I Made That! - Baby Birthday Edition

It was my adorable niece's very first birthday on March 27! I was helping my sister plan her big party which happened on March 31. I was in charge of making the cake,

A "decorate your own cupcake" station for the little kids as well as a "memory book". A memory book is something I kind of made up of course. It is a simple scrap book that we filled with pictures of Miss Ava throughout her first year with various family members and friends. I cut up pieces of paper and set out markers for guests of the party to leave a special birthday message for the birthday girl. It is a simple keepsake and a cuter guest book that everyone will be able to look back on over the years.

For Ava's first birthday I really wanted to get her some TOMS shoes. Preferably the silver tiny glitters, but being so busy, I didn't order off line and was left to scour the malls and call as many shoe companies as I could. No one carries the tiny glitters in such a small size. So I was forced to buy her some hot pink Mary Jane's with a cute bow on the toe. She liked them just the same.

I also made her a gift of course. I am really glad my family taught me from an early age that hand made gifts really are the best. Not only are they one of a kind and personalized, they are cheap! I was on a shopping spree with my friend Nicki and she showed me this box on blank cards for less than ten dollars. The cards had cute little pastel coloured owls on the front, four different styles. Of course I bought them. I knew I could use them for something creative. As Ava's birthday approached, I found some simple wood frames unfinished at the dollar store, so I picked up four. I also found a pack of pastel card stock at the dollar store which went perfectly with the pastel colours of the cards. I painted the frames a cream colour,  cut the card stock to fit the frames and placed the owl cards over top. I also left secret messages in all the cards. I thought this would be a fun find for Ava when she was older and maybe replacing the owls with pics of her high school crush. However, my Sister found these messages about 30 minutes after I left her place for dinner.

This is what the final creation looked like,

After Miss Ava's birthday came Baby B's 1st Birthday. Ava was born 2 weeks before Brooklyn who is our cousin. For Brooklyn's baby shower I made her a sign-able frame as one of her gifts. It was Winnie the Pooh themed and had a jade green border. I wanted to make Brooklyn a growth chart. So I made it Winnie the Pooh themed as well and tied in the jade green colour scheme in the numbers and leaves.

This is what the final creation looked like,

I personalized this gift by making the characters appear like they were going to someones 1st Birthday with the cake with one candle, the party hats, and balloon. I like giving these personalized gifts to friends and family because I find that today, we get so much "stuff" we really don't need and we forget about the simple treasures that are so special to us. And keepsakes are something that can last a life time and be passed down the family.

Good tip for giving hand made items as gifts, sometimes guest of the party will approach you to make one for them, Cha-Ching! Might have a special something to show you all in July.

Come back soon, and I'll share some more hand made creations with you!

-AR

Tiny Tip

Visual clutter is something that can be really distracting, for me. If I'm at home and there is something out of place, I can't concentrate. If I go to a store, where there are 500 items for sale on the cash desk alone, I can't concentrate. For me, this is why I love using things like baskets and boxes to "hide" things. I am REALLY good at storing a lot of stuff in small places and not having it interfere with any one's sight lines.

Something that I've always found a pain to display/hide are books, DVD's and CD's. I know I know who has CD's anymore? But, I do.

Case in point, TV display units -

Minus the holiday stockings, and the side shelving units (we will get to those in a later post, but I bet your wondering what is in those boxes and baskets) You can see ALOT of stuff on either side of the television stand at the bottom cupboards. And most units have glass doors as a decorative feature. A rainbow of horizontal lines courtesy of our favourite DVD's, family photo albums, picture frames and even those media boxes and gaming consoles that never go with any decor style.

I had thought about using a decorative window film over the glass doors to disguise the insides of the TV stand, but I never really came across one that I liked. It wasn't until I was cleaning the accessories warehouse at my last job that I came across this punch out decorative sheet metal. I thought there was something I could do with it, but wasn't sure what. They no longer needed it and I got to take it home for free! Bonus, however, now I cant find any more like it, anywhere!!!

This is what I decided to do with it -

TA-Da! (Who else is in love with Modern Family?)

I had the glass carefully taken out in one piece, and sheet metal cut to size, and installed in place of the glass. Before installation I used a brown and hammered bronze spray paint and mixed the two together and with a rag blended together. I was trying to get the sheet metal to look like the door hardware. This is a really simple change that you can do, to any style of cabinet to make it unique, hide your mess, and personalize your furniture.

I was lucky with this cabinet that the glass was being held in the back of the door similar to picture frames. I have a second cabinet that I would like to pop the glass out of but the glass is actually installed between the front and back rails of the door frame. So, if this is something you would like to try just be sure to check out the installation of the glass in your doors before you start breaking it out!

I have yet to find some window film that I like for my second cabinet, but when I do I'll let you all know.

