Favorite Things In My Town

Today, Centsational Girl is hosting a "favorite things in my town" link party.  Because I think she's fabulous and I also happen to think we live in a cool little town, I decided to join in on the party.

So without further delay, here are my three favorite things about my town of Apex, NC.

{1} The downtown area is rather small, but it's an active downtown with specialty shops and restaurants.  It honestly reminds me of the downtown I grew up in because you can actually do things.  It's not a dying downtown which is energizing and exciting.

Source

{2} I also love that we live super close to Raleigh, but we're able to avoid some of the downfalls of a big city.  It's really the best of both worlds.  You can play in Raleigh and then return home to the quieter side of Apex with its 37,000 residents.

Source

{3}  Finally, my favorite thing about Apex is its history and slogan, "the peak of good living".  The town was founded in 1873 and got its name for being the highest point on the railroad that went through the area.  In fact, Apex is still one of the most intact railroad towns in the state of North Carolina.

Hope you enjoyed my three favorite things about our town!

Not Mellow Yellow

Yesterday started off like any other day...breakfast with The Babe, lunch with The Babe, a trip to Home Depot.  BUT, the way my day ended was not so typical or mellow.

During our visit to Home Depot, we bought all of the supplies we're going to use to refinish The Babe's dresser, including the much debated paint.  Before we left the house, though, I literally snagged a few paint samples out of my stash, threw them up on the wall, and went with the one The Babe touched first.  How's that for throwing caution and paint chips to the wind?  I had just been struggling with the decision so much and finally decided that any action was better than inaction.

The Babe landed on the Sweet Mustard paint chip and soon thereafter Sweet Mustard landed on our driveway.  SIGH.

I could write a full tutorial on how I cleaned up the mess, but I'll spare you.  Just know it wasn't pleasant and if any neighbors witnessed the spectacle, I'm sure they had a good laugh.  Evidently, my moaning and groaning also attracted buzzards because they were flying overhead as I cleaned up the mess.  Maybe they thought I was going to die?

Let's just hope the painting of the dresser goes a smidge better than getting the paint out of the car.  Wish me lots of luck.

PS - When I gave the paint chip to my "guy" at Home Depot, he said, "WOW, that's bright".  I yanked the chip back and headed over to the wall o'chips to debate it again.  But then The Babe started fussing and I remembered my mantra...any action is better than inaction.  Courageously, I handed it back to him and said, "mix it up"!  The whole way home I stressed the choice, but I actually decided I liked the color when I saw it on the concrete.  I think it will look great!  Now, let's just get it on the dresser.  SOON-ISH.

Inspiration Roundup #2

In early August, I did my first inspiration roundup.  If you missed it, you can catch up by clicking here!  For this roundup, I selected a few of my latest Pinterest pins.  I totally plan to do a few of these at some point down the road, and when I do, you'll be one of the first to know!

In the meantime, enjoy looking at these fabulous projects!  I put links to the sources whenever possible (the one bad thing about Pinterest is difficulty tracking down the original blog).  Hopefully, you'll find some inspiration here, too!

{1} Butterflies made out of maps of places you've visited.  I think this would be such a fabulous gift for a newly married couple!  You can buy one on Etsy or I think you could DIY your own version using this similar project from Young House Love.

{2} This crayon monogram would look great in a kids room or playroom, or even as a teacher gift!  The full tutorial can be found over at Chic Cheap Nursery.

{3} A tension rod turned spray bottle holder!  Fabulous idea and super simple way to help keep your cleaners organized.  I couldn't find the original source, but here's my pin source.

{4} I also don't know the original source for these beautiful cafe curtains, but they're my next sewing project once The Babe's room is complete.  Here's my pin source.  Do you think cafe curtains are a good idea for an eat-in-kitchen area?  I've been struggling with a love-hate relationship with cafe curtains, but I'm slowly converting to L-O-V-E.  Anybody with me?

{5} I am really, really digging this oil pan ABC board.  The blogger that created this didn't have an option for magnets on her fridge, so she decided to do this instead.  I think it's a brilliant idea for a kids room or playroom.  Here's my pin source.

