Powder Rooms: Tips for Big Impact

How do you make a big impact in a small space such as a powder room?  I was asked this question by a reader recently.  Her powder room is 37" x 84" a space that is currently filled with a dated dark wood vanity and toilet.  At the moment, a bold paint color and a large piece of artwork on the long wall help the space but now that an update is in the cards, she wants to take the space further.

Inspired, I collected a few images and share what works in these small bathrooms.

House & Home 

1) Use a clean, simple and open vanity with a vessel sink to visually expand the space

2) Try an unusual flooring, in this case concrete 

3) Add a dynamite light fixture

 

 {via} 

4) Tile just one wall, entirely

5) Add an interesting mirror (in this room, the shape and size make a statement)

6) Keep the color scheme focused 

 

Ikea Hackers
7) Add color to the cabinetry, not the walls 
8) Unify by repeating elements (white frames, mirror and accessories)

None of these are hard and fast rules, but ideas that work in these spaces.  Making an impact in a small space is about choosing the right elements and making sure that they work well together.  A powder room is the perfect space to do something bold and unusual, such as add wallpaper, a cool light fixture or unusual vanity if that is what you are comfortable with.  One last thing to consider in a small space....the ceiling....ohhh the possibilities on this under utilized surface!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Crafty Girl

Yesterday a friend of mine was telling me about her teen-aged daughter's keen interest in sewing, knitting, baking and other "traditional" creative pursuits. This girl has a creative flair, so I know that the things she creates are anything but "traditional" looking.  She had recently "whipped up" a darling skirt for an event she was attending (starting it at 10 PM the night before, with no pattern)!  My friend went on to tell me that her daughter had also purchased something at one of our local 2nd hand stores Savers, just for the fabric, which she thought was cool.  She knew that she could create a new look for that old piece of clothing. 

Lucky for Maddy, I have been hoarding and saving tutorials for this very purpose, with every intention of one day creating something by using them.  So today, in hopes that she will get to it before I do, I am sharing a few of them with not only her, but all of you.  Here are some of my favorites, you will find the link to the tutorial below each photo.

Dear Lizzy

cut out + keep

 blue cricket design

Welcome to the Good Life

Welcome to the Good Life

Ali Foster Patterns

Can you believe how clever these are?  I am seriously impressed by the creativity I see on a daily basis here in the blog world and delighted that all of these crafty individuals are proud enough of their work to share the results and the how to's with the rest of us.

I can't wait to see what Maddy makes from the "cool" fabric that caught her eye at Savers!  I hope she'll show me and maybe even let me share it here (hint, hint).  Have you ever "re-fashioned" a piece of clothing or fabric into something new?

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Travel Lust

I admit it, I have a lust for travel.... so today, motivated by Centsational Girl's Favorite Destinations Link Party, and the fact that our travel plans for this Summer are not nearly so grand, I thought I would re-live and share a bit about a wonderful trip that my family took last summer to Spain and Portugal.

The inspiration for this came from some friends who took their 3 daughters on a fabulous,  month long trip to Italy and France the summer of 2009. Both my hubby and I love to travel and attempt to instill this love in our kids by taking lots of road trips during Spring breaks and Summer vacations and exploring not only big cities, but National Parks and many other types of destinations.  While they are not always the most willing travelers, I know that one day they will look back fondly on our family trips, and the travel journals they have kept will help.  When my friend mentioned what a wonderful family experience they had, the seed was sown and the planning began.  Since both my husband and I have (somewhat) flexible employment situations, we knew we could make a trip like this work.  Travel is important to us and so we scrimp on other things in our lives in order to make it a priority.

Spain and Portugal became our destination since our kids are learning Spanish in school and hubby has a confident command of the language.  We had both traveled in Spain before and absolutely loved it, but had never been to Portugal.  Lucky for me, a client had a business partner who summers in Portugal each year and was only too happy to share what she loves about the country, specifically about the Algarve region in Southern Portugal, which was where we wanted to end our trip.  We focused our time in Spain on cities in the North, with a stop in Madrid.  Decent airfare to and from Lisbon sealed the deal. I checked an assortment of travel books out of the library and combined with some on-line research on sites like tripadvisor and Rick Steves, we were able to map out an itinerary and plan for what to see and do.

