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Quick and Easy Living room Re-design

April 22, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects

Last week I had a fun and quick re-design job for an open living room dining room area.  My client had recently inherited quite a few new pieces of furniture from a relative and had purchased a new sectional sofa.  She was left with a mix of furniture in her open space that wasn’t functional and didn’t flow.  I quickly assessed her needs as follows:

  • more living room seating for guests
  • a more functional and useable dining room area-for entertaining and daily use
  • integrate new furnishings with existing eclectic style
  • more seating for outdoor patio
  • too cluttered/crowded feeling

BeforeKW BeforeKW-1

Before the dining table was under the windows and when being used it obstructed the flow of the room.  The chair next to the china hutch rarely got used and two additional chairs in the living room were pushed up against the wall across from the sofa and therefore felt quite separate from the living room space.

We relocated those chairs to the screened porch to make more room and give the outdoor space additional seating. The two large pieces of furniture on both ends of the rooms created a heavy feeling and on one end partially blocked light from a window. First, we moved the TV cabinet over to fill the large wall across from the sectional. This allowed more light in through the previously blocked window and made room for two additional seating areas on both sides of the tv cabinet using a couple of chairs and occasional tables already in the space.  We also moved the sofa a bit to create space for the china cabinet on the wall behind it.  By moving both the chair and the china cabinet we opened up the entire back wall (closest to the kitchen) for a clearly defined dining space that has ample room for entertaining.

The newly arranged living space has more seating but also feels intimate and cozy.

After-1 After

The room now feels more open and less cluttered and there are still two distinct spaces for living and dining.

Whenever I do a space re-design I advise clients to live with it for at least a week before deciding if there are things they really don’t like.  As creatures of habit we get use to our things in a certain arrangement and it might feel awkward at first having things moved around within the space.  Luckily in this case the client worked with me to move things and she seemed really happy with the results immediately.  The following day she responded to an email I sent with this response; “I love it so much! The room feels bigger and I like my “things” more now too in the new arrangement.”  This was a two hour project and the only expense for the client was my consulting/space planning fee. We did not buy one single thing!

Use what you have in new ways, move things around and create a totally new space!

Wednesday Wellness::Lean, Settle…Center

March 27, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset

As I ended my Wednesday today on my Yoga mat practicing warm flow our instructor began and ended the class by asking us to notice our posture.  She suggested that we bring awareness to our tendency to lean forward or settle back in our daily lives.

Source: 24.media.tumblr.com viaChristie on Pinterest

In this awareness  then she asked us to think about our own tendency in our posture and to bring awareness to how that parallels our thoughts and actions in our daily lives.

Just this small shift in my personal awareness had me thinking about how I’ve struggled with my posture; slumping forward especially when sitting and YES this does parallel my thoughts.  I’m always thinking about the next thing I want to be doing, my mind is constantly racing ahead of my actions.  I feel I have a new perspective on my posture and am grateful that it can be a reminder in each moment to stay centered by not leaning to far forward into the future or settling too far back into my own personal history.

Do you lean, settle or are you centered?  Does your posture reflect your thoughts and actions in your life?  If so will bringing awareness to this help you find a more centered perspective?

Technology Free Friday!

March 1, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education

Our lives and worlds have become so technology driven that it’s great to take time to unplug and ground yourself from time to time.  Today begins the National Day of Unplugging… The challenge is from Sundown to Sundown this Friday-Saturday (March 1-2).  This is the 4th annual NDU and I’ve participated 1 or 2 times before.  I appreciate the effort that others will be making on a national scale to live in the moment, practice mindfulness, make conscious choices, spend time with people we love and doing what we love.

I’ll be up to my elbows in plants all day Saturday so I don’t anticipate I’ll be missing my technology much. Here’s what some others have pledged to do while they are unplugged.

Unplug

There are so many great things you can do with your time in just one day if you set aside the distraction of technology and allow yourself the luxury of some undivided attention.  Here are a few suggestions:

  • Start some seeds for your garden
  • Read a book
  • Organize your kitchen, clean out your pantry and fridge
  • Fix something that’s broken!  Mend it, glue it, tape it, DO IT!
  • Enjoy a hobby like sewing, knitting etc…while listening to some music (I don’t think that the radio or CD’s count-maybe to you music is out though)
  • Take a drive in the country with a picnic and a camera
  • De-clutter-anywhere/everywhere!
  • Sort/purge the papers you NEVER use in your file cabinet
  • Take a long walk, hike or bike ride
  • Relax and spoil yourself with spa treatments (at home or elsewhere)
  • Cook/bake for and entertain someone you love
  • Play board games or cards
  • Fly a kite, hang glide or catch some air somewhere
  • Meditate, do yoga…just BE!

