Bohemian Rhapsody

Bare feet...copious greenery...shots of lace....a hint of tassels...a line of fringe...wreaths of daisies....cut off shorts.....maybe a pair of cowboy boots...maybe not....turquoise....leather....rugs of fur

It's dancing in the rain with a huge smile on your face,  flopping down in a field of daisies to just stare at the clouds with your closest friend, a cup of cocoa warm cable knit sweater on an icy day, It's spontaneous picnics in the forest, Romantic foot massages to the sound of chant music in a room full of lit candles. Reading on your belly while petting the cat and twiddling your feet in the air. It's family bonding over campfires while counting stars. It's bathing in a mountain lake with your floating bar of soap slowly drifting away. It's laughter. And sunshine. Eating chocolate chip cookie dough batter right out of the bowl. It's dancing in your socks because you can. 

Whether you are decorating your home or designing your outfit, Bohemian evokes a smile and is sure to emanate  joy. It has an Earthy comfort to it....a vibe. A PULSE. 

Here is a collection of some of my favorite spaces with a pulse!

Wild:

Oh MAN! could I pass the day away swinging in this chair sipping away at a strong cup of coffee with a good book! 

Refined:

A room to entertain in. It's grown up enough to conduct business but laid back enough to do it barefoot!

Country:

Um ya...I am totally launching myself onto this sofa to binge watch some netflix!

Classic:

I love that nothing has to be store bought. You can take an old chair from Gramma and just make it work by tossing in tons of amazing plants! I don't even garden but these rooms MAN they make me wish I did!

Best friends giggling over old photos, tossing back some iced teas listening to some great tunes, when your fave song comes on and you just gotta jump out of your seat and rock that tune!

Romantic:

Daydreaming on the beach with my feet dangling over the side of the sofa wiggling my wobbles away....

Random caroling, a fresh cut tree, warm apple cider and a crackling fire....

Garden of secrets, an empty journal, a jar full of pens and an afternoon...

Individual personalities....Free-spirited, comfortable and full of love!

THAT is the Spirit of Bohemian.

Weak Transmission

One of the most challenging things I have had to overcome in my life is my inability to communicate ideas. I have always had a meek voice, afraid of what the masses would say. So I have played quietly in the background too afraid to try. I have let this fear shape my life. It has kept me from taking chances and going after the things that I really want in my life. I have allowed others to decide what is best for me.

I have learned that there is no prize in playing small. We were meant to play loud and be heard!

It took me a long time to trust and express my design voice. I was terrified that others wouldn't like my ideas or would shun them. So when I first started out, my colors were bold and crazy and my designs were very loud. It was as if my meek little voice was saying:
 "Look I know your going to hate my designs so here! Here is my worst now mock it and get it over with!"
And of course once it was mocked, I would stay up all night changing it to something more aesthetically pleasing to the masses. So wrong!

If you love something stand up for it! And definitely don't play small with hopes of not being judged! THEY will judge you anyway and you will go through life with this pit in your stomach knowing you could have done better! It's a bitter taste to have to swallow everyday.

I have always had this ability to see my designs already finished. I can hold a paint swatch in my hand and already see it on my walls. I can touch a sofa and already see exactly where it will go in my home. It's a frustrating thing to have that kind of vision but have no outlet to communicate it or even to be afraid to.

Once I overcame the fear, I fought to find a way to voice my ability. Sure I took a few design classes not enough to really grant me the tools I needed though. So I had to keep looking for that instrument that would allow me to show people what I saw.

I used to cut out magazine photos and put the pics inside shoe boxes....making my own rudimentary doll houses. It was a tool, sure. But it was like a caveman drawing where I SAW the Sistine Chapel. So I kept looking. I discovered the Sims video games which allowed me to design houses, rooms, even pick furniture patterns and colors. And for a long time this tool was the most effective for me. It felt like I was able to finally express the vision.

But then I started feeling limited by the tools on the game as well. I mean if I SEE a mural I can't convey that through a game. Or if I SEE a type of furniture that the game catalog didn't have in stock, there was no way to fake it. And this became very frustrating for me.

