Closer to my dreams…
Sometimes it’s just a matter of getting started, you know?
As you all may know, I teach high school English full time. And you all probably also know that I honestly LOVE what I do, but I ADORE interior design even more. Inevitably at times, I feel absolutely torn VERY torn. I went to school for English, and I have a double Masters in Education (Secondary Ed and Instructional Design) so I have invested at least 100k in higher education. And although I am thankful for where I am, there are days that I want to teleport to a woodshop and make a beautiful french provincial loveseat, or a modern slanted 8-tier bookshelf for a great room. Ahh…it’s HARD to be a creative, because you have so many ideas until your head feels like exploding.
I made the leap to start this blog, and then the craziest thing happened: I was asked to manage my school’s blog AND coordinate video recording in the classrooms for teacher professional development. While this does generate more money for me, it means less time for my blog and less time to cultivate my inner talents. What should I do?
Well, right now…I don’t know. But one thing is for sure, I can’t continue to sit on my dream or allow it to be smothered.
Keep me in your thoughts. All I want to do is decorate, design furniture, and have someone love what I do. Thats all. I’ve touched 1500+ lives through teaching, and I would love to continue teaching (part-time) but I think my time is up for being a full-time teacher, because everyday I blog for JLI, or peruse a furniture store, I feel more at home than I do in my own classroom.
I feel trapped!
*sigh*
Home Office/Desk Ideas
When you’re working at home, you want to have a space that’s organized, inspirational, and most of all: BEAUTIFUL. It not only needs to have everything you need to work from, but it also needs the elements that make the space unique and inspirational in order for you to achieve productivity.
Here are some unique ideas I have gathered for you to get started remixing your home office. Take these ideas and run with them, add to them, subtract, multiply, divide, or whatever!
Punches of Color
Punches of Color: No home office is truly unique without your personality shining through all of the work. Punches of color also liven up the area and make for a happy work environment (a Feng Shui principle).
Clear Accessories
Clear Accessories: Glass accessories and Lucite accents add to a clean decor.
Wall of Books
Built-in bookshelves help with organization, clutter, and aesthetics.
Clipboards Galore
Not only do I love the architect’s desk, but that wall arrangement of clipboards is simply genius. You can organize so many things with that setup, especially inspiration.
Ultimate Home Theaters
It is very easy to spend tens of thousands of dollars building the ultimate home theater experience for you and your family; and if you use your home theater on a regular basis and have the money to spare, you will find it well worth the investment. However, you can also build a fantastic home theater for significantly less money if you are willing to put a great deal of effort into finding the right parts for the right price for your system. Everything comes down to matters of preference and available funds when building any sort of home theater.
You should buy your home theater system one component at a time versus a complete system. The reason for this is to build it in stages to take advantage of specialization and it helps keep the budget intact. Specialization means that you can purchase the highest quality component from the best provider. A complete system will cost you much more up front and you may be getting lesser quality on certain components. It is important to make sure that the components you are buying are compatible with each other. You should purchase all of your audio speakers at once, when possible.
The television is the first thing you should purchase when building your home theater as almost everything in your home theater will center around your television. High definition televisions provide superior quality to any other televisions you will find on the market. The most common HDTV on the market is the 32 inch TV. LCD displays are the most common display technology, but plasma, LED, and projection TVs are also popular. If you have the means with which to purchase this sort of television I highly recommend that you do so. Once you have your television you can begin purchasing other components in order to complete your system.
The next component I recommend is a receiver or amplifier. This is the piece that brings all other components together. Without a decent receiver it is virtually impossible to have a decent home theater. The receiver acts as a sort of conductor for the sound and picture of your home theater. This is a piece of equipment that should not be skimped on when it comes to quality, as you will completely miss an important part of the ‘theater’ experience without it.
The speakers have a large influence over the making your home theater actually feel like a theater. They are designed to create the optimum audio experience and mimic the sound system you find in movie theaters. It is best to buy your speakers as a set, all from the same manufacturer as they will be designed to work together.
Blu-Ray players provide high definition video playback and are a nice way to complete your system.
HDMI cables transmit high definition signals from one component to another. You should try to get the best cables you can.
Kitchens: Apron Sinks
Beautiful Stainless Steel Apron Sink
Apron sinks (other known as “farmhouse sinks”) have been around for a long time now. They are practical to use and look good as well. Originally, they were used in traditional homes or farmhouses that housed big families. The best part of using these sinks is that you can put in large pots and pans in them easily. Deeper basins of these sinks allow you to soak the pans in water for a long time so that they can be cleaned thoroughly.
Over the years, apron sinks have evolved in their styling and designs. They look as good with modern homes and this explains their increasing popularity over the years. You just cannot go wrong with a good apron sink. They are easy to install and simple to repair. Some of the unique features of these sinks make them special. Front apron design is one of their best features. A front apron makes a sink look good and elegant. You need any cabinets to hide these sinks under the counter which also saves your woodwork.
You can get these sinks in a lot of different materials, some of the popular materials are copper, stainless steel, fireclay and iron. Each of these materials has its own advantages and disadvantages. Your usage and preference should decide the type of sink for your kitchen. Whatever material you choose, make sure that you get a good quality sink. You may be able to save some money on the cheaper sinks but any repairs and replacement of kitchen sink is quite expensive. It also takes a considerable time and effort to get a sink replaced. Once a good sink is in place, you can use it for a couple of years without even thinking about it.
Getting the right size for your sink is also very important. In order to avoid any problems with the size of the sink, you can always measure up the space where sink is to be placed. If it is too big it will not be aligned with the kitchen counter and smaller sinks will have gaps in fitting. These gaps will allow water and moisture to seep under the sink besides they will collect dirt with time.
Number of bowls, colors and design of the sink are some of the other things which can be considered by you before you make a purchase. There are a number of options with each of these so there is a huge variety of sinks from which you can find the one for your kitchen. A kitchen can never be complete without a good sink in place.
Getting the right sized sink is very important. Click here to get all the information about apron sink sizes.
Christmas Tree Ideas
With 15 day until Christmas, you should already have a Christmas tree on display in your home right? Well, maybe you don’t because you’re clueless on how to decorate it. Or, maybe you don’t have time to place a 100,000,000,000,000,000 ornaments on a tree and whatnot. Cool. Here are some tree ideas sure to please your eye & inspire.
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- American Pride
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- Beach Lovers
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- Family Pics
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- Hobbyist
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- I want it all
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- Old School
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- Red Silver and Gold
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- Santa Baby
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- Santas Workshop
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- Snowing
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- Snowman
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- Solid Gold!
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- Crafty Teacher Tree
The Lux Life
After a whirlwind week, and many many projects to complete- I am finally able to get back to working, and blogging, at my office in Memphis.
I was so happy to see a copy of the latest Luxe Magazine on my desk upon my return, not only because I am a big fan of the magazine in general but also because one of my favorite designers recently completed a project & it is a featured spread!
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- White done RIGHT!
