Colorful Living: Danielle Thompson
This morning I'm delighted to share a few corners of the home of photographer, blogger and etsy shop owner Danielle Thompson. Note: This post also includes a link to a DIY tutorial for the greenish blue plastic doilies that you see on her wall below, so don't miss that. I thought that I'd have Danielle tell us about some of her inspirations and ideas for her home, so I've asked a few questions that I was curious about... Let's get started and view the nooks in Danielle's home!
Danielle and her family (2 young boys, a dog and a turtle) live in metro Atlanta, Georgia in a ranch style 3-bedroom home (approx. 1,800 square feet) circa 1962 with 2 baths. Just when you thought you could say, "This lady obviously doesn't live with any men!", well I guess we'll all wrong!
What inspires you Danielle? As obvious by my photos, I take huge inspiration from vintage. Especially from the 60's and 70's. I love to mix many different patterns, colors and textures and I often have little forethought in how a room will turn out. I collect items randomly for a while, and then I just sort of throw it all together and see what happens. Sometimes it doesn't work, but sometimes it does. :) Most of all, I always want to create rooms that have a sense of nostalgia and whimsy, that always take you back to a certain time in your past and most of all, rooms that don't take themselves too seriously. I have two young boys as well, and that plays into my furniture choices - I don't splurge on furniture because little boys are quite wild! But I can splurge on vintage accent pieces that are placed "up high" where the boys can't get to them. It creates a good balance of practicality and my love of vintage.
How to for the doilies shown above on the wall: "I cut them in half with a craft knife and adhered them to the wall with adhesive spray. On two of them I accidentally used permanent adhesive, and on the others I used temporary adhesive because I was worried about them messing up the walls if I took them down. But after seeing them up for a while, the permanent would be fine on all (they come off just fine). I really love how they "frame" this little grouping of items. This is essentially what you see when you walk in the front door, so the doilies give it a lot more presence." - Danielle
What do you do for a living? I've been a graphic designer for over 10 years now, and I do (very) part-time work with that. I spend most of my time designing my digital and printable craft/scrapbooking kits, Kitschy Digitals. I have also designed several things for the crafter: paper goods, polymer stamp collections and embroidery patterns.. all of which you can find in my Etsy shop, Tiny Bazaar. I also have a line of Vinyl Wall Decals (one is shown above framing the prize ribbons) and prints of my photography, also in my Etsy shop.
What inspired your selection of your newly decorated living room, "The Blue Room"? The blueish/grayish room with lots of horse imagery... well that room was previously a very dark cranberry red. I've been slowly redecorating my house. After 10 years of much more vibrant, rich colors on my walls, my aesthetic has changed. I wanted to do something more subtle and soothing with this room, and less clutter. We have very low ceilings, the rooms are small, as are the windows, so our home does not get a ton of good natural light coming in. So we went with a much lighter, less saturated, light blue. We really love the room. The decor is much more spare which creates a relaxing atmosphere - and of course the change from a very warm red, to a soothing blue helps so much in the relaxation factor. I really wanted the decor that I've collected to provide the color and interest, instead of the wall color.
Thank you Danielle for visiting all of us here today! We've enjoyed these colorful glimpses of your home so, so much!
(photography: danielle thompson)