Coming soon on Ange de Design...

Beachy decor.

Before-ish photos of the new apartment (still very in progress).

Possibly pictures of newly-painted lawn chairs.

And maybe, a post "planning" an ideal house.

ETA:  And I'm futzing with the way the blog itself looks.  Not being knowledgeable about html, am going about this kind of half-assedly.

Girly Room

Girly Room by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

After making the manliest manly man room I could last time, I decided to go for "girl" here.  And oddly enough, Wulfy said he kind of liked it *facepalm* I think he's just not picky as long as he's not really involved in the process.  I also really liked this when I made it (that tufted gray chair is so cool) but now I think it's kind of lacking.  Maybe too semetrical?  Maybe the walls need more color?  I was trying to go for a "collected over time" look with the art, but maybe it didn't succeed or the scale is off or something.  It's hard to get things on scale, that's one advantage of the true mood-board as opposed to the mockup.

And I will probably be spending time in my apartment-to-be this weekend, so I may take "before" pictures to share.  If I'm not attacked by the many pointy Christmas ornaments in storage down there first.

Compromise, + ohmigod apartment

I figured out how to use polyvore.com for interior design purposes.  The results aren't quite as crisp as photoshop, but it took half the time:

Boyfriend Room - by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

My boyfriend, Wulfy, is a manly manly man who vetoes a lot of my favorite things as "too girly" to live with.  This room he thinks is still girly, but livable.  I think if it got much more manly, it would be a cave furnished with antlers and animal pelts.

But at least we both like the couch, and especially the Andy Warhol print.  He likes the green chair, I have a thing for wicker.  I wanted a zebra stripe rug, he didn't.  I wanted a paper lantern, he picked the style.  I picked those tables without him though, because I love them oh so dearly.  That stripey wood is so pretty to me right now.

And in bigger, better news:  I may have found an apartment!  No more dorm for me!  I couldn't stay on campus next semester anyway, and I wanted to stay in town over summer because this place comes alive in warm weather, it's a great place.  So an older relative who lives in town offered to let me live in the apartment in her basement if I help fix it up.  My family are all packrats, so cleaning out her basement is no small task, but it will definitely be nice to have a place even marginally my own.  She might even fix up the bathroom down there, and will likely fix dinner for the two of us on a regular basis.  Oh joy oh joy!

Red, Gray, Turquoise

Hey, another mood board!  I find making these things fun to unwind with when I have enough time to do them.

This time, I looked mostly at color--red and gray (my favorite combo), with turquoise (another favorite) thrown in for variety.  And some beige slipped in too, oddly enough.

The couch, desk, and desk chair are IKEA; the side table (which I love), the coffee table, the rug, and the slipper chair are Target.  The art is from art.com.  The throw pillow and paper lamp are World Maret, and the table lamp is Pier1.  You can really tell which stores I favor from this blog, no?

In other news, More Ways to Waste Time just featured two posts on steampunk aesthetic, an example which I featured without naming it as such in my last moodboard.  I've always found it an interesting style, intriguing if not exactly livable to me right now.  I have always liked the Victorian library look though, so we'll see where that takes me once I have the means to buy the heavy furniture it needs--though I do already have an Oakley display case, which I adore and have no idea how to use.  It's good for keeping dvds in right now though, because it locks.

Meanwhile, design*sponge recently sneak-peeked a beautiful home that also reminded me of the Curry moodboard, with "world" influences and beautiful heavy furniture (that bed is -beautiful-) tossed together without looking pretentious or stuffy, something I'm not sure I could do in real life.

Mood Board: Curry

 I just finished reading S.M. Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers.  It has its problems, but it was entertaining, and damn, does that man love his food and his interior design. I approve.

I haven't managed to go out for Indian cuisine yet, but I did throw together this curry-tastic moodboard.  I tried to keep the color palette warm, but I want the whole set of those throw pillows.  I provided a low daybed couch for those who don't want to sit on the floor, even though I forgot to put in a rug (darn).  The gods Ganesha (the statue) and Krishna (in the painting) are mentioned frequently in the book, the bead curtains are similar to ones described in Elias's house, Princess Sita is given a fine illustrated copy of the Kama Sutra, and the globe is inspired by the gemstone map of airship routes.  And they drink a lot of tea.

As to where I found all these lovely products:

throw pillows and daybed: world market

bead curtain, morrocan lamp: shopwildthings.com

clock, coffee table, bookshelf: pier 1

banana fiber floor cushion: ikea

orange sari curtains: www.indianselections.com

Ganesha statue: buddhadecor.com

Krishna print: allposters.com

leatherbound Kama Sutra: amazon.com

gemstone globe: onlyglobes.com

antique silver tea service: ebay.com

And I have to say, this is about my favorite mood board yet.  Why did I not notice the magic wand tool before now?  The richness and brightness of a British India inspired room also appeals to me right now, as I eagerly await the end of gray winter, and the flexibility of floor-based seating would be nice for a small space.

Product love

I love Philosophy products:

Such cute and simple packaging.  Such quality product.  Looks so good on the shelf.  They have recipes on the sides of their food-named shower gels, like cinnamon buns and blackberry sauce.  

And the shower gels double--no, triple--as shampoos and bubble baths, so in summer, when I don't need serious moisturizing shower gel, I only need one beautiful bottle for all three.

Philosophy products ftw.*

*If you only buy products not tested on animals, however, you're S.O.L.  This is the one thing that keeps Philosophy from being perfect.

Mood Board 2

Another attempt, this time at a "contemporary luxe" look inspired in part by my boyfriend's sister, who loves Crate and Barrel.  It's not exactly my style and it's a bit pricey for my college-student income, but I could probably live with it.

The upholstered winged bed is from Crate and Barrel, and is probably the thing I personally like best, followed by the mirrored nightstand from Pier 1.  I love a little bit of mirroring, for the sense of luxury and the light it bounces around the room.  I balanced the nightstands on one side of the room with a big silver-framed mirror from target, and one or two silver-toned lamps from Pier 1, atop a cherry-stained dresser.  The rich brown of the wood is echoed in the bedside lamps, also from Pier 1, and the Pottery Barn bedding.  The chunky cable knit throw, also from Pottery Barn, is an item I would personally love to own--so cuddly.  It's like your favorite sweater in the world, only you can wrap yourself up in it.  The curtains are from Target (even in a luxe-type room, I can't avoid Target) and I forget where I found the old-fashioned wallpaper to accent one wall, the rest painted a matching powder blue.

Looking at all this stuff, I was aiming for soft color, with highlights of the darker, stronger brown to keep it from looking washed out, and nice textures to touch.