good morning, saturday

or, rather, good afternoon.

Are you ready for some good things?  This week's links come courtesy of my wanderings around Pinterest.

{spotted here and already sold by gollybard on etsy}

Check out this terrific amazing awesome recreation of Up (which I once posted about here) by National Geographic, highlighted in the weekly Pinterest newsletter.  You should also look at this Pinterest board form Brandi of Not Your Average Ordinary, because I'm sure you will walk away feeling motivated to do something great, or at least with a smile.  I also like this stairway, pinned here and from there.  I like walls and furnishings and a lot of nontraditional writing surfaces covered in words.  Sometime last year, on a whim and in a flurry of some stressed-out emotion, I painted a quote from Les Mis on my bedroom wall at my parents' home, with just a little brush and some dripping paint.  I don't think I even covered my bed, which thankfully did not get paint on it...but I digress. I was reading Housekeeping this morning and feel full of descriptive phrases at present, which may explain my sudden interest in well-crafted phrases this morning.

Have a lovely Saturday.

a tidy workspace

 

 

workarea | Flickr - Photo Sharing!.

In the office, I'm pretty good at keeping my space neat.  Right now, it's a different story while I sort through archives, but at home, it's another story.  I try, I really do, but I'm not  so good at organizing.  Owning a dresser and a closet bigger than a suitcase (I do exaggerate a wee bit on the closet space here) would be great, but as long as we live in apartments, storage will be limited, which makes my right-brained self even less able to keep tidy.

So I always find neat and organized creative spaces to be amazing.  Like, do people actually live that cleanly? sort of amazing.  I'm sure C. wishes I was a bit more neat, but hey mister, I wish you were a little more neat yourself.  Maybe we can learn from people who keep their houses so perfectly sorted.

(meanwhile, I partly hope that these people aren't quite so neat all the time, so I can feel a little better about the not-really-folded fabric and stacks of completely unsorted paper stuck in a plastic bin at present)

To see more organized and pretty creative spaces, check out my favorite-ed photos on Flickr here or look at the "Pretty Organized" group on Flickr.  Warning: you may feel an early spring cleaning coming on.

for the home

While browsing the internet, I find such lovely spaces.  I imagine what my home could be like, knowing all the while that as much as I love old homes with a wabi-sabi aesthetic, owning one is neither wise nor probable at this current phase in my life.  Still, I do think our someday-home will be slowly but surely filled with found pieces, meaningful art, and plenty of handmade bits.

I'd love to find a piece like this one from CherryMenLove (which my bestest friend Kat shared with me), or like this one, only piled with a soft mattress and pillows and probably covered in books.

{by larajanepark on flickr, who has some other beautiful photos, by the way}

This bed is awfully pretty, too.

{by NathanaelB on Flickr, whose photostream shows some pretty interesting looking travel!}

I'd love a library as well, but with an enormous sofa instead of chair like the ones here (not quite my style, I'm afraid).

{by Stewickie on Flickr}

I'd have a china cabinet full of new pieces like this...

{by Lisa Stickley London}

...and there'd be a bunch of older pieces, like the turquoise pyrex set I picked up at Peddler's Mall a year or so ago, and there'd be the new and lovely set of cups and saucers my aunt gave me at Christmas, and I think they'd all be in something like this...

{by mvwoodworking on Etsy}

I might stick a whimsy shelf like this in a corner.

{by woodcurve on Etsy}

And maybe, just maybe, I'll have a ridiculously gorgeous and perfectly lovely home, if I don't get carried away by a few too many whims and fancies that have no hope of matching (as I am quite prone to doing).

House-hunting tomorrow...I'll let you know how it goes!

Can I live here, though, please?

definitely want to do this #2: done!

I have looked for a nice comforter for our bed.

I had one that was the right weight and size, but according to Cory, it was a little bit too feminine (probably true).  So I had the idea in my head to make a duvet cover.

I finally got around to it on Thursday.  I had fabric (a gift), a king-sized flat sheet, and a twin-sized flat sheet, none of which were in use.  I followed (loosely) this tutorial from design*sponge, particularly to use the french seams.  I'm so glad I did, because the entire project looks more finished.  Now with a bit of straightening up, we'll have quite a nice looking room.

our home - a set on Flickr

I also had some fun decorating our bathroom.  More on that later...

ventures into the blogosphere: snippet and ink, etc.

I took a nostalgic trip back to wedding planning and looked at the weekend links on Snippet&Ink.

One sent me here and then I found these beauties:



Baroque Bookshelves, Home Accessories | Graham and Green Home Accents

They're so stinking nifty.  I'd love to take some plain boxes and put frames around them to replicate the effect, hopefully for less than forty-five pounds (whatever that may presently be in in dollars).

room envy: lots of shelves

i want this room



via Made by Girl

I like shelves.  I prefer them to closets and boxes any day.  You can see what you need (or put a door on if you don't want to), they have plenty of little caddies, and you don't have to do that annoying pull-one-box-down-to-get-another stacking thing.

Plus, there's fabric on the shelves, and heaven knows I need more of that.

...

What?  I don't need more?  I should use what I have?  What is this nonsense?

(meanwhile, I'm off to resume my current project, a fabric cover for the plastic stacking drawers that my clothes will be stored in until we move into a more permanent residence where we won't mind carrying furniture up the stairs quite so much. teeheehee.)

currently loving: doily!

How fun is this?

Handmade Mega Doily Rug by ladiesandgentlemen on Etsy.

now to find six hundred dollars...

never mind.

found via creature comforts

colorful storage

See the storage box? I have it! I got a few of them at the bridal shower :) I plan to fill each with crafts and stationery. Maybe having such things in pretty containers will remind me to use them now? Of course, if C and I were living in one place full time, it would be easier. For the next few months, we'll be on the road a lot, making a living.

via decor8

loving: blue and white and birds

came upon this tonight: seesaw designs (via Oh, Hello Friend, a very favorite blog).



I'm in love.  Seriously.

If I had oodles of money and time, this would be my house, apart from the wallpaper.  I still hate wallpaper.  Christmas break 2003.  January 2003.  Etc. IT NEVER ENDED!  My parents' house was all done in wallpaper--lovely wallpaper, but faded and peeling--that we tore down over several months.  Someone neglected to prime under the paper, so it was a mess.  That middle school memory will forever stay with me and prevent me from hanging wallpaper in the interest of future generations.

But all that aside, wouldn't the bag and pillow found over on this post be fantastic?

Oi, I should stop already, loves.  I am getting too far ahead of myself.