Then I discovered Pinterest. Pinterest allowed me to FIND exactly what I SAW and pin all my ideas on a board and cluster them together. But it doesn't convey how those items will look in the room all together.

I knew at that point there was no choice but to start drawing my ideas. Oy! Although I took a few drawing classes, I still feel awkward about my final images. Although they show the layout that I SEE, it still feels as if I am coming up short with my ability to SHOW what I am SEEING! If only I could put my hand on your head like in the movies and I could just transmit the idea right in to your brain.

I don't know if there is anyone else out there who feels trapped by their inability to communicate their ideas clearly and effectively....but if you do WELCOME KINDRED SPIRIT!

This idea below is on a board that I created on Pinterest. I didn't even bother trying to draw this one because it just will not convey the beauty that I see. So please put on your imagination cap and try very hard to visualize these items with me. I apologize because these were ideas, I do not have all of the links to the specific items or any idea of cost. But to me the look is SO beautiful I don't care the cost!

Worth Melting For

My daughter like so many 11 year olds absolutely loves the movie Frozen. One of her favorite things to do is discuss room designs with her mom. She has an amazing understanding of texture, color theory, room planning, and she goes crazy over well-designed furniture. She is a chip off the old block one could say.

This room design is our collaborative effort. She wanted a Frozen inspired room. And as always it is my goal to achieve the desired look as close to $1K as possible!

I discovered this inspiration room on Pinterest. I used the cues from the inspiration room to pick and plot where I would use pattern, where I would use color, as well as furniture size and shape. So even though the inspiration room and my designed room look completely different they are relative because of the rules that were translated from one design to the next.

Inspiration Room

Applying our color scheme and simply swapping out our colors for the colors here in this room, we were able to achieve this design.

To achieve this look, first I painted the room with this Dark Royal Blue Paint Color

Then I found this great White Cottage Twin Iron Bed

I then opted for a soft textured Chenille Bedspread in a Pale Blue Color

I then layered pillows like the inspiration photo. Starting with 2 Silver Pillows.

Then I reintroduced the wall color with 2 of these Dark Royal Blue Pillows.

Then softened the color scheme with this lovely soft Ivory Faux Fur Pillow

Then for some whimsy and charm I added Some People Are Worth Melting For Pillow

For the curtains, I opted to go with this Printed Panel which picks up all the colors in the room.

Found this affordable and beautiful dresser at Bob's Discount Furniture. Remember, you can save yourself a TON if you re-purpose an old dresser or get one for a steal at a yard sale/flea market! Its very easy to add that trim molding to the front of an old dresser to give the same look then just paint white and add glass knobs!

 

For over the dresser, I found this great mirror.

I loved that the mirrors edges have that mosaic pattern which gives a cracked ice kind of a feel.

 

I then chose a soft blue faux fur area rug.

I use a lot of faux fur rugs in my designs. I love the contrast between the softness of the rugs and the hard floor.

With my daughter in mind, I chose this desk. Wherever my 11 year old is, her stuffed animals aren't too far behind. Loved this desk with the little cubby.

 The bed that I chose had this great X design on the footboard. I wanted to replay that idea with the desk chair.

Found these great Bean Bag Chairs for a steal at Big Lots! 

To contrast the Dark Royal Blue color of the chair, I placed a Textured White Pillow in the seat.

And no Frozen inspired room would be complete without an adorable Olaf Stuffed Toy on the bed.

TTFN!

Cost Sheet
Item			Where			Price
Paint			Walmart			$10.00
Faux Fur White Pillow (2)			Kohl's			$30.00
Chenille Bedspread			Wayfair			$61.99
Blue Pillow (2)			Walmart			$55.96
Spiral Pillow (2)			Kohl's			$41.98
Silver Pillow (2)			Wayfair			$53.98
Curtains (2)			Walmart			$79.50
Melting For Pillow			Etsy			$20.00
Dresser			Bob's Discount			$349.00
Bed Frame			Wayfair			$163.99
Mirror			Wayfair			$39.95
Bean Bag Chair (2)			Big Lots			$34.00
Faux Fur Rug			Wayfair			$28.99
Desk			Walmart			$84.88
Chair			Walmart			$59.88
						$1,114.10

Forest Through the Trees

I stumbled on this beautiful wallpaper on Pinterest! 