{6} Love these simple fabric covered words and I have a full tutorial for you from Maillardville Manor.  It was inspired by the Cougar Town set, and I think the idea would work well in almost any room.  Here's my pin source.

If you're not a follower of The Tall Chick on Pinterest, just click here to begin following!  Also, if you aren't a member of Pinterest and want an invite, just contact me and I'll get one out to you ASAP.

Hope you've enjoyed this inspiration roundup!  Have a great Tuesday!

Curtains, curtains on the...ceiling

Last week, I gave you an update on The Babe's room, and I shared a few pictures of the chevron wall painting project.  If you paid attention, you saw that the bottom photo in that post gave you a sneak peek of the curtains I had blogged about earlier.  I had grand visions of making them myself, but I quickly got discouraged and my mom came to the rescue by outsourcing the project to someone much wiser and handier with a sewing machine!

The curtains were delivered just before our vacation, so literally the night we got back in town we got busy hanging them up.  Well, kind of....  See, I made a bit of a mistake on a very important measurement and we weren't able to hang the curtains on the first try.  BUT, if you know me and my math skills, you wouldn't really be surprised.  I was disappointed, MAD at myself and left searching for an easy way to fix my mistake.  But, I'll get into that a little later.

For now, let's transition over to the rod I used for The Babe's new curtains.  Here's a before picture of her "big girl" room.  See that dormer area way over in the picture with the half-moon window?  The big challenge in this space was figuring out how I could block light from that window.  She's not used to room darkening curtains, but I didn't want to leave the window totally exposed.  I also didn't want to buy a shade for the half-moon window.  So, I tried to think of a way to mount rods following the lines of the dormer, but I just couldn't think of a good way to mount something at the actual window itself.  That pesky little half-moon window was now keeping me awake at night trying to think of a solution.

I spent several weeks thinking about it and finally I started considering hanging the curtains on the room side of the dormer.  This would allow me to block out the light without covering the half-moon window, and it would be a unique feature in her room.  By hanging the curtains on the room side of the dormer, it created a fun little nook to play in and maybe she can even use the curtains someday as her own little stage.

Once I knew where I wanted to hang the curtains, I had to think about how I was actually going to get a rod that would work.  If you've been following my blog for awhile, you already know I have an affinity for making my own rods (like these out of electrical conduit in our living room).  This time, I knew the rod would have to be mounted to the ceiling.  While perusing the internet, I ran across this great ladder system by Girl In Air.  It used plumbing pipe and fittings to hold a ladder and once I saw it, I knew I could use the fittings on the ceiling and have a perfect rod for my dormer area!

If you have a tricky space and need to mount a curtain on the ceiling or even on your wall, you can use this tutorial.  The plumbing pipe is super, super sturdy so it's great with kiddos!

{Materials Needed}
-2 each of 1/2 inch galvanized floor flanges - Both of these were $13.20
-2 each of 1/2 inch x 1.5 inch galvanized steel pipe nipples - Both of these were $1.96
-2 each of 1/2 inch galvanized 90 degree elbows - Both of these were $2.56
-Galvanized plumbing pipe cut to length and rethreaded (they will do this for you at the home improvement store) - I purchased a 10 foot section for $10.92

The total spent on the rod was $28.64.  Not bad considering you can pay way more than that for a rod not nearly as long or substantial.  I swear you could do pull ups from this curtain rod it's so strong!  Also, if you don't want the industrial look of the finish on the pipe, you could totally spray paint it to match your decor (like I spray painted my living room rods).

All of these materials can be found in the plumbing section of your local home improvement store.  Ohh and don't be worried about asking for help in this section.  Based on my experience, the employees at these stores are VERY used to people asking for help with plumbing pipe and they've seen lots of crazy projects made out of this stuff!  So, they won't even blink an eye when you ask for help picking things out and getting your pipe cut and rethreaded.  Promise.

{Assembly & Mounting}
The assembly part of this project is super easy.  You just attach the floor flange to the ceiling.  Just make sure you use an adequate way of securing it to the ceiling since it will be holding up the weight of the pipe and curtains.  We got lucky and ours installed into wood, but if you're going into drywall, make sure you use toggle bolts or anchors.  Once the flanges are installed, just screw in the nipples and elbows and then thread the pipe on.

