Mintie Does the Spring Cure

Apartment Therapy is doing a "Spring Cure" in which you spend eight weeks "curing" your home of whatever you think is ailing it, decor, organization, remodeling, etc..  I've decided to participate and track my progress along the way.

I'm not 100% convinced I will be blogging it every week, but here we go with week 1. 

Keeping in mind that I cannot paint nor do any type of permanent construction, my Apartment Cure will entail the following:
Organization and decor in the OFFICE
Decor in the LIVING ROOM (do something with my loveseat and we need a wall decal or artwork on the big wall)
Decor in the DINING ROOM (it needs some pizzaz and perhaps a lighting fixture)
Organize the HALLWAY CLOSET (it's so tiny our coats barely fit in there)
Decor in my BEDROOM (it's on it's way and I already have my ideas in process)
Organize my CLOSET
Decor update in the BATHROOM (it needs some color and pizzaz.  I might be ready to change out the color scheme)
Decor update in the KITCHEN (NEEDS COLOR!  The only color we have in there are tea towels, curtains (made from tea towels) and seat cushions.  The rest is painfully white.
Outfit and decor of OUTDOOR DECK (this is where the fun (and money) will be most spent)

The task for this week is to find inspirations for our home.  I've identified a few inspiration images and will share them with you here.  If I come across more, I will certainly share them as well.

Let's start with my BEDROOM.  I've already made some changes in there, and it's well on it's way.  Here are my inspiration photos for the room:

I want a very zen, serene feel to the room.  I like it dark.  My bedding consists of black sheets, grey and black duvet (in a leaf pattern) and 2 black throw pillows and one red.  Red is my accent color, obviously.  And just this weekend, I installed my "wall of curtains" along the north wall.  Black sheers, floor to ceiling, wall to wall.  This, clearly made black my primary color, which means I need to keep it to appx 60%.  The grey will be the 30% color and red, the 10% color.  I plan for a cherry blossom decal to go on the South wall, and I'm searching for a bedframe; my $2000 latex mattress and box spring are currently on the floor :(

So, with the kitchen, I'm at a bit of a loss.  Given what we currently have, I'm hard pressed to find ways to jazz it up.  I got the cute striped tea towels from Ikea that we use as decor... and I made short window curtains with two of the same tea towels.  The matching seat cushions adorn the white chairs that we have at my short cafe table (which will be relocated to the outdoor space).  I'm thinking a pub table... but, like I said, I'm still a little lost here.

I have no inspiration photos at the moment for the kitchen... I'm still looking.

On to the Dining Room.
Jena had mentioned that she wanted to make it a formal dining room.  Our dining room table isn't really that formal, but I think we can meet in the middle.

I want to do the wall of curtains again.  It oddly makes the room feel so much bigger, because you feel like there is an additional room behind the curtain or something.  It's odd.  Anyway, we're at odds finding a fabric we both love.  I'm all for big graphic black and white.  I think she's thinking burgundy.  Here are my inspiration photos for the room:

I know this is a living room, but I pulled it for the wall of curtains.

The living room is our biggest hurdle, I think.  Jena recently got a new sofa, which is lovely and comfy... but now I think my little loveseat is TOTALLY out of place.  My biggest goals in here will be to figure out something to do with my loveseat.  Perhaps cover it?  Or just replace it with a chair or two.  We also want to do a graphic on the wall.  We are toying with the idea of doing a barcode.  I gotta encourage Jena to start working on it as it has to be an accurate barcode since that's what she does 9-5.  Finally, the coffee table.  We have said again and again that we like the room better without a coffee table at all... but for some reason, we keep it in there.  So it's either got to go, or we need to fall in love with what's there. Here are a couple inspirations for living rooms.  I really need to find more.

 







So, next is the office.
It was going well for a while, but then became a catch all room.  In addition to the cleanup, it needs organization and some sense of style.  These are offices I love:

Finally, we have the outdoor deck.  I haven't gathered any inspiration photos yet.  We'll be using Jena's old Bamboo sofa as an outdoor sofa.  We discussed fabrics a little tonight, and she pointed out one she really likes.  So next is sewing the cushions (argh!).  We also need a Sail Shade to shield our deck from the rain above.  The decks are wood slats and the rain just drips right through to each floor.  Our intention is to get a square sail shade and angle it down on the end to let the water roll off into the yard.  As I mentioned, the indoor cafe table will be going outdoors and the thought is to search rummage places to find cute chairs to mish mosh together.. and cushioning them with cushions in coordinating fabric from the sofa.  Planters, lights, etc. are also on the agenda.  This is the most fun room, I think.

So there we go!  I'll take photos of the existing rooms/spaces and post them in a few days.  Please comment with any thoughts or suggestions you might have... I'd love to hear them!