Finding Home Design Inspiration in a Hotel

My husband works for a hotel in downtown Chicago. He had to stay there for the weekend of the NATO conference in Chicago and I got to join him for the weekend! I love staying in hotels, especially fancy ones. I knew the hotel had undergone some renovations in the lobby and restaurant. I met him downstairs and he gave me the key to the room. When the elevator doors opened to my floor, I was stunned. I was expecting the traditional old world hotel look it always had. I had no idea the entire floor had been remodeled.

Everything was done to my taste: beautiful greys, accents of purple, a mix of textures, and shinny things. It continued into the room. I didn't post any of the room itself because while pretty, it was very small. The bathroom is inspiring me to start work on my own. Everything is white in my bathroom: walls, tile, cabinet, counter, sink, and curtain. I want to do something to warm it up. 

 View I had from elevator. We already have the cream colored, leather couch.

 Don't you just love the chandeliers!

 This picture doesn't do it justice.

Love the dark wood contrasting with the white stone counter.

I love the textured wallpaper they used with just a bit of shimmer. I'm thinking of doing some kind of painting technique. I'd also love to darken the cabinet, but who knows. My husband isn't too keen on doing much for the bathroom right now. I might have to settle on my idea of making a painting and finally getting a bathmat to match our towels.

Where do you find design inspiration? 

**Over this past weekend, my husband worked on a big project. I'll be posting about it soon.

Space saving, back of the door, laundry system

I used to sort my laundry by darks and lights in 2 hampers. Since I started sharing living space with my husband, that just didn't work space-wise anymore. Moving to one big hamper for myself (we still don't mix our laundry together) resulted in me not doing laundry till I was out of clothes and then taking over an hour just to sort it.

After moving to our new loft, I realized it had gone on long enough. Before, I would haul all my clothes downstairs to the community laundry room and just do everything at once. Now, we have the luxury of an in unit washer and dryer. One big laundry day just wasn't possible anymore.

Hanging anything behind a door is a great space saver that most people know about. I toyed with the idea of making my own bags to hang, but then I saw these pretty colorful oversized shopping bags in the window of TJ Max. I bought simple hooks at Home Depot, and in total I spent under $15 for everything.

 Can you figure out which bag is for what?

The straps were too long, so I pinned them to the shortest length that could still work. I intend to sew them, eventually.

First, I figured placement. Hung the top hook as high as I could and still have the door close. Then, with the bag hanging from it, I placed the lowest hook as low as I could without the bag dragging on the floor. Last, I placed the center bag hook in the middle of the other two.

Just some simple marking, drilling, and screwing.

Now, it's so much easier doing laundry. When a bag is full I just take it to the washer and pop everything in. Done.

Linked Up:

DIY Show Off

Some Progress

Started work on closet. It's a slow process. I had a busy weekend with a 5K.

Before, clothes all over futon and terrible closet

Now I've got the clothes sorted into piles and already have 4 bags of giveaway.

Pick from my first 5K, it rained but I still had a good time.

The List

Inspired by many other bloggers who have posted on this recently, I would like to compile my own list of all I need to get done. I'm throwing a baby shower for my best friend next month, and in August I will have family coming to stay. It will be their first time for seeing our new place and I'd like it to be as put together as possible. Also with my summer vacation coming up, I'm starting to plan out my usual summer project list.

Before Baby Shower:

1. Cull and organize closet. This is a big one. My closet has overflowed to the futon in the second bedroom. I need to downsize and organize my beautiful closet (one of the big selling features for me
2. Finish my big organization of files and stuff in the second bedroom.
3. Make art for bathroom. I was thinking a painting using all the sample paints we decided against (we have 13, they need to be used for something.)
4. Hang light in second bedroom. I have it, just need to do it.
5. Hang hooks somewhere for my husband to hand his jackets. He is currently putting them on hanger hanging off my beautiful entry library shelves. He likes to let them air out.
6. Buy more curtains, figure out the hardware to use, and hang curtains in living area. We've picked out what we want, we just need to figure out how to hang them. When you live in the city (unless it's new construction) it's not always strait forward as to how to get things on the wall.
7. Replace bulbs in tack light. Not an easy task since they are 15 feet up and the only way to get up there is with the shaky wooden latter in the recycle room.
8. Continue mural behind the TV (or this can wait)
9. Plan menu! This is the fun part
10. Plan theme! It's a boy, but I don't want to be the traditional blue, I'm thinking black and white, White Sox theme (she's an avid fan)
11. Make a gift for her
12. Deep Clean

Before August family visit:

1. Buy more lighting
2. Pick out draping fabric for our canopy bed.
3. Paint bathroom
4. Get at least a new towel hanger for the hand towel if not all. (they are all these weird hooks and the hand towel won't stay on.
5. New bathmat
6. Plant an indoor herb garden (This is going to take some research to figure out. I've never had even indoor plants myself)
7.  Paint second bedroom?
8. Hopefully get shades restrung.
9. Maybe find awesome deal on perfect low china cabinet. (a girl can dream)
10. Do something awesome to my bedside table. I'm thinking mirrors!
11. Buy or make behind the couch console/desk table
12. Refinish dining room table and reupholster chairs. (hopefully, I might have to call in an expert for this one)
13. Have best 30th birthday ever!

I think that's everything.

Framing a Print

I have a ton of artwork I created in college. I had always wanted to get some of the best work up on the wall in my home, but it took buying a place before that happened.

My favorite piece is a copper plate etching of Big Ben. It is not a normal size, so it would require a custom frame and mat. Even with the online options for custom frames, this was too expensive of an option when I was trying to get so many other projects done in time for my friend's visit. Luckily, I'm resourceful. I thought of just buying the best size possible and having just the mat cut. Michael's had frames on sale, but the mat would be way too much money and take 2 weeks. What was that about? So then I thought of how I loved the torn edges of the paper and how I should display the whole piece, so it wasn't just a picture, but an object. Shadow boxes that big were once again way out of the picture.

Then I thought floating frame, you know glass front and back so you see the wall through it. I found a tutorial and thought I could pull it off. Getting a backing glass cut was out (money), so I ended up buying a cheap poster frame in the same size as the frame I was buying on sale. The tutorial I had seen online was for a much smaller frame that didn't involve real artwork. I didn't want to completely glue and seal in my print, so I thought of using tiny nails like the brackets that hold the back of a frame in. I took precautions and went slowly with my nailing. I got almost done, we are talking the last nail, and it was too much. The front glass got a hairline crack that spread. I can't begin to describe the utter frustration I felt. I had spent hours planning, researching, going back and forth to different art stores to get frames and the right acid free adhesive for the print. All without a car. Do you know what it's like hauling a 2' x 3' frame on a city bus.

"Fail"

So I was left with a frame, a plexiglass front from a poster frame (what was going to be my back) and a print needing a home. Back to the local art store (no more Michael's for me), I got a coordinating color of mat board and they cut it to size for the frame (only 50 cents a cut thank you local art store). Back to carefully lining up my print on the mat, always leave more room at the bottom, and taping down with a stronger hold then my first go around. Now it hangs right by the front door, hiding the fuse box. It's the first thing you see when you open the door.

"Success"

I posted a link to a link up party on GetOuttaMyHeadPlease for my Family Name Eye Chart and accidentally posted this link.