decorating – Page 2

road trip :: alexander hotel indianapolis

28 June 2014 by Andrea Leave a Comment

This past week I traveled to Indianapolis for work and had the opportunity to stay at the very cool and very mod Alexander Hotel. It was so hip, the moment I opened my hotel room door, rather than doing my usual paranoid routine of checking in the closet, shower, and under the bed for a murderer lying in wait, I started a photo shoot. The room was so awesome, I didn’t even remember to lock my door!

The very welcoming word search art…

Drawing me in was this fabulous runner made with super colorful carpet tiles…

Seriously, any one of us could make one of these at home with Flor carpet tiles.

More fab art…

A mod bed set-up…

And a funky chair and lamp by the window…

And you can see a bit of the flooring…woodgrain ceramic tiles. Love!

Even the note paper was artsy!

And the naughty little doorhanger…front…

And back…

Then there was the dream house bathroom…

A perfectly gorgeous sink…

Wonderful wallpaper, ever-so-slighty pearlescent…

And then the shower. Ah yes, the perfect shower. Shower perfection. Dream house quality.

So overall, a wonderfully designed hotel room. Mod perfection. My only complaint, if I had one, would be that the room was a little cold. Not temperature cold. The coziness factor. Not warm and fuzzy enough for me.

But it wasn’t only the room that was great. The whole joint was fun and funky.

Upon walking in, these amazing glass globe lights were hanging in the lobby…

This was a giant hanging piece of metal art by the elevator. Silver script writing. Shocking orange wall behind it.

Check out this cool panel and geometric wallpaper in the hallway…

And if that wasn’t enough, how about this awesome wall decal?

Another angle with my favorite colors – black and white!

Well, that concludes today’s road trip. Believe it or not, I wasn’t even paid for this. Probably should have been!

all points bulletin [board]

17 March 2014 by Andrea Leave a Comment

One of the great features of my son’s angsty teen boy bedroom update was the floor to ceiling bulletin board. Remember?

Cool, huh?

Yeah.

So this happened…

Not cool.

All points of the bulletin board fell off the wall. Every. single. cork. tile.

The double-sided tape that came with the tiles came was seriously irrelevant.

Now to be honest with you – and you know I always am – I vaguely recall reading somewhere on the internets that some blogger had experienced a similar problem. But as is often the case, I don’t believe that such things can happen to me. Until they do.

But by that point, I had forgotten where I read about the irrelevant double-sided tape and cork tile dilemma, so I had to come up with a solution of my own.

So of course I let the problem cure for a bit to allow me to come up with the most creative option.

Problem solved! With these…

Some sort of washers and galvanized roofing nails…

As always, it was an entertaining Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus conversation with the guy helping me at Home Depot, when I tried to explain my creative inspiration and that I needed silver-colored nails with a big head and large washers with a small hole so that the nail head couldn’t fit through. Complete with hand gestures that could have been mistaken for a mild form of sexual harassment.

After looking at me like I just offered him a hit on my crack pipe, he led me to something I didn’t need in the nail department and something else I didn’t need in the washer section, at which point I pretended that was exactly what I needed so that he would move along, then I ferreted out what I really needed on my own.

But I digress…back to the project…

Starting at the ceiling, I placed the tile back on the irrelevant double-sided tape – I left it up as a guide, plus it acts as a spacer between the tile and the wall, so that hopefully the push pins don’t puncture the drywall.

Then I eyeballed the placement (because that’s what I do – why measure when you can eyeball?) and tapped the nail through the washer. Lather, rinse, repeat, and voila! Project salvaged and with an industrial chic flair!

Looks better than it did before! (And if you look carefully, you can see a reflection of my girlish figure in the poster to the right of the bulletin board.)

Success! And super stylish to boot!

Here’s a close-up…

A super-fun save for what could have been a massive project fail!

how to :: manly memo board

6 November 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

manly memo board

So on my recent design vacation, I redid my son’s room, going from vintage cowboy room to angsty teen boy’s room. In that redo, I created a manly memo board for his room.

I’ve been ruminating on this project for years now. It started with a beautiful striped wooden retail display board that’s been curing in my garage for years.

