Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Dreams of Succulents and Downtown Lofts


Hello all! (and by all I mean, hello MOM and one or two other people who have stumbled upon this little blog of mine). All of you, hello.

I've been thinking lately about where I'll be living this summer and beyond. Right now I'm thankful to be renting a dream house in Seattle, sharing with 5 of my best friends. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and the owners of the house (which happen to be my best friend's parents!) are actually moving into it in July! As they should...it's a great place to live!

But, that means us girls are stranded. Left to the streets. Kicked to the curb (totally joking).

My usual tendency to dream about the extremes of what could be has definitely kicked in, and I've pictured all sorts of living arrangements that I would not be mad about.

You know, like a chic loft downtown Seattle with few brick walls and hardwood floors and massive windows with sprawling views of the city. Across the street from a hipster-esque coffee shop serving Stumptown coffee and Eggs Benedict all day everyday (basically The Fat Hen or Moomah Cafe). Oh and there would always be fresh flowers from Pikes sitting sweetly on my coffee table. And I'd have succulents and orchids perched around the room and they would NEVER DIE. And the scent of Anthropologie's candles would be present at all times. Oh and did I mention it would only be about $450 a month?


ALRIGHT! Back to reality. Hi, I'm back. For some reason, dreaming up ridiculous things like that doesn't bother me even once I realize how unrealistic it is. And a part of me truly thinks...hey, I've had a lot of little 'dreams' come true in less extreme ways. Like being able to go to school for what I love. And having a dream internship. And now working for my mom at The Inspired Room. And all sorts of other things along the way that I'm so thankful for.

So why not dream a little bigger and hope for the best? (Although I do realize all of those requirements are impossible. I mean seriously, what coffee shop would serve eggs benedict all day everyday?) Hah.

Really, I think when you allow yourself to think of the best possibility, you'll make choices that you may not have made otherwise...and those choices can lead you a little closer to that ultimate dream.

I mean, if a tiny part of your dream is to have pretty plants throughout your house that never die...hey. You don't have to wait just because you don't have the beautiful downtown loft to put them in yet. If you wait for that, it's possible it's never going to happen. Start little and go to the store and grab a succulent and set it in your less than perfect apartment. Yeah, it might die eventually, and it might not be in the ultimate perfect space, but that's okay. It probably still made you a little happy to see that sitting in your home, right? Catch my drift?

Even just in life in general...if you have a dream in mind and you go full speed ahead and seriously intend to get there...you'll be much more effective than if you just simply wish you'll get there, but sell yourself short by being too realistic with yourself. 

Maybe you'll work really hard with the intention of success, and your 'success' will turn out to be a bit different than you originally intended. But that's okay too. You just succeeded in a different way.


Hopefully this is inspiring to someone...it is to me! Whether your dream right now is something simple or something bigger, strive to make it happen in the little ways that you can control now!

PS: This post started out as a post of 'ideas for studio apartments' and then my dreaming shoved that idea out of the way and created this post. Oops. Stay tuned for another post soon about space-saving ideas for studio apartment living!

sources
#1: Danielle Moss' apartment on The Every Girl 
#2 and #3: I could not find an original source for the life of me, but I believe it was just a house for sale in another country. Here's the closest link I could find.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Christmas House Tour

Christmas Decorating in the Family Room The Inspired Room

Well, if you didn't know yet...Christmas is coming. It's currently 16 degrees outside where I live. I'm sitting by the warm fireplace in a sweater and boots. Right by that exact fireplace above, actually. 

I kind of feel like Christmas has been almost here for months. Not because I'm one of those weird people who count down the days til Christmas all year...but because Christmas music started playing where I work around ehhh November 1st (way too early I'm sorry)...and also because my mom, sister and I finished decorating that Christmas tree many, many moons ago. The tree was only up early because we were part of a Michaels' Dream Tree Challenge. You know...those tree challenges where your Christmas tree has to be up and done before Halloween. Blog life.

Anyways, I'm really just here to share my family's Christmas house tour with you today! It's been up on The Inspired Room for a few days now, but I thought I should invite you all to come see the tour too! I put a few of my favorite shots here on my blog, but there's way more to see on the full tour.

We had so much fun decorating this year. Our goal was for the decor to be simple, pretty, and natural, and to just have an overall 'wintery' feel rather than being over the top Christmas themed. We love how it turned out and can't wait to enjoy it together the rest of December.

Enjoy!

Christmas-Coffee-Station-The-Inspired-Room-Christmas-Tour

The Inspired Room Kitchen - Christmas House Tour

Kitchen The Inspired Room Christmas House Tour

The-Inspired-Room-Christmas-House-Tour-2013

Christmas Decorating The Inspired Room Dining Room

Simple Christmas Decorating - The Inspired Room Christmas Dining Room

The Inspired Room Christmas Tour

Christmas House Tour The Inspired Room blog kitchen

Christmas Mantel and Tree Night - The Insipred Room

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour! Don't forget to head on over to The Inspired Room to see the full tour and more details!

