New Adventures

So it's been forever since I've made a post but life has been busy to say the least. I'm ENGAGED and getting married in 67 days and starting to freak out! I graduation from college with my degree in Interior Design in 4 weeks. I've got a great job at a design firm. Other than being busy, I couldn't ask for much more right now. We have a house that we're remodeling and I finally get my own design/craft/work studio!! So now my new goal is to actually start posting things from my new studio and about the upcoming extreme DIY wedding that I'm trying to do! :)

Stranded In!!!!!

So this weekend I got a new toy as a Christmas and birthday present and have been waiting to play with it. This weekend I also got stranded in with 9 inches of blowing snow and topped with ice. So this morning it was blinding white and decided to try it out in bad lighting! So I clicked a few of my car that might not get out for a few days! Right now I'm hitching rides to and from work and other errands. My whole apartment is stuck in because our landlord is stuck in Minnesota. Hopefully we get out eventually....I need to be home by Saturday! But until then I'll be playing with my new camera before I leave for Australia next week!

Budget....cabinets.....hardware.....sustainable issues...

So I've been working on spec'ing and pricing my kitchen for the past 3 hours and decided I needed a study break! I never know how much work went into a kitchen. Plus the fact that I now see how  much a new kitchen costs....it's outrageous! I have a smaller galley kitchen and my cabinets alone at priced at $15,310 right now! I also have to say that this drafting table is one of my favorite things in my apartment! It's the only thing that I can handle leaving messy because I look at it randomly and will get an epiphany on my project! I'm excited to get this done and all rendered out finally. (I ordered the Candace Olson Divine Design book on Amazon today because I love her renderings and want to improve my skills before this condo is due!)

I also thought I'd include one of the better pictures out of the hundreds from this weekend! It was great having a few of my really good friends up for the weekend. Although Saturday night I do think by building codes we definitely exceeded the amount of people legal in one apartment!

My Life Lately....

So now that school has started I spend late nights at my drafting table or sprawling in the living room watching Grey's Anatomy (my new season of addiction!). Right now I am designing a lofted condo in downtown Minneapolis, MN overlooking the Mississippi River, for a famous sculptor. It has to be sustainable and the emphasis is on the kitchen. If I'm not up late working on research for a project, building a model with balsa wood for building systems, or studying electrical components for lighting class I'm trying to do something creative for myself. This rarely works though! I tried uploading a picture of my plan and the kitchen rendered but it said the file was too large and wrong format! :(

The bird mobile is my garage sale steal. I'm not going to lie, sometimes the shadows are a tidge creepy if I wake up in the middle of the night. But they make cool shadows and keep me distracted when I'm up at 3 a.m. doing something due at 8 a.m.! (my picture won't rotate!)

On my end table is my other garage sale steal. One night I fell asleep in bed with it on while writing a paper and apparently the lampshade couldn't handle the heat and it melted! I was watching Myles of Styles on HGTV the other day and she wrapped a lamp shade in ribbon with loops. It looked really cool and if I ever get time that's how I'm going to fix mine too!

I'm still alive....

I went to my parents' place to visit family and friends for a few days this week. It was great to go home for a while and just relax with nothing to do. My roomate is moving in on Monday so I have a few days to myself to finally decorate my room and get it all situated. This week my mom gave me this Art Neuvo handkerchief that she picked up at a local antique shop. She knew it was the colors of my room and lone behold it matches perfect. I wanted something different above my bed so I decided to go to a thrift store a few blocks down to find an old frame. I took out the old picture and put in the handkerchief and added a verse that I love and is great in the room, which also doubles as my design studio room. Later today I hit up a few garage sales and snagged some old 3x3 vintage photos for $.10/each, a  45" square tablecloth from the 1940's with pineapples, a lamp with milkdot base for $1, and a crazy unique wooden bird mobile for $.75. My room is slowly coming together now and can't wait for the finished product!

Little bitta whimsy....

Today I had the day off and decided that my desk needed another playful touch. My room is done in the popular trendy colors with bedding in various Amy Butler fabrics and eclectic and vintage pieces. I love the fun birds and leaves that seem to be popping up everywhere but have never had the chance to experiment with them yet. Today I created a box with various fabrics, added a grosgrain ribbon around it, attached a vintage brooch to the front, and perched a bird on top to keep me company. My desk is nice and busy but this was the perfect touch and way to spend part of an afternoon. It's great keeping me company working on a new project....or just killing time on the internet! :)

My parents and my brother came u

p to visit for the day. My mom always manages to find the neatest things when she goes shopping. She found me eco friendly binders that are awesome and I can't even take the credit for them! They are by greenroom eco (http://greenroomeco.com/). The binders are made of 50% post consumer fibers and there are matching tab dividers that are made of 70% recycled material. They are even printed with nontoxic soy based inks. As a designer this green buzz hit me long before it got crazy in our society...I have to say I'm enjoying what it's bringing out!

Reacquainted!

So today I got reacquainted with my sewing machine again! I think it thinks I abandoned it lately! My life has been busy and today the stress pushed me to make a new purse to clear my mind and open up my creative juices! I got called into work and didn't get to finish but will post the finished project soon! I realized again today how the feel of fabrics and the hum of my machine is like a comfort food from home and will immediately help diminish stress and the busy thoughts of the day. It's amazing how a small machine can be such a friend! :)