Here’s what you should “NOT” be doing if you have taken the pledge: hanging out on Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, 4 Square, email, computer, cell phone, text messaging, TV…basically anything digital!  You will probably want to “prepare” to unplug by keeping track of missed calls etc and setting aside some time to return the important one’s on Sunday or Monday.

I hope you will join me (if not today…just try it any day!). It feels great to take a break and be free from technology from time to time, don’t you agree?

Wednesday’s Word Resilient

February 20, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education

RESILIENT

: characterized or marked by resilience: as

a : capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture
b : tending to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change
Psychology Today identifies some of the factors that make someone resilient:
  • A positive attitude
  • Optimism
  • Ability to regulate emotions
  • Ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback

Over the past few years I have reflected many times on where I’ve been and where I’m headed.  I’ve become more adaptable to situations and circumstances by trying and doing things that perhaps I might not have seen myself doing.  I’ve also enjoyed things I never dreamed I would have and surprised myself!  Optimism is something that comes to me pretty naturally (I think I have my mom to thank for this:).  And I almost never view anything I try as a failure.  I’m not sure where I learned this from but I’ve always felt that everything I do I can and will learn from.  Failure is something that happens to all of us in different forms but it’s not the failure itself that’s the lesson, it’s how we learn from experiences and how we bounce back.

Best selling author Seth Godin devotes a whole chapter to Resilience in his book Linchpin.

Here’s an excerpt:

You will fail at this. Often. Why is that a problem? In fact, this is a boon. It’s a boon because when others fail to be remarkable or make a difference or share their art or have an impact, they will give up.  But you won’t, you’ll persist, pushing through the dip.  Which means that few people will walk in the door with your background, experience or persistence.

If our young men miscarry in their first enterprises they lose all heart.  If the young merchant fails, men say he is ruined.  If the finest genius studies at one of our colleges, and is not installed in an office within one year afterwards in the cities or suburbs of Boston or New York, it seems to his friends, and to himself that he is right in being disheartened, and in complaining the rest of his life.  A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps a school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Congress, buys a township, and so forth, is worth a hundred of these city dolls.  He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not “studying a profession” for he does not postone his life, but lives already.  He has not one chance, but a hundred chances.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Are you resilient in certain areas of your life but not others?

Textile Ice Dyeing Pt 1

February 3, 2013 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Textiles & Pattern

I’ve been very excited to experiment with Ice Dyeing and this week I finally had the time, space and necessary materials available to get started.  I have a friend who works for a florist here in Charleston and she knows I’m always on the lookout for flowers with vibrant color.  Over the last 6 months I’ve collected different varieties of petals separated by color and have frozen them in 1 Gal zip bags.  With Valentines (and the prospect of more red flowers to come my way) I decided to begin with the batch of red petals (mostly from red tulips).  Below I gathered a variety of fabric and yarn materials to test.  I included a few types of silk, cotton, linen, wool and some blends of these.

Textile Ice Dyeing

When I experiment with Dyeing I always try to keep notes on specific quantities, materials used, times etc but so much of the fun of this process is the unexpected!

IMG_3486

I put the red frozen flower petals inside a pillow case (anything else would work that would keep the materials contained).

IMG_3485

I presoaked the materials in about 2 gallons of lukewarm water with vinegar (mordant) and I submerged the petals inside the pillow case in the bucket giving it a good swish around.  I continued to stir the materials, squeezing the dyestuff inside the pillow case several times a day over the next 48 hrs.  This is the hard part, leaving the materials alone for so long when you can see the beautiful colors developing.  I waited the full 48 hrs before removing the fabrics to be rinsed and dried (by hand).

IMG_3493

Once out of the dye bath the colors varied quite a bit from pale pink to grey to purple.  The wool and silk (protein fibers) took up the colors much more intensely then the cotton and linen (cellulose) fibers.  I pretty much expected this result.  I gave the materials a few soaks in warm water with a bit of detergent (delicate wash type) and sorted them into “satisfactory” and needs additional dyeing.  I did not discard the almost spent tulip petals and as you can see below (the yellow areas of the petals), much of the color has already been extracted from the plant material but I wanted to extract more so I decided to keep going with this dyebath.

IMG_3498

I added red/orange shade petals from orchids and roses right on top of the partially ‘spent’ tulip petals.  Another 1 gallon bag of materials went back into the bucket (pic below) along with the “unsatisfactory” materials (cottons) and some new undyed materials (again wool, silk and cotton).  This time I did not add additional vinegar so the mordant will not be as strong.

IMG_3500

The process of dyeing (weather natural or synthetic) is a little mysterious and always yields some surprising results.  I have used mostly synthetic dyes in the past but as I experiment with natural dyeing I feel much more comfortable with the materials knowing that for the most part they do not pose a threat to my health or the environment.  The water will eventually be used in the garden and the plants will go into the compost heap.  The fabrics can be worn knowing they don’t contain dangerous chemicals and I’ve created something from NOTHING!

 

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