#286...tissues under cover

As an allergy sufferer, a tissue box lives on my bedside table.

The graphics on tissue boxes leave a lot to be desired in the style arena.

I finally got so sick of looking at my current floral cardboard tissue box,

and decided to make myself a tissue box cover from a scrap of striped linen.

I basically followed this design*sponge tutorial, but modified it for a rectangular box.

#285...e-board update

Lately, I've made several room e-boards that I thought I'd share. The boards all come with  link lists to the suggested furnishings, accessories, and fabrics on the board as well as additional options to consider. Each board is catered to the needs of the individual project. Some rooms don't need furniture, they simply needed ideas to work with the existing furniture to give the room a new look. All the rooms work within a budget range provided by the client.

The virtual boards take me about 4 to 8 hours per room to put together. I recently revamped my etsy listing for the boards, splitting the e-board listing into two listings. One is for large rooms, which includes bedrooms, kitchen, living room, etc. The other listing is for small rooms like bathrooms, foyers, laundry rooms. Here is some of my recent work.

living room

bedroom

guest room/sitting room

living room

kid bath

living room

sister's bedroom

powder room

living room

#284...stairwell decor

Last week, I decorated my friend & client Ashley's stairwell. She lives in a three story condo, with the entry on the bottom floor. We wanted to give the stairwell some personality, and make it feel like an extension of her small foyer. Here is her stairwell before...

...and here is her stairwell after

Ashley had a closet full of inherited family photos, so I hung them gallery style going up the stairs. I also made her some pelmets for the stairs. We chose this graphic, fun fabric by Alexander Henry for the pelmets. I really like how the pelmets make the windows seem larger than they are.

#283...my inspiration boards

The beauty of having magnetic inspiration boards is that I can change inspiration images often. The reality is that I never change the pictures, and the boards have held the same images for the past three years.

My magnetic boards flank the window in my studio. You can see them below.

Today, I cleared off my boards to fill with new inspiration images. After taking them down and culling through, I realized there are a handful of images I still love to look at everyday, and missed as soon as they were gone. They are like old friends to me. These are the images that I'll be putting back up...along with some new ones.

hide and seek donkey

rex ray raindrop art

rodney smith, hudson river, new york 1995

hard to miss this well stickered case at baggage claim

...and food

maggie taylor, the herald

artsy wedding photos

 memories

I don't know this couple, but I love their giant striped art wall

arrrrrr!

giant damien hirst spin art

the art of paper cutting

#282...framing the year up

I bought this pair of wood frames at the thrift shop.

They came with the peeling cardboard boy and girl prints.

Santa left this little Charles Renee Mackintosh mini calendar in my stocking. I decided to frame it with one of the thrifted frames to make it more of an art piece, and so that I could prop it up on a shelf.

I cut a piece of foam board to fit the frame. Next, I wrapped a piece of black ticking fabric over the foam board and hot glued it on the back to the board. The board now fit snugly into the frame. I used a thumb tack and mounted the calendar to the fabric covered board...and here is my finished calendar display.

#281...making manhattans

Tyler spent this holiday season perfecting his Manhattan cocktail making skills. Above are his ingredients, including the below bourbon soaked cherries, which he made himself after seeing them used in Manhattan's at a local pub....

My favorite Manhattan consists of:

• the larger side of a jigger filled with Maker's Mark
• the smaller (pony) side of a jigger filled with Sweet Vermouth
• a dash of Peychauds Aromatic Cocktail Bitters 
• a few bourbon soaked cherries....stirred and served on the rocks

I put away the holidays this past weekend, and used Jordan's great tip for storing lights in easy to unwind balls.

#280..."c" you in the new year

I made this applique "c" pillow as a Christmas gift for a loved one, whose name also happens to start with the letter "c". Here is my tutorial on creating monogram applique pillows, and here is the book that taught me to make perfect pillow welting. 2010 was full of pillow sewing for me. I'm better at it and more consistent than I used to be, which is a good way to end the year. 

To make this "c" pillow, I used a vintage Waverly print, and the same printed linen that I used on my own monogram pillows from the tutorial.