Lighting I'm Loving

Our new home has this odd lighting fixture in the kitchen (see below) that is WAY too small for the space and just plain awkward, so I was browsing the internet in search of some beautiful pendant lights to replace it with.

Naturally, my search went off on a tangent, and I started finding all of these super fun lights, so I thought I'd share them with you.  Granted, they aren't necessarily kitchen appropriate, but when I find a fitting solution for our awkward fixture, I'll share that in a new post.

I am so completely obsessed with this fixture.  It is so elegant and I would LOVE to have something like that in my house.

This fixture, made up of LEDs and fiber optic cables, is on the complete opposite end of the lighting spectrum compared to the previous picture...but I love this one just as much.  Hmm...conflicting tastes?  I think so.

LOVE the whimsical quality of these pendant lights.  I feel like this could be some sort of DIY project?! Maybe in all of my free time (like 2 years from now...) I will try to craft something like this.  

This is one you could definitely do yourself.  It's make from pop tabs, although I'm not positive how it was constructed.  However,  I would imagine you could use some sort of glue to adhere all of the tabs to a balloon (similar to paper mache)...and then pop & remove the balloon once the glue has dried.

This is similar to the previous post, except it's made by gluing hemp around a balloon.  To view the full tutorial, click on the picture.

I LOVE THESE!! You absolutely must click on the picture to see more images of these lights...just stunning!

And last but not least, I just love the simplicity of this fixture.  So unique!  

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Making Your Large Space Cozy

Bigger is always better right?  Wrong.  You may think having a large space would pose no problems whatsoever - all of your furniture fits, there is plenty room for entertaining, what more could you ask for?  Everything is just peachy until you actually move your furniture in, and then you realize your room seems completely empty.

So as promised, here it is ladies and gents: tips and tricks to make your huge enormous space feel a little less huge and enormous.  There are literally thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of websites, magazines, and articles that are solely dedicated to making your small space feel larger - but making a large space feel smaller?  Now that's a different story.

I did a little research, and came up with a few ideas of my own...and here are my top tips to make your space feel cozier.

1. Paint!  Those stark white walls not only lack character, but they do nothing in terms of making a space feel cozy.  Instead, try using warm colors (or colors with a golden undertone).  This will make your space feel more comfortable and inviting.  Also, dark colors can help to make the room feel smaller...but I would use caution when painting all four walls very dark.  Perhaps try painting one a darker hue as an accent wall.  Lastly, the ceiling can be painted a slightly darker shade to help feel the room feel more enclosed.

Before

After

Walls have been painted a warm brownish hue and ceilings have been painted a light taupe.

2.  Group furniture into functional clusters.  When your space is ginormous, one of the things that will help to give it definition is to break it up into different areas.  For example, you can distinguish a living room from a dining area by using the couch as a divider.

Also, you can create even smaller clusters within these spaces.  Say for instance you have a big empty corner - why not put two comfy chairs next to a small table and create a little reading nook?  PS - don't you just LOVE that bookcase too?

It is important that you don't place all of your furniture against walls.  By allowing it to "float" in your space, it will actually feel more anchored (go figure), because it creates visual interest and definite "rooms."


3. Go buy (or make) a rug!  I have this phenomenal plan brewing in my brain about how I am going to craft my own rug...so maybe look for it in our new home or in a later post!  Regardless, rugs help give definition to a space, and they also help to add warmth to a space.  Choosing a rug with coordinating colors will help to pull your space together.  You could distinguish two different spaces by using two different rugs, using a rug only in one space, or physically changing the flooring between the two spaces.  A common thing you will run into is a large space that holds a dining room and living room, although the dining room has hardwood floors and the living room is carpeted.  This material change instantly helps distinguish the two rooms.

Maybe I'm biased because we all know how I feel about blue...but I just love love LOVE this room.

