Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you who joined the craft room inspiration linky party yesterday. The link will be open the rest of the day if you still want to join!



The images in this post from myhomeideas.com New Year's Eve Celebration. If you're looking for some tips, check out their site for more New Year's Eve inspiration and advice.


Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! I'll see you back here Monday (at the latest).

Craft Room Organization Inspiration

THIS POST IS FROM ROOM REMIX - THE BLOG .

The link party on this post that I did back in December of 09 has disappeared for some reason and something funky is going on, so I'm going to repost it and see what happens. Hopefully, it will still stay in order and not end up posting today (9/12/2010). Just in case it doesn't work right and publishes today, HERE is the post that I actually did today. Confusing enough? (Oh. And please don't notice that I still haven't done any prettyfication in my craft space. It's just so FUNCTIONAL right now that the need to pretty it up just doesn't seem so important any more. I'll get to it someday :-) )

diyideas.com

I just told you about my closet craft room project, so now I'll share some of the inspiration photos with you that I've found. Some of them will inspire my makeover and I'm hoping, whether you have a dedicated craft space or not, this may give you some ideas for storing/organizing your craft supplies too.

diyideas.com

The next two ideas are from BHG.com's 7 Clever Storage Closets

Brooklyn Limestone

Coastal Living Photo Jean Allsopp

houseandhome.com

Look at this clever solution from Martha Stewart's site. A craft "armoire" made out of two bookcases joined together. Find out how to make it HERE.

Another great solution from BHG.com

myhomeideas.com

The three ideas below are just a few that you'll find at BHG.com's Ultimate Craft Organization Solutions

A craft cart...
A craft cupboard...

A craft suitcase...

Do you have a dedicated craft space in your home or some clever ideas for storing your craft supplies?

Have a great day...

Happy New Year! Good bye 2009 and Welcome 2010.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and a relaxing start to 2010.
2009 has been a great year for me professionally. While it was the Year of the Recession, Charlotte Minty Design remained busy throughout the year.
I worked with several new architects this year - Tse Wallace Architects and Mary Daish Architect, as well as continuing working with Alan Minty Architect and Minty Architecture & Design. It's a pleasure working with you all.
Starting this blog has been successful for Charlotte Minty Design. It has been useful to display interior design visuals and other research tools for me and our clients to explore. I'm happy to continue this and hope to expand on this blog next year for your enjoyment.
2010 already has a positive start - 'Minerva', a great book store and gallery, has been so successful since their opening on Cuba Street and I have asked back to extend on the original design and create new pieces for the store. I'm looking forward to that.
I thank all the great clients I worked with this year and hope that you're enjoying the results of our collaboration. And to those who allowed me put your homes on my blog. It is much appreciated.
Roll on 2010...

Photograph by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Joinery with Sliding Doors

Sliding doors closed

Sliding doors opened

Here is one way to hide a flat screen in your Living room - behind sliding doors.
My client's brief was the following - she prefered the TV not to be the main focus of her Living room; the joinery unit not to be too substantial or to have a huge presence; shelves to display her wares and storage for her children's games/toys.
So in resolution, sliding doors were inserted to cover the flat screen, slim line joinery unit painted in the wall colour to look less obvious, the height of the unit the same as the curtain rail so it relates to the room, low level cupboards for storage and finally, adjustable shelves to suit the displayed wares/sliding doors.
The flat screen is on a bracket so that it can be angled out and viewed from several points in the Living Room.
This was installed just before Christmas - so I look forward to my client slowly filling up the shelves in the New Year.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

Closet Craft Room

So this little DIY project is all about this 6'3" x 8'6" closet in my guest bedroom. Prior to this house I lived in a very small split-level for 15 years that had no storage. Not exaggerating. So, when this house was being built, we had an option of having a larger basement bath or borrowing from that space to make this closet larger. I immediately chose the closet because I was SO determined not to be without storage again. In retrospect, I think I may have gotten a little carried away...

When we first moved in, my husband installed this white shelving all the way around the closet. Why? Because it's a closet. :-) We do have quite a few overnight guests, but the clothes they bring typically fit in a very small fraction of this hanging space. So, after about a year we (he) added the other two shelves so that we could store other "stuff" here.

