Quirky, Comfy, Eclectic Living Room [Decorating the Dream Apartment]

Recently, I have decided that next semester I will be taking time off of school, and time on in real life. I've come to a convenient time in my academic career to do so, as I will graduate at the same time regardless of whether I take classes this semester or not. Any opportunity to learn outside of the lecture hall, I'll take. For the first time in my life I have the opportunity to get out, to go somewhere far away, live alone, and learn about myself. After a long discussion with my Mother, she said "you want to run away".  My response was "Yes." I am running away, and I couldn't be more excited for my adventure.

A part of this journey involves living alone for the first time! With that comes so many amazing opportunities. What's more exciting than having your own apartment? Being able to decorate it. Duh. ;)

Realistically, I'll be working with a budget of like $50. But screw it. I wanna dream. My dream starts with an amazing Black and White print from www.invaluable.com, an online auction website. They've got tons of great paintings and prints for a fraction of the price you'd find elsewhere. Bid away.

The "Interpreter" Poster and Black and White print would serve as the focal pieces in a small gallery wall. Of course, I'll be renting; so break out those Command Strips! Honestly, after living in 3 dorms within the last year and a half, I swear by them.

The Chair and Couch are both from the awesome site www.joybird.com

Want a custom piece of furniture?! You can select nearly any color you would like for the upholstery, including leather. AND you can select the stain on for the legs/frame! I'm in love. No, I'm not sponsored by them. [But I wouldn't be opposed.] 

Add a few other midcentury pieces, an awesome Moravian star [Have you seen the one I made yet?! Click here], some comfy pillows, a colorful rug, and you've got yourself a Pretty Little room.

Lets just say I wouldn't be opposed to a Wayfair sponsorship, either. I mean, this rug?!?!

Take in the Gorgeousness. TAKE IT IN.

Thank you. 

Sources

Chair

Rug

Moravian Star

B&W Print

Lamp

"Interpreter" Print

Couch

Throw Pillows

Coffee Table

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Hey hey! It's been a while! Exciting updates for Pretty Little Lady.

Hey hey, y'all! 

It's been a while.

I'll be finishing up my freshman year of college in just one week. The last month or so has been busy with projects and finals, and I've had the opportunity to do some pretty darn awesome stuff!

Like, this happened.

I got to see Tramped by Turtles in Concert.
They're a bluegrass type band from Duluth, Minnesota. They're kinda like Mumford and Sons, but better. Never heard of them? Check out their music here.

The next weekend I partied it up in Iowa with my friends form my former college.

Note the gorgeous weather. I got sunburnt, and two days later it was snowing again.

Welcome to the Midwest.

Then last weekend, I unleashed my inner nerd. 

Recognize the sexy gentleman in the picture below? That's none other than Matt Smith, who played the 11th Doctor in Doctor Who. I got to see him on a panel at the Minneapolis Wizard World Comic Con.

Of course you would know this if you followed me on twitter, in addition getting to sneak peaks into the next Pretty Little Lady Tutorials.

Long story short, Matt Smith lives with me now.






Fine. He's cardboard, but I still think it counts.

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Don't worry. All you have to do is press that button.

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Follow @Misskaerose

The next thing is very exciting for this blog. A few weeks ago I just so happened to win this little contest.

All I had to do was submit a photo of a project I've been procrastinating on and write up a short description of this project.

Check out Duluth Trading Company's Facebook Page to see the other winners and
upcoming promotions!

With the prize money, I'll be building a geodesic dome tent! Read my [slightly sucking up] description that I submitted below!

Have I expressed my obsession with for geodesic domes on here before?

Weeeellllll, I've pinned many of them. What's this button below? A pinterest follow button?

I think you should click that one too. Just sayin'.

Follow Misskaerose

If you're interested in learning more about me, subscribe to my new personal blog.

www.katherineannrose.blogspot.com

Stay tuned for a decor DIY and some amazing geometric tutorials soon!