We actually ended up doing the above assembly on one side of the rod, then we preassembled the other side before we mounted the flange.  I recommend laying your parts out on the ground and making sure you know exactly how you're going to install it before you get started.  A little planning here will save you time later.

And here's a picture of the curtains fully installed...

The cool thing about this ceiling mounted curtain rod is that there are tons of other ways you could use pipe to get some cool effects.  Like these:

Care to surround your tub with fabric?  Source

You could also use these rods to create a canopy around a bed!
Fabulous idea!  Source

I am in LOVE with this bed and this really makes
me want to try doing something like this!
Source

If fabric and plumbing pipe aren't your thing, Apartment Therapy also has a page devoted to "getting crafty with pipe plumbing".  Check it out **here** for more ideas like closet rods, toilet paper holders, pot racks, etc.  I'm really loving the closet rod idea.

To close out the post, I'm going to spill the beans on my issue with getting the curtains hung.  When the sewing was "outsourced", I gave the lady working on them a VERY detailed diagram showing all the measurements, including the size of the rod pocket.  I knew I had purchased a 1/2 inch piece of pipe, so I just said to make the rod pocket large enough to accommodate a 1/2 inch pipe.  What I didn't realize was that 1/2 inch is the inside dimension of the pipe.  The outside dimension of the pipe is actually 0.84 inches.  So, when the lady sewed up the curtains, the rod pocket wasn't large enough.  UGGGG.  I had to rip out the top seam and resew the top of the rod pocket to accommodate the pipe.  But the fabulous news here is that I actually did it.  All by myself!  I had to set up the sewing machine alone (bobbin, too!), and I'm beyond thrilled that I figured it out.  This means, I now have just enough sewing machine confidence to be dangerous.  SOOO be on the lookout for more sewing adventures in the near future!

PS - If you want to take on this project yourself (which I highly recommend), here's a handy guide to plumbing pipe dimensions.  Just know that my local home improvement store doesn't carry plumbing pipe smaller than a 1/2 inch...inside diameter.  :)

Linked up @:  Home Stories A to Z, Not JUST A Housewife, House of Hepworths, Beyond The Picket Fence, Shabby Creek Cottage, Shabby Nest, Tater Tots & Jello, French Country Cottage, Funky Junk Interiors

  

Welcome! :)

Hi everyone.  I hope all of you fabulous readers had a good and safe weekend.  Hurricane Irene didn't leave us with any major damage here in the Raleigh, NC area, so we are feeling very thankful today.  I know others haven't had the same fortune, so my thoughts and prayers are with them today and in the coming weeks as things hopefully return to normal.

This weekend, I've been beyond thrilled to see that one of my recent projects was featured on Tatertots & Jello, Ucreate, Not Just a Housewife and A Lived In Home.  To say that I'm humbled would be an understatement.  I love all of these blogs and feel so honored to be included as one of their favorite recent projects.

Link To My Original Blog Post:  **HERE**

If you're visiting today because you've me through one of these fabulous blogs, please take a moment to let me know that you've been here by liking The Tall Chick on Facebook.  I still have quite a bit of work to do in the room with these chevron stripes, so you'll get all the updates real-time if you join me on Facebook!  :)

Hope to see you again soon and welcome to all of my new friends, plus I have to say a HUGE thank you to all of the devoted readers that keep me motivated each day!

A Behind The Scenes Peek

WHEW!  It's FRIDAY and things are hopping around the house.  Lots going on this week and unfortunately no post for you today about the curtains in The Babe's room.  I just haven't had time to get good pictures yet, but hopefully early next week.  I also still want to blog all about our Colorado vacation and show you some pictures of amazing houses I spotted, but that will have to be next week, too, barring no major hurricane issues this weekend.

