April Challenge - SHARE WHAT YOU DID!

[peach]

Welcome to the April Challenge!

Our theme for the month is Styling / Decor

-Anyone is welcome to participate. There is no sign up, no membership, no secret handshake. 

-There is no competition. No voting will be done, no prizes, no winners. The purpose is to be motivated and kept accountable to get things done, and have some fun!

- You are welcome to take the theme and get creative with it, but I don't think anyone will have to look very hard to find something! Think about re-arranging a shelf or a bookcase, finally hanging up that artwork that has been gathering dust. Decorating the house for spring, or figuring out how to style your coffee table. 

-Remember to take photos of your before and afters. At the end of the month we will do another thread where everyone can share what they accomplished! Again, just for fun - no winners or losers.

-Add the badge to your siggie for the month, directions will be posted below by Emo




If you need some inspiration, check out these links

Learn how to style your bookcases 

How to style a coffee table


How to decorate a mantle

[ktzmoh]

This is a good challenge for me!

[candreco]

Love these links, and that this month's challenge can be done during DS's naps!

[emoflamingo]

Okay I will get it posted tonight, sorry guys!!

[Deleted]

This is fun. I need to get a new mirror, rearrange some kitchen artwork and get some decent curtain rods in our bedroom (H pending on that!).

[emoflamingo]

[*IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/2qckw1v.gif[*/IMG]

[ssmjlm]

I worked on the bookcase in the nursery today. I'm calling it done for now. She doesn't have a ton of books, per DH, but I told him, if anyone asks what we need, then say books, walla!



The top are Steiff Bears from Germany that my grandparents gave me as a child that I'm passing down.  The East Carolina stuff was DH's and is his alma mater (and where he would like for her to go, of course!).  The books on the 2nd from the bottom shelf all came from my parent's house, my mom saved a lot of childhood books.  I only took some, since I told her she'll need books for when we visit.

[emoflamingo]

I'll go ahead and AW Baby W's room here since it's decor related?

[IIOY]

Am I permitted to ask for guidance or is this just an "AW your finished work" thing? I want to repaint our upstairs hallway to add some drama to the foyer (style/decor!) but desperately need color help.

[ssmjlm]

Apr 7, 2013 17:38:02 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Am I permitted to ask for guidance or is this just an "AW your finished work" thing? I want to repaint our upstairs hallway to add some drama to the foyer (style/decor!) but desperately need color help.

You can always ask for help!  Either in this thread or start a new one. 

[ktzmoh]

I'm going to finish the builtins/mantel styling for this challenge (see this post):






To finish out styling the left hand book case,

• I  bought an interesting old vintage microscope on etsy
• brought some more books home from my office (including my old school
  Chinese language books. I love those things - they were from the late
  90s, but they seriously seem straight out of the 70s. One of the very first vocab
  words was comrade lol!)
  
• I dipped back into my stash of things collected and pulled out a super cool
  drum that I carried back with me from South Africa in the mid 90s. I
  kind of forgot about it, but there it was in the back of a closet and I
  think it will  bring some height to the left book case top.
• I also ordered a really great model staircase for the taller bottom shelf  (thank you to FormerlyRR for the recommendation, I'm
  really excited about it. Plus I stole some of my dad's architecture
  books to add to the shelves that will speak to the stair model)
• I'm forcing my DH to hang the hanging plant holder this weekend (that's the bentwood thing that's propped up on in the left corner)
  

I'm going to wait on getting items for the mantel. I just learned I'll be going to Thailand and Burma for work this fall, so I think I'm going to plan an extra couple of days in both places for some sightseeing and shopping. I think I want to get some big ass buddha heads to put on my mantel. Kind of excited about those trips.

Finally, I'm thinking about artwork for the walls on either side of the mirror. Can I ask your opinions? Originally, I was thinking Audubon style prints, but now I'm thinking vintage maps. I love vintage maps - and I wish I could afford a collection of originals. But I found these options on a reproduction map site. Both of these have matching have eastern  hemisphere versions, so I'd be getting both hemispheres to put on either side of the mirror. I like that it will feel consistent and symmetric that way. How do you feel about these? Too yellow-brownish? Which do you like better? I'm leaning toward the second set, the ones with the mountain heights and river lengths on the bottom - I think that's kind of a nice feature. WDYT?  I'd be doing a double mat with navy or indigo inside and white on the outside to brighten it up a bit. thoughts? yay? nay? I really am stuck on the art for the walls.

[peach]

Love the map prints!

[FoxInFiji]

ktzmoh I love all of your plans!  I think I like the first map better because of the big bold title.  These will be seen more from a distance than up close so the mountain heights & river depths won't really be noticed as much.  I wouldn't have seen them if you didn't point them out.  But both work and would look great on that wall.