Dip Dyed Curtains

I've had plain cream colored curtains from Ikea hanging in my living room for many months.  I came up with the idea that it might be cool to try and dip dye the curtains to create an ombre effect.  Friday I finally decided to tackle the project. What I had in mind was something like these curtain panels: 




Gorgeous, right? The final result of my dying experiment was this: 




Not quite as gorgeous.  I had originally wanted to leave the top of curtains white like the ones in the photo above but I touched them with my dye covered hands so I had to continued the gray color all the way to the top of the curtain. You might also notice that my curtain panels are not exactly the same. I attempted two different dye methods which yielded slightly different results. With the panel on the right I submerged all of it in the dye and then slowing removed the panel so that the bottom would be darker than the top. For the panel of the left I worked from the bottom keeping each section submerged for about 30 seconds. I think I had more success with the second method but should have kept each section submerged for longer periods of time. 


I would also like to try one other dye method. I'm interested to see what would happen if I just dipped the bottom half of the curtain in the dye and leave it there for several minutes to soak up the dye and have it organically travel up the panel. In my head it would look really cool but I have no idea how it would actually turn out. Which is why I would suggest experimenting with inexpensive curtains like these (I believe these curtains cost $15 for the set) because I'm not too upset that they didn't turn out exactly as I hoped they would. 


Photo Credits: Top Photo - The Connaught Mayfair Hotel, Bottom Photo - Me

Stunning Brass Feature Wall

I'm like a magpie with all things shiny these days. I love gold, brass, and other surfaces that sparkle and shine. Which is why I feel hard for this wall covered in brass tiles recently featured on Remodelista. Incredible, isn't it?

Thanks to the joys of Pinterest, I recently came across two similar tutorials providing step by step instructions on how to recreate this expensive look using just poster board and gold spray paint. With some time and patience it's possible to simulate the effect for just a few dollars.

The only question now is where will I be installing a gold fish scale wall in my own home?

Photo Credits: Top - Remodelista; Bottom Left - Two Thirty-Five Designs; Bottom Right - Kara Paslay

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Hand Knotted and Unique

These beautiful crocheted rugs are for sale at Le Souk. The rugs are hand knotted from remains of cotton which would normally be thrown away and because they are handmade each rug is completely unique. I would put these in the category "Modern Granny Chic" and think they are absolutely lovely.

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Still Redecorating My Living Room in My Mind

Isn't it funny how thinking about buying a new rug suddenly turns into wanting to redo an entire living room? I started pulling together a mood board to help me decide which rug would work best in the space and suddenly I had several new items added to my wish list.

1 - media storage 2 - sconce 3 - throw pillows

4 - artwork 5 - sofa 6 - rug

None of you actually chose this rug out of the six I was considering but Nick picked it as his favorite and since he rarely expresses interest in home decor I to honor his opinions with the proper amount of consideration. I think it might be too dark but I need to see it in person along with some of the other options before I make a final decision.

The room is more monochromatic than I initially intended. I like it but I think I might want to add some colorful accessories. Although, I do love how Erin's black, white and gray living room came together so perhaps I will keep with a more restrained color palette. Decision, decisions...

If I do decided to interject some color, this bright yellow urban outfitters floor lamp would look pretty snazzy in the space.

What do you think? Could you live in a monochromatic space?

Thinking About a Living Room Update - Perhaps a New Rug

I have that itch to decorate and I'm feeling the urge to freshen up my living room. In general, I'm happy with the furnishings but the decorative elements are leaning a little more feminine than I would like them to be.

I really love the sofa but I think I need to update the legs, I'm not crazy about the legs the Karlstad sofa comes with. Perhaps I should paint them. The side tables are inexpensive ones from Urban Outfitters but they have a nice mid century modern shape so I'm definitely going to keep them. The coffee table drives me a little crazy. The base was an awesome ebay score but I never had a top made for it so I'm still using glass from an old coffee table. The glass is always dirty and we bump into those sharp corners all of the time. I think a round marble top would be perfect so I'm on the hunt for a vintage carrera marble top coffee table.

1 - ikea 2 - ikea 3 - west elm 4 - overstock 5 - ikea 6 - overstock

I think the quickest and easiest way to update the space will be to replace the rug with new graphic rug in a more masculine color scheme. I definitely want something bigger, the current rug is 5x7' but since the sofa is so large it's really screaming for an 8x10'. My top six choices are shown above (Are you humming the "One of These Things is Not Like Other" song from Sesame Street too?). I thought for sure the Ikea Stockholm Rand rug (number 2) was going to be the winner but I decided to shop around a little before I committed to it. I found other graphic cream, black, and gray rugs that I also like and then I came across the last rug from Overstock and I fell pretty hard for it. Now I'm not sure what I want. Which one of these rugs do you like best?

