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.

Christmas House Tour

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!

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!

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.

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!

1) Birthday Party Fox Embroidered Stationery 2) Gold Fox Necklace 3) Fox Locket Necklace 4) Arctic Fox Ornament 5) Knit Fox Pillow 6) Fox Love Artwork 7) Fox Sparkler Onesie 8) Fox Nursery Print 9) Fox BlaBla Sock Doll

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.

Oh Whales.

I've shared with you guys that I'm a fan of whales...

(first here and then here) and you know what, that love remains.

While continuing toward my interior design degree and working at my dream internship this year, I have been loving being a contributor/design assistant for my mom's blog, The Inspired Room! So fun. In our most recent Gather post, we gathered up the cutest whale items from around the web. 

So, fellow whale fans, enjoy!

Sources are listed here!

Residential Studio Project {A Modern & Natural Home}

Well, it's winter quarter of my senior year as an interior design student. When on earth did that happen?! Yikes. Wasn't it just a day ago that I was a baby freshman getting started with my interior design degree? Also when was the last time I did a blog post? September 30th? And when is the last time I had blonde hair? Last year. Oops...I suppose I have some catching up to do on this little blog.

For now, I wanted to show you some pieces of my completed project from my Residential Studio class. I really enjoyed this project and was really happy with how it turned out in the end!

Our goal was to design a home for "The Westerley Family". Each student in my class was assigned a different architect and furniture store--which were to represent our client's favorite inspirations, and would be the basis for each of our projects.

I was assigned the very modern B&B Italia as my client's favorite furniture store, and then Alvar Aalto as their architect inspiration. I loved the idea of blending the modernity of B&B Italia with the natural elements that Alvar Aalto loved. We were asked to pick the majority of our furniture from our client's favorite store, which made it a bit of a design challenge for me because normally I'm such a big believer in picking items from many different places--both new and old. 

So I rebelled a bit against picking everything from one place. That just isn't interesting design to me. I always justified it by saying to myself that "The Westerleys said I could." (They didn't ha). But you know...I was happy with the mix in the end. And that's all that matters when your clients are fictional...right?

Once I nailed down the style of my "clients", I started gathering images of spaces that represented the general feel I wanted to create. I also compiled some words that encompassed the style: modern, casual, natural, eclectic, organic, airy, restful, clean, and simple. How's that for a style description?

This project was quite intensive, and consisted of a lot of hand drafting. When our professor first emailed us about the class, he was sure to let us know that "we cannot afford a SINGLE day of slack", so I knew we were in for a crazy quarter.

I don't think I could possibly describe to you how much time went into this project. So many hours were spent in the drafting lab drafting away...while watching movies consecutively on the projector screen. So that helped. Sometimes they were even Disney movies. Sometimes it was til 4:30 AM. One time from 5:45 PM until 3 AM. Cheers!!!!

We reworked the entire floor plan, moved the staircases, and made the house work better for their needs...

Drew up finish plans...

Reflected ceiling plans, electrical plans, a million and 10 other things...and THEN we formally presented our project at the end of the quarter, complete with digital color boards and one physical color board. These were my digital color boards:

To see all the sources I used for this project, 

check out my Pinterest board!

Now I'm in Commercial Studio designing a hotel in Kenya! I'll show you that too when it's done.

I'll try do a separate post talking about what else I've been working on lately because clearly it's been a busy year...but so productive and fun!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Is Interior Design Materialistic?

You guys know I've always loved interior design and are probably totally sick of hearing about it, but what I've learned these past few years goes beyond just the technicalities of design. This is going to be a longer post than normal because, well, I've had a realization and I have a lot to say. We're about to get real here.

I was asked recently while talking about design with my housemates: 'Why do people spend that much money on decorating their house?'. One of my housemates responded by saying 'Because they're vain'. 

Now...here's the thing. In that situation, I completely agreed. The industry of interior design can be super materialistic. It can be an industry that causes people to feel discontent with what they have, and makes them continually want more more more. It can be an industry where people spend ridiculous amounts of money on frivolous things, and yes, that can be vain. This concept is something that has certainly crossed my mind more than once in college...the question of "Waiiit...am I encouraging vanity and discontent by getting into this industry?"

I can say with confidence now--that is not the case. There is so much more to design than meets the eye, and I don't think everyone understands it. This past year has been SO eye opening for me on why I'm passionate about design. Yes, I love beautiful architecture and pretty velvet headboards. But would I say I am passionate about those things? Nope. There's certainly nothing wrong with loving beautiful things. 

