Inspiration Photo Friday: Hiatus

05 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Inspiration Photo Friday

Tags

art, career, design, destiny, fate, Inspiration, journey, life, money, path, stress, travel, work

Sometimes in life you have to really take a look at what is making you happy and what isn’t. When stress takes over, it can seriously disrupt all aspects of your life. I am a true example of this. Stress has played a character in my story for way too long. And although it was due to many different reasons, the main cause has been my career and money. I am sure a lot of you can understand that scenario.

My career has been my focus my whole life. It’s impossible for me to be happy unless I have the time and space to be creative and continue to do what I do best. Art and design has been my life since I was a child and the only thing I truly know for sure is I was destined to be in the field. It took me a good 6 years out of school to establish myself as a freelancer and have sufficient client work. It was a long and tiring road for sure but I appreciate the good things that have come my way. I never thought it would become a problem in my life.

Now that I have started Gray Star Design, I feel like I am cut in half. Essentially, I am running two businesses, which has been sadly running me into the ground. Gray Star Design is my heart and soul and I promised myself I would focus on it and give it my all. This is what I eventually want to continue doing, and nothing else. So I am trying to set up my future and of course there has to be issues. Nothing can ever be simple.

My dilemma is just never having enough time to get GSD truly off the ground. There are things that you need to do when starting a business and yes, I have done a good amount, but there is plenty more to do – and I need full focus to get them done the right way. That means no distractions. I have already decided to not take on new clients but I do have a few I continue to do work for on a regular basis. I don’t want to cut these clients off, as I enjoy working for them, but something’s got to give.

So, after months of being stressed and having this issue take its toll on my life, home, and marriage, I have come to a decision. It’s time to take a hiatus. I have chosen to take some time off from all work and make sure Gray Star Design gets all my attention. This will allow me to have the time to get things done as well as have the creative space I need to bring new designs to the table. It’s the worst when you have so many ideas and no time to actually work them out. It’s pretty much torture, if you ask me.

I am happy my husband agrees with this decision as well. We both feel its the best thing to do right now. Not just for my career but for my sanity as well. It’s time to take control of the situation and do what is best for me and my future. Starting next week, I will be on a hiatus from client work till June. I think this will be sufficient time for me to get back on track. You don’t know how excited I am about doing this. It’s a long time coming.

I wanted to share my situation because I know there are more people out there that go through stuff like this. It doesn’t have to be about your career or money, everyone has their own issues. I hope to inspire you all to take control of your life and do the best for you. No one else is going to do it so don’t wait too long to make a move. Feeling like your everyday is a whirlwind is not healthy, mentally or physically. Take a stand and don’t allow it to negatively impact your life anymore. When you do, its the best feeling in the world.

I chose this photo for the post because it illustrates my message. It was taken in PIE on our honeymoon this past September. It may be a long journey down the path you know you need to take, but eventually, when you get there, a new journey awaits. You may not be able to see how it plays out now, but just know it will be inspiring and full of surprises. Get moving!

Inspiration Photo Friday: Hiatus - © Melissa O'Connor-Arena

Guest Post: Common Home Decorating Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Guest Posts, The Home

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

accessories, budget, frames, Home Decorating, interior design, light, money, paint, photographs, rugs

If you’re moving into a new place or lived in your current one for a while, chances are that you’ve felt the urge to redecorate from time to time. After all, why should you have to live with that hideous mural from the last owner or keep the couch at an uncomfortable angle from the TV just to make the fireplace the focal point of the room? These day’s most are not allowed fireplaces due to regulations of smog. For most this problem has been resolved by the wall fireplace Pros that are available for hire. For the rest of the house however, it’s up to us and we can mess up bad!

But be careful before you just randomly start making changes or you might find yourself longing for those bad old days before your DIY instincts took over. Here are several of the most common decorating mistakes that people make.

Lots of trimmings – no patty
When decorating, too many people feel like they can spend whatever they want as long as they don’t make big-ticket purchases. For example, they’ll buy 100 things under $100, but refuse to pay $1,000 for one great sofa or coffee table (which, admittedly, would have to be a pretty fantastic coffee table at that price). Unfortunately, what happens is that these people end up with lots of thatches or mismatched odds and ends – clutter without any use, or (to go back to the heading) a burger with lettuce, tomato, and all the trimmings, but no patty. Before you look for accents, go for the big, important things you need.