(this is an older photo, we actually have baseboard molding now:)

This is the tv stand on the wall opposite the sofa. Right now I have the tv set up on a console table from Target. I like the simple set up but since the tv rests along a rather large wall in the living room it is not doing much to fill the space and it feels kind of bare. Time to research some tv display solutions that don't look like big, bulky entertainment centers...

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New From Bemz!

Brand new from Bemz, the company that helps you breathe new life into your tired upholstered Ikea furniture, has just introduced a new line of products for the bedroom. Coming this June Bemz will offer bed frame covers to fit Floro, Vanvik and Grimen beds from IKEA, and covers made to fit the Badalen headboard.


They will also offer bed skirts in four different styles - straight, pleated, classic box pleat and ruffled frills. All of the bed skirts will be available in two different lengths and fit standard Twin, Full, Queen and King sized beds.

The new items will be available in any of the 180 different fabric colors and patterns and shipping to the U.S. is a flat fee of only $20. I've got my eye on that gorgeous gray linen bed skirt.

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If I Could Hop on a Flight to Athens Tomorrow

I would be booking a few nights in one of these chic abodes asap! Just for fun yesterday I found started searching airbnb for vacation rentals in Athens, Greece. I doubt we'll have a need for a place to stay in the city since our summer trip will probably have us heading straight to the port to catch a ferry to the islands (unless the price of flights continues to rise, damn it's expensive to fly these days). These elegantly furnished and affordable apartment rentals might make me consider spending a few days in the city before heading to the beach.

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The Office/Guest Room Reveal

This is probably going to look like one of those really dramatic, awesome before & reveals because the only before photos I have of the office/guest room are of the room in complete disarray. I'm feeling brave today so I'll let you see what the room looked like right before we decided to give it a nice freshening up.

Lets break down the issues with this space - the room is pretty narrow, it's only 8.5' wide and it's about 16' long; there was really dingy, cheap carpeting; the area rug purchased to help disguise the ugly carpet never laid correctly and was always awkwardly bunched up; there was way too much furniture in the room (2 dressers, 2 desks, futon, very large swivel chair, dress form, old nightstands from bedroom, etc) ; when we opened the futon for guests (i.e. my parents) you couldn't actually walk around the foot of it; I think you get the situation, it was just not very functional.

The first step was taking everything out of the room and installing new laminate flooring. You can see the almost finished results of that here.

The inspiration for the room decor is actually the same as it was when we moved in about 3 years ago, it's just better executed now. I was inspired by our trips to Greece where all of the buildings are painted a chalky white and the main accent is a shade of blue that mimics the color of the Mediterranean Sea. Decor is mainly rustic, medium toned woods, iron work, and fishing boat paraphernalia. It's usually pretty simple and revolves around function.

We painted the walls a soothing gray blue for the walls (Sherwin Williams 6515 Leisure Blue) when we first moved in but I had some patching and touch up painting to do.

The futon, 1 dresser, and one bookcase came back into the room. The futon got a new white cover (that desperately needs to be ironed), some rope textured throw pillows and a cozy purl knit throw from west elm. The bookcase is just a simple white Billy from Ikea but to open it up a bit I removed the cardboard backing. Believe it or not, that piece of cardboard provides a lot of structural stability so I added a few L brackets to make it sturdy. You can see the bookcase in last week's sneak peek post.

I opted for one larger desk that the two of us can share instead of two separate desks. It works great with the limited space we have. The desk is the Vika Amon table top with Vika Moliden legs from Ikea. I love the weight of the chrome legs, I let you know how durable the top is after some months of crafting and computing. The small storage units on each side of the desk are Micke from Ikea and are nicely concealing a lot of my crafting supplies, sewing machine, and the computer tower. My two favorite new items just arrived yesterday and they are the accordion side tables from Urban Outfitters. The petite size is perfect for the room and I love the industrial look and rustic finish.

The new room feels much less claustrophobia, we actually enjoy hanging out in here now. The most important thing is that the space actually functions well as both an office and a guest room because it wasn't functioning as either before. What do you think?

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Office/Guest Room Sneak Peek

Here's a little sneak peek of the office/guest room progress. All of the furniture is moved in but I'm still working on a lot of the finishing touches. More updates are coming soon.