But I'm not passionate about things. 

 What I am passionate about is creating spaces that make people feel at home. There is so much value to having that feeling of comfort in the place that you live--having a feeling of safety and order. For me, that starts with good design in a home. 

Here's a little back story about what brought this realization to my attention. My family and I started a church in 2009 called Voyage. We packed up our lives, moved from Oregon to Washington, and have been on this adventure ever since. Church planting is a huge commitment and my family has been both challenged and blessed beyond words these past four years. Because we quickly moved and started planning the church right away, we have never fully felt 'moved in' to our house. We planted the church from scratch and met in a school for the first couple of years, which meant that we didn't have a permanent place for a lot of the church's supplies, so some of it ended up hanging out in our house. We even had a drum set in our living room for awhile and held music practice here. We didn't have much time or money to quite settle in and make our house our own. 

Since then, Voyage has moved into a permanent facility--a building that finally feels like a home for our church. We wanted that so badly for our church family...to have a place that felt secure and welcoming. To create a place that they enjoyed being in and that encouraged conversation before and after each gathering. It seemed like a far off dream, but God made it happen. The building started as a big white box and we had tons of help to make it what it is now. You guys, God has been blessing Voyage like crazy lately. I look around and am amazed by how far we've come. We have amazing people that have total servant's hearts. I know there's a lot that goes into making a church feel like a home for people, but I really believe that having a welcoming building has played a role in that.

Now that we feel settled into this building, we are finally getting settled into our own house. My mom and I were on a roll all summer of organizing, painting, rearranging, brainstorming...and just all around making this house our home. We aren't done yet but we already are in disbelief of how different we feel in this house. We switched a few rooms around to make sense for our needs. We are creating a comfortable guest room and making a second family room out of a room that was mostly used for storage. These things mean a lot to us. They mean that we feel more equipped to host guests...we feel more effective as we work from home, we feel accomplished looking around and seeing things we created together, we feel more organized as a whole, we feel like we have a place to recharge, and we simply enjoy being in our home.

This is the longest post of my life. But it might just be my most important one yet. 

My point is...I've learned what makes me happy about design. I have such a joy in learning how a family works and what role a house can play in their life. I have an opportunity use the things I'm talented in to benefit people's lives. 

That's what I hope to do. We all have that opportunity in different ways, and that is such a beautiful thing.

*beautiful illustrations above are by: Rebekka Seale 

*images above are of Voyage!

Interior Design Branding Inspiration

I've mentioned before that I have a class for my interior design major called 'Portfolio and Exhibition' in the spring this year. We will be creating our branding (website, business cards, etc.) and I have been gathering inspiration for months and months! My ideas have changed and evolved, but I think I finally know the general look I want.

First off, the logo! I love the look of a handwritten logo. It just gives a personal and creative look, which is what I want to convey with my branding! I have a love for calligraphy and have always wanted to learn. I recently got a new sketchbook and have been sketching away at drawing out my own logo. Here's where I'm at so far in the sketching stage:

I also want my branding to have an organic feel, similar to my approach to design. Here's a quote of mine from a post I wrote about nature and design:

"I love how nature has that perfect mix of randomness, simplicity, and complexity--all in one. Why not bring some of that inside too? I love rooms that aren't too serious. And if you think about it, nature is far from serious."

That, in a nutshell, is how I want my branding to feel. Not completely serious, little imperfections here and there that make it feel real and personal, but altogether beautiful.

In a pinning spree at 1 AM last night (not sorry about it), I found the most LOVELY logos and inspiration. I found things that reminded me of what I've already started, and also gained inspiration for elements I hope to add. Seriously, brace yourself for the loveliness you are about to see.

Caroline Brewer Styling, logo by Oh My Deer

Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hellooooo watercolor, please make your way over to my branding RIGHT NOW! The imperfect watercolor stripes will definitely need to make an appearance somewhere. Maybe at the top of my website or on my stationery? 

Oh So Beautiful Paper

I died a little bit when I saw these invitations. I'm dying over the subtle splashes of pastel watercolor. Needs to happen.

Designed by Luci Everett

I'm pretty sure we will have a CD of some sort on our portfolio tables...or maybe I'm making that up in my mind? Not sure. But if we do, I love this light and airy CD presentation.

So...that's the latest inspiration! I'm looking forward to tying together everything that I love to create branding that totally suits me. And if my branding ends up looking HALF as amazing as all of these, I'd be psyched. Okay...maybe a little more than half :)