The Interior and Antique shop- recent pics

Today, I added lots of pillows and took some pictures with my "good" camera. Tomorrow will come the finished grey "furniture flip" tables and some needlepoint area rugs.

Here is today's look!


pretty gaming table with a collection of silver trays



Sweet bird cage chandelier... tomorrow it gets an Edison bulb!

Great clear ghost chair with a silk ikat pillow from Turkey.

I love my bird cage display/storage shelf!

Mirrors will always look contemporary when they are hung in a geometric pattern... every fussy and shabby chic ones like these!

Collection of rustic crosses range in size from 10" to 15" in height!

Back to School: The Dorm - Junior

Junior year... everything at school is old hat... real life is still a year away... it's your Hellenistic Period! During this time you learn who you are, change your major to what you really want to be, have a crisis on consciousness and come out stronger.
My favorite dorm decor from my junior year was the time I hung and entire bouquet from the ceiling, individually no less with push pins and fishing line. It gave the illusion of an upside down flower garden.

Light weight items can easily me hung form the ceiling, even if the ceiling is a drop ceiling. Push pins can easily push in the drop ceiling and are undetectable when removed. if you would rather not use push pins, you can go with hooks for suspended ceilings. They simply clip onto the splines, or grid, of the ceiling

 There are so many great ceiling adornments and they are great for adding height to a space which is hard in a dorm. Here are some great ideas for adding height to a room!



Tassels are a great way to add color and movement in a dorm room. This tassel garland from The Flair Exchange on Etsy adds some bling with the addition of gold tassels.

Eco-friendly cardboard chandelier from Seequin on Etsy! A fun addition for over your bed or desk... or if you dorm room is big enough, the dance floor!

school colors, greek colors, club colors - these tissue pom poms from Hope Decor on Etsy are great for adding to the ceiling! Hang them at different heights, all the same or in a cluster, like a cloud!

Pennant banners make a great addition to a space. You can hang them from the ceiling, or across your bulletin board, as a headboard. The fabrics also aids in absorbing sounds in a space, which is great for a dorm! This yellow and grey banner is from Sugar Owl Designs on Etsy.

Using the ceiling clips would be a must for these guys, but how awesome would a hanging garden be in your dorm! This orb terrarium comes from The Succulent Garden from Etsy!

Neutral no more- adding color to your home interiors- part 2

The second part of my adding color to a neutral interior space address a family room/den area. (To see part one of the series click here). In this typical neutral cream to taupe space, I have chosen complimentary colors to accent the space in blue and red-orange. As in the previous space, I have used olioboard.com to create the space. This color palette can take a room to an Americana space, Eastern influenced space, or can go quite modern. I have gone with a hybrid of Eastern and Americana.

With the simple addition of changing the accent pieces I have taken the ivory walls, sisal rug and cream sofa to a brighter, polished finish with blue wing back chairs, on trend patterned pillows with blue and white, tones of orange red in the lamp bases and a bronze Brown cut work bowl with a blue lining. Could this space go further to add color? Surely, but for the color timid, this is a great start by adding small changeable color pieces and practically neutral blue chairs.

If you are interested in any of the item's on this board, I would love to tell you more about them! Simply drop me an email at LaurlSelf@gmail.com, I would love to hear from you.

Chandelier project

My Sunday project this week was a chandelier shipped with the wrong finish. Below is a before and after of the finish. The chandelier needed a creamy white finish with just a little rust showing through. It came with a lot of rust and a little white showing.
So with liquitex in white, yellow orche and phthalo blue
liquitex medium
water
a wide brush
a  few sea sponges
This finish was created!

I started by mixing the white and blue and medium in a 1:1:1 ratio and lightly sponging the chandelier in about 30 spots generally over the surface
Then I mixed white, yellow ochre and medium in a 10:1:10 ratio (in otherword very little ochre) to slightly tint the white to a warm white. This I thinned with water and sponged the entire surface intentionally leaving some of the rust in the veining and on the bottoms on the curves- where water would normally stay longer.
Lastly, I mixed the white and the medium in a 1:1 ratio and lighting went back over the peice to add some highlights.
The project took about 2 hours to do, 2 hours in my head for planning!

Here is the before and after... what I'm not showing is my manicure- that is a sad tale which will end in polish remover and more polish. There is no recovery when acrylic paint meets nail polish!

Home Office-English style- Turquoise and Chocolate

For my weekly room design, I have taken the home office from my last post (image from country living) and as inspiration for a home office.  It's soft, romantic, and looks highly functional! I choose a chocolate and turquoise as the color palette for my office. Below is the decorators story board including wallpaper, paint, carpet and furnishings. All you need to add you office supplies!

The home office- English style

                                               photo credit: Keith Scott Morton

What a great home office from Country Living! Often the problem with a home office is the clutter and the make do attitude to the space. This space has none of that- pretty, a bit formal, and functional.
 Here are some tips inspired by this room for your home office.
1. Storage- lovely small cabinet in the back can conceal your papers, wireless printer, routers and other messy minutiae.. or an office bar!
2. Color- An office does not have to be  devoid of color. Color can be inspiring, soothing or invigorating. Find a color palette that you love and go to town. I love the English looking  wallpaper in rose, charteuese and chocolate from Osborne and Little. Such a great starting point for the rose color upholstry and the chartreuse office chair.
3. Function- One of the reasons this office is so function is the ability of the furnishings to serve more than one purpose. Th small footstools can also double as small group seating and the side chair is a nce way to get away from your desk to read. The accessories in the space allow for a place for the mail or working papers. The desk houses just enough space for a laptop and room to store the footstools underneath.
4. Lighting- The two windows afford great natural light and the heavy drapes afford light control. The desk light is large enough for true task lighting. The chandelier  seem to be more for looks than function, but would give off nice ambient light in the evenings.
5. Pattern- I love mixing patterns, when they are mixed well and this room mixes them well. Dark on the walls, light on the floor, both patterns of equal size. The drapes are a tonal stripe, which works as a neutral in the room and the velvets, though not patterns, provide texture from grounding the space.

Scroll to Top