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Anthropologie For the Decorator is Live

There has been so much buzz about the Decorator Concept shops that Anthropologie opened this month in 11 U.S. cities + 1 in London. I am lucky to live close to one in New York City so I will be checking out soon but if you don't have a Decorator Concept near you Anthropologie has just launched For the Decorator online.

This section of the website is full decorating tips full for decorating with hardware , area rugs, wallpaper, and other textiles presented with beautiful graphics.

They have made it really simple to order wallpaper and upholstery swatches and there is a really fun hardware designer.

There is also a really helpful Decorator's Glossary in case terms like flokati and voile are completely foreign to you.

Have some fun exploring the site and let me know what you think.

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Office / Guest Room Furniture Plan

Now that most of the hard work is complete in the office/guest room I can move on to the fun part - decorating! I pulled together a mood board with all of the furniture I plan to bring into the space. We already have the bookshelf, futon (the white cover is new), and dresser but the rest of the pieces are brand spanking new.

1 - bookcase 2 - pillow 3 - futon 4 - more pillows 5 - side table

6 - lamp 7 - pouf 8 - chair 9 - rug 10 - dresser 11 - cabinet 12 - desk

I like it a lot though it is feeling a little too slick and Ikea (since that's where the majority of the furniture is coming from) so I need to bring in some accessories and art work that are a little rough around the edges to make it more homey and inviting. I will keep you updated on the progress. Can't wait to show you the final result!

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Reader Request: Please Help Design My New Office

I have something fun to share with you today. I worked on an e-design project many months ago and it dawned on me this weekend that I never wrote about it here on Design Evolution.

I received an email from Michele, a high school Chemistry and Forensic Science teacher from Richmond, VA, who was recently appointed the Science Department Chair. Her position comes with a perk, her very own office. The only problem - this was the state of her new office. It's a long, narrow space with a wall of cabinets that was being used for storage.

Michele reached out to me to help her turn this awkward space into a place where she could escape for some quiet time to think or work and also have a place where the other teachers can come & have a cup of coffee and talk. To give me a foundation to work from she explained that though her home decorating style is more Pottery Barn but she wanted something totally different for her office. She was allowed to paint the space, her school colors are blue and orange, and most importantly she was paying for this project out of her own pocket and therefore had a very limited budget.

I cracked my knuckles (bad habit - I know) and got to work. Michele mentioned she would liked a fun modern space with a style influenced by West Elm and Ikea. Inspired by her career as a Chemistry teacher, I decided a mix of modern and vintage with science classroom themed accessories would create a more interesting space. I prepared an this initial mood board for Michele so she could see the direction I was heading and to make sure she was on board with my ideas.

She loved it, phew! I moved ahead with a more detailed design for the office. I decided to incorporate the school colors without it becoming blue and orange overload. Blue & orange are color compliments so it was easy to create a color scheme that looked great. I chose a soft gray for the walls (Benjamin Moore Classic Gray) with white trim. I shopped Michele's local craigslist, Ikea, Urban Outfitters, etsy, and encouraged her to reuse as much as possible to stay within her $500 budget. I created three mood boards - one for paint, art and textiles; one for the desk area; and one for the guest and relaxation areas to help Michele envision the overall design.

I created this google document with more detailed descriptions about the room plan, diy projects, and shopping information. To make shopping even easier for Michele I created a Pinterest board for her shopping list, some people are more visual than others so if a long list feels too overwhelming a visual board may make shopping easier.

And lastly, I whipped up a few quick sketches so Michele could see the furniture layout that I thought would work best in her office space.

So what do you think of this science inspired office design on a budget? Do you have a room design that would like help with? If so I would love to help. Shoot me an email me to verdugo.designevolution AT gmail DOT com.

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A Little Weekend Rearranging

I got rearranging itch this past weekend. I hung my collection of art prints and photographs on the brick wall behind my sofa about a year ago and was starting to get tired of the grouping.

It's definitely true that if you don't occasionally rotate your art collection you don't appreciate the pieces. They just blend into the wall and you ignore them. So I bought in a few new prints & mirrors and moved everything around.

But I hated the arrangement so now my art wall looks like this:

I decided that I would prefer to hang one large photograph or piece of art in an oversized vintage frame over the sofa.

A few of the framed prints found new homes like this Baby Crane by Sharon Montrose. I'll enjoy her more here plus she's also covering that eye sore of a unused phone jack.

I am now on the hunt for the perfect piece so I'll share my finds with you here.

