Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives." - Tony Robbins

RESOURCES

Websites, blogs, articles, businesses, friends, networks...

There are so many resources in this colorful world of ours that allow us to make decissions about the spaces we love

I only PEEKED at some of the opportunities that are available...Check some of them out! 



Lowe's - You can easily create an account for yourself. Why would you need an account at Lowe's? Well, you know that paint color you got two summers ago and threw it onto your dining room walls? And now the messy, old can is sitting in a pile in your shed. And those dings and playful crayon monsters that are now on your walls? Do you remember the exact color you bought to go over those mishaps? Most likely not...Which is why from now on you go to My Lowe's!


- Saves your purchases at any Lowe's
- Finds the closest one to you
- Gain rebates
- Creates Files for continuing projects, wish lists, notes, etc.
- AND reminds you of unfinished projects and deadlines that you created for your home projects


I LOVE that this is available to everyone to use...for FREE! If you are a consistant costumer at Lowe's DO take advantage of this, and if you aren't...well you are now!


Another feature that they have is a Before and After for little projects to do around the house that improves appeal and funcionality.




Home Depot CHECK OUT what they offer these days...




I picked the style bathroom, flooring, and color on the walls and cabinetry and counter tops - Right from their website and saved it to My Favorites. Just go into their paint department online and choose the Home Inspiration Tool.


Starts you off with what kind of room you are looking at and then takes it from there. In just seconds you are putting different paint samples together on the walls and seeing if the color scheme you wants flows together well. Then it can save your room, if you'd like, and show what you picked out in a shopping cart. Once you go to your shopping cart, it comes up with a calculator to figure how much paint you need based on your room dimensions - BRILLIANT!


And as if you need some more easy access, it can schedule an appoinment for a professional to come get your measurements FOR YOU. Also, if you place your order from your shopping cart, you can get in your car and pick your order up. BAM!


The Home Depot also has a blog you can follow, called The Apron, for updates, in-store tuturials, and sales.



"What color best represents me?"


Great question! And the truth is ANY color! But I understand how it is hard to choose on a color SCHEME (i.e. color theory: the choice of colors used in design for a range of media, style, and appeal.)


I think the first thing to do when you are stuck in this spot is to decide what MOOD you'd like to create. There are PLENTY of websites that go over the psychology of colors. I believe that this is a KEY factor to figure out before have-atting the bathroom with a bright orange (which will wake you up, that's for sure.)


Paint Quality Institute - for a simple, straight forward appoach to getting the basic moods of the primary colors.


In that bathroom for the Home Depot project above, I chose a Blackberry Harvest for my accent wall, which is the deeper purple tone and Schoolhouse Slate for the other walls, appearing as a light gray tone. I chose the purple because it is more of a femine and royal color. By making it darker, it makes it a little bit more masculane (for the man in my life; if you don't have one, then girl, you make it as girly as you like!) I was also thinking of adding images of more hardwear, or cars, or machinery in black and white and in b&w frames. Then I wanted some fresh lavender in vases to add a lighter pop of color and a wonderful scent. They say that the color gray is a "dark state of mind." I tend to disagree, though. Gray is my favorite color. It's not black, it's not white, and it matches everything. Maybe it is leaning towards "gloomy" but thunderstorms are my favorite weather. 




Visually, we usually need something that helps us see the colors together before we buy gallons and gallons of paint to start these projects. 


I have found my new FAVORITE iPHONE APP!!!


Sherwin-Williams - has a free app that lets you either download a picture or take a picture and then you choose what color in that picture you like and it will match the color to one of their hundreds of paint colors! You can choose three different colors for each picture, save it, then find a store closest to you to grab those paint colors. 


Snapfish - After you pick your paint colors based on a sick picture you took, get your picture printed on canvas for $35.




 Design Seeds - Go check it out! The woman behind the wonderful website has worked many different jobs (inspiration for the direction my life is heading!) which have all led her on this journey of passion for color hues and blogging. 




Pinterest - I am so addicted to this website right now. It's a more organized, personal version of Google. I have boards for DIY, Dream House, Sister's Room Ideas, and Space Ideas.