In case you don't know, we live in the Raleigh, North Carolina area so we're a bit nervous at the moment about what Hurricane Irene may do to our area and our beloved Outer Banks.  Mr. Man and I got married there in October of 2008, so we have a very special place in our hearts for the barrier islands.  We're also nervous about any potential effects in the Raleigh area, but I'm hoping that since we've already had one weather related "issue" in April, we'll be spared this time.  Only time will tell, though, so in the meantime, I'm going to be busy today picking up a few loose things off the patio...just in case.

I'll stop rambling now, though, and get back to the original point of my post - a behind the scenes peek here at The Tall Chick's house.  Some of you have asked how I manage to get so much done with a one year old rambling around, and I'm about to show you my secret.  She helps!  :)

Check out this video of The Babe helping me move some furniture.  Pretty strong, huh?  ;)  Ohh and please feel free to skip forward to the 36 second mark...otherwise you'll just be listening to the intro for awhile.

Hope everyone has a great and safe weekend!

Getting The Perfect Look For Your Bed

Happy Thursday!

While you're reading this, I'm probably busy working on The Babe's room.  I have a bunch of little projects underway at the moment + the huge project of refinishing the dresser / sideboard.  SOOO, instead of a full post today, I thought I would share this awesome post by Centsational Girl, aka Kate.  If you're already a follower of hers, I'm sure you've seen this, but in the off chance you don't stalk read her blog, I just had to share this.

Click **here** to jump over to her page for all the details on making your bed beautiful!

The reason her post appealed to me so much is that our master bedroom has been relatively untouched since I finished upholstering our headboard earlier this summer.  We have basic white bed linens, plus a comforter from Target turned upside down so only the white is showing.  We also have a few pillows, but the bed linens are certainly lacking that special feeling.  I have been dying to start accessorizing and pulling things together, but it seems that other projects keep getting priority.  BUT, after seeing Kate's post today, I may just have to make our bedroom the next priority after I finish up The Babe's room.

Our bed linens / pillows need some help!

The only thing I worry about, though, is Mr. Man's reaction to all the pillows suggested in Kate's post, plus the extra duvets.  He's going to think that's frivolous and a hassle to have to move at night when we get in bed.  Hmmmm, I wonder if I can convince him that we need these extra touches?

Have you had the too many pillow / bed linens debate with your significant other?  Any helpful hints for my future negotiation?  :)

Hope to be back tomorrow with more updates!

Jumping On The Chevron Bandwagon

Hi there!  Hope you all are doing well.  I have a quick post for you today with a few updates on progress in The Babe's room.  Before we get to that, though, I just have to vent for a sec.

This week has totally been a snap back into reality for me (hence the lack of a post yesterday).  You see, last week we were on vacation...in Aspen, Colorado...and it was amazing.

We had such an awesome time, BUT this week has been less fun.  I came back to a big list of projects for The Babe's room, in addition to all the unpacking, laundry and general post-vacation cleaning that's necessary.  Usually, I can just snap to it and get moving, but I've had such a hard time getting motivated this week.  Anybody else feel overwhelmed with the routine after a vacation?  Ugggg.  BUT, I can't just sit around...so I've been slowly getting back into gear.

One of the things I've been working on this week has been painting a very subdued chevron pattern in the dormer area of The Babe's room.  When I first started thinking about the design for her room, I ran across this image on Pinterest and it has stuck with me.  I, of course, loved the grey, white and yellow, but it also looked so fun in a kid's room.

From House Thirty-Six and my Pinterest Board

I know everyone seems to be doing chevron these days, so I purposefully tried to not do it and came up with a stenciling plan instead.  I made my own stencil and started painting it on the walls, but it was too small and I quickly lost my stenciling mojo.  So, I thought back to the chevron pattern I pinned early on in the project, and last week while we were traveling I decided to just do it!

If you're a Facebook fan of The Tall Chick (if you're not, please become one!), then you already know I've been working on it because I posted this in-progress picture Monday.  See...there are benefits of becoming a Facebook fan!  ;)

Since Monday, I've been plugging away at the chevron and now I have another quick peek at how the progress is coming along + a tutorial.  Now, you can get in on the chevron action, too, so I won't feel like I'm the only one jumping on the bandwagon.

