inspiration – Rae Nudson

inspiration for planning new projects

Since I’m not going anywhere for the long weekend, I’ve been perusing some of my favorite magazines and catalogs for inspiration on projects I can do at home. I am thisclose to my home being totally done–whatever that means–but right now there’s still a few blank walls I want to fill with something more interesting.

The images pictured are from the most recent Ikea catalog (bottom) and HGTV Magazine (top; one of my favorites because it meshes with my style so well).

Hopefully next week I’ll have some finished spaces to show you, but until then, I hope everyone has a great long weekend!

bedroom inspiration

I am still trying to get my life in order. (How long can I use moving as an excuse?) It feels like I’ll be catching up for weeks. My new neighborhood is delightful, as is my new premium cable. But I’m getting a little tired of stepping through boxes in the living room. (#Fatcat, however, is very much enjoying climbing up and around the mess.)

So when I’m not catching up on laundry or sleep, I’m dreaming of what my new place will look like once the dust settles. I feel like I change my mind every few minutes but I am into this blue and yellow.

bedroom inspiration from polyvore

And here’s a peek at a rug I bought completely on a whim.

What do you think? I hope my planning and scheming and impulse buying all comes together. For now, I’ll keep enjoying the neighborhood and learning about the city. I’m totally in love with the Jewel grocery store around the block. And tonight I’m going to a Cubs game! Wrigley Field is just down the street. So far, so good, Chicago.

I’ll be back to reading and crafting and outfitting as soon as I get my head back on straight. So…any day now.

apartment ideas

Moving plans are trucking along. I have juuust barely started packing and I’ve gotten rid of some things I don’t want to move. But mostly I’ve daydreamed about what to do in my new space.

I mean, moving is a drag, right? It’s a big pain and expensive and stressful. But decorating is fun, and so is a new apartment. I have thought of some very specific things I’d like and also some big ideas I haven’t worked out yet. Everything on my list changes on almost a daily basis, and ultimately I’ll likely need to live there a bit before I figure it all out.

Mismatched plates/dishes, likely from thrift stores. I will hopefully be having a lot more people over for dinners since I’ll have more space. But nice plates are expensive! I’d like to try to mix and match with what I can find.
Peg boards. Everywhere.

A shelf to display my favorite coffee cups. probably like a shadow box-type thing, painted black so they will pop. This is something I made up and would like to find or make. But we’ll see how it pans out.
Shower hooks or S hooks on either hangers or rods to hang scarves and purses.
How fun does this plastidip look?! But I don’t know what I’d use it on yet
I can’t let go of the idea of brightly colored beautiful velvet.

I have thought a lot about an entryway and haven’t decided on anything except I think a coat rack and umbrella stand sound fun. I also would love to have space for a table for my sewing machine and any projects I’m working on in addition to a desk just for work. I’m pretty sure I’m letting my daydreams get away with me–but that’s ok for now!

You can keep up with my daydreams on Pinterest.

decorating inspiration

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about reimagining my space. I love my apartment, but change is good and always fun to daydream about. When I was looking at inspiration this weekend on Polyvore, I focused on pushing my style a little bit and trying something new. I may not want to live with these styles in the end, but it sure is fun looking at them for a while.

The room with gray walls and pops of color is the most similar to how my apartment is now, but I think it’s the one I like the least out of these options. Which room would you pick? For more home decorating inspiration, follow me on Pinterest.

characters’ christmas trees

One year in college I left our Christmas tree up so long it became an Easter tree (complete with Easter egg lights). For a few years in New York I lived in a 400-square-foot apartment, but I always made sure I had room for my boxes of Christmas ornaments.

Right now I have a small fake Christmas tree that’s roughly three feet high. The lights built into it burned out last year–I might need to retire it soon. For now, I just added extra strands of lights (including the Easter egg ones).

I don’t know what I like more: the twinkling lights, the bulbs of bright colors, or the sparkly garland.

My tree is a Doctor Seuss tree. Its ornaments are too large, and too small, and the giant glitter star at the top makes it a little lopsided. I use (and save every year) the tackiest, most colorful garland I can find. I only wish I could fit more ornaments and lights on my tiny tree (and figure out how to take a better picture of my narrow tree in my tiny narrow living room).

I love my little Christmas tree, and I think it does a good job of representing my unique brand of Christmas cheer–more is more and the brighter the better.

