Office / Guest Room - Post 1 of ???

I am doing some work from home these days, and it was becoming increasingly apparent to me that I needed to designate an area for it.  We really don't have an extra room laying around, so this will end up being me sharing our guest bedroom with my office.

I need to be inspired to my best self, and to do my most creative and productive thinking in this space.  Therefore I want it to be:

Glamorous
Magical
Dreamy
Functional
Textured (but neat and deliberate as opposed to sloppy)
Lit in a way to make me feel wonderous
Intoxicating
Gypsy-like
Moroccan inspired
Glowing
Luminous
Sexy
Colorful
Inspiring
Spiritual
Sparkling
Feminine

And that's just the short list off the top of my head!  I understand that these may not be qualities most people aspire for in an office, but I feel these type of surroundings will bring out my best.  I created this pinterest board for inspiration:

http://www.pinterest.com/lizza66/where/

Now, I know my resolution has to do with doing the best with what I already have.  This room makeover is going to require some investment along the way.  However, I will do the best I can to repurpose where doing so helps me achieve the qualities on the list.

Also, ideally I will have both a desk work area for computer work, and a sewing station in here.  Plus, our guests still need somewhere to sleep.  The room is around 9 X 11.  So this won't be easy.

I've labeled the photo above "before" and "now", because I haven't made it to "after" yet.  This is a journey, but I wanted to celebrate the progress so far.  Here are some in between steps:

At this point there were no purchases made.  I made the bed.  I cleared out the clutter from the floor.  Now some of it remains on the floor in the hall, and it's an issue.  I need to resolve storage problems as part of this process.  I moved the furniture around.  I strung up some lantern lights I had bought my husband as a gift years ago, that he had never used.  And I bought up a guitar from my living room downstairs.  We have six guitars in that room!  I had bought some wall hangers for them, but my husband didn't want to put holes in the wall.  So now, downstairs, we have three guitars in floor stands, and two in cases on the floor (ironically the two best and best looking guitars.  But they are living in the cases with their humidifiers so it's to take care of them.)  Anyway, my point is that a bit of what will be happening here is resolving struggle and conflicting priorities.  And resolving the reality that I have expensive taste, but don't realistically want to spend more than $1,000 on this, if I can help it.

Then I found this stunning desk from Pottery Barn on their website.  I showed it to my husband expecting to him to say no way, because he finds it cheesy.  Instead he responded saying he found someone selling it on Craigslist in Manhattan for less than half the retail price.  So we drove over there and got it, and honestly, I could not love it more!  So that's $330 of my budget.  Thanks Matt! =)

Then I needed a chair.  I found this, and ordered it from Amazon, along with a cushion for it.  This was about $70, but I had a gift certificate so I spent $50.  So I've spent at $380 from my budget at this point.

Then I put up some Christmas lights along the bed, and put some hurricanes from my wedding decor on the desk.  I'm adoring how the chair sparkles, though my husband does find it cheesy.  It's also not that sturdy, but I'm a pretty gentle person.

Sweatshirt Upcycle

Here's one of my first attempts at maximizing what I already had.  I restyled on old sweatshirt that my Dad brought over.  Apparently it was formerly mine, and I had left it at his house.  I had forgotten about it.  Once I saw it, I thought the box styling would never do. I could have just donated it, but I thought of my New Years Resolution to try to do better with the things I already have.  So I decided to revamp it.  When all was said and done, this restyle took 5 days.  So perhaps I should have donated it!  But I learned lots along the way, and I love it now!

Here's the Before and After:

Below you can see some "during" shots.  I drafted the pattern from a flattering blazer I have, out of ads from the newspaper - so that's what the first bunch are.  Eventually I had to add another old shapeless sweatshirt into my "supplies" when I realized I didn't have enough fabric from the first.  I also made some mistakes along the way - so feel free to ask any questions if you try to figure it out and it's confusing.  I'll try to answer to the best of my recollection!  Perhaps one day I'll get the serger that I know I should already have, so I can do pretty stitching like a real seamstress.  I know I also should just buy patterns instead of trying to draft them.  The thing about that though is they never seem to fit me right.  That's why I like deconstructing owned garments that fit well for my patterns.  But in this case, the blazer still has life, so I had to "trace" with my finger on the seams, then adjust for mistakes along the way as I fit it.

Drafting the pattern...

Deconstructing the old...

Figuring out pattern placement…

Needing to use an additional sweatshirt…

Laying out the pieces…

The easy, fast, fun part of construction…

"Poofing" the top of the sleeves…

Attaching the sleeves to the body…

Oops.  Pattern drafting problem there!  I'll eventually trim that…

"Poofing" the other sleeve...

Attaching the peplum using the black blazer as my placement guide…

Gathering the sleeves to make them even more unapologetically feminine...

Put bows on the finished sleeves and then checking sizing through some cheesy selfless.  Sorry! =)

Wanted to make it even girlier and saw this in my scarf collection...

Now I already have this silver scarf which is a bit more subtle, and I wear it much more.

So I conclude I will use the sequin scarf as part of the trim.  Therefore, I don't need to fold seems over and finish them, so I trimmed the whole thing down:

But the jacket is still seeming boxy and poofy and masculine to me in the back.  Ugh…

So I added darts.  Really wished I had just drafted a better pattern that fit more closely, and will keep it in mind for the next time I try to use this pattern...

But here with the dart I'm feeling better about the fit…

Then got all sort of confused about direction when I tried to dart the other side and had to redo it.  The outside of the finished sweatshirt looks a lot better than the inside!

Realized the whole neck piece was unnecessary and unflattering...

So I just chopped it off...

Here's how things are now...

The bottom back was bubbling a bit much so I took it in to fit it closer...

More darting chaos, ugh…

And… Apply trimming!  Oh happy day! =)

Do More with What I Have

My new years resolution for 2014 is to do more with what I have.  I intend this mostly (I'll say 85%) as a wardrobe goal, though I see it's potential to extend to other areas of my life.

When I look in my closet, I see a simple fact.  I have A LOT of clothes.  But I don't always have an easy time getting dressed.  Plus I would like to be stylishly and age appropriately represented at all times.  I also want my closest to be beautiful and well organized.

When I look at articles about building a wardrobe, I seem to have all the basics.  I really do have quantity.  So where I can improve is by making what I have better, and putting what I have together better.

So this blog will document this quest.  Hopefully I will be inspired by what I have achieved when I look back at it in December.  I don't resolve every year, but when I do, I take it pretty seriously.  So I'm encouraged and looking forward to this pursuit.