Here’s how I made it…

I started with the wooden display…

This bad boy is heavy, so I added D hooks to the back…

Then I criss-cross wrapped jute around the wood…

Yeah, that’s my foot and the awesome striped socks I was wearing…

I tied the jute string tight on the back and that was it. Hung it using screws, anchors, and employed the Pinterest toothpaste method to determine where to the drill the holes for the anchors…that’s when you dab a glop of toothpaste on the D ring hooks and place the memo board against the wall where you want to hang it. The toothpaste marks the wall, you can drill in exactly the right spot, hang the piece to perfection, plus have minty fresh breath when you lick the toothpaste off your fingers. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, of course I ate the toothpaste, rather than finding a paper towel to wipe it off! Duh.

Another 30-minute, free project, since I had all the materials on hand.

Really quite perfect for a teen boy’s room, wouldn’t you say?

Up close and personal…

how to :: globe lamp

3 November 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

So on my recent design vacation, I redid my son’s room, going from vintage cowboy room to angsty teen boy’s room. In that redo, I created a hanging globe lamp for his room.

Here’s how I made it…

First, my sister the school teacher gifted me with a globe. Not just any globe. But a globe with no globe stand. Originally I had other plans for the globe, which included the need for a globe stand. So I texted her asking if what happened to the globe stand. Her response:

Gone gone gone.

Um hello? What did that mean? So when I inquired further via text, I got the same response.

Gone gone gone.

I never did get the full story of the globe stand, but decided that it is what it is and moved on to another project idea. The hanging globe lamp.

I already had a hanging light kit in my basement. Doesn’t everyone? Hmmm…maybe not. If you don’t have one lying around your basement curing for a project, you can get one for around $10 at Pier 1 Imports or World Market. Or the trusty internets.

Anyway, most cheap globes are made of cardboard, so you can use an exacto knife to score and cut through them.

So, I took my globe…

…and placed it on my trusty, overcrowded craft table.

First I cut the bottom opening by cutting from the hole in Antarctica where the missing globe stand once was along the International Date Line to what I think is the 60th south parallel, but I never was that good at geography…

…then scoring and cutting along the conveniently marked 60th south parallel, completely eliminating Antarctica from the globe. I mean, what the hell, the polar ice caps are melting anyway, so who needs Antarctica?

The opening in the bottom of the earth…you know, that hole that you sometimes wish existed when you put your foot in your mouth…

Because the globe is cardboard (and very possibly because my exacto knife isn’t exactly the sharpest ever), the edges of the opening at the bottom of the earth were a little ragged, so I gently sanded it, but only on the inside, as I didn’t want to damage the outside of the globe.

Then I worked on the opening for the light kit. I made a rough measurement to see how big of an opening I would need to fit the plug through…

Please forgive the blurriness…I had the whole world in my hands, so it wasn’t easy taking a pic!

…and cut a small, rectangular opening, then fed the plug through the hole…

I already had cup hooks in the ceiling from the last hanging light fixture, so all I had to do was hang this awesome orb and voila…

A funky and fabulous new light fixture that the boy absolutely loves! It’s so…worldly!

Best part is that it cost me $0 since I had all of the materials at home already and only took about 30 minutes to complete from start to finish, which is my kind of project!

Showing this project off at Funky Junk Interiors.

design vacation :: angsty teen boy’s room

21 October 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

My little boy is not so little anymore.

In fact, he’s a teenager. Guess that means it’s high time for an angsty teen room.

When we last saw the boy’s room, it was a vintage cowboy room…

Not so cool for a teenager. So sadly it had to go.

Then it needed to cure for the requisite length of time. Here at Homage Style, we don’t just jump into projects. We think them through, allowing the creative juices to flow. Some call this procrastination. I call it the creative spirit!

Well, this past week, my son went to Washington, DC with his 8th grade class, so I decided to take some time off from my day job and revamp the boy’s room. So off I went on yet another design vacation.

My son picked his own paint color and it was deep cobalt blue from Behr. I felt that it might be a little dark and overpowering, but then again, I’m just the mom…what the hell do I know? So I let him have his paint color. Ultimately it was the perfect color to set the tone for a dark and angsty teen room.

Let’s take a look around the room, before the angsty teen boy gets home and kicks us out! Here’s the finished product…

With two windows, the room gets plenty of light, plus the black and white striped curtains from Ikea help to keep things light and fun.

At the foot of the bed are two grey beanbag chairs…

For the record, I don’t advocate TVs in kid’s rooms, but the boy scavenged this one, and a little dumpster diving never hurt anyone, so I let him keep it. Plus there’s no cable, so he can only play video games on it. Aren’t those beanbag chairs perfect for gaming?

