Some beautiful kitchens.

I would love to someday design my own kitchen. Or at least put some extra design into an already existing one. Here is some inspiration from LivingEtc.

I love this one with bold yellow accents. Most of my kitchen accessories are bright yellow, so I'm half way there!

I would really love some open shelving.

I love bright tile back splashes!

The Drophouse

Another amazing container home. Too bad the whole website is in French. Oh well, just another reason to learn the language.

Drophouse

Cargo Container Houses

Have I ever told you that I would love to live in a cargo container house? I won't go into all of the reasoning behind this, but I will give you a link to read that goes into why they are so awesome: Design, buy and build a container house Weburbanist.

Here is some cargo container home eye candy to begin with. I can tell this might turn into an obsession, so expect more pictures/info later:)

(Photos from Weburbanist and Zigloo)

Look! I got sketched!

As I have already said, yesterday I did the Columbus sketchcrawl. Today on the flickr group, I saw that I was sketched:)

Drawing by Jeremy Slagle

Columbus Sketchcrawl

To sum the day up, I will quote Johnny Appleseed:

"OH! The Lord is good to me,
and so I thank the Lord,
for givin me the things I need,
the sun and the moon and the apple seed,
Oh the Lord...is...good...to...me!"

But for me, He gave me a sketchbook, some colored pencils, and a group of people to ride around Columbus with and sketch. I tell you, I know that I am being taken care of here. I've met so many great people. I love our new city!

This morning I was browsing some blogs, and came to the Element Design company's, which had an ad for the Columbus sketch crawl. This event happened to start an hour after I saw the ad! I grabbed my sketchbook and some prismacolors and hopped on my bike. I had such a great time sketching, exploring and mingling. I think I will continue this tradition on my own! What a better way to get to know a new city than to find beautiful places to sit down and sketch?

Above is my rendering of the Santa Maria replica that sits in Battelle Riverfront Park right in downtown Columbus.

You can see more of my drawings, and more at the Columbus Sketchcrawl's flickr group page here

Some chairs and a whole lotta good.

Remember how I said that I was going to Paris today? Well I kinda did. Just a little bit. First, I cut my bangs up pretty short, and when Rudy saw them he said I looked like Amelie! Then I put on a striped shirt and some black flats and went antiquing. The owner of the first little store I went in was singing a song, in FRENCH! He had a beautiful voice. I just smiled.

Then at the next place, I found these little chairs. I'm planning on painting them either in pink or yellow, and leaving the seats and just the tip of the legs in wood.

I got this mirror the other day at the antique mall down the street for $2! The little painting by it just arrived in the mail from San Francisco artist Kelly Tunstall

This picture encompasses so much of what I would like our home to be. Beautiful, a bit dramatic, and cozy. I just painted our bedroom walls yesterday in the same color as our living room downstairs. I love the color, called tea stain, and think it would go amazingly with some bold metallic wallpaper over the fireplace.

You can see the whole tour of Brad and Kendra's home in this ApartmentTherapy House Tour.

Here is our bedroom fireplace as it is now, in horrible disrepair. Our landlord is in the process of fixing a hole that was in the ceiling when we moved in. I'm really itching to re-tile the thing as well! (How cool is it that we have a fireplace in our bedroom?!)

This would be the most bold and dramatic.

I really like how soft and romantic this one would be.

This one would be really nice to add just a touch of color.

All of these wallpaper examples are from Graham and Brown, designer Barbara Hulanicki. You can see all that the company has to offer here.

Today I think I will go to Paris...

...and I will wear this dress.

If only that could be true.

But a girl can dream can't she?

Paris photos from Alicia Bock
and her beautiful blog is here.

Eye candy anyone?

Rune Guneriussen is a photographer I came across last December. I have been in love ever since.

You can see all of his work here

Yellow yellow everywhere.

So here they are, finally some pictures of our yellow room. I got the idea for this color from Jeni's ice cream's "Ohio Love You" pamphlet that I picked up while getting some mind blowingly delicious frozen dairy treat. It is pictured above:)

We are planning on getting a fold out sofa from Ikea that is bright fuschia pink to go in the room. I know, I know, it is a very bold choice, but I think it will be amazing! When I showed him my ideas, Rudy said to me, "my wife has lost her mind! I love it!"

Just for good measure, here is a peek at the third bedroom that will become a work and crafting zone in the near future. I really like the way the robin's egg blue came out.

A ride to the park.

Last weekend Rudy and I rode down to the Short North, Columbus' art district, for an event called al fresco, where lots of artists were doing their arts outside. Unfortunately, it was so hot when we got there that no one was really doing anything outside except eating ice cream. And we followed suit.
We also went over to Goodale Park, which is just to the west of the Short North. It was a perfect day for strolling around the area, and the lotus flowers on the pond were absolutely amazing. I never knew that they were that big!

The upstairs, a drawing.

This is a scaled floorplan of the upstairs of our house. Of course, we don't have all of the furniture and accessories drawn here, but this is to give an idea of what I would like to do with each room.

The room to the very right is our master bedroom, with the bed being in the very right lower corner. The middle room will be our guest/computer room, which is also where we watch movies, so the guest bed will be a sleeper sofa. Lastly, the room on the left will be our office/crafty workspace.

Making a Headboard

A while ago I decided that our bed could use a serious makeover. I finally got to the task last week, and I am so happy with the results. Instead of looking like the cheapest bed that Ikea offers (which it is), it looks classic and refined.

The process was so simple. Here are my step by step photos. You can see that Gatsby helped me all along the way.

The bed before, all taken apart.

Staining the wood.

I bought a piece of foam, cut it to fit, then hot-glued it to the wood.

Using a staple gun, I attached the fabric to the frame, going one side at a time and pulling tight.

Sewing on some buttons was the last step, and voila! A happy bed and an even happier Chelsea:)

To see a picture of what it looked like before, click here.

A magical tree is growing in my living room

(not really, but I wish it were)

I must re-create this!
Hattie Newman

A Post from the Laundry Mat

That's right, I'm currently sitting in the laundry mat, waiting for my whites and towels to dry. Then I will fold them on those nifty and oh so handy folding stations!

Anywho...Rudy and I will officially have internet at the house on Friday. Hopefully I will be much better about posting once that kicks in:)

Is this not the cutest picture of Rudy and Gatsby!? I am also happy to report that our mattress is no longer on the ground, and we have put together our new and improved bed! Pictures to come shortly.

The New Place!

Here are some pictures of our new house! We've only been living here for 5 days, so as expected, the place is pretty bare. These are only pictures of the downstairs, I'm in the process of painting the upstairs and it is a mess! (Not worthy of photographing at the moment)

Entry

Looking toward the front door, and our fancy living room set! I just ordered a sofa from Macy's today, but it will take four weeks before it comes. We'll have to make due with camping chairs:)

Living room

Dining room with the table and chairs I scored on craigslist for $75!

My new beautiful bowl!

Kitchen

Peeking into the kitchen from the dining room.

Our backyard