happy living Design

[IN]PLACE System

I like trying to find ways to be more organized and efficient.  But I can also be easily sucked into a new system and a new set of products.  I will keep the system going for awhile but then usually find that it just doesn't work for me and it falls to the way side and sometimes I've wasted money.  After many cycles of that I cut myself off from buying any organizing products (i.e. desk organizers, electronics, planners, fancy filing products, etc...). 

However, I keep seeing these advertisements for Peter Walsh's new [IN]PLACE System for Office Max and I finally checked out the website and I am totally intrigued.  I love the simple clear white plastic material that most of the products are made out of, the white hanging file folders (Goodbye, yukko army green!) and how all the products work together but seem flexible enough to work separately or in ways unique to your needs.  The file folders and tabs are reusable which is an eco-friendly plus in my book.

I might run to OM this weekend and check all the products out in person.

last week & what I do from 9 to 5

Last week I got to take some photos of a couple of the projects we are working on in the office.  The first photo is my project.  The rest are photos I took of someone else's project.

 

 

 

fabric box storage collections

So versatile, so pretty and so organized...for every room of a home.  I kick myself every time I think of how I passed up all those marked-down boxes that Hold Everything was selling off when they closed up shop.  But I have three favorite go-to online shops to buy beautiful fabric covered storage pieces.

Not in any particular order...

CB2
   

west elm
 

and KOLO (more specifically for photographs, but their boxes can be used for all sorts of things)
 

I know I've mentioned KOLO before and probably will again.  west elm's collection is now 20% off!  Right now, CB2's colors are my favorite, but how great is that west elm red?  These pieces are great for rooms that have shelving instead of cabinets to keep items together and looking great.  I do consider this type of storage as an investment because they are not the least expensive option...but worth it, I think for a long term solution.

classes for the clueless decorator...

or anyone looking for some new tips.

I received two emails this week about national chain stores offering classes at local shops. 

Via Smith & Hawken, Cottage Living is offering a class on Saturday, August 18th on Aging Your Garden: Easy Ways to Add Patina to Containers, Furniture and More. Call your local Smith & Hawken store.

Pottery Barn is offering a class on how to Create the Perfect Workspace on Sunday, August 19th.  Call your local store to reserve your space.

Ooh.  You could make a weekend of it!  Maybe a little decorating overload?  I would opt for the Workspace class at Pottery Barn since the Mid-Atlantic gardening season will quickly come to an end once school starts.

philly biz ladies you better vote!

via Oh Joy! and Design*Sponge

"For those women in Philly who currently have a small business or the desire to start one, vote for Philly at the Design*Sponge Biz Ladies poll. (Philly is currently close to 6th place in the poll.) Grace will visit the top five cities and host a very special Biz Ladies Meeting! Click here to vote by Monday at 8am (EST)..."

packing and *house THINKING*

Our pallet (yes, pallet) of boxes and other items in our moving kit arrived this past Wednesday.  Already I think we've made a dent and packed a lot of stuff.  Still lots to go.  We do have an agreement of sale on our house.  It took about three weeks, which in our current local market is lucky.  We had a visit yesterday evening from a young guy.  He and his fiance looked at our house right after we put it up for sale.  They went on vacation and then their agent did.  By the time everyone returned we had received an offer from another couple.  His fiance 'loves' the house.  So we took down their name and number in case the first agreement falls through.  We felt disappointed for them.

 
The above picture is what my office currently looks like.  Actually, our entire house is pretty much in the same state.  Half packed, definitely not looking like home.

I was going through house THINKING to see what I wanted to highlight and this sentence from the book jumped out at me.

Psychological comfort also depends on being surrounded by the meaningful objects and sensory stimuli that summon your desirable inner states - seemingly small things that help make a house or apartment feel like home.

A little background: Ms. Gallagher discusses the "environmental-behavioral perspective" of how we can take steps toward a home that is right for us.  Thinking about past experiences, our personalities, our traditions and even our daily habits can help us identify the qualities we want in our home.   

