Here it is... finally. We've been working on it since October, so it's been four months since I've had a finished room to work in. I took my time deciding what I wanted and now that it's completed, I'm so glad that I did. If I had plowed ahead too quickly, I don't think I would have come up with the color scheme or dared install this floor.
Here is the photo that led me to the final results.
About the Inspiration for the Room
I found my inspiration photo while I was blog surfing. When I say it, something just spoke to me. I really loved the way that dolls red hat looked against the turquoise wall.
How I Choose the Right Wall Color
Once I found the image, I chose a bunch of digital scrapbooking papers (from Scrap Girls, of course) that were close to the color I was looking for, printed them out, and hung them on my wall. I wanted to get a sense of how the color would feel in my room. I finally settled on the turquoise-green paper from Life Books Paper Mini by Mandy Steward. (It's the third one from the top.)
After I was certain about the color, I took my print out to Lowe's to find the closest match. My wall color isn't exactly the same, but it is extremely close. In fact, it is so close that when I used Mandy's paper to create the BU poster (shown below), you would think it is identical.
Next, I painted a large test area on the wall. I lived with it for about a week and a half before I committed. You'll remember that I told you about it and asked for your opinions. (I felt like I was jumping off of a bridge!)
By the time I had settled on the color for sure, I had purchased the retro red clock at Target - the fashion emporium. It hangs over my old XP computer. It made me certain that I wanted red accents in the room.
About the Flooring
We purchased two different kinds of laminate floors during that portion of the project. After we purchased the first one and looked at it at home, I realized that it was completely wrong for the room. We took it back and got another color of laminate. It looked dreadful. I wanted something that would lift me because I was feeling kind of depressed with all of these brown cabinets and the laminate floor made things worse.
Paula suggested the black and white floor. I instantly knew it would be perfect! After all, I'd been cutting out rooms with black and white tiles for 7-8 years! I knew that the floor would be inexpensive and it would stand up to the abuse an office floor receives. It wouldn't get hurt when I spill printer ink or paint on it. I could tap dance again without hurting the floor. (Yes, I tap dance. With tap shoes. There's a random fact about me that you probably wouldn't guess.)
I didn't even go to the flooring store to look at the tiles. I told them what I wanted, had them give me a bid, and once the room was measured, I set up the installation. The entire affair was conducted over the telephone. (But really... black and white linoleum tiles are what they are so why not?)
Enough background. Here's the room!
Here's my computer station. The window looks out over my circle and I can see the mountains (when it's not snowing!)
About the Accessories
I found this fun red arrow magnetic bulletin board at Organize.com. It's amazing what it does for the room. ($22.99)
I also found this fun trash bucket at Organize.com. (14.99) My old garbage can was falling apart and this one makes me laugh.
I bought a little red cell phone and iPod charging station from Organize.com. I'd show it to you, but they are out of them. I'm glad I snagged it when I had the chance!
My metal Ro letters (first photograph) were discovered in Arizona three years ago and hung in the office in my previous home. I've loved them so much that I've decided to start collecting the letter "R". So far, I've only found two, but hey... it will be fun looking around!
About My Chairs
You'll remember that I told you about the red chairs in an earlier post. I thought they made my back hurt. They were my big splurge and I was devastated that they didn't work.
I considered selling them on Craig's List. But then I realized that my back hurt all of the time (no matter what I was doing) and so I decided to order a lumbar support to put in mine to see if it helped.
I got the lumbar support from Amazon. I'm really glad I did now because my office chair is the best chair in the house for me at this time. (I'm having significant problems with my back. The muscle is inflamed.) So this $16.44 item saved my cool red chairs!
Wall Art
I made the posters with Scrap Girls supplies. I showed you one of them already. Here are the other two. Of course, the thoughts are meaningful to me.
Honestly, can you think of a way to make wall art as inexpensively as digital scrapbooking? I think they add a lot of pop to the room. The supply lists were simple: digital scrapbooking supplies, some inexpensive frames from Target, photo paper, and my printer.
Supplies: Urban Living Collection, Childhood Memories Collection Biggie
I told you that I was going to make this one. It's my Keep Calm and Carry On poster. I need to look at this several times a day because sometimes, I get too worked up about things, particularly when I am trying to protect people's feelings.
Supplies: Love at Home Collection Mini, Bump in the Night Collection, Daydream Collection Biggie, A Letter to Santa Collection Mini
More about this particular item later. I'll just say that it is significant. I also used the paper by Mandy Steward that I showed you above. The background is from Girl's Night Out Collection Mini by Keri Schueller. (I love this particular paper. I've used it a lot!)
I also have some framed family photos here and there.
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Okay, so.. whew! That was a long post. I hope I didn't make too many grammatical errors in it. I'll have to re-read it later and clean it up. I need to give my brain a rest!