Before I get into the details on how I taped everything off, here's a peek at what the finished wall looks like after painting.

It really isn't difficult or time consuming to do this paint technique.  You can use this tutorial as a guide to get started or you can give mine a try!  Here it is!

{FIRST STEP:  MEASURE}

To get started, I measured my wall length; it was 91.25 inches.  I knew I wanted 5 chevrons per wall, so I divided 91.25 by 5.  This gave me a chevron width of 18.25.  Using a tape measure, I put a small dot on each end of the 18.25 inches.  Then, I also marked the midpoint of 18.25, which is 9.125.  I marked all of these points very lightly in pencil, but I've represented them in the image below in orange.  You're basically creating the three points in the triangle.  AND, I just have to say that I'm very proud of my wicked math skills (total joke there, folks!).

{SECOND STEP:  MEASURE + LEVEL + MARK}

Next, I started on the second chevron.  Using the same orange dots again, you can see that all I did was measure down 12 inches from my top marks.  I was sure to use a level to keep everything lined up vertically.  Once I had my pencil marks, I taped off the chevron putting the tape on the outside of the dots.  I also measured, leveled, marked and taped everything in columns.  I found this much easier than working on the chevrons side-by-side.  I think it also saved a considerable amount of time.

Using the level to keep my
dots straight vertically.

After you've done the first couple of chevrons, it really is as easy as connecting the dots.  Then, before you know it, you have this!

{THIRD STEP:  TRIM YOUR POINTS}

It's also important that you trim off the excess tape at the points of your chevrons.  This will give you a nice clean line.  I used an x-acto knife to do this.

Once you have everything trimmed, then it's time for the fun part...PAINTING.  I used a brush to do this because I didn't want it totally solid and was looking for a little "texture".  Sooo, this is what it looked like when I was all done.

Ohh yes, and the curtains are hung...
Hopefully, I'll have more on them this week, too!

So that's a little bit of an update on my progress this week.  I feel like I have tons more to do in the room, but the main things hanging over my head are figuring out my light fixture for the main part of the room and getting the dresser / sideboard painted.  I started sanding and filling in the wood in a few places, but I would guess I'm only about 10% complete.

WISH ME LUCK and can't wait to hear your feedback on the chevron.  Do you forgive me for jumping on the bandwagon?


Linked up @:  Home Stories A to Z, Not Just A Housewife, Shabby Creek Cottage, Beyond The Picket Fence, Saved by Love, House of Hepworths, The Shabby Nest, French Country Cottage, At The Picket Fence, Tater Tots & Jello, Funky Junk Interiors, Be Different Act Normal, Under The Table & Dreaming
    

Catching My Breath & Saying Thank You!

**UPDATE**

This giveaway is now closed and we're pleased to announce this week's winner!  Hopefully, there will be more giveaways soon, so keep checking back for more opportunities to win.

Hi everyone!  As I'm sure you know by now, I was out of town last week on family vacation.  We spent the week near Aspen, Colorado, and I'm going to spend today cleaning up the house, doing laundry, and getting back in the swing of things.  I also have a few DIY projects to work on, so I thought I would do a giveaway on the blog instead of a post.  Lucky you, huh?!  :)

Now, get your fingers ready and enter to win!  Before we get to that, though, you have to meet Annalisa.  She blogs over at The Lung Family, and she also has a fabulous Etsy shop, Nine By Thirteen.  She is graciously partnering with me to provide the lucky winner with a $15 credit to her Etsy shop, plus she's offering everyone a 10% discount on orders by using the code, "TALLCHICK".

Here are a few of the lovely things Annalisa creates!

Felt Pompom Flower Clips

I grabbed a couple of her felt button flower
hair clips for The Babe, so cute!

These are perfect gifts for the little tots in your life!  Ready to enter yet?  Here are five fabulous ways to get your $15 credit!  You must complete action #1 to enter, but you can choose up to four bonus ways to enter, too!  Each action gets you one entry; just leave a separate comment for each thing you do!

