Living Room Mood Board

I recently ordered new living room furniture from Ikea. Since my old roommate and I parted ways, she took her futon with her, and so my living room only has two old armchairs in it. I figured it was time for at least a sofa. I ended up ordering an Ektorp sofa, two Billy bookcases, and two Inreda lamps for the bookcases.

And, the dork that I am, I made up a quick mood board (ignore my crappy job cutting out the photos - I'm not at work) in photoshop to see how everything will fit together. I'm going with a white/greys/black color scheme with purples and yellows as accents.



(Click to see a bigger version)


Most of the things are things that I already have, or things that I had and have updated. I got that big frame at an antique store for $40! It's solid wood and probably 4 by 2.5 feet big. It doesn't have any glass though, but I'm fine with that. I'm thinking of either getting some wallpaper to put in it, or painting something myself.

I'm excited to see everything come together!

My first sew

My lovely Michael bought me a sewing for my birthday a few weeks ago and I finally got a chance to use it this weekend!

I went to Mitchell Fabrics and picked up a few basic supplies and some fabric. Mitchell Fabrics is a huge fabric store in downtown Winnipeg. There are some good fabrics, but there's a LOT of tacky fabrics as well. But if you're willing to sift through hundreds, you might find what you're looking for!

Anyways, I picked up some fabric - two Amy Butler prints and two solids, with the plan of recovering some pillows. I am a pillow addict and have collected a lot throughout the years, but some of them had pretty awful patterns.

(Michael will make fun of my Christmas woolies.)




It's been nine years since I last touched a sewing machine in home ec class, so I read through the manual to re-learn how to load up a bobbin and how to thread the machine.




The color palette for my pillows (and living room - new Ikea furniture arrives in 9 days!!) comes from my grandma's vintage lamp she gave me (with a new shade from Ikea). I'm really loving the mellow greys and whites with a cheery yellow.




The larger pillow in the back is my shoddiest work - I had to work really hard to mush the pillow in to fit the amount of fabric I had, and I didn't have enough fabric to make a nice cover that's removable, so I sewed it completely shut. I still think it looks pretty good!




The grey pillow is my favorite and took me the longest to make. But I love the details on it!

Craft

I've been meaning to post pictures of the latest craft I've finished last week.

I must admit, the project was not my idea. I stole it from Design Sponge, as per usual. They have so many good ideas!


First of all I gathered objects and arranged them into the shape of a key. I used vintage buttons, a few keys (hope they aren't for my parents' house, I couldn't remember what they were for), a clothes pin, a few jewelry charms, some key holes, and a few cut out shapes (butterflies and puzzle pieces) and other knick knacks.



Then I spraypainted all the objects a flat black. Note for future reference: do NOT spraypaint inside your apartment. The smell doesn't leave the air for hours.



Here's some of the objects. Don't they look cute? I love that they match.



Then I rearranged the items and used a glue gun to keep them in place. I took a picture when I arranged them earlier so I'd remember how they all fit together.



And it's on my wall! It's an easy craft that makes use of things you have lying around your place.

I didn't have any watercolor paper big enough to fit the frame I bought, so I used a thinner stock, which I now regret. The weight of the objects makes the paper bend at the bottom. Ah well, next time. I still like it.



While I'm on the topic of hanging pictures, I have to mention this product I found. Living in an apartment, I have a really long concrete wall that I can't put nails or hooks into.

I found a really neat product that lets you hang things on the wall. It's called Command Strips by 3M. They're essentially really strong sticky velcro/tape which you can remove without leaving any damage or holes in the wall.



I think you can hang up to 15 pounds with 3 strips on one picture, so quite a bit! Anyways, these things have been a lifesaver! No more huge white empty wall!

Coldplay!

Ahhh! My favorite band to see live ever.

I saw them in November in Minneapolis after hearing that they'd canceled their Winnipeg show last year and nearly died. I've never been so blown away by a concert.

So, when they announced they were coming to Winnipeg in June, I bought floor tickets as soon as the pre-sale started.



Here's a video from the show. The first time I saw them live, I didn't like this remix of the song, but now I love it! Notice at 3:14, Will and Guy look like their talking with their eyes and Will does this funny little smile. It makes me feel like I'm in their secret conversation.


Here's a few of my favorite shots from the evening.

Punch-kick-kaboosh!



Crowd on the screen during Fix You. Look how happy everyone is!

Viva la Vida. I die every time Will Champion hits that bell.

Chris with a japanese umbrella in the butterfly confetti during Lovers in Japan. I love how the crowd is all looking up at the confetti.


All true performers bow at the end of their show. What gentlemen.



Sigh. I'm in love.

This is how I spend my Saturdays

As I wrote earlier, my mom, sisters and I go to a greenhouse every Mother's Day. I live in an apartment, so I can't plant outside like they can, but I got quite a few plants for pots inside.

I finally got nice pots today to plant my plants in! I spent the afternoon today moving my plants from their temporary plastic containers to new pretty pots.



I made a special mixture of soil, using two different kinds. My lovely's mother works in a greenhouse so I got tips from her.



The yellow and the silver pots are ones I already had. I decided I wanted a mixture of black and white pots, in a variety of sizes textures, so there's a few striped white, a solid gloss white, and two matte black pots. (on my lovely plant stand from Ikea. I wish I'd bought two!)



My apartment faces east, so I only get sun in the mornings, so I needed plants that would work well with a lot of shade.

Here's what I got:
(in the big white pot) Herbs! Cilantro, basil, oregano and parsley

(in the other white pot on the table) Goldilocks
(in the black pot on the table) Artillery Fern
(in the silver pot on the table) Christmas cactus I've had for probably 7 years. Every time I move, it seems to die a little. It looks a little sad.

(in the yellow pot on the floor) White begonias
(in the white pot on the floor) Oxalis
(in the black pot on the floor) Boston Fern

(The big leafy plant) Dieffenbachia



And while I'm talking about plants, I have to mention the huge put of chrysanthemums that Mike got me for my birthday! They're bright yellow and cheery and I love them!



You can't really see how big the flowers are, but they're probably a foot by a foot big! I love them. (Mike, do you like my use of depth of field here?)