4. Use a room divider.  Your room divider doesn't have to be one of those typical tri-fold room dividers you see at Pier One.  While those can work, in a large space, chances are you'll need something a little bit more grandiose.  There are a variety of ways you can create the sense of division, while still maintaining a visual connection between rooms.  One of my favorite ways is to use shelving to divide space is by using shelving.  The key to this is to resist the temptation to fill every shelf with nick-nacks, because the effect is far more successful when you maintain that sense of transparency.

Another thing you can do (and this is a little more permanent solution), is to actually drop the ceiling in the walkway, or add columns of some sort on the side to create a threshold as you move from space to space.  The two images below incorporate this idea with the shelving idea previously noted.

Curtains are a great way to section off spaces, and hanging artwork can have the same effect.  I absolutely love the effect created in the bottom image.

 

5. Keep scale in mind.  When you are filling your large space, it is important to consider the scale of the items you are putting in the space.  On a large wall, you wouldn't want to hang a small, 8.5" x 11" piece of artwork.  Instead, opt for a larger piece that fills the space, or use multiple smaller pieces.

You can also feel free to buy that large sectional you've been eying - but as a warning - just because your space is large doesn't mean EVERYTHING should be large.  It's great to have one or two large pieces, say a large couch and large dining room table, but then the remaining pieces of furniture should be smaller.  Remember, moderation is key.

This large sofa is complemented by the small throw pillows and coffee table.

In both this image, as well as the image below, large sectionals are paired with smaller pieces of furniture to complete the room.

So with that, I wish you all happy decorating, and as soon as we close on our house, I will get some pictures posted!

Condo Sweet Condo

Over the past month or so, I've learned through Noel what a pain in the you-know-what buying a house can be. When the idea was first tossed around, we had no idea it would play out like it did.  One of my minors during my undergrad was in Housing Studies, and through those classes, I learned ALL about the current housing debacle.  I even had to do a project that involved conducting research on foreclosures for the city of St. Paul.  So, going into this, we both thought it was going to be an easy, painless process since it was a buyer's market.  Pick your property, name your price, good to go.

We were wrong.

Although, yes, in a certain price range it is still a buyer's market.  There are many people who are forced to go into foreclosure because they can't sell their house or can't afford their mortgage payments or whatever.  But it just so happened that we were looking for a steal...and so was everyone else.

There were two houses Noel missed out on because when he went to put an offer down...they had received an offer literally the DAY before.  And let me tell you, that was frustrating.  Other houses in the search would be marked as a "favorite," and then two hours later they'd have an offer on them.  The houses were dropping like flies.

After getting quite irritated with the whole situation, we stumbled upon this FABULOUS condo.  Noel talked to his real estate agent, and surprise surprise, found out there was already an offer on it.  However, there were a couple units for sale in that development, so he decided to check it out anyways.

Well as it turns out, the other person backed out of their offer, so yesterday, Noel got the chance to submit an offer!  We were pretty excited, but we didn't want to get our hopes up because it wouldn't be the first time it didn't work out.  And then this morning came the fabulous news...he officially had his offer accepted!!

We are both SO so excited!!  Noel is pumped because he will get to live in this amazing 3br/2.5 ba condo that's only 5 miles from work....and I am out of my mind ecstatic because I get to make it look fabulous.  I've literally been wasting my entire day away drawing up different schemes and pricing out different ideas.

I am anxious to actually see it in person for the first time when I am back in MN next week so I can get some correct measurements and really start scheming.  One of the issues (and I never thought this would be a problem), that I am coming up with is the space is so BIG.  The condo is 1,900 SF...half of which is pretty much one large open room that houses the kitchen, dining room, and living room.  Naturally, I already have a sketchup model of the unit made...and when I put all of the furniture in....there was SO MUCH extra space left over...and I have a sectional!  I even went online and found one of the biggest dining room tables I could find and the room still completely drowns it.

So, with that being said, you can expect my next blog to be about how to cozy up a huge space...but in the meantime, I just had to share the exciting news!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!