So, I finally did it. I’ve put my portfolio online at kcsdesign.org. I will continue to add to it, and update it to reflect more of my projects, but for now, here it is! Please go here to check it out and let me know what you think!
Are you kidding me? This site about happy mail is so cute. Shows you great ideas on how to mail all kinds of things, from a disguise in a clear box, to school supplies, to a hopscotch-set! I can’t wait till Liam is old enough to understand this. Some of our friends will be getting some FUN packages in the mail.
I love all of these ideas. Can’t wait to come up with a few of our own! Wouldn’t this be fun to do for Christmas, instead of mailing a boring ol’ flat rate box… the possibilites are endless!
So, life as a stay-at-home mom, and trying to run a business and all, is tough. I mean, tough because I have expectations for myself and thus far I have not been meeting them. I have LOTS of ideas and lack the “time” to implement them. But, to be honest, what I really lack, is the organization of my time to implement them.
I have blogged about money saving mom before, but I’m not kidding, she has inspired my socks off. She’s living like no one else, runs a successful blog, keeps her priorities in order, sets goals for herself and her family, plans and organizes their meals, all of which I want to do/become. So, it makes sense that she would inspire me.
Recently she had a post of 10 goals for the week, it’s so simple, yet so needed. I have goals, in my head, and the problem with that is that there is no accountability or measurability. So, here we go, my 10 goals, posted in clear view so that you too, can know what they are, just you knowing them helps me to be accountable, strange, huh?
Family/Mothering Goals
1. Spend 15 minutes a day with Liam completely focused on him (ie not doing other things, like playing Words With Friends! ha!)
2. Track Eat, Wake and Sleep patterns everyday, on my new nifty spreadsheet.
3. Sync said spreadsheet to the Cloud (oh yes, I said it)
Personal Goals
4. Walk 30 minutes a day with Liam
5. Join the Y.
6. Finish reading So Long Insecurity
Home Management Goals
7. Meal plan & shop from E-Mealz
8. Finish 3 loads of laundry from start to finish.
Business Goals
9. Move blog & business website to new hosting company
10. Finish web project #1
So, there you have it. To clarify, these are goals for Monday, October 24th – Friday, October 28th, 2011. I’ll update as we move along to see if I’ve been able to implement these goals or not.
Heart it!
Pinterest is so wonderful because you can collect images from the web, from here there and everywhere and tack them up on a virtual pin board with categories and tags, too. I tweeted sometime awhile back that pinterest is what the web’s been missing, it’s not as bulky (nor as hard to use) as delicious, it’s not as sloppy as digg, and it’s more classy than stumble upon, I mean, in my opinion. 
Besides, the power of sharing images and collecting ideas without collecting clutter is big to me!
I wrote a post earlier this week about how wonderful pinterest is, here, but wanted to share here, too.
Go here to request an invite, and here to learn more.
For me, right now, it’s orange.
Bright, beautiful, bold orange.
I was surveying my coffee table, and would you believe it…. orange, is everywhere, not purposefully. Here are the items that were gathered in a their own haphazard orange bundle.
Some clementines.
Some orange striped fabric.
My new iphone case. Shiny orange!
My ipad smart cover.
A tervis tumbler lid.
I was amazed as I saw all of these items gathered, just how I’m slowly collecting in orange.
Baby boy’s room is also featuring the color orange (hence the striped fabric). And as I look around my living room, I see much more orange just sprinkled around. Candle bases, orange fabric, I spy an orange spatula and orange tongs in the kitchen.
I’m proud that the color I’m collecting is orange. Do you have a color that you crave?
Commonly asked questions in pregnancy at this stage:
Do you have a name?
YES! We have a name, and no we are not telling.
Have you bought a lot of baby stuff?
Not really. A crib at ikea. I think it’s so cute. Some little things, a hat, burp cloths, books, a onesie, a diaper bag.
Do you feel him kick?
Oh yes! Often!
I first came up with the design for baby boy’s room a few months ago when I wasn’t feeling so great. It was a great way to keep me entertained.
I pulled fabrics from Amy Butler, paint color, furniture, and some existing pieces in, to create this mood board:
1. Paper lanterns and accent puffs, also wall color (but not striped)
2. Baby boys crib, this is the actual crib that we purchased!
3. Cute owls from etsy or somewhere.
4. Curtains, also Ikea, this might change.
5. A white dresser that will double as a changing table.
6. Rug, the actual one we purchased!
And now, the fabrics have shifted, based on what’s really available in my town, and that’s okay too.
My friend Lauren helped me pick out some fabrics in blue and orange at a nearby fabric store, that will be used as a crib skirt, possibly curtains and maybe a crib bumper. She also helped me with the ever-so daunting task of picking out paint colors, I’m just no good in this category, at least not yet.
I’ve tried to also design the lay out of baby boy’s room with it trying to double as a guest bedroom, but I’m having little luck getting things to look the way I want on paper, and let’s be honest, it will all change anyway once we get everything into his room and what’s most practical.
So what do you think? Blue and Orange? Does it work?
First of all, I love peacock blue. I just do. I think it’s fantastic paired with green or orange. That’s why, when I saw this room, my heart leapt a little.
I bet you can’t even guess where this one came from. Okay, absolutely right, Young House Love. This is their guest bedroom that they put together in like a weekend (ridiculous!). I love it though.