Come back soon and I'll share some more tips!
-AR

6. Accessories

So, I am halfway through my Desgn on Dime segment and it has brought me to Accessories. I hope that you are enjoying these how-to tips.  Now accessories can be a very tricky part of design. I’m sure with all the HGTV shows out there for the DIY-er’s it seems pretty simple when they show you that they are placing perfectly matched accessories in the space they just spent 25 minutes redoing. However, a very common behind the scenes aspect to design is the scouting aspect of the perfect accessory.

Some designers will have their own accessory line, Brain Gluckstein, Debbie Travis, Lynda Reeves, Steven & Chris. And some will spend, spend, spend, when they feel they have found the perfect piece but don’t quite have the perfect space, yet. Often these designers have storage units, sometimes more than one, to house their inventory of finds over years of flea market shopping, estate sales, antique road shows, and liquidated companies. This is something I would LOVE to do! Maybe, one day.

Accessorizing is something I can speak a little bit about because of the experiences I’ve had personally and professionally handling accessories for fun and for work. In school, we didn’t have these “real life” accessories to place in our spaces. Now when I think back to my school projects I don’t even think I put one type of accessory on my presentation boards. When I moved into my very own space, I went a little nutty. I didn’t really know what my personal decor style was, or what sort of themes I wanted to go with in my own home. I scoured department stores, clearance racks and even the dollar store for some good finds. I was watching one of Sarah Richardson’s shows one day, and heard The Great Tommy Smythe say something along the lines of ‘when dealing with accessories, take away 50% of what you have and that is all you need...’ I thought, IMPOSSIBLE! Where am I going to put all this stuff? What if I need it when I have a house instead of a two bedroom apartment? So I carried on, and continued to buy fun finds wherever they popped up.

When I got the opportunity to work as a Showroom Decorator, I distinctively remember being asked “Did you deal with accessories and room settings at your school?” I said, No. I didn’t want to lie in a job interview. But I was determined to try my best and I really was there to learn this aspect of design since it is something I did not learn in my studies. When I got the job, I really didn’t know what I was doing but, it is the kind of job you learn from quickly. You get to see your work displayed in a real life room setting, and then you get to see other’s reactions to this space. You get to walk away from the room and come back the next day with a clear head and start all over again if you need too. I loved this job. After about 4 months my confidence started to really grow and I felt really comfortable using accessories to show off a space. After all I learned at my job, I still did not down size my accessory inventory at home...

When I moved this summer, packing was a nightmare. I didn’t know I had so much stuff accumulate in almost 3 years into my sometimes small apartment. Because I knew the new move was temporary, 2 years max, I decided to not unpack everything. A) Because it would just be too much work to pack it up again in 730 plus 1 days, being a leap year, and B) I really didn’t want to do all that dusting. So I carefully organized my belongings in pretty little totes and stored a good chunk of what I owned. And you know what, that Tommy Smythe was right! Now I am so happy with my living spaces. They aren’t too cluttered; everything matches, and is visually appealing. He better not quit his day job ;)

So after all that, here are some tips I’ve learnt for to start properly accessorizing your space...

1.   Pick a theme – this might be hard for someone who is just getting their own space or even for someone who has their own space but knows it is way over cluttered. Try and find a common theme in the things you like. It could be their purpose, clay pots, or their colour, earth tones, or simply a collection of shot glasses over years of travel, alcohol? Lol. Each theme can branch off into a larger theme, clay pots could be bright colours, flowers and nature. Earth tones could be greens with natural elements of straw and organic shapes. Shot glasses could be showcased in a contemporary space with leather furniture and metal accents.

2.   Keep the themes consistent – Accessories should relate to one another if they are going to be in the same room together. If you chose to go with an Earthy theme, have picture frames that are wood tones, browns, and gold. Have accessories that relate, like animal figurines, different colour glass bottles or grass woven fruit shapes as examples.

3.   Keep the styles consistent – Whether you are a traditional person or modern, country, eclectic, contemporary, rustic, transitional (bet you didn’t think there were so many) find what you like and keep the style consistent for visual impact, at least within the same room. I like to change up styles and themes throughout rooms so it doesn’t become to minuteness for me.

4.   Most of all, Have Fun – It is VERY important for you to love the space you live in, not the space your in-laws visit once a year when your stuffing a turkey. Your home is yours and you should love it. Don’t be afraid to have fun and experiment with your style from time to time. Switch accessories up move them from room to room for a quick update. If you don’t like it, just move them back. I admitted I didn’t know what I was doing with accessorizing when I first got my home, but no one ever said “ hey, that giant blue apple doesn’t match anything”

Some great places I like to go to for room inspiration is in fact, furniture show rooms. You’ll know very quickly if they have a good decorator or not. One day I spent the afternoon near Vaughn Mills perusing the showrooms there, Leon’s, Lazy Boy, Urban Barn and Bowrings. You can really see all the different styles within these spaces and which demographic they are appealing to. If you can’t get out, just be aware of this next time you’re looking through your favourite magazine or on your favourite website. Tv shows can be a great inspiration too.

Come back soon, and Ill share with you some more Desgn on a Dime tips!

-AR