Mandatory Action To Enter
{1} Head over to Nine By Thirteen and tell me what your favorite item is by leaving a comment

Bonus Entries (you can do as many of these as you like)
{2} Be a Facebook fan of The Tall Chick
{3} Be a blog follower of The Tall Chick (box on top right of my page)
{4} Head on over to Annalisa's Facebook page and become a fan
{5} Spread the word about this giveaway on Twitter and/or Facebook for another chance to win

Don't forget to leave a comment with your name and email address for each entry!  

Entries will be accepted through Saturday, August 27 at 9 pm EST.  The winner will be chosen using random.org, and I will announce the winner on the blog and my Facebook page.

Now, get busy entering so you can pick out something fantastic from her shop!  I'll be back with more DIY updates soon.  :)

I've Been On A Trip

Guess what!??  I've totally been on vacation this week, despite having regular blog posts.  I did a lot of work at the end of last week to write up all the posts, so I hope you've enjoyed a few of them while I've been away!

We've been on our first big family vacation since The Babe was born, and we've had such an awesome time.  When we're back in town and totally settled, I can't wait to share some pictures from our trip and hopefully I'll have a few pieces of design inspiration for you, too!

Now, for a little fun...  This is a picture of one of the places we've visited this week.  Anyone know where we've been?

Museum Inspiration

If you're a Facebook fan of The Tall Chick, then you already know that last Thursday The Babe and I headed out to the NC Museum of Art with a couple of our besties.  We had a great afternoon trying to keep the kiddos from destroying priceless pieces of art leisurely strolling through the museum as I tried to find some inspiration for a DIY project.  

The coolest, most inspirational thing we saw was art created entirely out of spools of thread and aluminum ball chain.

Art credited to Devorah Sperber

Alone, that doesn't look terribly impressive, but when you realize that the artist, Devorah Sperber, created an image of the Mona Lisa with 5,184 spools of thread...that's when you start getting impressed.  Really impressed.  I won't tell you exactly how she did this, so you'll just have to make a trip to the museum to find out!  Either way, it's really cool in person and you get to hold an acrylic sphere that flips the image right side up.

Art credited to Devorah Sperber

How cool is that?  I certainly don't think I'll be creating any DIY project out of this inspiration, but it certainly shows what a little creativity can do.  I don't even want to know how long it took to thread all that chain with those spools of thread.  Anywho, maybe I'll start with something a bit smaller for my first museum inspired piece...or maybe I'll just buy something that looks like it's from a museum....or maybe I'll just paint my next room white.  Baby steps, right?

{Museum Inspired DIY}

Make a DIY Nakashima-Inspired Coffee Table
similar to ones you can spot in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
For more information click here and here.

Necklace inspired by a Sheila Hicks piece at
the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Click here for the tutorial to make one yourself.

{Museum Inspired Pieces To Buy}

Don't want to make it yourself?  Buy one of these chairs
from the MoMA store for about $200.  It's inspired by
the work of three famous designers (Jacobsen, Saarinen and Eames).

Pottery Barn also sells this unique Edison Chandelier for
$400; it's designed based on work by Adolf Loos.

Instead of specific museum inspired pieces, you could also just go the route of displaying your art similarly or even going with a neutral white wall color.  I'm actually thinking of painting our bonus room all white and giving that a whirl.  I keep seeing so many rooms that are using white as a base, and honestly, I'm really starting to fall in love with that look.  What do you think?

{Museum Inspired Rooms}

Source

Source

Source

Have you visited any really cool museums that inspired you to incorporate them in your home?  If so, I'd love to hear from you.  When I was researching things for this post, I was enamored by all the gorgeous museums around the globe.  I'd love to hear about some of your favorites, too!

Introspective: Week 9

I missed last week's introspective post, so this week I thought I would share a really thought provoking image with you.

I took this photo last week during a trip to a local museum (more on that tomorrow!), and the artist is a well renowned woman from South Africa, Ledelle Moe.  You can read more about this wonderful art by clicking here.

Photo of Congregation by Ledelle Moe.  To see this in person, visit the NC Museum of Art.

You can also watch this fabulous time-lapse video from the museum that shows Ledelle installing the exhibit.


Installing Congregation from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

Hope you're having a great Wednesday!

