A little fresh perspective - Shades of Blue Interiors

I’ve been kinda MIA for a bit haven’t I? I worked my butt off to finish those 3 union jacks and put them in the store, and then 2 days later we started babysitting a Dalmatian puppy! It was only supposed to be for a couple days and then I would send her on the plane to my brother (long story). However, she didn’t pass her health exam and so she has been staying with us for 2 weeks! And those of you who know, know that a little 9 week old puppy is A LOT of work. So between that, spring break this week, and waiting on some of the work to sell (it is occupying space and funds right now), I haven’t done ANY furniture makeovers!

Kinley at 9 weeks:

Kinley at 11 weeks:

Her favorite spot to sleep (where she is right now):

But. Last Saturday I hosted a fun thing called designHop. A local interior designer (Dana King) started it here in St Louis, and you basically identify something that needs some design help in your home, and invite friends over to help you tackle it in a 2-3 hour time period. I had been putting off re-styling my book shelves and also creating a gallery wall above my couch. So that was our project, and I invited 6 ladies to come help me get the job done. I probably could have done this all myself, but it would have taken a lot longer and it wouldn’t have been as fun.

This is my moment of truth where I will show you how simple (and small) my home really is. I decorate on a budget (mostly thrift store finds), and because of the size it gets messy fast. The upside to small is it is also fast to clean up!

So on with the party. My friend who introduced me to the idea, Valerie, brought scones and kinda kept everyone on task. I ran around getting things that people needed, and gave my input here and there.

You know what I loved most? Whenever I decorate by myself, I either peruse online or in magazines beforehand and get inspiration (or do my best to copy what I find), and then ask my husband what he thinks. Sometimes, his input is not helpful , bless his heart! 🙂 haha I often wish I had a friend or two to either confirm what I like to offer a little fresh perspective. And that is exactly what this party was all about. I had several friends who have awesome interior decorating skills and offered opinions until we reached an agreeable consensus (quickly, mind you, because we were mostly doing, not sitting and talking).

I gave them free reign of anything in my home, so they could basically “shop” around until they found things they liked to use in the book shelves and gallery wall.

BEFORE SHOTS:

This one below is from when we first moved in and I had NO CLUE how to put things on my book shelves. I bought the shelves from Home Depot (they are compressed wood coated with plastic and the backs are cardboard). I will replace them some day when my budget allows.

Then my husband convinced me over the years to move the TV down and to also paint the brick black (we had a black and white phase a while ago). So that mixed with a bunch of stuff I still had lying around and hadn’t had time to make organized and pretty, it looked like this a couple weeks ago (excuse the blurry iphone pic):

This is what the wall above my couch looked like (before I bought the slip covers and painted the table last year):

I am actually so embarrassed to post those pictures, but I want to be honest with you all! I know how to style furniture for pictures and make things look cute. But a lot of times decorating my home gets a back burner on my list of priorities. As you can see above, I had a computer desk crammed between a couch and a book shelf because I had moved it across the room for some pictures I had taken a few weeks ago. I also had yet to find a good place to store all our dvds, which my almost 2 year old loves to pull out on a weekly basis, so they often to put back in an ugly way. And the shelves are really styled at all. They are just a bunch of stuff shoved together, hoping no one will look too closely. 🙂

I started by pulling EVERYTHING off.

Then we only put back what we LOVED.

Here are my favorite vignettes:

Top of book shelf 1

Top of book shelf 2

The gallery wall was purely created by my friends’ genius. I had little input, but I adore how it turned out. It is SO “me”.

The music sheet wreath I made from an antique hymnal. The “P” I made from a cardboard letter, foil and paint (for a faux zinc look), the frames were all thrift store finds, and the pictures were all taken by personal friends of mine. I thought about printing some more pictures for the 2 empty frames, but I kinda like it they way they are. I may look for an old skeleton key to hang in the blue one though.

Backing up a little, you can see the left side of the room a little better. I wish I could buy new sofas, but until then I have Pottery Barn slipcovers, and some home-made throw pillows.

I LOVE looking at my book shelves now. I also bought some pine boards, cut them to size, routed the edges (with help during the designHope party), primed, painted, installed invisible hinges and knobs, to make cabinet doors for the bottom shelf. I spent probably $50 on all 4 cabinet doors (most expensive thing was the invisible hinges), not including power tools that I already had. That way I could hide ugly books (I have a weird thing for some of my college binders from classes that I loved), movies, cds, and electrical cords from the modem and cable.

While the xbox 360 doesn’t exactly fit into my decor style (ha!), I love how I notice it less with that fan, boxwood topiary, and cute owl next to it!

Ok, real quick, here is the BEFORE:

aaaaaaaaaand….

AFTER:

You probably also noticed I painted the fireplace all white again, but this time including the metal fireplace surround. Overwhelming consensus suggested it, so after they all left, I got out some paint I already had, and had it all done within an hour.

So, it’s cute, right? I know it’s not magazine-worthy or anything like that, but it is totally me and it’s nice to look at, and I had SO much fun doing it with my friends!

Alright. Now it is YOUR turn! Host a designHop and I wanna see pictures! If you do it, send me the link and I’ll forward it on to Dana King herself (I got connections ;))!

Comments

uniquelyyoursormine.com says

March 23, 2013 at 11:58 am

What a cool idea! I have never heard of a design hop! They did a fabulous job in sytling the shelves… And that little puppy is soooo cute! – Susan

Carol says

March 23, 2013 at 5:47 pm

Oh what fun!!!! My hubs would cringe at the idea but maybe when my new studio in the basement is ready to move into we can do it then :0) After all it will be my space ♥
That puppy is adorable and I do remember the energy they take. If I ever get another dog it will be full grown..already house broken… a hopefully really laid back 🙂

Helen says

March 28, 2013 at 9:16 pm

The after looks SOOOO much better. I find it funny that bookshelves are meant to hold all of your books but it never looks good like that. sigh.
I really like the white fireplace better too.

We found a dalmatian puppy when I was a teenager. I loved him and I still have a soft spot for dalmatians! : )

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