The Studio: Inspiration, Please!

When I showed you my nice clean studio yesterday, I didn't really say what I had in mind for making it inspiring.

In case there is any confusion, let me be clear. I mean PINK. I mean FRILLS. I mean LACE. I mean PRETTY.

Can I just tell you how much that makes me feel like I've just taken a big, huge breath of air?

Normally I keep it balanced out of respect for the other people who live in my house with me. Namely Mr. Magpie and Rocket Boy, who is in grade school. Neither of them are particularly excited about any of these things. (The boy has recently told me he dislikes all things distressed and chippy, or as he called it, "dirty and old looking." GASP.)

I don't mind, though. I like making a home that reflects everyone who lives in it!

But...

BUT... can I just say that when I realized (yes, I'm slow), that my studio is MINE and that I can make it as GIRLY AS I WANT TO, I about hyperventilated with excitement?

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Finally I can start using all these pretty things I've been collecting all this time! Like the pile of pillows and linens, or the adorable Hopeless Romantic sign I won in a giveaway from The OC Cottage (above).

Just in case that hasn't painted a picture, I have inspiration photos to help. They're all from my Pinterest boards. (What did we all do before Pinterest? Seriously.)

Source: songbirdblog.com via Cottage Magpie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Cottage Magpie on Pinterest

Source: thefancyfarmgirl.com via Cottage Magpie on Pinterest

Are you excited? I am so very excited. It's a little embarrassing. But not embarrassing enough to stop talking about it! Ha.

I think the easiest spot to start with is going to be this sitting area:

I'm not going to take the time to make a slipcover right now -- I can do that later. I'm just going to throw things at it until it looks better. So it won't be perfect. But hopefully it'll be great.

Hee hee!

Linking up to the Weekend Wrap Party at Tatertots & Jello! :-)

The Studio: It All Starts Here

Okay. So you all have hung in there with me, through thick and thin. You have seen my train wreck, and you have seen me say I was going to work on Baby Girl's room, the living room, the family room, my master bedroom and the dining room. (Okay, that one I did actually work on a little bit.)

Progress is being made, but not very much, you know?

Well. I think I finally figured out WHY!!!

It's my studio. You know, the room where I actually DO many of the projects that I want to do in order to finish these rooms. This is where I sew, where I paint small projects, where I build things. Sure, some of the heavy lifting happens in the garage, but this is the center of most of it.

And it hasn't been a pleasant place to work. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, it looked like this:

(Shudder....)

It took two weeks, but I cleaned it up. I mean, really cleaned it. It's not perfect, and I still have a few last things. But it's, basically, clean!!

Not very sexy, I know, but this is where it begins, right? So here's how it looks now:

Here's the cool part. Now that it's clean, I am motivated!!! I really feel like tackling the world! And I feel like starting here, in my studio.

Yes, it's clean. Clean is good. At least I can work.

But I want to be INSPIRED. I want to come in here and just be surrounded by gorgeousness and everything that makes my heart sing. You know?

I know you know.

So I'm going to gussy up my studio. And I know that I mean it this time, because, truly, this is the root of everything.

What a relief to be clear!!

Some Furniture for Baby Girl

As I mentioned when I showed you my living room, I have this deal where I really have to get the furniture placement right before I do any real decorating. What seems so cool in my head often doesn't work in the real space, you know? So I don't want to spend time fixing a piece of furniture up if I'm not pretty sure it's going to work.

The good news is that I'm finally figuring out how to figure it out, if you know what I mean. I get a basic idea, then drag a bunch of stuff into the room, try 1,001 different options, pick one that's kind of okay, sleep on it for a really long time awhile, move everything around again, rinse and repeat. It's definitely not the most efficient method, but it seems to be the only one that works for me.

That's what I did with Baby Girl's room, and I think I like it!

Baby Girl seems to like it, too, since as you can see she's moved a bunch of her stuff in there. I would have moved it again to take the pictures... oh wait, I DID. Hee hee. She's just too fast for me.

At least she feels at home! :-)

Here's what I have so far.