The next piece of the puzzle was transportation between destinations and while our initial thought had been to use the train system, we found that for a family of five, renting a car offered not only a better cost, but more flexibility and greater convenience.  Probably the most difficult part of the plan was the lodging, because traveling with 5 people made using hotels a challenge (requiring at least two rooms) and we wanted to get most of our lodging secured in advance.  In the end, we pieced together a combination of rented apartments and smaller inns, most of which exceeded our expectations.

The map below plots our route, beginning and ending in Lisbon and traveling in a counter clockwise direction.  We tried to stay at least two nights in each town in order to minimize the packing/unpacking and make it a little easier on the kids. 

One of the things that we did that turned out better that I would have imagined was to write a travel blog about our adventures.  This was a way for our kids to carry on the tradition of writing in their own, personal travel journals, but in a new and exciting way.  The kids never complained about writing and the combination of voices sharing our trip was amazing. The added advantage was that family and friends could follow along and we could document it all with photos.  Writing that blog actually gave me the confidence to start Room Rx, something I never would have dreamed of before.

I must share that this was definitely a "trip of a lifetime" which I still can't believe we were able to pull off. Mind you it was not without it's moments,  as any trip with teens and pre-teens can be, but overall, to be able to show our kids that there is a big wide world out there, made all of the "moments" worth it. 

I would love to share more, but also do not want to bore you to tears if this is not something that interests you, especially here on a design blog!  So, if you have a trip planned or hope to make Spain or Portugal a vacation destination, let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me directly. I would be more than happy to give you additional information about our trip, tips on what to see and do as well as a thing or two we learned about traveling with kids. Since I had excellent travel advice from a woman I had never met, I want to pay it forward with you!

What has been your "trip of a lifetime" or favorite destination? I would love to hear. Be sure to go on over and check out the amazing destinations people are linking to Centsational Girl's link party, there is tons of travel inspiration there as well!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Long Distance Design: 5 Tips for Success

Today I am guest posting over at the House of Fifty Blog, sharing my tips on how to make the most out of working with a decorator or designer long distance.  I'd love for you to come over, read and share your thoughts on this process.

If you have not had a look at the on line magazine House of Fifty created by founding editor Janell Beals, you need to get on over there and have a look.  Janell has assembled a talented group of contributors and has put together a beautiful e-zine that is chock full of approachable decor, helpful articles and tips, a sprinkling of fashion, yummy recipes and more.  The magazine is down to earth,  fun and a must read.  The House of Fifty Blog is a great read as well, novel in the concept that Janell has invited other bloggers to write about and share a variety of topics.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Finally, if you are new to Room Rx, welcome!  I am glad that you stopped by and hope that you'll come back often, maybe even become a follower or add a comment as I would love to hear from you. Enjoy!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Fresh Fabrics Friday: Shalini & Scramble by Annie Selke

You have probably seen Annie Selke's fabrics as they are widely available (Joann's, Calico Corners, Fabric.com) but may not have been aware of the force behind these delightful designs.  Annie Selke is the creator and founder of Pine Cone Hill, Dash & Albert Rug Company and Annie Selke Home a kingdom of delightful designs for the home.  Her use of fun color, fresh pattern and clean lines makes for a fresh aesthetic in her product offerings, classic with out being stuffy.

Today I am sharing a couple of my favorites. First up, Shalini, A gorgeous 100% cotton floral available in 4 colorways.  Perfect for everything from draperies and Roman Shades to upholstery, check it out....

 House Beautiful

A Delightful Design -  M. Interiors

Next, a totally fun, organic patterned, 2 color fabric called Scramble a linen and rayon fabric available in 5 colors.  This fabric is great as the star of the show, used on upholstery but also a fabulous complementary or accent fabric for pillows, bedding or window treatments.

JoAnn's

 Vangard Furniture

 Caitlin Creer Interiors

{unless otherwise noted, all room images via Vangard Furniture and all fabric images via JoAnn's}

The beauty of Annie Selke's fabric offerings is the "mix and matchability" among them, but also that they can work perfectly with fabrics from other sources because of the great colors and patterns.

I hope you like these as much as I do.  I would love to see or hear about projects you have done using these fresh, fun fabrics, so share in the comments section or shoot me an e-mail with some photos and I'll feature in a future post!

