Greetings, decor8 readers! My name is Jessica Jones. I’m a professional graphic designer, and I write a blog called How About Orange which frequently features craft and DIY tutorials. I’m here today to share a project with you that you can customize to your liking using your favorite paper. Here’s an inexpensive way to add a geometric vibe to any wall?perfect for apartments or dorm rooms where nail holes are not allowed!
What you’ll need….
- 1/2-inch thick piece of foam board (available at art stores)
- Decorative paper
- Spray adhesive
- X-acto knife
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Acrylic paint
- Paintbrush
1. Spray your foam board with adhesive, making sure to hit all the corners and edges. Do this in a well-ventilated area on top of newspaper or protective plastic, not on your Chippendale dining room table. :) Position your decorative paper on the board and smooth it down. Be on the look out for air bubbles, you don’t want those!
2. Decide how big your largest square will be and mark the corners with pencil dots. Position your ruler along the line you want to cut and slide your X-acto knife along it, cutting through the foam.
3. When your largest square is cut out, decide how wide you want your concentric “frames” to be. (Mine are 1.25″ wide.) Mark off the next set of corners inside your cut-out square, and trim out the next piece. Cutting tips: Start with a brand new blade. Make a few practice cuts until you get the hang of it. Don’t try to cut all the way through in one cut; use two or three. To avoid cutting past the point you want to stop, poke your knife in to make a short cut there first, then start cutting at the opposite end. If your cuts near the corners don’t quite go all the way through, flip the board over and finish cutting them from the back. And please don’t cut your fingers off. Holly doesn’t want to get emails about your ER visit.
4. When your lines are cut through, pop the piece out by pushing from the back.
5. When all of your pieces are cut out, paint the sides with acrylic paint to match your paper. Let dry.
6. Attach the squares to your wall in a pleasing arrangement with wall putty or poster tape. I used blue painter’s tape and it worked like a charm.
That’s it! Of course if squares aren’t your thing you can create any shape of your liking. Get creative and most of all have fun! If you try this project at home and would like to show off the results, contact Holly and make sure to send her an image of your work on the wall. She’ll round up a few and share them on decor8 when she is back.
Thanks for having me today!
(images from jessica jones)
Hello! My name is Ruth. I am so very glad Holly invited me to guest blog. I love decor8 ? I check out this blog every single day, and sometimes several times in one day! (So I must have done something really good to be here blogging now.) Thank you Holly!
I?ll do a quick introduction and then I?ll write a little about one of my all time favourite designers.
I?m a full-time Singaporean mummy and we?ve just moved China (my husband had a good job opportunity and I?m always up for a chance to experience a new culture! So, ta-da!). I cannot get enough of pretty interiors, pretty home d?cor and pretty things for the house. Which explains why I?m nuts over decor8.
I have a blog too, Chickedee, named after my favourite cookie when I was a pre-teen. I also run a small store on etsy, selling handmade buttons and some craft supplies. So now that you know what I do: go visit my blog and get all your buttons from me. *grin *
Now about one of my all time fave designers: Kelly Hoppen. To me, her designs are plain awesome, and here?s why:
- Her designs are neat. Literally. In all her interiors and retail products, there is order. No complicated designs, no clutter. She has an amazing eye for symmetry and balance. She?s minimalistic but not austere. To me, Zen living is minimalistic but sometimes a little cold. I like some life in a room, and a Hoppen room does it for me.
- Kelly is all about luxury. But not over the top, it?s SIMPLE understated luxury for every day living. (I?m one of those who cannot appreciate Versace interiors. I love West Elm but not always Pottery Barn). Luxury is good. Its allows you to enjoy what you have better. Simple is good. Simple keeps me calm. Like aspirin to a headache. So, simple luxury can give you a long, happy stress-free life. At least according to me. :) You see, I believe that your emotional wellbeing is definitely supported by your surroundings. And so I could probably be a much more serene wife and patient mother if Kelly Hoppen designed my home. Hmmmmmmm.
- She’s concerned with comfort. Her designs are live-able, practical, and enjoyable not just in magazines and books but also in person! I love that in a design. I don?t want couture, I want something I can see my family lounging in comfortably.
- I also like how she mixes textures – the strong with the light. It adds a unique feel to the room. There is warmth.
Kelly’s flat in London.
Don’t know who Kelly Hoppen is? That’s okay because I’m writing this post to introduce you to her and tell you why I love her designs so much! So here is your quick two minutes on Ms. Hoppen:
- She was born in South Africa but lives in England.
- She?s dating one of Britain’s foremost hair stylists, Nicky Clarke (How awesome is that? No more bad hair days ever!)
- She launched her business at 17 years old. (What the heck was I up to at 17?)