In an effort to become more organized, and make better use of the space, I've decided to make this a craft room. Not that I'm a HUGE crafter at the moment, (I recently had someone ask me in the comments if I actually ever DO any of these DIY ideas I'm always finding for you all :-)) but I do some and would like to do more. I'm also hoping that if I have a dedicated space to have all my sewing things organized I'll do more of it and become better at it.

Now, this is PK we're dealing with so you know this isn't going to be an overnight transformation. Things happen a lot more quickly in my head than they do in real life, and I'm sure you've figured that out by now. I also need to decorate the guest bedroom at some point and want to tie it all together. But we have already modified the storage in here and installed a workspace.

I'll be showing that to you in some posts coming up later on.

Hope you're all having a great day!

Christmas Ornament Lamp - Use it All Year

How cool is this lamp from diyideas.com? Made out of Christmas ornaments! (I would probably choose the sturdy, shatter-resistant kind for this project :-) ) Complete tutorial on their site. If you make it, I would love to see it!

Corner Creativity

I know we mentioned in this accessorizing your walls post that areas smaller than 3 feet wide don't necessarily need to be accessorized, but I really like the use of shelves/coral in this corner. It adds very subtle, simple texture that doesn't compete with the rest of the room.

remodelingcenter.com

Also loving the long lumbar pillow on the sofa, and the fact that they used a painted basket topped with glass for a coffee table. I think this room could easily be duplicated on a small budget.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Enjoy your weekend!

Vote for Room Remix?

I know. It's Christmas Eve day and I'm supposed to be done blogging, but... someone nominated me (with some very nice comments) in the Home Design category for The Homies 2009 on Apartment Therapy and it made my day. :-) And, yes, I know who they are and I think they rock for doing it. Thank you!

There are a ton of awesome blogs, and I know that I don't have even a remote chance of winning, but it's so much fun just to be nominated.

If you're looking for something to do, you could hop over and vote for Room Remix. You know. Just so I have more than one vote. :-) (edit: once you get on the page, you need to click on the little house to the left of my url to vote).

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have a good day tomorrow.
I have wrapped all my gifts for my family and as I have previously posted about a 'touch of summer yellow', I decided to do this for my gift wrapping - yellow ribbon paired with silver starry paper.
Also I'm bit of a Scrabble nut so letters were used for the cards - the first letter of their name. Lots of fun.
Photo by Charlotte Minty.

Merry Christmas...

nativity candle holder trio from dayspring.com

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Wishing you all a joyful Christmas!

I'll see you back here on the 27th...

CSN Stores Shopping Spree Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the $80 Shopping Spree from csnstores.com is Mama Thompson! Congratulations! :-) Please e-mail me your selection and contact information so that Tyler can get your order placed.

Christmas Gifts (for me! :-) )

I was so honored a month ago when Toni at Design Dazzle chose me as her favorite top commenter. Not only was I honored, I was excited when I realized that I had won prizes! I just received them in the mail not too long ago, so I thought I would share them with you.

I won these cute JOY letters (above) from the etsy shop LittleLoveLetters. I love the fun combination of stripes and polka dots, and they add a little whimsy to my Christmas decor.

I also won textile gift boxes from Hullabaloo Home Decor. They have other great options on their site, but the three below are the ones I picked. Aren't they awesome?

They come with the matching ribbon and gift tag and they're really nice quality.

I'm going to have a hard time actually using them, because that means I'll have to give them up. :-)
Hope you're all having a good week so far...

New Work - Black and White

Here is one the of the many little jobs that has been installed leading up to Christmas...

This is my mother's formal living room. After 15 years of looking the same, she wanted this room updated. She is a talented designer herself, however this time she wanted me to lead the way.

The first move was the new Mokum Star Tile rug in black and white. We then re-upholstered the chairs, previously in coffee macrosuede, in a textured cream with black contrast piping.They look so effective and coincide with the existing cream sofas. We finished off with smaller scale patterned cushions to relate back to the rug. A new coffee table will be sourced in the New Year to completely finish the job.

