Power of the Word-Ah….

I was talking with a friend the other day about styling a bookshelf, and I thought I would post some pictures that feature books. It’s one of those areas that most of us have in our homes, and it’s easy to not notice them in magazines, catalogs or other pictures. Take a look next time you are browsing through Elle Decor, West Elm, Potterybarn, or whatever magazine/catalogs you get. Those are the best places to notice how they set up office areas, bookshelves, and collections of things. Bookshelves (or any shelves, really) are one of the areas that if you give a bit of attention to it, it can go from being something that is kind of ignored (yet often seen), to a feature in your home. And I love books. Some books are beautiful. Some are not, but we still want them, need them, and need a place for ’em, so here’s to embracing the things that are have-to’s (like housing my 10 Maeve Binchy novels and an entire crate full of back issues of Rolling Stone) and making them work to our advantage. We can bring our bookcases from behind the scenes background pieces to feature presentations (wow- that’s a little too intense for an inanimate object :-))…

I think I have posted this before, but I can't help myself...I love it

Take a look at some of those pictures and see how they layer books and art or photographs, stack objects of interest or sentimental value, and break up the rows of books.

Every Artist Is A Cannibal, Every Poet Is A Thief, All Kill Their Inspiration, Then Sing About The Grief….

Have you ever thought about the line between being inspired by someone’s work and stealing their idea? It’s an intriguing question to think about for a moment. But when I think about things like that for more than a minute… I get bored. I am not a deep, philosophical, lets-discuss-which-came-first-chicken-or-egg type person. Chew on that when you look at this picture of Jenna Lyons house (Jcrew lady),

and this painting that her husband did and I love. I thought I could do something like that. So I bought some canvas by the yard and wrapped it around a big old window frame I had and began painting. This is how it turned out:

I know, it’s not too impressive, it’s just a bunch of black dots. But I “painted” 🙂

DIY Driftwood Mirror

Yes that’s me in my sweats – how do you take a picture of a mirror without actually showing up in the mirror?!

This is a mirror I made a few months ago for my bathroom after I saw it in my Domino Book of Decorating (find it here http://www.amazon.com/Domino-Decorating-Room-Room-Creating/dp/1416575464/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272049267&sr=1-1)

It was pretty easy, but I did discover some things along the way. Here is a how-to guide with tips:

1. Buy cheap round mirror ( I got mine from Ikea for only 20 bucks). Cut a piece of plywood about 3 inches wider than the mirror, and glue the mirror to the plywood using liquid nails or something like that. The plywood can’t be too thin because it has to hold the mirror and the driftwood, but not so thick and heavy that it makes the mirror impossibly heavy

2. Collect driftwood.

Now a couple thoughts on this – It dawned on me not everyone lives near the beach and might have to buy driftwood (!!!). One of the many perks of living by the ocean is free driftwood. I looked for pieces in various size and shape because you need odd ones and stubby ones and long ones to fill the nooks and crannies, but I looked for ones that were not deteriorating, were somewhat smooth, and kind of grey in color. I had to go back three times cause I either needed more or a certain size and shape.

3) Next scrub the driftwood with soap and water and let it sit in the sun for a few days to dry out. I also sprayed it with bleach water during those days to lighten it up and grey it up a bit.

4) The next part is kind of like a puzzle….I laid it out sections at a time before I started gluing. I used wood glue for the bigger base pieces that had a good size area to be glued, and hot glue for the pieces that were barely touching each other. That is the tricky part – some pieces barely connect because of their shape and so it is not very sturdy at all in the beginning

5) Once I did all that and it was dry, then I went around and secured all the pieces that I could with screws. This part was a must because it would have immediately fallen apart when I tried to lift it up if i didn’t do this.

You can see in the close up that you do see the screws, which I don’t mind because I feel like it goes with the rustic look. But be mindful when choosing your screws that you will see them, so black or gold might not be the best. But there you have it…..and all for just about $30!

The Domino Files…

I loooooved that magazine. I was so sad when it came to an end. When I am looking for ideas for a room, or color combinations, I will often google “Domino magazine pictures” and see what comes up. But guess what I found? The Domino Files on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/groups/dominomag/pool/! This is a collection of images from Domino all in one spot. Here are some favorites: