Monday, August 10, 2009

Making Lemonade out of Cardboard





Do you ever write angry blog posts and then delete them, or at least save them to drafts, ashamed to admit the depth of your negative feelings? I have drafted at least three such ones this weekend, and realize it's time to take my lemons and make lemonade.



I decided that, instead of keep on stewing about how crappy the customer service has been from my so-called in-home designer, I am going to take her place. (Oh, I have every intention of confronting the manager and the designer and saying they oversold me and expect me to do what the pro is commissioned to do. But I don't expect it will change the outcome. I think they have bigger spenders to deal with and our little job isn't worth much of their time.)

Now armed with the fire of disappointment and the courage from fellow bloggers and my family to attempt this project on my own, I am embarking on doing something I've always wanted to do and never before had the gumption: try my hand at an interior design presentation board.

This box, cut to 12x16, will represent my family room. I'll make the walls sage green, the color we plan to keep in here. I'll print out pictures of all the furniture we've picked so far, plus some we haven't. I'll sketch in some lamps, throw down a carpet sample, fill in the sliding glass door area with a woodsy scene to simulate our pretty view outside. Then I might just treat myself to a shopping trip at Joann's for some new window treatment fabric and maybe, just maybe, find a pair of pillows that would look absolutely splendid on the new leather sofa.

Am I forgetting any details? If you've had experience with interior design/decorating boards, please let me know if there's a simpler way. I tend to complicate things in a unique way.
I can do this. Eat your heart out, Lynda Carter.

8 comments:

Laurie said...

I’m smiling through intermittent giggling here!
So pleased you’re making lemonade! Way to squeeze!
In answer to your first question: “Yes.”
Your second question: “Probably not! But don’t get too bogged down with details!”
“I tend to complicate things in a unique way.” made me laugh! (Sorry if it wasn’t meant to be funny!) We all have our unique ways of complicating things!
No, I’ve never used a board, except our dining table as a board where paint samples, material swatches etc. get spread out on! We’ve always been in the “Hey, this could work.“ mode coupled with a “Remember, we do have a budget” mode, so our designing has never included paid-for designers. Usually we find a thing or two we like and springboard off of them. Maybe it’s a color (which you have) or a theme (You‘ve got that, right?), a picture that will be part of the room or a fabric swatch (which you mentioned searching for) and then it’s a bit like a dot-to-dot or crossword puzzle, if you will, as you pull it together, keeping at the core, all of your prerequisites, which you also have. I know there are guidelines, methods and steps, but I’m a bit of a nonconformist which is okay in personal room design. You’ll KNOW what you can live with and what you can’t. You’ll KNOW if you are decorating for your family and your tastes or whether you’re trying to follow rules or impress others. Don’t do that! It is personal! Forget “stuffy rules”. Decorate in ZZ style, not WW style. Have fun! Keep thinking in smalls and your smalls will add up to the whole. You are wanting a room for your family, not for any TV designer or makeover show! The goal is to have a place you can live in, kick your feet up and drink some of that refreshing lemonade!
Trust yourself. Give yourself permission and the freedom to move forward! Start taking steps to do it and step-by-step and your “board” will materialize! (No, I’m not talking New Age mumbo jumbo! In all this, we cling to God and trust Him for leading!)

zz said...

"Way to squeeze" cracked me up. But it's more like I've been squeezed and out came something sour.

For the record, we aren't paying the designer. The service is free when you agree to buy a reasonable amt of furniture. And they take 20 percent off your purchases. I called the store to talk to the mgr but she was out. The designer answered the phone and I told her as graciously as I could that I didn't think she was working very hard for us, for her commission. She said she's not on commission. EUREKA. Could that be why she's not putting forth much effort? OF course she told me I was wrong and this was all a matter of miscommunication. But she never admitted to having been the one who misheard or miswrote or misquoted anything. So I cut ties and she agreed that was probably best, She didn't give me the impression she really wanted to right the wrong, to work any harder.

So I am taking this on myself and to answer your question, the theme is the world, or world travel, something like that. I like to decorate with things people from other countries have made or bought. So far those are all small. I lack vision for the big art pieces, but I'm thinking large world map autumn colors and metal frame. I dunno. Would love to find something that's just "it".

