Kitchen Color Choices...

Kitchen color? Hmm...
When I viewed my new apartment for the first time (I was in there for about one minute before I said "I want it!") the previous tenants, who were still mid-moving out, had painted the back wall of the kitchen in this gorgeous deep luscious plum purple color.. so I did put a request in to my new super for it to stay when it came to repainting the apartment. However, I'm wondering now if I want to keep it! I LOVE the idea, so I debating whether I should go a smart sophisticated elephant grey or divulge in my most favorite kitchen color; duck egg blue! Oh the decisions!!

By the way, have I told you recently that I CANT WAIT to move in?!!

Portrait courtesy of Ralph Lauren...

On the note of Ralph Lauren paint swatches, you must check this out!!!
Self portrait with swatches - I love this! I've been inspired even further!!
Check out Nathan's full Flickr set here!! and his .com here!

Paint Swatch Wall!

This weekend I decided to get a little creative...so on a chilly Saturday early afternoon I walked into Home Depot on 23rd street and picked up a few Ralph Lauren paint swatches...

I've wanted to do something with the wall behind my bed for a long time. And back then I did start it off by painting the wall that pretty purple/pink color (see the inspiration post about it here!) but since then that's about all that happened to it. I did have one of my paintings hanging there, but really having it over my head while I slept didn't always feel so great...fear of it dropping on me perhaps?!!

So, with an idea I've played with before on canvases, and from some remembered inspiration from Design*Sponge on the below pics, I decided to try out some graphic artwork myself!

I did the top half first, setting all of the colors out on my coffee table, and over a few cups of tea I finally had them in a position I liked. Ill admit, I'm pretty particular about how things look and that they have to feel right to my eyes! And then with a bit of measuring on my wall, and after backing each swatch with mounting tape, I preceded to line up the first row!
I totally enjoyed doing this by the way!! Maybe it was because I was finally getting it up on the wall, or because I loved being so creative (after feeling as though I hadn't been for so long!) or maybe it was because I was blasting out music, singing along, and just thoroughly enjoying the whole time!
Now, the second half, neat little trick I pulled out of my hat! I mirrored the top half!! I was missing one or two identical swatches, and just replaced them with ones as similar as I could get it. The odd mismatch added a twist! I really love how it turned out! If I could change anything I'd make it bigger!! But maybe I can add a line here or there sometime too!



Images from this post on Design*Sponge! The reviews on that post are intense though I warn you!

Apartment Redecoration Part Three!!

Well, above is my bed - after my room's redecoration! I love my bed..and I have a little obsession with filling it with pillows and cushions! The sun pours in my window every morning which I love...which you can see on my orange blanket...this lil blanket has a few years on it, my Mum used to put it on the bottom of her bed too...when I was a little girl, I had a green one just like it...although I'm not sure where it wandered off to!

Below is my bedside table, at night! I love my string of lights, especially as the bulbs are so big and round...so I had the idea to wrap them up and put them in a large glass vase from Crate and Barrel for $20...I even put a dimmer on them!! so they can also give of a gorgeous dim glow, which I adore!!
Above the lights are family photo's of when I was just a little girl with my family...also postcards from 1909 and 1910 which I purchased from the 25th street flea market, from a really sweet woman who had folders and folders of them to browse through...I had a well spent Sunday afternoon there!



Sooooo....here's my next project!! As you may notice I don't have a headboard to my bed, and the wall above is pretty bare and lacking character.. I could always hang something up there, but I thought I'd be a bit more creative and paint the area instead!

I love the William Morris wallpaper below, and wouldn't say no to hanging a large piece of this from floor to ceiling at the head of my bed! But, I don't have any laying around and I'm not sure my budget could cover it right now anyways!!



So - onto painting inspiration!! Below are some of my favorite finds! But if you have any further ideas or if you have the perfect photo or any inspiration you'd like to share please let me know! I'd LOVE to hear from you!!
In the mean time, I'm going to keep up my search... as I hope to get started this weekend!

Today I received an absolutely wonderful and unbelievably inspiring gift!! (THANK YOU!!!!!!)

Almost every tube of glorious paint was wrapped in newspaper, and as I sat on my living room floor, unwrapping each one, investigating each color and putting it in its rightful place in my growing color wheel, I felt like all of Christmases had come at once!! I reveled in every moment, becoming more excited the more I unwrapped! A wealth of color!! And all at my fingertips!! Oh!! The possibilities!!!!

Soon, I shall be able to show you what I can accomplish with this wealth of color!! And I can't wait to get started!!!! I'll keep you posted!!!!