"". content='3d4620b7bc91f474c9424106dd2800b5' name='p:domain_verify'/> Room RX: me
Showing posts with label me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label me. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

I know.... it's been a while

My plate has been full, and my focus has been on things such as...

scheming on dorm decor, 

crafting dorm art

then moving my girl off to college for the first time 
and getting her room pulled together so it feels happy and homey. 


Also on my docket,
updating a sun room for a repeat client.


Designing built-ins and a fresh look for this family room.


Working on a variety of projects for this charming home.

 And creating design plans for some other delightful clients.
 


Oh.... and then there is the knitting that I have recently become quite fond of
thanks to a lovely and patient friend....

That is why I hope you will forgive my absence from the blog-o-sphere.
For now I am on blog hiatus while I decide what the best and most fulfilling use of my time is.
In the meantime, I will be attempting to use Facebook and Instagram better in order to keep you up to date on my work and other happenings, so I don't plan to disappear completely!


--------------Cathy--------------

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design?  I would love to work with you to help your room "feel better."  
Contact me for more information about my design services.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Lamp shade DIY and other stuff...

Does felt count as fabric?
 If so here is your dose of Fresh Fabrics Friday...

Using Pam's fish scale lampshade as inspiration, my CSIL was at it again with this lampshade update. I'll let the pictures do the talking here.






Yet again, kudos to Therese, didn't she do a great job?
I love how the light shines through the felt "scales" giving a beautiful pattern to the shade and adding interest without overpowering.


As for the other stuff, I was helping a friend of mine stage some "work" photos for her business website (her husband was the photographer and 
has some mad camera skills) and asked if I could get a shot or two for  an updated profile pic. 
We had such a great time and I think the photos taken using a tip that Jenn shared turned out the best. 

Here I am in all of my gray haired, wind blown glory... I kinda like it, you?


My husband thinks that the combo of my necklace and the neckline of my shirt give me a 
Wilma Flintstone look... 


I must say, I got a chuckle out of that!!!

Finally, after all of your encouragement to pursue the patio furniture I shared the other day, 
I went for it....
only to find out that it was already sold :(
He who hesitates misses out....

Enjoy the week-end ahead. Around here we have prom happening tomorrow, I'll be sure to share a photo or two.

--------------Cathy--------------

Does your room need a “prescription” for a change of decor, function or design?  I would love to work with you to help your room "feel better."  
Contact me for more information about my design services.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Winter Wonderland!

We got walloped with snow yesterday! Madison had somewhere between 16-18" fall between Wednesday night and this morning. Dropping temperatures and high winds created blizzard conditions and added to the "fun." (I read this morning that there were drifts of snow nearly 10 feet high in nearby areas.) Virtually the whole city was shut down yesterday and today we have a second snow day, delighting the kids and probably frustrating a few parents who are not quite ready for Christmas. 

This was the view out our front door captured by my son yesterday as we began our first round of shoveling. The snow was wet and heavy, accumulating as quickly as we removed it. In all we cleared our driveway and walks 4 times, family fun for sure!

 I think I missed the memo for proper snow clearing apparel, but my youngest didn't!

Love this time lapse video created by some clever friends of my kids, it captures the extent of the storm and makes me feel festive all at once! Nice job Jill and Melissa!


Today the sun is shining and the snow is beautiful, a Winter Wonderland for sure. I am off to finish my holiday cards and cookie baking... Later, I will need to sneak around my house to do some last minute wrapping, undetected. 

I'll be taking some time off to enjoy being with family and friends over the next couple of weeks so I'll be posting sporadically, if at all. But I do want to tell all of you how much I appreciate your stopping by each day and wish you all the happiest of holidays and best for the coming year!

From my house to yours....

XOXO Cathy

Monday, December 17, 2012

Beauty in the every day

Like many of you, I spent the week-end immersed in a fog of sadness as the the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown unfolded.  I vacillated between wanting to know more, trying to get my head around what had transpired, to tuning out, not allowing myself to gather any more information or see the latest "take" on why this happened. For the families who lost loved ones and the friends and community of those individuals, tuning out, shutting down, not even a power outage will allow them to step away from this event. 
The path of grief and healing will be long and arduous, there is no turning this story off. 
I will keep these people in my heart, thoughts and prayers as they make this journey.