PS - If you want to see the other introspective posts, just type "introspective" over in the search box in the right sidebar. :)

Anna's Master Bedroom Makeover

Remember my pal, Anna, from over at My Life & Kids?  She did a guest post here on the blog a couple weeks ago?  Well, this chick is getting funnier and funnier by the day, and she's getting even more daring with some of her bedroom adventures DIY projects.  Her latest undertaking was to update her master bedroom.

Here are a couple pictures to show you that she went from this...

{Before}

To this...

And then finally, to this....

{After}

Not bad, huh?  You should head on over to her blog to check out all of her in-progress updates on the bedroom by visiting these links:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Once you've caught up on all the work that went into the bedroom, you can peruse her "big reveal" post by clicking here!  If you don't find yourself laughing at some of her stories, I'll be shocked.  And sad.  Because I think she's funny.  :)

Hope you enjoy her blog and projects as much as I do!  Have a great day!

Design Advice In A Nutshell

Before I even get started with this post, I'm going to issue a big, fat disclaimer.  I am not a designer.  I can't even pretend to be a designer.  I don't even have a paint chip fan to make myself feel all semi-professional.  So, you can take these nuggets of design wisdom I'm going to share with you today and throw them out the window, or you can read them and maybe a word or two will trigger an inspiring thought.  I just find that every now and again it's a good idea to step back from "doing" and really consider the basics about creating a home and room you feel good about.

With that said, I thought I would share a few pieces of design advice I've picked up over the years.  If one person gets something out of this, that's good enough for me!  :)  So, here it goes.

First, you just have to relax.  Designing your home takes time...  I am so guilty of being impatient and just wanting to get things done for the sake of feeling like a room is complete.  BUT, don't do what I do...do as I say.  Take your time and don't buy things to just fill an empty space.  Collect things you love, then your space will be timeless and it will truly be a room that reflects you.

I'm currently using this "relax" reason to procrastinate on transforming our previous formal dining area into a reading area / den.  You know...because I don't want to rush things.  I'd rather be going to a spa instead and relaxing...so good design ideas will just come to me.  ;)

Go to the spa.  Then, go shopping!
Source

Second, buy really nice, timeless designs for your big statement pieces, like sofas, chairs, rugs, etc.  You can accessorize with cheaper items that won't cost an arm-and-a-leg to replace later on once you're tired of them or the trend ends.  Case in point...a nice sofa can last for years.  So who cares if you spend a couple grand on it?  Think of it as an investment in happy seating each day... A $2000 sofa that lasts four years only costs you $1.36 a day.  Not looking too bad now, huh?  Whereas if you spend a couple grand on the currently trendy juju hat trend, I dare say you won't be getting much return on that design investment.

Nice, neutral sofas that will withstand the test of time.
From Apartment Therapy, Source

My third nuggets is that matching isn't all it's cracked up to be, so mix it up!  It has literally taken me years to figure this out. I went from thinking I had to go to the local furniture store to get a matching bed, dresser, mirror, nightstand, etc, to now thinking about how I can acquire pieces that work together, but also stand on their own.  I love for every piece to have a story and be able to make its own statement.  Mixing finishes (like the wooden bed with the metal nightstand in the picture below) is a really important step towards finding your own confidence with mixing styles in a room.  I still haven't totally figured this one out yet, but I'm working on it.  Slowly but surely.

See...the bed totally doesn't match the nightstand.  And it's okay.
From Apartment Therapy, Source

So, there are my three nuggets of design advice.  I'm no expert and I acquired this advice from a bunch of different favorite sources (like HGTV), but I have to credit Jennifer Dyer's recent interview with Apartment Therapy as the source that finally got me to sit down and write a blog post about all I'm attempting to learn.  If you didn't get anything out of this post, sorry.  If you did, fabulous!  I know it certainly helped me to sit down and collect my thoughts...and remember that creating a home you love takes time.

Have a great day and hope to see you back here again soon!

PS - Thanks to everyone that helped me reach my goal of 250 Facebook fans this weekend!  It was a lofty goal, but I sincerely appreciate you helping me spread the word!