Neglecting the test patch
No one should ever paint – ever – without first doing a small test patch to see how the paint really looks in the room once it’s dry. What if the light in the room makes it seem different? Or if it ends up clashing with the furniture? Be safe and paint a small area first so you’re not going in blind or you might regret it.

Photo Credit: Culture Instruments

Hugging your toilet
You wouldn’t want to be seen hugging your toilet, would you? Then why would you want a rug that’s doing it? Instead of buying one of those toilet rugs that is cut to fit around the base of your toilet (to hug it!), opt for a simple rectangular rug that lives on its own island away from the toilet for a classier look.

Photo Credit: Real Peek

Photo Credit: Sweet Home Design Ideas

Bright light! Bright light!
There is a serious lack of lighting in many homes, and this can be frustrating if you keep bumping into your furniture as soon as the sun goes down. Be careful about adding overhead lighting that’s too bright, though, because it can end up feeling like you’re under a spotlight. That’s not to say that you should avoid overhead lighting entirely, but that it helps a lot if it is softened with some sort of diffuser and your lights are on a dimmer.

Photo Credit: House of Decoration

It’s framing men… and, well, everyone
Just because you’re a photo person doesn’t mean that you have to have dozens of loose frames sitting everywhere, because all that creates is a cluttered mess. Buy a photo album or if you have to display your favorite pictures, group them together in an artistic design on the wall instead of having them live all over your tables and mantelpieces.

Photo Credit: My Lot

Ignoring function
Sometimes you have a room that will look better if you arrange the furniture in a particular way… but it keeps you from using the room the way you want. Function should always come before form, so if you plan on entertaining friends, group chairs and couches around tables so that chatting and playing games is easy. Or if you’re designing a TV room, do what you can to arrange things so that it becomes the focal point.

{Patrick O’Houlihan writes about grommet curtains and home décor accessories for Moshells. He enjoys playing board games and reading at home when he’s not writing.}

Guest Post: Redesigning Your Home on a Budget

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

budget, color scheme, designing, furniture, home, interior design, Measure, money, Redesigning, theme

Interior design, for many, can be a scary thought. Planning the layout and design of your home is something that needs time and care put into it to ensure your home is exactly how you wanted it and many people end up going way over budget. Here are a few helpful tips to keep you on track whilst designing your perfect home.

First off, you need to come up with a budget. You will need to consider how much you are willing to spend and how much money you have actually got to spend before you go ahead with buying your materials. Calculations of expenses for tools and materials need to be made, planning carefully what you are willing to spend on each item of furniture. This will give you an idea of the kind of design you are going for and more importantly, the kind of design you can afford.

Now you can source your materials and furniture to fit into your budget. Look at how you have divided your money and start to shop around for the right materials for you. You do not need to buy the materials straight away until you know where to find the cheapest price. Shop around for bargains online and in stores to ensure you will get the best prices.

Once you are certain of the products and furniture you want to buy, you will be more aware of the kind of price range and budget you are looking at. Of course, if you are confident that you have found the best price for a product then you should buy it, but be careful because a plan still needs to be drawn up for your room to give you an idea of the amount of furniture your space can accommodate.

Choose a Theme & Color Scheme
You should come up with a theme for the room you are going to redesign – look at color schemes and the type of style you will be going for in the room. This will help start you off on your project as you will have a clear understanding of what you are going for and the type of furniture and materials you need to buy. Look through some magazines or some online articles to get an idea of the kind of things you are looking for and what will suit your budget most.

Photo Credit: Lowes

Measure the Space
Next is to come up with a plan for the room(s) you want to redesign. Measure the room and draw up a floor plan so that you can see how much space you are working with. For now, this can just be a bird’s eye view, but if you want to include more detail, draw a plan showing the height of your furniture and decorations to give yourself more of an understanding of the space you’ve got to work with. This will help you decide which furniture is going to be the best for your room.

