Dressing a room with dress forms

Dress forms has come a long way past showrooms and boutiques. You can find them adorning rooms! Too bad the dress forms from my shop got ruined in a flood, I could definitely use one in my room. Oh well, I'll just find contentment in admiring someone else's totally cute dress forms.....for now.

 

 country living

 L+L

 

Pottery Barn

iheartmyroom

 MA Belle/Real Living

 Houzz

 Living Etc

 

Pretty Petals 

bits and bobbins

 

apartment therapy

DIY: Gift tray + dress form base = side table

 

Never in my entire life did I have decent bedside tables. You know those two little ones on BOTH sides of the bed that holds the cute lamps and knick-knacks. I've had a bookcase/ a desk/ a vanity beside my bed, but never a side table. Now with an upgrade to a bigger room, I need to have those!

But of course the cheap-o in me don't want to spend, so I look around the house to find something I can work with.

Enter Dress Form Base.

The dress form got ruined by the flood last year. Thank goodness they kept the base. I love the shape, I knew this got to be the foot of my table. I would love to have a chunky round top, but do I really expect to find that lying around the house?

Enter Marks & Spencer Gift Tray.

I've got this tray for years, just doing its usual purpose of keeping some things in order. But it's just the right size for the base, and hey, I don't need to build anything from scratch.

WHAT I DID:
1. removed the balls from the tray
2. cut the steel pole from the dress form base

I don't want to nail through the tray to avoid ugly holes, so I..
3. cut a thin plywood sized to the inside measurements of the tray and
4. secured the plywood to the base

5. placed the tray upside down, and fixed with nail glue.
6. painted

I'm so pleased with the outcome! Now I just need to find the cute lamp to place on it.

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HO of the day: Sophisticated Yellow

{what I got}  Don't be afraid to mix styles and textures, being too matchy doesn't give as much depth and character to a space. And pops of yellow brings fun and lightness to an otherwise streamlined and sophisticated room.

*got this from my inspiration folder, no idea where this image came from. If you know the source, let me know!

Too many frames, too many options: Ways to showcase a frame gallery on your home

I've always love the look of frames overload on a wall. It's one sure way to give life to any room. You bet I'll be putting that up in more than one room for this 'house prettify' project I've been working on.

Relying on my trusted friend for inspiration (google, who else?), I found tons of different options for displaying frames and it's darn hard to choose.

{FRAMES}

1. Mismatched

If you want an eclectic feel with a collected-over-time look, its the way to go. It seems relaxed and effortless (though I'm pretty sure putting up a wall like these takes a LOT of effort) ;)

2. Matchy-matchy

Feeling formal and a bit traditional? Have your frames in one solid color.

3. Monochromatic

This is the marriage of mismatched and matchy-matchy. Have mismatched frames in monochromatic shades to achieve a relaxed borderline-formal feel. (confusing I know, but you get my point)

 

4. Frame color = Wall color
This is a fresh look that makes your artwork/photo stands out.  It can also add texture to a blank wall without creating too much visual clutter. Perfect for those half-minimalist-half-artsy people out there.

 

 and then there's the.....

{ARRANGEMENT}

1. Sort-of-Symmetrical

The frames are arranged to form a kinda shape so it's sorta symmetrical with a bit of balance but not really.  (WHAT??!!)

2. Complete Symmetry-The Box

Now this is not confusing.  Arranging the frames formally to form a box / square / rectangle.

 

3. Random

How about slapping those frames on the wall to form nothing but turns out beautifully nonetheless?

So now you understand why I use darn. It's too hard to choose from all these styles and techniques! These things requires long pondering/daydreaming, and it doesn't hurt to have the talent.

After much thought (yep, long daydreaming helps), here's my 'wall' plan for our house:
My bedroom- frames: mismatched  / arrangement: complete symmetry-the box (update! see my bedroom gallery here)
Hallway- frames: matchy-matchy / arrangement: sort-of-symmetrical (update! hallway TINY gallery here)
Living room- frames: mismatched / arrangement: random (update! our living room frame gallery here)

Photos of our wall galleries to follow upon completion of projects. (fingers crossed so tight it hurts)

Image credit (from top to bottom): Jonathan Adler, La Maison, Domino, Kids Collective, John Derian,  Chic Home Decor, Steven Gambrel, O at home, Living Etc, Mr Kate,  House and Garden, Source unknown, Pottery Barn, Interior Design, Dec0r,  Posy