4 when diy goes bad.... then good

Remember a while back when I posted this preview image of a DIY project I was working on? And I promised to show you the results... well! It didn't quite turn out how I wanted. Let's just say, pretty much everything that could go wrong with this tufted headboard project did. Chalk it up to completely poor execution. I got so frustrated that I actually gave up, and this big ol' mess was sitting on my floor for months. Just terrible!


Last Saturday I decided that enough was enough and I HAD to do something about this. A) I wanted to finally have a headboard & B) I was sick of it taking up my very limited floor space. The solution: Take the tufts out and the fabric off and do a simple box headboard instead. I had some beautiful fabric left over from these custom pillows I made and it coordinated perfectly with my cheetah print euro shams.

Here is a closeup of the fabric and my beautifully tapered corners that I'm oh-so-proud of. Ha! I plan to do a faux nailhead trim around the perimeter using thumbtacks, but until that happens, I'm loving it thus far!




That lampshade on the ceiling is my next project! This is where I'm taking it....



Stay tuned!!

2 sneak peek: my studio design

So as promised, here's a sneak peek at what I'm designing for my studio.


A before shot of the living area space on the day I moved in...Looks like junk, but there's some good stuff in there!


And this is where I'm going...


What's more girlie than Chanel or Tiffany & Co.? When I first moved in I wanted to paint a super pale blue on all the walls, but then I painted my nails this aqua blue color shortly there after and fell in love with it! It will give the perfect feminine and vintage feel I'll looking for. I already have the grey tufted chairs, and they are the only big seating I have in the place. They'll be the focal point of the living room so I'm making some accent pillows to dress them up! My entry way will have a gallery wall of photos from my travels, childhood & my tiny art collection. And of course, I have to include my Aunt Lucille's vintage sunburst clock!

Do you like where it's going? Have a great weekend! And I'll be back next week with some progress....

4 the design studio

Almost exactly a year ago, I founded my company and named it after this blog; SingleBubblePop Design Studio. I wanted the name to sound like a collective of design professionals, because eventually, that's what I want it to be! Flash forward to now, and I've actually moved into a studio! I'm living and working from a tiny 545 square foot space and I absolutely love it.

Here's the floorplan:



It's just enough space for me, and I'm going to make it uber girlie. I've been here almost a month, and I haven't had my girl's over yet because I haven't executed my design plan yet. Stay tuned & I'll share my plan tomorrow!

Until then, check out this video of Nick Olsen touring a studio he designed in Brooklyn. This is my inspiration!

13 real life progress

My blogging buddy Maya did and awesome job turning her (disgusting) bathroom into a light & beautiful place to primp. She was so kind as to let me show it off to you guys.

Here is the before. Yuck!



And here is the after so far!! Such a transformation...


Amazing!! I would love to see some cool art above the toilet & being that Maya is a photographer I know she'd appreciate something like this, from CB2. The pop of yellow would look great against her cool blue, and I love the geometric lines!


Whatever Maya chooses will be fab, I'm sure, because she has an great eye! If you have a moment, go check out her fun blog.

Lastly, I wanted to share a sneak peek into one of my current projects!! If you like SingleBubblePop Design Studio on Facebook, you may have already seen this but here's a look at the wood panelling and custom drapery installation we did on Monday!

The space is a open floor plan condo, and the owner asked me to finish his living area. We're going for an industrial city feel so I incorporated the wood & stainless steel textures. He also loves bright colors I found this beautiful orange fabric to brighten up the room. Bringing the curtains all the way to the ceiling really shows off his almost 11 foot ceilings. I can't wait to show you all the finished space! :-)

5 my office, pinned

Are you using Pinterest? I just joined last week and MAN is it addictive. I've been busy browsing through all my friends' boards and I started my own! I decided to gather inspiration photos for my home office, which is still a work in progress. Now that I'm going to be working from home, I need the space to be both beautiful and functional. I love the combination of teal and orange; the orange sparks creativity! Anytime you combine two complementary colors it brings drama, too. So here are a few of the images I pinned for my home office inspiration.


You already saw my DIY black & white striped table skirt, and I LOVE this room designed by Tobi Fairley.


Love the edgy look of these outfits featuring orange & teal...


...and the soft feminine look of these teal looks! Click here to see the rest of the photos I pinned for this board. Stay tuned for the final look of the room soon! ;)

Leave a comment on this post with your email if you'd like an invite to join Pinterest!

All images are via Pinterest, original sources here.