After all, your tree is a reflection of your style. Are you traditional? Modern? Minimalist? Tell it to me in Christmas tree. I love seeing my friends’ (ok, and strangers’) trees. It’s a peek inside their holiday brain–and sometimes there’s a bit of personal history in the branches. I assume this is true for fictional people, too, so what would some characters I’ve met this year have on their Christmas trees?

Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. Jon Snow’s tree on the wall would be pretty sparse. They’d have crow decorations and black ornaments. Some books might be under the tree as a gift to Sam, and it would definitely be covered in snow.

Delirium from the Sandman. Delirium’s tree would be a delight–at least at first glance. It would be rainbow, like her speech bubbles, and it would have whimsical ornaments. I have a feeling Delirium decorated until something else came up, and then she promptly deserted her tree in favor of a new distraction. Or maybe she hit the eggnog a little too hard before she got started.

Bernadette from Where’d You Go Bernadette. Once Bernadette was a great architect. She used recycled materials and wasted nothing. Her tree would be made of materials found around her Seattle home, and the blue glass would be a tribute to her daughter Bee’s trip to Antarctica and the glaciers she saw there.

So how do you like your Christmas tree? Whimsical like Delirium’s? Or maybe upcycled like Bernadette’s?

what would death wear

Death is my favorite of Dream’s siblings.

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series has me saying nonsensical things like that and meaning every word.

In Gaiman’s universe, our hero Dream has six siblings. I’ve met five of them: Death, Desire, Delirium, Despair, and Destiny.

Destiny is the oldest, and he seems like a little bit of a wet blanket. Delirium sounds like she’d be fun, but she’s gone a little mad since the days she was known as Delight. Desire is a tricky scoundrel who takes the male or female form as he or she feels fit. Desire’s twin is Despair–and she just sounds exhausting.

Which leaves us with Death. She is spunky and kind. And eventually we all belong to Death, no matter how much time we spend tangling with her brothers and sisters. I like Death’s attitude and I like her style. Here she is in formal wear, for a family meeting.

I’d like to pick up a lot of things from Death: how to be kind to people in a time of need, how to be dependable to your friends and family, and how to rock your own personal style.

If Death were in real life instead of comic book life, here’s what she might wear:

Death can dress up, when the situation calls for it. But I bet her personality still shines through and you know she has some fun jewelry.

If she’s heading out for a date night (does Death date??), I could see her throwing on some jeans and a cool blazer.

And of course, she knows how to keep it simple and true to herself. You can read what I thought about Sandman Vol. 1 here. I’m on volume 6 now and I can’t wait to keep reading.

(I bought this book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. But I am a part of the Amazon affiliate’s program, so if you buy through my links I’ll make a little bit of money off of it.)

saga: white outfit inspiration

I just read a graphic novel for the first time. It’s called Saga, vol. 1, by Brian K. Vaughan. It was cool! Ever the speed reader, I had to remind myself to not just read the text, but to really take a look at the images. It’s kind of a love, adventure, space travel, war story, I think.

Check out this Bad B and my new best friend, #lyingcat. He can tell if you’re lying.

I don’t know this woman’s (is it a woman?) name, but I do know I like her sense of style. I love an all white look but can rarely pull it off because I tend to spill my coffee. A lot. If I were to do an all white look any way I wanted, I might do something like this. With a bold, pointy ring to represent her horn, of course.

More on Saga this weekend after book club. Until then, try this monochrome thing, and may you carry your Tide pen with you.

twin peaks

Have you seen Twin Peaks? I’m obsessed. I started watching it over the weekend, and eight episodes later I came up for air. The show follows the investigation of the death of Laura Palmer in the town of Twin Peaks, Wash. It’s super strange and super quirky and super gorgeous. The set and costume design are as distinct and lovely as the story and characters.

See?

The colors are bold, the patterns are all over the map, and the style is carried throughout every scene I’ve seen so far. It makes me want to clash Hawaiian prints and stand in a severe, wood-paneled room while I talk about pie. But I have neither a Hawaiian-print shirt nor the ability to put wood panels in my apartment. So instead, I made some Polyvore collages with Twin Peaks in mind.

I am not sure who the killer is, but I am sure Twin Peaks will push my style to be bolder and, well, a little quirkier. So what do you think of the show!?

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