MY PEACE of JEWELRY DESIGN CORNER

Living in a studio apartment does not leave a lot of room for a work area. Combine that with being on a budget, you gotta be creative. So this is what I did. This space here next to the window became my little design studio section...See how I worked it using...

PLANK OF WOOD that I tiled the border, not sure what I was going to do with it but I kept it over the years, knowing I would eventually use it.

More PLANKS OF WOOD I bought from HOME DEPOT

CINDER BLOCKS I bought from HOME DEPOT

See next post, me setting up the work station
MY PEACE of JEWELRY
http://www.etsy.com/shop/zeedubya

MAIN ROOM - Bedside Corner

I have completed painting the WALLS in the MAIN ROOM. The two short walls are a Periwinkle Blue and the two long walls, I painted Beige. Anyway here are some photos and I will explain as I go along.

BELOW PIC - Photo taken the day I was moving in. It went from THIS to

TO THIS! I told you loved color. NO MORE WHITE WALLS!

I really want to have designed a really cool Moroccan style daybed. My mom was going to do it (she's a furniture maker) but she is a little occupied at the moment. When she is better, I will ask her to proceed with finishing my daybed.

The two posters I bought years ago at the Fairfax flea market, which is held every Sunday at Fairfax High School on Melrose and Fairfax. If you have not been, you gotta go. They have everything that is thrifty, funky and unique. I liked the colors of the posters, had no idea where I would hang them, but bought them, rolled them up in a corner and waited for the perfert opportunity to pull them out. I bought the frames from Michael's. Orfeu Negro poster is Porteguese for Black Orpheus (I had no clue at the time of purchase, I bought it because I liked the poster and it had "Negro" in the title - how shallow of me), which was a film made in 1959 in Brazil. (Go to Wikipedia for more information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Orpheus)

These four posters below, I had for years. In fact, it's been at least 8 years. When I lived in Westwood with my now ex-boyfried, a neighbor of mine gave them to me. I love them and will always find a place for them. I bought the frames from Ikea and stained them with a dark stain.


I could not or did not want to pay a lot for a bedcover, so I searched the thrift stores. This one is exactly what I wanted, which I got at the Goodwill for CHEAP! Maybe $30 bucks. I got the leopard pillow and two blue ones also at the Goodwill. I just made some cases out of denim and old Levi pants. I will post some pics later. They are really cool! The two big pillows, I made the cases too out of denim on one side and fake leather on the other. I will post pics later too. I can't right now because they're falling apart. LOL. I am not the best SEWER.



This corner lamp, I bought from Staples. I have about 8 of them because I use them to shoot my jewelry and mannequins. Since I don't have a lot of room in the apt. I use them all around the house. You will see little black lamps all over. Oh yeah, they were cheap too. The lamp is perched on a shelf I put there. The tree branch, I found outside a few years back. I like tree branches. I knew I would use some kind of way and it works. I nailed it into the wall. I feel like I am part of nature.

Well that is it so far. Hope you like.

Next I will probably show my work station created out of CINDER BLOCKS.

MY PEACE of JEWELRY
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Zeedubya

Main Room

I live in a studio apartment in Santa Monica. Probably been here for 2 years. Following my break-up from a very nice guy, who I was with for 9 years, where we lived together "in sin" for the last three years, and I broke up with because he did not want to get married (Thank God!), I promised myself that whereever I live I would furnish and design it the way I, I, I, I like it. When you live with someone you have to take their taste into consideration. And when it came to taste, ours were so drastically different that I would get so frustrated. I wanted to paint the walls, but he wanted to keep them white, using the excuse that we were going to be buying a house and there was no need to waste money decorating the apartment. I felt stifled. Is that a word? Anyway, I have not looked back. Wherever I live I want color! Not bland-ass white. So far I've painted my bathroom yellow, my hallway sienna and my main room beige and royal blue. Here's a little hint.

Apt Layout

My Apt Layout, so you have an idea what I am working with. It's small but HOME.

Bookshelf - in process

Here is the bookshelf that I beautified and stuck in the tiny-ass hallway of my apt.

A few more pics of the HALLWAY - before & after

HALLWAY - BEFORE

HALLWAY - AFTER

Bookcase

Mirror

Across from mirror are the closet doors

I am really proud of my hallway. It came together pretty well. I drilled a bookcase against the wall and placed a mirror on top. Both were white but I painted them a dark brown. I would have loved to stain them but they had been painted and you can't stain wood after it's already been painted. I did a half ass job on the mirror. I got lazy. If you look on the side of the mirror, it's not completely painted at the bottom. I call this my Shabby Chic look, like I intentionally did it. But I didn't. I was lazy. The mirror, some guy in my old apt building was going to throw away and asked me if I wanted it. The bookcase, I found at the dumpster. The diamonds on the closet doors are actually table place mats. And the shade covering the light, similar to the one below,

I bought for 4 dollars.

Next is my main room. Below is a before pic

Hallway - Sneek Peek

I finished my hallway, but! I have to take some really good pics. I took some pics today but they did not turn out to well. Here is one pic that did. It's the closet doors. The squares you see nailed on the doors are dinner place mats.

Hallway Remodel - continues 2...

I painted the hallway walls that lead from the main room to the bathroom a dark mustard color. It turned out pretty nice. As you can see I painted the bathroom door red. I love the color red and I love bold colors. You will not find much white featured as the main color in my apartment. Color means life, warmth, passion, openess and compassion.

Hallway Renovation Continues...

I've decided to repaint the closet doors because the paint started peeling off.

If you don't prime the wall correctly, then the paint does not stick properly . When I was peeling the paint tape off the paint came off with it.

And another thing I hate is the fake mosaic tiled border. It looks tacky.

Mid-way - I have repainted the closet doors

Bought primer!

Primed the doors

My intention was to paint the closet panels the same as the border but I ran out of paint and had to get some more mixed up. The paint colors were not the same and ended up with different colors. I had to paint several layers. Here is the first layer.


Several layers of paint later this is the final color. I honestly don't know what to do next. What design do I paint on the walls?