What do I love?
The shorter question to answer would have been, what don’t I love?
So there you go. I would have photographed our bedroom, but it’s currently under piles of laundry, and wanted to spare you from that.
But here’s what we’re working with.
A blue bedspread:
Navy & White accents. Pillows, etc.
With my gradmother’s furniture in a deep brown.
And not-matching at all greenish end tables from the 70s, that we picked up from good will.
I’m thinking, while the above room would have been fabulous, some of our furniture (the pieces we’re not changing or painting may just be way too formal).
However, maybe one accent peacock blue wall, and surrounding lighter blue or grey walls (coordinating with the peacock) might just do the trick.
I’m thinking this room, also.. you guessed it, Young House Love, that I posted earlier in the week could take it in a more appropriate direction for the current furniture peices, and I can accent with peacock and green. What are your thoughts? Let me know you stopped by! I love hearing from you!
Oh and while I’m praising them. I love that they have a inspiration napkin. I need an inspiration napkin. This is theirs.
I think mine would be similar, but would have to have orange and yellow, too. I’m getting there.
So, you might remember from a month ago, this post about my living room, and I made mention that we would be making some changes. I guess I just didn’t expect the changes to be so dramatic (this is what almost-floor-to-ceiling curtains can do for you!)
So, the photos, if you will recall…
house tour: living room, view from the stairs
house tour: living room, another angle
house tour: living room, view from the dining room
I mean, if I was as jazzy as Young House Love, I would definitely have BEFORE emblazoned on these pictures, but instead, I don’t, so you’ll have to settle, for just the “progress” pictures. Which I just LOVE. I love that Young House Love, did I mention I love this blog, does not but before & after, rather, before & progress. That’s so much more like it, so much more realistic.
A brief run down on what we added/changed from the before pictures:
Curtains (probably the most obvious), we already had one pack of the curtains, and picked up the second pack for a mere $15 at ikea.
A cushy chair (our first ever!) finally! Also purchased at ikea. $99 for the chair, and $30 for the slip cover. So worth it.
A so cute dish-towel, cloth thing from antropologie in that frame made by my talented brother-in-law, and the cloth was gifted to us by our sweet friend Lauren, initially for baby’s room because of it’s orange!
A floor lamp: also from, you guessed it, ikea, stand and shade, were only $35 together, you simply can’t beat it!
Raising the blinds: free! Ever since we’ve lived here I’ve wanted more sunlight to stream through our windows, and since we have a lovely, lovely wrap around porch, it’s mostly shaded, so I wanted to maximize the sunlight!
An end table: Also free. I’m a big fan of having places to put your drink down in comfort and reach. The table was in our back bedroom that will soon be converted to Jer’s office. We’ve had it for a long long while, originally purchased at a thrift store.
Oh and just for a more realistic, unvacummed, uncluttered glimpse, this is more like what it looks like on the daily:
I mean, am I into blue & green & yellow right now or what – my laptop cover & even my scissors match. Ye-owza!
What about you, what are you up to in & around your home?
It’s been awhile since I last posted. Forgive me. I went on a wonderful vacation with Jer to Asheville and Charlotte. We arrived back from Charlotte with a car-load of ikea goodness on Friday night! We’ve been easing back into life in Wilmington, slowly but surely.
On Sunday, we assembled our ikea patio furniture – we LOVE it! It’s perfect. And our tree that refused to grow one leaf while the others around it were blossoming, now gives full shade to our entire patio. It will be perfect for those hot summer days, what am I saying, it’s perfect now!
We also put up curtains in our living room & bedroom, oh wowee! How amazing the difference it made! I was giddy when I noticed the difference between our before and after pictures!
We also put in new curtain rods in our bedroom (and are currently borrowing baby boy’s curtains) till we get some of our own for our bedroom. I’m now obsessing with wall color for our bedroom. I was once thinking grey, but now I’m thinking peacock blue! I’m also wondering about these curtains for our room, we have one set, and might add another, it would be wild, but it would be worth it!
I’m in total love with this room from Young House Love, and their style in almost every click. It’s inspired me to start planning ahead.
In fact, this week, I have planned out for you. Something to look forward to!
Monday: this overview of inspiration
Tuesday: our living room, a tale of 2 packs of curtains
Wednesday: our bedroom, and the possibility of peacock blue
Thursday: baby boys room and how it will double as a guest room!
Friday: our patio transformation
I’m thankful to be inspired! That’s what vacation does for ya, whisps ya away, allows you to breathe, and brings in lots of fresh ideas! In case you missed my obnoxious (well, to some) posterous updates – here they are in chronological order:
Looking forward to this week!
To yellow,
Yellow there.
You are bright, cheery, sunshiney, happy.
I just got this email from Crate & Barrel about all of their yellow offerings.
‘
It was so beautiful & bright that I had to share it. I want everything, even that pepper mill and the bird cage that I have absolutely no use for. I am confident I would find one.
You might remember my living room post – about the sudden presence of yellow combined with blue & green. Oh and golden yellow too, that’s a shade I love (which is in the plan for baby’s room, which I will share when we find out the gender!)
A few months ago I introduced lovebird joy the paper focus on wedding, party, and joyful life events! Well, just yesterday I was working on some business cards and postcards for this brand. Even they have yellow. What do you think?
Even kellycain.com might look better in yellow. Hmm….