There is much sorrow to be experienced and healing to happen for the rest of us as well, as we process the unimaginable and try to reconcile it with our own lives.

 Photos by my talented friend Carolee Salat
more about her here

About grief, we will all experience it, likely not in the way these families are, but in some way. I have experienced profound grief and I am forever changed because of my walk through it. I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that people the world round, no matter how well intentioned, can respect and give space to those who are hurting, to leave them to their grieving and to show them love and support in ways that are not intrusive, but kind and caring. Ways that demonstrate respect for their loss and hope for their journey.

REUTERS/Joshua Lott

In my grief,  I found comfort from in the form of beauty, the beauty of the gestures and thoughtful acts by family, friends and neighbors, the beauty in embracing and holding dear my memories, beauty in immersing myself in the things I love, my children, my husband, my family, the beauty in (eventually) helping others who were experiencing similar losses,  beauty in the every day (whatever that meant on a given day).

So while in the scheme of things, a design blog, decorating or DIY projects may seem inconsequential, they are all to me, a means of finding beauty in the every day, a path to healing, a way to make sense of the world.

How do you find beauty in the every day?




Thursday, October 4, 2012

Painting a rug: Done!

I finished! And I am really quite pleased with the results of my rug painting "experiment." If you have been following my adventures since the get go, then you know I changed my project mid-stream (go back and see part 1 and part 2 if you need to refresh your memory). Once I committed, I chose a very simple pattern to paint inspired by this, as it suited my time and attention best. The graphic shape also works well with the decor of my office.




Knowing that the rugs would get a bit of wear and tear from the chairs, I felt that a more distressed coverage would work well. Lucky for me I did not have to work too hard to achieve that. The deep texture of the sisal rugs did the work for me.

 So the how to? So simple. I used some left over paint from the back of the bookcases. After reading several rug painting tutorials, I opted to add a fabric medium, which I felt made the paint looser and easier to work with. Since the rugs are sisal, it's hard to say whether the dried paint is softer and less stiff.

 I taped off my pattern using the masking tape I had on hand. Even though the rugs were rubber backed, I laid them on a tarp. Once I began painting, this guided my paint application and I was careful to not count on it to prevent the paint from seeping.

 
The first rug I painted with a foam brush, literally outlining the pattern and then filling in the color by dabbing the brush. The result was what I had envisioned. I began the second rug and then, horrors... I ran out of paint! My original goal with this project was to complete it using what I had on hand, from the rug to the left over paint. In the end, not only did I buy new rugs, I had to dish for paint!!!!

 

For the second rug, since I now had a whole, new can of paint, I opted to use a dry brush technique, again applying the paint by dabbing. The coverage was a bit more uniform, while still giving me the worn look I was after.


 I may go back and give the first rug another coat of paint (someday). But in the meantime I'll count this project as a success and hope that my husband agrees when see the results.



Many thanks to Linda for her inspiration and motivation on this rug painting blog party, I probably would not done this with out her invitation, I would have just thought about doing it! Now go on over and see what all of the other gals have done with their rugs. Be sure to leave some comment love for everyone!




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.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Painting a Rug: party on...

My brain has been whirring with "clever" ideas and inspirations for painting the rug for my daughter's bedroom. Trying to keep the whole project simple and quick to execute, an easy to paint pattern is key. Here are a few that are speaking to me.....
All rugs from here

Then, my DIY-ADD kicked in, big time. I was shopping for a client project and what do I find? Two 3' x 5' seagrass rugs, perfect for my recently completed office, (necessary of course, to keep my husband happy as he has been complaining about the runner I put in there because it gets in the way of the chairs) which I quickly snapped up. 

Suddenly this is a whole new project....



My office with the "bad-boy" runner....

Then to my complete delight, I saw this....

