Myers Maison!

Hello! It has been far too long since I have posted, but I plan to improve! One reason is that I have started a new blog because I decided to separate business ventures and graphic design from home ventures and decorating. So...check out the new blog if you're interested in seeing the happenings at the Myers' household decor wise and otherwise!

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The Long and {not so} Short of it

Hello good people! Hope all is well. Things around here are starting to pick up...both business wise and interior design wise. Stay tuned for some exciting additions to my shop this spring!

Drapes...it was something that I had been wanting to add to our great room for a year now. last winter was cold, and with nothing but paper shaded to keep the heat in, we were definitely looking to get them up as quick as possible. Fast forward to the following winter, and it's even more cold! Still no drapes! Reason? I'm indecisive...if you didn't know. Well let me rephrase...I'm a decisive person in training. To make a long story short, I decided to make my own drapes because I was having no luck finding the length that I needed for a decent price and a fabric that I liked. Went to the fabric store, and everything happened to be $3.99 a yard that day {score!}. Found a fabric that I liked and purchased it after consulting via text message/picture message with Simon. The fabric sat around for a good month before I cut it into the four panels needed. Another three weeks went by before we actually started putting them together. Thanks to a tutorial from the wonderful couple of Young House Love, we used heavy duty hem tape for the edges since we don't know how to sew {yet}. Okay, okay, enough talking already. Here we go:


The fabric rolled up all nice and tight

Our work area {the great room floor}


Good old trusty iron

Great Room windows before {even before we moved in!}


And after




Another before {in which we were living this time}




The plan is to keep the walls the neutral color that they are and to add color with art work, possibly wall decals, and a nice mirror {more on that mirror later...}. What I really love now is a nice golden glow that greets me every morning when I open my bedroom door to go downstairs!

We decided to stick with neutral colored panels..well...because...who really wants to go through all of that again? We plan to make more curtains for the house, but not that length! It was a wonderful and rewarding experience though, I must admit.

Any DIY projects underway around your way?

Kitchen Thoughts

I'm officially in decorating mode. We just finished making our curtains a couple of days ago {more on that later} and I finally decided on a color to paint the kitchen! This is HUGE because I have a problem making decisions especially when it comes to colors. One thing that I vowed to do this year was to be more decisive, and it's going well thus far.

I've been looking for some kitchen lighting to replace the fluorescent rectangular standard fixture that our house came with. I want something a little more luxurious/modern/rustic {if there is such a fixture out there please leave a link!}. I also want my kitchen to give a feeling of happiness when you walk in it. I want the kind of kitchen that makes you want to cook when you're in it. Here are a few images that I fell in love with. I searched for French Kitchens {since I do have a love affair with France}.

I LOVE this kitchen. The brick with the crystal fixture and hints of grey and white looks lovely to me.

These lanterns are cute; I like the concept of multiple small fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this kitchen. So simple and chic. I could definitely see myself preparing a meal in here.

I love these fixtures and the clean look with pops of color.

Something about this image just makes me smile. It looks very inviting with all of the spices, oils, tools, etc. nicely organized by the stove. I also love that exposed brick.

Credits 1 2 3 4 5

Is anyone else working on a special room at the moment? Where do you go to find inspiring images?

Lamp Before and After

I want to start off saying that this post is coming to you a little late. This is a project that I completed in one day around a month and a half ago. So sue me!

I am working on my indecisive nature. Making decisions is not something that I do easily, but I am getting better. This is one reason that I have not decorated much in my house...do you know how many color combos there are that look great together? So while visiting my local Home Goods I came across this:


and decided that it would be an accent color in the great room.

A few weeks later I visited my local Habitat for Humanity Restore and came across this fine specimen of a lamp. Btw, I had been searching for a lamp that looks like this for at least six months, and it was only 5 bucks at the Restore!

As you can see, there is a little rust damage on the base.


Since I knew what my accent colors were going to be, I headed to Lowe's to find spray paint to fix this baby up. I also found a drum lampshade at Target for seven bucks on clearance! All of that together created this:


I am so in love. So proud of myself as well. This little project jump started my decoration frenzy. I love spray paint. Love it. I found these candle holders at Value Village:



With a little spray paint, this is what happened:


I still have a half of a bottle left...I wonder what else will fall victim to the nozzle?

Christmas Decor

Wow, it has been a busy month! Between packing orders, Christmas shopping, family visits, parties and decorating I am SPENT! And to think, Christmas isn't even here yet. It's okay though, I'm planning on enjoying the last few weeks of the year.