In the corner above the TV is a globe lamp that I made myself from a discarded globe my sister the school teacher gave me…

Globe lamp how-to blog post coming soon. Bet my sister’s sorry she gave up that little treasure!

On the wall next to the TV is an old laminate bookcase that I spray painted ages ago for kid #1 and it’s still going strong. Above it is a manly French memo board that I created from a wooden retail display shelf…

Ohio State fans, don’t mind the Michigan hat…he only wears it on crazy hat day!

How-to blog post for the French memo board will be coming soon too.

The memo board is my pride and joy of the entire room! I’ve been percolating on this idea for quite some time now and was thrilled with how it turned out!

A closer look…

The wall opposite the window has some great features as well, like the floor-to-ceiling bulletin board made of 12″x 12″ cork tiles…

Isn’t that fun? Right now there’s a synthesizer in front of it, but I’m sure it won’t be long before it’s covered with all sorts of memorabilia.

Notice the You Are Awesome poster that I made last year at a letterpress printing class I took with some girlfriends. Plus there’s the lava lamp…isn’t that a requirement for every angsty teen room?

And the black and white striped canvas balances out the black and white curtains on the other side of the room and breaks up all that blue. It was super easy and cheap to make…just painted the canvas white, then taped off for the black stripes, painted the black stripes, and voila!

We’ve all heard the saying, the best things in life are free. Well, this is especially true for free art! It’s the best!

I was lucky enough to score some advertising art posters from work and was thrilled that they were the perfect colors and style for the boy’s room. And by score, I mean co-opt them after someone left the company and left these bad boys behind. The first is a cool clown placed to the left of the window…

And the other is a giant robot towering above the headboard…

To the left of the robot poster is a Serbian ethnic instrument, a tambura, which the boy occasionally tries his hand at. It, along with the wooden French memo board and the cork board, as well as the natural wood on the furniture and the wooden box on the nightstand add an earthier touch to what could otherwise be a too cold blue room. All the beautiful wood tones warm up the room while giving it a very masculine touch.

I was really happy with the way the room turned out, but was especially thrilled when the boy came home and said he LOVED his new room! I’d call that a successful design vacation!

featured!

27 September 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

So excited to have my bookshelves featured on CNN.com’s Open House!

Check out my original blog post on these bookshelves.

black angels

1 September 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

Perhaps it reflects the blackness of my soul, but I find something so alluring about high gloss black angels.

So in the spirit of attending to the blackness of my soul, this weekend I decided to finish curing yet another project…the black angels project.

Honestly people, this project has been curing in my garage for probably seven years. Rather than judging me and thinking what a lazy human being I must be, consider it a personal favor to you. Doesn’t it make you feel better about yourself to know that there’s someone out there far lazier than you? And besides, if I can start and finish a project after it’s cured for seven years, hell, you can do just about anything you put your mind to!

The black angels started their life as an underwhelming resin wall hanging…

This spot over my front door needed a little something…

It’s bland…very bland…

So I took the basic resin angel wall hanging…

…tossed it on a lawn bag in my garage and started spray painting with a high gloss black. It only took 2 coats, so it was quick and easy, plus it didn’t cost me one red cent, because I already had the spray paint (and you are aware that I’ve had the damn resin thing lingering around for years).

And before you know it, it was a reflection of the high glossy blackness of my soul…there…now, isn’t that better?

Here it is above the front door…

You don’t get the full effect from afar, plus the area still needs to much more work (paint on the walls, the door painted black, board and batten all around – I have big plans, people), but you get the idea.

Another close-up…

And the angels from another angle…

Gloriousness!

Thank goodness I felt like letting the high gloss blackness of my soul come out this weekend. I just love how these glorious black angels turned out!

Showing off at Funky Junk Interiors.

road trip :: nyc edition

21 August 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

View of the Empire State Building from my hotel room

This past week I spent some time in New York City for work. Stayed at the Element on West 39th between 8th and 9th, an “eco-chic” hotel with fabulous green design. Here’s how they describe their eco-chi-chi-ness:

Created to be an oasis of natural light, experience a new kind of NYC hotel with Element New York Times Square West.

