Days Go By

Days Go By

When I made the decision to finally begin my career in interior design, I had a choice, take a full time entry level position with a firm, or strike out on my own, slowly.  I went back and forth on this and finally decided that my favorite thing about the practice is in the details, the psychology and function of a space, and finding a way to marry those things with the people who live there. This isn't the technical part, it's the personality part.  I decided to go it my own to focus on what I love; creating inviting and relaxing family spaces.  I also went this way so that could continue to be my own boss, and work from home to be there for my boys.  Of course, skipping out on working for someone else, I've had to cultivate my own way of doing things, a unique style, a work flow, invoicing, marketing, all of which take me away from writing, and developing my upcoming classes.  If I'm being honest, I've been pretty stressed and uncharacteristically overwhelmed. I have a modest  client load and a major remodel in my own house beginning in the next couple of weeks which is delayed by permits and requires so much of my time, a kid with the lead role in the school play who is also juggling two different sports (too much) and a preschooler hot on his heels with places to be and things to do, and they would like a home cooked meal every night while we still have a kitchen.  I've backed off from blogging and social media a lot while we get ready to tear our house apart. I'm taking time to focus on the next steps for the business and the kids, and while I have about 20 unfinished posts in my head, I'm going to have to roll them all out very slowly.  I do hope you'll stick with me, because I'm sure it'll pick up soon.

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Make What You Pin

Make What You Pin

Last week was spring break and we were housebound for a few days because of the rainy weather.  I decided to host a little art party for Jasper and his buddies to prevent cabin fever.  It turns out that little boys are not always so into doing art. Fortunately, I also got a couple of pre-tween girls in the mix who were super excited with what I had to offer which really solidified a few things for me.  1. I still sometimes wish I had a little girl.  Not going to happen, but can we all agree she would probably love growing up with Poppy Haus?  2. I need to start teaching art again.  I did it last year with kindergartners and it was so fun.  So I'm thinking about how I might offer classes to this pre-tween set.  Imagine all the Pinterest projects we could do.  Local people, any ideas?  I also wanted to mention that next month I'm going to explore what's "cool for small".  Thank you to everyone who voted on Facebook!  I'll be doing a whole month of ideas for food, play, and design just for kids

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Pinned Together

Pinned Together

I'm happy to announce that I've been doing some pinning for Altitude Design Summit's Pinterest page.  Check out all of my favorite crafting for kids projects here.  If you are a blogger you must check out Alt. They offer online classes on Alt Summit Channel specific to creative/lifestyle bloggers. I've taken a few and they've been tremendously helpful for me, so I'm excited to be contributing to their brand in some small way. This January, I'll be attending their wildly popular design summit in Salt Lake City. It sounds chilly and very exciting...

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Getting Folksy

Getting Folksy

I somehow talked my friend Coco into letting me do a little kitchen makeover at her house.  She has one of those 1950's spaces that was semi-updated at some point between then and her with no specific design style in mind.  It's kind of a functional blank slate. She has some Latin folkloric influences in the rest of her home, but the kitchen has pale pink and white linoleum flooring, which will have to stay for the project, so when I saw this poster on Etsy I thought it was a great starting point. Check out the ever growing board I've made for the redo on Pinterest and stay tuned for the results in the next couple of months.  To purchase the poster (also in midnight blue for my new house) visit One Little Bird Studio on Etsy.

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Take Me Away

Take Me Away

When I saw the cover of the latest West Elm catalog last weekend I couldn't stop staring at it.  I think I need a little R+R, which I am finally going to be getting when I go to Palm Springs this weekend.  One of my boards on Pinterest is called "I want to go to there", my favorite Liz Lemonism.  It's filling up with pictures like this. Rustic, in the middle of nowhere places with no tiny plastic toys to step on.  My bucket list includes buying some land one day.  I'd always hoped to put an A-frame or a prefab modern on it, but maybe a deck with a canvas tent cabin would be a good start (though I don't think I'd be able to plug in those lamps).    

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