Flamingo Gardens
The peacocks were trying to get busy. It was pretty awesome. I love the sound they make when they call the ladies. 
She Poses
Who’s a pretty baby? You are! Yes, you are.
Meet Dylan – three months new. She was completely fascinated by the odd black thing that the crazy lady kept lifting up to her face every two seconds.
She was also highly entertained:
I’ve felt so little inspiration to write, shoot, or design for a few months now, but I’ve missed it, that creative spark. Taking pictures of this chunk of cuteness was so much fun. In fact, I think that’s why she started smiling – because she could feel how much fun I was having. We all win!
Queen Anne Nightstand
I’ve lost Photoshop. I had no idea how crippling it would be for me. I haven’t posted because at the very least I wanted to put my watermark on the images. I can’t afford it yet, but I’m saving for the latest version. I know there are other photo editors I can get, but I’ve been working with Photoshop in one way or another for about a decade. I can’t imagine using anything else at this point. I’m even reluctant to use Lightroom, although I’ll get over that as soon as I can afford it.
In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and post. This nightstand took me forever, not because it was difficult but because I don’t have a space for it right now. When I picked it up I did need it, but soon after our neighbors gave us their old nightstands and suddenly I had an extra. I think it turned out well, so I’m saving it for a third bedroom, if we ever have one.
Here’s the before:
Before
Can you see the dirty corners and the chipped paint. The top looked more horrible than the photo shows. Sanding down that nasty yellow lacquer took forever, but it was well worth it.
Here’s the after:
After
I got rid of the weird lips on the top, so it’s a flat surface. I also filled in a lot of the detail. Before it all added up to too much and I think the shape of the legs and beveled edges are very nice without the rest. It’s a crisp clean white now. Since I already had most of the supplies, it cost little more than the hardware and the basket. I’m less than $30 out for the piece, so I think I got a bargain.
My next project will most likely be pretty big. I’m designing a bed for the master bedroom, so that I can move the current headboard into the guest bedroom. I thought I would use a plan from Ana White, but it’s turned into a brand new design. I’ve laid the whole thing out in AutoCAD just to make sure I’m getting the dimensions right. I wish I knew Google SketchUp better. Do any of you know SketchUp? Was it easy to learn?
Portrait
Almost a month since I posted and this isn’t even a difficult post to do. I’m having a hard time juggling life right now. Sometimes the hobbies get put on hold when the important stuff like paying bills and building futures get in the way. No fun.
Here’s a portrait of my sister-in-law. Isn’t she pretty? We had a lot of fun shooting these in the garden of my husband’s family home in Mumbai. I’ve got quite a few, but this one is, hands down, my favorite.
Windsor Castle
I had a nine-hour layover at Heathrow on my way to India, so I decided to visit Windsor Castle during that time. For those wondering, it was plenty of time and well worth the money. I would have hated to stay at the airport for all that time. Instead I took in some sights, saw lovely Christmas décor and had a great meal with some incredibly nice servers at a place called Crème. One of them even called a cab for me and walked me out to the pick up place!
I had intended to do quite a bit more night photography than I did, but it started to rain and I had nothing on me to protect the camera, so that was that unfortunately. I only got this one shot in, but I do really like it.
The Guest Bedroom Mood Board
One of the area’s of the house that is a little less developed than others is the guest bedroom. It won’t take much to get it looking the way that I want, but I’ve been having a hard time visualizing where I wanted to take it. The main reason is because I’ve been meaning to make a new headboard for the master bedroom for some time. I planned to move the old one into the guest bedroom, but the problem was that I didn’t want to use the same color scheme in both rooms.
I decided yellow and red were two underutilized colors that I love. But I still needed the scheme to go with the aqua headboard. When I found the coral patterned pillow in the mood board above I knew I’d hit the jackpot. The red was muted and pinkish, more in line with the same tones as the rest of the house. Most of this is from Overstock. The other pillow is a bit overpriced, so I’ll have to find an alternate. The sisal rug really adds texture, which I needed to bring the prints together. There are a lot of prints. I think they all work, but I may stick to a solid color for the other decorative pillow. The yellow chair no longer appears to be on Overstock, but here is its turquoise cousin.
The art piece above is something I’m planning on handcrafting. I draw mehndi (or henna) designs all the time. It’s something I enjoy doing. I had planned on making it black and white, but when I added the color to the piece, which I found on a Google image search, I just fell in love. Obviously, mine will look different, but the concept will remain. If you like the concept, the above piece is by an Etsy artist and here is her store.
The curtains I also found on a Google search. Trapped in North Jersey cleverly took a duvet cover and made curtains when, like me, she couldn’t find yellow stripe curtains with a bold stripe. I think I’ll do the same or paint the white ones I have now. Give her blog a look-see. I really enjoyed perusing it myself.
Overall, I think the colors work and there is plenty of rich texture and patterns that set it apart from the rest of the house. That said, it will also fit nicely with the beach cottage vibe I’ve been trying to keep. I’m planning on printing this out and keeping it in my purse. When I’m out shopping if I see something I like I’ll take it out and ask myself if it 1) goes with the design intent shown here and 2) if it’s necessary to the design intent. I don’t want to overspend on anything right now.
Have you ever skated along, totally oblivious to how disorganized and slightly chaotic your life was getting and then suddenly… BAM! You’re completely drowning in unopened mail, you have no idea where you put last year’s tax paperwork which you need right now, you have completely given up on any home improvements, and you haven’t been able to edit photos for shoots you did two months ago? Yeah, you have right? I’m not the only one… RIGHT?!
Holy crap. No seriously. It’s bad. Real bad. And I need to do something about it. Before I wasn’t that bothered because I was bored – let’s not get into it. Let’s just say that while I fulfilled my hours I was not what you might call busy. So it was OK. Now things are a little different.
I started school again. It’s cool and I’m enjoying it, but it’s changed the game up quite a bit for my schedule. Three weeknights are booked. That leaves two weeknights to get done what I use to have five to do and we haven’t even thought about homework. How do people do this with kids? How?
Hats off, moms and dads. Hats off.
So yeah… 2013 is going to be focused not just on organization of house stuff but life stuff. Everything needs an overhaul, really. Sometimes it’s good to just say ‘Stop, let’s do this right,’ and now is that time. I’m hoping to blog a bit about what I’m doing to get more organized. My plans include paperwork organization, time-planning, and better budget-planning. I intend to do some mood boards for the rooms in the house because I need a bit more direction with how I want things to look. I also intend to put together a fitness plan. I’m doing OK with that, but there’s room for improvement. I’m also sort of launching my own lighting design firm. It’s not official yet, but I’ve possibly picked up two jobs without even trying, and I have high hopes for that.
I’m looking forward to 2013. It seems like it’s going to be fun. Busy, but fun.
Oh and here’s one of the only photos I’ve semi-attempted to edit from my trip: Mumbai from a rooftop balcony. The field and colonial style building to the lower left is Baba’s high school. The main impression I was trying to convey is just how big Mumbai is. 