Yes. There is a lot of shameless self promotion in this post. Deal with it peoples.

♥

(#TBT) Power Tools are a Girl's Best Friend

Happy Throwback Thursday! Today, we're throwing it back to my first (and only, really) interior design project. This is the basement bathroom of my parent's home. 

The room was completely DIYed, but I never broke down the projects into their own posts.

I'll be re-visiting a project or two from the room over the next few months.

The vanity has quite a story of it's own. When I began designing the bathroom, I was set on using a dining room table as the vanity. I had even chopped the table in half, and cut the hole out for the sink.

As time went on, I fell out of love with the table. I didn't feel like it was the right height or style anymore. The idea of using a dresser was born. Let's just say it took a while. About a year, maybe? I'm kinda a procrastinator, and I wasn't going to settle for anything short of perfect. 

Eventually, my mom gave me an ultimatum. If you can't find a dresser in two weeks, you have to use the table. Well, day 14 came. I'd pretty much given up hope, but decided to stop by Goodwill one last time. And there it was. In all it's [perfect height, depth, and width] glory! The price tag? $25.

AHHH! I screamed! &*$@# FINALLY! Huzzah! Take that, mother. (JK, she's pretty awesome.)

Enter the power tools. Turning a dresser into a vanity isn't too complicated.
You can see a full tutorial over at DIY Network.

It mostly involves cutting out room for the sink and plumbing parts.
Sadly, this leaves most of the drawers pretty unusable.

A few coats of polyurethane later, and much assistance in the plumbing department, it was completely installed and operational!

Be sure to subscribe for a new #TBT next week! 

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Hiding Behind a Sheet & Splattered in Paint? Dart/Balloon Art DIY!

Growing up, my all time favorite movie was The Princess Diaries.
The movie came out when I was 6 years old.
When I first saw it, I was majorly in the middle of my princess phase. Still holding out hope that I'm royal.

Anyways. Remember this scene?! Bucket list worthy.

Well, I decided to start ticking things off of that list!

I fell in love with the following balloon painting:

Source: My Good Morning

This is definitely a different style than the movie, and I plan on eventually making both styles.

Ok, let's get started! 

Gather the following supplies:

[I really using suggest all of these. Hint: I didn't]

-A canvas

-Tons of drop clothes 

-Lots of coordinating paint colors

-Lots of balloons (I used about 16, but suggest more)

-Darts

-Pins
- Metal Key Ring (optional)

I cut down costs by DIY-ing my own canvas. I simply put two layers of indoor wall paint on an inexpensive piece of cotton fabric. After it dried, I stretched and stapled it to a thrifted bulletin board. Not perfect, but hey! It's going to be covered in splattered paint anyways!

Next is the setup. This involved lots of sheets/ drop-cloths around my workshop to cover things that couldn't get paint on them. Even if things are far away, don't take the risk. Paint flies, people!

BUT if you do it outside, you really only need one underneath.

Outdoors wasn't an option for me at this time, but I feel like that'd be much better! Splatter prevention and all.. hehe. 

 The next step is to fill your balloons with paint. 

First, blow up your balloons a bit to stretch them out before filling with paint. 

Here is where the key ring comes into use. 

This created a bigger hole, and helped prevent paint ingestion... 

OOOO. They paint in the balloon looked pretty cool in person...

Experiment with a variety of color combinations, amounts of paint, and amount of air in the balloons.

Then, randomly arrange your balloons and pin them to your canvas.

Then comes the fun part!!

Confession time. I didn't actually use darts. I couldn't find any, and was too lazy/cheap to go buy some.

I first attempted a Macgyver dart, made with a pencil, eraser, and pin.

I don't think it was exactly heavy enough or something. It kinda just bounced off of the balloons.

 After chucking 3 random pointy things at the canvas (my mother's suggestions!), I gave up.

SO! Solution time! 

Macgyver dart was back, but not really as a dart. Prepare to be splattered, people!