Just to give you an idea, here is some of the madness that I have been going through:

- Decorated two wreaths
- Decorated our tree
- Made a gift tower for the mantel
- Put up lights outside

The colors this year are turquoise and black, and I'm loving every piece of it. Here are a few shots of the house:

Staycation Inspiration

It is the eve of my return to work after a great week off. I actually accomplished a respectable amount of things. One of them was much needed cleaning and organizing. I hate cleaning, but I can say that I actually enjoyed it over the past week. Perhaps because I was off of work, so everything seemed a little sweeter?

Anyhow, I took a visit to my local bookstore and picked up a copy of the latest House Beautiful magazine. This issue had so many great ideas in it! I was totally inspired to do something in the house...especially after reading the "Send us a picture of" feature. Apparently readers send in pictures of whatever the magazine will be showcasing, and hopefully their picture will be one of the lucky ones chosen. This month's spotlight was coat closets. Eek...mine was a complete mess. In fact, I would cringe before opening the door because I knew what it looked like. So this is the feature-

This is the embarrassing "I can't believe I'm posting a picture of this for the world to see" before shot-

And this is the "Thank you House Beautiful for giving me the drive to clean up this hell hole" after shot-

Now I look forward to opening the closet door and smile every time. But I can't help but wonder...of the closets that were chosen, how many of them looked like mine before they took their "magazine worthy" picture?

Thrifty Find

To continue through my week, yesterday I went on a hunt for more items. My grandma knows when to shop and where, because yesterday was another 50% off day at a thrift store! I happened to find some great items yesterday, one being this vase. Okay, I don't know if it was originally a vase or not, but that's what we're going to use it as. I don't know what this is made out of, but it's got a little weight behind it, so that's a good sign.

I love that it is shiny and white {especially because of the bleach bath it got last night}, and it will fit in nicely with our living room colors {that we are still deciding on...inspiration board coming soon...}.

I also enjoy the details of this piece. The scalloped edges...

...and the deep ridges...

...but one of my favorite aspects? The price. $1.35

Lighting Update

I hope your week is going well! Mine has been productive to say the least. It has been full of cleaning/reorganizing, shopping and chilling. For starters, I went to a few thrift stores with my grandma and found a few gems.

You may recall the mini lamp shades that I purchased for 5 bucks to put on the chandelier in the dining room. If not, here's a picture~

Well I wasn't looking for a replacement, but I happened to run across a new pair, and since it was half off Monday, I got the set for 2 bucks!

I enjoyed the first shades, but this set is more me. I love the clean look of it, and the color and texture matches nicely with the chairs. It also doesn't look as traditional, which I love.

Whadaya think?

Z Gallerie Field Trip

Yesterday my husband and I hung out outside of the house (something that we don't really do that much). We had lunch at CPK, and went to Ikea. We happened to stop by Z Gallerie because I had been dying to go in for weeks (I saw some great items online and wanted to see them in person). While there, I saw this amazing bed---

Then we saw this one (which Simon flipped for)---

Here are a few more things that we saw and loved:

(credits: round bed, grey sofa, grey chair, mirror )

I absolutely cannot wait to start decorating our home! Has anyone started a new design project around the house?

Kitchen Love Triangle

The next room that I plan to decorate is the kitchen {mainly since it's adjoined to the great room}. We're thinking of painting a small section of a wall with chalkboard paint since we always have lists and thoughts to jot down. I'm still trying to decide what the main color of the walls will be, but I've narrowed it down to a shade of grey...not sure which one yet though. So as I was browsing kitchens I came across these two gorgeous ones. I can see myself nestled in them with a glass of wine and jazz playing in the background.

(images: Living etc. here and here)

Great Room Inspiration

One thing that I told myself is that this year I would dedicate myself to decorating my house. The first few months of getting settled in and used to paying a mortgage are over, so now it's time for the fun to begin!

I have been looking at different design styles, color schemes, etc. and I have just about finalized the colors that I am going to do for three rooms. I'm starting with the great room since we need to hang curtains up (the neighbors behind us can probably see straight into our house since we have a 2-story great room with windows at the top, eek!). I am loving this image; it's so sleek and sexy.


(image from Living Etc.)

The colors in this room are similar to the colors that I would like to do, however I plan to add turquoise and yellow. Inspiration board to come...

Thoughts?

O(ur) Christmas Tree!

I just wanted to post a picture of our Christmas tree. It's gold and black this year. We might put some lights outside, so I will post those pics if we do.

A little tardy

It has been a busy month, but I wanted to post a few pictures from Thanksgiving. The actual turnout looks a tad different from the inspiration board, but that's okay, life is all about changes!