ANTLERS

Hours Years of poring over pictures of beautifully designed spaces has led me to one conclusion: I am a fan of antlers as accent pieces. Antlers have been an ongoing increasing trend in magazines and online and I think it is all due to their versatility. 

Antlers feel as appropriate in rural, country schemes as they do in more minimal, contemporary ones. Their popularity appeals to youth's current affinity for all things gothic and macabre (taxidermy and gore have almost taken over my Tumblr dashboard) and also speaks to the classic tradition of mounting trophies from successful safaris or hunting excursions of a classier time. 

But enough hypothesizing. Let's let the images speak for themselves!

For the goths:

(via Tumblr)

As Part of a Gallery Wall:

Classic:

(via Lucketts Store)

(via Elle Decor)

 Contemporary:

(via House Beautiful, by Betsy Brown Interiors)

Some Rustic Examples:

(via Lucketts)

Happy hunting!

bZd

PLUMBING SHELVES

The long wall of our living room has always been a pretty major sore spot in the apartment. Budget, lack of commitment, and did I already say budget? were huge setbacks against this wall ever realizing it's full potential. 

I knew I wanted shelves, but they are just SO. DAMN. EXPENSIVE. Having been a university student, I knew I would never cheap out on another set of fibreboard shelves that sag as soon as the smallest amount of weight is put on them again (sorry, IKEA). 

Lately, I have been really inspired by the combination of black metal and wood, like this:

                    

  

(Both at CB2)

And because I have been pretty into this sort of industrial/wood/metallic type thing, I have been compiling some images that only until writing this post did I notice how consistently I enjoyed this little trick:

  

(Clothing racks at Banana Republic)

(Built-in shelving system at cool Asian store in 

Kensington Market)

This last image was the tipping point, which finally forced me to ask the shopkeepers where they got this stuff. In broken English, I made out two words: "Home Depot". 

I immediately ran home and searched the Home Depot website to find all of these small, screw in plumbing pieces that were literally SO CHEAP and I was immediately inspired. 

I then typed two other words into Google and, at long last, I had found the solution to our shelving dilemma. The words were: "Plumbing Shelves", and a new, glorious world dawned on me.

TADA!!! 

(Sorry about the crappy iPhone pic, but I was just too 

excited to share it!)

In fact, I found my new favourite blog through said search, as The Brick House built exactly what I was looking for. Morgan (the writer of Brick House) gives a pretty good idea of how it was done, but basically it involves some pine planks, some stain, cleaning the pipes of their factory grease, and black spray paint. Put it all together and drill 'er in!

   

Shout out to my Dad for helping install this bad boy. 

The shelves turned out amazingly, AND IT ONLY COST ME AROUND $150. These babies ain't saggin' anytime soon. 

I will say I'm not totally satisfied with how they're styled yet, but I will be sure to update and keep you posted!

bZd

VINTAGE FRAMES

Drawing inspiration from some of the gallery walls in the previous post, I have been on the hunt for some interesting, eye-catching frames. 

I am looking for some smaller, gold frames that will become especially useful when filling in any awkward spaces in the arrangement. 

I found the two frames picture below at a vintage store, which upon first glance don't seem like much:

The frame on the left is your typical, inexpensive gold frame with a few dings and scratches.
The frame on the right caught my eye because of it's especially unique 
gold hue, and the subtle texture of the frame detail. (It also came with an 
uplifting credo about "Togetherness".)

I decided I wanted to pick up on the black accents idea that I liked so much in the first image from the last post, and so I thought black and white profile silhouettes would be a great and easy way to get a big hit of black.

Here is the end result:

With a little bit of Windex and an all new image inside, these frames 
have taken on new life. 

Here they are, sitting together on my night stand (for now):

The lesson here, I think, is to look past the existing condition (and whatever "bonus" already-framed piece of art included with your purchase) and have a strong concept of a finished project. These frames look absolutely beautiful, and this project only cost me $7!

bZd

NEW APARTMENT

Sarah and I are moving into our new apartment next week! Naturally, I am very excited  and very inspired. 

First of all, I am hugely relieved that our landlord has agreed to paint our entire apartment white before we move in. Not only does this mean a freshly painted apartment, but also one that isn't painted in some awful, neutral peanut colour.

With this in mind, here are some design ideas that have stuck with me:

A Gallery Wall

ABCD Design - The black accents really add a cool edge.

Bookshelves Galore!