This is the bed side of the room. We decided to try out her overdyed bedding while we were at it, and I do just love it. She still needs a real bed, but that's okay. The headboard I scored for $10 thanks to a friend from a local Mom's group turned out to be a Queen size instead of a double (wah), but I've decided to just go ahead and use it for now anyway. Why not, right?

I love having the bed in the closet, by the way. I decided to try the kids' beds in the closets after seeing this awesome room:

Source: myfavoriteeverything.com via Cottage Magpie on Pinterest

Isn't that fantastic? It opens up the room SO MUCH. I'm going to do the shelf and valance, too. Just love that.

(And, oh yes, I am on Pinterest, baby. Love.)

I know what you're thinking -- storage, right? Well, that's where this armoire comes in:

You may recognize it from the "final" furniture arrangement I had for the family room. It got moved in here when the piano got moved to the living room.

The phrase musical chairs comes to mind, but let's not mention it to Mr. Magpie, mmmmmkay?

The slipper chair is just a placeholder. I want to get something cushy for a good reading chair.

We're still discussing paint color. I'll share more on that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Baby Girl has insisted that the stuffed Scotty dog be on her bed.

Who can argue with that?

The Living Room, She Is Clean

My living room is clean! Yay!

And you know what? I don't hate it. Ha!

I've been through so many iterations with this room. It's a little bit nutbar. I've actually moved those bookcases in and out of that room half a dozen times, I swear.

The good news is that right before the holidays, my friend Krista helped me figure out my furniture arrangement. (We sketched the floor plan on a Magna Doodle. Can you tell we have toddlers?) I had been thinking about moving the piano back into the front room, and it was her idea for me to put the bookcases on the sides with the piano in the middle. I love it, really love it!

This is major breakthrough for me. I even changed something in the room a few days later, and I had to put it back because I like the furniture arrangement the way it is. Can you believe it?

FINALLY.

I have more to say about what's coming next, but for now, let's luxuriate in the cleanliness, shall we?

When you come in the front door, this is basically what you see:

You know how I'm always telling you that I can't put the furniture in front of the fireplace? This is what I'm talking about:

Looking back at the room from the fireplace:

And back towards the door from the wing chair.

Now that I am really set on the floor plan, I'm finally ready to start dealing with color. Furniture and fabric, mostly. I would love to do a 5' board-and-batten wainscoting in here, with something exciting above, but for now I think I better focus on the furniture since I have a loooong list of projects to finish before I can start any new construction. Ha.

So. Plaster on the fireplace, paint on the furniture and fabric slipcovers are my basic plan. I am going to have to choose to paint either the dark pieces or the bookcases, because I can't stand having the two different colors of wood together in the same room! It's just one of my hangups. And since I don't think I could bring myself to paint that amazing patina on the chippy dresser, and my husband might freak out if I paint the piano, it's going to have to be the bookcases that get the brush.

Which I am okay with, although funnily enough, I actually like pine better than dark wood (you can all shudder now). What can I say? I'm a country girl at heart. Ha.

Now, the big question is... what to do first???

Oh Look at that Kitty.... on the Piano???

Yesterday I started taking down the Christmas decorations. (It takes a while in our house, since I have to sneak the ornaments into boxes with the toddler is in another room.) Partway through I took a break to eat dinner, and when I came back, I saw the lovely scene above.

Notice anything strange?

How about now?

Oh, she looks soooooo pleased with herself!

But she did make me realize something. I do want to get this room finally all the way done, rather than just got the furniture in place done. It's the first room you see when you come into my house, and it's also the room that stays the cleanest because it doesn't get abused used as much each day. So it's a perfect choice to have a pretty room that is always ready for a picture.

Which I need.

Because, people, I may be ambitious, but I can't deep clean a room before I take a photo around here.

Enter the "Picture Perfect" challenge that Donna from Funky Junk Interiors is throwing. What perfect timing!

At any rate, I want to get this room to that picture perfect state. I probably won't get it all done this month because I am also working on other rooms, too (I like to jump around), but I'll make a dent in it and that's what counts. (So I tell myself, anyway.)

So -- I have a plan. So far my plan has two steps:

Step 1: Evict cat from piano.

Step 2: Finish taking down decorations.

Once I get that far, I'll take some more whole room shots so you can see what I'm up to!

Woo hoo!