Decorology

Category: built ins

  • A winter’s day refuge: the home library

    A winter’s day refuge: the home library

    As the days get colder and gloomier, we naturally spend more time inside. Sometimes a rainy or snowy day is just the excuse you need to cozy up and spend the day with a new or well-loved book.

    via House of Fifty

    That’s one comfy looking loveseat. I’m sure I could read there all afternoon.

    via Little Green Notebook

    Talk about book storage!

    via Loft Life Mag

    If I ever have the space, creating a little reading nook like this will be a top priority!

    via Maree Homer

    via Marie Claire Maison


    Check out how they’ve even extended the bookcase on the sides. Definitely making the best use of space here.

    via Poppytalk Handmade on Pinterest

    via Apartment Therapy

    I’ve been reading a lot lately that if you have “ugly” books, to cover them in plain white paper to create a nicer looking shelf. I don’t know how I feel about this. Something about it to me seems too forced, but I’ve never seen it in person. Has anyone tried this?

    via Ballard

    dreamy

    via Sweet Home Style

    Squeeze the most out of an otherwise unusable wall space by running low shelf units along the bottom.

    via Sweet Home Style

    Do you have a dedicated home library, are your books spread out throughout the house, or have you carved out a space for books in another room?

  • A bright and airy home filled with reclaimed beauties

    A bright and airy home filled with reclaimed beauties

    This home is gorgeous on it’s own – but discovering that it’s filled with reclaimed furnishings and architectural elements makes it even prettier.

    Love the table with the mid-century chairs. 

    Such a pretty workspace!

    I’d love to have a sliding door like this one day

    can’t go wrong with a crisp, clean white bathroom

    via Pure Green Living

  • Green and Glam… a house that proves you can have both

    Green and Glam… a house that proves you can have both

    *tip – click on each image if you want a closer view

    check out the gorgeous rough backsplash

    A clever way to create a laundry room if you don’t have one

    amazing coffee table, amazing cabinet, amazing floors!

    I’ve been loving navy lately

    Not crazy about the laser cut mirrors – but otherwise this foyer is gorgeous…

    What do you think about this home?

    via Pure Green Living

  • Interiors in red, white, and blue

    Interiors in red, white, and blue

    Monday is independence day here in the states, which usually means lots of yummy cookouts, days at the beach, and fireworks! Have an awesome holiday!

    A great, fail-safe way to mix patterns is to do it monochromatically. This red bed is a beauty!
    via ?

    an all around classic in whites and neutrals
    via ?

    Red florals and a tan wall make for a historic-looking living room
    via iVillage

    I adore this real bedroom from a Baltimore apartment.  The exposed brick and the blue go together really well. Love that dresser too!
    via Apartment Therapy

    A white country bedroom
    via Ballard

    White and blue makes this bedroom crisp and classic
    via Elle Decor

    via ?

    You can’t get more white than this dream-from-heaven of a bathroom
    via Christopher Peacock

    A red bison and a blue vase on the mantel add a patriotic touch.  I also love the fireplace surround and the toadstool sculpture!

    via Real Simple

    An all-out homage to mid-century modern with a backdrop of blue.

    via Covet Garden

  • Creating an efficient, professional, and inspiring home office

    Creating an efficient, professional, and inspiring home office

    This post is very near and dear to me because I work from home as a freelance web designer, and when my office is messy or simply not arranged well my productivity really suffers. I’ve learned by experience that a tidy and aesthetically pleasing office can make the difference between hitting deadlines or writing lame excuses to clients for late work. Do you ever work from home? What helps/hinders your productivity?

    Making Your Home Study Look Professional
    When you work from home, you should have a home study that looks as professional as possible. That way, you will be able to concentrate on your work without having any of the distractions of the home that can negatively impact on the amount of work and, therefore, the money that your business can earn.

    There are several ways to make your home office look more professional. First of all, you should give your home study a room of its own. It does not look in any way professional, after all, to be working on the sofa in front of the television or on the kitchen table. You should instead have a permanent desk in a spare room, with all of the equipment that you need immediately to hand. The tools that you have in your office should include, at the very least, a computer, a phone and a connection to the internet for email.

    One of the most obvious ways of keeping your home study looking professional is to ensure that it is kept clean and tidy. You should also set up your PC, chair and desk at the correct height so that you can work without slouching. You should also position any equipment, such as a phone and some stationery, in a place that is accessible so that you do not have to stretch to reach them.


    This set up is ideal for those who need to store lots of items – papers, files, samples, etc.

    I need A LOT of surface area and this L-shaped desk is perfect.