This image above was found off of Pinterest. I added it to one of my boards where I can look back at it and be reminded of creativity that'a in the world and how easy we can make everything personal for our own spaces. 




There are infinate websites that I have been checking out and following to help inspire not only me and my space, but also trying to find ideas to share with my family and friends and you guys. These sites are few of the faves.


A world of colors based off beautiful images and the simple things in life is free for the taking right off the web! There should be nothing stopping us from finding inspiring ideas and following through with creating an elegant, personal, intimate, and vibrant space of our VERY OWN!



Wednesday, February 15, 2012

"Get people back into the kitchen and combat the trend toward processed food and fast food." - Andrew Weil

ORGANIZING YOUR KITCHEN CUPBOARD

My culinary boyfriend likes to buy more natural foods from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or The Sunflower. Unfortunately for our small cupboards that means more plastic bags tossed around and either tied up or not tied up again (we all know that leads to beans everywhere!) 

I needed a solution! A quick, cheap, and creative solution of course. I am falling hard for the chalkboard paint! 



I got the Krylon Chalkboard paint from Hobby Lobby for $6 (30% on sale.) I got the chalk for $1 from Hobby Lobby as well. I already had stencil paper and wanted to use that to cut out the correct size of square I wanted on the jars. 



The jars were given to us, so they were a wopping $0!!! They aren't the ones that'd I'd have picked out, but the ones I wanted were $8 each (ouch) so I will do with what I can. 



I origionally made the stencil and used it on a practice jar. The paint bled bad and it was difficult to keep it flat on the round glass. So I decided to use just tapeto make the square I wanted on each jar- that actually worked out better because I could leave it alone to dry. I noticed that there was still a little bit of bleeding. 



So I took an exacto-knife and scraped off the chalk paint that I didn't want. It was easy to scrape off, so it was no problem that the paint bled through the tape. 



WOW!!! What a mess. You know the saying "out of sight out of mind"? So true for the bags that are stashed away in the back of the cupboards. Pulling them out and putting them in glass jars will put your beans, chocolates, snacks, rice, whatever you want out on a pretty display so you will use them all up before hitting the grocery store again. I have mine on the counter for now, but the jars might all end up back in the cupboards for storage space, which is even better! Even this keeps your shelves clean and snack foods in a safe, organized, and labeled space. 



I like the chalk idea because you can change out what you put in the jars and re-label them in two seconds. Easy functionality is the key to organization in the kitchen. New ideas, new food groups, new nationalities, and new diets are in and out of my kitchen all the time, so this is a great idea for us to keep track of things. 



This is also a great idea for desk organization and kids' play rooms. You can stash paper clips, rubber bands, little girls' barrets, boys' lego pieces, scrapbooking items, and so much more into little or big labeled jars. Recycling the jars will also add the the feel-good vibe of the thrifty-ness of this project. 

DON'T be afraid to do this!! Start collecting a few things here and there and soon you will be ready to do this quick, inexpensive project on your own. Make sure you find the jars you like and filling them with things that fit into the space you love. 


Monday, February 6, 2012

"The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

MOVING!

How exciting is moving to a different place? "Exciting" is the word I keep telling myself. Other words that come to mind are nervous, scared, homesick, and strange. I am thinking that is a pretty normal roller coaster of emotion to ride on while deciding on the move. I have moved around Colorado since before I graduated high school and I loved every second of every new adventure I went on.

 I moved to Santa Fe, NM in September and have the moving bug again! I am planning on another great adventure for the beginning of the summer of this year. I am getting more and more of the rollar coaster of great excitement and fear as I am planning my move.

This new adventure is requiring me to work more and spend time planning and prepping. So this is me saying my blogs might be further and farther in between. Please don't think that I am leaving this behind. If anything it will push me to start being more creative and thrifty. I am looking forward to getting a better perspective on other cultures and ways of living the more places I allow myself to venture to and reporting them all back on Love Your Space. 

My blog is focusing on my adventures and experiences and mixing them into my creativity and determination to put my opinions out into this beautiful world we live in. 

Thanks for your support and kindness on my journey. Happy 2012 everyone! Love&Light.