This involved a bit of hiding behind the drop cloth. Didn't do much in the splatter avoidance.

After all the balloons were popped, I did a little splattering to add a bit more color.

Splatter avoidance? Eh, I tried.

After a little finger painting, it was perfect!

Macgyver dart was preeeetty afterwards :D

And so were my hands.

TADA! Finished piece.

I apologize for the lack of nice staged photos. They'll be coming eventually!

This thing was still wet when I drove back to school.

Overall, NEXT TIME, we're going HAM.
More balloons, more paint, more like The Princess Diaries, and actual darts!

♥

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Put a Succulent in it.

If you've never heard of Hannah Hart, it's probably because you're, umm, not a teenager. 

I'm still 18. Guilty as charged. Today I just felt like talking, and sharing inspiration!

Anyways, she does a show on YouTube called My Drunk Kitchen. Yup.

Don't judge me! She's really entertaining!

So, back in January, she moved into a new house and did a video about how to decorate like an adult! And, I'm gonna to have to say, it's pretty darn accurate.

A few quotations include: 

"You make pillows!"

"You frame posters!"

"You use mason jars for things!"

"You put nuts out for people when they come over!"

But most importantly: "Repurpose!"

She goes on to say that she found a cow shaped creamer pitcher in her closet, which had been nicknamed the abyss, while moving. Now who would ever throw that away? Instead, Hannah puts her clever decorator powers to good use. And makes it into a planter.

I feel like this quotation sums up the whole DIY blog community. Come on; you know it's true.

And because I'm getting pretty proud of my gif creating abilities, here is a quotation from the movie The Sasquatch Gang. Come on, though shalt not deny their shabby chic phase.

Basically, you can make AnYtHiNg into a planter.

How cool are these?!

Source

Hello. Slightly creepy, but totally amazing.

Source

Source

Awww... :)

Source

I actually started this post on March 26th. The next day, Brynne, from The Gathered Home, showed off this little thrifted treasure on #thriftscorethursday. Animal shaped creamer/pitcher turned planter? Needless to say, it made me very happy. Coincidence? I think not!

[Image:The Gathered Home]

Oh, Hannah. You belong in the DIY community.

A few parting words of wisdom:

Follow me on Pinterest for more repurposed planters!

Misskaerose

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S.R. Harris. Minnesota's must-visit fabric store.

Welcome to S.R. Harris. This place is nuts-o. 

You'll find this store in the middle of an industrial park in Brooklyn park, MN; which is a suburb of the Twin Cities. Normally you wouldn't expect businesses in inconvenient locations such as that to do well, but this place is ALWAYS crazy busy.

So what is it, you may ask!? Only the biggest and best fabric store I've ever been in.
Go there on any sewing mission and you will walk out successful.

Fabric for miles. Ok. Not miles. but even this picture doesn't show off just how enormous this place is.

Anything materials could possibly need can be found here. Stop shoppin' around!

And what's the best part? All fabric is 50% off. All the time.

You may be thinking, they just mark it all up then! And there may be some truth to that, but here is a little example. Green Vinyl [purchased for my Anthro-Inspired Knock Off Chair] is $20/yrd at JoAnn Fabrics. And, $20/yrd at S.R. Harris. Hopefully you can do the math.

 Originally priced competitively, plus, always on sale!

The ends of every aisle are capped with bins of remnants for a fraction of the price of fabric off the bolt. No more work than digging through the fabric in my house.. hehe..

Nah, this isn't a sponsored post. I've never done one of those. S.R. Harris has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I asked my mother when she started shopping there and she recalled making little Lion King print pants for my brother when he was about two! Which would make me about, well, zero. This place is tons of fun for crafters of all kinds!

Now go! And, 

See this fabric in action in my Anthropologie Knock Off chair!

You can visit their website here

♥

(Sometimes I feel like I'm just talking to myself. Hellooo? Anybody out there?)

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