And although I love the look of all white, I couldn't help but think this room needed a nice pop of red! So I dug around a little more and I found this design that distributed the red around the room nicely. However, I wasn't too crazy about the holiday tree at this time of year.

So I decided to do some virtual shopping and I came up with my own design that I just couldn't wait to share.

(I apologize for the notebook paper. I promise I will get better supplies for my next blog!)

Now in my design I have opted to go bold with color and I am excited to report that this gorgeous look can be achieved for under $1K!

Nope I am serious! You can get this gorgeous look for under one thousand dollars and this is how!

This is the gorgeous comforter I used in my design. Notice the leaf design BONUS!

Now I loved this sidetable that I found at Wayfair.com but it was $83.99 and too rich for our budget! But with those simple lines, I know I can find this table at ANY yard sale or flea market for probably about $25 and with a little elbow grease I can create this look. If you would like to learn how you too can create this barnwood finish check out this tutorial that I found at HawthorneandMain.com

Of course to add the drama to this room that caught my eye originally we need the Birch Tree Wallpaper

I figure we need at least 5 rolls to do that one back wall behind the bed.

THEN I found this AMAZING Bird Cage Chandelier on Overstock.com and THAT is when my insides started really jumping around and I was like Oh My God how perfect!

From there I searched high and low until I discovered this oh so fitting Bird Pillow over at Wayfair.com

 

Then I realized I needed to start adding that pop of color I was hoping for! So I discovered this Red Pillow. For our room we need two. 

To add some softness around the window without competing with the design, I opted for these beautiful subtle curtain panels that I found at Wayfair.com

I decided to have some fun with the accessories! Sure I found these great Birch Candles on Ebay. But we all know with a chain saw and some creativity we can create these candles ourselves!

 

Some pretty tea lights for the bureau that will carry our color scheme to the opposite side of the room. From Dotandbo.com

A nice bright red cardinal to accent the other corner of the bureau.

I thought that a bird nest would be fitting for this design. Probably a little hard to see in my drawing but I tucked a bird nest inside the bottom of the side table on top of some books. If you can find a bird nest in the wild GREAT! If not, you can cheat and buy a a bird nest with eggs on ebay of course.

I thought bringing in a strong geometric element would be a great touch so I went with black metal on the bed frame. (Please ignore that hideous bedding!)

and I also opted to bring in the black metal on the basket by the bureau.

Then to off set the hard lines of the basket I opted to put a lush textured blanket.

And I added some more of the geometric metal. Found this amazing mirror on Wayfair for only $65.99!

And there you have it! If you aren't convinced that this amazing look can be achieved for under $1K, well take a look at the break down.

Proof that with a little ingenuity, alot of creativity and some muscle that you don't have to spend a fortune to achieve a designer look. See you next time!

Cost Sheet

Item

Where

Price

Wallpaper

Ebay

22.89/roll 100 for 1 wall

Bedframe

Wayfair

196.99

Chandelier

Overstock

156.99

Curtains (1 window)

Wayfair

16.99

Red Throw Pillows (2)

Wayfair

47.98

Bird Pillow

Wayfair

22.48

Mirror

Joss & Main

65.99

Bedding

Wayfair

69.99

Nightstand

Flea or Yard sale

25

Paint

Walmart

10

Bureau

Flea or Yard sale

75

Candles

WOODS

FREE

Bird Figurine

Ebay

8.99

Tea Lights

Dot and Bo

26.99

Birds Nest

WOODS

FREE

Basket

Dot and Bo

45.99

Throw

Joss & Main

55.95

TOTAL

925.33