Dreaming of: New Bathroom Tile

Happy New Year! Taking down the Christmas decorations has me re-thinking our home decor and itching to fix up a few things around the house!

One of the rooms that needs fixing up at our place is the powder room on the main/middle floor. I hate the yellow walls, the {last-century-style} shiny brass fixtures, and the lighting mostly. If all of that changed, a new mirror would be nice too. But I can live with all of those things because they are functional and it’s a rental. What I cannot live with is the tile floor. The grout is cracked or missing in places {to the point where the plastic spacers are visible}, a few of the dingy “white” builder-grade tiles are cracked, and the tile beneath the toilet is stained from what I can only assume was a leak at some point? It just grosses me out! If the owners don’t want to replace the tile {since we are renting} then we will have to fix the grout on our own at the very least. {Any suggestions?!} But, if I had my way, this small space would be perfect to throw down some HEX tile. Why? Because I’m in love with it and I’m dying to use it somewhere, that’s why. Plus the small footprint = major impact and lower cost…lower than using it in a large space…it’s not super expensive but it’s also not the cheapest material available.

Noir Hex - the tile shop

Tile - BlackHexFloor Mandy Milks

I just love how it looks in this bathroom belonging to House & Home Magazine art director, Mandy Milks. And even though the space isn’t finished yet, this bathroom over at House*Tweaking {one of my major blog crushes} is looking fantastic already with slightly larger tiles than Mandy’s. I can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s all done!

So I started browsing the usuals – Houzz, Pinterest, Decorpad, and various other resources for inspiration. I found tons of pictures of gorgeous tile but not all of them linked back to a place that listed the actual tile resources! Apartment Therapy must have heard my thoughts because they rounded up some resources for me!

Tile - Capree Kimball Bathroom Tile

Capree Kimball’s Bathroom on Curbly | Tulum Tile from Cement Tile Shop

This Tulum tile is the first picture in the article. It reminds me of this fabric that I talked about in this post on possible fabrics to reupholster my ottomans. I love a bold design in a super small space like a powder room. I’m sure our home owners wouldn’t want to do something quite as bold as this or some of the other tiles featured in AT’s post but it won’t stop me from dreaming! You can read the full Apartment Therapy article here and keep reading to see a few more fabulous tile options that I’m loving.

Tile - Home-Depot-The-Makerista-Hex-Tile

The Makerista’s Master Bath via her post on The Home Depot’s Blog, The Apron
Home Depot Tile: White | Antique | Black

http://iiiinspired.blogspot.com/2014/03/decor-black-and-white-graphic-patterns.html

https://homes.yahoo.com/news/trend-alert-patterned-tiled-bathroom-floors-black-white-150000298.html

Tile -Helgerson Bathroom

Jessica Helgerson’s bathroom design via The New York Times | Circulos Tile at Cement Tile Shop

{apparently I’m really into black and white cement tiles?…}

I’m not sure how it would look since the flooring right outside the bathroom is hardwood, but the wood plank tiles intrigue me as well.

In the end, I think a timeless classic will be the winner. Something that will stand the test of time, will coordinate with the traditional features in the rest of the home, won’t outshine the 3 other bathrooms in the house that are not updated, and will be great for resale value. *Fingers Crossed* that we can get this done sooner rather than later! What tile would you love to use in a super tiny powder room?

Catherine Calligraphy

Autumnal Inspiration and Kara Rosenlund

Let me walk you through this recent chain of events while trying to gather some autumnal inspiration and plan festive outfits for Avery.

I recently purchased Avery this top for Halloween {on SALE for $5!!} but really wanted some orange leggings to go with it. Then I remembered that Jessica of Little Baby Garvin had both of her adorable girls decked out in some super cute orange striped leggings which would be perfect! You can see their matching Halloween ensembles here, and here. The leggings are only available in 4T so I scratched that idea and returned to Little Baby Garvin to catch up on the latest posts. I read this post which reminded me that Jessica was participating in the next Home Depot Style Challenge and I thought oh yea, I should head over to The Apron and see if there’s an update on the Fall style challenge. So I looked and remembered that Joni of Lay Baby Lay was participating in the current challenge. Some of her past challenges have turned out amazing like this playhouse. I haven’t visited her actual blog in a few weeks and wanted to catch up and see if there was any progress teasers for the challenge. So over to her blog I went and there I saw this post from yesterday on Fall Inspiration {or Fall-Spiration as she called it}. How appropriate since that was got this whole little chain of events started in the first place! Joni featured the image below.

KaraRosenlund Fall Place Setting

I am all sorts of OBSESSED with this place setting. If we host Thanksgiving this year, here’s your preview. Grey linen, natural burlap, white plates, fresh herbs and spices, feathers, monogrammed silver, pretty penmanship?! In. LOVE. {Even if Mom hosts this year I think I will demand to take over tablescape duties}.