I'm not trying to impress anyone or make my room look like a TV makeover. I am not that talented, nor do I aspire to "wow" anyone. I just really want to feel at home in my family room, and I don't now. If it's got any ZZ style, it's in the small things: 2 lamps and a couple hymnals. That's it.

More later.

Laurie said...

So to find the just "it" thing, where can you look? Hobby Lobby nearby? I love to go get inspired there! Also love to check out the biggest stacks of library books I can manage, with great pictures, in the home design/home decor book section. I should be able to recall the call numbers for that section, but nope.
But yeah, it sounds like you have a good idea and vision, you need to find the thing- that "it" piece- that you can spring off of so-to-speak! At one time, for us, it was a chair (on sale) in a fun funky print. That chair still is a hilight of our "multi-purpose room and it was the "it" that helped to pull it all together. It wouldn't have to be a chair. It could be an art print or original art by you for example! Maybe it needs to be the map. Where do you get a map like that?

zo said...

Funny you should ask about the map. I checked ebay last night. Want a big (behind the sofa size) wall map in autumn colors, antiquey looking. I saw a couple I really like and am watching. They are both art and info at the same time, which appeals to my Mennonite roots. We don't have Hobby Lobby; we have Michael's Arts and Crafts. Generally what appeals to me is something old or reproduction of old, rather than brand spanking new. As for original art by me? Teeheehee. You think too highly of my skills. Remember the last art class I ever took was in 3rd grade. I'm more of an art teacher than an artmaker!

Laurie said...

Sounds like it's taking shape!
Hope the bids come through!
I always assume art teachers make art!
So what's cookin with your blog look?
Mennonite background. Oh yeah. But is there Methodist mixed in there? And I assume you have a "reformed" bent. Isn't it interesting how God uses so many strands as He knits us together? (You don't have to answer my nosy questions. I'm just thinking out loud!)
Blessings!

zz said...

The blog? I was tired of the old one, cute as the template was. Time for a change.

Art. I do make it, but not as often or as well I'd like. I think I teach it as an excuse to hone any latent skills in me, but mostly I enjoy the art history and watching students apply their creativity to a concept presented. "No two alike" is my motto.

I have quite an ecumenical background. I posted on it a couple years ago. My forebears on Daddy's side were Anabaptists, Baptists, and Mennonites, hunkering down in Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Mama's mother's died when Granny was 9 at the time of my gg'ms's death, so the Judaism wasn't practiced. Granny lived in a Masonic home during her preadolescence for a few years. DAddy pastored a Methodist church in Alden, KS, though he was ordained Baptist (glut of ministers, he was somewhat forced to take it). I attended evengelical Methodist school, attended Meth church in my middle school yrs, Baptist church and Epispalean and Jewish youth groups simultaneously in teen yrs. Mama left the Methodist church here in MD on bad terms and joined the Seventh Day Adventists while Daddy switched to a Baptist church. I got a scholarship to a Catholic Women's college in PA, so went there 2 yrs, then moved back to MD to finish college. ATtended a couple independent churches, one very charismatic, post-hippy style,
the next very conservative. Then we found our current church in 1995 which eventually became what is now known as part of Sovereign Grace Ministries.

You asked! That might have been your first mistake. But basically all the changes and exposures in my life have made me very open to listening to people of other faiths and adapting well to different church cultures. I could write a whole post on each one!

zz said...

I was anything BUT reformed till about 10 yrs ago. I grew up thinking it was my job to save people, that if I didn't pray hard enough or "witness" to them, they could end up in hell because of my negligence. Salvation was a free gift but you had to be a good Christian to stay in God's graces.
It's truly, truly sad to still wrestle from time to time with those lies. But when my mind is stayed on what I believe is truth (by that I don't mean to say truth is relatve, but what I believe scripture teaches)--that God takes the initiative for all things and completes what He starts. Hence the Author and Finisher of my faith, the Alpha and Omega. Yes, we need to cooperate, but on our own, we can't even do that. God initiates our cooperation and our perseverence and then sustains us. It's all His doing. That is the truth I believe and it is so comforting.

Laurie said...

Oh wow! Whar an amazing history and journey! The best value it seems in revisiting the history and journey is the reminder of the grace He has extended in our lives! Amazing grace indeed!
The truth IS so comforting! His sovereign grace is comforting and powerful and calls us to persevere!
Thank you for sharing! Thank you much! Asking was not a mistake at all! Blessings!