8 easy no-sew tableskirt

Usually, the art of interior design requires a mix of an eye for style, creativity, research and strategic planning. In this case, I can tell you that I used no planning whatsoever to do this project! I decided to revamp my home office this weekend, but I had no idea what I was going to do until I did it.

I had my desk and computer set up in the closet of my guest bedroom. My reasoning for that? I hate seeing all the paperwork, chords and such associated with work and having my desk in the closet allowed me to just close the doors and see none of it. The problem with that? My back was always turned from the window, and the heat from my BIG iMac in that tiny closet would make it very warm in that tiny space.

When it was in the closet, I had some fabric that I found for a bank-breaking $3.56 at Goodwill hanging on the inside walls of the closet as "curtains". It was cute but, didn't really have an impact on the room. After taking these pseudo curtains down, a stroke of inspiration made me realize that I'd cut them the perfect width to be a skirt for my desk! Instantly, I pulled out my scissors, tape and glue gun and went to work.


What I am using as a desk is actually an IKEA table. First I wrapped the perimeter of the table in one half of the striped fabric and taped it to the top of the table to make sure there was a snug fit. I didn't need to cut anything! It was already the perfect size. :)


Once that was done I laid the second piece on top of the table and trim it to about 1" + the tabletop size. Then I gently folded the fabric along the front side of the table at the black stripe to keep the pattern. I put a little hot glue every inch or so right in between the two pieces.


Once the first side was done, I let the glue dry before starting on the others so that I could pull the fabric taut as I went. I simply wrapped the corners like a present and *TADA* brand new desk :)



Here's what my guest room/office looked like when we first moved in...


Here it is now! Not nearly done but here's a first look. The two bookcases are the perfect size to fill that wall, and also from IKEA. The lamp is one of my favorite finds from one of my fave Raleigh vintage stores. The small piece of art on my desk was a gift from Blayne for my birthday last year, I love it! And the roses are left over from Valentine's Day!


click for a bigger view

I'll be sure to post the finished room soon. I'm on a mission to finish it now! What DIY projects have you done lately?

3 salvador dali museum

If you're in Atlanta you may have heard that the High Musuem of Art opened their brand new Salvador Dali exhibit this weekend to an overwhelming crowd of art lovers. I was one of the thousands to flocked to the museum on Saturday night to check out the surrealist works, but like many, I didn't get to see the actual exhibit! It's a long story but, after a couple hours of chaos and overcrowding, we gave up and decided to come back another time - so we could enjoy Dali in peace.

Nevertheless, with Dali on the brain, I came across the Salvador Dali Museum currently being built in St. Petersburg, Florida. I couldn't find the architect behind it, but they did a great job capturing the surrealism of Dali in a modern way. The building is said to reflect Dali's fascination with DNA; how cool!


Concept Rendering


Construction Progress


The museum today...

Photos via BBC Blog, Tampa Bay Online & HOK Life

For more shots, check out the HOK Flickr set here. Wouldn't you love to see Dali's art in an amazing space like this? Let's plan a road trip...who's down?

6 midtown condo living

Hope you all had a fab weekend and beat the heat! On Friday I mentioned that I am now working with a client to redesign his midtown condo living room. I'm so excited to start working with him because he has a beautiful space that deserves to be dressed in the best possible way!


Here is what the layout is like now...



And I did a preliminary sketch over a photograph of the space. This photo does not do the view from his balcony any justice - because he's on the top floor of his building, you can see the entire downtown Atlanta skyline from his balcony. For that reason, we will NOT be covering up those windows!


The owner has already purchased some great furniture, so we'll just be adding a few, but necessary pieces to complete the set. He's also in desperate need of lighting; there are currently no table lamps and no overhead light! He loves images of the city, and modern style, so I'm planning on adding in some industrial & contemporary accessories.

Look for my design plan and renderings later this week. Stay tuned!

16 exciting news!

As of today, SingleBubblePop has expanded from a blog to an LLC! This is a huge step for me as I begin my career as an Interior Designer. Thank you to everybody who's encouraged me and helped me get to this point! Next step: CLIENTS. If you or someone you know is looking for an Interior Designer, please send them my way.

2 working with a nub

I fully intended to FINISH this Coco Chanel piece yesterday, but I worked my last black colored pencil down to a nub! Off to the art store.....



(Please excuse the bad camera phone photos!)

1 coco (in progress)

Here's a sneak peek at the Coco Chanel piece I'm working on right now.

I should be finishing this tonight so I'll post the final product by the end of the week! :)