The Minty family will enjoy our Christmas Day in this room - that's the family Christmas Tree in the background. Looking forward to it!

Photos by Charlotte Minty.

Gift Wrap/Tag Ideas

Coastal Living

I'm thinking that lot of you might still be in gift wrapping mode or not quite started yet, so here are a couple more ideas for you.

I love this simple monogram idea from Better Homes and Gardens. How easy would this be to do with scrapbook paper, scissors, hole punch and ribbon? You could do any size or shape that would fit with the gift, and you could hand write the letter or create it on your computer and print it out. A couple other variations would be to:

• Use it as the gift tag and print the recipients name instead of a monogram. Getting creative with the font could give you some pretty, one-of-a-kind looks.
• You could also print a special note, verse or poem.
• How about a black and white, or sepia photo of the recipient?
• I'm sure the variations are endless. What other ones can you think of?

bhg.com

This next one may require a little more work, but how fun are they? Pop top treat cans from Not So Idle Hands. Click HERE to see how she made them...

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!

GIVEAWAY! - $80 Shopping Spree

I love to have great giveaways for my awesome followers, so when Tyler of csnstores.com contacted me with an offer for one of my readers to have an $80 Shopping Spree on their site, I jumped at the chance! To be honest, before this I was familiar with some of their items, but I didn't realize how huge csnstores.com actually was (over 1 million items and counting!). Did you know that they even sell living room furniture?

Some of you are already familiar with their unbelievably large (and I'm not kidding - huge!) selection of accent pillows. I've never seen so many pillows in one place. No matter what style or color you need to accent your sofas (or anywhere else for that matter) they seem to have it covered!

There's absolutely no way I can even begin to show something in each of the categories that they have on their site, but here are just a few more things I found...

Mirrors

Dinnerware

Baskets

Cute kids art (and any other type of art too - at the wall art store!)

So again, the lucky winner will receive an item or items of their choosing from the csnstores.com site, not to exceed $80.00!

TO ENTER:

Entry 1: Hop over to csnstores.com and come back and leave a comment telling me what one of your favorite items is on their site.

For TWO ADDITIONAL entries blog, facebook or tweet about this giveaway, giving the link back to this post and LEAVE AN ADDITIONAL COMMENT letting me know you did so.

Contest will end Tuesday night, December 22nd, at midnight CST. Good luck!

Hope you're having an awesome day!

Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas

This simple Coffee Scented Hot Fudge Sauce is one of the recipes you can find in Homemade Food Gifts For the Holidays at parents.com

I know we might be running out of time for homemade gifts since Christmas is next week, but here are some ideas and links that I found in case any of you could use them yet this year (if not, maybe next?). Some are completely homemade, some are not.

The next three ideas are from Better Homes and Gardens Super Quick Gifts to Make.

Movie Tickets Gift Bag

Hobby Gift Tote - fill a cute container with items for the recipients favorite hobby.

Cloche Gift - Choose a theme and fill a cloche full of items relating to the theme.

How about this simple coaster idea from Zakka Life? If you wanted a larger gift, include the coasters with speciality coffee, cocoa mix (homemade recipe here) or chai tea mix and a cute mug. Depending on the beverage you choose to include, you could add some chocolate spoons or how about some homemade peppermint marshmallows?

Martha Stewart shows you how to monogram these woolens using a technique called needle felting. Aren't they adorable?

Moisturizing Body Oils and Bath Salts also from Martha


Are you looking for gifts that kids can make? familyfun.go.com has some ideas.

More gift ideas here: 20 Gifts Under $25

Midwest Living suggests giving an arborvitae seedling planted in a decorated tin with a label and tree care tips. They are pretty, aren't they?

The recipes for Big Batch Barbeque Rub, Cajun Rub and Mediterranean Herb Rub are just three of the recipes you'll find at 9 Easy Recipes for Homemade Holiday Gifts from realsimple.com

Ka Yeung/Tinkerbox Studios Inc.

This yummy sounding Winter Orange Pomegranete Iced Tea is one of the recipes included in Midwest Living's 16 Heavenly Homemade Food Gifts

Edited to link to Holiday Linky Friday at The Inspired Room.