Magenta above!

I love them so much, I used them on the condo that was featured on the cover of Birmingham Home and Garden magazine this January. This space features Reoriented in Teal.

So, when they emailed with new styles of their modern take of a vintage pattern... I was all in!

Check out the new collection called Intricacy!

Love!

Love!

Love!