West Elm 

And I knew I had a winner.

And now my rugs looks like this, all taped up and ready to go! I have not quite figured out my technique and yes that is plain old masking tape.... I think I am working a bit backwards, but that's how I roll these days.


I suppose I am the only one who has changed gears mid party.... let's see what the others are up to shall we? Oh, and did you know we had a "party crasher?" Be sure to see what Beth at Design Post is up to.

Chinoiserie Chic



Now I am off to make corsages and boutonnieres for the homecoming dance. 
Apparently my kids' friends can place orders....!

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.


Friday, February 17, 2012

A game of "BlogTag"!

Forgive me for pre-empting my regular Fresh Fabrics Friday feature, thanks to Pam at Simple Details, I have been tagged in a fun little blog tag game and I just had to play. Eleven is the magic number, answer eleven questions, tag eleven other bloggers and figure out eleven different questions to ask them. Pam made it look so simple and fun that I had to give it a try!

First to answer her questions:

1. What would be the career of your dreams?
Designing affordable, functional, beautiful housing for a public housing organization.

2. I would eat Top Ramen noodles for a month in order to save up for A trip to Italy! Or, I wouldn't eat Top Ramen for anything!

3. Which would you choose for a date with your husband: Candlelight dinner at a nice restaurant or day of hiking in the mountains?
Hiking in the mountains...our first trip together after a month of dating was a canoe and camping trip with friends, so we have a history of enjoying the outdoors together.

 Hiking in Glacier National Park with my honey.

4. In which sport or athletic activity would you most like to participate?
 A Tuscan bike tour, which would mix my love of biking and my wanderlust, not to mention my desire to go to Italy!
[Val D'orcia - credit: Oishi Kuranosuke]

5. What do you wish you were more knowledgeable about?
  Photography and how to better use my camera to produce beautiful photos.  For all of my creativity, I am not a good photographer... even my kids would tell you that!


6. Pretend one of your online blogging friends is coming to visit for the weekend, what one thing would you do to your home before she arrived?
Spruce up my guest room, which is in the basement, meaning that the rest of the basement would need some attention as well!

Interior Design by Melissa Rufty, Photo by Francesco Lagnese via
(Too bad the bones of my guest room are nothing like this...a girl can dream though can't she?)

7. What kind of driver are you (speed demon, rule follower, tickets, fender benders, easy going)?
I do occasionally cuss under my breath about drivers doing dumb things like tailgating me or passing me on residential streets.

8. It's hard for me to get going in the morning without my coffee!

9.  What are your nicknames?
 I haven't really had any nicknames since college, but back then it was "Amms," short for my maiden name Ammarell. In elementary school it was "Amma-relish!"

10. What is your best quality? 
I can talk to just about anyone. My kids find that terribly embarrassing sometimes....!

11.  What is your best piece of advice for raising children?
Hard to limit this to one best so here are a couple of best: Love them unconditionally but give them rules and boundaries to live by. They grow up fast so enjoy it all in the moment, even in the difficult moments, someday you'll be missing even those!

Next to share the Rules:
**You must post the rules
**Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you; then create 11 questions to ask the people you've tagged
**Tag 11 people and link them in your post
**Let them know you have tagged them

Then to tag 11 bloggers:
Andrea @  Oak Ridge Revival
Kerry @ Design du Monde
Chanee @ Me Longings

And finally, my 11 questions for them:
1) Do you like to cook or bake?
2) My one guilty pleasure is....?
3) To unwind at the end of a long day I....?
4) Where do you do your blogging?
5) I could eat a whole bag/box/package of... in one sitting?
6) White wine or red?
7) My idea of the perfect day is....?
8) The room in my home that I like the best is...?
9) The accomplishment I am most proud of in the past year is...?
10) What song can't you get out of your head right now?
11) What is one item on your "bucket list?"

Tag! you are it! Hope you'll play.... You can also play by visiting these delightful blogs and saying hello! Have fun and enjoy your week-end.

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 Design Concept Board or a complete Room Rx.
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