Renovations

My house has been under going some happy (but chaotic) changes. I got the wallpaper for my studio in the mail yesterday and put it up today (custom made by Great Wall Custom Coverings). All I could say was, “wow!” when I unrolled it. The print is from my fabulous Songbird line (coming out in June for Riley Blake).

Not only is my studio getting a makeover, but it was (finally) time to get my kitchen painted. I’ve been meaning to get the cabinets done for, gulp, 2 years now.

The cabinets are getting lacquered a cool white.

I’m doing the happy dance!

And I’ll be sure to show you the makeover and new curtains when they are done.

______________________________________________________________

 

For now you are stuck with the before photos.

Oh ya, and there is no way that cement counter top is hanging around, but I’m going to make myself wait a couple of months to put new countertops in.

Back to work…more photos later!

Hugs-Carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Me and Bertoia

Despite all the holiday madness, I am giving myself some time to do a few things I want to do (emphisas on “I”). One of those things is renovating my studio (It’s almost there!) and buying myself something I’ve been drooling over eying for about 10 years now.

And that would be a Bertoia chair. I’m a bit intrigued with Mr. Bertoia himself and his affiliations with those Eames folks and any other number of other mid-century modern designers. Almost makes me want to take a semester at Cranbrook (I said almost!). What an era!

So I purchased said vintage Bertoia chair as an early birthday present to myself at a dealer called the Green Ant (cue Siri—”If it’s call the Green Ant, why aren’t the letters green?”).

It’s the perfect addition to the studio since it visually doesn’t take up much space, but is still comfy in front of the sewing machine tables.

It was the perfect gift to celebrate my day of birth and I now see the beauty of giving yourself a gift for your birthday. I might have to make it a yearly thing…

Better photos to come! We are working on getting up some fab wallpaper from my Songbird fabric line (not due out until June 2012). The wallpaper was printed by Great Wall Custom Coverings and I’m on pins and needles to see it!

By the way, the picture up above is simply because i heart pink Christmas trees, and I had to show off one of the many fabulous photos from our Christmas card photoshoot (photo taken by Susan Haglund).

Pushing ahead to December…

XOXO-Carina

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Studio Renovation Continued

The shelves are up, and I finally have my second Low-Boy Farmhouse Dresser. Josh had to drive to St. George to pick it up (a very nice guy, isn’t he?). I still have a mile to go with support shelving and, well, the other 3 walls of the room.

So here’s a question—I have an outlet behind one of the dressers and I use it as my main plug. Because of this, it pushes the entire dresser out an inch or so. I only have one other outle,t and I would prefer not to use it (because it means running a cord along 3/4th of the room). Anybody know of a three-pronged plug that doesn’t make a piece of furniture push out too much? Right now I’m using the Ikea plug set (that I bought so long ago that I’m not seeing it on the site).

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores

Studio Update

I’ve been slowly adding things to my studio, moving things around, and generally dealing with the space.  I contemplated moving Josh and me into the studio space and moving the studio into the master bedroom (Josh nixed this idea. I can’t imagine why.). We’ve considered finishing the basement and making the family room my work space (I nixed this idea because I don’t have great access to the kids and light).

So that has led me to try to think creatively about how I can get better use out of what I already have (and it saves me the trouble of having to call a electrician to move my red chandelier, which I can’t live without). Which has led me to this. Messy. Studio. That I am currently sitting in the middle of. Writing this blog post.

Updates on the progress soon. Lucky for me, my bright turquoise desk makes the mess not feel so bad.

Silhouette Design Store JOANN Stores