    One day I hope to have an office large enough for a small settee or atleast a comfy chair for looking through magazines and art books

    Though a separate room is ideal, if you don’t have one, a creative use of space can make a surprisingly adequate home office.

    Love this loft home office.

    Your home study should be free of too many of the distractions that would undermine its work-like appearance. This means that you should not have a television unless it directly relates to your business. Ideally you would have a window near your desk to provide inspiration and calm, although if you find it too distracting you may want to cover it with a blind. Overall, the home study should be simple, with no overly distracting gadgets and only the items that are necessary for you to be able to do your work. Another factor that has a great influence on the professionalism of your office is the home study furniture that you choose. This includes computer desks, filing cabinets and desks and chairs. You will want to find a desk, for example, that is durable and that is at the right height, in addition to a computer chair that allows you to stay comfortable for many hours of work at a time.

    disclosure: this post is sponsored by Neville Johnson

  • The benefits of built-ins and fitted furniture done right

    The benefits of built-ins and fitted furniture done right

    There are many advantages to choosing fitted home furniture. One of the biggest advantages of this type of furniture is the amount of space that you can access compared with free-standing furniture. Many people are increasingly pressed for space in their homes, with items of furniture that are full to the brim. This means that any extra items that need to be stored often end up causing clutter on the floor or being left on the top of wardrobes and desks, getting covered in dust. This is of course impractical, as it leaves you with less surface area and also negatively impacts on the appearance of your home, making it look messy and uninviting.

    A Real Transformation
    Fitted furniture, however, transforms the look of your home, making use of every inch of your room for storage, unlike free-standing furniture which will almost always leave huge, wasted spaces in comparison. With fitted home furniture, not only do you get to eliminate the excess clutter for a much cleaner, tidier appearance, but the furniture itself also makes your home look more seamless, with wardrobes that stretch from floor to ceiling. You benefit from furniture with smooth lines and no ugly gaps. This can be a particular issue when you are looking for furniture for a room that is of an awkward shape, for example one that has tricky alcoves or that is impeded by a sloping ceiling, the latter obviously a frequent issue for renovated attics.

    Since I work from home, a nice home office is a must. When I finally settle down and decide to live somewhere for more than one year, I will definitely be investing in an awesome desk and shelf system. I LOVE built in bookshelves.

    What a gorgeous entertainment room – rooms which are often so hard to make gorgeous!

    If my closet were half this orderly and efficient I’d be a happy girl.

    Versatile Furniture
    Fitted furniture can also be incredibly versatile. Remember that this type of furniture can be made to measure, meaning that you do not have to settle for the shape of furniture that you see on the manufacturer’s website! There are many fitted home furniture designers who can create ingenious solutions for your room so that space can be freed up in ways you never thought possible. This allows you to create a solution for each room so that not an inch of space is ever wasted in any part of your house. The space that becomes available as a result actually makes each room look bigger, along with being much more appealing due to the outstanding individual designs you can request on custom-made furniture.

    A wide range of fitted furniture can be purchased, meaning that you can make your home look truly seamless by introducing the same style to different areas of your house, from bedrooms and box rooms to loft conversions and guest rooms.

    disclosure: this post is sponsored by Neville Johnson

  • A tour of my Brownstone studio apartment

    A tour of my Brownstone studio apartment

    I was really flattered when Marcela of Deco and Design asked me for a little house tour. Unfortunately since I am currently “without house,” I had to send her photos from a very cute studio apartment I lived in a couple of years ago. It was on the ground floor of a brownstone in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. I was even lucky enough to have my own little backyard. When I signed the lease on this apartment is when I really started to get interested in interior design. I had no idea how to decorate a studio and finally didn’t have any roommates and could decorate how I wanted. Most of my furnishings are hand-me-down or cheap finds, as my entire budget went to rent on the place. So, really, this apartment was my first stab at decorating.

    You can read her post on my apartment here.
    MOSTRÁ TU CASA – LA CASA DE ASHLEY

    The apartment had a lot of charming little built-ins, like the pantry above – and the desk and shelves below


    The apartment did have a separate eat-in kitchen, which was really nice.

    I was always changing things around as you can tell

    This is the cooking area. The counter had been covered in a hideous, old, stained yellow laminate, so I went and bought some cheap textured drawer liner and resurfaced the counter for less than $14. It help up surprisingly well. No air bubbles or leaking into the seams or anything.

    A non-working fireplace in my living room/bedroom.

    I loved the shutters, hardwood floors, and tin ceiling.

    Sorry another blurry shot – this cupboard was also built-in.

    So, I know it’s not much, but I love looking back to it!