Hope your week-end holds lots of Summery fun...enjoy!

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Clever: Blueprints as Art

Our home in Chicago was built in the early 1940"s and came with the original set of blueprints (the kind that were actually blue).  Since the house had been altered a few times over the years, it was nice to be able to understand what it looked like when it was originally conceived and built.  Blueprints, even the modern day kind, have always intrigued me and because they record someone's creative expression and work, they are like art to me.  You can imagine how inspired I was to find a vintage set of blue prints used as art when I stumbled on this room.... 

House to Home

The bold blue lends itself perfectly to white furnishings and the graphic quality of the blueprints are a nice change from the overly popular use of maps.  Inspired, I took a tour of the internet and found a few blueprints ready to purchase and either frame or hang wallpaper style. Etsy, eBay and Old Blueprints are great resources on line, but I imagine your local vintage store or a flea market would also be great spots for finding vintage blueprints

Old Blueprints

Sugarlily on etsy

eBay

Imagine the possibilities of designing or finishing a room around any of these fabulous images... or for that matter, using them in other creative ways, think decoupage,  lampshades, window treatments and the like!  How fabulous would any of these look in the natural & navy room I featured yesterday?

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Color of the Moment: Natural & Navy

My first apartment was decorated with a color palette of natural and navy with accents of mauve (yes, I know, that dates me, but then so does my gray hair!)  I made curtains out of navy sheets, refinished and recovered my grandmother's rocking chair with a navy Laura Ashley print and collected blue and white dishes and ceramics.  Over the years, I grew tired of those colors and that decor and navy has quietly disappeared from my home decor.  But I still love the look, especially with the right dose of navy and a full spectrum of naturals.

{via}

 Green Bee Goods

Click on the individual items for links

What colors are inspiring you these days?  Let me know and I'll create a "Color of the Moment" Design Concept Board and share it with you right here on Room Rx.

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Yummy: Rhubarb Strussel Cupcakes

A friend of mine recently told me about Sweet Paul Magazine, the e-magazine created by stylist Paul Lowe, author of the food and craft blog Sweet paul.  The Summer 2011 issue came out last week and is full of delicious recipes, clever projects and beautiful, well styled photos.  A quick peruse turned up a recipe for Rhubarb Strussel Cupcakes  which was quite timely as I had just picked up our farm share box containing a big bunch of rhubarb. The ingredients were pretty basic and I had them on hand so I whipped up a batch and let me tell you, they were yummy!  Too bad I'm a bad blogger and did not set up a cleverly styled photo shoot of these goodies..... you'll have to rely on Sweet Paul's talent for that, but trust me when I tell you this is a recipe worth trying!

With so many web based magazines and blogs out there these days, it's difficult to decide which ones are worth reading.  I highly recommend that you give both Paul's magazine and his blog a look, they are fresh and delightful and the photos alone are worth checking out.  Maybe you can read them while munching on a Rhubarb Strussel cupcake...

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!

Trends: Faux Bois

The look of Faux Bois (the term has French roots and means "false wood") continues to be a healthy design trend these days, which is amazing as it has been on the scene for quite a few years.  My first exposure to it was thanks to style diva Martha Stewart (who may even been the reason it became a trend).  There is something classic about the look and I can honestly say I am not tired of it.  Faux Bois can be found on everything from textiles to furniture and is organic, yet bold and graphic. Even just a touch of it can make quite a statement.

via Full House

David Duncan Livingston via From My Nest to Yours

Elements of Style 

 William Abranowicz for Coastal Living

Martha Stewart

 In case you are inspired to use the look of Faux Bois in your home, I have rounded up a few easily available products below...

 

 Martha Stewart for Safavieh

Lamps Plus

Thom Filicia fabric for Calico Corners

Style Garage

traditionally unique at etsy

giardino at etsy

ekho design at etsy

For those DIYers out there, here is a fun tutorial for creating your own Faux Bois stamp to imprint on fabric or paper.  Martha Stewart has a paint kit which can be used to replicate the look on furniture or walls.

What are your thoughts about Faux Bois?  Is this trend facing it's final days or still a look worth using? 

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design? 

If so please contact me, I would love to help your room feel better with a Room Rx!