This week I decided to take an old, ugly mirror and make it pretty enough to fit in with my gorgeous new apartment. The mirror was bought by my mother over a decade ago because she thought it would match the decorating scheme of my teenage bedroom. It didn’t. It continued its streak of not matching anything I own through a couple more bedrooms until last week, when I figured that enough was enough and went shopping for a replacement. After not being able to find anything suitable (and non-ugly) at a price I was willing to pay, I came to the cold, hard realization that this mirror was going to follow me to the ends of the Earth. This is when I decided that I would try painting it, because chances were slim that it would come out looking worse.
Decorating
My Nautical Bathroom Decorating Scheme
At the end of the month I will finally be moving from my small one bedroom apartment to a sprawling two bedroom in a converted 150 year old mansion, which, where I live, means an old Victorian house that is maybe the size of a new build, if you include its many additions. I am very excited for the new apartment; it has a few features that I am not accustomed to, like hallways, a pantry, proper kitchen ventilation, windows in every room, heat in the bathroom and a nearly formal front entrance-way. But most importantly of all (for me at least) is that it has two bathrooms, which is a first for me, meaning that I only have enough items to decorate one bathroom. It gets even better, one of those bathrooms has navy tile in the shower that just beckons me to decorate it in a nautical theme.
IKEA-centric
Like many women of my age and socio-economic standing, that being, young and thrifty, I love IKEA. I have opened an IKEA catalogue more times than I have opened a bible, I have the IKEA expansion pack for The Sims 2 and I thoroughly enjoyed IKEA scene in (500) Days of Summer. I often joke that IKEA is the only designer I can afford, and it’s true. I regularly draw inspiration from the IKEA showroom and catalogue in conjunction with other sources and my own personal style when decorating my home. One design trend I’ve noticed a change in from the 2010 catalogue to the 2011 is where once every picture displayed a paradigm of regimented order and organization they now depict what can only be called contrived disorder. Continue reading
Wedding Planning IV: The Reception
The most important and expensive stage of planning a wedding is not ordering the dress, choosing the wedding bands or booking the photographer – it’s selecting the reception venue. When you pick your venue, you’re not only choosing a location, you are choosing the chef/caterer, co-ordinators, and theme that come with the venue. It’s a grand decision, and it’s going to consume the largest portion of your budget. Continue reading