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Ace Hotel Lamp Mystery - Solved

Well, it's sort of solved. I never actually found out if it was possible to purchase the bedside lamps from the guest rooms at the New York Ace Hotel. Truthfully, I have a sneaking suspicion that the lamps were designed by Roman & Williams specifically for that project. Fabricating unique lighting appears to be something Roman & Williams does often. You can see a few examples of their lighting design here.

What I did find is the Loft Task Lamp from West Elm. It has the same black powder coated iron shade and thin black iron rod base. The lamps are pretty similar in style and for $74.99 (+ 20% off) I'm really happy with my West Elm purchase.

For reference, this is what the bedside previously looked like. Those sconces served their purpose for awhile (they're battery operated so it was a cinch to take them down) but they looked tiny when paired with the new, much larger, nightstands.

I love the way the bedside looks now, what do you think?

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EmersonMade in The Nest Magazine

I bet it's a shock to no one who is familiar with the clothing and accessories brand EmersonMade that the home of the couple who runs the company is as charming as their handmade fabric flowers. Emerson and Ryan's new Hampshire home was recently styled by Paul Lowe and photographed by David A. Land for The Nest magazine.

I haven't seen the feature in person yet but what I can gather from this preview is that it's about how the couple lives surround with open storage but some how makes it look organized instead of cluttered. That's a decorating issue I know many struggle with so this edition of The Nest will definitely be worth picking up.


Ryan and Emerson's home is so cozy, and warm, and welcoming and so many other superlatives. Also, I am extremely envious of that pantry.

See more shots from The Nest feature on Sweet Paul's blog or pick up a copy of the Winter 2011 edition of The Nest. While we are on the subject of EmersonMade, they just released a sneak peek of the new Spring collection and once again I want every item.

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EKLA Home

Among the many product pitch emails I receive there is the occasional gem. EKLA Home creates handcrafted upholstered furniture using natural latex rubber, organic wool batting, FSC-certified hardwoods and non-toxic stains. The Chester sofa features Ecotextile's Northern Lights bamboo/organic cotton velveteen and ottomans and pillows are upholstered with Fabricadabra's organic cotton cheeky ikats and Dutch wax print. Launched in 2007, EKLA home is located in Santa Monica, CA and focuses on creating the highest heirloom quality non-toxic upholstered furniture. I love the clean, simple lines and the responsibly sourced materials.

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Visit Local: Ace Hotel NYC & My Love for Roman & Williams

Somewhere between my the stress of preparing the Thanksgiving meal and the craziness of Christmas shopping Nick and I snuck away for a weekend in New York City. I live so close to New York but trips into the city generally consist of just running in after work to meet some friends for drinks or the occasional weekend trip to the museum. It's rare that we just get to enjoy the city at a more relaxed pace. As I mentioned previously, local trips are going to be a more regular occurrence and this weekend at the Ace Hotel was just perfect. I scored a large king room from Jetsetter.com for about 30% off and then magically got upgraded to one of the incredible loft rooms. At 700 square feet, a bathroom with a claw foot tub & separate rainfall shower, and a corner banquet with great views, we were ready to move right in.

Since this weekend trip was to weeks before Christmas we couldn't resist wandering the neighborhood to see the Christmas sights like the Rockefeller Center tree, the skating rink & holiday market in Bryant Park, and store windows at Macy's. It's madness in New York during the holidays but I still enjoy it. We enjoyed dinner at the english-style restaurant in the Ace, The Breslin, run by April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman, owners of Michelin starred restaurant, The Spotted Pig. The Breslin was recently awarded its first Michelin star and was worth the long wait. I'm dieing to try the suckling pig dinner served at the chef's table available for parties of 8 to 12.

(Please help, I'm dieing for those bedside lamps but can't find them anywhere. If you know who makes them I will love you forever.)

My search for those bedside lamps led me to the design firm responsible for this spectacular hotel. Roman and Williams, founded in 2002, have designed major residential projects in New York and Los Angeles. The firm recently completed the renovation and expansion of one of Frank Lloyd Wright's important Usonian houses, the renovation of the iconic Royalton Hotel, the Standard Grill and the 18th Floor Club, and of course the Ace Hotel - including The Breslin restaurant, Stumptown Coffee Shop, and most recently the John Dory Oyster Bar. I really connect with Roman and Williams work. Their esthetic is every evolving but always spans time frames, cultures, and styles.

You can read more about Roman and Williams future projects here and see more photos of completed projects here.

Photo Credits: Photos 1 thru 5 - Michelle Verdugo remaining photos from romanandwilliams.com

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