So I clicked on the link from Joni’s blog which led me to The Kitchn. But this beautiful image did not originate from The Kitchn. Oh no. This image was featured here by Aileen of At Home In Love who did a whole post on the photographer who took this image. And now my obsession goes way beyond the table setting.

Meet Kara Rosenlund.

KaraRosenlund 4

KaraRosenlund 1

KaraRosenlund 3

KaraRosenlund 2

Her photography is amazing. Her style and styling is impeccable. Her aesthetic is my vision brought to life. And she’s only 30! Australia is lucky to have her.

Discovering Kara when I did was perfect timing because her images really did help inspire me for some Fall decorating, and they’ve also inspired me for my upcoming photography class! I start on Monday! And that makes you some very lucky readers because my less-than-wonderful iPhone photos aren’t the best for the blog. I can’t wait to see how I improve!

That’s all for now. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten to share my Halloween DIY art that I promised. That’s coming next week!

Have a great weekend!

Catherine Calligraphy

 

 

All images in this post via Kara Rosenlund and I strongly encourage you to check out her work. Please credit original source.

Getting Ready for Halloween

The end of September is near and I’m getting ready for Halloween. Avery was just a little lump of a tiger {she was Aubie} last year for Halloween at 3 months old. But this year she can walk around and is a little more aware of what’s going on which means I’m excited to see her reaction to it all! When it comes to holidays, there’s something about having a kid that gives me back the kind of excitement I had when I was a kid. We have plans for a trip to the Pumpkin Patch and I’m researching costume ideas. I also decided to locate our Halloween decorations…and had no luck! I was in a slight panic last week thinking that the tub of Halloween stuff was donated with the last trip to Salvation Army. If the plastic skeletons that hang from our front tree didn’t make it, then I’ll be okay. But the actual home decor that’s a little more chic {and expensive} is what I’m worried about. Not to mention I’ve been collecting it since before Chris and I ever started dating so it would take me a long time to build back up to what I had before!

Should the old stuff be truly gone forever, I need a backup plan. So I started thinking ahead to how I can quickly and cheaply add some new decorations this year and I came up with a few ideas. I was inspired by this picture I found on Houzz.

CitySouthern Halloween Decor Ideas

See the skeleton picture reflected in the mirror? I saw that and thought – that would be great to hang on the wall for Halloween! I began searching Etsy for a skull print and there are tons of options. This one seems to have similar qualities to the inspiration photo with it’s sketched look and antiqued paper.

Skull Artkurka Etsy

It’s a really reasonably priced little print which makes me happy. And I’m sure I have an empty frame I could use. But I’ve got the DIY bug and I don’t want to just buy an aged-looking crisp piece of art. I want something that looks and feels like a page from an antique book, or was hanging on the wall of creepy haunted mansion. Maybe it was salvaged from an abandoned asylum? It’s Halloween afterall! So…I decided I’m going to DIY it. For FREE! I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out but at least I know I’ve got etsy as a backup plan!

And because I love a good happy ending, I found the box of missing decorations when I cleaned out the entire garage this past weekend. {There was definitely an embarrassing happy dance in the driveway for all the neighbors to see.} I can’t wait to start putting them up!

So when do you put up your Halloween decorations? Comment below, and stay tuned to see how my creepy skull print turns out!

Catherine Calligraphy

 

 

UPDATE: My artwork is complete! To see the tutorial for my DIY Project, click here!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Beannacht Día Lá Féile Pádraig | May God’s Blessings be with you on St. Patrick’s Feast Day!

{a loosely translated version of the Gaelic phrase}

Today’s is St. Patrick’s Day, so I hope you wore green! If you live anywhere near me, it might be hard to see your green under all the warm layers you have on since it snowed AGAIN last night! {and I thought I was over the snow last time!}

Oh well, I did get out and enjoy the warm weather while it lasted. Makes me wish there was a lot more GREEN on the trees outside. Rather than post on all the green things you can wear or decorate your home with, I’m just going to share a few favorite green spaces from my outdoor Pinterest board.

Green Hammersmith Atlanta

Green PFGardens

Green AnneDecker

Green herb wall

Green WilliamDangar

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I leave you with wonderful, warm, green thoughts and this Irish blessing:

May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you wherever you go!

Catherine Calligraphy

New Office:Pinspiration

Are you all ready for the snow?? I’m looking out the window at a beautiful blanket of white and I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and see how much actually accumulated. Last I heard my area just outside DC is supposed to get 10″ to 14″!! Yippee!! I actually have some real work to do tomorrow, but any play time I get will be spent planning my new {home} office space. I currently have a desk where my computer sits but this office will be separate. It will be my own little corner of the house where I can go to relax and focus on creative things. I’m very excited to get it set up! Here are a few things I’ve found through Pinterest that are inspiring my space:

pretty gold things

a DIY project or two

a collection of ideas and inspiration

my new pillow

one|two|three|four

If you want to see more of my office inspiration, follow me on Pinterest or check out these Pinterest boards:

MomCave | Office + Craft + Storage | LuxEvents & Design

ciao for now!

Catherine Calligraphy