i spy a bottlecap

first of all i'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who drinks bottled  beverages and is nice enough to pocket the caps and donate them to me, you guys rock! (and now you have proof your donations have not been in vein)

alright, so if you remember back to last summer, i bought a cheap $7.99 coffee table from savers with the intention of collecting enough caps of various colors to create a cool design for the tabletop. and this past weekend i decided i finally had enough to get started on my diy table. an hour or so later, i finished stacking all the caps by brand...there were roughly 1,029 bottle caps.

any ideas for a design? i've been kickin around the thought of making a design of the twitter fail whale. for now im going to use my blue wicker table with the glass top so i can change the design whenever my mood changes. kind of like an etch-a-sketch for furniture...

a hanging garden

i've had a topsy turvy sitting quietly in it's box since winter, and six months later i finally got around to purchasing the remaining ingredients: a few small tomato plants, a giant bag of soil, a few hours of my mom's time, and a cleverly chosen rainy afternoon.

word to the wise: don't try to plant anything that you have to awkwardly hold multiple feet above the floor while simultaneously pouring in soil while carefully keeping the tomato plants unharmed and above the floor so they don't get crushed, all while in your bedroom.

but no matter how my hanging garden began, one month later it's alive and kickin. tiny yellow blossoms are flowering (which i hope is a good sign...?) and i've been watering it religiously, praying for the day that i wake up to a baby tomato...that will one day make delicious salsa.

speaking of, does anyone know any good homemade salsa recipes?

the secret of happiness

turns out certain people are worried that naming my dining room the opium den might hurt my reputation. well how about the poppyseed lounge? hmm, this might take some time, so as i ponder more socially acceptable titles to help you understand my vision, here are some photos from last weekend's project. what do you think?

here's a little background on my inspiration for this room: those who know me can understand why i ended up choosing a different (but equally vibrant) color for each of my four walls. as seen in my daily wardrobe, i am intrigued by mixing together as many patterns and colors as i possibly can. and now that i have my own place, it's starting to show through in my home decor as well.

the circular wall hangings shown above were a diy birthday gift from my lovely baby sis and i am so happy i finally got them up on the walls. i decided to have them hanging down from the ceiling, so i secured a string of hemp across the entire middle wall, and then hung each fabric circle down from there at different heights. i didn't plan it out in advance, and should have probably thought about their placements, measured, and used a transparent thread, but i was impatient and just wanted to get them up.

PS: for those of you still worried about the negative connotations of the term opium den, here's what a little google searching uncovered to prove that the word can be used to describe a design style:

• a peek into the home of olga naiman via design*sponge
• a post from the BBC's design inspiration section
• an LA spot, the figueroa hotel
• and of course, the one and only kitty cat klub in dinkytonwn

and i leave you with a quote (also found on my google search), which inspired the title of this post.

"i took it, and in an hour...an abyss of divine enjoyment suddenly revealed...here was the secret of happiness...at once discovered." -- thomas de quincey.

the philosophy behind paint color

now i know that most people spend hours, days, months even when choosing their paint colors. they go to the store, grab swatches, use online color planners, paint test patches, investigate under different lighting, and repeat until they think they are happy with what the outcome will be.

not me. my philosophy is to go for it, and if it doesn't work, just repaint it. actually that's a total lie, my real philosophy is that i have no patience and im never going to get around to repainting. so whatever i decide upon is going to be there for the long haul. i didn't even decide where each color would go until in my dining room until we were already painting.

i guess i just depend on my designer instincts and tune out what everyone else says,* since all along people have been skeptical of my decisions (until they see the final product of course). case in point:

• black hardwood floors
• lawn chairs in my living room
• faux cobblestone laminate flooring, indoors

so without furth ado, here are my four wall colors:

very berry by glidden. for my largest wall i chose a really deep fuchsia hue. it might be dark, but i like it. and who says your rooms need to be light anyways? i want it to feel more of a lounge than a room anyways.

pink salmon by glidden. the name says it all, and as you know, this color has been up for a while, today we just went over it with a second coat. i originally ordered it as a sample and ended up keeping it after my dad surprised me by painting my bedroom-side wall one day while i was at work.

realm by behr. this is a rich turquoise blue. i decided to paint it on my bathroom-side wall as a gateway into the tranquility of my bathroom. even though it is probably last on my to-do list, i anticipate it being very serene and ocean inspired, so i thought this color would help set the mood.

home song by behr. if you've been a fan of my blog since the very beginning, you might remember back to my first paint task, the living room. i chose a very muted, pale green to compliment my dark hardwood floors. so we used more of that to finish off the walls flowing from the two rooms.

check out how it looks finished.


*and yes mom, i know you have always been very supportive of my choices

a perfect fit

 

once again my family proved how much they love me.

bright and early the day after the fourth of july (on our day off) they showed up at my door at 10am, paintbrushes in hand. and despite the humidity and the fact that i have no AC, they powered through it all: putty, sanding, taping, priming, and painting.

along the way we discovered there actually is a reason i dealt with all the short comments throughout my lifetime: i fit perfectly into the window, my ponytail just barely brushing against the top of the window frame. matthew didn't fit quite as well.

by 2pm i had four finished dining room walls, in four different colors. (well, we still need to paint a second coat...but that can wait) and now i can officially introduce you to my india-inspired opium den dining room.

up next: creating a wall-length wooden storage bench, scattered with silk throw pillows of all colors and patterns.

my windowsill garden

i ordered some herbies online in january...

...then i wished them luck as i buried them in soil. hoping they would grow big and tall...

a week or so later, they were already beginning to sprout :)

 and here they are today! i've already had to re-pot a few of them. and of course some of their plant friends from ikea and home depot have joined them too.

two new places to hide things away

tonight dad finished up the shelving in my two main closets! now i just need some doors to hide all my junk ;)

and as you can see, dad's already moved in!