Bedroom Inspiration

I am at it again working on the styling of another room, this time our guest room is getting a makeover to coordinate with the guest bath.  If you follow me you know our guest bath was recently given a little facelift, going from bright colors to black and white with pops of blue on a tan/sand background. The guest bedroom color scheme is going from blues and greens to black, white and tan with an icy blue background to make everything pop; a very sharp, clean look.  Here are some of the photos which originally inspired both the guest bath and bedroom. Can you guess which elements in each room I was drawn to?

As you can see in the photos each room is crisp, sharp and coordinates very well together with some of the elements in each photo already in my design closet. But after evaluating the room and some of the furniture and other accessories in my stash I was not happy with the somewhat stark feeling of the room. True it did mirror the guest bath and my studio but I was not sure our guests would appreciate the lack of warmth and comfort.

Lately I have been very drawn to Shabby Chic, French and European design, which is not my usual style but never the less very appealing in its old world warmth and architectural design.  I was itching to give it a try, why not in a room which pretty much sits alone at one end of the house on the top floor? The funny thing is I made several Paris inspired pillows, from some fabric a reader sent to me last year, which were just sitting in my design stash waiting for a home. Even with all the photos, research and design boards done the pillow became my jumping off point instead.  It just goes to show, you never know which way a project is going to go, sometimes you just have to let it evolve naturally and see where it winds up.

Thanks for letting me share the beginning stages of my newest styling project with you.  I have a long way to go to get the room where I want it; follow along with me as I progress with lots of money saving DIY projects designed to enhance that Shabby/French/Paris feeling. This project is not going to be a quick one because I believe it will be evolving for quite a while so check in often to see what I am up to.

See you soon.

Laurette

Parisian Pillows

I finally have a couple of creative projects to share with you, I finished two home décor pillows inspired by the  “Tres Chic” fabric sent to me by one of my readers.  It took me so long to get something sewn, I had a really difficult time trying to narrow down what I was going to make from the  fabulous Paris inspired print, it sparked a ton of ideas all taking more fabric then I had.  I finally decided on a set of pillows, a bulletin board and a matching lamp shade.  There may end up being more projects with the leftover scraps, we will see how it goes and how far I can stretch it by adding in other coordinating fabrics.  It took forever to post these pillows because they did not photograph well no matter what I did with them; I finally threw them on my sewing chair in disgust and walked away.  Upon my return I decided I would just leave them there and take the photo that way, I did my best but the pictures just don’t do them justice, but you get the idea anyway.

First up is a pillow featuring some cream twist satin cording to highlight the “Tres Chic” fabric in the center of the pillow.  I used my stash of coordinating Waverly fabrics around the main fabric to give it some dimension and interest, a very classic design.

I made the second pillow slightly larger using black piping around the center panel and some black beading on each end to give the pillow a little different feel, a bit of classic bling this time, truly “Tres Chic”.

Thanks for letting me share my Paris inspired project with you instead of the landscaping project I originally planned to post.  I will get around to that at a later date, it has a ton of before and after photos which will take me some time to write and format. 

My husband and I are getting ready to take a little trip so I may be away from my computer for a bit, or maybe not, if I decide to take my computer and post from the beautiful California coastline where we will be staying.  Stay tuned and keep watching; you never know what I will share with you next. 

See you soon, Laurette

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Recently I received a surprise package in the mail, it was a beautiful Paris inspired fabric produced by Waverly Fabrics; one of my all time favorite home décor fabrics to work with when making elegant items for interior decorating projects.  It was a real surprise because I had not ordered it, with a little detective work I figured out who sent the lovely fabric; I was thrilled and pleased that it was one of my special readers, Kelly, who took the time to pick out a fabric for me she thought I would like and use.  Boy was she ever right, the fabric sparked hours of creative play time in my studio as I pulled out coordinating fabrics (also by Waverly) trims, patterns and my sketch journal.  I now have a huge project pile of fabric and notions all ready to create some Parisian home décor projects.

These are some of the coordinating fabrics I chose to color compliment the French fabric, the colors are cream, taupe, tan, charcoal and black; very elegant and being used in all the current decorating shows on HGTV (my favorite TV show for decorating and inspiration).

Some of the notions and trims (bling), I will be using on things like pillows, lamps, bulletin boards and a few other small projects made from the leftover scraps.

It looks like I am going to have to push back some of my other projects so I can begin creating with this gorgeous fabric and notions.  A big thanks to Kelly for thinking of me, I can’t wait to start sewing and posting the projects so you can see what I made, watch for them all during the spring months.

Wow, my project list is getting longer and longer, so little time and so much to create; I am one lucky gal who will never get board, thank goodness.

Thanks for letting me share my spring surprise with you, look for those Paris inspired projects as I finish them.  See you soon.  Laurette

Inspiration Fabrics:

“Tres Chic” by Waverly (Paris Print)

“Pen Pal” Mardi Gras Collection by Waverly (French words)

“Classica” Collection by Waverly (Large Stripes)

“Collection” The Alexander Henry Fabric Collection (High Fashion Ladies)

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