KateSpadification Complete

It.

Is.

Done.


The long awaited, much anticipated, fabulous stripes are done. And I. Love. It.

I was skeptical if I was ever going to get the stripes to look how I envisioned them in my head. As a joke I had to start referring to my paint colors and deisgn scheme as a Kate Spade bag. I have to say...she defintely has provided some inspiration. I now feel like I am living in a Kate Spade bag. I could not be happier. I think this is one of those moments where I am in full reign of the design scheme of my glorious 415 sq. ft. apartment because it is mine. All sweet sweet mine. So if I want grey strips and to KateSpadifiy my apartment...well then I can do that.

This process required a lot patience. A lot of moral support (to not flip out and start just throwing paint against the wall). And much needed advice and best practices from friends and other DIYers.

It also required a lot of blue painters tape:

So without any further ado...

I present....

My masterpiece:

Yes my apartment is an utter disaster at the point now. I guess that is the price I pay for progress? Well some things are going to have to be put in place as I have a very special guest coming to visit this weekend. None other than Miss SaraMarie!! (eep!) [Insert giddy excitement and uncontrolable bouncing here]. Can. Not. Wait. For. Friday.

But back to the KateSpadifaction. There are a few piece of furniture that need to be put together. (Hey IKEA maybe you should sell that stupid friend you show in your instruction manuals!) And then we are pretty much ready for final details- side tables, artwork, lamps, maybe a rug if we find one that suits my fancy.

I am thrilled the wall is done. I feel incredibly accomplished and proud with the results. Hope it was exciting for you all to finally see what I have been consuming myself with since I moved into this place!

No Words are Needed.

That's All.

The Keys To Potential

I love getting up on the weekend and snuggling up with a cup of coffee or tea. I also really like the idea of having a mismatched coffee mugs. I just am not sure I see the fun, or point, of having a matching set of coffee mugs. So I pick up mugs along my way that I like. So far a few of my favorites are:

• A wizard of Oz mug my mom bought me when we were driving through Kansas together on the way back  from my Texas adventure one summer.
• A big pink Starbucks mug that was on sale after valentine's day. Sadly it had this cute ceramic heart on a ribbon that was tied to the handle and it somehow disappeared.
• Kendal brought me great mug from San Francisco and it resides at my office so I can have a reusable mug to stay green.

But I think this one would be a great additional to my started collection:

found @ Stylehive.com

Making Progress

For about 3 loooooong months I have had this crazy idea to paint grey/white horizontal stripes on the wall adjacent to the purple wall that was painted a few long months ago. Originally the wall was going to be painted all grey but Kate Spade somehow put the idea in my head with all her polka dots and stripes to do something a little bit more visually intriguing.

So measuring and tape take 1 was an epic failure. We did one stripe and realized I was in way way way over my head.

This prompted the purchase of a laser level.

Cue measure and taping take 2.

Fail.

Ruler, pencil and more tape. Cue take 3.

Wavy line fail.

So here we are....measuring and taping take 4.

I think we finally got it straight (ha!) this time!

Naturally after 4 major attempts to tape 9 line segments 4 times the tape ran out tonight, but we did make some great progress. I think I can safely say that I am almost 1/2 done with this epic painting job.

Some pictures of my progress tonight.

Look at those straight tape lines! Woo! Hopefully tomorrow I can pick up some more tape, finish taping the edges and then get that first coat of grey on the walls. (I better get to it as I have a 2/14 deadline to finish this sucker up!) I also made one of last big trips to IKEA (thank goodness! I am so not in a place to spend any more money!) but this is what was purchased:

Can't wait to show you all when it is all put together! Getting close to finally getting this apartment put together!