Christmas Decorating Ideas and House Tour

Monday, October 14, 2013

It's Been Awhile {Catching Up}

Well hello! It's been awhile. And by awhile, I mean since March.

So for those of you who have been waiting on my blog for the past 7-ish months clicking refresh waiting for a new post to appear and wondering how long I'm going to have a weird post about foxes at the top...this one's for you.

Since my last post I have:

-GRADUATED from college with my interior design degree. Hallelujah.


-Created my portfolio showing off my favorite projects from design school...which I will be sharing here soon!

-Started a job that I love as a designer for Restoration Hardware!

-Continued to work for The Inspired Room, which is the best.

-And on that note, hung out with some of the Better Homes and GARDENS crew while shooting a photoshoot in our kitchen that we designed together! The coolest! I think we'll be in the January issue...so look for us! :)


-Made a little Rifle Paper Co inspired recipe box for my art class...and have yet to become a master chef. Shocking.


-Turned 22, and been outgrown and outweighed by my 13 year old brother.

-Had the time of my life in a mathematics class...as well as a biology class...and have now changed my career goal to be a scientist with an emphasis on mathematics. #PSYCH

-Found out that a former bachelor from Emily Maynard's season is one of my neighbors, and added him on Facebook, so there's that.

-Made lots of music with some of my best friends in our little band called Friends of Friends.


-Traveled to Canada for the first time for work in Vancouver, then met my family in Victoria for a lovely little vacation! It was a treat.

-Continued to ferry to Bremerton every weekend to help with the church my family and I started, and to work on The Inspired Room projects. Although ferrying every week, I've yet to see a whale leap out of the water by the ferry. But I remain hopeful. And I love Seattle a little more every time my ferry pulls back in.


-Added this little fluff named Lily to our household as Jack's little sister.


-Grew by 11,000 followers on my Pinterest...for reasons that remain a mystery to me. But I'll consider it a gift from the big dogs at Pinterest.

-Watched all the Harry Potter movies for the first time, so that I can now be a real true part of society. Favorite character: Nagini.

-Read the book 'Quiet' by Susan Cain and became even more fascinated by the differences in introverts and extroverts. Whether you're an introvert or extrovert, seriously read it!

-Laughed/cried/died at Kyle Mooney's videos, all day everyday. Videos such as this one.

-Went on a wonderful girls business/fun trip to Georgia with my mom and sister! While there, successfully helped remove a salamander from the depths of my mom's suitcase. After us all carefully pulling the suitcase outside with kitchen tongs, removing clothes with said kitchen tongs, and screaming.


And I think that covers it for now! Be back soon. Maybe sooner than 7 months this time.

Friday, March 22, 2013

The Thing About Foxes...


You know, it gets a little ridiculous how often the 'latest trendy animal' changes. Actually let's take a step back and consider the fact that there is even such a thing as a "trendy" animal. Why.

Back when owls were the top dog (haha...dog) in the world of animal trends...I always joked about what would be the next trend. We had the birds....the owls....what could be next? Weasels? Caterpillars? Muskrats? Slugs?

I don't even know if foxes are the most current trend...I think it's hedgehogs now or something but honestly I don't even CARE because there is an abundance of cute fox things out there whether it's trendy or not. This little round up is just a FEW of the precious, glorious, foxiest fox things found online. 

To see more fox goodness...check out my sister's post here  and my mom's post here!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Design Internship Update

Graduation is swiftly approaching, and while there is definitely a slight uncertainty about the details of what's to come for me, I am feeling more excited than nervous. 

I do think that the nervousness would outweigh the excitement if I didn't have my internship with Kelie Grosso of Maison Luxe. I've learned so much about the design industry through this internship and I feel so much better prepared now than I did as a freshman (although I know I still have much to learn!). Being in design classes teaches you a lot of critical information, but nothing can top real life experience...and I'm so grateful for that!



Kelie and I joke about the 'oh so glamorous' life of a designer...usually as we're risking our lives hauling massive boxes down flights of stairs, or running around Seattle to see just how damaged the table is that was shipped, or finding a replacement for the cashmere that looks nothing like what we ordered (oh the drama!).

It's a little crazy to think back on how I dreamed of an internship where I was working for a designer in a beautiful office downtown. I started to think that idea was a little out of reach, and that I should lower my hopes a bit. But somehow I hit the jackpot with this one. With a view of THIS nonetheless:



Right now Maison Luxe is heading into a new exciting chapter, starting a retail shop in a cute little town in Seattle! I'm really excited to continue helping Kelie with design related things, as well as being involved in this store. And who knows, maybe I'll start a store of my own someday! (My sister and I's secret dream. Oops, secret's out!)


I'll miss this beautiful office but I'm super excited for what's next. I'm also excited to not pay for downtown parking anymore...although I'd say it's worth paying for parking when you're working in an office that looks like that :)



Cheers to new exciting things ahead!


PS: Can we talk about how many times the word 'exciting' or 'excited' was used in this post? Actually let's not talk about it. I didn't have my thesaurus handy.