Photo Credit: Furniture From Turkey

Look at the sizes of the furniture which you have chosen and look at how you can most effectively utilise your space. Find measurements of the furniture which you will be using and draw them into your plan, try different rotations of the furniture and get a general idea of how the room is going to look in terms of size, space and aesthetics. This part is the most important and speaking from experience people that don’t plan their projects well, tend to go way over budget.

You need to keep a strict attitude towards the project to not only make sure that there is a definite completion date, but also to make sure you don’t end up spending a lot of time and money on the project only to be forced into defeat simply because you ran out of money.

Purchase Materials
When you feel confident that enough planning has been done for your project, you can now buy all your materials and prepare them for installation. Follow your plan and all should be well. You might find that there are a few minor things that you looked over in the planning and designing, although if you are thorough enough these occurrences can be minimal. Stick to a strict regime, but make minor changes to the design if you feel the need to and you will have the perfect room for you in no time.

Some people may find designing and planning interior design by themselves to be too much of a daunting task. If this is the case for you then you could always get a painter and decorator in to give you a help in hand, they may even be able to match your budget and keep things cheap!

{Brad Warmbold wrote this article on behalf of Butterworth Interiors, an Interior design and Decorating Company in Cheshire, UK. }

Guest Post: How to Part with Clutter

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Allison Moody, cleaning, Clutter, Donate, functional, labeley, money, organization, organized

You’d be surprised how many people have a really hard time parting with clutter. What I mean by clutter are old clothes, old books and magazines, broken-down furniture, hardly functioning appliances, rusty dishes, worn-out carpet rugs, etc.

There are two types of people who can’t part with clutter:
1) Those who keep old stuff but also buy new things, and have a really hard time finding room for everything.
2) Those whose frugality borders with stinginess and keep repairing, sewing, gluing, stitching and painting old stuff, so they wouldn’t have to buy anything new.

Recognizing you have a problem is the first step to making your life easier. In order to bring yourself to a place where you’ll feel good about parting with clutter, you’ll need to sit down and think about this problem seriously. Admit to yourself that you don’t really need most of the things lying around the house and making it impossible to tidy up completely. Realize that these are just material things that should not have any emotional significance to you – at least most of these things. They are replaceable and SHOULD be replaced every once in a while.

Of course, this is not to say that you should be one of those people who go out and buy a new appliance every two months. The planet is polluted enough already and we should all learn not to waste stuff. So how do we make a distinction between wasting things, and parting with clutter at the right time?

Photo Credit: Sane Spaces

Hints That Help You Recognize Unnecessary Items

Clothes you haven’t worn for over a year
Appliances that break down every other time you use them
Dishes that burn food
Furniture that looks run down, peels away, is uncomfortable to sit or sleep in
Rugs that look dirty even after washing them
Books and magazines that you don’t absolutely love

Photo Credit: Audrey Thompson

Once you’ve realized you’ll be better off without things you’re either not using, or you’re better off not using them, you can do several useful things with them:

1. Donate clothes to charity.
2. Find out which stores accept old/broken down appliances, and they’ll maybe give you a discount on new items.
3. Books and magazines can be sold on ebay or any similar website.
4. If you or anyone you know have a summer house where you don’t spend much time and aesthetics are not of importance, any old furniture, dishes, rugs etc. could do.
5. Throw away items that no one needs without a moment’s hesitation.

Now that you’ve cleared away all that clutter, your house and wardrobe are ready for new, functional things. Don’t over-buy or buy hastily. The point is not only to make your house a place you can breathe in and move about easily, but also to learn how to spend money wisely, on things you actually need.

Don’t buy a book the moment you feel like reading it; try borrowing it from a library or a friend. Think carefully about what you will really need and use in the kitchen. As far as clothes go, invest in good boots, jackets and winter coats, but don’t pay too much money for blouses, pants and skirts that you’ll get tired of quickly. Recycle all that you can, and feel good about moving on from old stuff.

Photo Credit: Ken Lauher

{Allison Moody writes about parting with clutter from her experience. She works much better in a tidy space, and she enjoys writing and reading about useful tips. Allison is a freelance ghostwriter and currently she’s working on promoting her new FREE online tool, Labeley. She can be reached at allison.moody@labeley.com.}