K-Fresh Designs

I love when artists share the process of how they create their artwork. Katie, from K-Fresh Designs shows us how she takes photographs of friends and familly, uploads them into photoshop, and then alters the images until she is satisfied. She then moves her image onto canvas and creates beautiful works of art. Wouldn't these paintings make great gifts?

Katie also has some friends that had their dwellings posted on apartment therapy. Her friends have some cutes ideas that you could implement into your own home.

Wooster Collective

Wooster Collective is a great blog. The mission of the site is to "...showcasing and celebrating ephemeral art placed on the streets in cities around the world." I like the method that the artist in the last image created. A collage of photos or images such as the newspaper that was used to create a larger image. Naturally, we've all seen this method before with smaller images of photographs and such, but I think the way the artist created this fox, shows us another method of creating some pretty cool artwork.

Painted Furniture

Painted furniture - you either love it or you hate it. I think painted furniture has a lot of potential. The top image is taken from Danielle Thompson's flickr page. I think you could easily find some images out on the web, download them, cut out the pattern and turn a boring piece of furniture into something new and fun. You could also do something really simple like take a piece of furniture, paint it your favorite color and add a gold or silver trim to the edges. Painted furniture has endless possibilites. Imagine a piece with a painting on it from Jen Renninger. I can see a small child's chair with a collage on the back similar to Colin Johnson's art work, or a white chair with pink flowers from Fifi Flowers.

Treehouse

I have this weird obsession with treehouses. The funny thing is, they've really started becoming popular. It all stems from this dream I had. I often have dreams of very unusual houses. So, I had this dream of being in tree house that was an actual house. And to get from one room to the next you needed to take a wooded bridge amongst the trees. As I was was going from room to room, I ended up in a room with nothing but a pile of shoes from the floor to the ceiling. So, here are some photos of today's treehouses. You can get more details at inhabit and modern design

Until Next Week

Ok, I'm off for the weekend! See you next week!

Tree Refrigerator

Ok, I know this refrigerator is totally ridiculous. It isn't practical and probably wouldn't hold enough food for anyone. Gizmodo is full of design gadgets. So, this fridge thing, got me thinking about what if we could design everything in our house? From the refrigerator, to the sink, the walls, the furniture, everything. Your house would be so unique, so you, almost museum like. It would probably take a lifetime to do and a lifetime of resources none of us have. But it is fun to think about what your house would look like, isn' t it?

Alkemie

Before:
After:

Before:

After:

Alkemie has great before and after photos of reupholstered furniture. It's amazing how you can change an old tattered piece of furniture into something beautiful. There are also a lot of great photos for decorating.

Ruthie Sommers

This room was designed by Ruthie Sommers and I love it!! However, I'm not that crazy about the traditional secretary. The exact opposite reason why the author of The Peak of Chic likes the room. What do you think? Yes or No on the secretary?

Dream Office

I know this photo has been out on the web forever, but I just never get sick of it. I think this is the ultimate office. It's so beautiful. Probably not very practical without a computer, but beautiful. Image from Style Court

Man vs. Nature

Man vs. Nature by Colin Johnson. Wow, this guy is living right here in St. Paul. It makes me want to run out and start clipping my magazines. I wonder how he makes such beautiful collages. You can see more of his work at flickr and his website will lead you to other links of his art work.

Make your Own Picture Frames

I don't really want to endorse Lowes, but they have step by step instructions on how to create your own picture frames so you can create a whole wall full of frames at a fraction of the cost. I think that would be too big of a project for my time these days, but it is something to consider. If anyone wants to give it a try, let us know how it goes. Glenda?

Elsa Mora

Where do I start with this artist? Elsa Mora has her hands into everything! Paper cuts, illustrations, drawings, porcelain, clothing. Did you know you could make such beautiful buttons out of polymer clay? Her website is addictive. Best of all, she frequently has give aways for her readers. Elsita

Vector Art

Are you interested in vector art? Vector Art is a great source with links to brushes, fonts and tutorials like how to create images such as this tree in illustrator from ComuterArts.CO.UK Check it out.

DIY Vinyl Wall Art

Instructables has step by step instructions on how to make your own vinyl wall art. You basically just take contact paper, and cut it out into your own wall design. I think this is a quick and easy way to do something decorative like the Design Amour women, maybe not quite as complex, but something simple.

Cube Bookshelves

I like the idea of using cube bookshelves because you can arrange and create something a little bit different than the traditional set of bookshelves. Although the first set, which came from emmanuelle, is too modern for our home, I think we could do something similar to the last set which came from seletti. WebUrbanist has 20 different and unique bookshelf ideas.

Fifi Flowers

How fun is this? Being an amateur artist, I have so many times struggled with what subject to paint. I've always looked at what others have painted to get my ideas. However, today I have been introduced to a completely new concept. And it probably just shows how little I really know about art, but look what this woman has done. I love how she adds color and fun to everything. I most admire how she has shown us the before and after pictures. It's almost like viewing these photos through her eyes isn't it? Thank you Fifi! Check out her blog at Fifi Flowers

Tub Sofa

This is an interesting piece of furniture. Part of me thinks - I get it, relaxing in the tub. Must be comfortable right? I love the design and the colors are great. But, part of me also thinks, hmmmm maybe a little uncomfortable. Very cute design. Found at reestore

Italian Designers

Ok, so since I am on the topic of reupholstering my new found chair. I thought it would be fun to look at the designs of some chairs and happened to stumble across this genius of a chair. Brilliant simply brilliant. An Italian designer designed these items. See the Bibliochaise chairs and
Piola bookshelves here. Has anyone seen anything interesting in the form of bookshelves? I am shopping for a couple of bookshelves and everything is so boring. Although I love the chairs they would hold enough books. Please let me know if you've seen anything beautiful in a bookshelf.

Chairloom

Do you inspire to recreate? I do all the time. I constantly see 'projects' everywhere. I recently picked up a chair from an estate sale that I am going to reupholster. The chair I picked up is very similar to this pair of green high back chairs. The chair is probably 50 years old, but in excellent condition and with new fabric, should look fairly modern.

I've taken two reupholstery classes and found them to be really fun. So, I'll bring my next project to class and show you the photos when I'm done. Unfortunately, the class moves relatively slow. So, don't plan on seeing the photos anytime soon.

If you can't find the inspiration to recreate yourself, check out this website and you may just change your mind. Chairloom.com. I love the coordination of chair styles and fabric choices the designer uses.