Full of Hot Air

Check out this crazy desk featured on Design Sponge. Permanent hot air balloons(!!) are used to support the desk. It's not just a fun concept either; it's actually the reception desk at the Boys and Girls ad adgency in Dublin. It was designed in response to a magazine article calling their reception area "small and routine." Not anymore.

Black and Blue...or maybe Green, too?

The pantry door in our kitchen is something I have disliked since the day we moved into our house. The glass is etched with flowers and the word "pantry" which is just too cutesy/country feeling. I have decided to paint the glass with black chalkboard paint, a simple and inexpensive solution. It will also be fun for our girls to doodle on, and useful for us to jot down notes. I'm settled on that idea, but I think painting the nearby mud room entry door would give this whole area a little face lift.  I haven't decided on the door color yet - see the options below, what do you think?

 

Option 1

All Black, this was my initial thought

Option 2

Bright Green, relates to the laundry room and other nearby colors

Option 3

Navy Blue, I love blue and am liking this option

Option 4

Grey, A little less stark than the all black option

Option 5

Dark Turquoise, another fav color and fun option

Option 6

Dark Blue/Grey, a good middle ground between the black and blue options. 

My favorites right now are Options 3 (Navy Blue) and 1 (All Black).  Which do you like?  I'll post pictures soon of the finished product...

Gallery Walls

Some inspiration for creating a gallery wall. 

This room from Small Posh Studios is gorgeous, and I love the eclectic gallery wall of different frame sizes and shapes.

Beautiful gallery wall along a curved stairway wall. Domino Magazine via All Things Tickled Pink.

A cleaner look with matching frames and a horizontal line organizing the arrangement. Photo from Martha Stewart.

I created my own gallery wall of family photos at the top of my stairs. I used mostly the same style frame, but added a few that were different and spray painted them black. I love the way this turned out, and found lots of other pictures I wanted to use during the process, so my next project is going to be a gallery wall of vacation landscape photos in our kitchen.

Here's how I did it: Layout the frames on the floor to find the arrangement you want, then tape templates to the wall to make sure you like how it's going to look. Hang the pictures on top of the paper to help guide placement.

Gallery walls don't have to be of only photos - this cool wall via The Inspired Home incorporates drawings, mirrors and a silohuette.