"Our houses and apartments require psychological as well as physical customization."

Back to the first quote: I realized that it is not about the things or objects themselves that make a house a home but the memories and feelings that the objects evoke either individually or collectively.  And that is one area that the psychology comes into play.  Ultimately, the things we have in our homes should speak to how we want to live and not just be fashionable.  My brother and I made the most horribly ugly ceramic objects when we were young, but my mother proudly displays them to this day along the top of her kitchen cabinets because they remind her of us and when we were kids.  I have a faded drawing done by late grandfather that someone else would probably pass right over if in a thrift store, but I cherish it because it reminds me of him (and maybe who I inherited my drawing ability from).

So when I look at my bare shelves in my house, I see the home it once was slowly starting to fade.  But that's ok.  We'll bring all of our favorite things to the next house and start creating a new home there.

inspiration boards

I've come to the not-so-profound conclusion that everyone should have an inspiration board at home (and work too!).  As I set up my home office, that was one of my big to-do's: to get a tack board not for any practical purpose, just to hang random things up.  And I as find bits and pieces to go on my board, I have become really interested in seeing what everyone else has on theirs on the flickr inspiration boards group.  You can tell a lot about a person based on what they like to look at.  The photos below are from random flickr members.

And notice that they're not all boards.  There are ledges, items leaned up on tables and lattice.  IB's can go anywhere: home office, living room, bedroom, kitchen and can be for a mix of practical (like pinning up ATM receipts) and fun (a beautiful postcard you received).  Pin up reminders, love letters and cards, art, magazine clippings, recipes, sayings that inspire you.  Have one in every room.

We have three: one in my office (cork), one in our living room for pictures, cards, birthday money! (wire organizer) and one in the kitchen (magnetic) for things needed on the way out the door like paint swatches and reminders of events.

Resources

cork boards at Staples, The Container Store

recycled rubber board at The Container Store

magnetic dry erase board at Amazon.com

big dot magnetic board at Fred Flare

wood ledges at west elm or ikea

See How About Orange for a great tutorial about making your own fabric covered thumb tacks.

Get Three by Three Seattle Mighty Magnets at fridgedoor.com.

A great DIY project:  Get one can of magnetic paint and one can of chalkboard paint and make your own board on any wall in your home.  Magnetic paint goes first.  Then paint the chalkboard paint over the magnetic paint.

project table...on the prowl

I've been looking for a project table for my office for quite some time.  Finding the perfect table is not the hard part.  It is finding the perfect table in my price range that is a challenge.

(photo from Design Within Reach)

But at $1305 (on sale), that's more like Design Not Within Reach.  Just a bit outside my budget.  Beautiful nonetheless.  I can always count on DWR to make me fall in love.

I always end up at Ikea and was considering this combination with a glass top and trestle legs.

I'm concerned that the trestle legs will look to busy, so now I am considering a plain white top on one of these sets of bases.  I would paint the pine base.  And more storage is never a bad thing.

Overspending does not make for happy living!  Thank heavens for Ikea. (photos from Ikea.com)

a peek into the happy living "Headquarters"

My 9x10 haven:

It is a work in progress and no where near finished.  My next piece: a cheap and functional, yet stylish project table.

I find inspiration in these:

The top middle photo is from Elle Decor, I believe, and is Thomas O'Brien's home office/studio.  The rest are from Pottery Barn.

flowers for a little happy living at work

A surprising day early, I received an over-sized (20) bouquet of tulips from my favorite O.M. (old man) for Valentine's Day.  It came in a rectangular box in the perfect shade of celery green from ProFlowers.com.  Needless to say, it was the highlight of the day at the office.  I trimmed the stems (the buds were perfectly closed still), filled the vase with water and added the food.  I brought it up to my studio/workspace, put it on the ledge behind my desk after wiping 3 months of black dust off it and felt instantly happier.  Funny how that can happen.  My new rule now is to always have flowers at work.  They make for happier living at work, I think!