With space to live your life, our eco-friendly New York City hotel is fully devoted to helping the environment. Floors feature carpets made from 100% recycled content. Artwork is mounted on bases made from recycled tires. Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints improve indoor air quality for guests and team members. In the bathroom guests can choose between a half or full flush and wash up in our low-flow sink faucet.

Not a bad place to stay, all in all, especially for New York.

View from my hotel during the day

Thought I’d share a couple of my fave design elements…

The sink! God, how I loved this sink! So simple, yet so cool! I completely and totally covet this sink! And so much nicer to use than a traditional oval basin – so wide and open. My only complaint would be that I would have liked more counter space, but I was in New York City after all, where space is a luxury.

I probably would have enjoyed the sink even more if the faucet were properly affixed, not leaving a space large enough for a giant sewer rat to climb up and kill me in the night…

Rats are notorious for climbing through small spaces

Fortunately, I was neither wounded nor killed by any rodentia, but seriously? Affix the faucet properly, people!

The room, while small, did have a lovely little kitchenette…

So cute and stylized! Very New York. Upon first look the tile looked awesome! Totally in and stylish. But by the end of my stay I had already grown bored with the look of the glass tiles.

It’s an important thing to consider…how stylized and “in” do you want your more permanent fixtures to be? Seeing this kitchenette was a lesson in erring on the side of classic for me. Make your more stylized pieces the things that are easy to change. Unless you have a lot of money to make frequent updates or a husband who likes to replace tile annually. I have neither. Lol.

All in all, it was a great stay in New York. Made me appreciate all of the space I have at home. While I do feel like I could downsize and get rid of a lot of stuff and square footage, I don’t know that I’m quite ready to move into a studio apartment!

slumber party

21 May 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

You know I love numbers and letters. I just love the look of vintage zinc letters, but of course don’t like the price. Or waiting to find the perfect font or the perfect combination of letters to create the word I want.

So I decided to make my own. Let’s go faux!

My bedroom has a giant vaulted ceiling behind my bed that acts as the focal point in the room. Sort of. Not much to focus on. In fact, it’s…

Please ignore the unmade bed. This pic is originally from a post about messiness.

I decided to come up with a word appropriate for the bedroom. So what are you supposed to do in a bedroom? Um, no, not that. Geez. Get your mind out of the gutter. The other thing. Yes, that’s right. Sleep. Catch some Zs. Rest. Slumber.

Slumber…a calming word. Perfect and peaceful.

What do you think? Doesn’t it look awesome? I just love it!

The letters look perfectly metallic!

Can you believe that they’re just paper-mache letters that you can get from Michael’s or Joann for a couple of bucks a pop? To be honest, this project, like most others, has cured for a couple of months, so the receipt has escaped me. But rest assured that I used a 50% off coupon and/or got these letters on sale. So including paint, definitely less than $25 spent for an awesome wall hanging that has now turned my bedroom wall into a focal wall!

Here’s how I did it.

Cleared off only enough of my craft table to fit this project, because that’s just how I roll. Perhaps you might enjoy having a fully cleared craft area, but that’s your call.

Took some paper-mache letters…

Painted a base coat using black craft paint…

Let them dry. Took a nap. Seriously. This project is perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Using a small piece of a rag, did a dry rub of a silver metallic paint over the black paint, being sure to smooth and buff out any visible lines in the paint. When the rag got too saturated with paint, I cut and used a fresh piece of rag.

Rubbing on the paint…

How the letters looked after one coat of silver metallic paint…

One coat wasn’t quite enough because there was still too much black showing through and the paint still had lines and looked “painted.”

Took another nap while the second coat dried. When it was completely dry, I used 3M velcro picture hanging strips to adhere the letters to the wall.

Yes, in fact, I was standing on my bed when I took this photo, precariously balanced as I hung the letters!

As for placement on the wall, I just eyeballed it. I’m just kind of cool that way. I also like to hang and rehang things due to the eyeball method, but this one turned out pretty well. One time was all I needed. But you could go all out and take some measurements if you want to just be accurate and do things once.

I love how the drop cap “S” sits down in the crook of the headboard a bit…

Overall, a successful project, wouldn’t you say?

the perfect little kitchen

8 March 2013 by Andrea Leave a Comment

If I bought a small house – and I’d like to – this would be the perfect small, functional kitchen…

Sorry for the glare and the torn-from-a-magazine tatters. But isn’t it awesome?

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