Bluebird Antiques and Home Decor

I was working on a living room scene with some of the items from my swap with studioseven. The room never seemed to look right, as much as I changed around the furniture and added/subtracted accessories. I had so many items I thought that I could really create a home decor shop, so I took off. I modeled it after small town antique shops with one of a kind items everywhere you look and a homey feel. I also used a bird motif thanks to the cute felt birds Alisa sent me in the swap, so the Bluebird was born. It is pretty cluttered and crazy, but I spent so much time working on it that I wanted it to count for something. Thank you to studioseven for many of the accessories including the felt birds, many handmade pillows, potted plants on the mantle, birds in the fireplace, blue "M" on wall, clothespins in basket, pinecone and crystal ball charms, artwork, and felt rugs. If you are curious where anything else came from, leave a comment. 

margaret_loves A Challenge!

So, I've had a idea rolling around in my head for a while now, originally inspired by a post by Mini Modern.  It is a simple miniature challenge inspired by a sheet of scrapbook/patterned paper chosen either at random, by someone else, or something with a pattern/style out of your personal taste/comfort zone. I have already designed a room around a piece of scrapbook paper once that my husband picked out for me  (Time Travels )  The paper itself should become a major feature in the final room, such as wallpaper or flooring. This time I selected some paper  myself that was far out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to design a room around it.

Hello loud animal prints with pink/orange/purple/brown color scheme! It is pretty wild, and the patterns are on a giant scale compared to 1:12. I have to make it look like an intentional choice that belongs in the room :)

So here are my ideas so far. I am pairing it with black and white modern furniture, along with some clear acrylic pieces. I may use some animal print items to pick up on the pattern, and I will be using pink and yellow as accent colors. I am thinking it may turn into an L.A. fashion editor's office, or maybe a musician's loft. Something about it says girly punk rock :) Anyway, I will post what I finally come up with.

So now I invite you to try this challenge yourself. Buy a sheet of scrapbook paper, or choose one at random from your stash, and design a room around it. Post a picture of your paper and your mood board and then show us where it all ended up. What do you think? Does anybody want to play along?

Studio7 Boutique Hotel

After a lot of playing around and fiddling, I completed my first scene using studioseven of Mini*Aesthetics items from our miniature swap! I was excited to create a bedroom featuring the gorgeous and luxurious bedding she made by hand. As I tried to put things with it, I got the idea that it could be a luxury/boutique hotel room. The lighting and the aqua color made me think it could be somewhere tropical, perhaps? Either way, it would be a great relaxing getaway :)

This room is in one of the units of my cube shelves (Ikea Expedit) unit, with one side covered in tracing paper. The lighting sometimes cooperates, and sometimes it doesn't. This one came out pretty dark, but you can see the layout of the whole room.

I just happened to have a blue stationary box that fit perfectly as a bed for the duvet and pillows Alisa made. The headboard is a wood flooring sample with mirrors from the swap. I made a small desk from another wood sample and my acrylic coffee table turned on its side. Desk accessories and plant are also from Alisa. Chair is Reac, and the side table is made by me. Bed tray is from my Re-Ment and eraser collection.

 On the other side of the room I have the television/magnet that was another swap goodie, along with a cool pillbox cabinet she created using stainless steel contact paper and clear beads as knobs. I thought maybe it could be a cool hotel minibar/minifridge in this case. Inside there are tiny cork board squares on each door! The tv stand is from DHE minis, and the blue containers came in the swap as well as the bookbag, pillow, and upholstered bench/ottoman.

Again with the lighting issues! But here you can see this couple is enjoying the room (they were also part of the swap).  It was fun to put this together. All in all, I believe I counted 24 items from our swap in this scene! (And there are still plenty of  items that I didn't use). I still have another room in the works using more swap accessories, so stay tuned. It really is a gift that keeps on giving :)

margaret_loves Swaps! (The Sequel)

I was SO excited to receive my package from Alisa (studioseven) from our Miniature swap. I opened the box to find this...

and these...

So many packages! I didn't know where to start! It took me about 30 minutes just to open all of them! It was just like Christmas morning :)

There was a little bit of everything, really. Bedding, artwork, accessories, rugs, paper, beads, books, electronics, dolls, so much Miniature goodness! I am so grateful to studioseven for her generosity with such thoughtful, creative, and handmade gifts!  I really feel unworthy now based on what I sent her now seems too little! Anyway, I will be posting pictures of some rooms I decorated using swap items soon :) Thanks, Alisa! Please go check out her new blog, Mini*Aesthetics!