Collection of DIY ideas

I've been collected pics of DIY projects that I eventually want to incorporate into my apartment or future home....so I thought I'd share :)

Books in non-functional fireplace

Mirror on Mirror

Giant glass vase upside down as end table

Painted over doily leaves pretty pattern on napkin

Gooorrrrrgeous rustic/formal headboard

Homemade chandelier from mason jars

Box on top of stool = coffee/end table

Tray on top of Moroccan pouf = table

Poem trailing down wall all the way down the stairs

...and take 2 just on the stairs

More lovely living rooms

Judging from my saved images, livingrooms are the rooms that catch my eye the most. I love a nice relaxing bedroom and pretty kitchen as much as the next girl (although honestly, I rarely evoke much excitement over bathrooms), but personally I spend the most of my time in my livingroom. So here are my current favorites:

I love the lived-in feel of this room, as well as the gutsy choice of green couch. With the rest of the furniture and accessories, the green feels much more tame, but if you were to want a switch you could easily amp up the shock factor of that piece.

I love that this room looks airy, clean, and comfy--like you could prop your feet up on the coffee table or flop yourself down on that comfy rug, yet it maintains a nice design aesthetic.

Speaking of flopping--how awesome is this room? Nothing quite matches, and it's better that way. Yummy.

So cheerful/summery/bright, and I love that coffee table and giant tray.

I wouldn't personally be comfortable in this room because I'd be afraid I'd wreck the pretty fabrics, but I loooove how unabashedly feminine it is. This room makes no apologies to the man in this lucky lady's life.

Once again, cheerful and bright. Both this one and the pic two above use a neutral white couch to balance all the poppy colors and artwork.

Oh dear goodness I looooooooooove the inky indigo color of these walls, especially agains the coral and that faaaabulous rug. I need to paint something that blue color PRONTO.

And yet again....I don't know that I'd put this in my house, but this room absolutely reeks of femininity: It's got the gilded mirror, tufted PINK sofa, sequins, lavender rug/wallpaper, AND lucite tables. All you need are flowers and a teapot and you're the worst girly stereotype ever....in the best possible way :)

Doing whatever it takes NOT to study for a midterm...

....including blogging! With a purpose though....my friend Vinny just bought his first house and it's a super duper cute fixer-upper.....and I get to help design it! So excited! It has awesome details like hardwood floors throughout, an arched front door with stained glass on the top half, a bishop's closet, 2 (working!) fireplaces, a dining room, and awesome huge windows with a cute breakfast nook/3-season room. I'm not sure what era the house is, but it definitely has a charming, old-house feel--the type that can handle a lot of different design styles as long as they are grounded in solid, comfortable furnishings. Oh the possibilities!

So I told Vinny that I'd brainstorm ideas for him...turns out almost all of my saved images in my photo archives have a distinct female flavor. Here's what I was able to come up with for starters.

Downstairs there's a big living area with one of the two fireplaces, but the old owners put up really ugly wallpaper and didn't center it at all so it's really awkward. Vinny vetoed the mirror in the inspiration photo below (well, duh, it's super girly!) but I'm thinking I could get him to do something like the above photo for over the fireplace--they're just cheap IKEA mirrors for like $3 each!

So like I said, awesome fireplace action downstairs, but needs work. The above photo is obviously just inspiration because of the basic idea--no way would a dude go for this room. I sent it to Vinny to show how if we replaced the ugly wallpaper with awesome stuff, then got a mantle to warm it up a little (right now it's just a marble surround), it could turn out pretty BA. He agrees! Thank goodness he's a graphic designer--yay for artistic eyes!

Since 3 guys will be living in the house, we won't get all pretty with tons of color and little accents, so we'll have to bring interest to the spaces through use of textures like the interesting bedside table above. Industrial features like that lamp bring a manly essence in without sacrificing design.

Right now the dining room is one big empty space. I'm thinking a bar-height table with barstools is the right call for these PBR-guzzling boys.

Just another example of a masculine room that still retains good design. I like the trunk--I'm thinking one would work great in their living room.

I'm super excited for my new project! Now that we've tapped out our decorating budget at my own place, I'm excited to have an excuse to peruse consignment shops and Craigslist again :)