Spring Colors

In my post below I mentioned how much I love the colors for Spring 2018. I'm obsessed. Hot pink, pale pink, orange, peach, chartreuse, teal. I even love mixing saturated colors with pale colors. If you're trying to cheer yourself up after the long winter, add a pop of color to your place. You might even trying experimenting with a color you wouldn't ordinarily use. You'd be surprised how an unexpected hit of color freshens up a tired room. And it need not be expensive.

Have you noticed how cute outdoor furniture has gotten? I'd use any of these pieces inside. I really love the ceramic turquoise end table, I'd like to have that in my home.

Tropical prints are really hip right now. I'm not usually one for trends, but I am digging this palm leaf patterned rug. I fear I am becoming a maximalist. Images from Brylane.  BTW, I hate blogging on my Android, I don't know why I can't get my text to wrap left.

My brother and I went to Target tonight. Aren't these pillows divine? I  haven't been there in a long time. It was great to see things in person that I usually only see online. However, I was having sticker shock as well as sensory overload, Target has a lot of beautiful things for the home. I'm especially in love with their Project 62 products, but their prices have gotten high.  I did see a lamp that is haunting me, though....

Kim Myles' Home Needs One of My Paintings

Dear readers, did you see Kim Myles' home tour on Apartment Therapy?  I love her use of color. I am in love with her hot pink rug!  I dearly love the combination of bright teal and hot pink. I just can't help myself. Every time I see a home I love, I want to add one of my paintings.  So here's another mock up.

I think my painting looks fabulous in her gorgeous living room, if I do say so myself. To see the rest of tour, click here.

The Rug Dilemma

Hello dear readers!  I hope you had a good holiday.  I'm not much in the holiday spirit this year, I'm not sad or lonely (thank goodness), just don't want to participate for many reasons.  This will be the subject of a future post, and it's not a sad one - it's a hopeful one.  A claiming of power.  Sorry...I digress...for the next few days we're going to have some fun with my favorite obsession - decor!

Let's start with talking about my favorite topic.  My apartment.  Remember my post below showing you its recent incarnation?  Well it doesn't look like that any more!  As you know, I have design ADD.  My apartment has taken some surprising turns, and I'll be giving you the scoop.  I love the way the light pink sofa cover looked, but I was unhappy about my rug situation.  Even though I have carpet, I feel like I need a rug to anchor the space. Blogger friend (and constant source of inspiration) Kim of Desire to Inspire confirmed this fact when she mentioned that I need a rug.  If Kim says it, I know it's true.

So this is a dilemma I need to solve - without spending money. Tricky, as you know, rugs can get very pricey.

I've shown this room from the CB2 catalog before.  I dearly love that rug.  I don't think it's available any longer, but it doesn't matter, it wasn't in the budget.  But dig that color scheme.  Love hot pink orange and gray.

Here's a couple other rugs I dearly love.  So gorgeous.  Like paintings for your floor.    These would look so great in a large loft with white floors.  But alas, until I win the lottery, not to be.  So, I made the very wise decision to shop in my trusty closet. I a big proponent of use what you have. Sometimes using something you already own in a different way helps you rediscover why you loved it in the first place. Rugs from left to right:  Leif and Inmod.  For more gorgeous rug inspiration, see my pinterest board.

I've shown you this arrangement before.  Cute rug.  But too small and too busy.  I dismantled this arrangement as soon as I photographed it.

Perhaps the problem wasn't the rug but the turquoise pillows?  And maybe the hot pink is too dark, although I do want my apartment to be cave like for Winter.

Again to my trusty closet, and a lighter pink for the sofa cover. Hmm.  Love it, but still need a rug.

I pulled this furry rug from my closet. I had a larger one, but it got damaged in the laundry. I'm tempted to buy another at Target, but trying not to spend money. Not easy.  Again, this is just too small. I tried to trick the eye by placing the ottoman assemetrically, but it didn't work.  As I often do when I have a decorating dilemma, I decided to take a break and peruse blogs.  Kim's page at Desire to Inspire is always at the top of my list, and it never fails to inspire.


THE INFLUENCE...

There it was - the answer!  This gorgeous room has carpet.  And rugs!  The room is quite large, and the rug has unexpectedly been placed on an angle. I haven't been a fan of rugs or furniture on an angle, but this room may have changed my mind.  The rug anchors the space, but does so by emphasizing the triangle created by the furniture, rather than the square I usually go for.  P.S. I adore the use of color against the neutral brown and the white walls!  Image jj LOCATIONS via Kim's page at Desire to Inspire.

I have a cute chenille rug that I got on the cheap from Urban Outfitters several years ago.  If I place it on an angle, it just might do the trick.  By not placing it squarely in front of the sofa, perhaps the eye will be tricked and not notice that it is not the right scale.

Ta da!  I love it!  When entering the room, it feels very welcoming.  Like a red carpet! Indeed, I am the star of this environment.  Ahem, sorry for that horrible pun.

