Anthropologie Pinned My Room!

I'm so thrilled to know that Anthropologie (my favorite store) liked my music room/library enough to pin it on to one of their inspiration boards.

I think I'm more thrilled about this than when I found out that Katie Couric had pinned my chair!

Don't you just love Pinterest?

Music Room in Action

Doesn't the library/music room look calm and serene here in the photo that I submitted to Apartment Therapy?

Looks can be deceptive.  Here's what it was like two hours ago.

It's the boys performing a new song they wrote last week called "Gumball Machine".  They've composed songs before but that was with the help of their old music teacher.  This one they completely wrote themselves.  I think it's quite catchy.  What do you think?

Those with a keen eye will notice how I managed to store the amps in the bookcase.  Always trying to find design solutions for everyday life.  Now I just need a separate room to store all of Callum's lego models.

And if you like the room, then please do me a favor and vote for it on Apartment Therapy's Room for Color Contest here.  Thanks!

Adding Some Bohemia to the Library/Music Room

If you know me then you'll know that every room in my house has to have at least some form of pattern somewhere.  The music room was looking a little bare to me since removing the chevron settee that was previously in front of the fireplace.  I also needed a new place for Callum to be able to sit and strum his guitar.  And to keep the music room from looking too formal, I thought some patchwork floor cushions would do the trick.  Lucky for me, Pottery Barn were having a sale so I snapped these up.

The boys love to do their homework lying on the snuggly rug.

The colours in the cushions reflect all the different colours of the books and help make the room look less formal and more bohemian.

The following pictures are some inspiration photos that I pinned to Pinterest.

Suzy Hoodless Interior Design

Kathryn Ireland

Michael Haverland?

This even has pocket doors like mine.

Emma Reddington - The Marion House Book

The picture above is from the Marion House Book blog.  This was my main inspiration for the mantel.  I had no idea when I picked up the floor cushions that Emma had also used them in her living room until I looked at this photo yesterday. Funny how good design sticks in your head without you even realizing it.

Nathan Turner

You can find the above sources on my Pinterest account.

Library/Music Room Update

This room is taking forever to finish!  I think it's because it's such an awkward space.  Everything seems to be in a corner.  Fireplace, piano, chair, drum kit, you name it, it's in a corner!  And having two massive pocket doors and a wall of windows doesn't help.  But I think I'm slowly getting there.  I just hope the family don't buy any more musical instruments because I'm running out of places to put them.  Anyway, a big decision I made last week was to put some doors on the bookcase.  We have way more paperbacks than nice hardcover books, and it was just looking too messy.  Plus now I have somewhere to hide the guitar amps when not in use.

Here it is with the tulip table that I bought a couple of years ago just for this space.  I think it actually looks really pretty, but it's not very practical if you want to open the bookcase doors.  So back upstairs it went.

I'm still considering spray painting the curtain rod gold.  Yes, I know, enough of the gold already!  But I really like the look of brass curtain rods and because the window is bowed, I had to make a curtain rod out of PVC pipe.  I should probably do a tutorial on that one because I'm sure there are many people with bowed windows that don't know what kind of curtain hardware they can use.

I'm not sure about the dead space between the curtain rod and the top of the window frame.  Maybe with the rod painted it won't look so odd to me.  I may even see what it looks like with matchstick blinds, but that again depends on whether I can hang them with the bow.

Roman got a new drum kit for his birthday/christmas.  I swear he chose the finish and wasn't influenced by me at all.  See that boy has good taste.  It's way bigger than his old drum kit, besides being a jazz kit which is smaller than regular kits.  But it still manages to take up the vast majority of the room, especially because he has 4 huge cymbals.  And it is really loud!  Hope the neighbors don't complain.

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I'm thinking of entering Apartment Therapy's Room for Color Contest again.  I know, it's just a popularity competition, but I do have fun doing it.  And although this room isn't perfect, I do think it has something unique about it that may appeal to the Apartment Therapy readers.  So wish me luck.