- Kelly is the first designer to receive the Andrew Martin “International Designer of the Year” award
- She designed the Beckham?s LA home
- Know Sienna Miller? She’s her stepmother
- She designed the first class cabin for British Airways
- Oh and she also done international works for yachts, ski chalets, a sports centre, hotels and corporate spaces and manages 30 projects around the world at any one time!
- Kelly has shops in London and Dubai
- She won’t accept a client job for less then ?300,000 (that’s around $600,000 USD).
But for us common folks, we can still have a bit of Kelly Hoppen in our homes with the Hoppen products: Furniture line at Century, Paints (the range is called Perfect Neutrals), Homeware line, including a Wedgewood collection, Fabrics at Saville Row, Carpets at Wool Classics, and The Kelly Hoppen Design School.
Hotel Murmuri in Barcelona.
Or just read her books. In her latest book, Kelly Hoppen Home: From Concept To Reality, she shares her philosophy, and secrets, and takes the reader from concept to decision making, to implementation. That?s like having her all to yourself, whenever you want, wherever you want, for only $26!
Hotel Murmuri in Barcelona.
Before I go, here?s some of Kelly?s house rules I found on a backdated article in the Telegraph. I think we all can learn from these rules, don’t you?
Kelly’s House Rules:
- Create balance on mantelpieces and other surfaces by juxtaposing one overscaled object with two or three miniature ones
- Mix old and new antique and vintage, against the clean lines of stark contemporary pieces
- Introduce texture as without it, a neutral scheme will look flat and dead.
- Start with linen as your first choice of fabric: without it, a scheme will never feel quite right.
- Unblock energy within the home using crystals, colour, candles, music and chainmail curtains made of small metal balls.
- Create symmetry, if a fireplace is off-centre in a room, make sure you line the sofa up with it.
You can also find more inspirational photos of Hoppen-designed spaces on flickr here: Gaile Guevara.
Please do share your thoughts on Kelly Hoppen. I?d love to hear them!
Thank you again Holly for inviting me, and thank you everyone, for having me!
(images from kelly hoppen)
You can now vote for your favorite items from the Handmade Kids Challenge and win one of fourteen $350 Etsy Shopping Sprees until September 8, 2008. Your vote is your chance to win, all you have to do is visit the Challenge Finalists and choose your top pick in each category (pick your fave from each of the seven categories because each vote in each category is an individual entry in the competition and offer you another opportunity to win).
I’d like to thank Etsy for including me as one of the contest judges. I’m part of a lovely panel of talented peeps so of course I’m flattered to be in such great company… You can read all of their bios here.
Congratulations to all of the finalists and happy voting everyone!
(image from etsy)
Hello everyone I am Mel Lim, a Malaysian born Chinese designer based in San Diego, CA. I moved to the U.S. when I was 19 to attend the Art Center College of Design. After working as a designer doing mostly commercial retail spaces and corporate branding for 8 years, I became an entrepreneur. In 2005, I launched a brand of design-driven lifestyle products called JOY by Mel Lim. JOY today covers home accessories, paper goods, organic baby and fashion accessories. Holly has talked about my work a few times on decor8 so you may know who I am.
My designs are inspired by nature, travel, food and of course my Chinese heritage. My beliefs in Feng Shui, coupled with old Chinese habits and superstitions have created a set of design rules for me, believing that colors play a key role in design, be it on paper or space. Every element has to have a meaning. Every placement has to create harmony. Every design has to inspire good, joyful living.
Our design studio has 3 main colors, with red and black being my lucky colors and black and white being my husband?s. When used appropriately, it is believed that colors can enhance your luck in business, career, love and marriage.
Lately, I have been obsessed with yellows and browns. It must be all the chocolate bars with golden wrappers that I have been eating. I travel with my mini sketchbook that has tons of drawings of foods and animals.
A packet of instant beef ramen inspired my fall collection. The colors of curry noodles, brown sauce and chili peppers gave life to wraps, totes, placemats and pillows.
Coming up with a design idea is really the easy part of my business. Finding the balance between running a business and being the designer has been my biggest challenge and inspiration. I am sure any designer who just started their own studio or line of products goes through the same ordeal; we have to think about sales, marketing, pr, production, pricing, trade shows, the day-to-day struggles of a small business owner at tough economic times like these.
Over the years, many aspiring designers have emailed me to ask how to run a business and do trade shows. This has inspired my husband and I to launch a blog called BACE ? Business & Creative Exchange. In this blog, we provide answers to questions that many fans over the years have emailed us; how to do a trade show, how to price items, how to get things manufactured etc. No B.S., just an honest discussion. Our goal is to assist and inspire other designers and offer them insights to real problems faced by small business owners. We?d figured that we may not have the money to help (yet!) but we have many blunders and successes we can share to instill awareness. We simply just want things to be easier for others than it was for us!
Thank you for joining me today here on decor8. If you have any questions about my business or running a small business in general, please comment here and I will gladly reply!
(all images and text by mel lim)
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