no paint artwork in 15 minutes

Simple white canvases above my bed.

I never really thought too much about these canvases until my cousin mentioned they were his favorite pieces of art in my apartment.

"Art?"

What was once an unsuccessful attempt to make jewelry displays later became an inexpensive way to fill the space above my bed. Nevertheless, I will accept the compliment and now I am excited to share this simple no paint project (read: apartment friendly).


I bought two $22 primed canvases from Blick, a spool of textured charcoal thread, and a foot of charcoal starched linen-like fabric. I cut the gray fabric into 14-18 leaves for each canvas and cut a small slit in the center of each leaf to make room for the thread.

Then, I wound the thread across the canvas front to back about 12-20 times, threading leaves as I went. Once I was out of thread or liked how it looked, I cut the end and knotted it to the first thread. Done.

Can this even count as a project? Seriously?

There are a million ways this could be evolved into even more elaborate artwork. If anyone tries this project, please send me a picture to post!

weekly post its- my favorite house tour

This week I am going to devote the entire Post It to the Lincoln Park home images from Summer of Summer Thornton Design via Apartment Therapy. I found this slide show months ago, and it remains my absolute favorite. Check out photos below to see why I adore Summer's space so much.

And the best part is her place is only 700 square feet!

before and after: medicine cabinet

Part of my quest to live with intention includes living in a beautiful space. This is not a terribly difficult feat for me considering I share a 353 square foot studio with my boyfriend. Less space = less to make beautiful. One of the best and most recent improvements has been my fresh flower revelation. But this weekend I got antsy. I needed a new project and my web wandering led me to the most miraculous medicine cabinet I have ever seen.

Inspiration Medicine Cabinet photo found at Apartment Therapy

Resting my eyes on this image inspired me to take action. Below is what I have looked at every morning and evening. For 547 days.

Hers and his medicine cabinets. Gross.

So I headed over to Target this weekend and bought a $10 roll of contact paper. I was a bit disappointed by their selection (polka dots weren't at the top of my list), but I settled upon a natural cork contact paper that resisted mold and mildew (read: bathroom friendly).

Complicated tools for Project Medicine Cabinet

Once home, I measured the cabinets and cut the contact paper to size. It took about 20 minutes for the whole project (most of the time was spent cleaning the glass shelves).

1. Empty Shelves 2. Cork lined shelves

Painfully beautiful medicine cabinets

Now that the project is complete, I cannot believe I put up with that ugly sight for so long without taking action. Next up: disguising the bathroom's "Jamaica." Don't ask. Once the situation is under control the story will be told.

end of the week exfoliation

My End of the Week Exfoliation this week is a pitcher that used to hold my kitchen utensils. Last weekend I went flea market shopping and found a pitcher that fit my current style better than this one.

I reasoned that as long as I exfoliated my existing pitcher (above), I could buy the new flea find. One in, one out. Wonder where this little guy will find new life...

Probably on another girl's counter as a utensil holder.

intentional obsession: white marble

Though it may seem odd, my first love is actually home decor, not jewelry. Gasp. One day I plan to make interior design a more permanent part of my vocation, but for the moment I will stick with the jewels and leave the decor to my dreams.

However I still continue to evolve both my jewelry studio and apartment into spaces I adore. Ask Erwin, the decorating is never done. With this in mind, I plan to start a recurring post titled Intentional Obsessions (I.O.). The title meaning that these obsessions are part of my personal vision and though they are not in my life yet, I intend to incorporate them over time. Sound good? I think so. Plus sharing them will take the edge off the longing desire.

My first I.O. is white marble. One day I intend to have a kitchen with white marble counter tops like this:
(notice the icy blue wall color!) Or maybe a bathroom like this:
But until then I could always use this coffee table:
Or this end table:
Or heck, even these cheese trays:
A girl has to start somewhere.

no paint apartment? no problem!

What a great idea for those with apartments that don't allow walls to be painted (many of us)! Or for those who are perhaps to lazy to paint walls in the first place (most of us). This image is from a recent post on Design Sponge.

First, I adore this icy blue color. I even chose it as my inspiration board's background for 2009. But what is even cooler is that anyone can use painted shelving like this as a way to add color to a room while keeping the walls neutral or stark white.

I am definitely bookmarking this concept for my apartment move in October.