I decided a need a couple of pops of black, so added the pillow and moved Kim's lamp from the bedroom. This is how the apartment looked last weekend. It was a beautiful, lazy day in Ohio, and my apartment is the perfect place for lounging.

My Apartment .... For Today

I love experimenting with color in my apartment.  I change my accessories on a whim, and I do it on the cheap.  For Winter, I'd like to create a cozy, dark romantic girl cave.  I'd love to paint a gray accent wall! Here's a look at some happenings in my apartment....for today.  I'm contemplating a couple other changes.

 

Here's how it looked yesterday.  I know the rug is not scaled properly, and even though it's pretty something about it bugs me.  Maybe it's because I can't keep it straight.  Maybe it's the fact that I hate carpet.

I'd love to have a new sofa - the Rue Petal Sofa from CB2 to be exact - but it's just not in the budget.  I wanted my sofa to be more padded and comfy, so I bought a memory foam pad and put it under the cover. Big deal, I know, but I'm not very good at DIY, so this is an accomplishment for me!  And it is really comfy. Almost too comfy.  If I lay down to watch a movie, I'm asleep in five minutes!

Here's the living room without the rug.  I like it better.  Looks a little cleaner.  I'm not much of a pattern person.

I decided to use the rug in my bedroom, which is such a luxury!  It's so comfy on my feet when I get out of bed.  Here's a secret:  I hate making my bed so this is how I do it.  I have pretty bedding and pillows and I just throw them on.  Good thing I embrace imperfection.  I love the low scale of my bed.

New Work, Vol II: Lamp and Rug Designs

Happy Monday dear readers!  Hope you had a great weekend.  I had a ton of fun taking my teenage nephew and his friends to a haunted house.  So not my scene, but had a ton of fun being a chaperon. Teens are so funny and smart, and I learn so much from them.  One thing I learned - even though I love instagram, I really don't need an iphone.  Another is that I dearly love gangster rap. Actually, my night with the kids was merely a reminder, I've loved it since back in the day of Sugar Hill Gang, Ice T, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy.  Give it a chance, it's poetry.  And, in case you didn't know it, Dr. Dre is a genius.,

Sorry, I digress.  I wore my new spike hat (bought in the hood for a song).  The kids were calling me Auntie Minaj, which thrilled me.  Cuz as you know, Nickie Minaj is the shizzz.

My nephew and I both had black hats and matching boo boos.  Ha!  He's totally awesome!  I thank God every day for my family.  And speaking of blessings, as you know the muses have been talking to me a lot lately.  So much so that I can't keep up!  Here's some more of my new work.

Help!  My name is Peggy and I am a lamp addict.  I can't stop designing lamps.  Here is a lamp prototype made of poster board and electric tape.  I am currently seeking manufacturers for some of my lamp prototypes.  I'm planning to make this into a hanging lamp.  I know it's not perfect.  But, hey, I get a lot more done when I let go of perfectionism.


I've also been designing rugs.  I'm thinking of experimenting with buying a big piece of burlap and painting it. I haven't been much of a rug fan, but I am falling in love.  I miss the wood floors of my previous places and I love a rug to define an area.  Just have to do it on the cheap.

Here's another rug design I've been working on.  I am really into geometric shapes - and hot pink (as you know)!  This design is part of my quest to prove that pink can be a thoroughly modern and edgy color, and is not strictly girly.

Here's the second version of this design.  With some cut out paper, and painted squares.  I used some of my fabulous nail polish to paint a couple of shapes.  Nail polish is coming in such fab colors these days!  In fact, I am sure the Fall of 2013 will be known in history for having the most beautiful colors ever!  We will be talking a lot about color in the next few days.

Here is the third version of the rug design.  I just couldn't stop tweaking it.  Here I tried to make it look like an actual rug, with actual stitching and a border.  I used neon and invert features in Picasa.  Thinking of submitting this design to CB2.  Not sure how that actually works, but I'll try to figure it out.  It's funny how much I do, yet I have no idea what I'm doing!  :)

Hope you have a great day!  And, as always, thanks for reading!  xo

Inspiration in Junk Mail

I've had this picture in my inspiration folder for a while. It was in a flyer I received from Bath and Body Works. I think it would make a fab rug design.

If I knew a rug designer (and had a ton of money), I'd have this made into a rug, I'd even keep the edges like shown. Of course, then I'd need a fabulous modern white sofa. And an acrylic table so that I could see the image through it.

Color Lab - Torn Between Two Color Schemes

As I stated below, I'm torn between two color schemes:

1. Turquoise/orange/white

2. Fuchsia/ice blue/white

I love them both, but think I am favoring No. 2. But could I add orange to it? Again, Urban Outfitters can be looked to for inspiration. As I've stated, I'm not really a pattern person, and don't really like rugs, but just look at the colors in this rug from UO! It could easily be a painting. And it proves that orange does indeed look great with fuchsia and ice blue. (Well, I think this color is actually magenta, but you get the idea.)

And look at this groovy candlestick, also from UO! Combining both warm and cool colors. Hmm. I think this would look great in my place.